Chapter 420: Unveiling |
The all-purpose Sun Gong was feeling a bit out of his depth.
He had been leading a crew to build a road along the edge of the Black Forest when a call came in from Yu Sheng about a small, special out-of-town job. The plainspoken civil engineer did not think much of it. Following Yu Sheng’s directions, he took his people and equipment through a door that had opened right beside the Black Forest, then learned the so-called small job was to dig a nine-tailed demon fox out from a mass of fused crystal.
And that nine-tailed demon fox had been jammed in the ground because of an orbital strike.
Sun’s voice came out of his power armor speaker, sounding a bit muffled, as he said: “Honestly, I’ve dug trenches on a planet on the verge of disintegration, laid roads in weird spaces tainted by the Entity, and even hammered bunkers on wastelands ravaged by swarms, but I’ve never seen anything like this. Following you really broadens my horizons.”
Yu Sheng laughed, turned to glance at Sun, and said: “Not just you; me too. Can you do it? If not, I’ll ask the civil Immortals of Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain to think of something.”
Sun shot him a look, pride of the trade kicking in without hesitation, and said: “That’s looking down on me. I haven’t done this exact job, but it isn’t difficult. Keep the door propped open; I’ll have the guys run back for the right tools. What we brought isn’t suited to this.”
Before long, the workers Sun had brought swapped into the proper gear and started bustling around Foxy.
Jackhammers roared in their hands, cutters thundered, sparks flew, and crystal dust swirled over the ground around Foxy.
Yu Sheng watched the action with Irene and Luna from the side.
The environment on Garrison-3 did not suit human life; radiation was severe and the air was toxic. Sun and his civil engineering crew had come wearing heavy, exoplanet-grade engineering power armor. It was not as striking as Xu Jiali’s kit, but it had the heft and muscular presence of heavy machinery. The only thing worth teasing was that Sun had doodled all over his suit; the most eye-catching was the line of big characters across his chest plate: “AAA Civil Works, Brother Sun.”
He was obviously proud of his gear. Every so often he deployed a small drone from his forearm to take selfies of himself against the bleak alien backdrop, showing off his armor with every move.
After snapping away for quite a while, he finally turned his eyes to Yu Sheng. His expression hesitated for a few seconds before he could not help himself and said: “Honestly, I know you’re special, but I didn’t expect you to go without any protective gear in a place like this. Doesn’t it feel suffocating?”
Yu Sheng waved frankly and said: “How to put it, the place does smell bad, so I haven’t breathed for quite a while. I adapt well; I can breathe or not.”
Sun’s eye twitched as he said: “I don’t think this is about adaptability anymore.” He had dealt with Yu many times and was a seasoned hand in the Bureau, so he quickly skipped past this trivial point and said: “Forget that. Tell me about this place. Who did you fight to make such a mess?”
Yu Sheng noticed Sun’s face tighten, quickly motioned for calm, and said: “We still don’t know exactly what that thing was, but I suspect it’s related to the Dark Angels. Don’t tense up; the Dark Angels’ main body definitely isn’t here. If it were, this wouldn’t have ended so simply.”
Sun’s face remained stiff as he squeezed out a word: “Damn.”
Yu Sheng kept going as he recalled the visions he had seen while forging a link with that crystalline jungle and said: “We still haven’t figured out the enemy’s state, so I’ll need your help later. After we dig Foxy out, I’d like you to keep digging around. There should be some residual crystal-branch structure under the strata here. We need samples to send to the Special Affairs Bureau. Zheng Zhi has already reported up the chain; your director knows how to handle it.”
Hearing business, Sun’s expression turned solemn. He nodded and said: “No problem. We’ve done that kind of job. But when it’s time to recover the samples, we’ll need people from the Bureau. We’re good at the heavy work. High-risk containment and transfer is precision work for the recovery teams.”
Yu Sheng was already taking out his phone as he said: “I know. I’ll message Rapunzel at your Bureau right now.”
A sudden crackling of stone from nearby interrupted them.
Yu Sheng looked up and saw the engineering crew around Foxy backing away. One of them shouted as he retreated: “We broke through, we broke through! Watch her claws, fall back!”
Once the crew had all retreated to a safe distance, Foxy rocked in place, carefully set her four paws on the ground, braced backward, and pulled her head out of the earth.
The nine-tailed silver fox, dusty and bedraggled, sat there with her forepaws propped up. A ring of stone still clung around her neck. Her eyes looked a little dazed. After a while she shook her head side to side and shattered the stone collar, sending grit and pebbles flying.
Yu Sheng dodged the falling chunks and looked up at the big fox, who seemed a bit spaced out, and shouted: “Foxy, how do you feel?”
Foxy answered honestly: “My head is buzzing.” Though her gaze was still a little blank, she lowered her head and nudged Yu with her nose as she said: “Right by my ears it’s rumbling, rumbling.”
Yu laughed, knowing perfectly well why her head buzzed; a bunch of civil engineers in power armor had pounded a percussion drill around her skull for half an hour. Anyone would be dazed. He said: “Nothing to do about that; it took effort to dig you out. The stone and crystal around your head had fused into one solid block.”
Foxy shook her head again, dislodging the grit stuck to her fur. She seemed finally to come around. Looking happy, she stuck out her tongue and gave Yu a lick that nearly knocked him flying, then her belly rumbled like thunder as she said: “Benefactor, I am hungry. Food.”
Yu’s head was already buzzing from that tongue slap. Hearing that line, cold sweat broke out, but he reacted in time. He swung open a door big enough for Foxy in her demon-fox form to stride through and said: “Food, food. I’ve already coordinated with the Special Affairs Bureau. The cafeteria has everything ready for you.”
Foxy looked up, saw the Bureau cafeteria on the other side of the door and the familiar, friendly servers, and her eyes lit up. Yu saw a flash of white; by the time he reacted, Foxy had already darted into the cafeteria.
Perched on Yu Sheng’s shoulder and craning her neck to look through the doorway, Irene sighed: “That will be a hard fight.”
Yu said: “No worries; the Bureau folks are battle-hardened and well-traveled.”
Standing nearby, Sun was sweating. He glanced at the whirlwind scene beyond the door, shook his head, and [silently sympathized with his colleagues], then brought his attention back to the task at hand as he said: “Then shall we start digging?”
Yu Sheng nodded, raised his hand toward the pit where Foxy’s head had broken through, and, using the bond forged by blood, carefully sensed the faint responses deep below as he said: “Start here. I’ll tell you the approximate structure underneath.”
…
Sentinel Silence, Mo City.
The rain had not stopped.
Xuan Che had come again to the City Lord’s residence, this time at City Lord Mo Ran’s invitation.
At the request of the Immortal Envoy, Mo Ran had contacted Sentinel Silence’s Star-Guardian Elder yesterday and invited him into the city today. Judging by the time, he should arrive shortly.
Xuan Che was waiting in the reception room for the Star-Guardian Elder. While he waited, he read the updates Yu Sheng had sent from far-off Garrison-3.
An uncanny crystalline jungle; a “Yun Qing Zi” that appeared within the crystal clusters; strange signals welling up from deep underground; and a star-spanning resonance between Garrison-3 and Sentinel Silence.
Xuan Che frowned, standing at the window with a grave expression as he gazed into the rain.
His divine sense spread outward, covering the entire City Lord’s residence, then slowly extended farther as he cautiously probed the frontier city under the veil of rain.
Everything in the city was normal. The roads bustled with people, the center remained lively; though the old mining pillar had declined, as the largest city on this planet, Mo City still thrived.
Yet he still felt something wrong—a strange dissonance, a chill, a sense of being submerged by something. Like the unceasing rain outside, it covered everything and unsettled the heart.
After the messages from Garrison-3, that unease became even more pronounced.
A presence approached.
Xuan Che composed his features, drew in his aura, and turned toward the door of the reception room.
The door opened. City Lord Mo Ran stood on the threshold.
This dignified, steady woman bowed and said: “Immortal Envoy, thank you for waiting. Elder Dao Heng has arrived.”
As she spoke, she stepped half a pace aside in invitation and raised her hand to introduce as she said: “This is the Star-Guardian of Sentinel Silence, Elder Dao Heng.”
She then gestured toward Xuan Che and said: “Elder Dao Heng, this is the Immortal Envoy from the Grand Void Spiritual Axis, Immortal Elder Xuan Che, representing Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain.”
The room fell quiet for two seconds. Mo Ran bowed slightly and said: “Then I will leave you two to speak.”
Xuan Che stood by the window, gaze calm as water as he looked at Mo Ran—and at the place beside her.
There were only two people in the room, he and Mo Ran. There was no one else at the door.
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