Ambush

Among the many pieces of common knowledge circulating among the Celestial Chosen, everyone admitted that while the Embers lineage truly couldn't fight, they also had to acknowledge another fact—an artisan's dominion within their own workshop was absolute. Never mind someone of the same rank or tier as the master of the workshop; at times, even a Celestial-Human could suffer a bitter defeat at the hands of whatever grotesque horrors were kept inside. It was just like facing a heavily fortified fortress bare-handed. Ballistas, arrow carts, falling boulders, and rolling logs aside, some nastier bastards would simply boil excrement atop the battlements, waiting to dump it right in an intruder's face. Ji Jue firmly believed that even if the sky collapsed outside and all of Haizhou vanished in an earthquake or sank beneath a flood, Professor Ye could still go about her daily life as usual, provided she stayed inside her workshop. Its defensive and suppressive power was simply that terrifying and utterly broken. Unfortunately, a proper workshop could never be made just by putting a furnace in a room and calling it a day. Just as motorized curtains did not make a whole-house smart system, a workshop was far from being something as useless as a whole-house smart system. A qualified workshop required over three generations of artisans and more than a century to complete. It required a comprehensive suite of tools covering every single application of alchemy, specialized and modified according to the techniques passed down through their lineage. That was merely the baseline of baselines. It needed a power source capable of supplying all its spiritus consumption. Through the official channels of the Ring of Taiyi, the cheapest portable mini 'Sun of Spiritus' was priced at 242,009,411 yuan. Don't ask why there was such odd change—Ji Jue had applied every single coupon available, and that was still what remained. At the same time, the laying of spiritus circuits throughout the entire space and the pre-installation of rune vessels involved secret rites and blessings from various Sovereign Virtues. Ascension granted superior output rates for masterpieces, Tianyuan bestowed stronger control upon the artisan, and Vortex ensured that the artisan would remain unscathed even if a furnace exploded in their face. Not to mention external defense measures, risk control systems continuously monitoring the whole situation, and necessary alchemy assistants. Every single one was a bottomless pit, an endeavor that could consume more than a decade of an artisan's painstaking effort without ever reaching completion. Being able to compress such an entire suite into a lightweight form that could be slipped into a pocket and carried around was proof of the puzzle ball's astonishing value as a mobile workshop. It contained all the simplified tools needed for temporary emergencies, while the underlying instructions inscribed within its core were as vast as a sea, fully capable of responding to any unforeseen situation on its own. It had even been able to trade blows directly with Quicksilver's workshop defense system despite its miniature size! Alas, a simplified version was ultimately just a simplified version, and its operator was Ji Jue—an apprentice who knew how to do nothing except push buttons. Just fending off the assault had nearly brought it to a system crash. And now, what they had to face was a grandmaster whose workshop territory encompassed the entire Border Realm! A god all-powerful within their own workshop! The grimness of their situation was like an arrogant brat stepping into Quicksilver's playground, left completely at their mercy. The owner could squash him flat or knead him into a ball as they pleased... If things went poorly, he might even be tossed into a furnace and forged into a literal hot weapon. The good news was, Quicksilver had croaked. Good riddance! The bad news was also... Quicksilver was dead. There were no longer any administrator privileges to operate the workshop and let them out. They had to butt heads directly against a workshop packed with defense protocols and sterilization procedures. No, what if he wasn't completely dead...? The mere thought of an ancient ghost from who-knew-how-many years ago watching him from the shadows made Ji Jue's skin crawl. Fortunately, Brother Ball was sturdy enough. After tanking a spiritus invasion and an EMP head-on, it had still managed to reboot and auto-start, shake off the workshop's tracking, and even mask Ji Jue's signal so he wouldn't be flagged as vermin and subjected to sanitization countermeasures the moment he stepped inside. At least for now, he was safe. Once deployed, the puzzle ball could form a secure shelter with the baseline qualities of a workshop, complete with a shower and a toilet, minimizing the hardships of outdoor survival for its user. Under Brother Ball's protection, Ji Jue and Xiao An managed to get a restful sleep. Five hours later, after both had largely recovered, they set off once more, carefully following the leads provided by Brother Ball toward the church situated in the dead center of the city. To be precise, it was the towering bell tower that stood pristine and conspicuous among the ruins and wreckage of the Border Realm, rising like a crane among a flock of chickens. Based on that brief clash upon entry, Brother Ball had accurately mapped the flow of spiritus across the entire Border Realm and flagged several critical locations. Among them, the place most likely to house the workshop's core was that bell tower. Unfortunately, the bell tower was far too obvious. They were not the only ones who would notice it. Anyone with eyes would likely spot its abnormality after sweeping the area. Whether there were concrete clues or evidence didn't matter—taking a shot in the dark was par for the course, and exploring a Border Realm required patience and meticulous care. Some had even wisely set their sights on other Celestial Chosen. *If I can't handle the bell tower, can't I at least handle you?* *Loot is loot, no matter who drops it, right?* Twenty minutes into their journey, Ji Jue had already disarmed a second tripwire mine along a ruined choke point... He was beginning to harbor slight concerns regarding the mental state of modern Celestial Chosen. Why did they turn every single game into a battle royale? Where had love and peace gone? Since no one was playing like a gentleman anymore, Ji Jue felt no need to be polite either. He simply reinstalled the tripwire mine facing the opposite direction, rigged a fresh one in plain sight on the other side, and issued a command through his ability: if anyone tried to disarm the wire, detonate immediately! "Truly devoid of all conscience." He vehemently denounced the despicable depravity of the other corrupt explorers, blending right in with indignant self-righteousness. "Brother Ji Jue, so upright!" Having witnessed Ji Jue's actions from start to finish, Xiao An took out a notepad and jotted it down: *He didn't deliberately use a maiming charge to draw in other rescuers for an ambush, but chose to give the opponent a swift, total obliteration instead. How noble and kind! Truly sterling character, shining bright even in the dark Border Realm.* Yet as the youth diligently observed and learned, his expression subtly shifted. White Stag blessing, killing intent premonition—Cicada's Intuition! "Brother Ji Jue, someone's coming." The mobility-impaired youth pushed himself up on Little Niuma. The rustle of iron plates sliding under his sleeves sounded, and his eyes cleared with realization. "They're probably after me. Sorry, I've brought you trouble again." He pulled out his folding cane, intending to dismount from Little Niuma, but Ji Jue pressed him down. "Stay put on the bike," Ji Jue said, shaking his head. "I don't make a habit of selling out teammates." Setting aside his connection to Sister Wen, Xiao An had helped and saved him countless times since they entered the Border Realm. If he turned tail and ran at the first sign of trouble, Ji Jue would look down on himself. Besides, this wasn't his first time in PVP. He reached out, pulled the shotgun from Little Niuma's gun rack, and racked the slide. The moment the drone soared into the air, a deafening crash erupted! Above them! The fractured skylight shattered in an instant! A massive figure plummeted from the sky! At the same time, fierce killing intent struck from behind Ji Jue's head! *** "Found them!" Two minutes earlier, inside a ruined building, a Celestial Chosen holding a scrying water basin beamed with delight. "Right ahead of us, less than five hundred meters away." "Are you sure it's him?" The burly leader asked warily, "Don't make a mistake." "Definitely him. White Stag path, looks like a woman—that only fits the House of An. Short hair and a limp, too. That's the target, no doubt. Who knows how many abominable deeds he's done for the Security Bureau? The crowdfunded bounty on him at the Wild Gathering is over seventy million!" "Don't let the one beside him get away either. There's a fat price on his head too." A woman sharpening her blade grinned. "I checked. Right before the Border Realm opened, it shot up by a hefty sum." "Good. Stay sharp, everyone." The leader raised his hand, pressed a pneumatic injector against his neck, and pulled the trigger. A full vial of serum surged into his artery. Visibly, his face flushed scarlet, and his frame swelled further. A thick carapace erupted from beneath his skin, transforming him in an instant into a monstrous brute over three meters tall. His five fingers were sharp as blades, yet his movements were impossibly light. In the blink of an eye, he had nimbly scaled the ruins, stalking forward under the navigation of the Aether Chosen. The moment everyone was in position, he grinned silently. The beast clenched his fist and slammed it ruthlessly against the overloaded floor. And so, he dropped from the heavens! *** In that exact instant, Ji Jue saw Xiao An suddenly pivot atop Little Niuma, a glint of iron shrieking out from his sleeve straight toward Ji Jue's back! In the face of the sudden onslaught, Ji Jue didn't flinch, holding his aim steady. Lined up on the Celestial Chosen dropping from midair. Pull the trigger! *BANG!* Two immense roars overlapped, ringing out in perfect unison. A slug engraved with the Swarm emblem struck the pouncing brute square on, knocking him backward midair. Deep fissures spiderwebbed across the carapace and bones of the arms he had raised in defense, and cold sweat poured down him. Right behind Ji Jue, a shadow that had materialized from thin air had its dagger knocked away and snapped by the iron shard Xiao An had flung. Yet the pair's counterattack failed to halt the assailants' momentum. The brute's wound contracted and forcibly sealed shut. Amid the earth-shaking thunder of his strides, he charged brutally at the two. Simultaneously, the attacker lurking under illusion lunged forward once more, viciously going for Ji Jue. Mid-charge, the woman swept her other hand outward. Instantly, kaleidoscopic colors bloomed from the void, violently flashing and erupting. The scenery before Ji Jue's eyes began to whirl madly, as though he had been tossed into a tumble dryer. The world spun out of control! He couldn't see a thing! Ji Jue only had time to follow Lao Zhang's teachings: channeling the White Stag emblem to empower his legs, he sprinted forward, dove, and hit the deck. A shiver of dread ran through him at how practiced and lethal the ambush was. Credit where credit was due: they had a Vortex meat-shield acting as tank and frontline vanguard, a Mirror Chosen lurking behind as support casting crowd-control skills, while aiding others hidden in the shadows for a coordinated strike... and they had seized the initiative. To make matters worse, the terrain was a ruin with hardly any mechanical devices to exploit. Timing, terrain, and coordination—they held every conceivable advantage. If Ji Jue had been on his own, this opening salvo would have killed him several times over. Fortunately, Xiao An was with him. And even more fortunately... The tactical belt around the waist of the woman pursuing him like a shadow. *Look, ambushing people is one thing... but why on earth did you strap a grenade to your waist?* Having hit the dirt and curled into a practiced blast-containment posture, Ji Jue clenched his right hand. —[Detonate]!