Free Web NovelChapter 367: Chapter 171: Turning an Enemy into a Friend the Hard Way
This was something Yan Jiu had said to Bai Wu the last time they parted, and with respect to this place, please make sure to click this Chapter open.
Bai Wu didn’t respond this time, only saying:
"I’ll come see you next time, I still have some matters to attend to."
"Then... then goodbye! Uncle, goodbye too."
"Hmm, goodbye."
Yan Jiu felt reluctant to part, but as she watched Bai Wu and Yan Zizai leave, she didn’t feel the intense loneliness she had felt the first time Bai Wu had left.
She was different now, she could call Chengzi, she could call Ruan, and she could even chat with Wu Jiu, who seemed very serious but was actually quite adorable.
Thinking about what topics to initiate next time she saw Bai Wu, wondering if Uncle and Bai Wu’s relationship would get better, the loneliness in her heart slowly faded—
Life seemed to be getting better and better.
...
...
After leaving the Asylum, Bai Wu chatted with Yan Zizai en route, intermittently, but never brought up the main issue.
"Do you think a person’s nature can remain unchanged over seven hundred years?" Yan Zizai looked at Bai Wu.
They were heading towards a deserted location.
"The change you’re talking about has to have a scope, right? How can a person not change? The me at this moment is already different from the me from a moment ago," Bai Wu casually replied, unaware that Yan Zizai was genuinely interested in the question.
"I’m not interested in discussing philosophy with you."
"You make it sound like I’d enjoy discussing philosophy with a man like the Investigation Corps is some kind of Big Bird Spinning Club?"
Yan Zizai, with his elite education from the High Tower, couldn’t understand what Bai Wu was saying and consequently couldn’t be bothered to discuss this topic further with him.
Soon the two arrived on the second floor, a spacious area where Bai Wu felt he needed the help of Yan Zizai’s eyes. With Yan Zizai’s Eye of Insight and Eye of the Scales, heading to Mechanical City would yield much more information for himself.
So he also wanted to discuss the invitation to leave the tower, but first, they came to an open area on the second floor.
This place was planned as a residential area to be constructed in the next four months; currently, construction had not started. Various construction materials, piled higher than a person, surrounded the area.
Bai Wu gradually slowed his pace, walking one in front of the other with Yan Zizai.
A certain alertness arose in Yan Ying’s heart, but as the possessor of Hidden Dragon, she had never been discovered before. Thus, she had not yet realized she had become the prey.
Bai Wu now, just like Yan Zizai, could see a few seconds into the future. Of course, Bai Wu could see even further.
So although they hadn’t made a move, both had already seen what the other would do next.
How they should coordinate with each other.
Bai Wu was now certain that Yan Zizai was unaware that the Yan Family had another Guardian, for Yan Zizai had the intent to kill.
The battle began, and Bai Wu was the first to make a move, but less than one-tenth of a second later, Yan Zizai also made his move!
Hand blade.
Perhaps because Yan Zizai had been in contact with Yan Jiu, he aimed for lethal strikes as soon as he made his move.
In front and behind Bai Wu, Yan Zizai couldn’t see Yan Ying’s presence, but he could pre-emptively attack in certain directions based on Bai Wu’s future actions that he saw in his eyes.
The brief future kept changing because of the two cheaters, but they both knew the outcome of these changes.
The instant Bai Wu raised his ax, Yan Ying instinctively defended herself, her mind filled with numerous thoughts.
How was she discovered?
When had she been discovered?
Knowing that Yan Zizai was more powerful and reacted rapidly, Yan Ying decided to instantly change her defensive direction to parry Yan Zizai!
But as she completed her turn, what she saw was still Bai Wu. Bai Wu raised his bronze ax, bringing it crashing down.
Because Yan Ying had made an unnecessary move, in this brief period of less than a second, Yan Zizai and Bai Wu’s joint attack had already struck her.
Crack.
The sound of bones breaking signaled the end of the fight.
In just one moment of combat, the two, through their coordination, knocked out a Guardian-level powerhouse.
Bai Wu couldn’t help but marvel that with the Eye of Insight and the Eye of the Scales, and especially with more than one potential exchange unit around, Yan Zizai was extremely difficult to deal with.
As Yan Ying fell unconscious, her Sequence was also unconsciously released.
The moment Yan Ying’s true form appeared, Yan Zizai recognized her as one of Old Ancestor Yan Zhao’s people, for she wore similar accessories to his own.
What shocked Yan Zizai was that he had never before seen this individual.
"She’s one of the Yan Family."
Now that her true form was revealed, Yan Zizai’s Eye of Insight could also see the information on this woman.
His expression was very complicated.
Bai Wu decided to fan the flames:
"Ah, this... sorry, I might have hit too hard. Didn’t expect it to be one of our own, a bit of a blunder there."
"I was actually worried for a moment there, that it was really dangerous. If I hadn’t gotten something perceptive from the Xie Family... Yan Jiu might have been in danger. Although her target was us, she did know of Yan Jiu’s existence."
"I won’t hide it from you—keeping Yan Jiu safe is also very important to me. Well, it’s a good thing this is someone from the Yan Family, but it seems like you were unaware of her appearance too."
Bai Wu shifted his focus to Yan Jiu, never straying from him in his words.
This undoubtedly agitated Yan Zizai, who, upon seeing it was a member of the Yan Family tracking him, had already suppressed his urge to kill.
But at this moment, the urge resurfaced. freēwēbηovel.c૦m
It was a very clever thing.
The Eye of the Scales allowed Yan Zizai to see images of the future, so before he even opened the note, he’d seen the information it contained.
As a result, the whole action seemed like Yan Zizai was graciously accepting Bai Wu’s note out of respect for Yan Jiu, but with a prideful reluctance to open it.
In this instant, Yan Zizai also saw Bai Wu’s reaction.
Neither made a move, both silently waiting for the right moment.
At this time, Yan Zizai pondered a question he didn’t ask out loud.
Bai Wu knew Yan Zizai must be wondering—how could he sense the presence that neither the Eye of Insight nor the Eye of the Scales could detect?
Yan Zizai didn’t suspect Bai Wu, because in his view, Bai Wu truly had no reason to do so.
He did indeed feel the gaze of someone watching him—a pure sensation, something beyond perception. Yet, he also found no disturbance in his surroundings.
Yan Jiu didn’t know, but she was in a good mood right now.
Joy was an emotion she didn’t possess.
But she remembered the last time her uncle and Bai Wu met, their confrontation taut as a drawn bow, and now they seemed oddly like friends.
Though Yan Zizai would certainly deny it.
Nothing good had ever occurred in her original life, but ever since meeting Bai Wu, more and more things worth being happy about had happened—even if she had never grasped what happiness was, even if it was merely the lack of gloom in her heart.
For Yan Jiu, this was all part of her happiness.
If a sheet of paper was entirely black, then even a single, tiny white dot without any distinct shape would still catch the eye.
Yan Zizai felt a sense of joy inside as he noticed some kind of change in Yan Jiu. It was as if he saw his sister.
However, unlike before, Yan Zizai didn’t show his doting affection for Yan Jiu on his face.
As Bai Wu and Yan Jiu made small talk, Yan Zizai listened quietly from the side.
He felt that this place wronged Yan Jiu. Yet strangely enough, there was a peculiar peace about it.
The patients in the neighboring rooms, one believing he’d returned to his original era and lived incognito, turning down the offers from transmigrators, and another who could only repeat ’Ba’ over and over, slowly learning to say his own name again.
Yan Zizai didn’t know what these patients were like at their worst, but Bai Wu and Yan Jiu did.
For Yan Jiu, the fact that Bai Wu would come to visit her and that everyone in the Asylum was gradually improving... it was very heartening.
She did not understand joy yet, but perhaps one day, when everyone’s illnesses were cured, she would be able to feel it.
Bai Wu told some stories about his adventures outside of the tower, including one about a young man named Lin Rui, who slowly transformed from an ordinary person into a hero who could stand on his own.
He knew Yan Zizai must be eager to clear up some questions, but amusingly, Yan Zizai also wanted Bai Wu to finish the story because Yan Jiu was so engrossed.
Gradually, Yan Zizai found the story to his liking too, for he was curious—did people who had kept their original aspirations for seven hundred years truly exist in the world?
When the story ended and Bai Wu was ready to leave, Yan Jiu’s smile gave Yan Zizai a sense of healing.
This was not a sweetness the women of the Yan Family could smile with, and Yan Ying, hiding in the shadows, found it rather strange.
"Bai Wu, I’m so happy you’ve been with me all this time. I really hope one day I can leave the tower with you."
"Together, you can set your own small tasks, for the region we’re going to is vast and dangerous." Zheng Yue and Yan Zizai both guessed that this could be a chance to learn more about the forces outside the Xie Family Tower.
They might even be able to forge alliances... For seven hundred years, the rulers knew very well that the relationships between the powers outside the tower and the human rulers were always based on interests. So as long as they could communicate with the external forces... perhaps they could secure more resources for their families, and the risk didn’t seem to matter.
"Lastly... we’re all intelligent people. While taking action might sometimes be simple, the region we are heading to is too twisted and dangerous, so remember one thing... do not use force lightly, because our opponents might be much more powerful than we imagine."
Xie Xingzhi finished speaking.
Six people, three teams exploring the Mechanical City, and the one he cared about most was Bai Wu, since he was the person who caught the attention of the old ancestor Xie Yingjie.
As for Yan Zizai and Zheng Yue, those were troublesome characters, but Xie Xingzhi didn’t believe... they could really do anything in the Mechanical City, because that place was full of too many distorted things.
This group might not even make it into the Inner City.
He was a very clever man. In the blink of an eye, he wondered why someone was following him.
Recently, he had asked Old Ancestor Yan Zhao some peculiar questions, not expecting that this would lead to being tracked...
So the words he spoke in the forbidden land with the old ancestor... how much of them were true?
If he really trusted me, why would he have someone follow me?
Now the problem was troublesome. If he let Yan Ying go, it would surely draw the attention of the Yan Family.
Yan Zizai didn’t think he would care about Bai Wu’s life, even though the man indeed had remarkable potential.
But if something happened to Bai Wu, Yan Jiu would be heartbroken.
"What should we do?"
"Your cooperation just now was very good, as if you knew what I would do," said Yan Zizai.
"Just a bit of ordinary foresight," Bai Wu replied.
"Just foresight?"
In the bloody haze, the massive creature was continuously unleashing various destructive means.
These Mutation Entries were all of Perfect Tier, which perhaps lacked the eternal or fundamental power of Legendary Tier Entries, yet possessed absolute destructive force.
Wave after wave of allied troops charged, only to face heroic death.
The blinding lightning was like a sweeping battle-axe, scattering severed limbs and broken bodies all over the path to the giant creature.
It was like a monster movie from a previous life, where the massive monsters in the film were impervious to any of human’s weaponry.
The only things capable of punishing the monsters were either superheroes or... other monsters.
It seemed the very existence of humankind was solely to highlight how powerful this creature was.
Although this was only the world within one’s obsession, Bai Wu couldn’t bear to watch this suicidal charge. He wanted to say something but suddenly heard someone else speak,
"Captain Gu... stop the charge... We’re simply no match. Perhaps... there might be another way out?"
This person was the captain of the fourth squad of the Garrison Corps, with Innate Force at Stage Two of Level Five.
The fourth squad captain clenched his fists tightly, his eyes reddening as he watched his comrades charge to their deaths, his emotional wristband fluctuating close to red.
No fear, just pure sorrow.
Bai Wu thought it over; he first had to understand what exactly Gu Hailin’s obsession was.
At the moment it seemed to be slaying the monster and leading his troops to safety... but there was a significant contradiction—
He was sending his subordinates to their demise.
It wasn’t hard to analyze, but the unimaginable part was that no soldiers, among those charging, looked back.
Driven by intense emotion, they too marched to their deaths, whether from the Garrison Corps or the Investigation Corps, at this moment, it seemed there was only one thing to do... Kill the monster or be killed by it.
Even though he was not on the very frontline, Bai Wu had a very strong sense of immediacy.
The allied soldiers were like facing a fortress that must be taken, of great strategic significance; if they conquered this fortress, humanity would have a bright and beautiful future, driving them to charge forth without regard for their own lives.
Gu Hailin did not turn his head:
"Haven’t you understood our situation? We have no way out. Let the squad leaders get ready. Those boys below are already waiting for us in Huangquan. It’s our turn next."
At the very front, among the ruins of the city, elite soldiers of the allied forces were dying horribly, hundreds of the elite almost every few seconds being cruelly slaughtered by Hydra.
This colossal creature did not even need to use its full strength; it was merely toying with its weaker prey.
Bai Wu was also convinced that the strength of the Investigation Corps and the Garrison Corps from ninety years ago wasn’t much higher than it was now.
They faced monsters from the red zones, and it was very likely that a single one of those creatures was strong enough to uphold a red zone all by itself.
This battle was entirely one-sided slaughter.
"Laoqi! Prepare the horses!"
Prepare horses? A new term; Bai Wu looked towards the one called Laoqi as Gu Hailin mentioned him.
[Captain of the seventh squad of the Investigation Corps, former... superior of Little Dwarf. He was a somewhat cowardly and self-deprecating fellow, but fate had given him the perfect Talent for charging into battle. Talent Sequence 150: One Man Army. In the last moment of his life, he was no longer a coward but led the charge as a valiant warrior.]
This Sequence was remembered by Bai Wu from a description in the Sequence List as being able to summon companions adept at charging into battle, their inner fearlessness amplifying the speed and power of the assault.
The true effect was only now fully witnessed by Bai Wu.
A total of twenty-four horses, their forms crafted from black energy, appeared robust. They were as if alight with black Flame.
The captains of the allied forces mounted these black steeds. The horses neighed, lifting their front hooves eagerly as if desperate to leap forward.
The final charge was about to commence. The seventh squad captain of the Investigation Corps was right by Gu Hailin’s side, ready to drive forward together.
Gu Hailin turned back, and Bai Wu saw his sharp gaze and resolute face. This legion commander had the iron-blooded character of a true soldier, but maybe because he was too much of a rogue on regular days, Gu Hailin struck an authoritative, yet not overly intimidating presence.
Bai Wu guessed he must be playing one of the warriors setting out to the red zone, likely some sort of supporter.
Although it was Gu Hailin who had called, just like the previous two occasions, he hadn’t directly assumed the role of the caller as Yin Shuang had.
The charge would be in three waves, with half the troops initiating the first round to disperse the monster’s attention, followed by a cavalry formed of squad leaders launching the second wave. With the help of One Man Army, they would speed to Hydra’s side as quickly as possible. Lastly, those not adept at front-line combat, the healers, and supporters, would mount the third charge.
They were the strongest humans in the High Tower, but in the face of death, no one could truly remain unfazed.
It was the inner fury that gave these people the resolve to die.
Gu Hailin declared loudly:
"Let’s forget all past favors and grudges! Two days ago, even though we had the same mission and were divided into two factions under the High Tower, now, we are no longer the Garrison Corps, nor are we the Investigation Corps; our lives belong only to us!"
"Good! Let bygones be bygones!"
The leaders of the allied units responded one after another.
Gu Hailin raised his right hand.
Bai Wu noticed what he was holding: it was the Return Roulette.
"In today’s battle, we are destined to be buried in the annals of history, but this battle represents the stubbornness and dignity of us as humans! We cannot run, nor do we have anywhere to run to. The world is vast; who decreed that humanity can only cower within the High Tower?"
"To hell with the High Tower! If there truly is a land of You Ming, we’ll be waiting in hell for those bastards to come down, and we’ll also witness our human domain’s vastness from hell!"
"Brothers, follow me in the charge! Let this monster’s life vent our rage!"
His voice, filled with determination, echoed in the world shrouded by the red fog.
Bai Wu saw the astonishing gesture; like Gu Hailin, the allied captains each took the Return Roulettes in their hands—
And smashed them down fiercely!
They were like rebels drinking their final round before heading to their demise, or like soldiers making a last stand with their backs to the river!
The Return Roulette was smashed onto the ground next to the horseshoes in this instant, with not a single person looking back.
Even without the need for Prayle’s Eye to pop up an explanatory note, Bai Wu understood what was happening.
A hollow feeling surged within him once again, and his index finger curled involuntarily.
The truth behind the disastrous defeat ninety years ago... so that’s what it was.
No wonder the whole army was annihilated, no wonder there wasn’t a single person to relay the message—because they simply couldn’t return!
Together, the two legions, with hundreds to nearly a thousand elite warriors from the High Tower, had put ninety percent of the tower’s strength into a desperate gamble, venturing into the red zone in hopes of ushering humanity’s exploration beyond the tower into a new era.
But the Return Roulettes they were equipped with—were fake.
In that moment, perhaps because of an extremely faint empathy, a trace of regret emerged, and Bai Wu seemed to witness the tragedy of two days ago.
These hot-blooded elites, under the guidance of the High Tower’s upper echelons, motivated by a desire for glory and freedom, had come to the red zone.
But their greatest enemy—came from within the tower. All the Return Roulettes were unusable.
This might seem like an unbelievable act, but Bai Wu had no doubts that in the even darker and more desperate environment of ninety years ago, the administrators, even the rulers, might indeed have had a reason to carry out a massive purge of the High Tower’s fighting force.
Such occurrences were highly probable; the conspiracies in stories are often about cunning and intrigue, skirting the edge of the law without a trace; but real-life commercial battles involve actions like stealing official seals, chairmen climbing over walls to take secret photos, CEOs poisoned by water coolers.
Reality doesn’t abide by logic; no one knows why the rulers would consider a full-on massacre of the High Tower’s elite forces.
For two days, the soldiers of the allied forces were first shattered by Hydra, a colossal beast.
As the strongest force of the High Tower, for the first time, they felt the nearly insurmountable power gap between humans and the Evil Fallen.
Some were chilled to the bone, contemplating retreat, while others grieved for the death of dear friends. But they had no way out.
The path to the High Tower had been cut off, and the allied forces had only two options—to flee the area and wander the world outside the tower.
Or to engage in a fight to the death with this monster.
The latter was naturally seeking death, and killing the monsters of the red zone was what the High Tower intended all along. They probably hated the High Tower by then, by any logic, they should have chosen the former option.
Gu Hailin indeed chose the former, to preserve the lives of the soldiers, but Bai Wu had foreseen it already.
Not everyone could be as lucky as Little Dwarf, who encountered only non-fatal negative attributes during twenty-four days of survival.
In less than two days, many soldiers in the allied forces died due to various negative attributes.
After being betrayed by the higher-ups of the High Tower, each one carried a sense of dejection in their hearts. They were no longer the heroes whom people longed to return, but were like criminals exiled beyond the tower... they were castaways.
Under the dejection and rage of abandonment, the more terrifying effect of the negative attributes was the shattering of these warriors’ resolve, turning them into Evil Fallen.
In two days, some died from negative attributes, and some turned into Evil Fallen due to negative emotions.
Without any rescue from the High Tower, they finally realized something—they never had a choice.
All the choices led to only one outcome—death.
During these two days, their perception of the High Tower, of the world, had undergone a tremendous change. And it was this very change that led Gu Hailin to make an important decision in this desperate moment—
To kill Hydra.
He gave an impassioned speech, presenting people with the choice to die pointlessly like criminals, or die in battle against the monster for the sake of humanity’s future.
No longer for the same reasons as the previous battles, the confrontation with the colossal Hydra was now to prove to future humanity... that the red zone was not invincible.
From that moment, these warriors finally found a reason to keep fighting. Not for the High Tower, but for the sake of one day allowing humanity to emerge from it!
"We may die... and perhaps our deaths will go unnoticed, but rather than dying as Evil Fallen or pointlessly, we’d rather take up arms, mount our horses, and fight a good fight! In the future, our skeletons will prove to the world that we have battled, we have resisted, we have never surrendered!"
Most of the allied forces were young people, whose fervor might have been extinguished by the harsh realities of life at the bottom, but in the face of life and death, witnessing the tragic deaths and transformations of their comrades into Evil Fallen, not a single person chose to evade battle.
They were the first batch of heroes representing the High Tower sent to the red zone, but in this moment, these people became warriors struggling for humanity to emerge from the High Tower.
That’s why Bai Wu saw what he did just now.
All the soldiers were gallantly meeting death... Throughout the process, not even one looked back, for in those two days, all illusions of returning had been shattered.
The warhorses neighed again.
"Charge!"
"Charge!"
The twenty-four platoon leaders bellowed orders, as the black flame-like warhorses galloped, at inconceivably high speeds, with the twenty-four strongest from the High Tower ninety years ago charging forward!
The captain of the Investigation Corps’ Team Seven, known for being timid, was unexpectedly at the forefront, only second to Gu Hailin.
Gu Hailin raised his steel spear high, like an ancient knight swooping in to defend his honor!
Under the effect of One Man Army, every platoon leader’s speed was astonishingly fast. They were like arrows, instantly entering Hydra’s attack range.
The allied elites’ suicidal charge finally gave the captains a chance to strike at the beast!
Hydra was taken aback by the humans’ attack speed and also felt a slight threat.
The human at the forefront suddenly vanished.
Even with a dynamic vision that humans couldn’t match, it completely missed the person’s movement.
Talent Sequence 59, Instant Shadow.
Even in the gambling battle against the God of Wealth, he was reluctant to use this sword, even though the sword was just a replica.
But under these circumstances, even though this wasn’t an illusion, even if using this sword meant he couldn’t retrieve it outside the phone booth, Bai Wu didn’t hesitate to draw this sword—Original Sin.
