Chapter 139: The Convoy

Without Morrie to help rotate the time sequence, Yang Zicang dared not accept others’ investments casually, nor use his own time sequence recklessly.
He looked at the vines ahead and said coldly:
“Recovering fifty years of Void Zero Chrono every two to three seconds… I’ll just use the Chrono Weapon to drain you dry.”
With a firm and powerful lift of his hand, a silver long spear emerged from the swirling black hole.
The man above, looking at the weapon that suddenly appeared in Yang Zicang’s hand, let out a self-mocking laugh tinged with envy.
“No wonder… you’re an Armor-Class boss who built a mansion from scratch, having such a good item! Cough…”
On the other side, Boss Zhuang, and those who saw this scene through him, all silently thought of the phrase “worth a fortune” upon seeing the weapon.
{So you had a treasure like this, Brother. Is it a storage space?}
Spatial items were rare in themselves, and such a portable spatial treasure was even more precious, with incalculable value.
“It’s the storage space inherent to this spear. Anything else stored in it would be destroyed immediately.”
Yang Zicang charged forward rapidly.
The youth armed with two weapons moved his hands swiftly. Initially surging like a tide and attacking fiercely, the vine soon dared not misbehave. It retracted its spreading vines and withdrew fully into defense.
“The principal is only about thirty to forty-thousand Chronos, but that’s mere hundreds of attacks.”
Yang Zicang pursued the vine, attacking relentlessly. Bang, bang—sparks flew.
A small ball of light appeared at the top of the pit, into which a spectral elf, donning a pretty red vest, gazed down mistily.
{Ah-yy, the deceitful trickster Yang is quite something indeed.}
“Don’t disturb me.”
{So fierce!}
The small light sphere flew down, bobbing and weaving near the young man’s shoulder as it dodged the vines’ attacks.
Yang Zicang’s movements were swift. Soon, a small patch of vines was set ablaze, and the darkness within the cave was completely dispelled. He gradually approached the wall, where the branches were thicker, but even they couldn’t withstand the rapid assault of the two Chrono Weapons.
[My sword has neutralized many units of 50N.]
[My lance has neutralized many units of 100N.]
[As expected of me, the Great Quadrilateral! The Model!]
“So strong.” The man who had thought he wouldn’t survive watched the scene below, and hope for life flickered back to life within him.
Swish! The silver lance suddenly vanished and reappeared by the man’s side. With a roar, the lance, trailing a red afterimage, stabbed through the main vine trunk that bound him.
The suspended man fell to the ground. His body was riddled with holes of all sizes; many of his blood vessels had been replaced by plants. It was a miracle that he was still alive.
“Th-thanks. Its Amplified Chrono should be almost depleted, less than thirty thousand now.”
Upon hearing this, the model on Yang Zicang’s chest flickered, and he moved faster. But at that moment, the ground shook, and the tree trunk began to burrow downward to flee.
“It’s trying to escape,” the man on the ground said weakly, with excitement.
“Indeed, a mobile plant-type monster.”
Yang Zicang stabbed even faster. He no longer conserved Amplified Chrono. Diffusing Chrono, he thrust his lance forward.
Boom!
[I neutralized 33,372N!]
The pit wall collapsed with a loud boom, revealing a small, deep hole behind it.
Yang Zicang felt a bone-deep ache of regret.
Selling the incense pellets had earned him a seemingly substantial sum of 200,000 or so, but facing such an enemy, the hard-won timeline effect dwindled away—reducing by one-twentieth of that in the blink of an eye.
He promptly used a small coin prepared in his pocket, replenishing the 5000N sequestered within it.
{{{Good job, naughty Yang!}}}
The little red-vested sprite nestled within the small orb approached the wall alongside Yang Zicang. What had once been part of the trunk now resembled decayed wood, with cold air currents surging inward.
By the wall, he and the unfamiliar sprite reporter in the small orb both craned their necks to peer inside.
{{{What’s in there?}}}
“How about you go in and check it out?”
{{{…Bastard, trying to make me risk myself.}}}
“You won’t get hurt. Hey, you’ve even picked up idioms!”
The floating little chest puffed up as if it were declaring its own superiority.
Even if something had fallen deep inside, retrieving it would take quite some time. Yang Zicang turned around, retrieved the healing Ability Sphere provided by ZhuYin, and used it on the critically injured man on the ground. Wounds on the battered figure’s skin visibly healed, though full recovery would require much more rest.
“Captain Huo, I’ve acquired some additional memories… regarding this monster.”
“What do they contain?”
Yang Zicang asked this while simultaneously contacting the rider to come in and help.
“Someone led me—no, led this tree here—someone who could enter that mountain where the Phantom dwells… there’s a tunnel in there, with the main body of the plant inside…”
After saying this, he passed out.
“The Phantom.”
That mountain was no longer a secret; even ordinary people had long known that Phantom would attack anyone who approached.
The long-haired man scurried in with a lamp, looking absolutely panicked.
“Captain Jia~”
He rushed over wailing, dropped to his knees in a sliding bow, and cried out in shock and admiration:
“Ah, Captain, you took it down so fast! My admiration for you flows like the waters of the Yellow River…”
The little light orb circled around his shoulder. Yang Zicang sighed as he took in this embarrassing spectacle in front of the elf, and quickly said,
“Don’t give me that act; come help carry these people out.”
“Oh.”
……
Half a day later, when that man woke up, he found himself lying on a single bed inside the tent.
It was already dark outside, and one of his teammates was sound asleep on a nearby table, face resting on his arms.
As he sat up partway, he saw the tent fabric bulge into a human-shaped impression, then the side curtain was pushed aside, and Zuo Feixian rushed in, clutching a set of charcoal sketches.
“Hey, in your memory, the person who brought the vines out of the tunnel—can you recognize them in this?”
The injured man stared at the portrait, his eyelid twitching. “Who drew this? Can anyone actually be identified from this drawing?”
“Tch.” Zuo Feixian poked him in the shoulder with a finger, then pointed at the twisting, bold lines of the faces on the drawing.
“Is this one? What about this?”
When his finger moved to an extremely dashing portrait, the injured soldier stared at the eyebrows, the mouth, and the mole on the face, and hesitantly said:
“It seems a bit like this person.”
“Really!” Zuo Feixian happily looked at the portrait he was pointing at; on its left was a name, Wang Chaoguang.
“Wang Chaoguang? Awesome! I said this method would work, dammit!”
Zuo Feixian turned around and dashed out.
……
After communicating with several people, Boss Zhuang personally wrote down the materials about Yang Zicang and stored them in the bookcase behind him.
“The gun he holds during these sixty years might be a Century Weapon.”
Across the table, a beautiful woman with soft silver hair spun a key in her hand.
Boss Zhuang took a deep breath. “It seems we really need to win him over. Apparently, this guy has actually killed a Defender.”
“A Defender? What’s that?”
“That is…”
The strikingly attractive woman lifted her chin, her fair, delicate neck soft and supple, and before continuing, seeing her like this, Boss Zhuang became entranced, forgetting what he was about to say next.
She put down the hand holding the key and rested her elbows on the wide, thick table, giggling while propping her chin on her small fists:
“Honey, today you lost. Give me a millennium’s worth of chronosegments.”
Boss Zhuang sprang up and slammed the table, saying, “Today you locked the door! No one could get in! That doesn’t count!”
The girl leaned her head forward and chuckled, “Hmph, what, don’t you want us to be alone?”
Boss Zhuang blushed a little.
“But you always just play cards with me.”
“What, you don’t want to? Hmph, I knew you had ulterior motives. I just wanted to test you, and who knew it would expose your problem so quickly.”
“I… I’m willing.”
A luxurious motorcade stopped outside the railing gate of Dufreq Inn.
Several gatekeepers looked at them with confusion.
After a spotless, dark-colored car door was opened by an attendant, a fifteen-year-old girl with twin tails stepped out, with several people gathered around her.
The attendant, of elegant bearing, spoke calmly: “This place is one of the main information exchange points in the Loss-Freq area.”
Dust flew.
The girl looked ahead, revealing sharp little teeth: “If this were in the brain, those structures would be called ‘neurons,’ right?”
“Yes.”
The attendant slightly bowed his head briefly, then straightened up, his eyes always half-closed, as if he could only see three steps ahead.
“Gentlemen, do you need to stay at the inn?”
The gatekeepers hurriedly stood up and walked over, not daring to be slow.
Being able to have such luxurious cars that hadn’t turned into nightmare-corrupted monsters in this damned place—anyone could tell they were a notorious big shot.
“No, we have other business.”
“What is it? Can we help?”
“Of course.”
The girl raised a small gemstone-crafted Rubik’s cube and looked at them.
“The fame born from influence here is too tainted, and we’re here to cleanse it. The best way you can help is by becoming the soil’s nourishment.”
Their eyes instantly widened, and the red and white miniature models on their chests lit up rapidly.
A circular aura flickered in the girl’s eyes.
[Shadowbane Annihilation, First Circle: Unheard.]
Then, within this ring, the Circle expanded, pushing and replacing the initial ring.
[Shadowbane Annihilation, Second Circle: Unseen.]
The gem cube glinted.
The building ahead turned semi-transparent before exploding in an instant, the very sound of the blast being silenced as well.
It all disintegrated into dust, becoming the purest energy, flashing within forty to fifty meters of vicinity like a stunning spectacle akin to a shattered universe.
The girl’s figure trembled slightly.
“Even after purifying the bloodline, it’s still somewhat taxing. Are those bloodline intelligence data they gathered really reliable?”
“Cadre Hu, you’ve done an excellent job.”
Beside the girl, another tall attendant woman whispered:
“According to collected intelligence from the old world, purifying the bloodline is the right path. You’ll grow stronger over time, at which point, without needing the Compiler’s secret treasure, your First-Circle and Second Circle Bloodline Secret Arts can achieve similar power.”
“Hmm, I hope so.”
She twisted her slender, swaying figure and walked toward the solid, sturdy wide-body car. Upon taking her seat, the girl gazed at the slowly emerging white and red rings springing forth in that patch of empty space.
Within the floating rings, faintly flickering numbers were shimmering.
320N, 2152.3N, 45N, 12Y, 8700N…
“To be able to come into contact with these Fate Rings at this stage was something people from the Old World once yearned for, yet could never attain. Share them among yourselves.”
“Thank you for the generous gift, Cadre Hu.”