Light Fortress
Chapter 216 - 201 Night Talk (Part 1)

Chapter 216: Chapter 201 Night Talk (Part 1)

"So... you have nothing to say?"

The dim firelight flickered within the ancient house of Lion Alley. Lu Nanzhi took out a red lantern from the old house, which had preserved many "old-era" items through the years.

The lady tiptoed to hang the lantern on a banyan tree branch in the courtyard.

The red thin rope swayed with the wind.

The lantern shed a multitude of faint lights. Gu Shen felt himself bathed in these lights... and his spirit became much lighter.

This was no ordinary lantern.

The flickering firelight seemed to contain some incredible spiritual element.

Hmm... the principle seemed somewhat similar to "Lion Awakening Wine"?

However... the owner of this old mansion was Lu Cheng, a pioneer of East Continent who had studied and researched with Allen Turing, so it was not surprising what kind of items he could develop!

"I want to hear something..." After Lu Nanzhi had hung the lantern, she sat under the tree, sitting upright and turned to Gu Shen, saying, "You should be quite clear about it."

Gu Shen also sat down.

He candidly said, "As I mentioned last time... I can push that door open..."

He paused.

Gu Shen looked straight at Lu Nanzhi. "And then, I pushed it open."

Lu Nanzhi had not realized that "Spiritual Exile" was a horrifying or dangerous thing... All that had occurred in Freedom Hall seemed just like a dream to her.

As she awoke, the dust-covered old door in her mind had been opened.

The ancient characters sealed on the red door no longer existed and the binding spirit shackles had also fallen off... so even though she did not know what had happened, she was very clear.

The red door had been pushed open!

"What is beyond that door?" Lu Nanzhi’s tone became urgent. As the red door opened, she was the most unlucky one. According to the powerful summoning rules, all members of the Ancient Literature Society in the meeting room would come forth to witness the "key," but she was the only "exception"... Her spirit was exiled adrift in the void, unable to be summoned.

In a sense, in Deep Sea’s awareness, Lu Nanzhi was no different from a dead person.

Thus... she was completely unaware of everything that happened in the meeting room.

Find the key!

This had been her father’s goal for nearly a decade!

After Allen Turing’s "death," he left behind only a shattered meeting room and an elusive piece of information about the "key," and the remaining members of the Ancient Literature Society across the Five Continents were all searching for this final hope.

Now that the key had finally appeared, how could she not be excited?

"Madam..."

Gu Shen slowly said, "Beyond the door is a meeting room. I think, you should be very clear about what this meeting room implies, and moreover... you are the one who should provide more explanations."

He looked into the eyes of the woman soon to be the third councilor of Dadu District.

"Many important figures in the council have seen my records, and I believe you are no exception..."

Gu Shen spoke gravely, "Three months ago, I was just an ordinary citizen of Da Teng City. I got involved in successive extraordinary events because of a fire, joined the Judgement Institute, became a Judgement Envoy, and then became the so-called ’key’... Fate did not give me the power to choose. I need an explanation for all this."

In the Spiritual World.

Gu Shen had already heard an answer from the "source code" from Chu Ling.

Now, he wanted to obtain the answer from the material world through the "Red Door" carrier.

Under the dim light of the banyan tree lantern, Lu Nanzhi’s expression turned calm as she gazed at the young man and softly yet firmly said, "The fire incident... it was almost certainly the doing of the Changjiu Foundation. The origin of all this was a coincidence, but what followed... joining the Judgement Institute, coming to Da Du, becoming a Judgement Envoy, was orchestrated by the Ancient Literature Society."

Gu Shen’s pupils slightly constricted.

"Someone knew before me... that you were the ’key.’ He is the youth with code 031 in the meeting room. I don’t know his real identity in the physical world, but the information about the ’key,’ he shared it with me," Lu Nanzhi earnestly said. "In fact, it makes sense that he found you because the remnants of the Ancient Literature Society, survivors scattered across the Five Continents, have all been searching for you, and we’ve been working on this for nearly twenty years."

Youth code 031?

Gu Shen slightly furrowed his brow.

He remembered the familiar gaze when the meeting dispersed...

had identified his "key" status earlier than Lu Nanzhi... If one starts counting from the fire incident, there are only two possible identities for 031, one being a council bigwig who hasn’t yet come forward.

The East Continent Council has twenty seats, those who sit on them, and some who possess great power but have not taken a seat, all need to be included in the first category.

And the second category... Gu Shen almost instantly thought of his own mentor.

"Is it Zhou Jiren?"

This suspicion appeared in his mind and immediately took deep root.

Before the fire incident occurred, Zhou Jiren had already extended an olive branch to him... He seemed to understand the history of the Ancient Literature Society well and was also optimistic about his future, which was unreasonable for a person who hadn’t awakened their Extraordinary Ability yet.

After leaving the meeting room, he met his mentor’s gaze.

He did not feel the slightest bit off.

This Old Fox... was he hiding something, or?

Gu Shen silently suppressed his suspicions, considering Zhou Jiren as the "prime suspect" for code 031. Since this Old Fox wanted to keep things concealed, there was no need for him to expose it.

He briefly mentioned what happened after opening the Red Door.

Of course... he omitted Chu Ling.

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust his wife, but Chu Ling’s existence was too special, and Gu Shen did not think that revealing the secrets of the "source code" was meaningful.

"A forced establishment of a Spiritual Link..."

Lu Nanzhi’s furrowed brows slowly relaxed, and she breathed a sigh of relief after hearing everything, "Announcing the dispersal right after calling for a Spirit Assembly... Although it seems a bit like sounding a loud trumpet for a small result, it’s actually a very good solution."

Better than forcibly convening a meeting.

"I have nothing more to say," Gu Shen said indifferently. "With that Spirit Veil... surely everyone is very interested in the ’key’s’ identity. The more I say, the more I expose. At this stage, I’m not ready to expose my own identity."

"You did the right thing."

"With the continuous blood change over more than a decade... the Ancient Literature Society has undergone many changes," Lu Nanzhi spoke softly. "At least in this meeting room, everyone is a stranger to each other, gathered because of the search for the ’key.’ In a sense, we are all desperados searching for a flame in the apocalypse... What we fear the most isn’t the lack of hope, but rather how to continue moving forward together once true hope is found."

Sharing joy is harder than sharing hardship.