Book 3, Chapter 363: Dying Embers
Lei Guangcheng watched the extinguished ritual array under his feet. It had turned into ashes. Then, from the building far from the peninsula, he looked into the distance and saw wisps of white smoke coming from the twelve buildings with the ritual arrays.
One of the subordinates said in admiration, “Thank goodness you asked us to strengthen the ritual arrays. You even had us set up so many supporting ritual arrays. If not for that, the ritual might not have been able to hold.”
“Exactly.” Some of the other Cult Investigation Bureau members nodded.
At first, their goal had just been to capture the active biosentient entity, so they didn’t need that many materials, but Lei Guangcheng had insisted, and they were forced to do it. Many of them disagreed with it and had planned to laugh at him after the operation.
Since Lei Guangcheng had only just joined the Cult Investigation Bureau in Central City, most of the members did not accept him, so this move had been quite risky. If it had been useless, he would have lost a lot of credibility.
But time had proven that his actions were right. It also showed that he was much more far-sighted than they were. They were impressed and accepted him as their new leader.
“Without Mr. Qian’s full support, I wouldn’t have been able to do these things. Also...” Lei Guangcheng looked at the collapsed Ferris wheel. “Without that person, things wouldn’t have ended so easily.”
They nodded.
They had seen the final attack. The huge Ferris wheel, which was a landmark more than two hundred meters tall, had been split apart. It was hard to believe that this was done by a human. It was no wonder why Lei Guangcheng had been so confident in the person. Judging by his tone, Lei Guangcheng knew them personally, which meant that this person had powerful organizations supporting him, so he was definitely not anyone normal.
“Clean up the place. Once you’re done, we’ll be leaving. Our job is done here. We’ve been busy for days, so it’s time for us to rest,” Lei Guangcheng said.
His subordinate hesitated for a moment before whispering, “What about Ferris Wheel, Mr. Lei?”
They had contributed to the success of the operation. When the government distributed whatever was left of Ferris Wheel, the department’s interests were definitely going to be involved. They couldn’t just let their slice of the pie slip out of their hands.
Lei Guangcheng gave a dismissive wave. “That’s Mr. Qian’s task. I’m not suited for it.”
The group immediately knew what he meant. “Understood!”
Mr. Qian was the director of the Cult Investigation Bureau and was the best at asking for money. He was indeed the perfect person to handle this.
But they had also heard that Lei Guangcheng had come to take Mr. Qian’s place. Perhaps after this matter, he would officially be handed over the position.
***
An armored car parked outside a warehouse in Oceanway District. When its door opened, Mr. Cao got out. The guard standing in front of the door said, “Please go inside, Mr. Cao. Mr. Chu is already there.”
With two subordinates in tow, Mr. Cao walked in. Mr. Chu was standing inside the spacious warehouse. Once they got closer, he said sternly, “You’re late, Mr. Cao.”
Mr. Cao looked at the people standing behind him and remarked, “They’re new. What’s this? Did you change your members?”
Mr. Chu ignored the statement and asked, “Did you bring the plan?”
Mr. Cao extended a hand, and a subordinate took out some papers from his briefcase and put them in his hand. Mr. Cao then handed it over.
After taking a look, Mr. Chu’s expression tensed. “If this is a multi-department plan, why didn’t you report it to me?”
“Communications broke down, and I didn’t know where you were. I did look, but you were missing. I couldn’t just set the plan aside, so I decided to just carry it out,” Mr. Cao answered languidly.
Mr. Cao stared at him. Earlier, he had been working to take down Chen Bitong. To prevent the National General Affairs Bureau from taking part in it, he had cut off communications, but if Mr. Cao had really wanted to find him, he could have.
“Your plan is too dangerous. If it fails, the municipal government will turn against us, and the political situation in Central City will become unpredictable. The National Ad Hoc Special Operations Committee doesn’t believe that the plan is plausible and demands that you stop it at once!”
“You can stop the National General Affairs Bureau, but you can’t stop the other departments. Besides, you’re already too late,” Mr. Cao stated.
Just as Mr. Chu was about to reply, bright light shone through the roof opening despite them being in a modified warehouse.
At the same time, they received messages in their Realm Passes. They immediately put their hands up and listened to the reports.
Mr. Cao cast Mr. Chu a glance before saying, “Operation Horizon is over. Take your time reviewing the plan. I have other things to do. Please excuse me.”
Mr. Chu’s expression turned dark. The operation was already completed, so why should he still review it? As he watched Mr. Cao leave, he picked up the papers, and his gaze landed on the table showing the person recommended for the operation.
Chen Chuan, squad captain of the Resolution Department.
***
Back in the command center, Liang Guanghai was listening to the reports from the other districts. Most of his attention had been on Ferris Wheel during the operation, and he had neglected the other areas.
Fortunately, things were relatively fine. Since the mercenary groups and companies had used up a lot of their combatants earlier on, dealing with them now wasn’t as difficult as before.
Besides, Ferris Wheel was no longer a threat. The emergency response units situated in Glowing Dew District could be sent to other places, so Liang Guanghai had more manpower.
After reading through the reports from each district and responding to them, he pinched his nose and took a pill to regain some energy.
Just then, a liaison officer ran over and said, “Sir, Azure Dragon sent a report. About ten minutes ago, they sank a submarine, which they believe came from Ferris Wheel. Bioweapons were sent to check it, and they found that aside from armed combatants, there were also some people from Ferris Wheel, but they had all died before the submarine was sunk.”
Liang Guanghai read the report. Based on Sentry Tower’s analysis, the existence might have possessed one of Ferris Wheel’s directors. If that were the case, it was highly probable that it had killed those people.
“Take over the examination and secure the evidence,” he said to the assistant.
“I’ll get it done,” the assistant immediately replied.
Liang Guanghai’s expression became much more relaxed as he patted the report. With this evidence in hand, they had one more reason to destroy Ferris Wheel—by saying that Ferris Wheel had colluded with an existence from the other world.
Before, the municipal government would need compromises and assurances from them, but now, with this evidence in hand, no one in the municipal government could defend the company anymore.
After all, fighting against and defeating the existences from the other world was always the right move. If someone did end up colluding with an existence from the other world, they could not tell anyone about it.
***
Chen Chuan walked out of the pit in front of Ferris Wheel. Bits of scattered light were still bouncing off of him. It had been dragged out when he moved through the gaps.
He had used the Flying Dragon Force and felt like he had grasped how to truly use it.
The sound of propellers above him attracted his attention. When he looked up, he saw a few airships flying over him to the sea. At the same time, Hongfu started disappearing.
He turned to her and gave her a nod.
When he jumped down, he had intended to use his second self to withstand the impact from the fall, but Hongfu had blocked the impact for him.
Up above, armed combatants walked out of the destroyed building. There were about ten of them, and their leader was Ferris Wheel’s security director, Guanshang Jing.
When Wu Qi had attacked with its mental attack, these people were also affected, even if they had hidden in an anti-mental-energy room. The ones who weren’t strong enough died on the spot. Upon seeing Chen Chuan, they tensed up and brought their weapons up.
Chen Chuan just stared at them. He could tell from their biofields that they had been corrupted and wouldn’t live for much longer.
This had to be the doing of the existence from the other world.
Due to the opening of the Gate to Heaven, there was no longer a barrier above them. Even Third Limit martial artists couldn’t defend themselves against corruption without a certain amount of mental energy.
Guanshang Jing cast a glance at the collapsed Ferris wheel, both at the half on land and the one sticking out from the water. His heart sank. Just as he wanted to head to the Ferris wheel, he felt an itch in his throat and started coughing and hacking.
After wiping at the corner of his mouth with his hand, he found he had coughed up a lot of black blood. It had countless tiny, almost unnoticeable black insects.
One of the armed combatants around him had his weapon raised. Suddenly, his hand fell on the ground. The severed part was black, as if it no longer had any flesh or blood. Everyone's bodies began falling on the ground in pieces. The worst off were the ones who had wanted to surround Chen Chuan. When they moved, their heads fell off their bodies.
They froze after taking a few steps, like statues stuck in strange postures.
Guanshang Jing’s breathing quickened. He could feel a stuffiness in his chest, and his limbs grew weak.
If he could see himself, he would have noticed black blood gushing out of his eyes, and black insects crawling out of them.
A cluster of heavy footsteps approaching him. Judging by the sound, the newcomers were wearing military boots, which was a sign that the main battalion was coming over. Guanshang Jing took a look at Chen Chuan, then drew his saber.
But he didn’t charge forward. Instead, he knelt in front of the sea, positioned the saber at his neck, then yanked it down. Black blood gushed out, and his head slumped down.
Chen Chuan watched him, then turned to the broken building. After the Ferris wheel collapsed, the building stood alone. It was covered by dancing gray snowflakes and looked like a broken monument. When the ocean breeze blew at it, gray dust drifted over the surging waves.
