Light Fortress
Chapter 142 - 130: Identity

Chapter 142: Chapter 130: Identity

He pulled the trigger, clearly feeling the recoil after the bullet left the barrel, but Qi Lv, who didn’t hear the expected gunshot, looked somewhat perplexed.

Just before pulling the trigger, Qi Lv had already sensed that his second shot would face a backlash of spiritual power from the opponent... In fact, he didn’t care about the damage to his spiritual power anymore. Having activated Eagle Eyes multiple times in a row, his spiritual power was already depleted. All he hoped for was that his last Purple Silver Bullet would successfully pierce through the young man’s head.

But in reality.

He fired the gun incredibly smoothly.

The opponent didn’t seize this final opportunity... but strangely, the gun misfired.

In his view, he had seen the Purple Silver Bullet’s flame bloom into a bizarrely beautiful flower in mid-air.

At that moment, the purple fire gradually faded.

The eerie flower lingered at the muzzle of the gun.

A real purple flower blossomed on the Purple Silver Bullet, and by the time Qi Lv realized this, it was already too late.

Vines had crawled up the barrel and over his entire body, making it extremely difficult for him to even turn his head.

After struggling to shift his view, Qi Lv was horrified to discover that not only himself but all the members of the Sincere Heart Association along the river bank were ensnared in vines.

When had this started?

And when had it ended?

...

...

"You’re very smart for not making a move,"

Chen Mei, drenched in cold sweat, heard a faint voice of praise behind him.

But the voice of the person giving the praise didn’t sound genuinely appreciative.

"If you had thrown a left punch, I would have broken your hand,"

"If you had tried to crush, I would have broken your legs."

"If you wanted to pull out the hunting knife at your waist..."

"Then you would be disappointed, because the knife is in my hands."

The old man, toying with the hunting knife, stood quietly about three meters behind Chen Mei. It was a dangerous distance, yet a safe one. He gently tapped the blade, listening to the sharp, resonating sound, while he nonchalantly sized up the curly-haired young man, whose talents had astounded every Transcendent who had met him in Da Du.

He was the only exception.

"Five years ago, your father came to me, hoping I would teach you body techniques,"

The old man slowly said, "But I refused him, not because I did not wish to teach, but because... I had nothing to teach. At that time, many people thought you were all show and no go, but they didn’t know you had already found a mighty teacher, and your proficiency in body techniques had surpassed most of your peers from East Province, even though you hadn’t made a name for yourself yet."

Chen Mei remained silent.

Long ago, as the son of Councilor Chen San, he was already well-known throughout Da Du.

But what truly made everyone wary and remember, viewing Chen Mei as an individual... it had only started a few years ago, when he had conquered every Transcendent of the Sincere Heart South Hall with his fists, using the same method as Crow.

It must be said, this method was very effective.

He had earned his own nickname, and those people began calling him Chen Mei, instead of Mr. Chen."

"I don’t understand..."

Chen Mei quietly began, "Tonight’s assembly is certainly significant, but not significant enough... to disturb you, right?"

The old man lowered his eyes and slowly returned the hunting knife to the young man’s belt sheath.

"I don’t believe that the only Grand Judge of East Province, by coincidence, was taking a walk in Da Du, and by coincidence came to the river bank. And that, out of the goodness of his heart, without knowing the details, he stopped such a farce... Even if it was pulling strings, there’s no way like your method of pulling."

Faint sounds of roaring came from the distant river bank as helicopters swooped in from afar, and vehicles hurriedly arrived on the highway; the river bank’s silence was finally broken at this moment.

People ran swiftly to the river bank and, seeing the figures entangled in vines, couldn’t help but cry out in shock.

The vehicles from South Bay finally stopped.

In the center of the spotlight, a middle-aged man in a black woolen coat slowly got out of his car, his presence eliciting countless gazes filled with awe and humility. An old man in a plain and modest outfit quietly followed beside him.

"Councilor, sir."

"Mr. Chen."

Amid the addresses, the man quickly walked towards the river bank.

Then, a pale-skinned woman also got out of the car, quickly catching up to the man, their positions just slightly offset. The woman kept muttering something quietly.

Finally, the two reached the edge of the river, walking on water, making ripples spread.

There was no sign of any extraordinary aura.

But the river surface steadily supported the two of them.

From the moment the vehicles stopped, Crow’s eyes narrowed, eyeing the middle-aged man warily, not wary of Chen San, but of the unassuming old man by his side.

It is well known that Chen San is a normal person who has not awakened any extraordinary power.

Yet by his side, there was a faithfully devoted Titled servant, and no one knew under what agreements or considerations... a super-strong Transcendent officially appointed by the council, willingly acted as a shadow, an old dog.

Chen San merely glanced at Crow; his expression did not change at all, despite rumors of his great anger towards Song Ci for injuring his nephew, but now in person, this man’s face showed no anger, treating Song Ci as if he were air, with only a brief glance before moving on.

This reaction was somewhat unexpected for Crow.

Seeing Chen San appear with his Titled old servant, he had already prepared for a fight, if necessary—but the expected storm never came.

Moreover, the scene was surprisingly calm.

On the other side of the river, a few figures also slowly approached.

On the left, a wife held an umbrella, and on the right, Cui Zhongcheng was pushing a wheelchair with a serene-looking old man seated in it. Seeing the wife and Mr. Xiao Cui appear, Song Ci felt a bit of a headache, but unexpectedly, the wife’s gaze towards him held no blame.

What on earth was happening today?

Song Ci stood on the riverbank, muttering to himself.

For a moment, he felt utterly at a loss, striving to clarify the situation unfolding before him, but the more he thought, the more his brain seemed to crash.

From the moment Chen Mei activated the Time Slow Domain.

Song Ci felt that the development of the incident had begun to spiral out of control, escaping his grasp... and if he really traced back to the origin of this uncontrollable sensation, it should have started the moment Gu Shen refused his withdrawal plan.

At that time, Gu Shen had said.

"We’ve known each other for so long, yet you seem to not know my identity."

And Crow remembered that he had found it rather amusing at the time.

So he responded subconsciously, "Is your identity that important?"

Looking at it now... the situation seemed entirely different from what he had imagined because, accompanied by Ye Ningqiu and the old servant Chen San, as well as Mr. Xiao Cui’s wife Zhao Xilai, all these figures standing at the zenith of Da Du, were now heading towards the center of the river.

They were heading towards one person.

Gu Shen.

...

...

"Zhou Jiren."

Chen San halted his steps and said indifferently, "What kind of wind blew tonight in Da Du, it’s so noisy that it could blow you here?"

Mr. Shu turned and looked at Chen San, just smiling.

Ye Ningqiu’s voice rang out.

"South Bay Building was subjected to an intrusion, some people broke into the building..."

She glanced at the youth lying on the ice and asked, "Pursuing the intruder, we didn’t violate the East Continent’s laws, did we?"

"Pursuing a suspect certainly doesn’t violate the laws."

Mr. Shu averted his gaze, he looked towards the other side of the river, where Cui Zhongcheng and his group had just set foot on the riverbank, and their dialogue hadn’t spread yet.

"Since that is the case... as the East Province Grand Judge, what right do you have to interfere in this pursuit?"

Chen Mei immediately spoke up.

Mr. Shu didn’t answer, just calmly watching the other side of the river, patiently waiting.

"The power cut at South Bay Building had traces of human tampering, the elevators and shafts bore evidence of fuses blown..."

Chen Mei, still getting no response, became increasingly anxious in his defenses, thus his voice became lower and more hurried, "The partial silhouette in the surveillance footage matches his physical characteristics..."

Gu Shen, soaking wet, climbed up from the ice, and after his features became clear, everyone present maintained silence.

Chen Mei noticed, father Chen San was silent.

So was Ye Ningqiu.

At last, Mr. Cui, pushing a wheelchair, arrived at the center of the river.

Cui Zhongcheng showed no change of expression but kindly spoke up to remind him.

"Mr. Chen, these pieces of evidence can only prove someone ’broke into’ South Bay Building, not that the intruder was him... You need to present more direct evidence, such as actual footage from the building’s surveillance."

Chen Mei was stunned.

All the surveillance had shown no direct footage of Gu Shen.

The man was like a ghost.

And more perplexing than this... was the attitude of these people, including his own father and Ye Ningqiu.

"Since everyone is here, let me formally introduce him."

Zhou Jiren finally spoke.

He pulled Gu Shen to stand up, "This is my Closed-door Disciple, the new S rank of the Judgement Institute, Gu Shen."

The words ’Closed-door Disciple’ were spoken with earnestness.

Rumors had it that Zhou Jiren had decided to resign from the position of Grand Judge of the Judgement Institute. Many were eyeing his spot greedily, and each of his disciples was a Transcendent with extraordinary talent, even personally cultivating a Titled powerhouse known as "Sky Eye."

The conferring of the title ’Sky-reaching Tree’ was actually the council’s affirmation of him.

Sky-reaching Tree, a sanctuary after shelter.

And the one taken as a Closed-door Disciple by the ’Sky-reaching Tree’ must be an exceptionally important talent, right?

S rank, two simple yet weighty words, was sufficient to prove Gu Shen’s importance... In fact, his records had always been sealed, but the incident with the special pardon had once stirred the council, hence Chen San recognized the youth.

In the eyes of "important figures," there is no such thing as a coincidence in this world.

Zhou Jiren appearing on the riverbank couldn’t be a coincidence.

Therefore, this S-ranked suspicion regarding infiltration into South Bay Building couldn’t be a coincidence either...

Chen San and Ye Ningqiu were both very clear, in this era, more than evidence, what mattered was one’s tactics, the outcome.

"I came today for a case from many years ago, a case that was initially sealed but was recently reopened a few days ago and additionally recognized as an ’S’ rank file—"

Zhou Jiren continued to speak.

As he spoke, vines entwined around Chen Mei’s legs,

"The death of Yinghai Judge Zhou Yu was determined to be connected with cases like the ’Resolute Stone Sculpture’ and the ’Great Fog of Yuan Dan Street’... all these cases came from the hands of Changjiu Foundation, and the Judgement Institute is making all-out efforts to capture the suspects."

"Chen Mei, to pursue power without questioning its origin is a very foolish thing..."

Mr. Shu slowly began, "Now, you are implicated in this case. Where your body techniques came from, and the teacher who taught you those techniques, I hope you will be honest in your explanation."