The 25th Floor

After a brief exchange, the two did not linger to stare at a corpse. Although Tangyi's death left Hai Liwei heartbroken and furious, the most pressing matter right now was rescuing Shui Yuetian. If Zhi'er wanted to leave Crescent Bay, his highest probability was heading for Xingkun Port. Sea City was inherently a port city, relying on Xingkun Port with its ceaseless stream of travelers. Though this drastically increased the complexity of the population, it also drove consumption across the entire city. Xingkun Port. A streak of golden light and a streak of blue light arrived in an instant, coming to a halt at the port's main gate. Yu Xian and Hai Liwei arrived at Xingkun Port almost simultaneously. Yu Xian shot Hai Liwei a slightly surprised glance, inwardly astounded by Hai Liwei's speed, before drawing a deep breath through his nose. Then he spoke up. "He didn't come here." "Could Zhi'er possess the ability to traverse the void in the flesh?" Hai Liwei asked with a frown. If Zhi'er could survive in space, he could indeed escape in any direction. Even so, they could still catch a turtle in a jar, because he still couldn't leave Crescent Bay. Crescent Bay, to put it plainly, was still part of the universe. Its only exit led toward the Abyss; even if Zhi'er had the ability to traverse the void, crossing the Abyss in the flesh was an impossibility. This was just like Yu Xian: Yu Xian also had the ability to survive in space, but if he dared to cross the Abyss in the flesh, even if he didn't die, he would mutate into some indescribable thing—likely no longer a handsome young guy, but some monster covered in granulation, eyeballs, and fleshy polyps. Yu Xian pondered for a moment and said, "Assuming Zhi'er is an Earthling, could he possess the means to return to Earth? Perhaps he has already fled back to Earth by now." "Zhi'er is an Earthling?" Hai Liwei's eyes went wide as he stared at Yu Xian in shock. Yu Xian was taken aback and asked, "You didn't know? Then why did you guess that Zhi'er was the culprit?" He had thought Hai Liwei was once again on the exact same wavelength as him. For instance, when the two first met just moments ago, they had shared an unspoken tacit understanding. Yu Xian knew Hai Liwei had definitely seen the sight of Little Nora atavistically transforming into the Victorious True King Bird soaring in the sky, so Yu Xian had added that Little Nora was a Golden Phoenix, and Hai Liwei had gone along with it, acknowledging that Little Nora was indeed a Golden Phoenix. That way, not only had members of the dragon clan died, but they couldn't even vent their fury; in fact, they even had to shoulder the blame for the whole disaster. Who told them to attack an innocent "little Golden Phoenix" without distinguishing black from white, giving schemers an opening and ultimately causing both Yu Xian and the Sea Clan to suffer losses? In this matter, the evidence was ironclad: with Little Nora revealing its Victorious True King Bird form, the dragon clan had no way to wash away the fact that their members had attempted to murder a phoenix clan member right on the street. Hai Liwei could even demand compensation from the dragon clan. As long as the dragon clan still wanted to operate in Crescent Bay, they would have to obey the rules and pay up obediently. "There was only Tangyi's corpse at the scene, while Shuishui and Zhi'er have both vanished without a trace. If I didn't suspect Zhi'er, was I supposed to suspect Shuishui did it?" Hai Liwei replied with an expression that treated it as entirely self-evident after hearing Yu Xian's question. Yu Xian was speechless. The logic was completely sound: of the three people, one was dead and two were missing. Shuishui was naturally ruled out as a suspect, so apart from the deceased Tangyi, Zhi'er was the only one left. "Brother Yu, why do you think Zhi'er is an Earthling?" Hai Liwei then asked. Yu Xian had no choice but to recount his earlier conversation with Shuishui, also casually mentioning how the black-robed person had specifically taken precautions to mask themselves against him. "The black-robed person knows you very well, Brother Yu, and knows the Sea Clan thoroughly—an Earthling lurking within the Sea Clan..." Hai Liwei pondered, before ultimately conceding that Yu Xian's assessment was correct: Zhi'er was very likely an Earthling. Knowing Yu Xian was evident from how the black-robed person had specifically taken countermeasures against Yu Xian's Super Smell; knowing the Sea Clan was evident from the fact that the black-robed person had perfectly simulated the Sea King Cloud-Overturning Rain-Making Palm. Once those two points were confirmed, investigating from within the Sea Clan would make Zhi'er's exposure virtually inevitable. Having established all this, it wasn't hard to understand why Zhi'er had abruptly made a move to kill Tangyi and abduct Shui Yuetian. "I'm going back to Earth," Yu Xian said to Hai Liwei at this point. Hai Liwei nodded. "All right. Let's add each other as friends first. If there's any news, contact me via Qixin." The two added each other, and Yu Xian then activated Realm-Breaking Skyward Body to perform spatial transit, vanishing into thin air in the blink of an eye. After Yu Xian left, Hai Liwei spoke: "Hai Liqi, detain the person who previously reported information to the dragon clan. Also... contact Meili at Haolidu and have him rush the refinement of the Sea God customized for our clan." He acknowledged that Yu Xian's reasoning made sense, but he also recognized another truth: Helick's Great Trove couldn't possibly be on Earth. Even if Zhi'er was currently hiding on Earth, he would ultimately have to pass through Crescent Bay to head toward Helick's Great Trove. A sufficiently powerful battleship would prove paramount at that time. Earth. Yu Xian appeared in the atmosphere in an instant. Closing his eyes, he used the spatial perception of the Victorious True King Bird to sense Earth's space. If Zhi'er truly had returned to Earth via some spatial ability, then in Yu Xian's perception, the node of his return would produce faint spatial ripples, as clearly visible as fish swimming across the water's surface. A minute later, Yu Xian opened his eyes and muttered to himself, "There isn't a single spatial fluctuation. Could Zhi'er not have returned?" At the time, Zhi'er had had only about four minutes to flee. The nearest escape route was Xingkun Port, but he and Hai Liwei had already checked it in person and confirmed that Zhi'er had not left through Xingkun Port. Earth was Zhi'er's second possible escape route, and an exceptionally unexpected one at that; if Yu Xian weren't an Earthling himself who had traveled back and forth several times, he wouldn't have even considered this direction. Yet the result proved he had guessed wrong: Zhi'er hadn't chosen this route either. "Big Bro, Hai Liwei only locked down the 26th floor. What if it's the 25th floor?" Little Nora reminded him at this moment. In truth, Little Nora had been paying close attention to this matter all along. Shui Yuetian was its friend, and it was very fond of her because Shui Yuetian had treated it to delicious food; in its heart, Shui Yuetian was a good person. Earlier, it had kept quiet mainly for fear of disturbing Yu Xian's train of thought, but seeing that Yu Xian had clearly run into a dead end, it finally spoke up to jog his mind. The 25th floor! Yu Xian's eyes widened in realization. Earlier, the black-robed person had blasted straight through the ground using the Sea King Cloud-Overturning Rain-Making Palm, leaving a massive crater. Directly beneath that crater was the 25th floor! If the black-robed figure was Zhi'er, it was indeed highly likely he had escaped down to the 25th floor through the crater, and then swaggered away from Crescent Bay via the port on the 25th floor! Hai Liwei could only lock down the 26th floor; he couldn't interfere with the affairs of the 25th floor. "Patriarch Hai, who is the Floor Lord of the 25th floor? Do you have any way to get the 25th floor to lock down its ports?" Yu Xian opened Qixin and immediately contacted Hai Liwei. On the other end, when Hai Liwei saw the message from Yu Xian, it clicked instantly. The next moment, he vanished in a streak of blue light. Three seconds later, he appeared at the edge of the crater blasted open by the black-robed figure's Sea King Cloud-Overturning Rain-Making Palm. Looking at the layers of clouds beneath the crater, he frowned and replied: "The 25th floor is the territory of the goblin clan. Those bastards would do anything for money, risking life and limb. I'm afraid... Zhi'er has already slipped away." Although only four minutes had elapsed from the moment Zhi'er struck to when Yu Xian rushed over, that didn't mean Zhi'er hadn't prepared in advance. For example, if he had booked a spaceship on the 25th floor ahead of time, he could depart immediately upon reaching the 25th floor. Given the speed of the best spaceships available, Zhi'er had likely already taken Shui Yuetian and escaped Crescent Bay by now. Still, there was hope. As long as money was involved, goblins possessed no professional ethics whatsoever; tracking Zhi'er's spaceship might not be out of the question.