"Cough, cough! Hah, hah..."
In a somewhat cramped pipe passage, Kong Nu leaned against a faintly warm light-conducting pipe. After squeezing through layers of subcutaneous fat, his standard protective suit had become thoroughly wrinkled.
Kong Nu panted heavily.
Having crawled a long way through the pipes, he now needed to recover his strength.
Buzz, buzz.
A familiar vibration.
Kong Nu opened his briefcase and took out his communicator from a stack of paper documents.
This communicator had nothing to do with his family. It was not his wife and children reporting that they were safe.
Kong Nu felt that he had already done more than enough for his family; he had fulfilled his duty. He had already let them escape to Fortress No. 82. What else could he do?
Kong Nu naturally knew that, with Professor Zhuang helping behind the scenes, that route was most likely safe.
Because Professor Zhuang was, at heart, a hopelessly kind man in the psionic science world.
But what came after that?
To those important figures above, Kong Nu no longer had any positive value. He was merely a bargaining chip in their conflict. Going to Fortress No. 82 would still mean entering the military's cage.
They were all cages.
All these fortresses were cages!
Only by entering the Psionic Capital!
Only by entering the Psionic Capital and reaching the true center of psionic research would he have a chance to become one of those important figures!
Kong Nu's fingers trembled as he turned on the communicator screen.
[Old Li: The T921 air outlet has stopped turning, and the pipe Surveillance System in this area has been shut down. After you come out, turn left. A vehicle will be waiting for you there, and a military aircraft that can fly directly to the Psionic Capital is ready. Hurry! The war zone may order the Governor to kill you at any time!] [Kong Nu: Thank you, Old Li.] [Old Li: When will you destroy the things in your hands?] [Kong Nu: Soon. As long as I reach the Psionic Capital, those things will automatically be destroyed once they lose the brainwave signal linked to me. If my Pulse Signal disappears midway, those things will automatically be sent to the Command Center of the war zone.] [Old Li: You'd better behave yourself. I'm already old, and I honestly don't care about your threats. I'm only considering my old friends' reputations.] [Kong Nu: Yes, Old Li. You have always been a man of noble character.]
Kong Nu put away the communicator, a cold sneer appearing at the corner of his mouth.
He took a syringe from the side pocket of his briefcase and, gritting his teeth, injected himself in the neck.
The remaining stretch required continuous uphill climbing, and the airflow rushing in from other vents would also hinder him. He needed to squeeze out more physical strength.
Kong Nu still remembered how exhausted and pathetic he had looked the first time he dug through this escape route.
He waited quietly for two minutes, listening for activity from Psionic Home.
The alarm he had left behind had not gone off yet. No one had entered his office for the time being.
That was excellent.
That hesitant Governor was just like that. Zhou Zhengde and his Psionicist must have been panicking by now.
Kong Nu took a breath.
He stood up trembling, fresh strength bursting through his body as he lowered himself and crawled forward.
Left turn, left turn, climb uphill, move forward...
Kong Nu drew ever closer to his path to survival.
Up ahead, natural light that had been refracted several times gradually appeared.
Sweat drenched his entire body. The protective suit made him feel stifled, but none of that mattered.
After a few more turns, he would escape this cage.
Kong Nu could not help smiling.
Too many developments in this incident had exceeded his expectations—Zhou Zhengde's identity, the precious combat asset Mechanical Girl sent by the war zone, and the Psionicist who had suddenly appeared.
But now, he was about to leave this place and enter a broader world.
Though he was a little bedraggled;
Though things were a little rigid.
That E-Class Psionicist who had suddenly appeared was an excellent subject. He would use that fellow to make a name for himself and secure his first foothold in the Psionic Capital!
Once I turn this corner, walk about fifteen steps, then turn right, I'll see that air outlet.
He could already smell it—the scent of dry soil!
A sickly smile appeared on Kong Nu's slightly swollen face.
Whoosh!
A whistling sound came from far behind him.
"Hm?"
Kong Nu turned to look back the way he had come.
Was it an auditory hallucination?
Had the air outlet's filter broken and sucked in some gravel?
Kong Nu's Adam's apple trembled a few times. Stopping so abruptly had made his left calf cramp faintly.
He did not dare stop. The injection had a time limit, and there was still a short uphill stretch before the exit.
Kong Nu hurried forward.
Whoosh!
It really was a whistling sound!
Right behind him!
Kong Nu's left knee suddenly went numb, and his body pitched uncontrollably forward. He barely steadied himself by grabbing the scorching pipe beside him.
A nut fell onto the metal floor with a faint clink.
A... a nut?
Kong Nu's sweat-soaked, swollen face turned deathly pale.
His Adam's apple kept trembling as he dragged his numb left leg forward desperately, gritting his teeth as he turned to look behind him.
It was him!
A black Combat Suit, a smooth helmet marked by several scratches!
Mu Liang!
Mu Liang, the man who had caused the Black Fire Gang's sudden destruction and killed several Psionicists under his command! He was charging toward him!
Whoosh!
"Ah!"
Kong Nu's right leg buckled sharply, and he crashed to his knees before the corner.
The space here was relatively spacious, enough for two people to move forward side by side. The pipes along the light-conducting passage had also become somewhat hot.
"Don't! Don't come over! Spare me!"
Whoosh.
This whistling sound was not hurried, but the nut struck Kong Nu's Adam's apple with perfect accuracy, making him clutch his neck and cough painfully.
The voice behind the helmet came through.
Kong Nu had not expected the first thing the other person said to be...
"Where is Ye Zi?"
Kong Nu was still coughing, his body curled up as he was unable to answer at all.
Behind the helmet, Wang Jixuan frowned slightly.
Daoist Wang carefully sensed the surrounding situation and did not dare linger in this place.
He bent down, grabbed Kong Nu, and yanked him upright. His left fist drove into Kong Nu's abdomen, and a wisp of energy entered Kong Nu's legs, making him stand facing the wall.
Wang Jixuan naturally remembered Zhou Zhengde's warning.
[When a Senior Researcher dies, the last image seen by that researcher will be transmitted to the Psionic Capital through the Brain Chip.]
Therefore, Wang Jixuan had prepared a Soul-Capturing Talisman in advance.
He had even deliberately stuck the Soul-Capturing Talisman to the back of Kong Nu's head.
A shadowy figure entered the Soul-Capturing Talisman, and Kong Nu's body swayed unsteadily.
Wang Jixuan moved quickly, taking out a wrinkled Soul-Capturing Talisman and stuffing a shadow so faint it could no longer be seen clearly into Kong Nu's body.
Gu Wending's soul.
"Walk out."
Wang Jixuan whispered beside "Kong Nu's" ear.
"Kong Nu's" eyes were filled with confusion, and beneath that confusion was a trace of emptiness. He turned around and, following Kong Nu's previous obsession, trembled as he walked past the corner.
Wang Jixuan leaned against the metal wall. With his left hand, he extended a small mirror around the corner and carefully watched Kong Nu's back, while his right hand held a suppressed pistol.
Before coming here, he had discovered that all the surveillance cameras in this passage had been shut down.
Kong Nu's partners must have been helping him.
At the end of the passage, beyond four massive fan blades that had stopped rotating, lay a long-unseen expanse of azure sky.
Lazy white clouds, a pleasant breeze, warm sunlight, a desert, and a distant military camp formed a simple scene.
A faint ripple passed through Wang Jixuan's Dao heart, but he suppressed it and continued observing with the mirror, ready to fire another shot at any time.
If his deduction was correct;
He would not need to expose himself.
Step by step, "Kong Nu" walked into a patch of warm sunlight. The triangular opening formed by two fan blades only required him to bend down to pass through.
"God..."
"Kong Nu" muttered.
The soul inside this body had already lost the ability to think, leaving only the last trace of Power of Soul.
Driven by an instinctive longing for sunlight, "Kong Nu" used his stiff body and exerted great effort before finally lowering his head and crawling through the air outlet, whose filter had been removed in advance. He took two steps out along the concrete pipe.
"Light..."
Bang! Splat!
"Kong Nu's" temple exploded, spraying brain matter and blood.
Bang!
Bang!
Sniper Rifle shots rang out from two other directions, one distant and one near. Two holes immediately appeared in "Kong Nu's" body before he had fully fallen, and he collapsed helplessly to the ground.
The corner of Wang Jixuan's mouth twitched slightly.
He looked at the briefcase in his hand. Continuous vibrations came from inside. Wearing Tactical Gloves, he pulled out the communicator and glanced at it.
[Old Li: You think you can threaten me with this kind of leverage? Back then, I voluntarily left leverage for those above me. Do you even understand politics? What matters in politics is choosing a side, not personal conduct.] [Old Li: Worthless trash that can't be propped up even with mud. Instead of studying your psionics, you went to study people's hearts. What could you possibly understand?] [Old Li: Idiot.]
Wang Jixuan wondered whether the old man on the other end would be frightened into illness if he replied, "I died such a miserable death."
He crushed the communicator and tossed it aside, then tucked the briefcase under his arm and sprinted back the way he had come.
Taking Kong Nu's soul was only the first step;
Before the armored troops moved into the Psionicist outpost, he wanted to see whether he could take a few Blade Beast Crystal Cores used as infusion materials by Psionicist's Home.
Why does Upper City have less spiritual energy than Middle City?
Daoist Wang was somewhat puzzled by this.
Half an hour later.
Dozens of bursts of flame suddenly erupted from the Psionicist's Home office building.
The armored troops, who had yet to receive an order to attack, and more than a dozen Psionicists waiting for inspection in various places were all startled at once.
Zhou Zhengde, who had just arrived nearby, froze for a moment before immediately shouting, "Control the situation!"
The armored troops received the command almost simultaneously and charged toward the office building ahead.
A few bad thoughts rose in Zhou Zhengde's heart.
When he had gone to find his mother and the Governor, Mu Liang had said he wanted to keep an eye on Kong Nu.
That was actually very dangerous. Kong Nu still had more than a dozen Psionicists and a small armed force around him.
Zhou Zhengde knew that Mu Liang was someone whose mind was difficult to change. He had chosen to agree and had given Mu Liang a surveillance distribution map of the Third Floor.
And now, these explosions...
"Captain Zhou, over here."
Zhou Zhengde turned his head and saw the familiar figure, already helmetless and wearing a mask.
Wang Jixuan calmly walked out from a nearby corner. The Enforcement Team members beside Zhou Zhengde immediately raised their guns, only to be hurriedly stopped by Zhou Zhengde.
"Friendly! He's one of us!"
"Take this. A supply truck left through Gate Nine. Kong Nu's family and Ye Zi are on it. They left a while ago. See if you can stop them."
With a somewhat gloomy look in his eyes, Wang Jixuan tossed a document pouch to Zhou Zhengde.
Inside were several relatively primitive "discs," along with some paper documents.
Zhou Zhengde gave a few instructions to a team member beside him, and the man immediately turned and ran off.
Then Zhou Zhengde stared at Wang Jixuan and asked, "Mu Liang, what's wrong? Why do you seem so listless?"
"Nothing."
Wang Jixuan sighed.
"I just had a brief chat with a morally corrupt 'brother,' saw what darkness and evil truly looked like, and now I'm feeling a little unwell.
"I want to return to the thirteenth floor and rest first."
Zhou Zhengde quickly said, "Do you want to rest in Upper City instead? I have a place to stay here too."
"No need," Wang Jixuan said with a wry smile.
"Alright. I'll try to handle what comes next, just as we discussed before."
Zhou Zhengde gave him a reassuring look:
"I can't say exactly how this will develop. Kong Nu is dead, hit by three Sniper Rifles at once, and some rather dark information has been sent to the Command Center in the war zone."
"The Governor is currently scrambling to gather the ministers for a meeting."
"I've already sent a message to Maternal Grandfather's assistant, but there's no reply yet. What happens next mainly depends on Psionic Capital's response. It's still uncertain... Mu Liang, are you listening? Are you all right?"
"I'm fine, I'm fine. Just too tired."
Wang Jixuan sighed.
"Have one of your team members show me the way. It won't be easy to get through the checkpoint."
"All right... Are you really okay?" Zhou Zhengde asked, unable to hide his concern.
Wang Jixuan held back a laugh and continued to look exhausted.
He could hardly wait to return to the thirteenth floor, find a quiet corner, interrogate Kong Nu, and while he was at it...
Ding, ding ding.
A faint clinking came from his pocket.
Six diamond-shaped crystal cores encased in alloy collided, producing cheerful, beautiful notes.
And set up the Spirit Gathering Array!
Before you continue