"Did those two just die?"
Inside the cabin of the stealth aircraft, the atmosphere felt a bit tense.
The six psychics were all thinking about what to do next. Among them, four were part of a fixed action team from the Psychic Capital, belonging to the Grey Feather Investigation Group. The other two, along with the recently sniped psychics C and D at Fortress Gate 3, were borrowed from Fortress 82.
They were just expendable.
So, even though two psychics had died, it didn’t really affect this Grey Feather team. Those two loudmouths were sent to test the waters anyway.
"Sure enough, this is the territory of the Devil Commander."
A husky, somewhat sultry female voice broke the silence.
The woman speaking was code-named ‘Saman’, a B-level psychic with a sun-kissed complexion and a fit figure. She wore a very revealing outfit, with only a brown wrap covering her upper body and a loose light gray skirt below. Her pretty face was partially obscured by a thin veil, and her light blue eyes held a hint of mystery.
In front of Saman was a crystal ball, which she occasionally rubbed with her hands.
Opposite her sat a burly man, at least two meters tall, code-named ‘Zong Xiong’, a B-level physical enhancement psychic.
Zong Xiong crossed his arms and frowned, saying, "The Devil Commander is my idol. If possible, I don’t want to cause trouble on his turf."
"Come on, even muscle men bigger than you are your idols."
The team leader, a disheveled middle-aged woman, snapped back.
This middle-aged woman was code-named ‘Aunt Dragonfly’—these codenames were self-chosen when they joined.
Aunt Dragonfly looked a bit puffy, her hair was messy, and she wore a dirty nightgown, giving the impression that she hadn’t taken care of herself for weeks. If you got close, you could smell a strong mix of sweat, smoke, and alcohol.
Despite her scruffy appearance and somewhat disheartened demeanor, she was the only one in the area with genuine A-level combat power.
Aunt Dragonfly was now looking at some documents in front of her, leaning on the edge of the table, her fingers tapping on the surface as she thought carefully.
The last member of the team was…
A tree.
This was a thin little man, wrapped in thick bark, with hair made of small green sprouts. The bark on his body occasionally sprouted small branches, which he would snip off with a small pair of scissors.
The only parts of him not covered in bark were his hands, face, and joints, and he wore very little clothing—just a specially made pair of triangle shorts.
‘Tree Man Beta’ was his code name;
‘Best Firewood Supplier for Wilderness Survival’ was his team role;
‘A-level Mutated Psychic’ was his internal psychic rating;
‘Most Useless A-level Psychic’ was the nickname others gave him.
Tree Man Beta asked quietly, "Captain, did you offend some leader? Why are we assigned such a dangerous task?"
Aunt Dragonfly rolled her eyes. "Such a challenging task is a recognition of our abilities, isn’t it? Don’t bring up those old bastards! Damn it, they even want to pull me into their schemes. It’s disgusting!"
Zong Xiong squinted. "There are indeed a few senior psychics who like to indulge their curiosities."
"I’ll beat you up if you don’t believe me!" Aunt Dragonfly shouted fiercely.
Zong Xiong quickly backed down.
"Let’s discuss the battle plan first, Captain," Saman said anxiously. "What are the specific orders from above? This mission feels very dangerous."
"Oh, I haven’t told you the details yet?"
Aunt Dragonfly forced herself to focus, glancing at the two expendable psychics in the corner who didn’t dare to breathe, and said irritably, "You two useless ones, put on the noise-canceling headphones and turn around."
"Yes!"
The two quickly put on their earplugs and headphones, blasting loud music as they faced the wall in the corner.
Aunt Dragonfly raised her hand, and a 3D projection screen enlarged in front of the four of them, displaying a photo of a figure known as Black Storm, along with two marked boxes containing information about Mu Liang and Zhou Tiantian.
"First, this guy, code-named Black Storm, formerly known as Mu Liang and Zhou Tiantian, is a military-trained psychic.
"According to preliminary investigations, he might be the first military psychic with comprehensive strength comparable to a ‘C-minus’ level psychic. He has high military training and strong counter-surveillance abilities, previously active in Fortress 76. The Kong Nu incident and the capture of Qin Qin are directly related to him."
Zong Xiong asked, "I know Qin Qin, a researcher with an amazing figure. I heard she can keep three old men in bed at the same time… Who’s Kong Nu?"
"God knows who Kong Nu is."
Aunt Dragonfly shrugged. "According to the data, he seems to be a researcher wanting to enter the Psychic Capital? There are plenty of fools trying to squeeze into the Psychic Capital. What’s so good about it?"
Saman quickly said, "Can we not be so petty, Zong Xiong? Spreading rumors about women is not cool!"
"Let me rephrase," Zong Xiong said seriously, "Qin Qin is an amazing researcher, independent and unyielding to male authority, who can simultaneously exhaust the stamina of three old men."
Tree Man Beta couldn’t help but laugh.
Saman huffed, "You really! You’re so arrogant!"
Zong Xiong raised an eyebrow, unfazed.
"Can you let me finish? Don’t force me to cut off your reproductive organs and let them pair up by themselves!"
Aunt Dragonfly cursed, and the two immediately quieted down.
Tree Man Beta was trimming the branches on his arms and asked in confusion, "Just a C-level military psychic, is it necessary to make such a big fuss?"
"Black Storm is just one of our secondary targets. The biggest trouble in this fortress is this."
Aunt Dragonfly lightly pushed forward.
A photo appeared in front of them, showing a young boy in a wheelchair being pushed into the supply station by Zheng Shiduo.
Zong Xiong’s eyes lit up. "Zheng Shiduo? I know him! A well-known perverted psychic! A generally mediocre balanced psychic!"
"Look at the boy he’s pushing! He’s the real trouble."
Aunt Dragonfly quickly said, "This boy has very little information because he was just a poor lab subject before, a clone of an S-level mutated psychic Beast Whisperer. Thousands of clones were created, with only a few successful experiments, and he is one of them.
"He possesses some abilities of the Beast Whisperer, and his previous psychic reaction level was B, making him a high threat.
"According to our intelligence, in the recent battle against the Young King Worm nearby, this poor kid played a significant role.
"Those old geezers above believe that Fortress 76 suddenly expelled all psychics, using political means to detain Team Leader Wei Linzheng and the old scoundrel Feng Bangjie, and announced that no psychics would be allowed to enter during the investigation, all to protect this Beast Whisperer clone."
The group pondered carefully.
Zong Xiong asked, "I remember that these clones don’t live long, right? And they need nutrient tanks to survive. He looks… quite healthy."
"That’s what’s most shocking. He should have died, but he’s alive and looking healthier than any of us."
Aunt Dragonfly clicked her tongue. "When Qin Qin brought him over, he was clearly on the verge of death, marked as a worthless experiment."
"So," Tree Man Beta asked, "our main task is to deal with him?"
"Not to deal with, but to investigate."
Aunt Dragonfly explained simply, "We are the Grey Feather Investigation Group, not a destruction or judgment group. We just need to gather intelligence and report it to those old perverts. That’s enough to complete the mission."
Tree Man Beta sighed, "That’s good. This kid is too pitiful. No matter what means the military used to save him, being alive is a good thing."
"Threats should be eliminated early," Zong Xiong muttered.
Saman said worriedly, "But the fortress is designed to be easy to defend and hard to attack. How are we supposed to investigate? They’ve blocked all paths."
Click.
Aunt Dragonfly lit a cigarette, leaned back in her makeshift folding chair, rested her left hand on the back of the chair, and blew out a smoke ring, saying casually, "There are three directions for the next investigation. If we make a breakthrough in any of these, we can just slip away.
"Don’t forget, this is the Devil Commander’s territory. If he wants to mess with us, we won’t make it out alive, and no one will speak up for us. Those idiots are also afraid of the terror mechas.
"First investigation direction: related to Black Storm. We need to take a sample from him.
"Second investigation direction: the Beast Whisperer clone. We need to determine his current energy level, physical condition, and estimated lifespan, with the added goal of finding the military technology that saved him.
"The third investigation direction is more comprehensive, analyzing the necessity of Fortress 76’s continued existence. We need to provide a comprehensive threat level for this place, and once submitted, we can wrap up this mission."
Saman asked quietly, "So what should we investigate now?"
Smack!
Aunt Dragonfly slapped a form on the table. "My suggestion is… investigate nothing! Just fill it out as extremely dangerous and let the S-level psychics destroy this fortress! Who agrees, who disagrees?"
"We can’t do that!" "I oppose!"
Saman and Tree Man Beta raised their hands simultaneously.
Zong Xiong said, "I agree. Let’s be straightforward."
"Alright, the vote stands at three to one."
Aunt Dragonfly looked at Zong Xiong and quickly said, "According to the principle of majority rule, you’ll be the main investigator this time, Zong Xiong!
"Take these two useless ones raised by the fortress… ahem, these two capable assistants, and investigate one of the three options!"
Zong Xiong looked confused, unable to process what was happening.
Wait, it wasn’t supposed to be like this; how did it turn into this?
Bang!
The door of the stealth aircraft opened and closed tightly a few seconds later.
Zong Xiong and the two still wearing headphones stood dazedly at the door, facing the endless yellow sand.
Zong Xiong had a black line on his forehead, and a dry yellow leaf passed over his head.
Inside the aircraft, Aunt Dragonfly yawned, walked to a small fridge, took out a bottle of strong liquor, opened the cap, and took a couple of swigs, revealing a comfortable smile.
Saman asked quietly, "Captain, aren’t we going to do anything?"
"Haven’t we already done something? We sent out a powerful human detector!"
Aunt Dragonfly winked. "If Zong Xiong dies, the investigation form will be filled out as extremely dangerous.
"If Zong Xiong gets injured, it’ll be filled out as relatively dangerous.
"If Zong Xiong safely investigates some things inside the fortress, that will be a general threat.
"Isn’t that reasonable?"
Tree Man Beta said, "Reasonable."
Saman said, "Genius!"
"I’m still on the communication channel!" Zong Xiong roared in anger.
…
A few hours later.
In the central city of the fortress, in the rising elevator number 11.
Wang Jixuan, dressed in combat gear and disguised as a member of the cleansing team, crossed his arms, thinking about the simple probe he had just conducted.
One good piece of news was that he had collected fragments of that crystal.
At the same time, there was a bad piece of news…
Now, there was an energy type that even Wang Daochang couldn’t understand.
This Blade Beast nest had begun to fill with operations, and those crystals were spread out fairly widely, almost every ‘breeding chamber’ could find them, but most had been damaged by the bugs.
These crystals themselves were like murky quartz, clusters growing from the rock layers.
As Deep Sea had said before, as soon as someone tried to pull them out—whether by hand, machine, or psychic power—they would explode immediately, and without protective gear, one could be seriously injured.
Wang Daochang had initially thought this was a ‘device’ that absorbed the earth’s spiritual energy.
Earth’s spiritual energy: the aura contained in the earth, usually polluted by turbid air, often used as a power source for mountain protection formations, and is also an important basis for finding underground spiritual mines.
But when he carefully probed with his spiritual sense, he found no trace of earth’s spiritual energy.
These crystals indeed contained energy, and this energy did come from the earth, but it wasn’t spiritual energy, nor was it anything Wang Jixuan knew. The Blade Beasts could turn this energy into spiritual energy.
Science couldn’t understand it;
Immortal techniques couldn’t understand it;
‘Could it really be some kind of alien technology?’
‘Ah, these Blade Beasts could indeed be considered an invasion of alien civilization.’
Wang Daochang felt a bit confused.
He still had a few pieces of exploded crystals in his backpack and decided to study them carefully during his breaks from practice and refining.
Maybe he could discover more little secrets about the Blade Beasts.
"Boss!"
Deep Sea coughed lightly and whispered as the elevator was about to reach the seventh floor, "Can you get me one of those big swords? It doesn’t have to be as strong as Ling Tong’s, just having one would be good. I could use it to impress my wife…"
"Sure," Wang Jixuan smiled. "Uncle Tai knows what materials I need, so just have him prepare them in advance."
Deep Sea sighed in relief.
He had never asked anyone for help in his life, but this time he couldn’t resist his wife’s persistent pleas.
"Thank you."
"Don’t mention it. Just treat me to a cup of tea later."
"Sure!"
Ding ding.
The elevator doors opened, and Wang Jixuan lowered his hat and was about to step out.
"Hehehe~"
Naturally released spiritual sense edges caught the cheerful humming and familiar figure.
Right-hand neighbor?
Wang Jixuan carefully probed with his spiritual sense and saw a young girl leisurely riding her bike past a wheat field.
Something was off.
The dormitory building and the nursery where she worked were in another direction, at least two kilometers away. How did she end up at this relatively peripheral location?
Wang Daochang didn’t want to investigate further.
But a fleeting image of a girl in white clothes, surrounded by faint black energy, crossed his mind.
So, Wang Jixuan frowned slightly, told Deep Sea, "I’m going for a walk," and turned to walk aside, leaving Deep Sea a bit puzzled.
(End of Chapter)