Supplies Delivered, Black Fire Crushed

The one delivering the supplies was actually Wei Na.

Wang Jixuan carried the supply crate away from the rear of the motorcycle and said quietly, "Somewhere else."

"Okay. I can't stay here for too long," Wei Na said softly.

Having already surveyed the terrain, Wang Jixuan led her to a low little house nearby.

—After taking three of Wang Jixuan's Joy Coins, the house's owner had gotten roaring drunk and gone to sleep soundly at a neighbor's house.

Wang Jixuan locked the doors and windows, then switched on an energy-saving lamp with rather poor lighting.

Wei Na cleared her throat, leaned one shoulder against the wall, and tried her best to strike a sexy pose.

"Why did you come?"

Wang Jixuan asked quietly,

"Did you forget? The Black Fire Gang is looking for you too."

"Who told your situation to be classified within our little team?"

Pouting, Wei Na complained,

"We couldn't exactly have Detachment Leader Zhou come down personally to deliver equipment. Rotten Fish is out of commission and won't be discharged for at least half a month. After calculating it every way I could, I was the only one left... Take a look at what Detachment Leader Zhou prepared for you.

"I honestly don't understand what you need that kind of metal ore for. Is it convenient to tell me?"

"Not really."

As he spoke, Wang Jixuan had already opened the crate.

At the very top was a thin mask sealed in plastic film.

"This is a Simulation Mask."

Wei Na introduced it,

"I heard this sort of thing is used by agents. It's made of nanomaterials, and only the Special Investigation Group of the Purification Force has them in reserve.

"Once you press it onto your face, it automatically conforms to your skin and changes your appearance. Supposedly, it breathes fairly well and automatically filters out sweat. You take it off once a month for maintenance."

"Maintenance?"

Finding it quite novel, Wang Jixuan held the mask and studied it carefully for a while. After confirming there was nothing wrong with it, he tried pressing it onto his face.

White ripples spread across the mask. Wang Jixuan's face felt itchy, much like that year when he had been napping beneath a tree and his mischievous junior sister had made a Spirit Deer lick his forehead...

Forget it. That memory did not seem particularly pleasant.

Wei Na tossed him a mirror, and Wang Jixuan looked at himself within it.

The disguised face unexpectedly bore a thirty-percent resemblance to his appearance in his previous life, which lifted his mood.

"Come, look over here."

Wei Na called out as she took a long instrument from the supply crate and carefully scanned his facial data.

Wang Jixuan asked in confusion, "What are you doing?"

"Sending your current facial data back. Zhou will make you a new identity."

Wei Na smiled.

"All right, my main task is complete."

Looking at the instrument, Wang Jixuan asked, "Why don't I have things like this in my memories?"

"Most of it is Military Technology."

Wei Na smiled.

"You've never been to a fortress's Upper City. That place and the Middle City and Lower City are two different worlds. The Upper City is the crystallization of human technological power. Otherwise, what did you think we used to fight the powerful Blade Beast legions? Those Psionicists, who are even fewer in number than heavy mechs?"

Wang Jixuan hesitated to speak.

He wanted to ask Wei Na about Blade Beasts.

In the eyes of humans in this world, Blade Beasts were brutal and terrifying. But in Daoist Wang's eyes...

Blade Beasts were treasures from head to toe.

With her left hand resting on her slender waist and her right hand braced against the nearby table, Wei Na asked softly,

"What are you planning to do next? He asked me to ask."

"I want to infiltrate the forty-ninth floor."

Wang Jixuan answered simply,

"Preferably, I'll join a gang that can openly clash with the Black Fire Gang. I'll use them to conceal my identity and find a chance to kill the Psionicist I injured."

Naturally, something like soul-searching could not be openly discussed.

Daoist Wang had his dignity too.

Wei Na reminded him,

"That's very dangerous.

"However, a coalition of gangs targeting the Black Fire Gang is already being formed. Those gangs are all recruiting, so your plan should not be too difficult to carry out...

"We'll cooperate with you. I mean, the two of us—Zhou and I—will do our best to cooperate with you."

Wang Jixuan agreed, but he still could not resist asking, "Has Doctor Wei seen Blade Beasts?"

"I haven't merely seen them."

Wei Na's smile gradually faded as she said lightly,

"The war against the Blade Beasts is unimaginably cruel. The fortresses in the Ancient Basin War Zone have been numbered up to 116, but only eighteen are still operating. Can you guess why?"

Wang Jixuan asked, "Were they breached by Blade Beasts?"

Wei Na put the instrument back into the crate and explained simply,

"Most were breached by Blade Beasts. A small portion suffered ecological collapse within the fortress itself.

"For the latter, all that is needed is to protect the refugees as they enter the next fortress. The War Zone Integration Center keeps two unused fortresses year-round as shelters.

"But if a fortress is breached by Blade Beasts... there will not be any refugees.

"Our Fortress No. 76 is an Industrial Fortress. There are War Fortresses at the front lines, while we mainly send combat personnel and supplies of all kinds to them... I once served as a military doctor during an operation supporting the front lines. While we were advancing, a group of Blade Beasts suddenly burst out of the sand. The armored vehicle we were riding in was overturned... Then there was a massacre... I..."

Blade Beast roars echoed in Wei Na's mind, and her eyes reddened.

Wang Jixuan did not know what to say.

He was not very good at comforting people.

Besides, he had only wanted to ask whether Blade Beasts had demon cores...

"No!"

Wei Na frowned and asked,

"Shouldn't you be showing some gentlemanly manners right now? Wiping my tears or giving me a hug? Please! I'm showing you my most vulnerable side."

Wang Jixuan asked in return, "Would that be proper?"

"Proper? What does that mean?" Wei Na said speechlessly. "Are you seriously a sexual conservative?"

Wang Jixuan: ...

This humble Daoist might think your sexual conservatives were not conservative enough.

"Yes." He nodded decisively. "I won't casually begin a relationship. To me, it would be a burden. My only pursuit is becoming stronger."

"So it's not that my charm is the problem..."

"Hmm?" Wang Jixuan looked mildly puzzled.

"Ahem, it's nothing!"

Wei Na flashed a brilliant smile.

"Just pretend you didn't hear that crude language earlier. I'm an elegant doctor... It's just that I feel we're completely wasting the wonderful atmosphere here. Won't you really give it a try? You're already in your twenties. It's time to open the door to a New World. You might really enjoy this way of relieving stress! Hey!"

Bang!

Wei Na felt the gust of wind rushing from the door panel, her curly long hair swaying slightly.

"If you don't want to, then don't! Why did you have to throw me out directly... Hey! I need to take that instrument back! He'll contact you directly afterward! I can't be bothered dealing with you people!"

Inside the room, Daoist Wang curled his lip and shook his head. He lowered his head to study the supplies before him and formulate the next steps of his plan.

First, he needed to hide for a few days.

Seven days later.

In an inconspicuous corner of the City of Joy.

Wang Jixuan, wearing his disguised face, frowned at the gaudy barbershop before him and the few shampoo-cut-blow-dry pretty boys at its entrance.

The information Zhou Zhengde had sent appeared before his eyes again.

[01: Mu Liang, from now on, you have a new identity. You need a new hairstyle, one that makes you look more like a thug.]

Wang Jixuan recalled Lan Yuzai's styling, and his Dao heart wavered.

What accomplished cultivator does not have flowing long hair and fluttering robes?

Worldly Heart Refining, Worldly Heart Refining!

Wang Jixuan lowered his head and walked into the barbershop.

"Shopkeeper! Please give me a fashionable hairstyle that looks respectable without looking too respectable, looks improper without looking too improper!"

The female hairstylist, wearing smoky makeup and perming a man's hair, stared at him in stunned silence.

Pop!

The female hairstylist burst the bubblegum at her lips.

"Are you sick? Get out!"

"Please, for its sake."

Wang Jixuan raised his left fist. With a gentle flick of his thumb, a Joy Coin spun into the air, gleaming brightly.

"I mean, you three outside are sick!"

The female hairstylist shouted at the top of her lungs,

"Can't you see our ultra-super-duper VIP has arrived? Get in here and clean a chair!"

The three young men squatting at the entrance hurried inside.

Half an hour later.

Looking at the blue-dyed spikes on top of his head in the mirror, Wang Jixuan silently set down the Joy Coin and left that sorrowful place with a peaceful expression.

[01: You need a new outfit. Do you remember how Rotten Fish dressed? Your fake identity is a thug from the eleventh floor. You accidentally beat a blood bag to death, then bribed the Security Team to escape punishment. You need to look like a thug.]

What Zhou Zhengde said this time made sense.

When roaming the world, attire was indispensable.

Whether a cultivator possessed immortal grace or domineering presence depended first on personal bearing, second on cultivation techniques, and third on clothing and appearance. Both righteous and demonic paths emphasized different styles of dress.

After considering it carefully, Wang Jixuan walked toward a clothing stall at the street corner.

In only a few minutes, Wang Jixuan had put together an outfit based on Lan Yuzai's dressing style.

A tight leather outfit and studded boots wrapped his new Dao body, which had begun to be transformed by spiritual energy: a frame that was not imposing but stood tall, limbs that looked lean but whose muscles had begun to take shape, and his newly acquired spiky hairstyle...

The moment Wang Jixuan stepped away from the clothing stall, gazes from all around gathered on him.

An uncle wearing zombie makeup threw him a flirtatious look.

Across the narrow street, several women cried out that there was a handsome guy over there.

Wang Jixuan: ...This was it?

This world's standards of beauty were far too vulgar.

He took out the Text Exchanger and glanced at it. It contained the final few messages Zhou Zhengde had sent.

[01: Everything is settled. The database has updated your new identity, and I'll send it to you shortly. Remember: relaxed confidence. You need that relaxed confidence of, "When a man dies, his bird points at the sky. If you don't accept it, let's fight."]

[01: Name: "Zhou Tiantian," twenty-one years old, graduated from an intermediate technical academy, worked as an assembly-line worker for two years, absentee rate over thirty percent. Lived at the No. 23 Comprehensive Childcare Center before age six. After his father died of Fortress Sickness, his mother cut off contact with him. He has an uncle, Zhou Heitan, who is the head of the logistics group for the Security Team on the fortress's eleventh floor. (Note: Without connections, it is difficult to make it in the Lower City.)]

[01: That's it. Don't worry about Group Leader Zhou Heitan. He's an elder in the family whom I can trust. All of Mu Liang's biological data has been registered under Zhou Tiantian's name—fingerprints, blood type, and so on. Even if they test your hair, Zhou Tian's information will come up. I've already arranged for a trusted subordinate to play you at the medical center. Lan Yuzai's mother is being kept in the ward for now and is not allowed to leave at will.]

[01: Mu Liang, although I don't like this kind of cooperation where I'm being led, I choose to trust you.]

[01: Next, go to the Pervert Zone of the City of Joy. There is a Black Captain Tavern there. Find a Lower City broker named Goat's Ass. He is the strongest broker in the Lower City. Your uncle, Zhou Heitan, has already arranged everything for you.]

[01: Please remember: We can only do what we believe is right, not what makes other people feel comfortable. This is the fortress's fundamental rule of survival.]

A short, thick underline blinked gently.

Fellow Daoist Zhou really liked lecturing people.

Wang Jixuan rubbed the tip of his nose and looked up at the psychedelic neon lights ahead.

He was already inside the colorful giant python.

As the perspective swept past the back of his head, the slowly unfolding scene filled with noisy voices. The entrances ahead, constantly spilling white dry-ice smoke, resembled the gates of hell, with flashes of laser light occasionally flickering within.

Relaxed confidence as a thug...

Wang Jixuan removed his mask and sunglasses. His disguised face formed a wild, unruly sneer as he hooked his thumb into the edge of his pocket.

He studied Lan Yuzai's way of walking in his mind, then wandered toward the entrance ahead with one foot high and the other low.

He stepped through the doors, turned left according to the signs, and passed down a somewhat narrow corridor. Deafening psychedelic electronic music began assaulting his eardrums.