“Hong Haocheng!” The people who had followed Hong Haocheng panicked instantly, wanting to break free from their engagements to assist, but were blocked by others.
Thud! The monster was smashed to the ground by Zi Long Jun.
Zhao Yun pulled out the spear, blood spattering onto Zhou Dao and the shaft, flowing down the pole toward his hand.
“Let’s go!”
The gaseous Zi Long Jun picked up the key guarded by the monster, grabbed Zhao Yun, and rushed to the ancient gate at the back in two steps, inserted the key, and charged into the passage.
A layer of force field quickly sealed the door again.
{Distance to force field activation: 99 seconds remaining.}
“Haocheng! Are you alright?” Several people ran over.
But Hong Haocheng’s gaze was unfocused.
“Haocheng!” one man roared, “Don’t you die, kid!”
“That bastard from the Hero Course just because he’s an old-timer in this world…”
“Haocheng’s only been here a short while; lasting this long against him is already impressive…”
Their mournful voices gradually faded as the crowd stared at the boy’s chest—the horrific edge of the wound was writhing, as if rapidly growing new flesh.
“Incredible recovery!”
At that moment, the force field at the entrance silently shattered and dissipated.
Feeling the fresh night breeze, Hong Haocheng’s lifeless eyes stirred faintly.
Before the stunned crowd could react, the blood-soaked boy lying on the ground sprang up like a hare and dashed into the tunnel with sword in hand.
……
Zhao Yun sprinted through the deep, hollow main tunnel.
The nightmare companion, formed into a wave of air current, twisted behind him into a grotesque humanoid figure, following like a shadow.
Zhao Yun stopped in confusion, looking at his itchy right arm.
The wound on his right arm, which would have required months to heal, was rapidly forming deeper muscle connections—it was recovering at an astonishing speed!
“This is…”
Seeing the bloodstains on his clothes, Zhao Yun’s eyes widened.
“This blood… it’s extraordinarily peculiar. What kind of blood is this?”
Suddenly struck by a thought, he turned his head to look back at the dark path he had come from.
“Could it be that kid has obtained a bloodline?!”
{Don’t mind him. Hurry up—as the holder of the key, I can already sense that another key has already opened the passage.}
……
At the door, Morrie turned to look at the woman riding the demon-nightmare motorcycle.
“Thanks, this is far enough. For the road ahead, I want to walk alone.”
“Don’t worry about Yang Zicang blaming me,” the slender woman in the black leather suit said in a soft voice. “A man has his responsibilities. For someone entering this world, nothing is more precious than true love.”
She took off her helmet, and her hair cascaded down like a thin waterfall, revealing a face as radiant as the bright moonlight.
“A classical romance story straight out of a comic book, happening in this ruined city, happening right beside me—it truly moves me.”
She smiled and tapped her helmet:
“So don’t you worry about your goddess either. My blessings to you—go find your true love.”
Morrie smiled slightly and handed her a “Born Treasure”:
“Thank you. Please, take this no matter what.”
The young woman in the black leather jacket glanced at it, then turned her motorcycle around in one swift motion.
“No need to give me your renowned ‘Born Treasure,’ you’ll need it more inside here. Off I go! I’m off to find the next person in need of a ride.”
With that, the motorcycle shot vertically down from the edge of the platform, clinging to the wall like a swift shadow.
Watching her depart like a nimble night cat, Morrie tugged at his scarf and turned to look at the brilliantly lit yet empty great hall’s front entrance.
“Julia, you’re incredibly strong—you’ve actually already cleared this place.”
Boom! Behind him, a Mordo Fang Chamber collided into the platform.
Morrie glanced back, and in the distance, within another set of revolving rooms, he faintly saw nearly ten figures stepping onto the outer platform of their great hall.
“The Four-Phase Team!”
Those figures were unmistakably the top-tier team from Zone 23!
Morrie dared not linger; he rushed swiftly toward the pitch-black entrance before him.
As he ran, a huge eye outlined by shadows suddenly appeared in the air behind him.
……
A jagged line shot down onto a headquarters member standing beside Yang Zicang.
“Director Zicang, our General Manager Yan Yi just reported that he’s found traces of Mr. Morrie.”
Yang Zicang grabbed his shoulders. “Where is he?”
“He’s already reached the entrance of the great hall. Our Director Yan can, after investing in someone for 10 years, access their non-Cruxspace visuals for the next 24 hours.”
The man stammered, “So when Mr. Morrie steps out of the Mordo Fang Chamber, Yan will be able to see an image. But… it might vanish again in a little while.”
Yang Zicang looked up toward the high part of the gear group. Through the force field walls, he could see the high platform in the gaps between the interlocking magic teeth.
“Damn it, just knowing what that guy is up to is enough. You keep an eye on him for me!”
“Okay.” The person accepted the order excitedly.
Kongdong! The room, as large as a plaza, trembled slightly.
A giant carpet appeared. A team quickly climbed onto it, and within seconds, the carpet carried them across a distance of dozens or even hundreds of meters.
Below was a dense group of creatures resembling crocodiles. The White Shadow Nian Dragon swiftly bit apart their Psychic Bodies.
Suddenly, Luo Bin’s model broken line shot over.
{Zi Zang, Julia might be in danger.}
This time, Yang Zicang did not choose to refuse. As long as he knew where Morrie was now, a weight was lifted from his heart. It wouldn’t be long before he could catch up to him.
But now, if something happened to Morrie’s beloved Julia, that man would probably go crazy.
[What’s going on?]
Yang Zicang asked nervously.
{In order to find Morrie, I also investigated Julia’s information. As a result, I found out that Mark of the Four-Phase Team is right by that lady’s side.}
“What!” Yang Zicang exclaimed. “Has the Four-Phase Team already found Morrie’s fiancée?!”
The remaining people on the carpet, seeing Yang Zicang’s mood, couldn’t help but become anxious.
{No, it’s just Mark alone. It’s dangerous that the Four-Phase Team has found Julia, but it’s still within negotiable bounds. But this Mark is different.}
“What do you mean?”
{Zi Zhang, do you still remember in City 11, when I let you exploit their characteristic as a team to efficiently dig out their hidden secrets deep down?}
Of course Yang Zicang remembered that matter.
Luo Bin, leveraging the fact that they were a team who spent day and night together and thus had a relatively solid understanding of each other’s secrets, unearthed a lot of intelligence about the private matters of the Four-Phase Team.
“What are you trying to say?”
Yang Zicang had long forgotten about thinking too deeply on that matter, only recalling that those few days were likely the most mentally painful and anxious period in the historical memory of the Four-Phase Team.
{Mark has always been coveting the position of chief captain of the Four-Phase Sky Team.}
“Although I don’t know exactly who Mark is, among those people last time, I’m afraid no one was worthy of that position.”
{Yes, Mark knows that himself. So, he plans to run away.}
A glimmer of confusion flashed in Yang Zicang’s eyes.
Luo Bin continued:
{Before running away, he plans to take Cheng Yunze’s Moon Angel with him.}
“……”
Yang Zicang’s skin crawled. “You could know that too? Something like this, he wouldn’t tell anyone.”
This was the secret of secrets; how on earth did Luo Bin manage to uncover it!
“I’m not just restricted to using models, you know. Don’t forget what I do, hehe. First off, I found out that the Moon Angel was first discovered by Mark. Because he couldn’t control it no matter what… he let Cheng Yunze, who was still an ordinary person at the time, give it a try. I never expected it to succeed on the first attempt.”
Damn it, Cheng Yunze’s luck is so good it’s utterly frustrating.
“So, the condition to obtain the Moon Angel is that one must be an ordinary person who hasn’t received a model?”
“Not sure if it’s mandatory, but anyway, when he was still an ordinary person, Cheng Yunze obtained the Moon Angel, skyrocketing from rags to riches to become the city’s strongest.”
After a pause, Luo Bin continued:
“Second, from the comments of two members of Mark’s team, I learned that he used to visit a certain place often a while back. Later, a friend of Mark’s went to check and found that the stone coffin where the Moon Angel had been placed was gone.”
“Third, half a year ago, I obtained inside information from Mark himself: he planned to ‘take back’ what he considered his ‘treasure’ at Cheng’s place. Just now, I extracted key information that Mark intended to ‘use the coffin to take back’ the ‘treasure’ that rightfully belonged to him from Cheng’s place.”
Yang Zicang understood.
Mark intended at the end of the Demon Council event, to find an opportunity to pack the Moon Angel in the coffin and ascend directly.
What Cheng Yunze was always grateful for was that Mark had given up the chance to obtain the Moon Angel to himself, who was still an ordinary person at the time—a secret kept among the old members of the Four-Phase Team.
“So that’s it. No wonder Cheng Yunze didn’t keep him close by his side.”
Of course, Cheng Yunze must’ve been reminded by Luo Bin’s remarks, and killing his benefactor directly would’ve been unnecessarily heartless, so Mark fell out of favor. Thus, feeling the crisis brewing, Mark started scheming in advance, but his ‘friend’ noticed weak points.
By piecing the information together, it was easy to make a conclusion.
“But…” Yang Zicang’s frowned faintly, then said in his mind:
“Then why did you say Julia is in danger?”
{Because Mark seems to have found something even stronger than the Moon Angel! It’s right next to Julia… Brother, this came from my fourth intelligence dig within a span of seven days.}
Fourth time… Yang Zicang could feel the sting of loss in Luo Bin’s voice when he said that.
“You spent ten millennium?”
Luo Bin couldn’t compare to him, yet he willingly spent ten millennium extracting this intelligence that might not even be successfully mastered.
Yang Zicang felt deeply moved. This chubby man, who initially only planned to gain model promotion by mining his intelligence, was now genuinely helping him.
{Nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine years of Sequence, plus one year of Virtual Zero Sequence.}
“Thanks, brother. I’ll make up for those ten millennium when I get back.”
Forget it, forget it. Since I didn’t find you the psionic ability, you can keep those Sequences for yourself.”
Luo Bin said quite generously:
{Anyway, considering Morrie’s got a big household and considerable expenses now, he probably doesn’t have that many extra years of lifespan for you to squander like before.}
“Big household?”
Was he referring to that villa? Yang Zicang wondered. Actually, Iyear cost only a few thousand Sequences a year. Then the young man got it—yeah, he needed to ask Zhu Yin to find that corpulent moron a nicer house in Pivot Town as well.
All cleaned up. The giant centipede is amazing.” the crowd on the flying carpet praised.
Just then, a chilling wind blew, and an orb-like creature slightly larger than a basketball, resembling a huge eyeball, appeared above everyone’s heads.
“What kind of monster is this!” the crowd exclaimed, looking up in astonishment.
I’d already written out some of Hong Haocheng’s battle scenes, as well as Julia’s side of things, but when I looked at it… oof… I rubbed my face and decided to switch it up with a narration. Cutting two to three thousand words of fluff didn’t feel too bad, though. These chapters are a pain to write—so many characters and messy plots—just a mood update.
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