Boom-!
Thunder cracked, and the evening chill brushed Wu Yu's face on the wind, jolting him out of his drowsiness.
In the fleeting flash of lightning, he saw a tower suspended high in the heavens.
At the boundary between dusk and night, the Bronze Tower hung in the sky. The last dim light shone against one side, its brilliant gold strikingly conspicuous.
"A tower?!"
Wu Yu looked around. Plenty of people stood outside the black building, yet not one showed any unusual reaction.
Some looked up at the sky, but only to complain about the weather as night fell.
The streetlights had yet to come on, leaving the street dim. The advertising screens beneath them were already running, however, cycling through news and advertisements.
"Ascension Pharmaceuticals seeks drug trial participants. Top pay for martial artists; Augmented Humans may apply for tier-two contracts!"
"Captain Liu of the Inspection Bureau displays peerless courage, arresting three more immortal cultivator criminals! All have been confined to the Abyssal Prison!"
"Mayor Gao urges citizens to exercise caution with injections. Over ten thousand people have become martial artists through [Nine Dragons' Might] this year, and the relevant departments can no longer afford the substantial benefits."
"Inspection Bureau announcement! A small rift has appeared in the wilderness outside the city, releasing large numbers of warped monsters. Federation citizens are advised to exercise caution when traveling outside!"
Boom-!
Another thunderclap rang out. The gale carried icy rain with it, driving it hard against Wu Yu's face.
The rain... grew heavier.
Dark clouds mercilessly swallowed the last sunlight, and the tower in the heavens gradually blurred into the darkness.
Wu Yu narrowed his eyes, certain he had not been mistaken.
A Bronze Tower really did stand amid that dark sea of clouds!
"Why can't anyone else see it?"
He was bewildered and uncertain.
Had a Transcendent raised a bronze tower into the sky, or was it a large-scale virtual projection?
Night fell, and the downpour arrived.
Despite the harsh weather, the people quietly queuing outside the black building did not leave. They continued waiting in the rain.
Wu Yu did the same, silently pulling his clothes tighter around himself.
A tower hung in the sky, yet only he could see it...
The rain grew heavier and heavier. The wind swept over him, and drops trickled down his neck, spreading a bone-piercing chill throughout his body.
Wu Yu shivered and hurriedly looked toward the black building.
Suddenly, the door opened.
Someone wearing a black crow mask pointed at Wu Yu, signaling him to enter.
Wu Yu took a deep breath and strode inside.
The black building was tiny. Beneath the dim light stood only a table, with another person in a black crow mask seated across it. A black leather-gloved hand slowly lowered, and a raspy voice spoke.
"I won't waste words on Black Crow's rules."
"I know."
Wu Yu nodded and took a card from his pocket. The words "Deep Space Bank" were engraved on it, along with a string of numbers.
"Black Crow likes smart people." The masked person set down a machine.
Wu Yu swiped his card over it.
"Beep-! Deep Space Bank, at your service!"
After scanning his face, Wu Yu pressed several buttons and transferred all the money inside to the other party's account.
"A pleasure doing business!"
The masked person pressed their palms together and said with a smile, "Here's what you wanted."
As the words fell, another person in a black crow mask approached and set a box on the table.
Behind them, a pale-faced boy clenched his fists tightly, seemingly waiting for something.
Wu Yu opened the box. Inside lay a diamond-shaped crystal and a Headband.
"Ascension Technologies' latest External Heavenly Spiritual Root chip, with a complimentary Mobius T2 Life Headband."
The masked person smiled, their tone indifferent.
"You got lucky. A boy happened to come in to sell his heavenly spiritual root. Otherwise, even I couldn't have secured Ascension Technologies' new product."
At that, the pale-faced boy interrupted the masked person, asking urgently, "Now that the heavenly spiritual root has been sold, can you give me the drugs I wanted?"
"Of course." The masked person produced another box.
They opened it, revealing nine small vials.
"Nine doses of the new [Nine Dragons' Might]."
The masked person spoke flatly.
"Wasn't it ten? We agreed on a price for my heavenly spiritual root!"
The boy sounded shocked and angry.
"Idiot! Don't you know [Nine Dragons' Might] went up in price?"
"Did you think the mayor's advertisements were for nothing? This is Spirit Mountain Technology's price. Would Black Crow skim your paltry bit of money?!"
The masked person snorted.
Ignoring the argument inside the black building, Wu Yu left briskly, clutching his coat as he headed home.
Before long, he arrived at his home.
It was a small, eighty-square-meter apartment in River City's Commoner District, the standard accommodation for most ordinary citizens of the Zhu Xia Federation.
At his door, he took out his key and inserted it into the lock.
Click-!
The old security door opened with an unpleasant scraping sound.
Boom-!
Thunder rang out again outside, and a dark figure flashed through the room.
Wu Yu stiffened, every muscle in his body instantly tensing.
Beneath the howling outside, sounds drifted from within, sometimes light, sometimes heavy.
Those were footsteps on the old, worn-out floor...
Did Black Crow break its own rules... or was it the academy's Spirit Cultivation Association?
Wu Yu's heart lurched, and he abruptly stepped back!
At the same moment, something whistled through the air!
A blade swung out from a dark corner, chopping viciously at the spot where he would have entered!
It hacked a notch into the wooden doorframe, burying half its blade.
It was a machete about thirty centimeters long, held in a hand covered with rough calluses.
In the shadows, a burly man wearing a Beastskin Garment tugged hard on the handle, the muscles of his thick arms bulging.
The blade came free, tearing a gap in the doorframe.
He raised his head, his bloodshot, crimson eyes fixed on Wu Yu.
A chill swept through Wu Yu, and he took another step back behind the door.
Seeing him try to escape, the Beastskin-clad Brute let out several strange cries, spouting completely unfamiliar words as he raised his blade to slash again.
In that moment of danger, Wu Yu kicked the security door!
Bang-!
The rust-covered security door slammed inward.
The Beastskin-clad Brute had only leaned halfway out when the door knocked him off balance, sending his head sideways into the broken section of the frame.
In an instant,
a sharp wooden splinter tore a bloody gash in his head.
The brute screamed and fell to the floor, his machete dropping beside his feet.
Wu Yu had been about to run, but at the sight, a surge of vicious anger rose within him.
An opening!
As the thought struck him, Wu Yu's face flushed red. He quickly bent down and grabbed the machete.
Then,
he raised the machete high!
"Guwa-!"
The Beastskin-clad Brute gave a strange cry and tried to get up despite the agonizing pain.
But the next instant, the machete hacked into his head!
The brute howled and collapsed again.
Wu Yu said nothing. Summoning every ounce of strength, he raised the blade again and chopped down hard!
Squelch-!
This time, the blade struck his neck directly. The Beastskin-clad Brute's crimson eyes bulged, and his body jerked.
Yet Wu Yu did not stop. He kept hacking as though he had lost his mind!
The third strike!
The fourth strike!
The fifth strike!
He had no idea how many times he struck. Only when he could no longer swing did Wu Yu calm down.
He instinctively glanced at the machete. Its edge had curled.
A second later, pain stabbed through his entire body, especially his arms, which kept spasming.
All his strength seemed to drain away in that instant.
He sank to the floor and gasped for breath.
Boom-!
Thunder sounded outside again. Wind swept rain toward him, carrying blood with it and staining the security door red.
I killed someone...
I'm not a Transcendent. The Federation's penalties... but it was self-defense. There should be some room to maneuver.
Wu Yu stared at the corpse, momentarily dazed.
This isn't my previous life. I'd better think about how to deal with the body.
He shook his head, gradually regaining his composure.
For some reason,
sitting beside the corpse, Wu Yu felt no anxiety at all. Only the crimson blood was a little disgusting, making him slightly queasy.
But... it was completely different from the descriptions in the novels he had read in his previous life.
His first time killing someone brought no anguish, no fear, no vomiting, and no guilt.
This man's identity is a mystery. Asking someone for help would only bring more danger. I have to do it myself.
Wu Yu calmed down and began considering the trouble that would follow.
But before he could devise a solution, a layer of red light appeared over the corpse!
An utterly impartial, emotionless voice, neither male nor female, rang out in his mind.
Qualification obtained! Arrival countdown: 10, 9, 8, 7...
Wu Yu's expression froze. The corpse actually disintegrated inch by inch into ash within the red glow, leaving only a card behind.
At the same time, a crude panel appeared over the card.
[Bronze Token] Uses remaining: 1/1
"What's this? A status panel?"
Wu Yu looked over in astonishment.
But the countdown still rang in his mind. An idea struck him, and he decisively reached for the card!
Before he could touch it, the card turned into a streak of light and flew into Wu Yu's body.
The next instant, his vision went black!
"Hah-! Hah-!"
After several sharp breaths, Wu Yu regained his sight. He was actually standing on an ancient Bronze Stairway.
He raised his head. Beneath the dark night sky, the bronze body of the tower loomed close at hand, like a gigantic beast crouched before him, ready to devour its prey.
"Is this... that tower?"
Wu Yu immediately turned his head, his heart jolting.
He was high in the sky, with a boundless sea of clouds beneath his feet.
The night wind swept over him, puffing up his clothes and making them flap noisily.
Looking down, he saw that the steel jungle that had once towered into the clouds had become mere specks of sand. Viewed from above the clouds, the city's outline shrank into geometric patches of color.
Wu Yu had always been somewhat afraid of heights. His heart lurched, and he hurriedly stepped back, pressing himself against the tower's great doors.
Creak-!
The ancient Bronze Gate slowly opened. Wu Yu instinctively grabbed its edge, barely managing to steady himself upright.
The Bronze Gate opened only a crack. Wu Yu peered inside, but all he could see was darkness, as though there were nothing within the tower.
"How did I get here?"
"Was it that voice just now... the arrival countdown?"
An icy wind brushed his face, but the torrential rain stayed well away from the Tower.
Wu Yu calmed down and looked at the Bronze Gate.
"That mysterious, burly man who attacked me with a knife at home, turning into light and becoming a card after he died, and this Bronze Tower standing high in the sky..."
Recalling the clues he had gathered, Wu Yu understood.
"I don't have a choice."
He took a deep breath and slowly pushed open the Bronze Gate.
Strangely enough, the enormous Bronze Gate opened at his touch. Wu Yu barely felt any resistance.
At least... it was much better than the security door at home, which jammed at the slightest excuse.
Inside the tower was, surprisingly, a small, brightly lit room.
The hall measured a little over a hundred square meters, with bright light shining overhead from an unknown source.
A square table and chairs stood in the hall. The table was large, and the chairs were arranged asymmetrically, nine in total.
"A stone table and stone chairs."
Wu Yu walked over and touched the table and chairs.
The instant he touched a chair, his whole body suddenly relaxed. Much of his soreness and exhaustion vanished in a flash.
"This chair..."
Wu Yu immediately sat down on the stone chair.
Soon, threads of warmth flowed through his body.
The sensation was blissfully soothing. His aching arms returned to normal within a few breaths, and the chill in his body dissipated. Every ailment seemed to be completely healed in the blink of an eye.
He clenched his fists. His joints no longer felt swollen or painful. He touched his chest, and the familiar sense of weakness had disappeared entirely as well.
"Even my anemic deficiency syndrome is cured."
Wu Yu was rather surprised.
The rules of River City Advanced Academy were cold and cruel. Anyone without a Spirit Root who wanted to cultivate had to have their blood drawn!
They even gave it a pleasant-sounding name: "Eternal life tuition."
Yet after merely sitting on this stone chair for a little while, all Wu Yu's ailments had vanished without a trace, restoring him to the condition of a normal, healthy person.
"Could this be the work of someone beyond the ordinary? A martial artist, an immortal cultivator, or an augmented human?"
"Maybe I've stumbled upon a fortuitous encounter from ancient books and legends, just like in the novels I've read."
All sorts of thoughts sprang up in Wu Yu's mind, along with a few worries.
The mysterious Bronze Tower stood tens of thousands of feet above the ground. There was no way to escape.
"Perhaps the way back to the ground lies in that mysterious voice just now and that card."
The instant that thought arose, another panel appeared before his eyes!
[Wu Yu] Race: Zhuxia Human Race. Talent: [Nameless Chaos] Inventory: [Bronze Token]
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