Chapter 26: De Biao |
"Earth... earth..."
Yang Chunsha's feet floated above the ground; her face had gone an ugly purple, panic overwhelming her.
Her chest glowed as the leather book's pages flipped furiously.
But Infinite Summer, with calm nonchalance, snatched the book away with his other hand.
"..." Yang Chunsha fell into despair, struggling hard, her eyes pleading.
Wu Zhong ran over: "Brother Xia, don't—"
Infinite Summer threw her to the ground. "Open the path properly. No tricks."
Yang Chunsha collapsed and coughed, tears forming at the corners of her eyes. "I know your secret. You won't spare me if you find out. I understand."
"When I'm done clearing the way and I send you out, that'll be the day I die."
Seeing this, Wu Zhong also spoke up: "Don't overthink it. Brother Xia isn't that kind of person."
Yang Chunsha pressed her lips together. "Not that kind of person? There are people who destroyed an entire country for a single disaster artifact."
"Infinite Summer can teleport. Just that one piece of intel is worth a fortune."
"If people get wise to that trick, every mission he does will become exponentially more dangerous."
"People in the disaster world don't fear weak powers; they fear being targeted!"
She made a compelling point; Wu Zhong knew well what being targeted could lead to.
Take Infinite Summer as an example: if Unit 985 knew he could teleport, would he still move so calmly?
They would deploy counters, or just kill him on sight.
The reason Infinite Summer was so brazen—storming straight into Unit 985's base while other powers were still watching—was because people didn't know about his teleportation.
"If you don't open the path now, this is your death knell." Infinite Summer said coldly.
Yang Chunsha's tone flared up. "Then we'll die together! If I don't open the way, you can teleport away, but he'll die here."
Wu Zhong frowned. "Enough. Don't say things like that. It doesn't help and only makes things worse."
"Actually, Brother Xia doesn't want to kill you. Say something practical—anything that can guarantee you won't leak this—and that will be more useful than this nonsense."
Yang Chunsha opened her mouth. "My... my elder brother is the gem mercenary 'Six Dao Mu.'"
Infinite Summer's hand trembled, shock written across his face.
Wu Zhong had never seen him so serious and heavy; this "Six Dao Mu" was clearly someone remarkable.
Seeing her words had weight, Yang Chunsha hurried on: "This tunnel actually belongs to him. Tunnels like this exist all over the world; I'm just a day laborer."
Infinite Summer raised an eyebrow. "Who else is in your group?"
Yang Chunsha stood up and said proudly, "There’s platinum mercenary 'Bai Zhi,' golden mercenaries 'Underground Orchid,' 'King Flower,' 'Spruce Tree'..."
"Although I'm small fry, if you kill me, they won't let you off, because they'll know I died while supporting a mission for them."
Infinite Summer had been serious, but as soon as he heard Spruce Tree, he immediately laughed.
"What a load of crap. You actually know Spruce Tree?"
Yang Chunsha suddenly lost her composure somewhere and lifted her chin. "So what? I'm not close to them, but I know Underground Orchid—and he's brothers with him..."
Infinite Summer pulled a banana from his pocket and held it to his mouth. "Spruce, Spruce, it's Infinite Summer."
Yang Chunsha's pupils constricted.
"Ah, nothing. Some woman said you and 'Underground Orchid' are buds."
"Hey, don't shout, don't shout, you're making my head hurt."
"This woman's codename is Yang Chunsha, a Bronze rank. Recognize her? She said you had her back."
Infinite Summer muttered to the banana, which left Wu Zhong puzzled: what on earth was he doing?
But Yang Chunsha was sweating bullets, her lips gone white.
"You can talk to her yourself." Infinite Summer tossed the banana to Yang Chunsha.
She flung it aside. "No, no... I don't need it..."
Infinite Summer sneered. "Do you know Underground Orchid and Spruce Tree are mortal enemies? Underground Orchid stole the twenty drops of Elixir of Immortality Spruce had painstakingly obtained, plus thirty kilograms of 'Dan Wood.'"
Yang Chunsha shuddered—that was enormous wealth to her.
"Impossible? Weren't they—"
Infinite Summer cut her off. "You mean to say they called each other brothers on the forum?"
"That was last year. Underground Orchid cozying up to him was just a ruse to swindle him, to steal his stuff."
"It's not exactly a secret. On the platform, anyone Silver rank or higher knows this."
"Don't tell me all your intel on top-tier mercenaries comes from forum gossip?"
Yang Chunsha's eyelashes trembled; she fell silent.
Wu Zhong couldn't help but laugh. This woman had tried to bluff to intimidate Infinite Summer, but in speaking she completely exposed herself.
People from the disaster world always spin yarns, but you need actual credibility to back them up.
Clearly, at her level, inventing tales about Golden or higher mercenaries was way beyond her reach.
The information cocoon was huge, especially in the disaster world. Misunderstandings were everywhere.
Infinite Summer looked down at her. "Even if you hadn't slipped up, I wouldn't believe you're from Six Dao Mu's crew."
"Do you know who he is? People call him the Six God!"
"Being a gem mercenary is the least important of his identities. He never even did a single platform task—he registered and went straight to Gem rank and never returned to the platform."
This went beyond Yang Chunsha’s frame of reference. She said incredulously, "How can someone register and immediately be Gem?"
Infinite Summer chuckled. "Why not? The entire Free Mercenary Club is just a subordinate institution of his organization. Six Dao Mu was one of the founders of the Free Alliance. The Multiversal Academy was subdued by him."
"What?" Yang Chunsha was stunned—she had no idea.
In her understanding, the disaster world's organizations were mainly the five nations' containment forces plus the Free Alliance.
The Free Alliance, consisting of the Mercenary Club and the Multiversal Academy, was the largest power outside official containment forces—no contest. In fact, by headcount it might exceed all the official forces combined. Even official members often register mercenary accounts to track disaster-world developments.
She thought most of the disaster world registered mercenary identities for all sorts of reasons. She never imagined there could be an organization above the club.
"Is that the Multiversal Academy Six Dao Mu subdued?" Wu Zhong asked in surprise.
He'd heard Infinite Summer talk about someone who had subdued the Multiversal Academy, which then took its current name.
Infinite Summer nodded solemnly. "Yes. Also remember: never say that name in front of a mirror. He will know."
"Holy—" Wu Zhong was shocked.
This was the disaster world's true big shot. No wonder Yang Chunsha's initial lie almost cowed Infinite Summer—she’d named someone who could do that.
Infinite Summer himself was probably bewildered, wondering if he had stumbled into the hidden reach of Six Dao Mu's forces.
The name alone intimidated the stronger players.
Wu Zhong looked at Yang Chunsha. "Seriously, stop making things up. Can't you just behave?"
Yang Chunsha gave a bitter, self-mocking smile. "Then what do you want me to do?"
"I can't do anything. I have no background; I just dig tunnels. I finally landed a big job, and this happens."
"Knowing Infinite Summer's secret, he will kill me. You civilians don't know anything."
Infinite Summer asked, "If you have nothing, how did you become an awakener?"
Yang Chunsha choked up. "I don't know. I had amnesia. I don't remember anything before I was twenty."
"When I woke up, I was by Poyang Lake with no clothes. The local police couldn't find my identity either. I only remember being called 'De Biao.'"
Wu Zhong was stunned—so she really was called De Biao? Such a girl with such a name?
"You must have mixed things up because of amnesia."
Yang Chunsha shook her head. "I don't know. In my memory, when I think of a name, all I remember is 'De Biao.'"
Infinite Summer's face turned skeptical. "Now you're trying to package yourself as an amnesiac master, or maybe a divine human-shaped disaster?"
Yang Chunsha sounded bitter. "I know you don't believe me, but it's true."
"The local authorities reissued me ID; I thought that was the end. Even though I often dreamed of... well, a mage, I didn't think much about it. I muddled through life for three years."
"Then one day I went to a supposedly super-popular restaurant and tasted an odd bitterness."
"My mouth went numb. I asked the server to change the dish, but the server said it was fine. I even had others taste it, but they said they didn't taste anything."
"That night I had a weird dream—about the Mercenary Club... you know, the one you mentioned."
Wu Zhong was stunned—dreaming of the Mercenary Club?
Infinite Summer nodded. "Standard process for a freelance to enter the circle. The food had been laced with the blood of some physical-cultivation-side awakener, containing slivers of multiversal power."
"And each awakening level boosts one sensory channel for perceiving multiversal power."
"Level one is taste, level two smell, level three touch, level four hearing... normal people can't sense multiversal power. Only awakeners can. So even at level one, after tasting it, you'd be especially sensitive to that flavor."
Wu Zhong was surprised. "And the dream?"
Infinite Summer sneered. "That's the club's signature method. Their platform headquarters are built in a dream world; only by dreaming can you reach it."
"They cast a wide net through restaurants everywhere to test for hidden awakeners. When this woman tasted bitterness and asked for a replacement, she naturally attracted attention. They confirmed she was a wild awakener and led her into the club in a dream that night."
"Once you register a mercenary identity, you can later just dream your way there without being guided."
Wu Zhong's eyes lit up. "I see. Amazing."
"But having to sleep every time before visiting the platform is too much trouble, right?"
Infinite Summer shook his head. "That's only one node that facilitates face-to-face meetings. Many people never show themselves in reality or make direct contact."
"The club also has real-world sites and even a web portal. The drawback is that things in the real world can be destroyed; a malicious attack there would be a disaster."
"Therefore, most of the time people check the platform through the real world, and only in special circumstances—or in no-signal spaces—do they use the dream network exclusively."
Wu Zhong understood—double redundancy.
The platform existed in the real world for daily use and had a dreamworld fallback for critical moments.
No wonder they grew so powerful. Such a platform required matching disaster artifacts' properties as structural support to remain standing.
"I swear it's true. After I learned about the disaster world, I suspected some 'Angel of Ability' had toyed with me..."
"Then he didn't want to take responsibility and erased my memory, dumping me by the lake."
"As for why the police couldn't find my identity, maybe I misremembered the name. De Biao... maybe that's the man's self-given name in front of me."
"Please believe me. I'm harmless. If you don't trust me... then take me with you. I'd be willing to follow you. I have nothing tying me down."
Yang Chunsha laid bare the thing she hated saying most, desperate for her life.
And she had found a solution: declare harmlessness and latch onto Brother Xia.
Wu Zhong couldn't help but vouch: "I think that's fine... she's at least more capable than me. Why not let her join Brother Xia's group?"
Infinite Summer said, "I don't have an organization. I'm just a freelance mercenary."
Wu Zhong froze. "But didn't you say you were going to get me into a church?"
Infinite Summer's eyes flashed. "A church? What church? I never said that."
"Ah?" Wu Zhong was stunned.
He caught on after a moment—maybe that church was so strict you couldn't even mention it externally. Brother Xia had mentioned it in confidence; Wu Zhong shouldn't have repeated it.
So Wu Zhong quickly backpedaled. "Oh, my mistake. I meant—if you're uneasy about her, just keep her close."
Infinite Summer sneered. "If she wanted to run, is there such a thing as a thousand-day prevention?"
"No, no, I'm so weak, how could I dare? Just don't kill me—I'll join any organization." Yang Chunsha hurriedly pled allegiance.
She had long wanted a patron, so she'd been clinging to a high-tier mercenary like Infinite Summer.
Now that she knew his secret, survival meant being taken by him. There was no other way.
Infinite Summer didn't give a clear answer, coldly: "Clear the path. No more nonsense."
"The Night Wandering Deity is nearby. I don't want to take another bath."