The application that followed naturally received a green light all the way through.
Once approval to use the Hetu and Luoshu came down, Gong Qian entered Hu Weijie's name, gender, and national identification number into the interface, then clicked search.
Far away at Qilin headquarters in Yanjing, a tortoise shell nine meters long and five meters tall slowly began to glow with a jade-white luminescence through the concerted efforts of numerous Qi Refiners. Countless points of light immediately emerged upon the map etched into its shell, each speck representing a city.
An old, white-bearded Daoist swiftly drew out a yellow talisman and wrote Hu Weijie's Eight Characters of birth upon it. With a wave of his hand, the talisman paper flew into the shell's interior, spontaneously combusting inside.
On the tortoise's back, a red point of light slowly surfaced not far from the one representing Silver City, swiftly expanding into a pillar of light.
The clerk promptly converted the light's position into coordinates, plugged them into the digital map, and clicked send.
Back at the Silver City office.
After Yu Xian and the others waited roughly half an hour, Gong Qian rose to her feet and announced, "Found him. Hu Weijie is at Xingniao Airport outside Silver City."
In truth, Silver City used to be far larger and more sprawling in the past, with subway lines connecting to multiple cities like Rongcheng and an airport farther out. Ever since the Forbidden Fruit appeared, however, those facilities had gradually fallen into disuse.
Although Yu Xian and the others had never left Silver City while they were still ordinary citizens, ancient maps were covered in history classes, so they had a general idea of where the airport was located.
"What are we waiting for, then? Let's move!" Zhang Shou said, standing up.
Yu Xian was rolling two bubbles between his fingers as if twirling walnuts. At that moment, he spoke up: "I placed a teleportation point not far from Xingniao Airport. We can teleport straight there."
"Wait a second. I need to run to the armory for some weapons and ammo," Qingniao interjected hastily.
Zhang Shou realized the same and chimed in that he also needed to request weapons. He was weaker even than Qingniao; without firearms, he was purely a healer whose offensive capabilities were virtually negligible.
"Let's go together, then. We'll head out once we've drawn our gear."
Yu Xian got up from his chair. He had never been to the armory before, making this a prime opportunity to broaden his horizons.
In the end, all four walked over to the armory. Seeing them arrive, the quartermaster immediately unlocked the warehouse doors, letting them browse and pick freely, provided they signed for everything afterward.
In fact, the armory of every city's office stored vast amounts of munitions. None of them, however, were intended for use against humans. The recoil on many of the firearms was shockingly immense; an ordinary person firing a single shot would suffer broken bones or even catastrophic recoil injuries.
Naturally, the offensive power of these weapons far outstripped conventional firearms as well.
Yu Xian had little interest in guns. He took ten standard-issue superalloy steel sabers, followed by over five hundred explosives, including flashbangs, concussion grenades, incendiary grenades, and fragmentation grenades.
Finally, he grabbed more than fifty superalloy shields.
While none were top-tier equipment, employing them under the element of surprise might yield unexpected boons.
After signing the registry, he stowed all the equipment into his storage ring and sat aside, waiting for Zhang Shou and the others to finish selecting their armaments.
Once everyone was geared up with guns and ammunition, Yu Xian stepped outside the armory. He tapped a finger forward, freezing a tiny bubble in midair, then channeled energy to expand it before stepping inside.
A second later, he appeared atop a mountain.
Gazing toward the right from the summit, the skeletal remains of Xingniao Airport were visible in the distance.
"Salty Fish, your ability is ridiculously convenient. I'm dying of envy," Zhang Shou remarked with a sigh as he stepped out of the bubble and surveyed the surroundings.
Qingniao and Gong Qian emerged from the spatial bubble as well. Qingniao praised, "Our squad right now might just be the strongest in history, not to mention the most versatile."
For mobility, Yu Xian had teleportation; for medical aid, Zhang Shou could bring people back from the brink of death in an instant; for reconnaissance, they had her; and rounding it out was Gong Qian, a premier combatant capable of pummeling even Dragon-rank powerhouses.
She could not imagine what sort of monster could pose a threat to them.
"Actually, if the captain were here, we'd be even more well-rounded," Gong Qian added.
Her strength was immense, but she was not without weaknesses. Against creatures resistant to physical strikes—such as ghosts and malevolent spirits—she lacked effective countermeasures.
If Jin Sheng were present, an eruption of his Lion's Majesty would instantly reduce such entities to ash.
"Vice-Captain, are we starting the operation now?" Qingniao asked Gong Qian with a smile.
Gong Qian nodded. "Let's begin. Qingniao, scout Xingniao Airport and locate Hu Weijie's hiding spot. Whatever you do, don't alert the enemy.
"Salty Fish, fly up high and set down a few teleportation anchors. If necessary, teleport me into the air so I can launch a direct strike on the ground at Xingniao Airport. Dead Doctor, stay ready. If Qingniao or I get injured or poisoned, coordinate with Salty Fish immediately to purge the poison from a distance."
"I'll take off first, then!"
The moment Gong Qian finished speaking, Qingniao transformed into a bird and took flight toward Xingniao Airport.
Yu Xian gave Gong Qian a nod, then produced another bubble, stepped inside, and also flew in the direction of Xingniao Airport. However, he and Qingniao traveled along opposite trajectories—one ascending into the heights, the other descending low.
Once the bubble rose into the cloud layer, Yu Xian sat within it and peered downward. Much like playing a game of Go, he began casting one spatial bubble after another toward the ground. Centered around Xingniao Airport, the bubbles soon formed a dense, interconnected constellation supporting one another.
Then he closed his eyes, listening closely to the sounds transmitting from Qingniao's end.
While he had not yet found a way to 'see' outside the bubbles, he had devised a method: utilizing sonar principles to gauge external conditions via sound.
Though not terribly accurate yet, it was at least marginally better than being completely blind.
Looking down from the sky, Xingniao Airport resembled a Y and an H joined together. Having gone without maintenance for seven or eight centuries, the entire site was overgrown with wild weeds, and a massive tree had even burst through the facility's interior, forming an enormous canopy.
Qingniao landed upon a branch, only to find the airport eerily silent.
Past experience instantly told her something was amiss. Some dreadful danger was very likely lurking here.
*Not a single animal around. That's bizarre.*
Qingniao flared her wings slightly, rapidly gliding down to a broken section of the airport's roof. Through the shattered glass window, she could peer into the terminal below.
It was already past four in the afternoon. Although the sky remained reasonably bright, the glass was caked in grime and admitted virtually no light. The airport interior was consequently dim, offering faint glimpses of numerous animal skeletons alongside broken syringes.
Hopping through the broken window into the terminal, Qingniao perched atop a sign that faintly read 'Baggage Wrapping.' She surveyed her surroundings and found no living creatures, though the foul odor pervading the interior made her deeply uncomfortable.
It was utterly putrid.
Compounding the stench was the pungent, musky reek of canine urine.
Numerous cages littered the floor, all violently torn apart. Beyond the hill-sized mound of carcasses, canine bones lay scattered across the ground. Qingniao guessed they belonged to either dogs or foxes.
Suddenly, Qingniao's body stiffened as a chill crept up her spine straight to the crown of her head. She dared not move an inch. Her senses warned her that at some point, an enormous pair of eyes had locked onto her minuscule form from behind.
Her pupils trembled erratically. In the hazy reflection of the dust-covered glass beside her, she could vaguely make out a fox roughly ten meters tall, its rear bristling with tails.
Nine tails?
Hu Weijie?
Disbelief flooded Qingniao's eyes.
The issue was that while Hu Weijie possessed a Nine-Tailed Fox bloodline, he was not a demon. How could he have turned into a monster?
Just then, the monster behind Qingniao fixed its gaze on her, asking slowly, word by deliberate word:
"Tell me... am I... an immortal... or... a god?"
Its voice carried a power capable of rattling the soul. Qingniao froze, paralyzed, her beak trembling as it parted bit by bit.
Seeking investiture?
How could this be seeking investiture?
Hu Weijie was human, not a real fox. Why would he need to seek investiture?
Yet Qingniao could no longer control her own body, and she knew with terrifying clarity that the moment she answered, the consequences would be catastrophic.
Chapter 59