The Lights Went Out

The Lights Went Out

After leaving the city center, Jiang Ning pushed his spiritual power to the limit and ran more than thirty kilometers, arriving near the transformer box in the village he had passed through on his last trip to Qiaozhou.

At Jiang Ning's current speed, it only took a little over ten minutes.

He had come here to see whether what he had done last night had brought that factory building to a halt.

As Jiang Ning neared the transformer box, a ripple suddenly came through his Spiritual Sense.

He stopped and swept his gaze around the area. To his surprise, he found two men—one crouching below the dam, the other behind a tree atop the dam.

From their positions, they had both the transformer box and the small river in view. The moment anyone came by, they would spot them immediately.

However, Jiang Ning had the Aura Concealment Art, so naturally they could not detect him.

Jiang Ning extended his Spiritual Sense toward the transformer box and was surprised to find that the wire he had cut yesterday had already been reconnected, with the current flowing normally.

He went to the sewage pipe by the small river and scanned it with his Spiritual Sense. The pipe had also been cleared—or rather, a section of it had been replaced with a brand-new one.

Jiang Ning was rather astonished. He had to admit, their efficiency was quite impressive. The damage he had caused last night had all been fixed by today.

Repairing electrical lines required notifying the power bureau, going through the proper procedures, and arranging for workers.

As for the water pipe, they had to send people to investigate and locate the problem. Especially since Jiang Ning had used a Spell on the soil blocking the pipe, making it extremely compact.

Yet they had quickly identified the cause and decided to replace the pipe.

All of that had taken just one day.

Jiang Ning was impressed. This was definitely a capable person—his execution was astonishing, and he had a certain network of connections in Yuzhou. Otherwise, he would not have been able to get all this done.

And now he had even arranged for two people to keep watch.

What a thorough plan. Someone like that could succeed at anything, yet he insisted on secretly dumping sewage? Under normal circumstances, he really might have been able to resume operations smoothly. But Jiang Ning was no ordinary person.

He did not begin cultivating right away. Instead, he ran over a thousand meters away and found a spot rich in spiritual energy to sit down.

He dispelled the Aura Concealment Art, activated the Star Transformation Art, and absorbed spiritual energy.

Earlier, in order to deal with Song Sheng, he had used Spiritual Sense Tracking. Then, on his way to the village, he had activated Swift Steps. The spiritual power in his body was nearly exhausted.

Half an hour passed before Jiang Ning barely managed to fully replenish his spiritual power.

He activated the Aura Concealment Art to hide himself, then walked over to the transformer box.

The two men keeping watch were busy battling mosquitoes and had not noticed his presence at all.

Ignoring them, Jiang Ning sat cross-legged and began tempering his body.

He selected the same wire again. Using the great hand conjured by the Nine Heavens Divine Thunder Art, he grabbed upward and immediately stripped away a massive amount of electric current, drawing it into his body to temper his muscles and bones.

Yan Bo sat at the entrance of the factory building, looking exhausted.

During the day, he had begged favors everywhere and gone through tremendous trouble. At last, he had managed to restore the power before nightfall.

Just as the machines began running, a worker came over within minutes to tell him that the sewage pipe was blocked and the wastewater could not drain out.

He hurriedly led people over to inspect it. After struggling with it for ages, they finally got it fixed.

Yan Bo felt fucking unlucky. Two problems happening at once could only mean that someone was sabotaging him in secret!

Otherwise, why would the electricity and drainage suddenly go wrong? Because of that, he had specifically hired two burly men to keep watch. He swore that if they caught the troublemaker, he would beat the hell out of him.

Only then could he ease the hatred in his heart!

Listening to the roar of the machines inside the factory, Yan Bo felt much more at ease and took a blissful drag of his cigarette.

The smoke drifted through his lungs, and Yan Bo's mood rose with it. Life was good!

Yet before he could exhale, the machines that had been roaring as one seemed to have agreed beforehand. With a soft "Wuu~," they all wilted, like the booming cicadas of summer suddenly falling silent.

In the quiet factory, even the overhead lights dimmed considerably.

Some quick-witted workers immediately shouted, "Boss, the voltage's dropped again!"

"The machines can't run!"

Yan Bo froze. That familiar ache in his balls surged into his heart, and he nearly failed to draw his next breath.

"Cough, cough, cough!" The smoke clogged his lungs, making Yan Bo cough violently.

The change had come too suddenly. His happiness solidified along with the machines.

He hurriedly checked the situation. Sure enough, the voltage had dropped.

It was happening again, happening again—exactly the same as that day...

Yan Bo's expression darkened as he grabbed his phone and called the two men keeping watch.

"What's going on? Did you catch anyone?"

"No, Boss. There's nothing here except mosquitoes—not even a damn ghost."

Yan Bo found it fucking strange. Everything had clearly been normal, so why had the voltage suddenly dropped?

The factory's wiring was reinforced and reliable. Nothing like this had ever happened before.

With no other choice, he could only call the electrician from last time.

A single night of shutdown meant losses of several thousand yuan!

The electrician answered the call, got out of bed in the middle of the night, and rushed over. Yan Bo was generous and paid well, so the electrician did not waste a moment and arrived quickly.

Yan Bo followed the electrician with a flashlight as they investigated the reason for the voltage drop, eventually making their way to the transformer box by the river dam.

The electrician took one look and spread his hands, indicating that there was nothing he could do. The problem was with the transformer box, and he could not repair it.

Still, he had received a considerable fee from Yan Bo for his trouble, so he consoled him. "Boss, this is much better than last time. At least the power isn't completely out. Maybe it'll return to normal after a while."

Hearing the electrician's words did nothing to ease Yan Bo's gloomy expression.

Jiang Ning sat cross-legged near the transformer box, watching the group.

That young man should be the one in charge, right? Jiang Ning thought.

Seeing that the electrician could not solve the problem, Yan Bo felt utterly helpless. He could not summon the power bureau; those people worked government jobs. He did have some connections, but there was no way he could get anyone from the power bureau out here in the middle of the night. He could only find someone to repair it tomorrow.

Then he thought, It's the height of summer, and residential power demand is high. Once it's past midnight, maybe it'll recover on its own!

After comforting himself like that, Yan Bo felt a little better.

"Everyone, go back!" Yan Bo shouted.

The two men keeping watch asked, "Boss, are we going back too?"

"Yeah, go back."

The voltage had dropped and the factory had shut down, so what the hell was there left to watch? Jiang Ning watched the group leave, and his figure slowly emerged from the night. Today's cultivation progress had been achieved.

He stopped drawing in electric current and instead descended the dam, silently making his way to the sewage pipe by the small river.

With a casual gesture, he first drew over soil and blocked the end of the sewage pipe, then used the Spiritual Power Great Hand to pat it solid.

Afterward, he strolled to the middle section of the drainage pipe. A streak of Azure Sword Qi sliced through the pipe, repeating his earlier method of blocking the water pipe with mud.

Once he was done, Jiang Ning looked over his work and nodded in satisfaction. He had blocked the sewage pipe in two places. Repairing it would definitely be far more difficult.

Before leaving, Jiang Ning passed by the dam and casually swung his hand backward. A streak of Azure Sword Qi shot into the transformer box and severed that evil wire.

The instant it was cut, Yan Bo had not even made it back to the factory when his phone rang.

"Boss, this is bad—the lights went out!"

Yan Bo: ...

His blood instantly rushed to his head. His hair stood on end, his fingers trembled, and he forcibly restrained the urge to smash his phone.

In that instant, Yan Bo felt as if the entire world was bullying him.

"Investigate! Investigate this for me!" Yan Bo screamed furiously!

"Fuck! Bullying an honest man, are you?!"