Light Fortress
Chapter 211 - 196: Lingering Autumn

Chapter 211: Chapter 196: Lingering Autumn

Great Capital City outskirts.

Under a scarce moon and stars.

The chill of early winter swept through with the wind, gathering the light and brittle dead grass, issuing a crisp, crackling sound of breaking leaves, and from afar, the countless wild grasses were like a sea of leaves, stirred by a deft hand.

The undulation continued, then intensified.

A dark figure, moving soundlessly forward with the undulating leaf sea, glided as if being propelled by the leaves.

Her speed was remarkable. Having traversed several thousand meters through the vast wild grasses to reach the abandoned old building took her only a dozen seconds... And after leaving behind the grasses, with no more fluttering leaves to aid her, she left behind this leaf sea.

Ye Ningqiu lifted her gaze, watching the old building with a calm and steady look.

This was where Chen Mei was captive.

She stood like a ghost in front of the old building, silent and still, gazing steadily for an extended period, the blackness in her pupils seemingly about to bleed out ink... as if by staring so, she could see through the structure of the old building, every steel rod, every wooden frame within.

The reason for this was that she knew.

The elder of the Judgement Institute was more cunning than any fox in the world, and since he had chosen to detain Chen Mei... he would not allow any accidents to occur.

On this night’s Freedom Dance, all three members of the special investigation team had arrived at Freedom Hall, signifying that the detention center imprisoning Chen Mei was unattended.

If... it were solely out of confidence that no one could locate "this place," then it would be profoundly out of character for Zhou Jiren.

There must be some kind of ready-to-use Extraordinary Engraving within this old building.

Or a powerful Extraordinary Sealed Object.

Should anyone rashly intrude, they would pay a terrible price.

After a long scrutiny.

The inky blackness in Ye Ningqiu’s eyes gradually faded, and the building had been comprehensively dissected and analyzed in her view. If there had been some kind of undismantlable "Extraordinary Territory," she would actually have felt a bit relieved.

But the reality proved to be strangely eerie.

The entire building had no spiritual fog; anyone with sufficient spiritual power could analyze and dismantle the building’s cross-section, leaving nothing hidden. There were no traps and no defenses here.

That was absolute confidence.

And sometimes, such confidence equated to folly.

...

...

A loud "bang".

The door to the interrogation room was kicked open.

Chen Mei, who had been reclining in the chair with his eyes closed and mind playing the sheep-counting game, jolted awake. Straightening up quickly, his tense expression gave way to surprise when he saw the woman who had barged into the room.

"Aunt Ye..."

That’s what Chen Mei had called her since he was very young.

Ye Ningqiu appeared quite young, but in fact, she was several years older than Lu Nanzhi, it was just that she maintained herself remarkably well. Her skin remained fair and taut and she had a childlike baby face, which led others to this misconception.

"We don’t have much time. I’m here to get you out,"

Ye Ningqiu spoke swiftly, moving with incredible speed and dexterity. She reached behind her head, pulling out a hairpin, then swiftly slice with it.

The indestructible "Divine Wood" was astonishingly severed by the hairpin!

In fact, Zhou Jiren’s "Divine Wood" was not infallibly impenetrable... as could be seen from A-009’s escape. It true that it possessed excellent binding capabilities, but no matter how exquisitely it encapsulated Transcendent spirit, it was still ordinary vine wood born of nature. It could be corroded, decayed, and cut by sharp objects.

Furthermore, the sturdiness of the "Divine Wood" was also tied to the distance from its owner.

This decrepit wild building, far from the joyous Freedom Hall, was worlds away.

But... no matter the distance, Zhou Jiren would sense the status of his "Divine Wood."

Chen Mei rose to his feet and flexed his wrists, taking a deep breath and savoring the long-missed freedom... Zhou Jiren was truly mad, disregarding his father’s position as a Great Capital City Councilman and detaining him here.

"’Divine Wood’ has been cut. Zhou Jiren will have noticed by now," Ye Ningqiu murmured, "We need to hurry and leave."

Chen Mei laughed, "Did father send you?"

Ye Ningqiu lowered her brows and nodded.

She looked toward the corridor, and with just one glance, the glass of the old building’s corridor shattered and burst open, countless leaves surging like a tidal wave, lifting and forming a staircase to facilitate their escape.

"...I think I’ll choose a different path."

Seeing the shattered glass of the corridor, Chen Mei’s lips twitched slightly, as a not-so-pleasant memory came to mind.

He still hadn’t figured it out.

That explosion, that shadow like a White Ghost... was it a real ’past’ event or just a virtual Dream?

"Zhou Jiren’s ’Sacred Wood’ moves very fast. If he chooses to set out now... It would take at most fifteen minutes to get here," Ye Ningqiu said. "Do you want to be imprisoned again?"

Chen Mei frowned slightly, feeling vaguely that something wasn’t quite right, but still chose to evacuate the corridor with Aunt Ye.

"Boom, rumble."

Countless leaves swept through like a tidal wave.

When Chen Mei was very young and just awakening his Time Slow ability, Ye Ningqiu had taken him to play like this, through an autumn wilderness of flying leaves, turning the countless falling leaves into a great ship that carried them flying across.

Ye Ningqiu’s ability was the nature-based ’Ku Grass’.

In Da Du, where countless buildings rose from the ground, there was no Ku Grass, only a torrent of steel; hence, she had never shown her power in front of others. Only a few knew her secret.

Perhaps it was due to her own ability.

Aunt Ye’s personality was like Ku Grass, always inadvertently revealing a hint of faint sadness.

Chen Mei looked at Ye Ningqiu and said softly with a laugh, "Aunt Ye, you seem a bit different today... Isn’t today the day of the Freedom Ball? Did you come from Freedom Hall?"

Ye Ningqiu didn’t answer, just focused on maneuvering the sea of leaves, rushing wildly towards the distance.

Chen Mei frowned slightly.

He stared intently at the nape of Aunt Ye’s neck; it wasn’t his first time observing Ye Ningqiu up close... He never noticed anything unusual before, but today, that snow-white neck seemed to be heavily coated with a layer of powder.

Was this... makeup powder?

Chen Mei felt bewildered when he heard a very soft voice.

"We’re here."

Ye Ningqiu’s voice was as pleasant as always, quiet and serene, like a silently withering piece of Ku Grass.

It carried a subtle, mournful, deathly coldness.

Countless leaves swept through and, the moment they struck the ground, they rebounded, millions of dry leaves poised like blades and ready to launch from the ground the moment the woman spoke, exploding like a tornado.

Chen Mei’s pupils suddenly constricted.

He activated Time Slow immediately.

But not every situation... can be solved with Time Slow.

Especially when the orchestrator of this deadly situation was the person who had watched him grow up for ten years, who understood him the most... Aunt Ye.

They were all-consuming.

All were leaves of late autumn.

Even within the domain of Time Slow, where the leaves were slowed down many times, they still formed an impenetrable wall of steel—

There was no retreat.

No place to hide.

Millions of leaves collided in mid-air, emitting a ringing like the trembling of gold and iron.

Streaks of fresh blood erupted in the leaf storm; with Time Slow activated, the sharp leaves slicing through flesh were like an extremely cruel form of execution.

Lingchi.