Chapter 758: Chapter 717: Elixir of Immortality
The two coming down from the rooftop naturally heard such a loud noise.
Da Vinci’s designed rooftop resembles a floating plate that can connect with the rooftops of many important buildings to achieve quick movement.
At the moment, they are above the Grand Hall, but they haven’t seen the pillar of light piercing through the sky.
Leo steadied himself against the wall and asked Da Vinci, walking ahead: "Is my father okay?"
Da Vinci, who has seen the prophecy, naturally knows a few things: "Yes, but not quite what you imagine. He’s been teleported to another time and space."
"What do you mean?"
"Everyone changes as time goes by; experiences alter us, and some changes could exceed usual bounds. Your father and those with him will be reborn from the flames, becoming more useful figures."
Leo stumbled a little, finding it difficult to see in the pitch darkness: "I really don’t understand how you know these things... I don’t even know how this space exists."
"Oh, I’m not a fortune teller; I said I’m just an architect." Da Vinci continued down, feeling along the wall: "I know these future things because someone told me. I’ve been entrusted by someone."
"Who?" Leo asked persistently, quickly steadying his footsteps to avoid rolling down the stairs.
Da Vinci answered rapidly, though his English was accented and somewhat hard to understand: "The person in your memory emitting sunlight-like brilliance, he is the Eternal One, the engine of the machine."
"Machine? You did mention it not long ago. What’s it used for?" Leo scratched his head, finding this communication quite taxing.
"Purpose? Its function is to reshape all of human society, forever, assembled by the greatest principles as the human machine, and you will be at its heart."
Talking about inventions, Da Vinci got a bit excited; he seemed like a switch had been flipped.
"That really... Please don’t tell me anything else; I don’t want to know more."
Leo chuckled dryly a couple of times; hearing about putting people inside machines, especially in the heart position, just felt unsettling.
Da Vinci pushed the door, which Leo couldn’t open before, and it opened easily. The two entered a place resembling an exhibit room: "Why did you say such things then?"
"Actually, everything came too suddenly, too much, and too fast... You frightened me." Leo held his head, having witnessed too many unimaginable things today, even seeing his already dead father resurrected, and his head was now spinning.
Da Vinci led him around the exhibit room a few laps, fiddling with various arrangements, everything here was covered in dust, so they could only cover their mouths and noses.
Yet Da Vinci said: "All along, acquiring any form of knowledge is beneficial above oneself; nothing in this world can be loved or hated by you before you understand it. You must comprehend that you have choices to make."
The road ahead of them quickly came to a halt; the earlier explosion had damaged part of the dome, and they would have to find other paths.
...............
Nostradamus was hazily fixed to the wall, but in the darkness, his ears perked up, hearing footsteps.
Could it be Newton coming back?
But suddenly, a red dot appeared before him, no sound of wind or footsteps, only feeling a pain at the back of his head, and then he knew nothing.
Only then did the sound-emitting Zheng Xian slowly descend the stairs.
"The spring is indeed underground; Slade, your tunneling skills are quite extraordinary."
Su Ming knew Zheng Xian was talking about his Godslayer drill; after all, having excavated so many times, he had some experience, right?
"Water flows downhill, Old Zheng, don’t tease me, a minor skill, hardly worth mentioning."
Su Ming calmly put down the frying pan in his hand, which instantly turned back into a curved sword and was stowed in his backpack.
"Hey, what are you saying? In every profession, there’s the top. You’re skilled at destroying buildings and using tunnel warfare; that’s quite an advantage." Zheng Xian smiled as he walked to Nostradamus’s side.
The Prophet now hung his head, completely unconscious.
And Zheng Xian naturally knew this man, rumored to be not just an astronomer, but also a mystic, prophet, and renowned handsome man. The ladies of his era were all infatuated with him.
Being a romantic Frenchman, just doing divination for visiting ladies daily, he even practiced abs.
It’s just that now he looks worse than a beggar, not only haggard but also foul-smelling.
Zheng Xian took out a cigarette to light up, muffle the odor, while Su Ming’s gaze landed on the little pool at the center of the cell.
On the other side of the room, there was a cabinet filled with round-bottom flasks, test tubes, and such. Newton would often come here to fetch water to extend the life of his trusted aides.
Su Ming directly picked up two large flasks and a big ladle, crouching by the pool to draw water.
Even though the leech potion had been successfully copied under the adjutant’s cracking, this alchemy-like approach was also intriguing, worth taking back to study.
This orange spring water looked quite like the Powerful Beverage; Su Ming tried a few drops but felt no special sensation, and Strangulation provided no useful information.
Quickly, Su Ming divided the spring water into three parts, and after filling two flasks, there was still some left in the ground’s pit.
After all, it’s best not to do things too absolutely; we should leave some for the Holy Shield.
Su Ming corked one of the flasks and put it in his backpack, handing the other to Zheng Xian, after all, that’s how deals work. But Zheng Xian asked him to hold onto it for now, as he didn’t have any storage equipment with space.
"Now that the elixir of immortality is in hand, should we go get some technology?" Zheng Xian seemed to have tasted the sweetness of taking things, having entered all the way without anyone noticing them.
"The Holy Shield has quite a few good things, I’d really like to see the Creation Machine or the Super Hibernation Pod," Su Ming said, his gaze beginning to trace the chains fixing Nostradamus.
The Creation Machine is a device that converts thought into matter, having reshaped Earth seven times in history, it’s practically Earth’s self-produced Reality Gem.
And the Super Hibernation Pod is more like a universal safe deposit box, capable of protecting the person or object inside, existing even if the world is destroyed.
The chains binding Nostradamus are looped in and out of the walls, fixed by a pulley system on the ceiling, then passing through cranks and gears, connected to a control lever on the other side of the cell.
Su Ming walked over and pulled down the lever.
Nostradamus immediately fell to the ground, knocking out half a front tooth, and spitting blood.
Zheng Xian quickly understood what he intended to do, which was to stage the scene. As a chief spy, Director Zheng was also quite skilled at such tasks.
He put a cigarette in his mouth, holding a long gun in one hand, while the other began dragging Nostradamus’ body, placing his head by a small pool, and even scooped up some elixir of immortality with his hand, smearing it on the prisoner’s chin and mouth.
Next, he adjusted the position of a few chains to make them appear more natural and erased traces of himself and Su Ming.
This way, even if someone discovered that some of the elixir of immortality was missing, it would seem as though Nostradamus drank it, and they wouldn’t suspect that someone took it.
Framing, just a basic spy skill.
As for the eyewitness Nostradamus, not to mention he only saw a flash of red light, he couldn’t even speak properly himself, testifying against the two? Maybe in his next life.
Su Ming found that he and Zheng Xian were quite in sync.
This squint-eyed fellow was not only clever but also ruthless. Su Ming would just start arranging the frame, and Zheng Xian could see it through and complete it.
Zheng Xian was about to respond when suddenly the ground shook, dust falling like an earthquake had struck.
"What’s going on?"
Su Ming thought for a moment. It seemed the time for reaping benefits was limited, and they needed to speed things up: "Ignore them, let’s quickly find any technology products that we can take away."
"Where to look?" Zheng Xian asked, holding the Holy Spear.
"Currently, the chairman of the Holy Shield’s Supreme Council is Newton, so naturally we’ll search his office. He’s a scientist himself, and as leaders, they all like to have a commanding view."
Zheng Xian agreed, the so-called "standing atop a mountain peak to view small hills below" wasn’t something only Celestial Dynasty people favored.
As long as they excluded those towers flying above the city and some buildings that obviously weren’t high-class, they just needed to choose the tallest building’s top to find Newton’s office.
Earlier, the underground office where Zheng Xian met Su Ming was actually just a cover. His real office was in the Ring Base, which floated in the air, where his office also had many collections.
It’s not just the Holy Shield that has black technology; the Holy Spear isn’t bad either.
Most of this black technology was taken from alien enemies, and since there was no technology tree to support them, they could only be used individually.
There are many things where they know how they work, not why they work, but this doesn’t affect their use.
"Then I’ll trouble my brother to take the old man for a walk?" Zheng Xian approached Su Ming, patting his shoulder.
Su Ming smiled and replied, "Not troublesome, we’re all enjoying it."
"Hahahahaha..."
"Hahaha... pah."
The two laughed at each other, like foxes that had stolen chickens, only Su Ming had a helmet blocking the dust, so laughing up at the sky wasn’t a problem for him. Zheng Xian didn’t, and when he looked up, he swallowed a lot of dust.
Su Ming laughed even harder, pointing at him, seeing his disgruntled face. The two returned along their original path: "Laughing up at the sky, into the tunnel we go, are we little thieves?"
.............
Having taken many turns, they finally passed through the underground exhibition platform into the Grand Hall, where Leo and Da Vinci, who hadn’t noticed, almost brushed shoulders with Su Ming and Zheng Xian, separated by only a wall.
They were surrounded by circles of people, these individuals dressed differently, with varying skin colors, all watching them. Leo didn’t know there were so many Immortals in the city.
To be precise, he wasn’t even sure what Immortals were, probably an aristocratic class?
Seeing Leo looking a bit timid under everyone’s watchful eyes, Da Vinci placed his hand on his shoulder, patting it twice.
"Don’t be afraid, they’ve been standing on my shoulders for too long."
Saying this, he cast his gaze towards the few people on the high platform, especially the one in the middle, Newton. At this moment, hearing his own famous words, Newton was visibly displeased, his face ashen under the dim light.
