Even the mighty Sun was a bit overwheld.
He was originally leading a group repairing roads near the Black Forest border when suddenly he received a call from Yu Sheng. There was a special "small job" from out of town that needed help. The straightforward civil engineering guy didn’t think much about it and led his team and equipnt through a door that mysteriously appeared at the edge of the Black Forest—only to find out this "small job" involved digging out a Nine-Tailed Demon Fox from a bunch of molten crystals.
Moreover, this Nine-Tailed Demon Fox got stuck in the ground due to celestial bombardnt.
"I’m not kidding," Sun’s voice ca from the Power Armor’s speaker, sounding sowhat muffled, "I’ve dug trenches on a planet near disintegration, paved roads in bizarre spaces contaminated by entities, and even hamred bunkers on wastelands ravaged by swarms—but this scene before , I’ve truly never seen. Tagging along with you, one really gets to broaden their horizons."
"Not just you, I find it pretty eye-opening too," Yu Sheng laughed and turned to glance at Sun, "Just say whether you can handle it or not. If not, I’ll look for so Civil Engineering Immortals from Qianfeng Ling Mountain to figure out a solution."
"You’re underestimating now. I may have never done this task before, but there’s nothing difficult about it," Sun imdiately shot Yu Sheng a look. The pride of a civil engineer made him take on the job without hesitation, "You keep the door open, I’ll have the guys go back and grab so suitable tools. The ones we have now are not fit for the job."
In no ti, the workers brought by Sun switched to appropriate gear and began bustling around Hu Li.
The pneumatic drills in the civil engineers’ hands roared, the cutting machines rumbled, and sparks flew on the ground around Hu Li, with crystal dust dancing in the air.
Yu Sheng stood watching with Erin and Luna from the side.
Sun was standing next to him, also curiously observing the place.
The environnt at Guard-3 is not suitable for human survival, with severe radiation and toxic atmosphere. Thus, Sun and his team of civil engineers wore thick, alien planet-specific engineering Power Armor. Though this attire wasn’t as imposing as Xu Jiali’s armor, it carried the unique heaviness and tactile strength of engineering machinery—the only thing sneer-worthy was that Sun had covered his armor with plenty of chaotic graffiti. The most prominent was the big letters on the chest armor plate: AAA Civil Construction Brother Sun.
He was clearly quite proud of his gear, frequently releasing a small drone from his arm for selfies of himself and the desolate alien backdrop behind him, flaunting his Power Armor with each action.
After taking photos for half a day, he finally turned his gaze to Yu Sheng, his expression subtly hesitant before he couldn’t help but speak: "To be honest, I know you’re special, but I really didn’t expect you wouldn’t need a protective suit in a place like this—don’t you feel suffocated?"
"Well, the place indeed slls bad, so I haven’t been breathing for quite a while," Yu Sheng thought for a mont, sincerely waving his hand, "I’m pretty adaptable, I can breathe, or not breathe too."
"... I think this isn’t really about adaptability," Sun’s eye twitched, but after dealing with Yu Sheng nurous tis and being a veteran in the Special Service Bureau, he quickly glossed over this ’trivial matter’, "Let’s not talk about that, tell about this place... What have you been fighting against here to make such a big fuss?"
"We still aren’t sure what exactly it is, but I suspect it’s related to the Dark Angel," Yu Sheng noticed Sun’s face changing and quickly waved his hand, "Don’t worry, the Dark Angel’s body definitely isn’t here. If that thing’s body was here, this fight wouldn’t have been so simply done."
Sun’s face remained stiff, after a while, he forced out a word: "... Damn."
"We haven’t figured out the state of the ’enemy’ yet, so there will be more work for you later," Yu Sheng continued speaking as he recalled various illusions he saw during the process of establishing ’contact’ with the Crystal Jungle, "Once Hu Li is dug out, I’d like you to continue digging around. There should be so remaining ’Crystal Branch’ structures beneath the ground here, samples need to be collected and sent to the Special Service Bureau—before this, Zheng Zhi reported to his superiors, your director knows how to handle it."
Listening to Yu Sheng discuss business, Sun’s expression had beco very serious. He nodded solemnly: "No problem, we’ve done this sort of work before—however, during sample recovery, we’ll need people from the bureau to co over. We’re only good at rough work, high-risk sample sealing, containnt, and transfer are fine operations, that’s the job of specialized recovery teams."
Yu Sheng already took out his phone: "I know, I’ll send a ssage to your director now."
During the conversation, a sudden sound of cracking soil and stones interrupted the exchange between Yu Sheng and Sun.
Yu Sheng looked up to find the civil engineers around Hu Li backing away, so even shouting as they retreated: "We’re through! Avoid her paws, back off—"
Once the civil engineers had retreated to a safe distance, Hu Li shook herself where she stood, carefully placing her four paws on the ground, then pushed back and pulled her head out of the ground.
The grey-headed Nine-Tailed Silver Fox sat there dumbfounded, with her two front paws supporting herself, a band of stones not fully dislodged still around her neck. Her eyes looked a bit befuddled, and after a while, she moved her head from side to side to shake off the stones around her neck, causing another flurry of debris and rocks.
Yu Sheng dodged falling stones while looking up at the sowhat dazed big fox, shouting at her: "Hu Li, how do you feel?"
"My head’s buzzing," Hu Li said honestly, her gaze still unfocused, yet she quickly lowered her head, rubbing Yu Sheng with her nose, "There’s a constant rumbling, rumbling noise around my ears."
Yu Sheng chuckled, he certainly knew why Hu Li’s head was buzzing, after all, a group of civil engineers in Power Armor had drilled around her head for half an hour; anyone would be dazed: "No choice, it was quite a task to dig you out. The stones and crystals around your head had fused into one complete block."
Hu Li shook her head again, scattering loose fragnts off, finally seeming to be getting over it. She displayed a happy expression, stuck out her tongue to lick Yu Sheng (an action that almost sent the latter flying), followed by a thunderous rumble from her stomach.
"Savior, hungry, food."
Yu Sheng first felt his head buzzing from a smack by Hu Li’s tail, and upon hearing those words, cold sweat broke out, but he managed to react and quickly opened a door wide enough for Hu Li, in her demon fox form, to enter: "Ti to eat, I’ve already contacted the Special Service Bureau, their canteen is ready for you."
Hu Li looked up and imdiately saw the canteen of the Special Service Bureau on the other side of the door, and those familiar faces of the food servers, and her eyes lit up at once.
Yu Sheng just felt a flash of white light before his eyes, and by the ti he reacted, Hu Li had already darted into the canteen opposite.
Erin perched on Yu Sheng’s shoulder, peeking at the scene across the door, and comnted, "That was a tough battle..."
Yu Sheng: "It’s fine, the people at the Special Service Bureau are seasoned and experienced..."
Sun, standing next to him, wiped cold sweat from his brow. He glanced at the scene of chaos on the other side of the door and shook his head in sympathy for his colleagues at the bureau before focusing his attention back on the task at hand.
"So, shall we... start digging?"
"Let’s start," Yu Sheng nodded, pointing at the large pit made by Hu Li’s head, and at the sa ti, he carefully sensed the weak reactions deep underground through the connection established by his blood, "From here, I’ll tell you the general structure below."
...
Shuji, Mo City.
The rain had not stopped.
Xuan Che had co to the City Lord’s Mansion again—this ti at the invitation of City Lord Mo Ran.
Following the "Immortal Envoy" Xuan Che’s request, Mo Ran had contacted Shuji’s "Star Guardian Elder" yesterday, and had invited him to the city today; calculating the ti, he should arrive soon.
Now Xuan Che was waiting in the drawing room for the Star Guardian Elder, and while waiting, he also learned about the events far away at Guard-3 through the information sent by Yu Sheng.
The strange Crystal Jungle, "Yun Qingzi" appearing in the Crystal Cluster, the bizarre signal coming from deep underground, and the "resonance" across the stars between Guard-3 and Shuji...
Xuan Che stood by the window with a furrowed brow, gravely watching the curtain of rain outside.
His Divine Sense slowly expanded, currently covering the entire City Lord’s Mansion, and ticulously extending further out, cautiously probing the rain-shrouded border city.
Everything in the city seed normal, with people coming and going on the streets, and the central district still bustling. Even though the city’s forr mining industry had declined, as the planet’s largest city, Mo City was still flourishing.
But he still felt sothing was off, a strange sense of discord, a cold feeling, as if subrged by sothing peculiar, just like the incessant rain outside, enveloping everything and disturbing the mind.
Especially after receiving the ssage from Guard-3, this discomfort and sense of discord beca even more pronounced.
A presence was approaching.
Xuan Che imdiately adjusted his expression, restraining his spirit, and turned to look at the entrance of the drawing room.
The door opened, and Mo Ran, the City Lord of Mo City, appeared at the entrance.
This dignified-looking woman with a steady deanor bowed to Xuan Che: "Immortal Envoy, sorry for the wait, Elder Dao Heng has arrived."
As she spoke, she withdrew half a step to the side, gesturing for entry, and then introduced: "This is the ’Star Guardian’ of Shuji, Elder Dao Heng."
She then pointed to Xuan Che: "Elder Dao Heng, this is the Immortal Envoy from the Taixu Spirit Hub, Immortal Xuan Che, representing Qianfeng Ling Mountain."
The room was silent for two seconds, and Mo Ran bowed slightly: "I’ll leave you two to it."
Xuan Che stood by the window, his expression as calm as water, gazing at Mo Ran and beside her.
There were only him and Mo Ran in the room, and no one at the door...
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