Light Fortress
Chapter 170 - 157: Death Judgment

Chapter 170: Chapter 157: Death Judgment

At the top floor of the Huazhi Building, all sounds had vanished.

It was as silent as a graveyard.

The lingering echo of "I oppose" was still reverberating, not waiting for Nan Jin to finish the entirety of her speech... The projection screen had been angrily shut off by an enraged old man, Zhao Xilai was clutching the handles of his wheelchair so tightly it seemed like he might wring water from them, his expression as darkly clouded as could be.

Now, no one was laughing out loud anymore.

And everything had turned around so quickly... that some still had traces of smiles on their faces, which was exceedingly awkward.

The only person who remained consistent throughout was Cui Zhongcheng.

"Ding-a-ling-a-ling—"

Soon, the deathly stillness of Huazhi’s top floor was broken by the sound of telephone rings.

More than one person’s social media account was dialed, and consecutive rings echoed as the high-level executives poised with champagne ready to celebrate wore bizarre expressions—they knew that on the other end of the phone were the "sponsors" who kept in close contact with Huazhi’s various projects... These people had one thing in common.

They had invested a large sum of money in the "Awakening Bill" project.

Cui Zhongcheng glanced at his incoming call display.

He didn’t answer it.

Instead, he silently waited for the ringing to cease.

"The New World project group consumes tens of millions of funds every month... Huazhi sought different partners within the scope of the Five Continents... These people jointly bear the risks and share the profits."

Mr. Xiao Cui leaned close to whisper in Mr. Zhao’s ear, "Clearly, just now, Nan Jin’s declaration has had a huge impact on the New World plan."

There was no need to pick up the call to know.

How furious those capital investors must be on the other end of the phone.

"... I can’t understand."

Zhao Xilai regained his composure.

He looked around the flower-and-tapestry-laden celebration venue, at the boxes and boxes of champagne popped open before being consumed.

Indeed, everything today had been a joke.

Only he was the biggest joke of all.

He had clearly left everything to Nan Jin... She had already won the election, and all that was left was to nod in agreement.

Just a nod, and Huazhi would be hers, the legislative seat would be hers.

Everything would be hers!

Why bother... to oppose it now?

"Truly... we have witnessed history," Zhou Jiren quietly murmured, gazing at the once again peaceful projection screen of the podium.

He knew that a backup legislator’s speech didn’t represent the final conclusion of the bill... Nan Jin’s declaration was more like a declaration of war.

What would follow was a "real war" that would affect the fates of millions in Da Du.

Although these millions were unaware.

"By the way, just to remind you, before the election... Lu Nanjin returned to Da Du," Mr. Shu said softly with a smile, putting down his half-smoked cigar, and left the Huazhi Building for good.

The Lu family’s young daughter, returned to Da Du?

The elderly man sitting in the wheelchair was somewhat bewildered, lost in thought.

At that moment, Zhao Xilai found himself somewhat ridiculous.

He sincerely felt the "aging" within himself, the years had brought him rich experience as well as an ultimate status, and he still controlled the lifelines of countless people in Da Du, still enjoyed the omniscience that came from the convergence of myriad pieces of information. Here, not even the escape of a fly could hope to escape his eyesight.

For example... the meeting between Lu Nanjin and Ye Ningqiu at Freedom Hall was known to him in less than a minute.

But the onset of aging is not about going blind.

It’s about seeing without realizing.

Realizing without being able to react appropriately.

True aging is... dullness, hesitation, inability to judge.

He didn’t even know what had led to the current situation; he was no longer as sharp as he was in his youth.

After a long while, the old man asked softly.

"Why didn’t I know about Lu Nanjin returning to Da Du?"

Supporting the wheelchair, Cui Zhongcheng answered gravely, "As you instructed, I have already compiled the relevant files. It is your habit to read them once a week. Tomorrow is the day you’re scheduled to read the archives."

"Heh..."

Zhao Xilai smiled wryly and lowered his gaze.

So... was that it?

True aging is also arrogance, conceit, and laziness.

Speaking of Lu Nanjin, Cui Zhongcheng said softly, "There’s a video recording that I think you should take the time to watch. It has spread within the council these past few days... Zhou Jiren has established a ’Special Operations Group’ in Da Du. The core members of this team are Gu Shen, Lu Nanjin, and Chen Mei. They are investigating the case of the S-level suspect ’Xiao’."

...

...

Chen Mei looked up.

He watched the blazing lights above his head.

This interrogation room was as silent as the bottom of the deep sea, ten thousand miles down.

Three days.

Zhou Jiren brought only one meal each day... This frequency of eating caused no discomfort to Chen Mei. As a high-level Transcendent adept in the Great Success Breathing Method, he could reduce his energy consumption to an extremely low level to cope with harsh and demanding natural conditions.

In these three days, the absolute silence of death and solitude were his true enemies.

The Sacred Wood bound him.

Red silver enveloped the interrogation room layer by layer.

The ability of "Time Slow" was useless here... He could not break free from the Sacred Wood and was thus nailed to the small interrogation room.

Had that video spread already?

Had Xiao seen it?

His thoughts spread like millions of strands of seaweed. For Chen Mei, who possessed "Time Slow," being imprisoned in the interrogation room was a real torture, for his sense of time would only be longer than three days...

He would rather have all his guesses come to a conclusion.

Suddenly.

"Bang bang bang."

Someone was knocking at the door.

Zhou Jiren would never knock.

Chen Mei frowned, looking at the stranger who entered the interrogation room. In his eyes... this was no longer a human, but a blur of shadow.

This shadow, upon its appearance, gave him an overwhelming and towering sensation at the heart level.

This was a towering person.

The stranger sat across from him at the long table of the interrogation room... With that one seated gesture, Chen Mei felt his hair stand on end, a feeling he never had when facing Zhou Jiren.

Because he knew that even Mr. Shu, the Grand Judge of East Continent, was wary of his status.

But the man before him was different.

He had yet to say a word, yet he carried a fierce killing intent.

This was an extremely dangerous person!

This guy... really might kill him.

"I ask, you answer."

The blurry shadow spoke very succinctly... There was no self-introduction or unnecessary chatter.

He took out a photo.

A photo of Zhou Yu.

"Is it Xiao?"

What kind of interrogation was this? What kind of questioning?

Chen Mei was completely taken aback, and when he realized his reaction had already given the answer to the question, he quickly looked up to see the shadow had already put away Zhou Yu’s photo. "Where is Xiao now?"

"I refuse to respond."

Chen Mei, under pressure, clenched his teeth and gave such an answer.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

The light of the blazing lamp cast upon the table started to show very subtle changes.

The original sheet of snowy white light screen suddenly showed extremely fine shades of black, difficult to catch with the naked eye, but it was actually a high-frequency flickering... To the average person, there appeared to be no difference.

Yet in Chen Mei’s eyes, the trembling of the light particles was all too clear.

The next moment, the entire interrogation room, the table, chairs, and the floor all began to tremble at a very high frequency.

Numerous fine, continuous internal collision sounds surged forth.

Sensing something unusual about the Blazing Light, Chen Mei did not hesitate to activate "Time Slow."

"Whirrr—"

Everything in the interrogation room came to a halt in slow motion.

Due to the violent trembling, the red-silver glass shattered in an instance, but because of "Time Slow," the scattering of the glass shards appeared to be in slow motion—

Chen Mei’s hands were bound by the Sacred Wood and were tied to the back of the Sacred Wood chair.

He bowed his head to see the floor beneath his feet also cracking and collapsing slowly.

Like the tide, fierce and continuous bright lights burst forth from the cracks in the floor.

"This is..."

When Chen Mei saw the lights erupting from the cracks, his expression changed drastically. He knew very well what these lights meant... A large amount of high-explosive was something that no Transcendent, no matter the level, could withstand with their physical body against such explosions.

And what made Chen Mei’s hair stand on end was that the white, blurry shadow sitting opposite him showed no intent to move an inch.

He just sat there.

His voice was cold, his pace steady, as if he was a dead man.

The shadow spoke again.

"Where... is Xiao now?"