Light Fortress
Chapter 163 - 150: Blood Fire Revisited_2

Chapter 163: Chapter 150: Blood Fire Revisited_2

Gu Shen turned into a narrow alley.

He smiled, about to say something.

On the other side of the alley, suddenly a woman walking briskly appeared; she was a middle-aged woman with plain clothes, her hands hanging down, seemingly carrying something heavy. From her attire, one could tell she didn’t seem like a resident from the vicinity of the Great Capital Freedom Hall.

Gu Shen slightly furrowed his brows and stepped aside to make way.

"Thank you..."

However, as the middle-aged woman got closer to Gu Shen, she no longer hastened her pace but walked very slowly. She had her head lowered the whole time until the last moment, when they brushed past each other, she slowly raised it, revealing a friendly yet terrifying smile.

What she was carrying was...

Gu Shen’s pupils constricted.

"Boom!"

A violent explosion echoed through the alley, the narrow stone walls instantly collapsing under the blaze, a towering flame surged upward, forming a small mushroom cloud in the air.

In this extremely brief instant, the surrounding area of the alley was swept by the blast wave, a visible ripple passing through, and medium-sized vehicles were lifted from the ground, only to fall back down heavily.

...

...

Gu Shen’s ears were filled with noise, countless sounds flooded in—vehicles honking incessantly, the sizzling of burning flames, Chu Ling’s concerned shouts, and that sentence lingering in his ears as they brushed past.

"Thank you..."

It was only a brief moment, yet it felt like a long, long time had passed.

The explosive’s immense force detonated at an extremely close distance.

There was no way for Gu Shen to react any faster.

The Truth Ruler was activated in an instant, telekinesis forming a barrier, but it was too late to envelop the Changjiu Foundation’s fanatics like before... The only thing possible was to raise a shield to resist the explosion as much as possible, to prevent taking the full brunt of the impact.

But in 0.01 seconds, he was pushed out by the huge impact, as if by the hands of a Heavenly God.

These hands should have torn his body to shreds, but they were now intercepted by the Truth Barrier, with only one percent of the force, perhaps even less, hitting Gu Shen like a hammer weighing thousands of pounds.

He smashed through an entire stone wall of the alley; his ribs must have been broken... However, his thoughts were still running clearly, and the Truth Ruler was still activated.

Gu Shen stared fixedly at the aftermath of the explosion in the alley; among the broken walls and ruins, the middle-aged woman who had given him that "sincere" smile had been blown to such an extent that not even her ashes remained... The Truth Barrier had withstood the damage from one direction, and under the force of reaction, she must have been pulverized in an instant.

Transcendents are powerful, but they are also fragile... No matter how strong their abilities are, in the end, they inhabit a mortal body.

"Is it a coincidence... or was it premeditated... When did they start targeting me..."

Gu Shen wiped the fresh blood from the corner of his mouth.

His meeting with Tomb Ghost was not known to a second person; this explosion could not have been preplanned.

The Compass in his bosom began to tremble lightly.

Gu Shen fought the urge to crush the Compass, slowly taking it out. The soiled Compass slowly became as clear as a mirror, its other side reflecting the current world of the alley, the collapsed stones, the burning Blood Fire.

"Gu Shen... you’re quite lucky, it seems you’ve only fractured a few bones of no consequence."

The laughter of the Blood Fire master rose slowly.

"I’ve broken two ribs, no big deal..."

With an expressionless face, Gu Shen applied pressure to the wound with increasing force. The Truth Ruler transformed into a soft light, flowing over the site of the injury, and the pain lessened significantly. "It seems you’re just a fool who hides behind the scenes and only knows how to mystify things... Because the Transcendents are supervised by Deep Sea Supervision, you choose to control ordinary people with your mind. You ostensibly extol the old era, but in reality, your technical level is only capable of producing old era weaponry. Your funds can’t be that abundant, or perhaps, the funds you can utilize are limited."

"Do you know what would’ve happened if that explosion had been a Red Silver Bomb? I’d have been blown to pieces," Gu Shen mocked, "It definitely wouldn’t have been just two broken ribs... You must have a base specifically for making trinitrotoluene detonator bombs... I’m thinking, it could only be in the old city district, the woman from earlier must have set out from there too."

"The funny thing is... your information channels are wide yet restricted. If you had known earlier that I would come to the Freedom Hall, you wouldn’t have waited until now to stage the assassination, and it wouldn’t have been just one lousy explosion." Gu Shen murmured, "For a frenzied guy like you, blowing up the entire Freedom Hall wouldn’t be unthinkable."

"So, I speculate that you borrowed a portion of Deep Sea’s authority. This authority grants you great freedom, but sadly, it’s not always effective, the system keeps upgrading, and I suppose the authority you’ve borrowed must be getting less and less, right?"

Gu Shen said with a laugh, "If you’re so fond of the old era, you should just roll back to it. Why bother learning to go online like the young folks?"

The laughter of the Blood Fire master disappeared little by little.

"No response? Did I hit a nerve?"

Gu Shen said with a laugh, "Alright, I’ll be honest—everything just now was pure speculation... I thought only the protagonist could manage to borrow authority, but it turns out even an unethical and unscrupulous guy like you can enjoy such privileges..."

"Gu Shen."

The Blood Fire master spoke softly, "I will make you pay for your words today."

"The same old high-explosive tactic?"

Looking at the Compass, Gu Shen said, "You don’t really think... I’m going to obediently play this turn-based game with you until it’s over, do you?"

The Blood Fire master fell silent.

And that silence added another layer of certainty to Gu Shen’s heart.

The surveillance footage from the special action team had already spread, and Xiao had not yet received the message... This guy’s information channels were peculiar, sometimes smart, sometimes not.

"Idiot... oblivious even in the face of death."

Gu Shen muttered lowly in the end.

He stood up, lifting one foot and stepping on the face of the Blood Fire master reflected in the Compass mirror.

He ground his foot down with force.

The Compass was sturdy, making crackling sounds, yet it received no damage; no matter how much he ground it, it was only a venting of his inner rage.

Police sirens sounded in the distance.

The big explosion near the Great Capital Freedom Hall had drawn the attention of many.

Among the crowd rushing over, Gu Shen saw several familiar faces... teachers, senior sisters, and Crow.

Seeing these people, he inexplicably felt more at ease.

Gu Shen clutched his side, inhaling sharply in pain, and gritted his teeth.

"Damn... that really hurts."