Chapter 300

Chapter 301: This Thing Can Run?

Yu Sheng’s thinking was very clear: he was not a “professional.”

Sure, if you counted licenses, he did have papers as a Spirit Realm Detective. Among regular people, that made him a pro at handling the supernatural. But facing something as specialized as this, he knew his limits. If he stumbled into a strange Otherworld to map it using pure fearlessness, or walked up to an unknown Entity to test it, or even got thrown at a squad of Dark Angels and ended up scattered to the winds, he could handle that. But this tower screamed elite cultist stronghold, the kind packed with secrets. If he barged in to investigate like a clueless hothead, he wouldn’t find much. He’d almost certainly die right away.

He didn’t fear death, but he refused to die in a way that earned no assists and only left a puddle of blood. Worse, if he rushed in and got himself killed, he might mess up the work of the real investigators who came later. [Stay smart, not brave, he told himself.]

So he messaged the Special Affairs Bureau with a clear report and said he would observe safely nearby. Then he led Foxy and the others to the edge of the polluted zone, hid in a thicket of crystal “trees,” and watched the tower while waiting for the Bureau’s teams to arrive.

All was quiet. The tower stood still in the center of that dark land. The tower and the warped ground around it were like an ugly scar in the city. No one, human or not, came out.

The two Irenes crouched on Yu Sheng’s shoulders, peeking over the crystals at the Giant Tower and muttering one after the other: “No movement at all.” “Hey, you think there are people inside? Do they know we found them?”

“There have to be. It’s a huge facility, and I can feel the Artificial Saintess hiding in there. She has to have a team maintaining her,” Yu Sheng said seriously. “And they definitely know they’re exposed. I made a huge scene just now.”

“Then why is nothing happening?” Foxy whispered as she leaned close.

“No idea… maybe they’re lying in ambush,” Yu Sheng guessed. “Waiting for us to wander in so five hundred axe-men can jump out from both sides of the door…”

“I’ve already covered the whole area with my Divine Sense,” Xuan Che said from nearby. “If anyone leaves that tower, I will not miss it.”

“Good,” Yu Sheng nodded, then found his eyes drifting to Xuan Che. He stared for a few seconds.

Xuan Che grew uneasy under the look: “Senior, is there something wrong with me?”

He was being very polite and stiff again.

“It’s nothing. I was just thinking about your moves in that fight,” Yu Sheng said, remembering the earth-shaking plain punch, and also the string of pills, talismans, and blessing rites before the battle. His tone turned a bit odd. “To be honest, it’s not the style I pictured for a Cultivator.”

Xuan Che looked embarrassed: “I made you laugh. I… I’m not very good at fighting. I only have a few clumsy tricks.”

“Really?” Yu Sheng glanced at the sword still floating behind him and added, curious: “You drew a sword, but I never saw you use it.”

Xuan Che’s face grew even more awkward: “The truth is… I can’t use a sword.”

This time it wasn’t just Yu Sheng who gaped. Even Irene stared at him: “Then why did you pull it out to float behind you?”

“This sword was a gift from my teacher at Divine Armaments Peak. It steadies my realm, boosts cultivation, and raises my life force and spirit,” Xuan Che explained quickly. “I cannot wield it, but taking it out adds power.”

Yu Sheng was speechless. Irene caught on at once: “So it’s just a high-stat item you equip for better attack, but your Swordsmanship level is zero and you put all your points into punching?”

Xuan Che thought it over and answered honestly: “That is a fair way to put it.”

Seeing the looks on Yu Sheng’s, Irene’s, and even Foxy’s faces, he hurried to explain: “I study under my master. My main paths are Pill Refining, talismans, and medicine. Strictly speaking, I am a physician. It is natural that I’m not skilled in battle.”

He paused, then added: “Even these nameless punches and kicks were forced on me by my master. He says a physician who travels to save lives will often face life and death, with trouble dogging his steps. Learn some fighting to protect yourself, and you can go the distance.”

Irene blinked, translated his half-classic phrasing in her head, then clapped: “Oh, I get it. Medical Brawl Exploding Fist, right?”

Yu Sheng almost sprayed his drink: “Medical Brawl Exploding Fist, seriously?”

He pictured Xuan Che’s punch turning hundreds of meters of roadway to dust, and the joke died on his lips. He had to admit the name fit. It was extremely explode-y.

Even Xuan Che froze for a beat, then brightened and praised: “Miss Irene, that is brilliant. What a name. When I return, I will tell my master his self-made boxing style finally has a name.”

Irene waved her hands fast: “When you go back, do not say I came up with it. Say you thought of it yourself.”

Xuan Che grew solemn: “I cannot claim another’s credit. That would go against the way of cultivation. This name was bestowed by you, Miss. I must tell my master the truth.”

Irene groaned: “How did we meet a blockhead?”

Yu Sheng said nothing, happily munching metaphorical melon seeds as he watched. Just then, a deep, sudden hum cut off the banter between the little doll and Xuan Che.

The hum came from the Giant Tower.

They all snapped their eyes toward the towering spire and saw a shocking scene.

The whole tower was flickering.

Like a trembling mirage, the dark tower shimmered in place. With each flicker, the tower boomed with a low hum that made the very air quiver. The blurry, overlapping look that had hovered over its upper half began to spread downward fast. In no time, the whole tower looked like multiple images stacked together, dizzying to behold.

Irene’s loud voice rang out at once: “What is this? What is it doing? Is it transforming to take off or what?”

Yu Sheng opened his mouth to answer, but a roar from high above cut him off.

They looked up and saw two strange aircraft tear through the fog, their long, narrow triangular bodies wrapped in translucent shields. They screamed across the sky, locked on the flickering tower, and launched a volley of blazing white orbs.

At the same time, it was as if a company had been airdropped from another dimension. More than a hundred figures in heavy Powered Armor appeared beneath the aircraft. Using jet packs, the armored troops adjusted in midair and poured fire toward the Giant Tower before they even landed.

Entity missiles, high-energy beams, constrained particle clusters, and all kinds of weapons Yu Sheng knew and didn’t know rained down on the flickering tower.

After a brief moment of shock, Yu Sheng realized these were the “investigators” from the Special Affairs Bureau. One text from him had pulled in a Deep Diving Unit with a pair of Hunting Owl bombers.

In seconds, military-grade bombardment covered the entire tower. Deafening explosions and shrieking energies blasted the fog away. Yu Sheng had expected the arriving teams to approach and study the strange tower first. He didn’t expect them to open with nonstop carpet fire. Then he understood why.

The opening barrage stripped off a shield layer around the tower and blew apart some of the floating side structures, but most of the follow-up attacks passed straight through the tower, which was still flickering.

Even Irene caught on and gasped: “No way. That thing can run?”

The whole tower was performing some kind of Teleportation.

The Special Affairs Bureau was trying to destroy the facility before it left, but they were clearly too late.

The Hunting Owl bombers and the Deep Diving Unit kept pounding the target, yet more and more shots passed through the tower’s shifting Illusion Arts. The Teleportation hum grew sharper, cutting through the thunder of gunfire and echoing across the entire Mistbound City.

Yu Sheng finally couldn’t sit still.

He could not let it escape. He did not want it to escape.

The Artificial Saintess, the bizarre Mistbound City, the hidden Bronze Knights, the sneaking Holy Revere Hermitage… too many secrets were inside that tower. He had ripped it out of its disguise with his own hands and was counting on it to solve a mountain of funding problems in the Valley. How could he let it slip away?

Besides, anything with this kind of look would be a disaster if it got loose.

He clenched his teeth. A rough plan barely formed as he snapped to Foxy: “Give me a tail!”

“Huh?”

“Plan B, launch me!”