A Fright

Yacheng's nightlife had always been loud and bustling, an endless parade of street stalls, late-night snacks, barbecue, and karaoke bars offering a dizzying array of diversions. Yet compared to the vibrant, colorful evenings everyone else enjoyed, a select few spent theirs in bleak and restless fury. It was not until the approach of dawn that the roar inside the Security Bureau's underground training grounds finally ground to a halt. A moment later, Yu Hanguang pushed the door open with an expressionless face. Without so much as offering his usual perfunctory greeting to the maintenance staff arriving to clean up, he strode away. Long after his departure, the chill lingering in the air seemed to only gradually disperse. "Whoa, what crawled up his ass?" Holding a mop and broom, the custodian stared blankly in the direction Yu Hanguang had gone, thoroughly baffled. But the moment he pushed open the door to the training grounds, he froze in his tracks. Total devastation met his eyes. Across the vast training facility, the alloy-steel floors, walls, and domed ceiling were riddled with scorch marks, the red heat still radiating from the metal. The targets set up as marks had long since melted into puddles of molten iron, erased without a trace! It looked as though a natural disaster had torn through the place! To say the training ground could no longer be used was an understatement; it had been reduced to utter ruin. "Clean up every trace. If any blind fools are involved, cut them loose immediately. These are turbulent times—don't invite any more trouble!" Not until he returned to his office did Yu Hanguang finally let a dark scowl surface on his face. He casually hung up the phone and slumped into his chair. His simmering rage had at last been wrestled back under control, leaving only pure, cold calculation in his eyes. Wen Wen had played him for a fool, and he had been forced to swallow the bitter loss. He had no choice now but to order his subordinates to completely sever all ties with every enterprise linked to that old dog Jiang Jin. The resulting financial hemorrhage was beyond measure. Everything he had profited over the past few years had been wiped out overnight—and then some. If that woman dared to make an issue of it further, there was no telling how much more trouble would entangle him. Yet the person who put him on highest alert was not Wen Wen. So what if she had Minerva? The Celestial-Human in the Central Capital had merely spared her life; that person was hardly dead. As long as that figure drew breath—no, as long as that figure's influence remained embedded in the intricate upper echelons of the Federation—the absolute most Wen Wen could ever achieve in her lifetime was running in circles within her tiny patch of turf in Yacheng. She could never stir up catastrophic trouble. No matter how strong she was, this world was not one where strength alone reigned. Even the most powerful had to abide by the rules; otherwise, everyone else would simply banish them from the game. He had never feared Wen Wen, no matter how much humiliation she inflicted on him. The real crux lay in... the connection between Wen Wen and Ji Jue. A Celestial Conscript had a bright and glorious future, certainly, but so what? If someone truly wished to snuff him out right now, it would be no more difficult than crushing an ant. Yet if the two joined forces... Anyone with half a brain could see that everything that had transpired last night was far beyond the wits of Wen Wen, whose mind held nothing but killing and slaughter. Who else could have baited the hook and lured him out from behind the scenes besides Ji Jue? It was almost unimaginable that she would place such trust in another person. By all appearances, the boy was already acting as her mastermind. Never mind whether a fully grown Ji Jue would become Wen Wen's formidable ally. Even now, a Wen Wen equipped with an external brain was countless times harder to manipulate than before. One careless slip, and she might tear away another chunk or two of his flesh... The moment he realized this, it became blindingly clear: Ji Jue was the true threat! An undisguised, vicious chill surfaced in Yu Hanguang's eyes. *He must be uprooted. As soon as possible!* As for Wen Wen's protection, it was indeed somewhat troublesome. Yet why would he need to dirty his own hands? He did not have to do anything himself; there was no need. To destroy a rootless drifter like Ji Jue, all he had to do was perform his duties conscientiously. He would write a report based on clues provided by an "informant" and submit it up the chain. That would be more than enough! Within a place as riddled with leaks as the Security Bureau, such a report would naturally trigger endless turbulence, any wave of which could drown Ji Jue entirely. It did not even require concrete evidence. Sometimes, to crush a person, suspicion was all it took. Besides, who didn't have weaknesses? Classmates, friends, family... There were far too many places to strike, and far too many ways to ruin a person. One did not even need to draw blood; a gentle nudge in the right direction was enough to send someone hurtling to their own doom. When that time came, even a Celestial Conscript would not run rampant for long. Yu Hanguang sneered coldly and picked up his phone. Just as he was about to dial a number, his palm suddenly vibrated. An unknown number had bypassed all call-screening and firewalls, ringing straight through to his device. Boundless Telecom had even granted the caller a golden display border to signify extraordinary status and elevated internal clearance. He froze for an instant before answering the call. "Who is this?" "Ye Xian." A calm voice answered without a ripple of emotion, asking point-blank, "Section Chief Yu, as far as I understand, you seem to harbor certain intentions toward my apprentice?" "..." In that split second of bewilderment, Yu Hanguang's thoughts spun rapidly, and his brow furrowed. *Ye Xian? Who?* He racked his brain for a long while before finally recalling a name mentioned in old dossiers—an alchemy master who had arrived in Yacheng a few years ago... *A craftsman?* He nearly laughed out of sheer exasperation. It seemed anyone and everyone dared to step on his head these days! "The Security Bureau conducts official business," he said coldly. "I see no need to explain myself to outsiders. If you have nothing else to say, I'm hanging up." "Is that so?" From the other end came a helpless sigh. "Section Chief Yu, I wonder if you know that in alchemy, there is a saying... Poor emotional state interferes with the mind; an ailing mind affects the body." She continued, "Those in poor health ought to rest more." Utterly nonsensical! He had no idea what on earth she was babbling about! Yu Hanguang sneered. Unwilling to entertain her any further, he moved to hang up, only to discover... his finger refused to budge. A razor-sharp numbness spread outward from his fingertips, instantly blanketing his entire body. It stripped away all motor control, and then, in the next breath, surged violently. Like a sweeping tsunami of freezing cold, it swallowed everything. Seized by instantaneous spasms and convulsions, Yu Hanguang burst into an uncontrollable, violent coughing fit. Yet amidst the hacking, what splattered from his mouth was scarlet blood— Interspersed with distinct grains of iron sand and shards of metal! The iron sand and metal fragments hit the desktop, hissing and crackling as they scattered brilliant arcs of electricity! Yu Hanguang's eyes went wide, staring in absolute disbelief. That was his... matrix?! In that single instant, his matrix had spun out of control! As though afflicted by corruption, it trembled violently, distorted, and broke loose from his command. The rampaging abilities and blessings collided within him, detonating like an internal blast and wreaking havoc on his flesh! It was not serious; a few days of rest would see him fully recovered. Yet... what if she had made it serious? What if she had made it far, far worse?! All his life, he had prided himself on absolute mastery over his abilities, yet now, his own power had turned against him! A bone-chilling dread swallowed him whole in an instant, setting off uncontrollable tremors. Never before had he experienced terror of this magnitude! "You are exhausted. Most likely an illness brought on by overwork. Why not take a few months off, starting today?" From the receiver, that calm voice offered a final farewell: "My temper isn't very good, and I dislike it when people speak to me impolitely. So, I hope the Security Bureau takes note as well..." She said, "Don't refuse face when it's offered." With that, the line went dead. In the dead silence of the office, only the repeating busy tone echoed alongside Yu Hanguang's ragged, heavy gasps. For a long, long time, he could not bring himself to stand from the chair, drenched in cold sweat. He did not even have the strength left to make a sound. Like a hyena whose tail had been trampled flat under the heel of a tyrannosaur. *** "You certainly kicked up quite a fuss last night, didn't you?" That morning, Ji Jue finally saw Ye Xian in the workshop after she had been busy for days. Professor Ye still held her teacup, unhurriedly sipping tea so concentrated it bordered on bitter. She spoke nonchalantly: "Starting from early this morning, inquiries and reproaches from the Security Bureau have been flying at me nonstop. It's gotten to the point where an ordinary, helpless craftsman like me can hardly bear the pressure." "It's my fault, Professor. I'm sorry." Ji Jue was stunned. After a long daze, he could not conceal his guilt. On one hand, the situation yesterday had been so urgent that there was simply no time to think things through. On the other hand, his awareness of his current standing was still lacking. He had genuinely never imagined that his actions would drag the professor into the mess... When the Security Bureau was involved, even if the professor was a master of the Ring of Taiyi, getting tangled up in such nonsense was bound to cause endless headaches. *Damn it, that dog Yu Hanguang...* After silently chalking up a heavy grudge in his heart, Ji Jue said solemnly, "I promise it won't happen a second time." *Next time, I'll wear a mask, sever all ties to my identity, and then slaughter the bastard...* "Enough. I prepared for this the day I took you in. There's no need for useless words and guarantees. When a capable person acts, they blaze their own trail; when an unqualified fool scrambles about, they're merely seen as a clown. If you can become a grandmaster in the future, who could possibly claim I chose poorly today?" Professor Ye glanced at him and said flatly, "Do not let me down." "Understood." Ji Jue nodded vigorously, almost ready to draft a written pledge on the spot. What baffled him even more was that the expected scolding and fault-finding never came. His escapade from yesterday had been brushed aside so lightly. She hadn't even bothered to ask for the details. Ji Jue breathed an inward sigh of relief, then added another tally against that dog Yu Hanguang: *Just you wait until your daddy finishes growing. You're fucking dead, you braindead piece of shit!* Yet after inspecting Ji Jue's progress and assignments over the past two days, Professor Ye waved her hand with utter disinterest. "Mediocre work, though fitting enough for scraps. "Compared to this, it doesn't even match the technical depth of the Sovereign Virtue insignia you etched onto that gun using nothing but a pair of handheld maintenance probes. "Didn't bring it?" "Uh, I borrowed that from someone else, and I returned it on the way here." Ji Jue curled his toes in awkward embarrassment, having never expected that his spontaneous fooling around would catch Professor Ye's eye. "What about the rest?" Professor Ye made no effort to conceal her curiosity. "Where's that living motorcycle that overpowered a Celestial Chosen's ability-forged shadow beast in head-on combat? I believe you rode it here today, didn't you?" She pushed up her glasses, a fervent light born of a craftsman's raw instinct surfacing in her eyes. "To tell the truth, in recent years, I haven't had my eyes opened quite like this..." A newly initiated student—no, before he had even been formally inducted—had managed to produce something so preposterous? It truly was a pleasant surprise! No... more like quite a fright.