The next day, Yang Zicang wrote a letter in the city of Krostiten and sent it through the special express channel of the Fogfolk’s Leased Territory Postal Service to the capital of Blackven Consult. In the letter, he asked Xue Qi to go back to the hotel and retrieve a box that belonged to him.
Blackwenzyk Border, 4th Border Guard Regiment.
Yang Zicang, who had hurried back, handed over the photocopy of the file he had obtained to Ms. Alian, under the incredulous gazes of everyone present.
“You actually retrieved the data this quickly. ” Maxim rushed into the research institute building, glanced at the photocopy in his hands, his face cold and unreadable.
“Good. We can’t lose it this time. “
“Yes. Even if we don’t recover the original documents and that alchemical material in time, at least this will allow our research to continue. ” Ms. Alian knew the gravity of the situation; retrieving it in such a short time was truly unbelievable.
Maxim returned the documents to Ms. Alian, who had been waiting nearby. Once she entered the higher-security core lab, he turned to Yang Zicang with a serious expression.
“I heard from Alian that you survived directly confronting a Blood Shell’s blast. I’m very curious—the Blood Shells I know of are entities of immense energy. How… did you manage to survive its attack? “
Yang Zicang could sense the genuine perplexity in the man’s demeanor.
This likely meant that the Steffen people hadn’t leaked much intelligence about the attack.
-｛Distributor Loki Tata Mingqi indicates “Node. “｝
That guy…
Yang Zicang quipped in a teasing tone.
“Well, about that. I’m afraid that’s something I can’t disclose, Mr. Maxim. I hope you can understand. “
He also wondered why this man without any military rank on his shoulders was here and why he seemed so respected by everyone.
Maxim indicated he understood, then said, “It’s said that your Blood Shell crystal core is still intact. Could we trouble you to bring it to our lab for comparative study? With a complete Blood Shell and one that has been used, I believe our lab experts’ analysis of this thing will progress by leaps and bounds. “
In that moment, Yang Zicang tried hard to gauge the man’s true intentions, but he could discern nothing from his expression.
Thousands of years of experience dealing with straightforward cavemen were useless for matching faces with the expressions of these modern people.
“That thing has gone missing. I’ll have to go back and find it. “
“Hahaha, Mr. Yang sure knows how to joke. “
Maxim’s face suddenly turned serious, taking on a low, somber tone. “Mr. Yang Bucheng, may I ask if your rescue of Major General Ross last time was truly a coincidence, and not a deliberate arrangement? “
A thought, like a flash of lightning, streaked through Yang Zicang’s mind.
He met the gaze of the man before him, then quickly swept his eyes over the surrounding soldiers and the troops visible through the window in the distance.
A tremendous sense of danger rose within Yang Zicang.
“Very well, I understand. I believe I have completed the task assigned by Major General Ross. So, farewell, distinguished gentlemen. “
Maxim’s chin lifted slightly as he watched Yang Zicang turn and leave through the armed guards at the door. His aide-de-camp, seeing the receding figure, stepped closer to the man. “Sir…? “
Maxim shook his head gently.
A group of soldiers watched as Yang Zicang immediately boarded a military bus heading to Talko, the capital of the Kingdom of Heivenzike. Only after the vehicle had departed did Maxim finally exhale a long breath from his chest.
Accompanied by his deputy, Maxim quickly returned to his personal quarters. He pressed a button at the head of the bed, and on the adjacent wall, a massive oil painting—depicting the most fashionable young artist of the capital—quivered violently, revealing a pushable indentation.
He entered the secret chamber and gazed upon a statue of one of the founding fathers of the Kingdom of Heivenzike.
The man’s breathing steadied. “Alutul Marcelo Popkov, Deputy Chief of the Special Operations Directorate—as your protégé, current Second Deputy Staff Officer of the Special Operations Department of the Kingdom of Heivenzike, and a potential future heir to the throne, I pray to you. “
He bowed respectfully and raised his head: “I ask that you guide my actions and bless my ambitions. “
Sincere in heart, Maxim stared intently at the statue before him.
A few breaths later, its surface suddenly began to tremble with a faint radiance…
“I seek to overturn the countercurrent of so-called ‘heroes.’ “
A series of quivering images manifested on the statue, transforming into fragments of countless silhouetted actions. They writhed and converged, enveloping the figure standing before the statue.
Amid the tremors of his mind, Maxim felt as though he had grasped the experience of actions that countless others had once taken to fulfill wishes akin to his own.
｛You have inherited the Track of Fate from your predecessors.｝
……
Yang Zicang believed that on this vehicle, packed with soldiers leaving the camp, there would never be fewer than one pair of eyes watching him specifically.
At this moment, he had already snapped out of the flurry of thoughts sparked by Maxim’s words. But he harbored no doubt about his choice to leave; staying any longer would only lead to the opposite of his wishes, and it was fraught with danger.
｛I, the Great Quadrilateral, am pondering.｝
｛Is that stiff-faced bastard doubting my presence, or is he trying to force me to leave?｝
He suddenly twisted around, looking out the back window of the bus at the mass of buildings shrinking ever smaller on the horizon. This sudden movement caused several soldiers on the bus to turn their heads and look at him.
……
“Heh heh,” Yang Zicang laughed unexpectedly. “It’s nothing, everyone. Just reminiscing. Don’t worry about me doing anything special.“
“How could we…“
“Ha ha, we weren’t looking at anything.“
The people around him all very poorly concealed their curiosity.
Yang Zicang cut to the chase and asked, “May I ask who that Mr. Maxim is?“
“He’s an officer.“
“Yes, a really good officer.“
Catching their reaction, Yang Zicang let out a light snort and asked again, “How do you obtain those Blood Shells around here? Do you know?“
“No idea.“
“Wouldn’t know.“
“They’d never tell us something like that.“
All the answers were like this.
The bus continued forward. As it passed beneath the shadow of a high bridge, Yang Zicang glanced out the window at another bus that was already crawling slowly ahead. The soldiers around him began to stir, their hands moving.
Sensing the shift in the atmosphere, Yang Zicang pondered what could have gone wrong.
One soldier stood up, followed immediately by a second. Amid the rustling of clothes, Yang Zicang asked, “Who is he? “
WHAM!
A piercing screech rang out. Wriggling energy parasites bulged from two massive fists beside him; a thin, nozzle-shaped metal rod appeared in the hand of the person in front; someone else pulled the pin on a grenade.
“So that’s how it is. “
Yang Zicang finished speaking softly. The short sword in his hand had already been drawn sharply from his right hand, thrusting toward the throat of the attacker charging from his right side.
Click!The seat suddenly folded back, and a curved steel restraint, like those used to bind dangerous prisoners, snapped around Yang Zicang’s legs. At the same time, a long sword wreathed in dark red scale patterns and emanating Chrono-Void Flame thrust toward him from behind the seat.
His body swiftly leaned to the left, dodging the sword tip as it swept toward the right.
In that critical moment, Yang Zicang forced his body to lean left.
Rip!The sword blade grazed past his ribs, slashing through his clothes, and left a searing burn mark on his skin.
With a flick of his wrist, he twisted the blood-stained short sword and pulled it from the corpse on the right, its icy gleam sweeping toward the two burly men swinging their fists in from the left.
It was precisely at that moment that several flashes flickered from the windows of another bus. Yang Zicang, having just drawn the bloody sword, turned his head and spotted the shadow of a camera behind the window, along with countless dark, gaping gun barrels.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Two heavy fists struck—one dented the back of a seat, while the other, wrapped in Stellar Yuan energy, pounded solidly against his chest.
｛I offset 68 individual 50N strikes.｝
Thud! A dull, rumbling boom resonated from within his chrono-boosted body. That iron fist seemed to slam into an invisible wall, and the soldier suddenly felt a sharp pain in his hand—as though his finger bones might crack from the impact.
Like iron hooks, Yang Zicang’s left fingers shot out and seized the unwary wrist of another thug to his left that he hadn’t managed to pull back, twisting it mercilessly.
Crack!
The sickening crunch of breaking bone rang out together with the brute’s scream of agony.
“What?! ” The attacker was stunned.
And at that very moment, the hose-like metal rod from before was already swinging toward his face, while a pitch-black, sticky mist shot out from its nozzle!
The White Shadow Thought-Dragon surged from his body, flickering onward like a shadow cast forward. In one swift motion, it tore free the psychic construct of the soldier who had been about to heave a flat-ironed canister onto his back.
-｛Distributor April·Osud gave me a “Neutral Review “.｝
The fog permeating the air instantly made Yang Zicang feel dizzy and nauseous, as if he had swallowed some foul, rancid thing from the depths of the ocean.
In the moment his eyes grew slightly dazed, two grenades with their pins pulled were shoved onto his chest by someone now donning a gas mask!
“You’re going to die. The micro-shrapnel in these bombs is enough to kill hundreds of people. “
Yang Zicang glared back fiercely, but the man who stuffed the grenades into his arms swiftly retreated.
“Boom! ” A deafening explosion rang out inside the bus, shattering several panes of glass. The mask on Yang Zicang’s face was sliced open by a dozen high-velocity micro-shrapnel shards, revealing the face beneath.
“So you really are the hero of White Violet City? “
“He killed Dack! ” someone immediately screamed.
“You damn spy! “
Most of the people in the car had their clothes torn, revealing special woven bulletproof vests clinging to their bodies, resembling ordinary underwear. They shouted accusations at the top of their lungs, as if roaring in disbelief.
“You thief who stole the data—hand over the original! “
Voice recorders… what were they planning to do?
Vaguely guessing the answer, Yang Zicang felt his mind sluggishly grind to a halt.
He looked up, his gaze bloodshot. The White Shadow Mind Dragon had already swiftly snatched out two soldiers’ psionic bodies. Now, one person, glowing with Stellar Yuan, was actively charging forward, trying to draw its attention.
On the other approaching bus, the click of a camera shutter and the metallic clash of a gun being chambered came through simultaneously.
“That’s it… I understand now. “
The Virtual Zero Temporal Dagger in Yang Zicang’s hand glowed with an orange radiance as he mercilessly stabbed it down toward the base of the seat, and with a click it struck a curved iron lock hidden within. This weapon, when faced with beings guarded by temporal defenses, could be said to be invincible; but when confronted by ordinary objects, it was not exactly capable of cutting through iron like mud.
But… “When it comes to iron… “
The repeated warnings from Lady Fǔ Jiǎn surely had some truth to them! Amidst Yang Zicang’s intensely suppressed struggle to escape this crisis in a way that most people could follow using their own means, his adrenal glands began to rapidly secrete, surging under the pressure.
｛I begin to resonate with the Source of the Holy Spirit, the Five Elements Force Field.｝
It’s time to experiment with this usage…
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