Light Fortress
Chapter 123 - 111: Underground

Chapter 123: Chapter 111: Underground

The Blood-fire case had limited clues, and there wasn’t a good way to investigate until the owner of the Compass contacted him.

After parting with the Grand Judge, Gu Shen came to the Huazhi Building alone.

The time to come would be quite leisurely.

However, Gu Shen was someone who never excelled at enjoying his leisure time... common parlance would say he couldn’t sit idle; during his days working in Da Teng City, it seemed he wished he could split the twenty-four hours into even smaller increments to make the most use of his time.

According to Cui Zhongcheng, he was now a formally ordained Judgement Envoy of the Judgement Institute and could enjoy the Cultivation Field that Da Du had specially constructed for the commissioners of the three institutes... with that in mind, Gu Shen decided to give it a try.

"Deep Sea, verify information."

The underground elevator in the Huazhi Building required iris verification, as well as the corresponding principal’s information, in other words, those who could use this elevator to go below were all "big shots" with authority.

"Deep Sea connected, serial number V340011250001, information verified."

The dim buttons of the elevator lit up the top three levels.

Gu Shen pressed the button for the third sub-level, smiling wryly at himself. This elevator leading straight to the underground reminded him of a B-movie plotline he had seen a long time ago. After the apocalypse, humanity had spent vast amounts of effort and wealth to construct a fortress deep underground — impregnable and impenetrable. Only this one elevator could descend to the earth’s core. When disaster struck, the elites hid in the "Noah’s Ark" underground, watching as the world above slowly perished.

The feeling was rather complicated when such a scenario from a movie appeared in reality.

Especially since he, in a way, now counted as one of those "elites" who could squeeze into this elevator.

"At least I’ve been to the seventh sub-level before."

When the elevator arrived, Gu Shen composed himself and sorted out his emotions.

The lighting on the third sub-level was somewhat dim, and there was faint music playing in the background, rock music?

This was a bit unexpected for Gu Shen.

He had thought it would be similar to the Cultivation Fields of Da Teng, an empty space with rows and rows of weaponry racks, but now it seemed more like a Transcendent’s playground.

As the elevator passed through the corridor, the music grew louder.

This place... was a bit chaotic. Transcendents of all sorts came and went, dressed in various outfits, each finding a seat among the flickering lights, glasses clinked as they chatted. It was hard to imagine that in the deep of night in Da Du, so many Transcendents would celebrate wildly beneath Huazhi.

Gu Shen narrowed his eyes and noticed the insignia of the Black Jinhua on their shoulders and exposed skin.

"Under Huazhi, they’re all members of the Sincere Heart Association."

A deep voice reached his ears; then a strong arm looped around Gu Shen. The owner of the voice asked in a puzzled whisper, "What are you doing here?"

It was a man wearing a duckbill cap, which shadowed most of his face, but the floral shirt and flip-flops gave away his identity.

"Crow..."

Gu Shen was somewhat surprised. He paused and said, "Cui Zhongcheng told me... the third level beneath Huazhi is a training ground for the Transcendents..."

As he said it, he immediately understood.

Members of the three institutes wouldn’t cultivate under Huazhi at all!

After all, this was a "Cultivation Field" provided by private enterprise, and the Zhao family couldn’t ever represent the Judgement Institute... the council had set up numerous Cultivation Fields in Da Du, including this one under Huazhi.

As a formal member of the Judgement Institute, he naturally could enter, but clearly, there were many people who didn’t have a choice, like the Transcendents from the Sincere Heart Association.

They could only go to the designated place—

the meaning of underground.

It is indeed the underground.

"A red-rooted green-leaved guy like you shouldn’t come to a place like this,"

Crow chuckled softly, "Look at the clothes you’re wearing, are you a model student here to learn at Huazhi Underground? This place is full of drunkards... just like those two hooligans who got into a fight with the prince in the old city area one night."

Gu Shen looked around and felt somewhat helpless.

Indeed.

He had already received many unfriendly looks of disdain. The Sincere Heart Association was an organization that mingled in the underworld all year round, and the type of people its gang members disliked the most were the official members of the Judgement Institute... it was precisely because of the council’s selection mechanism that divided Transcendents into different levels.

"These guys won’t cause trouble for me, will they?" Gu Shen frowned.

"If I hadn’t acted fast, there would probably be another unlucky guy landing a hand on your shoulder," Crow said indifferently, "This place doesn’t care much for rules, but at the same time, it upholds them the most. People here can settle any scores in a secluded place."

Gu Shen had a moment of realization.

He suddenly asked, "Wait a minute, you should be the mainstay of the Sincere Heart Association’s Beitang... Why dress up like this?"

"Simple... because Huazhi Underground isn’t just filled with people from Beitang," Song Ci shrugged, "Internally, the Sincere Heart Association doesn’t have significant disagreements; Mr. Zhao and Chen San stand out in the open, pushing for ’North-South integration.’ It sounds like nonsense, but it’s true... Both families believe that being divided means having no future."

"As for why I’m dressed like this... it’s because after the fight with Chen Jingtan, several ’big shots’ from South Hall have been looking for me." Crow couldn’t help laughing when he said the words "big shots": "Chen San has four adopted sons; they must be somewhat capable. But the rumors have blown them up sky-high; sounds like they’ve been granted some titles, and they’ve declared they want to give me a good beating."

"So... this getup is to avoid trouble?"

Gu Shen asked in a low voice.

"Of course... it’s not," Song Ci looked at Gu Shen with disdain, "Do I look like someone who fears trouble? What if all four of them come at me together!"

"I promised my wife to avoid unnecessary trouble," he sighed deeply, "A man’s word is his bond."

"I’m investigating that case from last time."

Crow said lightly, "Although my gut tells me that Zhao Qi, that bastard, is the most likely to harm my wife... my wife taught me to be thorough and cautious in what I do. I’ve found several lucky bastards who’ve had the chance to be alone with my wife. In other words, regarding my wife’s matter, they’re all suspects."

"Here... this is the fourth one. And the last one."

Song Yingji took out a slip of paper from his chest, with four names on it and corresponding photos, the first three were crossed out, leaving only the last one...

While Crow was talking, he pushed his way through the crowd, at last, he squinted his eyes, and framed an ’image’ with his hands.

After comparing the likeness of the photo to the actual person.

Crow suddenly stretched out his arm vigorously, wrapping it around another young man who was drinking, caught off guard and choked on a big gulp of alcohol, he glared back in anger.

Clearly, this man had no idea what was about to happen.

"Buddy, you’ve had a little too much to drink,"

Song Ci softly whistled and let out a satisfied burp, then asked with a grin, "Mind helping me to the restroom? It’s paid work, you know."