Night Raid

The night was deep.

Yun Jingheng lay on his bed, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep.

It wasn't insomnia; rather, a thought in his mind was growing increasingly intense. He wanted to see the sky of this world—not with his naked eyes, but through a telescope.

He wanted to use a telescope with high enough precision to see what the stars in this world actually looked like.

Was the universe of the Douluo Continent the same as the universe of Earth?

Were there galaxies? Nebulae? Black holes?

Was that spatial rift that had dragged him here still there?

He rolled over, then rolled over again.

Within his spiritual sea, Xiao Jiu was getting annoyed by his restlessness.

"Are you going to sleep or not?" Yun Jingheng did not answer.

He sat up and glanced out the window.

The moon was large, and the moonlight was bright.

A bold decision suddenly formed in his heart.

As he put on his clothes, Xiao Jiu finally realized what was happening.

"You're going out?"

Yun Jingheng nodded.

Xiao Jiu was stunned for a moment. "Where to?"

"The Soul Guidance Teaching Building."

Yun Jingheng pushed open the door and walked out of Sea God Island.

His footsteps were light, so light they made almost no sound.

Moonlight spilled onto Sea God Lake, causing it to shimmer with a faint silver glow.

He crossed the stone path by the lake, walked past the training grounds, and arrived at the stone bridge connecting the inner and outer courtyards.

The moment his feet touched the bridge, two pairs of eyes opened simultaneously in the direction of the Sea God Pavilion behind him.

Ya Li woke from her slumber, rolling over in a daze.

"Ming..." She nudged the person beside her, but it was empty.

She froze for a second, then opened her eyes.

Yun Ming was already standing by the bedside, putting on his clothes.

His movements were swift but quiet, without a single sound.

"What's wrong?" Ya Li wasn't fully awake yet.

"Jingheng has gone out." Yun Ming's voice was calm.

Ya Li blinked, then fully awakened.

She sat up and looked at Yun Ming.

"Where is he going?"

"I don't know." Yun Ming fastened his belt and walked toward the door.

Ya Li hurriedly got out of bed, grabbing her clothes to pull them on.

"Wait for me."

By the time the two of them stepped out, Yun Jingheng had already reached the outer courtyard.

Under the moonlight, that small figure walked quickly with a clear destination: the Soul Guidance Teaching Building.

Yun Ming and Ya Li followed behind, keeping a great distance.

With their strength, it was impossible for that nine-year-old child to discover them.

Ya Li whispered as they walked.

"What is he trying to do?"

Yun Ming didn't speak, simply continuing to follow.

Yun Jingheng stood before the Soul Guidance Teaching Building.

The building was tall and dark; the moonlight hitting the windows reflected a cold, icy light.

He walked to the door and examined the lock.

It was a soul guidance lock, requiring a specific soul power frequency to open.

He studied it for a while, then pulled two metal wires from his pocket and fiddled with the keyhole.

The lock didn't open. He tried a few more times. Still nothing.

He stared at the lock for three seconds, then raised his foot and kicked it.

With a "bang," the door opened.

The door hadn't been locked at all.

Yun Jingheng stood where he was, looking at the door that had been kicked open, and remained silent for a moment.

Then, he walked inside with an expressionless face.

In the shadows, the corners of Yun Ming's mouth twitched.

Ya Li covered her mouth, her shoulders shaking.

The teaching building was very dark.

Moonlight shone in through the windows, casting a grid-like pattern of light and shadow on the floor.

The corridor was long, with classrooms on both sides, each door bearing a sign: Basic Theory Room, Circuit Engraving Room, Core Assembly Room, Finished Product Testing Room.

Yun Jingheng walked past them one by one, pushing each door open to take a look before closing it and continuing on.

He stopped when he reached the end of the corridor.

In front of him was a large double-leaf iron door with a copper plaque hanging on it—Equipment Storage.

He pushed the door open and walked in.

Then, he stood at the entrance, stunned.

The storeroom was huge, much larger than he had imagined.

The shelves were filled with all kinds of parts; some he had never seen before, some he had seen in books, and others he had only seen in blueprints.

He walked over, picked up a core, examined it, and put it back down.

He picked up another, examined it, and put it back down. Then, he began to rummage through them.

He searched very carefully, not skipping a single shelf.

Everything he felt he could use was picked out and piled to one side.

Level one to six soul device cores, conductive wires, metal frames, focusing lenses, precision dials... the pile of items grew larger and larger, forming a small mountain.

He looked at the small mountain, then looked at his own pockets.

After a moment of thought, he dragged a box over from the side and began putting the items inside one by one.

Halfway through packing, he stopped.

In the innermost part of the storeroom, against the wall, stood a machine.

A mecha.

It wasn't one of those large-scale mechas, but a decommissioned training model used for teaching.

Over three meters tall, with a grayish-white metal shell and complex transmission structures exposed at the joints.

It stood there like a sleeping steel giant.

Yun Jingheng walked over and looked up at it.

Then, he climbed up.

Stepping on the joints and gripping the edges of the shell, he climbed up bit by bit.

He stopped when he reached the chest area.

There was a cover plate there, engraved with complex circuits.

He reached out to touch it, then pried it open with force; behind the cover plate was the mecha's core.

That core was larger than any he had ever seen, entirely silver-white, with a faint glow of soul power circulating on its surface.

Yun Jingheng stared at it for a long time.

Then he jumped down, stood back a little, and looked up at the core.

After a moment of thought, the Moonlight Sword condensed in his hand.

In the shadows, Yun Ming's brow twitched, and Ya Li was also stunned.

Yun Jingheng raised his hand and slashed his sword toward the mecha's chest.

"Clang—" Sparks flew, but the core didn't budge.

He slashed again.

"Clang—" It still didn't budge.

Crescent Slash, Flash, one strike.

Flash again, another strike.

The sword light flickered in the dark storeroom, the silver-white moonlight illuminating the entire room.

In the shadows, Yun Ming's expression was complex.

Watching his son swinging a sword and hacking away at a training mecha, he suddenly felt an indescribable sensation.

Ya Li whispered from the side, "What does he want that core for?"

Yun Ming shook his head, "I don't know."

Yun Jingheng did not know how many times he had slashed, but a crack finally appeared in the chest plate of the mecha.

He sheathed his sword, reached out to pry it, and tore the entire plate off.

The core was revealed, fully exposed.

He reached out to grab it, but still could not reach.

He jumped up, gripped the edge of the mecha's chest, hung his entire body from it, and used his other hand to reach for the core.

His fingertips touched the edge of the core, and he pulled with all his might, but it did not budge.

He hung from the mecha, catching his breath.

Then he let go and dropped to the ground.

He looked up at the core, silent for a moment.

Then he took a deep breath and lit up his second soul ring.

The light of Moonlight Protection spread from beneath his feet, but he did not aim it at himself; he aimed it at the core.

A tractive force pulled upward, tugging the core outward.

The core loosened slightly, so he cranked the tractive force to its maximum.

"Click—" The core popped out of the chest cavity and landed in his hands.

It was heavy, much heavier than he had imagined. He cradled the core, sat on the floor, and gasped for air.

In the shadows, Yun Ming was silent.

He watched his son sitting on the floor, cradling a mecha core larger than his own head, a look of deep satisfaction on his face.

He suddenly remembered the night he went to the Star Dou Great Forest; he, too, had been alone, and he, too, had returned clutching something.

Ya Li looked at him and suddenly smiled, "Your true successor."

Yun Ming curled his lip.

Yun Jingheng placed the core into a box and rummaged through the Equipment Storage again.

He picked out a few more items and stuffed them into the box together.

The box was packed to the brim, the lid barely closing. He hugged the box and walked to the door, then suddenly stopped.

He stared at a small object above the door frame for a long time.

It was a soul guidance camera, very well hidden, embedded in the wall. One would never notice it without looking closely, but he had seen it.

He set the box down and stared at the camera for a while.

Then he turned and walked back along the corridor until he reached the corner of the first floor, where he pushed open a door—the Monitoring Room.

Inside were several screens displaying footage from every corner of the Soul Guidance Teaching Building.

One of the screens showed the entrance to the Equipment Storage, the very spot where he had just been standing.

Yun Jingheng looked at the screen, silent for three seconds.

Then he raised his hand and thrust his sword out.

The sword light pierced accurately through the screen and into the core behind it.

The screen flickered and went black, and the other screens went black one after another.

The entire monitoring system of the Soul Guidance Teaching Building was paralyzed.

He sheathed his sword, walked out of the Monitoring Room, returned to the entrance of the Equipment Storage, picked up the box, and strode away.

Reaching the door, he looked back once.

The door he had kicked open remained ajar, moonlight spilling in and casting a long shadow across the floor. He withdrew his gaze and left.

In the shadows, Yun Ming and Ya Li stood there, watching the small back disappear into the moonlight.

Ya Li said softly, "What is he going to do with those things?"

Yun Ming was silent for a moment, "How would I know?"

He paused, "But it shouldn't be anything bad."

Ya Li looked at him, "Do you think if someone discovers the monitoring is paralyzed and the items stolen tomorrow, they will report it?"

Yun Ming: "..."

Yun Jingheng returned to his room with the box and laid the items out on the table one by one.

The core, conductive wires, metal frame, focusing lens, precision dial... He looked at these items, his mind already beginning to construct the blueprint.

The tube would be assembled from the metal frame, the focal length had to be calculated, the core would be used to drive the automatic tracking system, and the dial would be used for positioning.

The telescope he had used in the observatory in his past life had a 1.2-meter aperture, a ten-meter focal length, and weighed over a dozen tons.

It was impossible for him to make one that large now, but making a small one, enough to see the surface of the moon clearly, should be enough.

He picked up his pen and began to draw the blueprints.

Within the Sea of Consciousness, Xiao Jiu asked.

"Are you not sleeping tonight?"

Yun Jingheng shook his head. "Not sleeping. At my age, my spirit is at its peak; how could I possibly fall asleep?"

He drew the first line upon the blueprint.