During the age of light, blockbuster movies, directed by those so-called famous directors, would often have most wanted criminals covering their faces while going through checkpoints. The idea was so stupid that it was almost like they were afraid people didn’t know that they were wanted criminals. What was even more stupid was that the people who worked in the checkpoints were completely blind to it. It was so obvious that the criminals were in front of them, but they would just let them go anyway.
No one knows if it was the people who work in those checkpoints that were mentally retarded or that the director thought the audiences were instead? But nevertheless, Chu Yunsheng did not use their stupid idea to go through checkpoints. The experiences that he had learned throughout his life made him move his disheveled hair upwards, clearly showing his face to everyone. He was very calm. During the whole checking process, he was casually talking to his other teammates while pointing at the military troops like other people.
With the scarred face and middle-aged look, which was very different from how he looked when he was in the sky, plus the documents that Shi Yi had, it allowed them to pass through the heavily guarded military checkpoint at the bottom of the mountain with ease.
The flying machine had landed far away from them. Shi Yi also seemed like she wanted to avoid getting too close to it.
Chu Yunsheng raised his head to take a quick sneak peek at the simple image of the person they were looking for. He was relieved since the picture was not very clear. At that time, he had flown past the pilot at high speed. So Chu Yunsheng believed that no matter how good the pilot was, there was no way that he would be able to see him clearly.
However, despite that, the military had already arrested a lot of suspicious people.
With the phantom union’s documents, Chu Yunsheng’s group got rid of several groups that were chasing him. They even got through the military checkpoint without any problem. Although Lu Ting’s group only got 20 percent share at the end, Chu Yunsheng did not mind at all. Twenty percent was more than enough to help him get into the city.
In order to prevent some of the Young Masters’ men from ambushing them, Shi Yi and Lu Ting decided to get back to the city before the hazy shimmer disappeared.
The distance from the Niu Jia Yard to Shu Du city was not far. If the insect’s creep had occupied the basin area below the mountain range, they would’ve been able to get back to the city very quickly. But now, they had to take a detour around the vast mountain range. They needed to travel along the south side of the mountain range until they reached the west side of Shu Du city, and then enter into the city through the narrow mountain road.
Shi Yi selected a secret passage shown on the map that was given by the phantom union. She wanted to avoid the passage that people would usually use when they came out of the city. It was the first time that Chu Yunsheng had to walk on such a dangerous mountain road. It was so dangerous that even if they were just slightly careless, they could fall off the cliff. Fortunately everyone in the group was awakened humans, otherwise, there was no way they could walk on this kind of road while carrying the big insect’s body.
After the shimmer disappeared, Chu Yunsheng noticed that Shi Yi’s group were equipped with devices similar to flashlights. The devices were emitting a cold fluorescent light. It was not bright, but it was able to help them see the road clearly.
The journey proceeded very smoothly, nothing dramatic happened. Apart from Shi Yi who was constantly reminding Lu Ting about something, Chu Yunsheng was secretly trying to gather information about Shu Du city from the other group members.
In Shu Du city, there were at least three top forces: the military, Dark studio, and the Phantom Union. All of which held an almost equally influential position in the city. They were like the three major departments in Jin Ling city, however, compared to Jin Ling city, they never had any big problems with each other.
Next, there were the Young Masters and Young Mistresses that Shi Yi and Lu Ting kept mentioning about. All of them had a very powerful background, they were either the offspring of high-ranking military officers or of powerful energy manipulation masters of the phantom unions. With their powerful background and contacts, they were able to form many small and less influential parties between the three major forces, and controlled a large number of supplies and many useful people.
As Chu Yunsheng expected, there were indeed people from the ice race inside the city. He heard from one of the other team members that Shu Du city had already announced that they had joined some kind of alliance that was led by the Ice Race. It was said that there were several other surviving cities that had also joined this alliance as well. However, the Ice Race always seemed to stay behind the curtain, as not many people were able to see them.
Amongst them, Chu Yunsheng did not understand Dark Studio the most. How could a private organization without any support from the government be able to reach such a high influential status?
An Zi’s gun, the specially made bullets, Lu Ting’s gloves, the combat suit, etc, they all came from this organization.
Even the equipment that Ripper Shen had also come from Dark Studio. Whenever the members of each combat unit talked about the military or their own phantom union, they would always show a faint hint of dissatisfaction. But whenever they talked about Dark studio, all of them raised their thumbs and praised them with a tone that was full of respect.
While Lu Ting was talking to Shi Yi, Chu Yunsheng also overheard that the reason why so many Young Masters sent out their men to search for the body of the third-form green-shelled insect. It was not only that the body of the insect was precious, but also they wanted to send the body to someone important in Dark studio as a gift.
That person was ranked second in power in the dark studio. Two days later, a ceremony would be held by Dark Studio to celebrate his only daughter’s 18th birthday. As the daughter of someone important in Dark Studio, her popularity was beyond doubt. Many people from the upper-class circle wanted to take this opportunity to start a relationship with this powerful man. If they could marry the man’s daughter, then their power and social position in Shu Du city would be strengthened.
Therefore, when the pilot brought the news back to Shu Du city, those Young Masters quickly sent a large number of people out of the city to search. Like the Young Master Qi, who had even sent out the most powerful master he had, just so he could prepare a gift.
But Chu Yunsheng was just curious, he did not plan to get involved in this kind of thing in the slightest. His objective was to sneak into the city, steal the map and then secretly get out of the city again.
However, soon, he started to have troubles again, the ancient book that was staying in his talisman with the bow, was slowly “sucking” the black gas out of it. This occurred so slowly that Chu Yunsheng had never even noticed.
It was only until when he was on his way to the city, did he suddenly find out that he was beginning to lose the connection between the map and the ancient book from time to time. And after he investigated the cause of the problem, he discovered that the book was secretly absorbing the black gas.
Thus he immediately thought that the problem was caused by the black gas.
The ancient books also used to absorb the heaven and earth Yuan Qi from the air, and he was saved by the book several times because of that. He always thought that apart from storing text, the ancient book also acted as a weapon system as well, and that it was able to unleash its power and then recharge its energy. It was just that he did not know how to control it.
But only now did he just discover that it was not that. The ancient book was absorbing the heaven and earth energy for other reasons.
Black gas was also a type of energy. However, Chu Yunsheng did not understand which category it belonged to, and he was only able to feel it. After the ancient book slowly absorbed the black gas, it seemed like it was doing a complicated conversion process. Even if it was only a little bit of black gas, after it had been absorbed by the ancient book, the ancient book began to emit a faint light as if the energy inside had reached its limit.
Chu Yunsheng didn’t understand what was going on. He also didn’t dare touch the ancient book. All he did was to closely monitor the situation.
Therefore, during the rest of the journey, he stopped listening to the conversation between Shi Yi and Lu Ting. He just decided to quietly follow the group at the back while repeatedly trying to calibrate the position of the next map. He was worried that once the book broke through its ‘limit’, it might completely stop working, and he would not be able to feel the location of the next map anymore.
Chu Yunsheng didn’t know whether the Young Master Qi’s men were scared away by the phantom union or not. As they didn’t encounter any resistance at all. But eventually, Shi Yi and Lu Ting’s group were finally able to make it to the edge of the city at midnight.
Layers and layers of defense positions, all kinds of military facilities were spread across the area. There were soldiers patrolling everywhere.
Lights, searchlights, torch lights, car lights…..
Chu Yunsheng was like a savage who had wandered in the primeval forest for many years and had just returned to a civilized society. Since the disappearance of Jin Ling City, he hadn’t even seen a light bulb for a very long time.
Electric-powered cars were considered to be more advanced transportation tools. Chu Yunsheng didn’t know whether the city had run out of petrol or that it was strategically stocked by the military instead. As he didn’t see any cars that were powered by petrol.
Shi Yi soon finished the check-in process, and with the document provided by the union, the people at the checkpoints didn’t ask Chu Yunsheng any questions.
After they got into the city, what they saw first was not a colorful night city, but a large group of beggars. Those who still had energy would crawl on the side and try to follow them, but most of them didn’t even have the energy to move at all.
Under the dim streetlights, the words painted on the walls had been brushed several times. Despite being very blurry, Chu Yunsheng was still able to see some of the words:
“Help each other, go through disaster together…” Those were the words that were presumably painted on the wall the earliest, because they were covered by some other words such as.
“Those breaking the law will be expelled, please obey the new order. If one person violates, the whole family will be punished…”
……
“Brother, you made a fortune with this trip!” Soon many young men with cotton hats quickly approached Chu Yunsheng’s team.
“Brother, I got some good stuff, you want to see it?”
“Sister, sister, I got some good stuff. Really good stuff. ”
“Alcohol… cigarette… salt… I got everything…”
“You want a man or woman? All fresh… guaranteed that no one has used them before… come with me, you will definitely be satisfied.”
…
“Fuck off…. All of you, I’ll kill you if you try to stop me one more time!” Lu Ting waved his gun and cursed.
The group of young men still wanted to stay around them. But when Chu Yunsheng’s group began to lift up their guns, they all ran away.
“I need a map.” Chu Yunsheng nodded his head and walked towards a young man who was holding such an item. At the same time, he took out a piece of insect’s meat that he took from Lu Ting.
“Brother, wise choice! This map is the latest version. I have personally checked all the routes myself.” The young man said excitedly. “Apart from some locations that I couldn’t get in.” he approached Chu Yunsheng and added.
“It doesn’t matter.” Chu Yunsheng looked around and said quietly. “Wait here tomorrow. I have other things I need you to do.”
Chu Yunsheng had originally been to Shu Du city in the age of light. However, this was a long time ago. He had already forgotten how this city used to look.
“Brother, don’t worry. I always hang around this area. I’ll definitely wait for you tomorrow.” The young man took the meat and said.
Chu Yunsheng took the map and then quickly caught up with the team.
“Old Sun, if you stay here long enough you will know that they don’t have anything good here. Once we get to the inner city, you will surely know what good products and good service are…” Gen Zi who was at the back of the team whispered to Chu Yunsheng.
Chu Yunsheng smiled, but he didn’t say anything. Soon, they got to the place that the union kept their electronic truck and got on it.
On the way to the inner city, Chu Yunsheng pointed at a brightly lit, seemingly highly luxurious, and heavily guarded area and asked: “Gen Zi, what is that place?”
“Oh there. That’s Dark Studio’s territory.” Gen Zi said with envy.
Chu Yunsheng frowned. The place was heavily guarded, but before the connection disappeared, the last location of the map was pointed at that place.
‘How do I get in’ Chu Yunsheng thought.
