Light Fortress
Chapter 132 - 120: Cat and Mouse

Chapter 132: Chapter 120: Cat and Mouse

"The high levels are sounding alarms, which means Chu Ling won’t have control over the building for much longer."

Gu Shen lay prone atop the elevator car, maintaining a "Silent Annihilation" state of stillness, all motion ceased, because even the slightest disturbance could attract Chen Mei’s attention.

The elevator slowly ascended.

Fortunately... Chen Mei had not detected his presence; Chi Huo had successfully concealed Gu Shen.

This individual, deemed by Crow as the only opponent worthy of the Sincere Heart Association’s attention, was estimated to be at the peak level of Deep Sea Eleventh Layer.

There was just a little bit left until Titled status.

If a fight broke out, Gu Shen was very clear about his own capabilities... the chances of winning were zero to ten.

His own chances of escaping were probably zero as well.

In the face of absolute power, all strategies and tricks are useless.

"I absolutely must not be discovered."

Gu Shen held his breath. Although his movements were stationary, his mind was frantically working... He wondered if Chen Mei’s choice of this elevator was a coincidence, and if it was just by chance, then he might still have an opportunity.

When the elevator stopped, Chen Mei left.

He changed cars in the shaft, and as the elevator descended, he could escape... The Heavenly Eye in the elevator shaft of the South Bay Building had been completely removed.

But the only problem was time.

Once Deep Sea fully took over the building, there would be absolutely nowhere for him to hide.

The current time... was it enough?

"The elevator is still rising... it seems he has chosen the 39th floor..."

Gu Shen squinted his eyes; seeing Chen Mei’s elevator choice vindicated his suspicion once more. Indeed, the secret stored at the top floor of the South Bay Building was the most critical.

Chen Mei was there to inspect personally.

"Ding!"

The elevator arrived at the destination floor, Chen Mei did not linger, but left directly. He approached the glass door covered in red silver, the iris recognition system recognized his identity, and the door slowly opened.

Seeing Chen Mei leave.

The overwhelming pressure that had shrouded Gu Shen’s heart finally lifted... This man had given him an unprecedented sense of crisis.

Had Chen Mei not left the elevator car, Gu Shen would not have dared to move even a finger.

He took a deep breath and jumped towards the other side of the darkness.

His body plummeted at high speed.

But the soft light of the Truth Ruler enveloped Gu Shen, and behind his back, a pair of smooth wings materialized, unfurling in the narrow, pitch-black elevator shaft, allowing Gu Shen to gently land on the closest elevator top.

Chu Ling’s reminder echoed in the darkness.

"My access is about to expire... Deep Sea will fully take over the building in 10 seconds."

seconds?

The moment Gu Shen jumped, Chu Ling arranged for the adjacent elevator to ascend in preparation; once landed, this elevator began to descend.

"It’s too late."

Gu Shen took a deep breath and deftly twisted the cable with two fingers.

Enshrouded by Chi Huo.

The scent of scorching spread instantly, the cable was burnt through.

The moment the first cable burnt through, the elevator made a muffled noise inside the well. The elevator was equipped with twelve steel ropes; breaking one made no difference.

"Help me disable the safety clamp system."

Gu Shen spoke softly, and as his voice trailed off, the brilliance of the Truth Ruler enveloped his palm. He grasped the remaining steel cables firmly, and countless sparks splashed in the darkness.

When this elevator resumed its normal descent... Deep Sea would have taken over the building. Even if the Heavenly Eye inside the shaft was removed, it would detect any abnormalities in the elevator’s descent. Under the current circumstances, special measures were a must.

"Are you planning to burn through the cables?" Chu Ling was surprised by Gu Shen’s decisiveness.

Even she had not thought of this plan.

Falling from a height over one hundred meters, the time for free fall was just over three seconds.

With only ten seconds of access remaining, this was the fastest way out of the building.

There were probably still guards on the first floor.

However, these guards were most likely normal people... it would take just an instant to use Blazing Fire Hypnosis. As long as Chen Mei did not notice Gu Shen’s action inside the elevator shaft, escaping the building would be possible within the time required for this plan!

"Boom—"

All twelve safety cables broke!

This two-thousand-pound alloy car slid down the dark, towering shaft, like a metal block hurled down a cliff. Gu Shen stomped through the alloy ceiling, plunging into the car, ready to burst out the moment it fell.

"With your current physical strength, you can’t withstand this pressure..."

Chu Ling’s voice carried a tinge of urgency.

"Trust me, disable the safety clamp."

Gu Shen took a deep breath, Truth Ruler’s brilliance surfaced, and layers of silver light wrapped around his lower legs. Because the alloy ceiling was flipped away, raging winds flooded into the elevator, and he could feel immense pressure bearing down.

...

...

The 39th floor.

Chen Mei looked around silently, quietly observing Ye Ningqiu’s office... Everything was quiet here.

There was no sign of any tampering.

The surveillance footage also showed calm, with no abnormalities.

But Chen Mei had an inkling, a Transcendent’s intuition, which was extremely accurate. He felt that someone had been here.

If he trusted his intuition, then he might need to... doubt Deep Sea.

Chen Mei was silent for a second.

Between Deep Sea and intuition... he chose to believe the latter.

He didn’t believe that the blackout at South Bay Building, the disconnection of elevator surveillance, all of it was just a coincidence.

The traces of human interference were too obvious here...

At this moment, a faint "click" sounded in the distance.

It was a slight noise, but in Chen Mei’s ears, it was like thunder. His expression instantly became grave as he moved to the elevator shaft almost like lightning, and in the next moment, the alloy plate was flipped open. The young man wearing flip-flops lightly jumped up, the cup of coffee he held in his hand didn’t spill a drop, and he floated gently to stand on the very top of the elevator car.

He saw the bright arc sparks in the dark well as if they were fireworks, and also the section of the elevator car that was rapidly falling.

All the Heavenly Eyes in the well had been destroyed.

So that’s how it is... hiding here.

Chen Mei looked down expressionlessly.

He lifted his foot.

Stomped down.

...

...

The moment Chen Mei disappeared from the thirty-ninth-floor surveillance, Chu Ling sounded the alarm.

"Chen Mei is moving!"

Gu Shen’s expression was extremely ugly.

He couldn’t understand how this guy had noticed... Wasn’t that a bit too sensitive?

He had been very careful with the arrangements on the thirty-ninth floor and even used Blazing Fire to eliminate the Spiritual Trace. If Chen Mei didn’t possess the ability to detect Blazing Fire, then logically, he shouldn’t have been able to discover anything out of ordinary on the thirty-ninth floor.

Unfortunately, there are always some people in this world who don’t work with evidence.

They rely solely on their feelings.

Gu Shen, standing in the light, looked up at the dark end where the arc of light dissipated. The elevator car lingering at the thirty-ninth floor seemed to be suppressed by a tremendous force, and in an instant, twelve steel cables snapped all at once.

The speed was extremely fast!

Gu Shen felt a chilling sensation as if he were being chased by a shooting star. Countless arc lights fell through the darkness, as if in the next moment, these lights would submerge him!

But then came a "thud!"

The deep reverberation of a large bell rolled within the narrow shaft walls, rattling painfully in one’s eardrums.

In the last moments of authority, Chu Ling manipulated the system and activated the safety clamp in the elevator shaft.

"It’s too late—"

That was the only thought in Gu Shen’s mind.

The safety clamp caught the segment of the elevator where Chen Mei was.

But it was only for an instant, the next moment, the man standing atop the car, without any visible action, seemed to exert just a slight pressure with his feet, and the safety clamp that had firmly caught the elevator instantly shattered.

With a rumble of thunder enveloping the wind, Chen Mei rode the falling elevator, overtaking from behind, and both sections of the elevator crashed down on the first floor almost simultaneously. The two security personnel guarding the lobby were astonished; they had heard two loud bangs one after the other.

The doors of the elevator hadn’t even opened.

A voice then rang out.

"...Move away!"

The elevator was kicked and shattered, the whole car body was forcefully projected as it hit the ground, like a soccer ball falling from a great height. The man wearing flip-flops leaped out just as it landed, sweeping a kick.

Numerous fragments scattered.

The twisted and broken elevator doors laboriously opened halfway, revealing Chen Mei standing among the steel debris, his cup of coffee spilling just a bit. But his expression was somewhat dark.

The elevator was completely empty.

At this moment, Chen Mei once again heard a connecting sound in his ear.

"Beep."

"Deep Sea successfully linked, officially taking control of South Bay Building."

Hearing this voice—

Chen Mei’s hand, which had been calmly gripping the disposable coffee cup without a ripple, suddenly clenched tight, slowly crushing the cup into a ring of waste paper.

He then realized that he has been fooled. If the current voice meant that Deep Sea successfully linked... then what had taken control of the building before?

All the previous arrangements... were they just to mock him?

The key was, he was indeed played by the other party the whole time.

From beginning to end, he hadn’t even seen what the intruder looked like, not to mention where that person had ultimately fled to.

"Deep Sea, investigate the current extraordinary intruder inside South Bay Building."

Chen Mei’s voice was a bit hoarse as he went back inside the elevator, quietly waiting for Deep Sea’s reply.

In the brief silence.

He thought back over all that had obviously been meticulously planned.

The person behind it was likely part of an extremely efficient team, and they had strong data hacking capabilities. The moment South Bay Building requested to connect to Deep Sea, the intruder’s team hacked in as well... That was the only reason he could think of for the surveillance being unaffected.

But it didn’t matter.

The building was back under his control now.

The cat-and-mouse game had just officially begun.

"Scanning... Please wait."

Chen Mei waited patiently for several seconds, ready to go back up again. This time, no matter what the other party did, they wouldn’t escape his pursuit.

Chen Mei’s fingers hovered in front of the elevator button.

Finally, Deep Sea responded.

"South Bay Building, scan complete... No intruder found."