Chapter 107: The Shield of Truth (Part 2/2)
Translator: Strivon
This series of frigid irony and scorching satire was sent over. However, Red Fox had made a novice-like error during his torrent of words. He had used the HexaEar as a standard telephone. All thoughts of telepathic communication were completely forgotten. He just directly roared with his voice.
Red Fox’s mood was not alleviated after his roaring. Instead, he grew even more hot-tempered. He smashed his fist atop the control console and cursed, “Retard!” He still continued to feel irritable, so he pulled against his red jacket and cursed, “Weasel!”
Bamboo Pole shook his head, no longer uttering words into the encrypted channel. He just simply spoke to Red Fox to mollify him. “Though he may be addressed as ‘Mister’, he’s still a kid. And… Xia City is not the same as Hu City.”
Red Fox’s expression turned even uglier when he heard the words ‘Hu City’. He shot an ice-cold glance towards Bamboo Pole. “The only thing different is the distance. Back then, I ran out of Hu City like a dog. Here, I am now at Xia City, where I don’t want to die like a dog. I don’t want to be thrown into the dump by others.”
Bamboo Pole shrugged. He no longer tried to persuade Red Fox since some not-so-friendly faces had shown up in the monitoring system. These faces were heading over to the control room, over to them. Bamboo Pole sighed and asked within the encrypted channel. “Trouble has come as expected. What should we do?”
He Yueyin asked him, “Can you confirm what weapons the enemy currently possess?”
Bamboo Pole understood He Yueyin’s meaning. She was not asking for them to immediately barricade the door from these people, she was asking what sort of plans the order had in Yulan Hotel, what deployment they had prepared against Fairchild… Ah, she was more stubborn than he had expected.
“A big fellow. Their main combat weapon is certainly a big fellow.”
Bamboo Pole multitasked. He switched repeatedly between the monitoring screens and confirmed his target; they were already starting to set up. “It’s very likely a sniper weapon. To the best of my knowledge, many secret orders are researching supernatural versions of sniper artillery cannons. Against a single target, this toy can be several times more powerful than a particle cannon. Of course, I have my doubts on whether or not it will be effective against the Shield of Truth.”
He Yueyin was not superfluous. She just simply responded, “Retreat. Head towards the predetermined reinforcement point.”
Red Fox sneered off to the side. He gestured with his hand implying. “You see, I knew it.”
The corner of Bamboo Pole’s mouth twitched. You’re the one shouting ‘master!’ with the Order of Justice on our doorstep. And now that we are retreating, you slap me on the face. Bamboo Pole felt quite displeased.
In the end, Bamboo Pole did not say anything. He packed up his equipment from the control room in five seconds and walked out with Red Fox. The control room was on a floor close to the roof. This floor was not used for accommodations. It was absolutely empty and utterly quiet.
Red Fox felt uneasy. He muttered, “It’s way too late to retreat now. He Yueyin and the others caught the order’s snipers off guard at Frost River Reality. Now, the order will be prepared to ambush us from all sides… Oh crap!”
Ahead, the door to the fire escape was heaved open but Bamboo Pole and Red Fox were smart. Without even seeing a trace of a person, they knew that people were coming with bad intentions. They glanced at each other, turned around, and ran.
The fine electric hum of gauss rifles reverberated behind them in the empty floor and were exceptional at instilling fear into their souls.
“I’m not part of the d*mn combat personnel!” Bamboo Pole cursed. But before cursing, he had pressed a special button on the flexible screen in his hands. The floor’s fire alarm went off and several heat-blocking walls came falling down.
Electromagnetic projectiles shot out from weapon barrels, only to bombard against the layer of transparent walls. They pierced through but the walls caused their trajectories to deviate.
At the same time, a door opened up to the side. Bamboo Pole shouted, “Over here!” Red Fox and Bamboo Pole then rammed their way inside. They made their way through the room as fast as the could; they did not hesitate in the slightest. They traversed through a large open window and jumped into the night sky at an altitude of nearly a thousand meters.
After performing this suicidal action, it was as if their feet had stepped onto blazing wheels. They slid down the vertical glass walls of the hotel at astonishing speeds.
Bamboo Pole controlled his balance with some difficulty. He chuckled. “No wonder the Society has ‘rapid descension from high stories’ as their final exam question for their junior training class. It’s very useful.”
Red Fox gnashed his teeth in anger. “Master Luo should have his name changed to Weasel.”
The chaotic situation at Yulan Hotel was naturally shown in the encrypted channel. Red Fox had the most complaints about Luo Nan but he could not afford to be distracted right now. Luo Nan was relieved from being targeted by him yet his mood did not turn for the better.
Red Fox’s words were like a blade that cut the heart rather than the skin.
Luo Nan was silent as he was baptized by Red Fox’s political and realistic views. This did not mean that Luo Nan felt that Red Fox was wrong. On the contrary, Luo Nan felt that the more Red Fox argued, the more his loathing become unearthed from the depths of his heart.
In the end, Red Fox’s focus clearly shifted from Luo Nan to politics and realism. Luo Nan was only a tool he used as a target for his mockery and scorn.
Things were really just as Red Fox had said. While the Human-Faced Arachnids were wreaking havoc in Xia City, the Order of Justice was studying this supernatural creature, engaging in sinister research. In fact, there was irrefutable evidence of this. But in the end, if they could get off easy and pressure with counter charges… What would be the point of going after them?
The validity of Red Fox’s words could be seen in the reactions of those in the encrypted channel and from Luo Nan’s personal experience. Luo Nan’s experience with the Bloodflame Order was an excellent example. Mo Lun brought along a Human-Faced Arachnid for grazing and had made a move against members of the Society. In the end, the Society left the matter unsettled.
Back then, Luo Nan’s Wraith Sign was masquerading as the Bloodflame Order’s Human-Face Arachnid like a dove occupying a magpie’s nest. Luo Nan did not really think much about the Society’s lack of action but now that he thought about it, were not things just as Red Fox was saying?
Politics? Reality?
Luo Nan would not find it strange at all if this sort of thing were to occur in regular society; he held a bit of a pessimistic view towards the hearts of normal people after all.
But here he had the enormous ability user organization that was greatly detached from the normal world. Why were they also like this?
Luo Nan had even wanted to promote and develop his grandfather’s Formatting Theory within the Society to great brilliance. If there was not much difference between here and normal, secular societies, then how could he possibly guarantee that his grandfather’s theory would not fall once again to its death?
Disappointment. Major disappointment!
This feeling of extreme disappointment was Luo Nan’s current state of mind. He did not feel like talking and just tossed the warm metal box back and forth in his hand. He wanted some peace and quiet, if it was possible…
However, how would there be a chance for some peace and quiet right now?
While his mood was churning around with the tossing of the metal box, he felt with great clarity some extremely obscure force upon the mental plane. It formed a region of turmoil. It felt extremely negative, like a sheet of gloomy clouds and it covered most of the pulsations given off by the force of life.
Luo Nan could feel the malice rippling from the void. This must be the real way the secular side of the Order of Justice did things.
Luo Nan ceased the movements of his hands as the dark cloud pressed down. He lifted his head and just so happened to meet Fairchild’s eyes straight on. At first glance, those gray pupils looked like the hazy layers of the dark cloud. However, those pupils also contained resolution and willpower. They pierced the cloud layer with their positive light, making it hard to look directly into Fairchild’s eyes.
Fairchild did not know the cause for Luo Nan being lost in thought. His gaze still remained fallen upon the metal box that Luo Nan was tossing around. A moment passed and he suddenly spoke.
“We have yet to touch upon the entirety of the Truth and I have been brimming with anticipation towards its real form but due to this intolerable interference… The Truth has not shown itself fully; the goal we’re pursuing has been desecrated. However, I can ensure one thing and that is this ground has been erected as the domain of Truth.”
The quicksilver-like aura exuding from his body circulated as his voice undulated with syllables, subtly suffusing the ground with its illumination. The cloudy light proliferated outwards.
