GAMMT - Chapter 96
Chapter 96: Cooperation
A secret meeting couldn't last too long. If it did, those outside would speculate that the Minister was either stalling to release false information or was genuinely spending time discussing something valuable with Xie Keli.
Either way, the Minister's time would not be wasted on Xie Keli. Any time invested had to have value.
So, where did Xie Keli's value lie?
Based on his performance so far?
Forget it. The scenarios in novels or TV shows where some dark horse makes a comeback, earning the special regard of a powerful figure or sparking the curiosity of a goddess who eventually falls in love with him…
That was just wishful thinking.
First of all, for people like the Minister, the empire's talents were groomed for official service to begin with.
They had a pond full of fish. Whether it was a big, fattened fish or a well-raised one, they had the right to scoop it up.
Therefore, they were the last people who needed to fret over or try to win over a genius—unless that genius had already grown into a powerhouse.
Currently, no matter how monstrously talented any student within the empire's provincial high school system was, they were not yet worthy of a provincial minister's special attention or effort. Their power level was not yet above 70, so they didn't qualify.
In that case, Xie Keli's value could only be related to the case.
What would TK Group suspect?
What would outsiders suspect?
In any case, the students of the Four Great Academies were focused on only one thing. The campus forums had exploded, and a wave of mourning swept across the entire Beluke City joint campus district.
"Oh my god! Fu Ye is pregnant? And the father is Xie Keli?"
"Has the sun risen? Why does it still feel like night? The world is so dark."
"That gigolo bean sprout, what a piece of work! How could he get her pregnant?! I always thought a scumbag like Xie Keli should have hereditary infertility! Ah! My goddess!"
"The little bird of my youth has flown away, never to return…"
"To the person above, it's different for me. The little bird of my youth flew out, and when it came back, its belly was big."
"Waaaah, my Sister Fu Ye… waaaah… hic… hic…"
It was said that alcohol sales in the shopping district skyrocketed tenfold that day. The number of students who missed curfew reached four digits, all of them dead drunk.
Groups of brawny men were seen sobbing in each other's arms on the main roads, wailing out love songs, professing their love for Fu Ye while cursing some "Xie the Gigolo."
The citizens were completely baffled by this, ultimately concluding that the academic pressure in the province must be too high and that the children needed a bit more freedom…
Some of these students were drinking for the first time. They overdid it, damaging their spleens and stomachs, and were picked up by kind-hearted people and sent to Sage Medical Hall.
Fu Chuan happened to be on duty that day. Late at night, seeing a group of drunks reeking of alcohol, she was a bit puzzled, thinking that the third-month assessment of the Four Great Academies must have been truly difficult to make these kids suffer so much.
"They're drunk. Some medicine to soothe the spleen and stomach should do the trick."
She instructed the nurses to prepare the medication while she sat down to examine the student who seemed to be in the worst condition.
She took one look and found him a bit familiar.
Hong Yan?
Fu Chuan retracted her gaze and asked softly, "Can you still walk? I'm a physician. I need to apply a sobering aura and administer medicine. If you consent, please respond."
Unless a patient was completely unconscious, it was standard procedure to obtain their consent before any treatment.
Hong Yan was indeed only half-conscious. In his daze, he heard someone ask a question, which seemed to revive his spirits. He started cursing, "Old dog Xie, you damn scumbag."
Although his words were slurred, Fu Chuan understood and didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
It had been months since the high school entrance exams, yet this guy still held a grudge against her?
"I'll ask you one more time. I'm going to administer the medicine. Do you consent? You can continue cursing after I'm done, how about that?"
That voice…
Hong Yan vaguely felt a softness in his ears, a tickle in his heart. He couldn't help but force his eyes open, only to see a blurry figure.
"No, I don't… Damn scumbag Xie Keli, waaaah, Fu Ye, my Fu Ye, Fu Ye…"
Fu Chuan: "?"
As if on cue, Hong Yan's cries triggered a chain reaction. A dozen other students nearby started wailing along with him, sobbing uncontrollably, their grief overwhelming.
The nurses were stunned. One chubby nurse, who was eating a donut for her late-night snack, asked in confusion, "Uh, what's going on? Did someone pass away? Is this a funeral? Did Xie Keli die, or did Fu Ye?"
It was a reasonable misunderstanding.
Fu Chuan rubbed the bridge of her nose and directly cast a halo of light on Hong Yan.
A nurse asked, "Physician Fu, should we silence them? They might disturb the other inpatients."
"That won't be necessary. They're young men, full of passion and romantic woes."
Fu Chuan raised her hand and tapped the wall. Lines of light climbed its surface, forming a soundproof barrier. Then she turned and left.
"Let them cry."
Watching Fu Chuan's departing figure, several nurses couldn't help but cup their faces and sigh. "Ah, Physician Fu is always so gentle, as tender as water."
An older nurse glanced at the prescription Fu Chuan had written and smiled faintly.
Very gentle indeed. She had prescribed the bitterest and most expensive medicines, the kind of decoction that had to be force-fed.
Tonight, this group of young men was about to become a bunch of "Good Big Brothers."
When her shift ended, it was already four in the morning. Instead of returning to her own residence, Fu Chuan went to Liu Wuxiang's study in the backyard.
She had just started reading when a list was sent to her communicator, containing intelligence from the Four Great Academies.
It was a bit sudden. Fu Chuan glanced at it and saw it was from Shen Qixi. It listed the point rankings that had been refreshed in the last fifteen minutes before midnight.
Shen Qixi had sent it because she believed the information was highly valuable.
Fu Chuan was quite fond of this younger girl and trusted her judgment.
If she said it was valuable, then it definitely was.
She reviewed the list and was somewhat surprised.
"Tom from North Gai Academy (Eaves Shadow Cat Race) is a non-human who entered Class E through a policy exception. After just over four months, he's ranked fifth in North Gai."
"Similar to him is Jack from South Chen Academy (Flying Light Rat Race), who ranked fourth in South Chen. But what's even more terrifying is a student from South Chen named Jiang Yousi. In just one year since enrolling, he has fought his way to third place."
Fu Chuan was a little suspicious. If the cat and rat were excelling due to their unique racial traits and clan-based training, which could mitigate the influence of human instructors—meaning they attended human academies mainly for resources—then Jiang Yousi was a pure human. He had entered the academy through social channels, which meant he could only get into Class E, yet he had climbed to third place in such a short time.
Although her and Wei Mingtang's sprint had been shorter, this was different.
If they were given a year, could they reach that rank?
This was what Shen Qixi found strange. Or rather, she felt these individuals posed a threat to Xie Keli… but she sent the information to Fu Chuan, not Xie Keli. It was clear that even if she couldn't comprehend the existence of two bodies, she instinctively knew they were the same person.
Fu Chuan noted down the three names and continued scrolling, looking at information about the top student from each of the four academies.
West Jin's number one was Flosius.
North Gai's number one was Modorola.
South Chen Academy's top spot was no longer held by the previous champion, Wuxu. Instead, Haimes, who was formerly ranked fifth, had staged a comeback, defeating several people ahead of him to claim the number one position. This meant that South Chen was not only seeing students from Class E storming into Class S, but also a change of leadership within Class S itself, like a complete reshuffle.
East Guan, on the other hand, was stable. Zhao Ranxue was still number one, but the point gap between him, the second-ranked Carol Diel, and the third-ranked Xiao Modi was very close.
The most volatile and exciting academy was South Chen. Even East Guan, whose Class A had been overturned by the two troublemakers Xie Keli and Wei Mingtang, hadn't experienced an earthquake of that magnitude.
Fu Chuan propped her chin on her hand as she finished reading. She then looked up the enrollment records for each of the Four Great Academies from previous years and noticed something.
This year, there seemed to be quite a few troublemakers.
"The era of Qin Minfeng's arrival was an era of storms, an era of worldly turmoil, an era of descending gods…"
Fu Chuan recalled some of the narration from the later stages of the game's plot. But after actually interacting with Qin Minfeng, she felt he was, at most, a butterfly flapping its wings. Even if a hurricane from the Atlantic swept across the world, a butterfly was still just a butterfly.
What was truly terrifying was the interconnected logic that drove events.
"The cause of this logic itself… must be the people pushing everything forward."
"Besides, is there only one Qin Minfeng in this world?"
Fu Chuan thought of herself.
Was there only one Fu Chuan in this world?
Wei Mingtang had become a steady customer for Fu Chuan, but she waited three days before contacting her.
"When will you have more Lesser Heavenly Books?"
Fu Chuan: "I'll sell you one every half a month from now on."
Wei Mingtang was actually a bit shocked. This was much sooner than she had anticipated. Did it mean the other party still didn't need the Lesser Heavenly Books?
Logically speaking, this person's progress in Arcane Truths wasn't particularly outstanding compared to her own. Xie Keli's current rate of comprehension wasn't fast.
Wei Mingtang didn't believe this person had such a good mentality as to willingly sell such a top-tier resource to her, unless she believed Wei Mingtang posed no threat to her whatsoever.
Either that… or this person's speed and profit from crafting Lesser Heavenly Books were sufficient to supply her own needs.
If it was the latter, that was a bit frightening.
She might be witnessing the birth of an alchemy monster.
"Alright."
Wei Mingtang was not a person of many words, nor did she intend to probe further. Having settled the cooperation, that should have been the end of it…
"Congratulations on becoming a father."
"Thanks."
Then, Wei Mingtang sent a red envelope.
Fu Chuan paused, thinking it was rare for this person to be so polite. She silently tapped it open.
6.66 green coins.
Green… coins.
Green.
666.
Fu Chuan: "?"
Why did she feel the hidden meaning was so strong?
Or was it just her imagination… Was there some flaw in her and Fu Ye's act?
On the other side, Wei Mingtang was leaning back on a sofa, one leg bent, a hand resting against her temple. Seeing the question mark emoji that had been sent back, she didn't reply. Instead, she swiped through the photos on her tablet and glanced at Fu Ye's pale face.
Perhaps not even the Dean, her teacher, knew about the illness she carried. Nor did they know that while this illness brought her extreme pain and pushed her to the brink, it also granted her a strange power—a sensitivity to curses.
The very first day she saw Fu Ye, at the very first glance, she had seen the terrifying curse that existed on her.
But the fluctuations of this curse were strange.
Sometimes it weakened, sometimes it strengthened.
Normally, the host's condition should be stable, especially for an Arcanist like Fu Ye with powerful talent and genes.
The only thing that could make her condition unstable was pregnancy.
Therefore, Xie Keli's fiancée was already pregnant on the day she enrolled in the academy.
And their contact and engagement also happened around that time.
The logic was quite straightforward: she got pregnant first and had no choice but to find Xie Keli for a cooperative engagement, making him the convenient father.
Later, she had seen the two of them acting on several occasions… How should she put it? Their acting was excellent, with no flaws. Xie Keli's performance even surpassed that of 99% of fathers in this world.
Professionalism: 666.
But the only thing that could force the Fu siblings into such a desperate move would be one of the four great Orange Blood families.
She just didn't know which one.
The next morning, Fu Chuan woke up to find the school's ranking rewards already delivered to her table. Along with them were Fu Ye's rewards and a gift package celebrating her pregnancy.
It was a congratulatory gift from the school.
It was a polite gesture, but Fu Chuan didn't open it, considering it Fu Ye's property. She only took her own portion.
But then Fu Ye opened her door and came out. Her complexion was much better than yesterday. Fu Chuan observed her for a moment and, confirming she was fine, didn't ask any further questions.
Although Fu Chuan's attitude was somewhat cold, not as considerate and gentle as she had acted in public yesterday, Fu Ye actually felt more comfortable this way.
Cooperation was cooperation, and acting was acting. Fu Ye felt that maintaining this distance was for the best.
"From the school?"
"Yes. You're a transfer student, so your previous points don't count. Your points from these three months were included, ranking you 23rd. Why didn't you try your best?"
Fu Chuan asked out of curiosity. Fu Ye, who had been looking at the rewards, looked up at her words. "Why do you think I didn't try my best?"
"I feel like you should be very strong. I'm no match for you."
Fu Ye lowered her head, not looking at Fu Chuan. She bent her slender waist and gently blew out the candle on the congratulatory cake sent by the school.
A strand of hair slipped down her exquisite, charming profile. Her eyes locked onto the orange glow of the candle flame—a tiny fire visible in the bright light of day.
"That feeling of yours is meaningless."
"I feel that I will never make a move against you, Second Young Master Xie."
Fu Chuan was taken aback. It had been a long time since anyone had called her by that title. Only the servants of the Xie Clan in Jingyang… but even they later called him Patriarch.
Only this person addressed her with a tone that was both gentle and polite.
As if in her eyes, she too was quite noble.
Fu Chuan couldn't help but smile. "That's not necessarily true."
She took her things and went to the training room. As she passed by Fu Ye, she left a light remark.
"If you hadn't woken up that morning feeling a bit of a sore throat."
Fu Ye stood frozen for a long while before turning to look at the closed door of the training room. She touched her own neck, her expression hard to describe.
So that was why her neck had been so sore that day.
Just this morning, she had been teased by many people about the mass student drunkenness incident she had caused last night, which made her feel very awkward and wonder if all men were like this…
Apparently not.
Inside the training room, Fu Chuan opened the box of rewards from the school.
The box contained a folded space, as grand and elegant as a New Year's gift box from a top-tier corporation. Inside were four small spaces.
First space: 500 S2 Gene Keys.
Second space: A three-piece set of Orange-tier defensive equipment (clothes, hat, pants).
Third space: An Orange-tier Arcane Truth Stone (Wind Controller).
Fourth space: An Eye Pupil Fragment Exchange Box (Orange-tier, high-grade).
How to put it? The quantity and quality of the first three items were a notch higher than Fu Chuan had originally expected. But the fourth item, a treasure exclusive to the top 20, surprised her.
"Eye Pupil Fragment? When a non-human expert challenges the authority of the human race and is killed, if they are skilled in pupil techniques, their eyes are extracted to be used as a resource for the human race. If the extraction is complete, the value is terrifying, and a suitable body and soul can be found for transplantation, allowing the recipient to directly possess the original owner's talent. If the extraction fails, it is processed into gene fragments. Even a single gene fragment has the potential to stimulate gene fusion and awaken the pupil technique talent, but the probability is minuscule. It all depends on the user's compatibility, their talent's potential, and their luck. However, in theory, the more fragments of the same type one accumulates, the greater the chance of awakening the pupil technique."
Fu Chuan suddenly realized that as her time at the academy grew longer, she might have a chance to climb higher. But the geniuses above her, with the rewards from the rankings as their foundation, had been accumulating these fragments for years. Even without the Xie Clan's ancestral advantage, they could amass a certain number of gene fragments over the years and eventually acquire a pupil technique, catching up to her in terms of insight.
Since she began practicing arcana, her rise had essentially started with awakening the insight pupil technique in Xie Keli's body. For example, during the four-academy joint selection, if she hadn't used her pupil technique to lock onto Wei Mingtang and Xie Yiyuan first, allowing her to precisely screen the others, she wouldn't have gained an advantage over Li Cang and Que Baimo, which led to her subsequent series of successes.
Now, she learned that the people ranked ahead of her were all in the process of obtaining, or had already obtained, pupil techniques. That meant her advantage was basically nullified. In other areas, her arcane foundation couldn't keep up, her attributes and level were at a disadvantage, and her grand plans were not yet complete. How could she hope for another comeback next time?
Honestly, it was unlikely.
But she couldn't stop the other top-twenty students from getting their gene fragments.
"The only way is for me to also get one and awaken a new pupil technique faster, or strengthen my original one. The problem is, I only have one fragment, and I don't even know if I can maintain a top-20 rank in the next assessment…"
This was like trying to snipe others with a specific goal, but needing to succeed unconditionally.
"Awakening a technique with just one fragment is something only a cheat-level monster like Qin Minfeng could do. I'm just borrowing his pretentious luck; I wouldn't dare…"
As Fu Chuan mocked herself, she hadn't even rushed to open the box to select the eye pupil she wanted, because the success rate with a single fragment was far too low to be meaningful. She knew her limits. But as she muttered to herself, her self-deprecating thoughts suddenly stuttered.
Her radar for resources and a spark of inspiration had been triggered.
She fell into deep thought, stroking her chin for a good while before reaching out and opening it.
With a click, the box opened a transaction channel connected to the academy's resource repository and store. Fu Chuan first saw the selection panel for available eye pupil fragments.
Good heavens, there were quite a few options—a full 36 types of eye pupils to choose from.
The species of the non-human, the type of pupil technique, its level, and so on, all varied in strength and rarity. Even the scions of Orange Blood noble families would be dazzled and unsure of what to choose.
Fortunately, Fu Chuan had her god's-eye view from the game. She scanned the categories… locking onto targets one by one. First, she identified the pupil techniques she wanted or could use. Then, based on the eye pupil's category and level, she accessed the academy's library system to research them, identifying the original owners of these eyes and then looking into their life's cultivation and the circumstances of their deaths.
"Blue Snow Tiger Race's True Eye of Deterrence… The owner was level 80, killed in a lava pool on Spineback Mountain. No good. The Blue Snow Tiger Race is a water-adept species. The True Eye of Deterrence would have long since adapted to water systems. A dip in a lava pool would have surely damaged it, which explains why it couldn't be extracted whole. That means this fragment has a high chance of being damaged. Pass! A pity, the power of this True Eye of Deterrence is really good."
"Three-Evasion Shadow-Seeking Race, a powerful insight-type race. Every member is born with an insight pupil technique, no gene awakening required. If it were devoured by the Demon Orchid pupil, it might produce a wonderful change. But this race also has a curse talent. It's highly likely they placed a curse on the eye when it was extracted. The risk is too great."
Fu Chuan eliminated them one by one until she had narrowed it down to three targets. They were risk-free, and the power and type of the eye pupils were what she needed. Just as she was about to choose one of the three, she noticed one at the very bottom of the list.
It was unremarkable, with very little information.
"Unknown Eye Pupil. Examination has determined that the complete eye possesses the ability to directly see mental power in four-dimensional space. It is a Mental Eye."
Fu Chuan was stunned. Generally, pupil techniques fell into three categories: insight, attack, and support (like illusion and hypnosis). A Mental Eye was theoretically a type of insight, but a variant within it. While fulfilling the basic insight function, it further elevated the dimension of perception to see mental power.
Whether it was the mental power of others or the mental power factors in space used for absorption during meditation, it was all within its scope of perception.
This was extremely rare. Imagine if it were used for meditation—it would be like targeted absorption. How high would the efficiency be?
Therefore, those who possessed a Mental Eye were either prodigies with naturally terrifying mental power, or they became prodigies with terrifying mental power because of it.
But wouldn't everyone want to choose such a gene fragment? How could there still be any in stock?
Fu Chuan curled her fingers, not selecting it yet. She was hesitant because there was too little information, only a date of acquisition.
Fu Chuan looked at the date and began to investigate large-scale wars that had broken out in Beluke Province within the five years surrounding that time.
She searched this way because its acquisition date was close to that of a third of the other eye pupils in the list, making it highly likely they came from the same war.
After sifting through some incorrect information, Fu Chuan found the answer she was looking for.
"The Battle of the Steel Forest on the banks of the Hui Chuan River ten years ago? One battle destroyed the entire Steel Forest. The scale was enormous, alarming experts from all over the province. It was later learned that an evil organization had intended to attack Beluke City to seize power. The military suppressed them in the Steel Forest, ultimately annihilating them…"
"Most of these evil people were non-human invaders and a group of human traitors. The majority of the eye pupils came from this group."
Fu Chuan tried to look up information on these invaders but found basically nothing.
This meant the information was locked under high-level official secrecy, hidden from public view.
"Strange. The identities of invaders from such an organization shouldn't be a secret. On the contrary, they should be exposed to serve as a warning to the public. And such an organization would have complex connections, requiring public reporting to provide useful information to uproot its network. The fact that it's still sealed off now points to two possibilities. One, there's something sensitive about the organization's composition that the officials find inconvenient to disclose. This most likely means its leader was an important figure who defected from the government. To save the empire's face, it can't be leaked. It could even be a member of the Imperial Clan, a member of the Imperial Clan, or some grand duke with immense prestige in the empire."
"Or, the organization hasn't been completely dismantled yet, and the officials are still investigating core members, so they're keeping it under wraps to prevent information from leaking…"
Fu Chuan was just speculating, but based on her understanding of this arcane world, it was highly likely a combination of both.
"If I could find this, other students in the academy probably could too. It's the same batch of eye pupils, all with their identities obscured. But the information for the others is relatively complete, while this one is sparse. That means this fragment wasn't extracted after the war; it was a shattered remnant from a direct hit during the battle. It was probably from an important figure in the organization who was killed by a powerful blow… It's unique, and there most likely won't be any other identical fragments."
That meant no matter how good its attributes were, no matter how amazing, with only one fragment, it couldn't be awakened. Exchanging for it would be useless.
That's why no one chose it.
But Fu Chuan did.
Because she didn't have the time to accumulate other fragments anyway. Choosing any other would still be just one piece, still a risk. If this one succeeded, the reward would be the greatest.
A Mental Eye. It was too tempting.
Fu Chuan was decisive. After making her choice, she started consuming the S2 Gene Keys. Breaking through the second sequence was much harder than the first. She had bought a batch of S2s before and only managed to unlock the fourth branch. Now with 500 S2s in hand, how many could she unlock?
Three minutes later, two branches.
She was at the seventh branch now, with the eighth and ninth still to go. It was too difficult. She estimated that even 2,000 S2s wouldn't be enough.
"No wonder people like Zhang Donglin cling to the academy. The resources here are just too good. And the higher you go, the more resource-intensive both the gene system and the arcane system become."
They weren't mediocre Arcanists from the outside world who spent their lives looking at levels and arcane skill books. The academy faction basically pursued Arcane Truths. Skill books were supplementary, existing only to lay the groundwork for comprehending Arcane Truths.
The resource barrier was imaginable.
Fu Chuan sighed and re-evaluated her current plan. The appearance of this gene fragment had changed things.
The next three months would be the timeframe.
For Xie Keli, the focus would be on the Mental Eye gene fragment. She would have to start consuming vast resources to build up her luck. The 500,000-plus points she had would all be used. The plan for the Lesser Heavenly Books would remain unchanged—continue to make money, accumulate wealth, and turn it into more Lesser Heavenly Books.
Fu Chuan's path would be much longer, far beyond three months. After all, she was still missing a large chunk of Arcane Truths from the bookshelf. Forget Forbidden Controller, she was still far from reaching the level of a Light Potential Controller.
The problem of time could ultimately only be solved with time.
And the matter with the Economic Department…
Two months later, Fu Chuan knocked on Fu Ye's door to inform her that she was going out and to contact her if anything came up.
"I'll be staying here. Nothing is likely to happen." Fu Ye never interfered with Fu Chuan's affairs. After the incident at the mall, she seemed to have intentionally reduced her contact with Fu Chuan. Fu Chuan noticed this and felt that it was probably because she was still thinking about Li Wukun and couldn't get over it. She didn't say anything.
After all, women were more sensitive in this regard. She could understand.
She knew she was a woman, but the other person didn't.
"The potions are on the table. They're better than before. Remember to take them."
After Fu Chuan left, Fu Ye stood at the door with her arms crossed, watching her disappear. After a moment, she walked to the living room and picked up a vial of potion.
Of course, she knew this person's alchemy skills were getting stronger and stronger. The potions he made were likely beyond what the intermediate alchemists her family employed could produce. Yet he had done it, and was constantly improving.
In the words of her family's elders, apart from his bad reputation, there was nothing to fault about Xie Keli.
But what Fu Chuan didn't know was that as soon as she left, someone in the girls' dormitory building across the way sent a message.
There are elemental fluctuations in the basement of Xie Keli's house. He may have already left. Check if anyone has left the academy's perimeter.
Understood.
Clearly, someone had planted a scout here.
The place Fu Chuan secretly went to was the Arcane Palace. The Arcane Palace was located in the eastern corner of the central plaza of the Four Great Academies, the same place as before. It was the only place that, despite being bustling and prosperous, never had any conflicts. Because no one dared.
No one dared to cause trouble under the cold gaze of the Divine Temple guards.
However, Fu Chuan was currently wearing someone else's face. After getting off a public airship, she arrived at the plaza, stuck her hands in her pockets, and blended into the bustling crowd, slowly walking towards the Arcane Palace.
The place was huge, and there were too many people. Airships were forbidden from flying overhead here. All transportation facilities were on the outskirts. Even Arcanists who could fly with their own wings were rare, for fear of breaking a taboo. After all, this was a place where even ministers occasionally came for meetings.
As Fu Chuan walked, she suddenly felt that something was wrong. She had a persistent feeling that someone was watching her. She was no longer the person she used to be. Without showing any change in expression, she moved towards a more crowded area, intending to burst into speed and reach the Arcane Palace as quickly as possible. But then, very suddenly.
"Come here… come here…"
A voice appeared in her mind, hypnotic. Her pupils began to dilate as a terrifying hypnotic spell swept through her entire brain. She shook her head, trying to fight it off, and tried to call out for help, but found her throat felt like it was filled with cement.
Silence!
She had been remotely silenced!
Damn it! It was a soul or illusion-type Arcanist.
Their level was very high, and they were of this type. Stacking resistance was useless.
Fu Chuan had no way to resist, but the other party didn't dare kill her in front of so many people. So they controlled her…
Come here, come here…
Fu Chuan, like a normal person, obediently walked towards a commercial building where the crowd was thinning out.
The building was under renovation, and all the shops had moved out. There weren't many people around. After Fu Chuan entered, the inside felt desolate and cold, a stark contrast to the bustling scene outside. A chill shot straight to her head, but Fu Chuan was completely unaware, continuing to walk deeper under the other party's control.
A magic circle had already been drawn on the floor of the deep corridor. It was a Spirit Melting Array. Once she stepped into it, it would swallow all elemental fluctuations and soul aura. Killing Xie Keli inside would ensure that the powerful experts in the nearby Arcane Palace wouldn't notice, and it would be difficult to track.
The main purpose was to sever any means of tracking. After all, if they provoked the Arcane Palace, they wouldn't be able to handle the consequences.
A figure hidden in the darkness watched as Fu Chuan got closer and closer to the magic circle… locking onto her with the coldness of a malevolent ghost.
And at this moment, wasn't Fu Chuan just like a pitiful soul in a horror movie, being lured to her death by a ghost?
Just a little further.
Ten steps, nine steps…
At the fifth step, whoosh! A puppet suddenly flew out from within Fu Chuan's body. The puppet self-ignited, self-destructed, and emitted a sonic attack.
"Master, wake up!"
What kind of puppet was this?
A mental-type Meditation Puppet? No, it was a variant. The alchemy project Fu Chuan had initially focused on the most was the Meditation Puppet, specializing in the mental type. After making so many, she was very familiar with it and had no intention of giving up on alchemy puppets. Puppets were excellent vessels for meditation, attack, defense, illusion, and more, which could all be imbued upon them.
Even before she realized she was being targeted by TK, she had already begun researching puppets that could counter soul-hypnosis techniques.
At that time, she had already agreed to cooperate with the Fu siblings. To avoid being secretly targeted by the Li Family, she had thought long and hard and concluded that her biggest vulnerability was in this area. Later, after witnessing the power of Wei Mingtang's methods, she became even more wary of soul-type arcane arts and Arcane Truths. She spent a lot of money on materials, and for the past two months, this was the alchemy project she had been repeatedly working on.
Although most attempts failed and only served to accumulate luck, she had succeeded once or twice and obtained two puppets.
Unfortunately, her opponent's skill level was a bit too high. Otherwise, the puppet on Fu Chuan would have activated immediately, not waiting until she was about to step into the Spirit Melting Array.
But once it activated… Fu Chuan was jolted awake. She immediately tried to make a commotion to alert the guards of the Arcane Palace. But at that moment, the shadowy figure in the dark saw this, raised a hand, and aimed a slender staff at Fu Chuan.
A pulsating, blood-red fluid instantly struck the puppet, reducing it to dust. Simultaneously, her other hand twisted in the air like a snake. Correspondingly, the Spirit Melting Array on the ground suddenly distorted and expanded, slithering under Fu Chuan's feet.
Not good!
This was a mutable, controllable array!
And the opponent was a level 55 illusion and array control master.
Fu Chuan was experienced. From the speed and technique with which the opponent controlled the Spirit Melting Array, she could see their true capabilities.
Fortunately, this person's strength lay in their methods, not in being an overwhelmingly powerful opponent, much like Wei Mingtang.
Fu Chuan tried to spread her wings to escape, but her legs were already being swallowed by the magma-like Spirit Melting Array. As it consumed her, a numbness spread through her body, and she quickly realized she had lost control of her mental power and the elements.
Seeing Fu Chuan controlled, the person immediately increased the distance to enhance the spell's intensity, which in turn increased the speed at which Fu Chuan was being swallowed.
However, as she got closer, she suddenly felt something was wrong.
Just as she was about to be completely devoured, Fu Chuan directly mobilized her remaining mental power and aimed it at the person…
Forbidden Arcane!
In an instant, the Spirit Melting Array froze solid. The illusion and array master, hidden under a black robe, also lost control of the elements.
The tables had turned?
Fu Chuan leaped out, a flicker of an afterimage as she dodged the Spirit Melting Array. Just as she was about to launch a powerful counterattack… the opponent seemed to sense her prowess and, instead, wrapped themselves in their black robe.
Whoosh!
The person and the robe transformed into swirling black smoke and shot downwards…
Fu Chuan quickly jumped down the stairs, her wings unfurling, in hot pursuit.
The black mist flew around a corner in the corridor. On the other side of the wall was the bustling crowd. With a swirl of the robe, the woman inside shed the black aura.
In a flash, she passed the corner and became an ordinary person, blending into the crowd.
Suddenly, she heard a gasp and turned her head along with everyone else.
With a flourish, dazzling wings spread out behind her. Seven or eight meters above, Fu Chuan stood on the railing of a balcony, looking down at the bustling crowd on the ground. Many people below were also looking up at her, some surprised, some murmuring among themselves. She activated her pupil technique, but she couldn't lock onto the person's identity among the crowd.
The black-robed person knew she couldn't be seen, even with a pupil technique. She sneered inwardly, about to leave just like that… while taking out her communicator to report the secret of this person's Forbidden Arcane ability to her superiors.
Suddenly!
She heard the exclamations of the people around her and realized she had been targeted…
What! She reacted, about to resist, but a thousand rays of light shot up from the ground, instantly binding her body, accompanied by a terrifying arcane bullet.
Bang!!!
The black-robed person was shot directly through the forehead.
The beautiful and gentle woman collapsed to the ground. The people here screamed in terror, and in the chaos.
"Who goes there!"
A guard from the Arcane Palace descended from the sky and immediately restrained Fu Chuan.
Fu Chuan quickly took out her academy badge and stated her identity. "She tried to assassinate me."
"Evidence."
"It's in that building…"
The guard's expression was solemn. He raised a hand, collected the body from the ground, and flew into the building with Fu Chuan.
As soon as they entered the building, Fu Chuan was about to point out the location of the Spirit Melting Array when suddenly… her scalp tingled.
"I think the Spirit Melting Array might be here, because I am here."
Because the guard was wearing a strange smile, revealing the sinister and malicious face of a woman.
Fu Chuan suddenly understood. This was the real illusionist. The one she had killed was likely a puppet.
Terrifying! The opponent's hand was already on her shoulder, about to drag her into the Spirit Melting Array activating beneath her feet.
In the nick of time.
A brilliant light shot out… instantly piercing through the guard's body.
Fu Chuan turned her head and saw the person who had appeared on the balcony.
Zhou Linlang. She had arrived in a hurry, her face still tense with uncertainty. As soon as she entered, she said, "Xie Keli, do you have any idea how dangerous that was? You just followed this fake guard in here so recklessly?!"
Fu Chuan looked at her and smiled.
"I figured the Economic Department would have arranged for someone to protect me nearby, but I didn't expect you to come in person."
Zhou Linlang raised an eyebrow and glanced at a white-robed secret guard who had just appeared on the outer balcony. The latter looked embarrassed. "Lady Zhou, Young Master Xie and I were assigned by our superiors to lure out people from TK Group. We didn't expect to see you."
"Oh, so I'm with TK Group?"
"No, that's not it. You came to save him."
The man was clumsy with words and didn't know what to say. He could only go back into stealth and watch from the outside. It was Fu Chuan who said, "If you were with TK, you wouldn't have revealed yourself. You would have hidden in the shadows and observed, waiting for the outcome. If no one was protecting me, I would have been dead just now. If someone was protecting me, you would have even less reason to show yourself. So, all things considered, you are the Inspector Zhou I know."
"So, tell me, Inspector Zhou, how did you survive?"
This whole setup was originally for Zhou Linlang. It had little to do with the illusionist.
However, Zhou Linlang was not happy about passing the test. She wasn't angry, just worried. "I saw you expose your Forbidden Arcane ability just now. That's equivalent to revealing the matter of Qin Minfeng… Aren't you afraid of bringing trouble upon yourself?"
Fu Chuan lowered her eyes and gave a bitter smile. "Do you think I had managed to hide it before?"
Zhou Linlang leaned against the wall. "From what I know of my teacher, he probably had his suspicions, but no proof. Now, you've basically handed him the evidence yourself."
In truth, Fu Chuan hadn't wanted to expose it either, but she felt she had already been exposed.
"TK has been watching me constantly. The Economic Department is in the open and needs evidence, but TK doesn't. They must be well aware of the situation with Qin Minfeng and the Spine Wolves. They came to assassinate Fu Chuan that night, but Fu Chuan was fine and their people died. They already suspected me and Fu Chuan. And since Fu Chuan has a perfect alibi, that only leaves me. They would also suspect that I possess the secrets left behind by Qin Minfeng, since I was the one who killed him."
"If TK pursues this relentlessly, sending stronger and stronger people after me, I would have exposed my Forbidden Arcane ability sooner or later. Just like that person just now. To deal with someone like that who is a higher level than me, I can only use an equally special ability like Forbidden Arcane, and I still almost got into trouble. So, my only choice was to cooperate with your Economic Department and tell the Minister about this in advance."
"Exposing it also makes TK even more interested in me."
Zhou Linlang pressed her lips together. "So, you've decided to be my teacher's bait? To use yourself to draw out TK's people? It's not necessary. I've already infiltrated them. I don't want to involve you. The reason I contacted you before and left a flaw was to remind you that I was myself. Only you would be able to notice the contradiction."
"Yes, I considered all the possibilities that you weren't Zhou Linlang. But then I thought of another possibility: Zhou Linlang was pretending to be a TK agent. But that would require the TK people to think that one of their own was pretending to be you. You replaced that person, taking over their undercover mission. In that case, you needed to gain TK's trust while also using this undercover identity to gain the trust of the Economic Department. You couldn't act too much like Zhou Linlang; you had to leave a small flaw for TK's own people to see. I think it's because there's a high-ranking official within the Economic Department who belongs to TK. You were using me to sell a flaw to that high-ranking official, to make him certain that you are their undercover agent, and not Zhou Linlang pulling a double-cross."
Zhou Linlang didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Can you use a better term? What's with 'double-cross'?"
"However, you guessed correctly. It seems I don't need to explain… I can only say that from the moment I began the mission to capture the head of TK, to my 'death,' to being consumed and impersonated by the head of TK—TK himself—using his genetic talent, it was all part of the plan. The goal was to assume his identity, find the flaw in that high-ranking official, and expose him. As for higher-level secrets, I can't tell you. Anyway, you're in it now. Since you've agreed to help my teacher, you just have to do it well. He's a man of his word and doesn't let people quit on him."
Fu Chuan knew this, of course. She also realized that the Economic Department's plan had been set in motion a long time ago. Their goal was surely more than just one high-ranking official. There must be other secrets behind TK.
She wasn't part of this department. She could only do her current outsourced job well, take the benefits, and leave…
Although she had a feeling that this reward would not be easy to earn.
"Compared to me, your job is much harder. This is a secret that probably only you and the Minister know, right? Aren't you afraid he'll blame you for telling me directly?"
Zhou Linlang had a strange expression, then said faintly, "Didn't you guess it? And didn't you also tell me about your cooperation with him?"
"You guessed that too," Fu Chuan said with a straight face.
Then the two of them looked at each other and smiled. Zhou Linlang added, "Besides, he already has you by the balls with the secret of your Forbidden Arcane. He can use the matter of Qin Minfeng to control you at any time. But it's not a big deal. Qin Minfeng has already been proven to be a traitor, so killing him is fine. It's just that your ability has been exposed. You're not guilty of any crime, but you've lost a trump card."
"Forget it. To Minister Xiao, this isn't much of a trump card. And if he really wanted to deal with me, would he need to use this as leverage?"
Fu Chuan had also considered this point, which was why she had decided to reveal her trump card to the Minister. People at that level, like Liu Wuxiang, had a high perspective. A Forbidden Arcane pupil technique wasn't rare enough to impress them much. After all, it had significant limitations, a short duration, and against someone with extremely high mental power or resistance, it would just miss.
She might as well consider it… latching onto a powerful backer.
Fu Chuan was open-minded about it, and Zhou Linlang didn't object. For now, they were in the same trench.
"However, although the person who protected you just now was summoned by you, let's just say he was the one who saved you. I can't be exposed, otherwise it wouldn't make sense."
After all, to the people in TK, this person was their boss, TK. Since his subordinate was about to succeed in capturing Xie Keli, they should just take him back for interrogation. Why go through the trouble of saving him? Even saying it was to gain his trust would be a bit of a stretch.
"Alright, I was thinking the same thing. The Minister will probably decide that way too."
Before Zhou Linlang left, she couldn't help but add, "He can protect you once, but he can't be there all the time. As bait, your most useful moment is during the final plan. It's impossible for you to be continuously attacked and successfully protected every time. TK would get suspicious. So, what do you plan to do? Are you just going to hide in the academy from now on?"
"No, there are probably spies of theirs inside the academy, so it's not necessarily safe. Besides, I already have a place to go."
Fu Chuan pointed to a place.
Zhou Linlang followed her gaze and smiled.
The Arcane Palace.
Comments
Post a Comment