Chapter 394

Chapter 395: Emergency Rescue

The instant Zheng Zhi saw that huge crack, he sucked in a cold breath. Remembering Yu Sheng’s rule to report anything strange at once, he shouted: “I see it! The tall tower ahead turned into a Rift, just like the one at Thousand Peak Spirit Mountain!”

Before his voice even fell, the Great Rift vanished from sight. That terrifying scene ended as suddenly as a dream.

The team stopped at once. Yu Sheng turned and asked: “Another Rift? How big was it? What state was it in?”

Zheng Zhi stared, stunned, at the Refining Tower’s dark outline in the rain. He looked lost as he said: “It suddenly disappeared. It was only there for a few seconds.”

Lightning split the sky. Harsh light washed part of the Refining Tower’s vast side. Yu Sheng turned toward it. In the rain, its outline blurred. The lit section seemed to wake and tremble in the gloom.

He had no time to think about the Rift that Zheng Zhi had seen. A strong stench of blood drifted from nearby. It was close and sharp enough that even he could smell it.

They had left the last lively blocks at the city’s edge and entered the waste zone beside the old mining works. The scent came from a cluster of worn buildings.

With Irene tucked against him, Yu Sheng took the lead and stepped into a maze of tall plants joined by huge pipes, conveyor cables, and machine tracks.

Industrial towers stood around the mountain-like Refining Tower. The engines that once thundered now lay quiet in this equatorial rainy season. Black workshops and hulking mechanical shapes looked like giant bones, washed by rain, silent and hollow.

Yu Sheng knew the districts around Ink City’s Refining Towers were full of sites like this. They had served old steps of mining, refining, and rough processing. When the projects slowed and stopped, these huge, complex plants were hard to tear down or reuse. Aside from a few turned into tours, most blocks near the towers had become the city’s Rust Belt.

Only the automatic systems came by on a schedule to check the base structures. Otherwise, these zones felt forgotten.

Luna spoke low: “Radar has a hit.” She bent, opened a weapons bay hidden under her skirt, and fitted razor blades onto her fingers.

Foxy’s tails slowly lifted. She looked ahead, a silver glint crossing her eyes. Wisps of fox fire rose around her. The fire climbed her oil paper umbrella, burning across it without harm, turning it into a flaming canopy that burned brighter in the rain.

Irene slid out of Yu Sheng’s clothes and lay on his shoulder, staring around with worry as she rubbed a small lightning orb between her hands with care. The body she was using outside the Door today was made from Spirit Fox Dark Iron.

Yu Sheng looked up and noticed that a section of a factory roof had collapsed, as if something had smashed it not long ago.

They moved with care toward that building. Suddenly, Foxy’s ears twitched.

She heard a voice in the rain, tight and anxious, calling: “Grand-uncle, hold on. Don’t sleep. Please don’t fall asleep. The elixir will take effect soon. Grand-uncle, you already changed to your original form. Please hold on.”

Yu Sheng heard it too. He met the fox maiden’s eyes, then sprinted with her toward the sound.

They rounded a wall knocked down by some recent impact and finally saw the source of the voice and the blood. A girl in a red dress knelt in the rain, fighting to save her companion. The one she was saving was a huge demon fox, about half the size of Foxy’s original form, with six tails. Its straw colored fur was soaked with blood. Its breath was weak. It was in terrible shape.

At the same time, the red dressed girl saw Yu Sheng’s group appear nearby. She jolted and cried out: “Grand-uncle, someone is here.”

Then she noticed Foxy at Yu Sheng’s side, the oil paper umbrella glazed with fox fire in her hand, and nine tails swaying behind her. The girl sniffed hard. Shock and joy spread across her face, like a drowning person grabbing a reed. She stumbled to her feet and ran over, saying: “Silver Fox High Immortal, it is me. We met once on Nethermoon. Please help my grand-uncle. He is about to-”

Before she finished, Immortal Yuan Hao flashed to the side of the dying six tailed demon fox and said briskly: “Do not panic, girl. Let me see him.”

At that moment, Yu Sheng’s gaze fell behind the red dressed girl. He saw five shining golden fox tails.

They must have been very pretty and lively most days. Now they were hurt and drenched, drooping in the rain, looking pitiful.

Irene lifted her head on Yu Sheng’s shoulder to look at Foxy and said: “Hey, silly fox, your distant kin.”

Foxy did not answer the doll. She walked up to the red dressed girl. After thinking for a few seconds, she leaned close and sniffed her. The girl’s whole body tightened in an instant, and even her wet tails puffed in the rain. Then Foxy blinked in sudden recall and said: “Oh. It is you.”

She tapped Yu Sheng’s elbow with a tail and said: “Benefactor, this is the jade faced, golden furred five tail we met on the Immortal Ark Platform at Nethermoon.”

Yu Sheng nodded and said: “I know. I guessed.”

He could only guess. This was his first time seeing this local fox in human form, and he did not have Foxy’s nose for people.

They gathered around the fox lying on the ground and fading fast. Immortal Yuan Hao pressed his hand to its body to calm the injury. The red dressed girl stood by Foxy with a face full of worry.

Yu Sheng asked in a row: “What happened? Weren’t you on Nethermoon? Why are you here? How did he get hurt? Were you attacked?”

The five tail spoke at once, words popping like beans: “My grand-uncle and I followed an immortal’s guidance and came here to seek a chance, but after we arrived he suddenly sensed something and said there was danger. We tried to run, but we fell into a strange place. There, a group of black clad odd people and many monsters tried to kill us. We used everything we had, but we could not beat them and could not find the way out. Later, somehow, those in black seemed to get an order, and they all withdrew. My grand-uncle and I escaped by luck and tumbled into this place.”

Her story had too many parts, all in a rush. Maybe her head was still a mess, or things had happened too fast.

Yu Sheng listened and squinted, then asked: “An immortal pointed the way? You came here to seek a chance?”

As he spoke, he raised his head to the rain, the factories and pipes, and the mountain-like Refining Tower, and he blinked. He said: “Seeking a chance in the old industrial belt at the Border?”

[This felt off.]

The doll on his shoulder suddenly piped up: “Say it this way instead. Go to the Border’s old land, the Spirit Vein Ruins, to seek ancient leftovers. That sounds right, yes?”

Yu Sheng rubbed his chin and said: “Put like that, it does sound right. Wait, how do you know so much… have you been binge reading novels again?”

Irene nodded without a second thought and said: “Yep, on your account.” Then she turned to Immortal Yuan Hao and asked: “Hey, how is it? Can he still be saved?”

Immortal Yuan Hao did not look up as he answered: “Normally, he could not be saved.” He let that shock everyone for a beat, then added, mild as ever: “But meeting me is his fortune. As long as he still wants to live, I can keep his life from going out. Conditions here are limited. I can only guard his life. To bring him back fully, my junior brother must act. He is a master of medicine.”

Yu Sheng said at once: “I will open the Door. You take him through?”

Immortal Yuan Hao waved a hand and said: “Wait. I will steady him more first. Right now, his heart meridians are all broken. If we move him, he might die. Do not worry. In a moment, we will be fine.”

His words were both scary and light, making the five tailed golden fox stare in shock, but his calm tone showed he was confident.

Irene lay on Yu Sheng’s shoulder and studied the demon fox on the ground, mulling who knew what. After a while, she said: “Hey, Yu Sheng, this fox looks kind of ugly.”

Cold sweat ran down Yu Sheng’s back as he said: “Hey, that is not polite.”

Irene said: “But it is a little ugly. Much less cute than silly fox’s original form. Its face is square, and its head is square too.”

More sweat beaded at Yu Sheng’s temple. He glanced at the six tailed demon fox, eyes shut in a half faint, and he barely kept a straight face as he said: “There are many kinds of foxes. This kind is called a highland fox.”