Chapter 29: Skin-Changing Outfit |
Before leaving, Infinite Summer handed the human head specimen to Wu Zhong for safekeeping.
Wu Zhong stood ready in full alert, but the Night Wandering Deities weren’t idiots and did not show up again.
No new incidents occurred inside the cave either.
After a few minutes, Infinite Summer returned with three motorcycles, brought in in separate batches.
He didn’t explain, but both of them understood: he must be limited by a weight limit for teleported objects.
Relying on the motorcycles, they sped through the cave for a full three hours before finally reaching the end.
“Earth Escape · Yellow Springs Swamp!”
This time Yang Chunsha made no attempt to hide it; she simply opened a stone door in the rock face, revealing a steep, upward-slanting slope behind it.
She led the way, and the group dashed up the slope until they reached the surface.
Yang Chunsha led them a short distance and entered a small countryside villa.
“This is your safe house?” Infinite Summer sounded disdainful.
A rural cottage as a safe house? It was merely secluded.
Yang Chunsha shrugged helplessly. “If you insist on talking about safety, the Dim Passage is the safest place… but of course you have ghostly deities hunting you.”
“This place is just a temporary stop. It has running water, electricity, and internet, and normally no one will come here. If we need to run, the surrounding area is full of wild hills, and there are four routes that lead into the Dim Passage.”
“See, one of them is under the basement, under the medicine storage room, directly connecting to the tunnels.”
She grabbed some medicine and entered the bathroom.
She had been injured by flying stones and got dirty water on herself; it needed to be cleaned.
Wu Zhong also took medicine and washed up; Infinite Summer had already coated his wounds earlier with some ointment—whatever it was, it had taken away the pain.
The deepest, bone-exposing wound on his arm had already fused into a dark red scar.
A little more ointment now, though not as good as what Infinite Summer used, would be enough.
After showering, Yang Chunsha pulled frozen food from the refrigerator, warmed it, and began to eat heartily at the table.
After a night of chaos, they were starving.
Wu Zhong didn’t hold back either and sat down to eat.
As for Infinite Summer, he’d long since vanished, saying only he’d be back soon.
“Huh?”
Suddenly, Yang Chunsha glanced at the dirty clothes she’d just taken off.
She walked over, reached inside, and pulled out a cucumber.
Wu Zhong’s expression turned odd. “De Biao! You still carry a cucumber with you?”
“Don’t eat it; it’s dirty.”
Yang Chunsha gave him a sidelong look, hesitated, then tossed the cucumber aside.
“This isn’t for eating. I use it to take calls.”
…Wu Zhong blinked.
He remembered Infinite Summer earlier holding a banana as if making a phone call.
“Is this an ability you all have? Making phone calls with fruit?”
Yang Chunsha curled her lip. “All mercenaries know it. The biggest perk of the Mercenary Club is ‘plant communication’.”
“You think why all of our mercenary code names are plants? Because that’s our communication ID.”
Wu Zhong was stunned. “Yang Chunsha is a plant?”
She pushed her glasses up. “A mature fruit of a ginger-family plant.”
“Infinite Summer is too—a hydrangea-type plant.”
“And Six Dao Mu is a honeysuckle-family plant—the legendary Dragon-Subduing Wood.”
Wu Zhong recalled that it did seem to be the case: everyone’s code name was a plant.
King Flower, Underground Orchid, Spruce Tree—those are all plants, right?
Zhang Qinglang wasn’t listed, but that was because he never said; as a silver mercenary he must also have a plant communication ID.
“Are there more perks? Any plant will do?”
Yang Chunsha nodded. “When communicating, you can hold any plant.”
“Same for answering calls. The nearest plant to us will respond. If there were lettuce on this table, a plate of vegetables could talk…”
“As for the plant name, it’s just an ID lock—akin to a phone number.”
Good grief—if there were a plate of lettuce on the table, it might suddenly ring.
Wu Zhong asked curiously, “Do you have to pay for calls?”
Yang Chunsha nodded. “Theoretically yes. Annual subscription costs six Bits.”
“But actually it’s unnecessary because if you post enough missions and reach $2,000,000 in volume or ten Bits in transaction volume, you get a free year.”
“Similarly, if missions you complete reach that level of volume… that works too.”
“So almost no one actually tops up, since that would be throwing money away.”
Wu Zhong understood. The platform used that method to encourage people in the disaster world to post and accept missions.
Plant communication was treated as a perk.
“They aren’t losing out either. When you complete a mission, the platform takes half the cut.”
Yang Chunsha nodded. “Yes, but without using the platform, most mercenaries have little contact with each other. Who plays middleman? What if someone robs someone else?”
“There are too many variables. The Mercenary Club is the largest organization in the disaster world and is trustworthy.”
“And the shop has many good items; only mercenaries with high ranks can buy them.”
“As your rank rises, the commission taken decreases.”
“If I complete this mission for Infinite Summer, I’ll be silver level, and they only take forty percent.”
Wu Zhong rubbed his chin. “So black-iron newbies get sixty percent taken?”
“Right, but black-iron missions are simple and not dangerous—mostly errands. Theoretically, a brave ordinary person could do them.” Yang Chunsha sounded like she’d done many black-iron jobs.
Wu Zhong thought that sounded great. Doing a job worth hundreds of thousands and losing sixty percent—so what? Where else could you find something this good?
If it were him, he wouldn’t bother with dangerous missions either, just do errands and live comfortably.
Whoosh!
A stranger suddenly appeared on the balcony.
He wore sunglasses, carried a backpack, a short-sleeve T-shirt and beach shorts, and held bulging travel bags in both hands.
“Who are you!” Wu Zhong was shocked and instantly pointed his gun.
But because the gun draw was too sudden, the pistol flew out of his hand…
He didn’t bother with the embarrassment. With a flick of his right hand, a purple arm-guard snapped into place.
He spread his fingers, pointing at the stranger on the balcony as purple light coalesced.
Unexpectedly, the stranger lifted his left hand and interlaced his fingers with Wu Zhong’s, emitting purple energy as well.
Sparks danced between their palms, and Wu Zhong’s arm-guard retracted.
“Don’t panic, Xiao Wu. It’s me.” The stranger revealed himself as Infinite Summer.
Wu Zhong blinked and lowered his hand. “That was terrifying—suddenly appearing on the balcony. I thought… some covert unit had come after us.”
He scrutinized Infinite Summer’s face but could find no disguise marks. The facial structure, skin, and muscles were entirely different.
If not for the purple energy signature, he wouldn’t have dared to recognize him.
Infinite Summer smiled lightly. “Change clothes.”
He opened his bag; there were four outfits—two male, two female.
All were cool summer clothes in flashy colors.
Wu Zhong frowned. “I just changed after showering. Change again?”
Infinite Summer rolled his eyes. “Just change and you’ll see.”
Yang Chunsha, who had seen a lot, covered her mouth and whispered, “Could it be a skin-changing outfit?”
Wu Zhong, unsurprised, blurted out, “So wearing these clothes lets you become someone else?”
Yang Chunsha excitedly pulled out a dress. “Yes, and very expensive.”
“A random face costs five Bits per set, a custom face is twenty Bits!”
“I’ve always wanted a defensive set, but it has to be bought with Bits and I can’t afford it.”
She had only twenty Bits of Source Energy, with 16.233 as Bitcoin.
Spending a third of her Bitcoin on a set, wasting a quarter of her cultivation—how could she bear it?
Better to cling to someone rich and use their stuff easily.
She gleefully picked up two female outfits and headed into the room to change, but Infinite Summer stopped her.
“Leave one female set and take one male set.”
Hearing that, both Wu Zhong and Yang Chunsha paused.
Infinite Summer said calmly, “One male, one female—that’s the standard configuration.”
Wu Zhong realized then that the two male outfits weren’t both meant for him; likewise, both female outfits weren’t solely for Yang Chunsha.
They were prepared so he could disguise as a woman if needed.
“Seriously? Why bother?” Wu Zhong’s mouth twitched.
“Better safe than sorry. It’s a kind of illusion effect; your essence doesn’t change, and if the clothes are damaged, the effect fails.” Infinite Summer treated the precaution matter-of-factly.
Yang Chunsha didn’t fuss and went to change into one female set.
Wu Zhong didn’t make a fuss either—these were two outfits worth millions!
He took one male set and one female set; he changed into the male clothes right away and stuffed the female outfit into his pack.
After changing, he didn’t feel anything different, but the mirror told another story—his appearance had completely shifted.
His skin was much paler, his features sharper, eyes deep with a mixed-race vibe.
Yang Chunsha emerged from the room transformed into a foreign-looking beauty.
She looked younger by at least ten years: smooth skin, golden hair, a youthful sweetness, and with her golden-rimmed glasses she exuded a scholarly charm like a high school girl.
She stared at the mirror in stunned delight—she had become younger.
“My God, random can be this handsome?” Wu Zhong admired his own new face.
He stroked his chin, tilted his head, and struck exaggeratedly solemn poses.
Infinite Summer’s mouth quirked. “Skin-changing sets can be customized, so random isn’t truly random.”
“I don’t know exactly what kind of disaster artifact they came from, but all the random sets were made by finding many models.”
“They likely need real person templates to make the set.”
“See, the bag also contains corresponding passport documents.”
Wu Zhong murmured, “So theoretically you could become any real big figure—like a major tycoon, a leader, even that Six…”
His voice cut off as he struck his fist against his own mouth and bit his knuckle.
Infinite Summer glared hard.
Wu Zhong almost let the name slip—don’t mention that name in front of a mirror.
“Smart. Don’t talk carelessly in front of mirrors.” Infinite Summer warned again.
Wu Zhong nodded hastily, then whispered, “Tell me—how powerful is that Six… really?”
Infinite Summer shook his head. “Nothing much to tell. You only need to know: he’s the strongest awakener, and in addition, a conceptual god.”
Wu Zhong stiffened. The strongest awakener and a conceptual god…
“Isn’t that basically world-class?”
Infinite Summer frowned. “Hard to say. For disaster artifacts there isn’t always a concept of ‘number one’.”
“There are many examples of concept-level beings being defeated in simple ways.”
“But Six being the strongest awakener is not much disputed.”
Wu Zhong thought about it. It made sense: top awakeners used to be concentrated at the Multiversal Academy, and Six Dao Mu alone humbled the Academy.
Calling him the strongest awakener wasn’t wrong.
“Enough. Dawn’s coming—we should head out.” Infinite Summer moved to leave.
Wu Zhong opened his mouth; he was actually quite sleepy and wanted to catch a nap, but said nothing and followed, carrying his bag.
Dawn was pale and hazy. The three of them, all attractive in their summer outfits and with packs on their backs, looked like they were off to fly to a beach island.
They drove a Mustang Yang Chunsha had in the garage, with Infinite Summer at the wheel, speeding down the national highway.
Yang Chunsha sat in the back seat, watching the scenery with a tinge of sadness.
Her mission should have ended here, but she’d been forced onto this ship of thieves, fleeing abroad with Infinite Summer—would she ever get back in her lifetime?
All the work she’d put into building the Dim Passage for seven years—abandoned just like that?
That was one thing. More importantly, she couldn’t laze around anymore. Her easy days were over.
Wu Zhong stared absentmindedly at the distance, where gathering dark clouds were faintly visible.
He’d never been away from his grandfather; now he was heading into an unknown future without having time to say goodbye.
Would his grandfather be well taken care of? Would the surgery go smoothly? Would the ghosts and gods on Mount Lu be pacified?
The backseat two were quiet, their thoughts tangled.
They only snapped out of it when Infinite Summer drove into Star City, the capital of Xiang Province.
“How did we end up in the provincial capital? Heading for the big city?” Wu Zhong asked.
Infinite Summer said seriously, “The three of us—handsome guys and pretty girls—the more we travel to small places, the more we attract attention.”
Wu Zhong touched his handsome face. That made sense.
Yang Chunsha said, “We have new identities now. We can buy tickets and fly out, right?”
“The identities matched to the skin-changing sets are real—passports even show prior entry records.”
Infinite Summer sighed. “That would have worked. If 985 detected it, we would have already landed somewhere.”
“But Xiao Wu has the ghostly mark infection. Taking a plane… the Day Wandering Deities would wreck the flight if not worse.”
Wu Zhong had been targeted by the day and night wandering deities many times and was on high alert.
He immediately nodded. “Right, right—no planes.”
“Otherwise the flight attendant smiles at you one moment and stabs you the next.”
Infinite Summer said, “That wouldn’t matter with me around. The Day Wandering Deities can’t stir up trouble.”
“I can even keep you safe if they try to bring down a plane.”
“But that would escalate things and make a huge scene; landing could mean a net closing on us and never escaping 985’s tracking.”
Yang Chunsha pressed her lips. “So how do we leave?”
Infinite Summer thumbed the steering wheel. He had many ways to extract people, but none were suitable with Wu Zhong involved.
“There’s no shortcut. Anything we can think of, 985 can think of too.”
Wu Zhong suggested, “Then let’s just go old-school.”
“Take the national highway, cross mountains and rivers. If the west is passable, head over the plateau. If the south is open, go through the dense forest.”
“It’s summer break now—let’s pose as a self-driving tourist trip.”
Yang Chunsha looked at him blankly. That could work?
On second thought, that clumsy approach might be the safest.
All shortcut channels could be discovered by 985; this simple method would make them like needles in a haystack with no focused trail.
“What do you think, Brother Xia?” Wu Zhong turned to Infinite Summer.
The route decision still needed Infinite Summer’s call.
But Infinite Summer stopped the car by the roadside and got out first.
The two followed. Wu Zhong scratched his head. “Why stop? Aren’t we supposed to leave quickly, Brother Xia?”
Infinite Summer lit a cigarette and strode into a lavish foot spa. “No rush—first, wash our feet.”
“Huh?” Wu Zhong’s eyes went wide.