Free Web NovelChapter 241: Chapter 45: The Strongest Lineup to Exit the Tower
His real name was Well, that’s what he should be called.
At Army Guard Town’s high tower, Xuan Jiang was preparing the military detachment.
There was still one more, waiting in the midst with Little Bai, as if anticipating the commotion that was more intense than Little Bai’s white fog formation, this time helping Little Bai emerge from the tower was only to aid in his sinister plans.
It’s uncertain whether these three eccentric characters could still be of use, regardless of what happens, dragging them along as a team is unconventional.
They will all have to submit to his rules... unmanageable Zheng was far more formidable than these characters, something akin to the training in Chuanbai’s institutions would be quite fitting.
In fact, he was the one holding the key to unraveling the strangeness they discussed, while harboring many secrets, somewhere within that desolate village.
"Evil is very strong, very dangerous," the redness signaling something beyond a common quest for meaning, but neither Little Bai nor Prince Su really seemed to care much for the trouble in that region; their fear was not out of this perception.
In truth, surveillance was the operation, cooperation was just a facade.
A disciplined group of three others was preparing to escort Little Bai as they knew Little Bai and Prince Su were about to emerge from the tower.
The banquet was known, as were the movements of Jiaxie, Liu, the tiger.
The other group of three watched the Liu, the man without a single trace of softness, while the disciplined group watched Little Bai and Prince Su.
As far as Prince Su, Zheng, and Li Pang were concerned, they didn’t really account for the military investigation; they simply needed to monitor their cooperation, as subtly, Prince Su, Zheng, and Li Pang were far stronger than the Liu without a trace of softness.
The real purpose of the disciplined group was to ensure no one would secretly disrupt the family clan under the guise of a military investigation.
Prince Su, Zheng, and Li Pang had also dispatched small monitoring groups to keep an eye on the Liu without a trace of softness.
Little Bai had approved.
This group of six, including Yinxuan as the leader of the Vanguard unit and now Little Bai and Qin of the small rain unit, were dispatched to investigate outside of the blue territory, given the absence of Little Bai and Prince Su.
The Seventh Platoon had the highest frequency of appearing at the tower, especially since Little Bai had already arrived, indicating an understanding of this very point—no one was willing to be seen as an unnecessary drag, they still maintained the subtlety of the Liu.
Currently, the Liu without a trace of softness had no means of exerting their individual strengths, facing a formidable enemy head-on, Little Bai was letting them experience the raw struggle for survival that occurs in the battlefield.
Not all of them, Little Bai included, could assure that this Little Bai, Qin, Yinxuan, the Liu without a trace of softness, the Small Merchant Yi, and the Jiaqin forces, would be able to pull through this outing to the tower.
With the affairs at the border concluded by Hero Jiaxie, Little Bai began preparations for emerging from the tower.
...
...
The name carried with it a long-abandoned sentiment, it still existed.
Only a vestige of an old era’s name was left, a fleeting glimpse across his face, a valuable memory of the past.
The big brain didn’t bother calculating speeds and amounts, not caring for the details of the sight before his eyes, there was just a lack of interest in things that didn’t come to mind naturally, after all, Hero Jiaxie still didn’t remember.
Perhaps, if he had a glimpse of this scene with Little Bai, Hero Jiaxie might vaguely realize the phrase "silicon base lifeforms are becoming a reality" or even include himself; of course, if Little Bai were here at this moment.
Even his own bloodstream was clearly visible to him, as if every fragment of Hero Jiaxie’s being had penetrated into his observation at this exact moment in front of Little Bai.
In an instant, the whole area was saturated, with original data lacking precise parameters.
"Pull up all the values, no need to consider the energy consumption rate of the entire divine neural system!"
"Pull up... computational power."
"Pull up... memory strength."
A graph-like control system interface emerged before Hero Jiaxie’s eyes, as that pen continued to make marks.
He literally had no idea how to start thinking.
Every time he tried to think about those matters, he always had a sense of forgetting something crucial.
But ultimately, even as these emotions and sensations slowly faded to nothingness, they were still faint recollections.
They once gave rise to feelings of remorse and guilt within him for quite some time.
Today, within the white mist, names of several old acquaintances surfaced in his brilliant mind, those few people...
...except the patch of skin that wasn’t patches of flesh and bone but instead, incomplete fragments of a core chip. freёwebnovel.com
A crisp clicking sound transmitted, as that piece of skin fell on the table.
With his other hand, Xie Jingyin started to peel away a layer, as if the flesh around the square pattern was morphing into a different material texture—it was almost like his arm was generating a strange matrix pattern...
He used only this pen to draw a matrix on his arm. Following right behind, a single pen appeared in Xie Jingyin’s hand.
After a while, Xie Jingyin returned to his original seat with no expression and waited for the white mist to dissipate.
"You’ll let me know," he said.
Little Bai was very greedy... especially for the sequential abilities of Xie Jingyin.
To Little Bai, these kinds of experiences were eternally delightful. There was an inner demon within him, a hidden enemy within the camp.
"Prince Su, as Cheng Mo’s guardian, it’s highly likely that the regiment will follow me the next time I leave the tower. You’ll be the one to know him best," Little Bai said.
Suddenly, he remembered an incident from earlier. Little Bai stood up, ready to bid farewell to Xie Jingyin and prepare to leave.
"I haven’t answered yet, there’s a time constraint, the task is critical," he said.
If Little Bai brought out another mechanical device within Mechanism City, it could be a very long time before one heard from him again.
Xie Jingyin doubted that he possessed the capability to satisfactorily complete the task—Little Bai was no ordinary business performer. Xie Jingyin might be regarded merely as a death-toll horse, doing his utmost to carry out a hopeless task even if he may display extraordinary abilities.
But ironically, it was Xie Jingyin himself who had no other solutions... especially since this chip was incomplete.
But for this entire affair, Little Bai had a need for this chip.
If the task could be completed successfully, he could realistically start considering another one-year appointment; the time was approaching. Another six months, and Xie Jingyin’s other assignment will be complete.
"I need this thing within half a year," he said.
The timeframe that Xie Jingyin was given was rather lenient.
Little Bai had quite an old reliance on this type of task; "I’m just waiting for you not to find me to urge me. I only accept tasks on my own terms, so why the urgency about your task? I’ll probably consider what I need from you after successfully completing this task, and soon, I will be heading towards a dangerous place to carry out my mission. I hadn’t really thought about it," he said.
"What do you want?" he asked.
"Even excluding what you said about that loathsome armor, there must be other things, right?" Little Bai said.
This job paid very well, it was deadly.
After all, one had to find the master of Mechanism City, head into the mechanical city, enter the Black Zone foremost objective, and now bargain with someone for the core technology of Mechanism City.
"You’ll just have to see. As for how to obtain this technology, it’s even more crucial for us to progress further into deeper cooperation. I need this thing only because I possess it. I need this thing. Your task has nothing to do with me," he said.
"What could it possibly give you, this coveted technology?"
Little Bai suddenly seemed slightly intrigued, by the name Mo.
Could it be just another piece of machinery... or is it actually something organic, something of this mechanical city that truly exists?
Little Bai thought of the Silver Wing Slayer, a machine capable of endowing mechanical intelligence.
"? It has probably already formed silicon life at this stage or maybe it’s still in the process. Unfortunately, they’re all subject to the ’Countermeasure,’ but, in an attempt to try and forge connections, I’ve already passed through Mechanism City on my way here."
"This core chip, even though it’s just a castrated version that’s lost its power, is still the brain of Mechanism City’s city master. Essentially, Mechanism City itself is one of the intelligent entities that possess this kind of power."
"As of now, Little Bai is in the middle of taking on his third task."
"Another task was drifting through the void for seven hundred years."
"One of them is rescuing a scientific family, bringing back to the Lamplight City, Well No. 4, which lies at the core. Little Bai has already taken on two tasks, both of which are SSS-ranked in terms of difficulty."
"What use is this core chip to me, you should know,"
"You need to talk to someone about a mission after you take back a core chip,"
Prince Su replied without facing Zheng,
Little Bai still feigned ignorance, but he knew all too well, "It’s your backup power source, the Mechanism City."
"How do we make this deal? Are you suggesting I just go off to some black market area? You, someone who has taken on a task such as defeating Zhong Xu, a challenge that’s even more difficult than a red-level task, and a good friend of mine,"
Little Bai raised an eyebrow.
"It also has to do with Mechanism City and your mission completion. Apart from these items from Mechanism City, that is."
"But I have no idea how to use them outside of the tower..." said Little Bai. freeweɓnøvel.com
"To put it simply, it is a certain type of ’Armor’ that is convenient to carry and called an Osteo-Fallen Degenerate Exoskeleton, the latest project from this new tower. I can advance you some reward in return for helping me complete a mission," said Chapman.
"What kind of reward, and how long before it’s completed? What exactly are you planning to have me do?"
Little Bai asked,
"Negotiating here is essentially a success. If I involve myself in this incident, not even a military inspection team will bother you, let alone you being affected by Zhong Xu’s death-related troubles. At the same time, I will settle your various nuisances, you will reward me, and you will help me with my business. It’s a hand-in-hand deal, our money for your goods," offered Chapman.
Little Bai understood what Chapman was implying: Do your business for me, I’ll take care of a good place for you, simply put.
"It seems, between us, we don’t have a regular employment relationship. I don’t even intend to offer them a dime. Perhaps those old friends of yours are the reason... you could come back from that domain. That domain of Lamplight City is, after all, at least seven hundred years old, and could perhaps be considered very dangerous now," continued Prince Su, standing up.
"And if you take the Well No. 4 with you, which has degenerated into evil by now, and you bring up those old friends, in my mind, they are as good as dead, and I don’t really care. Prepared sincerity isn’t enough; in addition to preparing yourself to be a sworn friend, you need to be ready to become my sworn friend," said Prince Su, after some time.
The tension in the room had increased somewhat, and while his face remained tight, Zheng didn’t say anything at all after the lecture.
Prince Su had not forgotten the clay figure he used for teaching, and Little Bai was quite convinced, especially since Wyrm Qih had shown up in person to demonstrate how the building was constructed.
Though Prince Su appeared to uphold certain biases, this mere act had already explained a lot of things.
If the tower, which was only a pile of scraps by day and trash metals at night, was not useful as a weapon – something no one believed in the early years, although Jiaxie had always been involved in weapon research –
His research into the ultimate pursuit of extreme indulgence was just like Zhong Xu’s; however, he did not admit that every dictator was as evil as Zhong Xu,
But this judgment was Little Bai’s own conclusion.
"You should still keep some of these items... But amazingly, I’ve only encountered pure evil here, excluding you. I can’t believe a person could remain unchanged for seven hundred years. It’s you who needs to consider your own value. Since you chose the tower at the beginning, you really had no other choice but to continue with their research, and I was willing to believe you," said Little Bai.
But Prince Su ignored this memory-provoking outburst.
These were just pieces of a fragment, but... so many things had flashed through his past; Teacher Tao was still there, Jiaqin, Jiaxie,
The white fog had already witnessed such people before, and he had acquired a few names of particular importance, even mentioning them himself, seeking them out, and now again, despite having passed through the misty Lamp Market, he knew of Xie Yingjie.
"But you’ve already figured it all out, haven’t you?"
"And so I’m not your ally?"
"Indeed, we do have a common enemy. But after he was gone, there was no dominant outside force threatening his life, and Zhou Xu had died. However, we truly shared common interests, but that doesn’t mean we’re that kind of molded alliance. Since then, Jiaxie and I have become allies, and I have needed Jiaxie’s support and protection."
Little Bai didn’t beat around the bush with any circumspect talk and said directly, "My need for revenge on Zhou Xu is enough of a reason for you to use your power now."
"Let’s not waste any more time talking."
"You might not believe me, but I’m saying this with the right cause," said I.
Little Bai smiled at this question that surfaced, "And what exactly do you want by killing Zhou Xu? What are you thinking? Your body language is making me curious, and you’ve already proven to me that you have something of interest."
Xie Yingjie crossed his arms and said, "But I can analyze you just as you can see through me. I’m no empty talking swindler from a lineage of rulers; you don’t need to question this event. Everyone has their own cards to play."
"Fundamentally, you’re not capable of killing Zhou Xu; however, despite the effective data analysis, I still believe you," said Little Bai, giving Xie Yingjie a serious reevaluation after a few seconds of silence.
"So, do you have any connections with the Qin family or the Zhou family, and what kind of pecking order does your small group follow? Please explain this one and don’t disappoint me with this question," I asked.
"How do you know whether I was ever in cahoots with Zhou Xu, and whether we had a private friendship or not? Do I and Zhou Xu stand on the same side? We’ve worked together for so long; why do you ask?"
He finally accepted this fact, looking at Zhou Xu’s head, Xie Yingjie without a trace of connection.
"Why are you loyal to someone, for what reason are you saying this, who are you loyal to me?"
"Who are you loyal to? External associates?"
"Although my external associates also count as one of me, it seems that Yuzhen Tower doesn’t have, at least not this kind of big deal character, to kill a small element like you; history is not devoid of people who kill these small things, however, I’m only deemed as a seventh-tier ’minor person’ in the danger rating, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have real power, as you say. Quite the contrary, I think I have this power," he replied.
"What kind of person are you?"
Little Bai’s words carried an air of casual indifference.
The storage pouch has a weight limit, and it definitely exceeded the limit just with that one object. Zhou Xu looked like a human figure even in death. A storage pouch has weight limits for individual items, but there is no overall weight limit.
"That head, in reality, is mine...and I must say, he wasn’t very good at it. Therefore, I didn’t carry his head because he wasn’t carrying it, and now the most important thing, he has become evil and will not return," he said.
Little Bai, though not as shocked as seeing Zhou Xu’s head, still couldn’t help but feel impressed, despite not wanting to admit his own strength.
All of a sudden, he seemed to gain a demonic strength, starting to act recklessly. The defeated soldiers didn’t even have the thought of hanging onto the hope of fighting. Or perhaps, they suddenly fell gravely ill of a severe infectious disease at an untimely moment, looking just like the master of the whole country.
How could it be? How is it that what was supposed to happen according to the original plan suddenly went out of control? Why the sudden disorder, without a single sign of forewarning?
He was even willing to call this incident in history as "losing control," so unexpected was Zhou Xu’s sudden death to Xie Yingjie’s conjectures.
Though they seemingly operated on the same level, each person’s actual strength varied, perhaps because the eight immortals had not been meeting for a very long time; yet, they all trusted each other unreservedly.
"...Could it be that the strange anomaly of these days... is because you killed Zhou Xu? That’s the real reason why," said I, considering the twisted shape of loyalty within the ranks of Zhou Xu’s guard.
Zhou Xu, being a particularly special guardian of the Zhou family, did not necessarily need to kill Zhou Xu to cultivate a second such a loyal figure, as Zhou Xu’s death already twisted the form of loyalty that was extant.
However, his heart began to believe in some of what Little Bai said, even though Xie Yingjie very much wanted to provide more evidence.
(Still earlier that evening ...)
