Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 441 - 396 Encrypted Communication

Chapter 441: Chapter 396 Encrypted Communication

Du Qianqian cried herself to sleep, secretly hoping for a sliver of happiness that belonged to her.

The Witch’s worries and prayers would spread to the Witch Goddess, thereby establishing a mutual projection. Du Qianqian was already feeling terrible, and suddenly, she saw the hazy presence of Farosa in her dream, which startled her awake—it was Mother Farosa’s huge hand!

When she woke up, she found herself covered with a white woolen blanket, which seemed to be hand-made, with no signs of machine stitching.

She quickly threw off the blanket and sat up, turned on her phone, and discovered it was 9:37 the next morning. She had slept for at least a dozen hours, but Du Qianqian was groggy, her head throbbing as if the water she drank yesterday had gone into her brain instead of her stomach.

"This blanket? Did you give it to me?" Du Qianqian got up and saw Wei Shiyue meditating with her eyes closed, fully concentrated.

"I was afraid you’d catch cold. What’s your name?" Wei Shiyue, seeing that Du Qianqian was awake, quickly glanced at her and then closed her eyes again, focusing on her meditation.

"My name is Du Qianqian. I need... I need to go out; others will be worried about me." Du Qianqian saw there was no signal on her phone and felt quite uneasy. In such a deep place underground, no signal could penetrate.

She wanted to send back the news that Wei Shiyue was still alive.

Shijin Mansion was oblivious to the truth! This was not good!

They were operating under the assumption that Wei Shiyue was dead, and based on that, they would certainly make many wrong decisions and might even cause new trouble! For example, what might Wei Shiyue’s father do if he thought Wei Shiyue was dead?

Du Qianqian didn’t know what kind of person Wei Shiyue’s father was, but judging by Wei Shiyue’s vicious curses, she suspected he was a shameless monster, a greedy beast that might even attack the Ground.

So she had to slip away, come up with a way to leave this place, and inform everyone of the real situation.

Du Qianqian sneaked a glance at the black door that isolated the inside from the outside.

"Don’t even think about it," Wei Shiyue said, still with her eyes closed, but Du Qianqian got the feeling she could see her at any moment. "If you dare to leave this place, I’ll kill you."

Such a domineering Moonlight Princess!

Du Qianqian felt annoyed inside, but looking down at the fox fur blanket on her body, she couldn’t bring herself to be angry with Wei Shiyue.

"Modern Entertainment Company is still out there," Du Qianqian said. "I have no idea when they will come over."

"Just wait," Wei Shiyue said without opening her eyes, as she fostered her vitality with every breath. "Our enemy is a powerful chaebol like Li Gaoping. With his many years of operating Silla, his methods are numerous."

"Yeah..." Du Qianqian also felt apprehensive, "The richest man in Silla, Li Gaoping..."

Helpless, Du Qianqian could only squat in a corner and patiently wait for Wei Shiyue to finish healing.

Before Du Qianqian entered the ancient tomb, Wei Shiyue’s injuries had already healed by ninety percent. Another two hours passed, and by the time Du Qianqian was starving, Wei Shiyue had fully recovered.

She stood up, axe in hand, and confidently walked towards the exit, her posture exceptionally heroic.

Even her walking stance was cool. Du Qianqian’s gaze was fixed on Wei Shiyue.

She followed behind Wei Shiyue, unconsciously starting to imitate Wei Shiyue’s gait—looking straightforward, chest out, head high, and walking boldly! But Du Qianqian was not as strong as Wei Shiyue, which made her look hunched and awkward. Eventually, she could only return to her own timid way of walking.

"Let’s go," Wei Shiyue said, "Back to Xin City."

Xin City was the headquarters of the Righteous Army, about 300 li from Shiyin Grand King Cave. Du Qianqian calculated in her mind. Considering the difficulty of crossing Yaoyin Mountain, it would take three to four days on foot. If they revealed their identities, they could take a car and it wouldn’t even take half a day—it wasn’t that far.

But what about Mizuiro Yoshioka? She must be frantic. When Du Qianqian checked her phone earlier, she saw fifteen unread messages; she didn’t dare to open them, fearing Wei Shiyue would catch her.

"My friends are waiting for me," Du Qianqian couldn’t help saying. "If I don’t return for too long, they will definitely come looking for me."

"Stay close to me," Wei Shiyue said without any room for negotiation.

Forget it, Du Qianqian thought to herself. The Guard Squad had already reached Xin City before, which meant that going there might allow her to meet with 101 and 102. Playing with the twin sisters could be fun too.

was quiet, turning to leave after speaking hardly three sentences; 102, on the other hand, was endlessly chatty and friendly to everyone.

When she got to their place, she could naturally share the news of Wei Shiyue’s survival.

Du Qianqian followed Wei Shiyue, returning along the path they came, leaving Shiyin Grand King Cave.

Wei Shiyue bent down to go under the seal at the bottom, and Du Qianqian followed. But Wei Shiyue’s movements suddenly stopped, and Du Qianqian ran into her from behind, bouncing right back. She looked at Wei Shiyue in surprise as Wei Shiyue quietly moved back, grabbing hold of Du Qianqian.

"There are people outside," Wei Shiyue whispered. "They could have been tailing you from last night and been waiting here ever since."

"...I was being followed?" Du Qianqian said in disbelief.

"Did you encounter anyone yesterday?"

"An armored car." Du Qianqian had to tell the truth. "As soon as it approached, I dodged to the side of the road."

"Vehicle-mounted anti-infantry sensors can find you," Wei Shiyue pondered. "Did you stop anywhere on your way here?"

"I stopped in a village," Du Qianqian’s heart raced, realizing she had been too careless all along.

"Encountered a living person?"

"I did..." Du Qianqian thought of the survivor she had encountered, feeling both nervous and disappointed in herself, and she didn’t dare meet Wei Shiyue’s gaze. Everything happened for a reason.

Du Qianqian simply wasn’t up to par.

Wei Shiyue, seeing Du Qianqian’s expression, couldn’t help but laugh.

"What’s there to be sad about?" Wei Shiyue laughed and said.

"Ah?" Du Qianqian was still blaming herself.

"You used to be so reckless, solely because you could shapeshift," Wei Shiyue explained, "So you always did as you pleased, even a bit of negligence didn’t matter, after all, you’ve often been able to change your form and escape peril, thanks to the confidence your strong magic power gives you. The only problem now is that you’ve brought trouble to me, why be sad? If you’re sad, it means you regard me as a friend, thank you for that."

Du Qianqian felt even more embarrassed, as if Wei Shiyue saw right through her, leaving her bewildered. With what Wei Shiyue said, Du Qianqian forgot why she was sad in the first place.

She realized she absolutely couldn’t be alone with Wei Shiyue. The other’s character, capabilities, and wisdom far surpassed Du Qianqian’s, and continuing this way would only lead her to more despair and unworthiness.

"Sigh." Du Qianqian sighed.

"Anyway, don’t be sad," Wei Shiyue crouched in the corridor, "just change your shape at will, clear the way for me outside, while I look for an opportunity to kill them."

Du Qianqian nodded and transformed into the form of a Black Fire Assault Trooper.

Taking a deep breath, she then bent down to crawl through the gap beneath the crossed seals, looking around. She hadn’t seen any enemies that Wei Shiyue mentioned yet. After careful observation, only then did she sense the ambush.

Thus, Du Qianqian decided to play into their hands, purposefully entering the dangerous area and walking out another dozen steps, before immediately spotting three scouts dressed in black armor emerging from the bushes, their submachine guns trained on Du Qianqian, forcing her to raise her hands high.

"What is someone from Black Fire Innovation doing here?" the scout demanded, "What’s in the cave?"

"..." Du Qianqian started playing the role of an evil Black Fire Soldier, slowly lowering her raised hands, "You have no right to deal with me, hehe..."

"Take this bastard back and deal with him." Another scout loaded special bullets.

It was then that Wei Shiyue suddenly emerged from the shadows; only now did Du Qianqian see clearly. That was the same "shadow" she had seen upon entering the stone chamber for the first time. So that was Wei Shiyue’s method of stealth,

Following that, Wei Shiyue burst forward with incredible speed, whirls behind the three troops, and her axe slices open massive wounds on their backs! In an instant, she ended their lives, leaving Du Qianqian awestruck at her power.

A fourth scout who had been hiding at a distance saw Wei Shiyue emerge and immediately fled down the mountain. Du Qianqian hurriedly took out the King of Illusions to shoot at him. In her haste, she fired three shots before one bullet hit the man’s right calf, slowing him down. Wei Shiyue pounced like a wild beast and finished him off with her axe.

"What did you use to hurt him?" Wei Shiyue noticed the wound on the scout’s calf.

"It wasn’t me," Du Qianqian hid the King of Illusions away, "He was already injured."

Wei Shiyue observed carefully for a moment.

Do witches always have strange methods? Wei Shiyue thought to herself. Better to be extra cautious, mortals all have their secrets.

"You can’t hide a lie from me," Wei Shiyue said as she gathered ammunition and supplies from the corpses, taking the scouts’ service weapons, ammunition, rations, water, and individual tools. She then stripped off a relatively clean uniform from a corpse and put all the confiscated items on it, tying the sleeves tight.

Once the uniform was tied off at the ends, it became an improvised backpack. Wei Shiyue hung it on the end of her axe for an easy way to carry the spoils on the road.

"Here, take this." Wei Shiyue took out a pack of flameless heater beef and kimchi ration from inside and tossed it to Du Qianqian, "I ate some of your food yesterday, today I’m paying you back."

"Okay..." Du Qianqian reverted to her original form and accepted the food.

While Du Qianqian was eating, Wei Shiyue inspected the spoils and found several encrypted chips.

"Hmm..." Wei Shiyue frowned.

"What’s the matter? What is that?" Du Qianqian stuffed the empty packaging from her food into the pocket of a corpse.

"It should be military orders, related to the secrets of Modern Entertainment Company," Wei Shiyue said, "These data chips need to be taken back to Xin City, to have someone crack them, but their tech is terrible."

Du Qianqian stood in the wilderness for a while. Suddenly, she had a brilliant idea; from now on, she wouldn’t need to follow Wei Shiyue around aimlessly, but could instead bring Wei Shiyue to her side and also spread the news of her survival.

"Why are you standing still?" Wei Shiyue was puzzled.

"Do you know about the Cyber Specter?" Du Qianqian said convincingly, "As far as I know, its shadow is now wandering the lands of Silla! And I can lead you to her... She can use a ritual to summon the Cyber Specter. Once these messages are decrypted, the company’s movements will be completely exposed."

"..." Wei Shiyue pondered for a moment, "How long will it take?"

"Not long, less than an hour to get there; they have a camp nearby," Du Qianqian promised.

"Lead the way," Wei Shiyue nodded, "But I need to disguise myself. I don’t want people to know it’s me. You must not reveal this information either. Everyone thinks I’m dead, and that’s a good thing."

"But..." Du Qianqian blinked, "If your father thinks you’re dead, he’ll be very sad..."

"He won’t shed a single tear," Wei Shiyue scoffed, "He’s nothing but a monster."