In the steadily rising elevator number 7.
Zhou Zhengde took a short break before getting up to pace back and forth.
Wang Jixuan was absent-mindedly fiddling with the detector borrowed from a female officer, deep in thought about a big question.
Crystal cores.
The crystal cores of low-level blade beasts, gathering spirit formations.
Wang Jixuan kept repeating these words in his mind, his excited thoughts gradually calming down.
For a few moments, he really wanted to rush out to hunt blade beasts and extract their crystal cores.
According to the rules of the cultivation world, such actions were always declared as purging evil and safeguarding justice.
But reason told him that he still didn’t know enough about the world outside the fortress. After witnessing Ling Tong’s combat power, Wang Jixuan had a glimpse of the strength of blade beasts.
Moreover, during his previous introduction to Ling Tong, he repeatedly heard a term:
Terrifying mecha.
Ling Tong’s greatest value was that she was a candidate pilot for the "terrifying mecha." What Wang Jixuan had seen wasn’t even the full extent of Ling Tong’s power.
Additionally, after some accidental touches, Wang Jixuan had already sensed that Ling Tong’s way of getting stronger involved overextending herself.
[Can I think of a way to hunt blade beasts for crystal cores while using the technology here to protect myself and get through the most vulnerable foundation-building period?]
Wang Jixuan kept pondering.
This new discovery excited him, and suddenly he had a clearer goal.
He had actively suggested going after Kong Nu, actually wanting to use this opportunity to enter the psychic’s base and look for those crystal cores.
—Crystal cores were used to infuse materials to produce psychics. There was a set of simple equipment in this psychic base, and it was very likely that there were still crystal cores that hadn’t been drained of their spiritual energy!
Wang Daolong looked up at Zhou Zhengde and advised, “Team Leader Zhou, take a break and save your strength.”
“Mu Liang, I’m thinking about a few questions!”
Zhou Zhengde glanced at the camera in the corner of the elevator and said in a serious whisper:
“Your kind of paper talismans should definitely not be used openly. Try to keep them for yourself.”
“Hmm?”
“The situation is already out of control, or rather, it’s no longer under our control.”
Zhou Zhengde said quietly:
“It’s my oversight. I didn’t expect that Professor Zhuang and Kong Nu had secretly set up a lab under the Black Fire Gang. This will definitely involve power struggles at the war zone level.
“If your alien secrets are targeted by the headquarters of the Thirteenth Institute in the City of Psychics, we’re done for. It’s best if we research slowly and secretly.
“What Zheng Shiduo explained just now shouldn’t be false. I’ve gathered a lot of fragmented information that corresponds with what he said.
“The rebellion of psychics over sixty years ago, the psychic council made up of SS-level psychics… The information that Ling Tong and Zheng Shiduo have is something we didn’t know before.
“The headquarters of the Thirteenth Institute in the City of Psychics is a powerful force that my grandfather cannot confront alone.”
Wang Jixuan nodded slowly.
If he could smoothly take shelter in the fortress to cultivate for a while, that would be the best choice.
If that didn’t work, he could also choose to leave the fortress and enter the territory of the blade beasts.
Although that would be very dangerous, and he might become a target for both the blade beasts and the human army.
This was his last resort, and he didn’t want to take it lightly.
Zhou Zhengde paced again and said quietly, “I need to contact my mom and the governor. We can’t just eliminate Kong Nu.”
Wang Jixuan asked in confusion, “What else do we need to do?”
“How about we stage a fake death?”
Zhou Zhengde lowered his voice:
“Just give me a name, and I’ll arrange a new identity for you. We can go to the upper city for plastic surgery. Only you and I will know about this, and Wei Na must also keep it a secret.”
“But the scent can’t be changed, and there’s also the biological waveform, biological information.”
Wang Jixuan shook his head:
“No need for plastic surgery or fake death. Just modify Mu Liang’s information, change the name to Wang Zheng, the character for expedition.”
Wang Zheng was his worldly name;
Jixuan was his Daoist name, given by his master because he liked refining tools.
Wang Jixuan added, “If I sense danger here, I will leave Fortress 76 myself.”
Zhou Zhengde was taken aback: “Leave? Where can you go? The fortress is our last home.”
“Hide in another fortress. I remember there are supply routes between fortresses.”
Wang Jixuan smiled calmly:
“Don’t worry about me. Team Leader Zhou, you’ve already helped me a lot, and I will definitely repay you.
“Team Leader Zhou, should we go directly to the upper city now?”
Zhou Zhengde didn’t pay attention to the word ‘repay.’
He quickly said, “I need time to arrange things in the upper city, and these elevators can only reach the seventh floor. To get from the seventh floor to the sixth floor, we need to go through a checkpoint.”
“Okay, then I’ll go back to change my clothes. I need to wear combat gear and a helmet at least. Can you help me get that big sniper rifle?”
“Uh…”
Zhou Zhengde hesitated:
“The upper city is a soldier training base. We can’t easily start a fight there; it’s almost impossible to hide.
“I’ll try my method first. If it doesn’t work, I will support you in dealing with Kong Nu.
“And Mu Liang, if my method doesn’t solve him, I must be the one to pull the trigger that takes out Kong Nu.
“The auxiliary chips on these senior researchers can capture images through their visual nerves and automatically upload the killer’s image to the City of Psychics. This is also a way to deter psychics and others.”
Wang Jixuan nodded slightly.
He looked at the outstretched right hand in front of him, smiled lightly, and shook hands tightly with Zhou Zhengde.
...
An hour later.
On the third floor of the fortress, the home of psychics.
Kong Nu’s fingers trembled slightly as he took off his glasses, repeating the action twice before managing to complete it.
In the past week, he seemed to have aged over ten years.
The home of psychics is the general term for the base of psychics in the fortress, located in the northwest area of the third floor. There is a large area that residents of the upper city are prohibited from approaching. However, no defensive structures can be built here, making it look like a beautiful villa area.
Although the third floor of the fortress is over a hundred meters above the ground,
thanks to the “sunlight conduction” devices spread throughout the upper city, there is ample sunlight here during the day.
The office “big villa” where Kong Nu is currently located is basking in warm sunlight.
A dozen psychics were tightly pursing their lips, standing or sitting in various places outside the office, many of them injured.
More than a hundred guards illegally recruited by the home of psychics were currently armed and lying in ambush throughout the area, closely monitoring movements everywhere.
This area was incredibly oppressive.
First, the sudden appearance of the Battle Maiden from the lower city had effortlessly destroyed all their arrangements;
now, more than twenty armored vehicles were blocking all visible entrances and exits around the home of psychics.
Fully armed soldiers wearing exoskeleton armor were holding powerful electromagnetic guns, set up snipers at various high points. Although there was no heavy firepower in sight, this crossfire could easily take out D-level and E-level psychics.
This was the combat force mobilized by the fortress governor.
The method Zhou Zhengde mentioned.
Now, Zhou Zhengde was trying hard to persuade the governor to issue an attack order, while the governor and the ministers were still waiting for orders from the war zone.
In Kong Nu’s office, the air pressure had dropped to a frightening level.
Ye Zi, now dressed in a red dress, was being pulled by a plump middle-aged woman, sitting on a sofa in the corner of the office, next to two slightly older young girls.
They were Kong Nu’s family.
Or new family members recognized by Kong Nu.
Dingling!
Kong Nu snatched the phone from the corner of the desk, and the psychics outside the office looked in at the same time.
The receiver echoed with a tired, old voice:
“Ling Tong has already found out. The person I sent has been captured by Ling Tong. You’re too ridiculous, Kong Nu. You didn’t even install a self-destruct device in that kind of laboratory!”
Kong Nu’s throat quivered a few times: “The self-destruct device on the lowest level might destroy the fortress’s outer protective structure… Professor Zhuang… And I did install it, but the signal was lost months ago…”
“Very good, well done! They now perfectly have my handle. I just handed over the control of the D5 war zone’s psychics! I’m just a pure old man doing research now!”
The old man on the other end sighed:
“I admit that the experiments I did were unethical and had some risks, but this is the price that must be paid for the progress of psychic science.
“But you went too far, Kong Nu.
“Is an E-level psychic worth such a huge price? You actually went to threaten the grandson of the commander.
“I really wonder, Kong Nu, that old man like me on the front lines, I can’t know where the commander’s family is arranged, which is understandable. You’re in Fortress 76, and you don’t even know where that mother and son are! Didn’t you toast your governor?”
Kong Nu smiled bitterly: “So, Professor, I, Kong Nu, have worked hard for over thirty years, and in the end, I still lost to these powerful people, right?”
“Interpret it however you like. Do you think the commander is just a powerful person? He has saved this one-twentieth of humanity many times.”
The old man on the other end said helplessly:
“I can understand your desire to enter the City of Psychics; that’s your ideal, even if it’s an ideal born from brainwashing.
“Considering our friendship over the years… Let me remind you again.
“Don’t take that plane you called for. The war zone is ready to take you out in the air; that plane has been locked on.
“A plane crash is the easiest way to erase all traces of a senior researcher, and it would be hard for the City of Psychics to investigate.
“Go hide in Fortress 82 for now, go to your old lover. The psychics from Fortress 82 are waiting for you at Gate 9 of the fortress. You have a way to get there, right? The intelligence I received shows you are surrounded. I’m stalling for you, but I can’t talk too much now; I can’t hold them off for long.
“The commander will really kill me directly!
“About that E-level psychic, the one you named Black Storm, Mu Liang, what else do you know?”
Kong Nu said softly, “Professor, I only know that he is definitely not a psychic from our Thirteenth Institute.”
“Very interesting, the military has broken through the infusion technology? Then we’re all done for.”
The old man chuckled bitterly:
“The City of Psychics is planning to express strong dissatisfaction with the massacre of psychics that happened in Fortress 76.
“They should use this E-level psychic as a scapegoat, but that’s no longer my concern… I’m really impressed!
“How much of the funding I gave you did you embezzle, Kong Nu? You could skimp on the self-destruct device in the laboratory? You’re too greedy, my student! I suddenly have nothing left!
“Forget it, I wish you safety; your academic level is still decent.”
The old man hung up the phone.
Kong Nu lowered his head, rubbed his brow, squeezed his eyes tightly, and looked up at the corner.
“Wife, take the kids to Gate 9, go immediately. Someone will take you to Fortress 82.”
“Old Kong,” the middle-aged woman asked softly, “What about you?”
“I’ll wait for that plane locked by missiles.”
Kong Nu said quietly:
“Where else can I hide? Without Professor Zhuang’s secrets, what value do I have?
“I originally wanted to threaten Professor Zhuang with those places below to ensure our entry into the City of Psychics, but that’s no longer useful.
“The biological minister of Fortress 76 should have his last dignity.”
He looked at Ye Zi, whose small face was full of confusion, and sighed softly:
“Sorry, Ye Zi, I can’t take care of you anymore.”
The middle-aged woman hugged Ye Zi and her two daughters tightly, choking back tears.
Ye Zi’s eyes turned slightly red.
There were no extra tearful farewells. Kong Nu pressed a button, and several psychics came in from outside the door, quickly taking his family away through a hidden door.
Kong Nu then said, “Everyone go back to your own residences. Don’t worry about what happens next; everything was directed by me. Don’t resist the search… You’ve all worked hard together these years.”
The psychics outside the office didn’t say much and quietly dispersed.
“Sigh…”
Kong Nu sighed, opened the drawer, took out a cherished cigar, lit it with practiced ease, and placed a photo in front of him, showing an old woman in a red sweater.
He silently smoked the cigar, a hint of nostalgia in his eyes.
Ding ding!
A text exchange device kept vibrating.
[Old Li: Arrangements are made, come quickly.]
Kong Nu squinted at it, placed the cigar on the edge of the table to let it smolder slowly, and smiled broadly.
He quickly grabbed the briefcase hidden under the chair, stood up, walked to a nearby bookshelf, pushed it aside, revealing a narrow sloping passage that connected to an upward-angled ventilation duct.
“Damn dignity.”
Kong Nu rushed in quickly, swiftly shedding his suit.
(End of this chapter)