Chapter 49
The steam locomotive rumbled through the Wasteland Mist, but the Steam Engine's noise was confined to a tiny area.
Beyond a foot, not a sound could be heard.
The steam locomotive was also completely invisible. If not for the mist parting along its path before closing again in an instant, it would have been like a ghost, appearing and disappearing without a trace. Even so, the few Mist Beasts it encountered along the way were startled.
In the distance, Li Mu could already make out a colossal shape looming ahead.
He didn't head straight for it. He suspected something was wrong with the city up ahead.
Every Spark City had a virtual replica on the Spark Network.
A Spark City's City Lord had no authority to hide his city from the Spark Network, but he could decide who was allowed to access its local network. Of course, Fireseed Professionals with sufficiently high permissions could ignore such restrictions.
Usually, Spark Cities didn't restrict outsiders from accessing their local networks.
Unless they had something to hide and didn't want any information about their city getting out.
So there was a good chance he'd come across an Ember City.
The power of a Spark City came from its City Spark, which could give the city life. But a City Spark could also be destroyed and extinguished by outside forces. A Spark City whose City Spark had gone out was known as an Ember City.
With its City Spark extinguished, an Ember City had no way to obtain a stable supply of Spark Energy.
What could it do in that situation? The only way to scrape by was to plunder others.
They would try anything, resort to any means, to relight their extinguished City Spark. Most Ember Cities ended up buried in the mist of the Spark World. Fewer than one in a thousand managed to reignite their City Spark.
So Ember Cities with somewhere else to go sometimes chose to abandon their cities.
Those with no way out would do whatever it took to struggle on.
Polymorph Spell!
Li Mu pointed the Elder Wand at two stones. They turned into Wasteland Moles, the most common creatures in the Misty World, and scurried toward the city. Soon, using the moles' vision, he saw a Spark City that had already crashed.
This wasn't an Ember City at all—it was a Spark City that had been destroyed!
Judging by its shape, it was a Titan Sky City.
The entire Titan Sky City was embedded in the ground at an angle, with a hole blasted through its center, as if a beam of light had descended from the sky and pierced it.
Li Mu sent everything the Wasteland Moles saw to the Shipborne Optical Computer.
After running its calculations, the Shipborne Optical Computer estimated that the city had fallen from an altitude of roughly a hundred thousand meters. Aside from the fatal damage at its center, the rest of the city was largely intact despite the fall from such a height. That showed just how high-level this Titan Sky City must have been.
It was at least far more advanced than Frostfire City. Yet a city like this had crashed here without a sound?
There was only one possibility: the City Lord and the residents had all died in an instant. Otherwise, even if they'd survived for only a little longer, the ordinary residents might not have been able to do anything, but the City Lord would have had time to log into the Spark Network and call for help.
After all, as long as he was willing to spend enough HuoZhong Source Power, he could truly access the local networks of every Spark City on the Spark Network.
From the looks of it, the city had crashed more than two months ago. If its City Lord had sent out a distress call before the crash, the place would have been swarming with people by now.
The Fireseed Professionals from nearby would have stripped the Titan Sky City of everything they could remove.
At the thought, Li Mu's heart began to race.
How many ownerless treasures might be inside this Titan Sky City?
Li Mu took out several Alchemy Puppets, cast Illusionary Body Curse on them, and sent them toward the wrecked Titan Sky City through the air. Fortunately, the Spark City's ability to repel the mist hadn't completely failed, so he could get a clearer view of the city from above.
He couldn't see any bodies, only numerous human-shaped shadows on the ground and walls.
It looked as if everyone in the city had been burned away in an instant, leaving behind only faint traces.
Not knowing whether the Titan Sky City's automatic defenses were still active, Li Mu sent just one Alchemy Puppet closer on a Flying Broomstick. But the moment it neared the city, it vanished without a sound.
"Not even a trace of ash left..."
Li Mu was so shocked that the veins at his temples throbbed.
Through the Spark Energy attached to the Alchemy Puppet's insides, he could tell it had been burned to death.
After using the remaining Alchemy Puppets to determine a safe distance, Li Mu slowly approached on his Steam Motorcycle.
Once he was close enough to see the city with his own eyes, he immediately focused Spark Energy into his eyes.
At last, he saw it. Centered on the hole through its middle, the Titan Sky City was spewing colorless, transparent flames in every direction. They gave off no perceptible heat and had no effect on the surroundings, but they incinerated everything that came near the city.
"Another one..."
A delighted laugh sounded in Li Mu's ear.
In almost the same instant, he activated the Super Iron Skin Charm on his Elf Wizard Robe and cast Apparition, preparing to teleport high into the air. If he could teleport successfully, he would be able to bring out the Phoenix and fly away.
But the Super Iron Skin Charm, which could withstand 85 points of damage, was completely useless against the white shadow that suddenly appeared before him.
In an instant, the shadow pierced through the Super Iron Skin Charm and burrowed into Li Mu's body.
At the brink of death, Li Mu's left hand activated the Magic Ring that could release Fiendfyre.
Fiendfyre immediately engulfed his entire body. His Elf Wizard Robe and other Acquired HuoZhong items all merged into his Origin HuoZhong. With his body defenseless against the flames, he was reduced to ashes in an instant. But the white shadow that had burrowed inside him was unharmed, clinging to his soul.
Li Mu didn't choose to revive where he was. Instead, he chose to revive inside the Phoenix.
The Phoenix appeared, and the white shadow, still clinging to Li Mu's soul, was carried along with him into the ship's Shipboard Spark.
The flames of Nirvana ignited. The White Shadow Undead Soul, already shaken by Li Mu's suicide, trembled with fear. The next moment, the flames generated by the Nirvana inside the Shipboard Spark burned it out of existence. Li Mu, too, was reborn in the flames, his body remade.
His first reaction was to breathe a sigh of relief. His second was to get as far away from the Titan Sky City as possible.
They said curiosity killed the cat. Without enough strength, even a glimpse of some tempting treasure could get you killed.
If he hadn't had Nirvana, he might well have been done for today.
But just then, Li Mu felt scattered fragments of memory appear in his mind.
Were these memories from the white shadow that had been burned to death?
The shadow's true identity had been the City Lord of the Titan Sky City. More than two months ago, the city had been flying along as usual when an unknown Seedship had suddenly taken it out with a single Super Main Cannon blast. Even White Shadow's Own Cruiser had been sunk in an instant.
In the end, it was only thanks to a special Subordinate Module that White Shadow had managed to preserve a fragment of his soul.
Fireseed Professionals had discovered this place before. The crash of the Titan Sky City had been loud enough to draw quite a few people from the surrounding area. But every Fireseed Professional who came close had their life stolen by White Shadow, who used them to restore his body and heal his dying soul through that special Subordinate Module.
P.S. This wasn't luck—a pie falling from the sky. The crash of the Titan Sky City was connected to the Phoenix.
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