Qiu Xu wasn’t nervous despite being pointed by Cillin with a blade. On the contrary, she looked calm enough to suggest that everything had gone according to her plan thus far.
The room lights weren’t turned on, and the door wasn’t shut. Wheeze walked into the room and shot a glance at the two strangers before deciding that they weren’t worth the attention. It was sure that Cillin could deal with them both.
Dantu’s accommodation was as tiny and simple as he had said earlier. Wheeze circled around the room once before staring at a particular wall. Dantu’s neighbor, “Grandpa An” lived on the other side of the wall, but…
Wheeze jumped up the wall and swiped a tiny device out of its hiding spot. The device was capable of monitoring everything inside the room, acting as an alarm and a basic security system. However, Qiu Xu had turned off the security system before Cillin arrived, or he wouldn’t have been able to enter the room with just the key. In fact, the device would paint him as the enemy and electrocute him.
Besides this device, the device that looked like a ceiling light next to the real ceiling light turned out to be an intelligent laser transmitter. Besides that, Wheeze had dug out a couple more devices inside the room. The devices were all security-based, which meant that they were meant to protect the master of the house, or more specifically Dantu.
The technological level of these devices didn’t match up with the planet’s development at all. Inside the spaceplane, Dantu himself was completely dumbfounded by their findings. Not only did he not recognize the devices, he had no idea that there were this many unexpected equipment lying inside his shabby little room. In fact, if Nikki hadn’t explained to him each and every one of their functions, he wouldn’t have had a clue what they actually did even if he had discovered them by accident. He might even have sold them out as trash.
Qiu Xu didn’t say anything. She didn’t display any dissatisfaction towards Wheeze’s behavior either. All she did was to look outside the door.
It didn’t take long before a shadow appeared at the entrance of Dantu’s room.
It was White Night.
White Night had rushed over right after he received Nikki’s message. After all, their objective was to seek out the message sender, not research the governor.
After White Night had slipped into the room, Qiu Xu said, “Now that you’re both here, please come with me.”
Qiu Xu once again ignored Cillin’s blade and walked out of the room. Putting away his weapon, Cillin made a signal at White Night once before they both followed Qiu Xu. Just because they were puzzled didn’t mean that they should lower their guards… except for a certain gray cat that had dug its way to the other side of the wall maybe.
Just like Wheeze and Cillin had predicted, Qiu Xu’s destination was just next door. They were heading to Grandpa An’s room.
Cillin had sensed some mechanical activity when he was walking past Grandpa An’s room earlier, and he figured that it was something that exceeded the average technological level of this place. After all, where there were machines there was machine language, and it was an advantage Cillin and Wheeze had over others.
The electronic interference that was supposed to disrupt monitoring had been suppressed thanks to Wheeze, so everyone on the spaceplane had a clear view of what was going on. And out of all the people on the spaceplane, Dantu was the least calm out of all of them. He desperately hoped that things wouldn’t turn out the way he imagined them to be, but the moment Cillin and White Night had entered Grandpa An’s room, his heart had turned as cold as ice.
It was all a lie.
Grandpa An’s room wasn’t big, but it was still wider compared to Dantu’s.
Cillin saw an old man sitting on a wheelchair the moment he had passed through the door. The old man was holding a book in his hands, and the solar-powered desk lamp beside him cast dark shadows around him. However, the weak lighting was all Cillin and White Light needed to see everything there was to see inside the room.
Wheeze shook the dust of its body after it had drilled all the way over from Dantu’s room. Then, it scanned the room once with its enlarged pupils before jumping up to Cillin’s shoulder.
Qiu Xu closed the door after she had led the guests in. Then, she moved to stand behind the old man.
The old solar-powered lamp was weak, but it wasn’t so dark that the people on the spaceplane couldn’t see what was inside the room.
Meanwhile, Dantu wore a puzzled expression as he stared at Qiu Xu.
“You know her?” Nikki asked.
Dantu nodded, then shook his head, “She looks very similar to someone I know, but now that I’ve gotten a good look… there are some slight differences.”
“Who does she look similar to?” Nikki asked another question.
“She looks like Grandpa An’s daughter.” Dantu had met this woman before when he was just a boy. His father had told him that she was an incredibly strong female fighter. However, the woman had gone missing during a hunt, and she had never come back since. Everyone had said that the woman was dead, but the girl on the screen looked like she was around his age at most. What on earth was her connection to Grandpa An? And why did she look so much like that woman?
Inside the room, the old man on the wheelchair folded his book shut before looking up at Cillin, White Night, and Wheeze looking all over the place. Then, he gave them a smile.
“So, you’re finally here.” The old man stood up from his wheelchair, took two steps towards a bookshelf, and left his book there.
“That’s… that’s impossible?! Grandpa An’s supposed to be…” Right now, Dantu was completely confused. The old man on a wheelchair wasn’t actually lame?!
It was at this moment Nikki let out a derisive sneer, “Whoever said that those who use wheelchairs must be lame?”
She was right. There was no rule that stated that those who use wheelchairs must be a lame person. It was then Dantu recalled that Grandpa An had always been wearing long robes that completely covered his feet. He had never allowed anyone, not even Dantu, to touch his feet either. For the longest time, Dantu had thought that Grandpa An hadn’t allowed it out of a sense of pride, but today that illusion had been shattered by the hammer of reality.
Who was Grandpa An? And how long had he been lying low in this city?
Dantu didn’t know. Grandpa An had been the way he was as far as he could remember. He doubted that there was anyone in the entire building who knew that the old man was an outsider, and that his pitiful, lonely and helpless image was all just a front, a false impression. What they thought and what they thought they saw was all a product of the old man’s machinations from the beginning.
The old man returned to his wheelchair after he was done putting his book back in place. Then, he looked at Cillin — or more specifically where Cillin’s signal transmitter was at — and said, “You’re there too, aren’t you Dantu? Hehe, you have nothing to worry about, Dantu. They won’t hurt you.” After that, the old man looked back at Cillin, “Please cut off the transmission. There are some things that should remain a secret to others.”
“Alright.” Cillin turned off the signal transmitter without hesitation, and Wheeze cooperatively stopped suppressing with the electromagnetic interference of this place as well. It meant that no one else except those who were inside the room would be privy to the conversation that was to follow.
White Night had turned off the signal transmitter on his person as well. Then, he waited quietly for the old man to continue.
The old man looked very satisfied with their lack of hesitation.
“I’m the one who had sent out the unnamed message you received. My intentions aren’t malicious. All I was trying to do was to warn you that you were going to suffer heavy losses if you continue on your journey to Black Viper.” The old man’s voice was calm and amiable. It was almost as if he was talking about a matter of no importance.
“Who are you?” White Night asked.
White Night had stayed in AF1 for many years, and he had heard most of the secrets there was to know. However, he had no idea who the old man before him was. His instincts were telling him that the old man was no ordinary person, and he was reminded of a hermit who was sitting in his corner and holding his book in silent observation of the many changes that affected the empire.
“Who am I? Hehe,” The old man chuckled softly, “You wouldn’t have known even if I told you, but if I don’t tell you you wouldn’t trust what I’m going to say next, would you?”
The white hair covering the old man’s head wasn’t untidy, but hanging strands just happened to cover half of his eyes each. It prevented them from seeing into his heart.
“Do you know who the current leader of Black Viper is?” The old man asked.
Cillin frowned, but didn’t answer because his knowledge was limited. He only knew that the current leader had inherited their position from the previous leader, and that they all shared the same surname, Kristi. If someone was referring to “Kristi of Black Viper”, then they must be speaking the current Black Viper leader.
White Night waited for a moment before answering, “Feng Anlang. Kristi Feng Anlang.”
“Feng Anlang. That’s right, Kristi Feng Anlang,” The old man repeated with a mutter before he looked at Cillin and White Night again, “Everyone thought that Feng Anlang was one person’s name, but they were wrong. Feng Anlang actually represented three people’s names.”
Cillin’s eyelid twitched. He had a bad feeling about this.
The old man revealed the truth, “My name is Gu Changan.”
There was an “An” in “Gu Changan”.
“The current person in charge of Black Viper is called Kristi Lang. As for Feng, well, you both know who he is.”
Cillin let out a sigh on the inside. He thought so.
Guan Feng, Gu Changan, Kristi Lang. Feng Anlang, leader of Black Viper. He doubted that anyone knew that Black Viper was actually led by three leaders.
Anyway, what on earth was Guan Feng trying to do?
The old man made a waving gesture, and a projector floated between the three of them. Then, a planet was projected on top of the projector.
Qiu Xu turned off the lights and enlarged the image further. This time, Cillin and White Night could see the rough layout, environment and geography of the planet itself.
“This is the planet you’re heading to,” The old man said.
“This isn’t Black Viper’s headquarters,” Cillin said without hesitation.
“No, it isn’t. But it is where you need to be.”
“If Guan Feng is one of Black Viper’s leaders, then why would we need to go find him?” Cillin asked.
“That’s because he’s the one who recommended you both.”
“And what are we recommended for?”
Gu Changan didn’t answer cillin question directly. Instead, he said something that stunned both Cillin and White Night, “It’s about time Black Viper has a change of office.”
Change of office? Why? Black Viper was the empire’s biggest underground force. Why on earth would they need to have a change of office?
“Hehe, that you will need to find out yourself. Don’t turn me down, this isn’t a bad thing.”
It wasn’t? It wasn’t a bad thing to go up against the empire openly?
“Guan Feng’s over there. You need to meet him to get an answer anyway, don’t you? Gu Changan looked very happy.
Both Cillin and White Night were silent.
Let’s review Guan Feng’s personal information: an imperial mentor who had taught many royalty, one of the biggest heads of AF1, a senior scholar of the RAS and the organizer of a government funded research subject. Besides that, every one of his students was a famous, capable person in their respective departments, and his influence counted among the top few within the entire Mist Bodhisattva Empire. But why was he one of Black Viper’s leaders too?!
“Go. You’ll know the answer once you head there. That being said, you are expected to strong enough to survive the… environment. After all, you’re not the only ones who were under ‘recommendation’.” Gu Changan switched to a new image while he was speaking, “Here are some very basic info that you may use.”
A new species that looked somewhat similar to the Claws on this gray planet was displayed on the projector. However, they were a lot faster than the Claws, and their skin looked tough and impenetrable. They also exhibited amazing reactions and high intelligence. Besides that, a new batch of robot army and bio-soldiers were put on display.
Cillin had encountered plenty of bio-soldiers in the past, and he knew that none of them had one absolute weak point. For example, some bio-soldiers’ weak point was at the head, but there were also some whose weak point was at the heart or some other places. Although it was possible to identify their weak points by analysing their special nerve structure, on-the-spot verification in the middle of a real battle was an extremely difficult to do.
Wheeze wasn’t paying attention to the creatures or the bio-soldiers. Instead, it was staring at a couple of seemingly inconspicuous robots within the robot army. They looked like a familiar face!
“This is just a small part of the enemies you’ll be facing, and there’ll be a lot more when you’re there. My friendly advice to you both would be to familiarize yourselves with the geography. You’ll at least be able to survive no matter who your opponent might turn out to be.”
Neither Cillin nor White Night had bothered asking something as stupid as “why should we trust you”. Gu Changan must be telling them the truth, but he must have concealed a lot of things as well. It was how he drove them both into a state of indecision.
If they hadn’t known about these secrets or Guan Feng’s true identity, they could’ve had chosen to forget everything that had happened today and return to their old lives. But they knew, and that meant that there were only two paths left ahead of them: They either choose to betray Guan Feng, or the empire itself.
There were a couple more possibilities lurking inside Cillin’s mind, but he couldn’t voice any of them without sufficient evidence to support his deductions. Right now, he would only be courting death by doing so. After all, he wasn’t in GAL. If he were to publicize his thoughts in a system like this, he would be chased all the way to the end of the galaxy. No force would dare to accept him, and even Genya would be sacrificed as a scapegoat because of his choice.
In that case, let’s go and find the answer.
Personally, Wheeze was very supportive of the idea of going, but it decided that it would tell Cillin of its choice another time. It was because this room made it feel very uncomfortable, and the old man sitting on the opposite side had a smile that reminded it of a fox.
The only way to beat a fox was to be more cunning than it, but the gray cat knew that it didn’t have the smarts to do that. Humans were such strange creatures; their lies stood at the pinnacle of all their achievements. It was a peak that Wheeze could never hope to climb.
“You said the the two of us were recommended by Guan Feng. What about you? Who do you recommend?” Cillin asked.
“Me? Hehe, I’m just waiting to retire in peace.” Gu Changan accepted a cup of water from Qiu Xu and took two sips. Then, he waved his hand and said, “Alright, out with you. It’s about time you people stop disturbing an old man and his peaceful life.”
Cillin and White Night exchanged a glance with each other before deciding to leave.
Before Cillin left, he asked Gu Changan one last question, “What is the final deadline?”
“There’s no final deadline, but I would suggest that you finish your preparations as soon as possible. The longer you drag, the more you’ll be on the defensive. And one last thing: Don’t judge Black Viper with your former lens.”
Gu Changan turned to look at Qiu Xu after Cillin and White Night had left the room.
“Do you blame me for not recommending you? It was such a good opportunity too.”
“No I don’t, grandpa. I’m the one who is lacking in strength,” Qiu Xu answered calmly.
Gu Changan let out a long sigh, “When it is time to give up, it is time to give up. Never place too much expectations into something that isn’t yours.” After that, he smiled at her and said, “You should go with your parents when it’s time. This year’s candidates are pretty good.”
“Will that person be coming as well?”
“Of course. We are picking blades* for him after all.”
*Meaning choosing an executioner, or picking a worthy person to carry out a task