116. Escape from Qionganjing

  At Hōjō Tower, everything was calm and peaceful.

  The Kowloon gathering proceeded as usual, with the staff tinuing their work. Everyone here carried an important task and a sense of national mission. From their first day on the job, they were instilled with the belief that "You are the future of the nation! The light of our people! You must never fall!"

  Even though chaned outside, with explosions eg in the air, the staff of Hōjō Group remained posed. Executives sat together, sipping coffee imported from Zhengxu, discussing the future using Red Arrow's teical jargon. Some even had Frost-Pted beauties sitting in their floating cars.

  Although everyone was teically equal uhe w as Tianhuan citizens, the pany's rhetoric cimed: While human rights are equal, some people are more equal than others.

  "I heard that Red Arrow agent caused a se at the gathering and attracted the attention of the military."

  Someone, spotting bck smoke swirling in the distant sky, couldn't help but express :

  "Is he really just a Beta-level? I heard he's already killed two Gamma-tiers. We only have famma-tiers here, and we're still w. Shouldn't we be evacuating?"

  "Kato-san, your thinking doesn’t align with the pany’s principles. W overtime is the fighting spirit we Hōjō people should have. Only useless societal trash ask to leave on time. We, the elite, enjoy the bes and favors of His Majesty, the King of the Ring, and naturally, we must bear more responsibility. Besides…”

  The superior joked without notig that his subordinate’s face, staring out the window, was growing paler by the sed. He fidently added:

  “—We’re in Hōjō Tower, the safest p the world.”

  Boom!

  A red Magnum ser instantly tore through the rooftop defense system, and the high-temperature shockwave shattered the floor-to-ceiling gss. A massive pale mobile armor smashed through the steel-reinforced crete wall. Du Zexin casually raised the Vul on on the mech’s monitor, sweeping the area for a few seds before coldly shouting over the broadcast:

  "Everyone, if you don't want to die, clock out now!"

  Though the pertage of extraordinary beings in Hōjō Group was high, no one dared to face a mobile armor head-on.

  Especially when this thing was more than twice the size of a normal mobile armor.

  Du Zexin's threat was very effective. Most people fled in panic, rushing to clock out. The crowd at the punae became se it overloaded.

  Li Aozi slid and crouched at Du Zexin's feet, for the first time uanding what it felt like to borrow a tiger's might.

  Hōjō Group’s security was good, but as soon as they saw a mech of that size, they dropped their ons and surrendered on the spot—Hōjō doesn’t pay enough to make them risk their lives against a mobile armor.

  On the way, Li Aozi picked up many advanced Hōjō Group ons, marveling at their quality. Using gravity to suspend them in the air, he thought of selling them to pyers bae.

  He felt he had really worked hard, dedig himself to the “pig farming” business. After just five days sihe server opened, pyers had already been equipped with his bes, turning into street brawlers. Ohese military ons were delivered, they’d probably be dragons among men.

  Having Du Zexihe way felt amazing. Li Aozi had never had such a useful tool—er, partner. With no one blog their path, they progressed unimpeded. If there was an obstacle, Du Zexin crushed it with a siomp. Li Aozi rode in Du Zexin’s hand, floating midair with gravity pulling along suspended guns. The sight of this mix of fantasy and sci-fi ses left onlookers too stuo resist.

  "This is the elevator."

  Li Aozi poked the elevator button, only to find it required a keycard swipe. He g Du Zexin:

  "Go, mate, hack the system."

  "Hag would take three mioo much trouble. I’ll use social engineering."

  Without hesitation, Du Zexin raised the mech's fist, and the thruster on his elbow ignited as he puhe elevator shaft.

  Boom!

  The steel twisted, instantly crushed. Two of the mech’s fingers split, sparks flying as it ripped the elevator apart.

  Li Aozi asked Du Zexin, "Where’d you learn social engineering?"

  "Seven-day crash course at Twin Star City Martial Arts Academy."

  "Good school."

  Li Aozi chuckled, immediately jumping down the elevator shaft.

  After a long dest, gravity allowed him to nd smoothly at the bottom. He pulled opeeel door, looking up to see a whale swimming overhead, meandering through the blue mist.

  He had no time to admire the sery. The underground area was vast, and he had to explore it quickly. Activating the Pegasus Wings, he sped through the mist. Creatures in his path were shattered upon collision; a dolphin was torn in half by his wings, but its body shimmered before reassembling, with the scar rippling like mosaitil it healed, allowing it to swim freely through the simuted sea.

  Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

  Li Aozi’s speed reached Mach 6. Activating 【True Sight】, he sed the entire area, with his omnipotent cells quickly analyzing and calg all the hidden materials and information.

  Hōjō had hidden many things here, including a-era mos and records, but Li Aozi already knew about them from his previous life.

  For instahe 'Law System' Beccaria, a super artificial intelligence created by humanity in the old era, was capable of utilizing maes buried deep in the Earth's core to provide power to enforcers across the atmosphere, making it easier to arrest and judge criminals.

  There were four simir 'systems' created by the old era:

  Law System—Beccaria

  Energy System—Fermi

  Knowledge System—Pythagoras

  Military System—Bonaparte

  By modern standards, these old-era systems were almost godlike. Buried he Earth's core, they followed old-era protocols, remotely sensing humans through radio waves, guiding human civilization, correg mistakes, reallog resources, avoiding disasters, and repelliernal threats.

  Alexia was the 【Inquisitor】 who signed a tract with Beccaria—likely the st Inquisitor and possibly the st system tractor.

  Li Aozi khat the other three systems had already sacrificed themselves in the fight against Lord Entropy.

  He carefully doted the stoablets and records. Each of the Four Nations preserved some of this information, but most of it was trolled by the predecessor of GTB—the Cresta anization.

  GTB ied most of the alien civilization's knowledge and teology, giving them the authority to mediate disputes among the Four Nations, which had lost the old era's iance. But GTB, in order to maintain its power, never disclosed these a secrets. Otherwise, small nations around the world would go crazy searg for Cresta relics—who would care about their allocated energy quotas then?

  Yes, by this point, most people could guess the truth.

  "Litterlord was founded by the desdants of a branch of the Cresta anization."

  GTB monopolized the knowledge passed down from extraterrestrial civilizations, while Litterlord sought to preserve and collect that knowledge along with old-era teologies, ultimately rest civilization's teological glory.

  The Subway Brotherhood operated using the old-era’s advanced subway system, moving uhey also possessed some old-era knowledge, and they aimed to restore the more tolerant humanistiviro of the past.

  The Green Base was founded by old-era 【Biochemists】, eco-activists who simply wao restore the grass and trees of the old world.

  From this perspective, Cresta's colpse birthed both the greedy GTB and the fanatical humanists of Litterlord—a bit ironic.

  "But none of you seem to be on the right path."

  Li Aozi’s figure came to a stop as he gently desded before a cold ste facility. Using gravity, he ripped open the door to reveal a hydrogen bomb, no bigger than a small car. Aside from some bels in Tianhuan script, there hrase written in Yamiryoko nguage on its surface:

  ‘Reservoir Development Project Hydrogen Bomb’

  This was it—Guangzaki Arisa, a 140-megaton explosive. If detonated here, a radius of 700 kilometers would bee a barren wastend.

  But, as the Yamiryoko nguage markings indicated, this most terrifying on of mass destru was not desigo harm humans.

  “Power isn’t the problem; it’s how power is used that matters.”

  Li Aozi gently brushed his hand over the frozen surface of the hydrogen bomb:

  “The people of the old era used you to be humanity. With me, it’ll be much the same—you’ve met your lucky break.”

  With that, he grabbed the nuclear bomb and quickly flew out of the area.

  As he rose to the surfad stepped onto the tile floor, a mortar shell came flying straight at him.

  Boom!

  A massive mobile armor sprinted forward, raising its hand to shield Li Aozi’s head, catg the shell on its palm. The mech’s monitor slowly lifted, and its sixteen green eyes glowed with demoniger.

  “If you’re not afraid to die, e at me.”

  Du Zexin pushed the trol stick, and the mobile armor's broadcast echoed across all of Tianhuan's frequencies:

  “(He’s holding a nuclear bomb) Let’s see who dares touch him!”

  Li Aozi rolled his eyes at Du Zexin: “Could you be any clearer? That phrasing is way too ambiguous.”

  However, the Tianhuan forces clearly uood the hydrogen bomb better.

  “That amount of firepower won’t trigger the bomb—bst him!”

  Du Zexin’s face darkened. As a Frost-Pted man, he didn’t quite uand Tianhuan’s madness. Faced with dozens of ining missiles, he pushed the trol stick aggressively, and the mobile armor’s monitors locked onto the ining warheads. He raised his arms, and the 80mm 'Hellfire' autoons on the back of his hands deployed.

  Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

  Each autoon shot hit its mark, exploding the missiles in mid-air. Du Zexin crossed his arms like a ductor leading an orchestra, orchestrating a symphony of fireworks aal fragments.

  The se nearly made the face of the frontliianhuan aurn bck with fury:

  “Autoons shooting down missiles—damn it, this isn’t just any ordinary mobile armet our bombers in the air!”

  “But ahat’s Hōjō Group’s building…”

  “Ugh—Hey, where’s the mobile armor squad? Get them in the air and protect our corporate assets!”

  While the ground forces were still arguing, Li Aozi and Du Zexin had already slipped out the back. Li Aozi jumped into the mobile armor’s palm, with Du Zexin holding him in his hand as they sped down the highway, weaving against the flow of traffic.

  “Mate, they’ve turhe power on that barrier way too high. If we try to fly out, we’ll get roasted.”

  “Be more fident, Li Aozi. We’ll be turo ash.”

  Du Zexin was forced to take the nd route. His mech had been smuggled in through the Subway Brotherhood by Frost-Pted military and Law III. Getting in was easy, but getting out was aory—they’d have to smash through the checkpoints.

  Li Aozi sat in the mech's palm, the cool breeze refreshing him, making him feel at ease.

  “Mate, you’ve been a real man today.”

  “Wasn’t I before?”

  “You were a man before.”

  “What a nonsensical joke.”

  Li Aozi ughed heartily, letting the tanks and mobile armors chase them from behind. But against such a rge mobile armor, it was no big deal—Du Zexin dispatched a few drones, blowing them up with ease.

  “Cool, this is awesome! Piloting this Gundam is incredible!” Li Aozi, finally rid of his earlier gloom, stood proudly, one hand on his hip, surrounded by the nuclear bomb and civilian traffic. Even Tianhuan didn’t dare bomb them directly.

  “This is a mobile armor,” Du Zexin corrected stiffly. “Would you like to try it?”

  “No thanks, I didn’t go to college—I don’t know how to pilot.”

  “I’m a correspondence craduate.”

  “I didn’t even do correspondence.”

  Standing in the mech’s palm, Li Aozi gripped its pinky finger as the wind blew his hair. He patted his shoulder thoughtfully.

  Speaking of college, he thought of two certain people.

  “Though I didn’t attend, iure, everyone will be able to pursue higher education.”

  Li Aozi said, gng up at the cockpit:

  “Du Zexin, have you ever wao go to space?”

  “Space,” Du Zexin mused, “I don’t know—I’ve hought about it.”

  “For me, it’s like home. I have no reason not to go.”

  Li Aozi brushed the messy hair from his forehead. The fake sunlight illuminated his face, and in Du Zexin's eyes, that beauty seemed even more unreal, like a goldfish slipping through his fingers if he wasn’t careful.

  “But you should see it too,” Li Aozi said. “There’s nothing wrong with cheg out space.”

  Du Zexin looked perplexed: “…Your home?”

  “Well, you could think of it that way.” Li Aozi g the cockpit. He couldn’t see Du Zexin’s face, but he could guess what kind of expression he wore.

  “Everyone will go to space eventually,” he raised his hand, reag toward the sky. “You have to go there. You must go. The homeworld is beautiful, but the future is even more beautiful. That future belongs to you, to all beings in the universe, and to every civilization.”

  “What is space like?” Du Zexin, slightly intrigued, recalled words he had only ever seen ibooks:

  “Blue skies, white clouds, os, springtime, green trees, autumn leaves, stars, the moon, the sun…”

  “The gaxy, star systems, ar clusters, supernovas, bck holes…”

  Li Aozi tinued, his mood lifted. Du Zexin’s presence, along with his simple feelings, reminded him of the excitement he’d felt when first stepping into the 《Star Abyss》 and asding into space.

  FAL