The scenery changed, and even the music inside the car grew more energetic!
Wu Yu opened the window and looked outside.
The bridge ended in a sheer drop. The hovercar lifted off and entered an aerial lane.
Ahead lay a bustling city.
It was as though he had traveled from an antiquated age into the future. Towering buildings filled his view, rising one after another.
"Star Rings" divided the city districts, each one an aerial transit route.
Countless hovercars raced along them, like great rivers flowing into the sea, streams converging from every direction.
This was the "City of Ten Thousand Rivers"!
The car passed a skyscraper with an enormous advertising screen mounted on it. The ad showed people with disabilities receiving cybernetic limbs and praising Mozi Technology: flesh was weak, but augmentation brought ascension!
Behind enormous floor-to-ceiling windows, men in sharp suits drank tea, chatting and laughing.
In an instant, the car passed through another cluster of skyscrapers.
Wu Yu leaned against the window, sipping his drink as he narrowed his eyes and admired the scenery of Cyber City.
In a neighborhood of villas, boys and girls raced on hoverboards amid laughter and cheers.
In aerial gardens, hundreds of flowers bloomed, defying the seasons.
Within this magnificent metropolis, one especially striking skyscraper reached straight into the clouds.
It was the tallest building in the entire "City of Ten Thousand Rivers," the headquarters of Spirit Mountain Technology!
And the uncrowned king... of River City!
In my previous life, River City was a place where Taoism flourished. Now Buddhism has risen while Taoism has declined. I haven't seen a single Taoist priest in the city.
Wu Yu sipped his drink, curiosity stirring within him.
Did Taoism suffer some devastating blow after the Great Cataclysm?
Or... is River City simply an exception? Other cities might not be the same.
The hovercar gradually entered the inner-ring district, climbing high into the sky.
Wu Yu looked down. Beneath the sunlight, the metropolis resembled a gleaming golden city of the gods.
Robots, drones, and aircraft were everywhere among the skyscrapers.
He could not help turning to look in the other direction!
Across the river-spanning bridge, the Commoner District looked like a dull gray stone, utterly lacking in luster.
People were not even willing to consider it part of the city.
Suddenly!
The hovercar stopped abruptly. Wu Yu swayed, then immediately circulated his blood and qi to steady himself before inertia could knock him over.
"Warning! Warning! A Transcendent riot has broken out along the route ahead!"
"Inspection Bureau announcement: all citizens, exercise caution and withdraw..."
Voices from different channels came through the radio.
A moment later,
an electronic voice sounded inside the car.
"Dear monthly subscriber, your subscription includes emergency services. The Psionic Shield has been activated!"
Hum-! A transparent shield enveloped the hovercar.
Wu Yu frowned slightly and gazed into the distance.
A thunderous roar erupted far ahead. Scorching heat exploded into a storm, spreading all the way to his location.
Boom-!
Explosions rang out one after another. Flames and lightning swept through the aerial lanes, their shock waves striking the hovercar's shield with terrifying force.
"What's going on?"
He frowned slightly.
There was a saying in River City.
The day belonged to the mortal world.
The night belonged to hell.
In broad daylight, the major powers maintained order. Few people dared act so brazenly.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, something whistled through the air. Several suits of kinetic armor flew past, the Inspection Bureau's insignia emblazoned on their alloy plating.
"The Inspection Bureau's armed guards!"
"What kind of enemy could be this vicious?"
Wu Yu was astonished.
Just then!
Boom-!
A bolt of heavenly lightning struck in the distance. A figure wrapped in flames strode through the air, crushed the lightning, and blew up a helicopter with a single punch.
Over a hundred missiles shot toward the figure. The figure opened his mouth and exhaled, and freezing air spread around him, encasing the sky in ice in the blink of an eye.
Frost obscured the sky, leaving Wu Yu unable to make out what was happening within. He only knew that the Inspection Bureau's armed guards had arrived and were probably fighting the dangerous figure inside.
"Tsk, tsk."
He shook his head.
Then the hovercar began to descend.
"Dear monthly subscriber, route information has been updated. Entering a temporary route!"
Melodious music played inside the car again. The hovercar sped onward, soon leaving the riot zone far behind.
At some point, the hovercar came to a stop.
"Dear customer, you have arrived at River City Advanced Academy. Thank you for supporting Tianpeng Service!"
The door opened. Wu Yu finished the last of his drink, tossed the container into a trash bin, and stepped out.
Outside, people came and went.
Before him lay a broad path of blue-gray pebbles, inlaid with spirit stone fragments. Spiritual radiance shone from the road as mist rose above it, making it resemble a path to immortality.
The north gate was made from a Transcendent material, its surface engraved with formations and ancient, mysterious runes.
"River City Advanced Academy!"
Wu Yu glanced at the words on the gate, then headed inside.
Unlike in his previous life, schools after the Great Cataclysm were divided into elementary, intermediate, and advanced academies.
There were plenty of elementary and intermediate academies, but only one advanced academy.
With a hundred towns outside the city and eighteen million permanent residents within it, one could imagine how difficult it was to gain admission.
Once he stepped through the gate, Wu Yu experienced just how convenient Divine Sense was.
He could see everyone's expressions and the details of their faces, and even perceive things in his blind spots.
For instance, someone sneaking up behind him...
"What are you doing?"
Wu Yu suddenly turned, startling the newcomer.
"Holy shit!"
The newcomer was a thin, dark-skinned young man. He patted his stomach and grumbled, "How'd you notice me?"
"You're just bad at it."
Wu Yu thought nothing of it and kept walking.
The thin, dark-skinned young man hurried after him and asked with a grin, "Well? Did you get it?"
"I did."
Wu Yu nodded.
"Impressive!"
Envy appeared on the young man's face.
"Must be nice, getting a high-tier investment! My family scraped together everything we had and only managed to raise five million to buy me an earth spirit root."
"An earth spirit root isn't bad. At least it's better than the one you already had,"
Wu Yu said.
"The gap between an earth spirit root and a heavenly spiritual root is enormous!"
The thin, dark-skinned young man was named Chen Feng, and he was Wu Yu's former roommate at the academy.
Both of them had chosen the Cultivator path and joined the [Spirit Cultivation Association].
Unlike Wu Yu, Chen Feng came from a business family that was fairly well-off.
"My parents insisted on buying [Nine Dragons' Might]. They kept saying the Martial Dao was the future and Cultivators were already outdated."
"How could practicing martial arts compare to cultivating immortality? I'm not becoming a Martial Artist!"
Before long, the two arrived at a teaching building.
On the third floor, Wu Yu interrupted Chen Feng, who had been chattering the entire way, pushed open a door, and entered a tiered classroom.
It was one of the [Spirit Cultivation Association]'s cultivation rooms, and quite a few people were already hard at work inside.
Some floated in the air, spiritual energy pulsing around them.
Some quietly read books, spiritual light flickering between their brows.
Some controlled Magical Artifacts, with gourds, small cauldrons, and flying swords circling and spinning around them.
Wu Yu went to a corner, slowly sat down, and set his box and other belongings in place.
Chen Feng sat beside him, happily scrolling through short videos. Audio drifted over from his device.
"At eight this morning! Rioters seized [Spirit Mountain Technology]'s new drug. The Inspection Bureau has launched a citywide manhunt..."
Before you continue