Chapter 31 The Tower of Grey Dome 31 The Truth of Betrayal
Even though it had only been less than a month since they left, the Gray Tower had changed completely.
Although the old gray tower was closed off, it was well-lit and bright, with people coming and going. Even though they didn't look as neat and presentable as in peacetime, and their expressions were always mixed with bewilderment and unease, the presence of living people still filled the place. They were willing to live and had hope of living.
However, the gray tower was silent at this moment. There were no living people, and all the lights were off except for a few necessary dim lights, giving the entire tower a feeling of being on the verge of collapse. In the absolute silence, everyone's breathing could be clearly heard, along with the uneasy growls of the monsters.
Nanmen Jue suddenly spoke up: "How do you manage to work with them so casually? Aren't you afraid that one day they'll suddenly ask: 'My good brother, why are you leashing me like a dog?'"
Qin Yehan was still able to hold back, and Tong Gu immediately cast an admiring glance at Nanmen Jue. Even when surrounded by enemy troops, she could still use the power of her mouth. She truly deserved to be the leader of the rebellion!
But I must say, Nanmen Jue can be incredibly sarcastic at times, but when she uses that skill to shut people up, it feels damn satisfying.
However, no one paid any attention to her. These people wearing helmets were like puppets being manipulated, simply pointing guns at them.
Nanmen Jue chuckled lightly, not caring at all.
They stopped when they reached the familiar circular corridor, which was surrounded by an army of guards and monsters composed of regressors. Xu Yang was in the innermost layer of the encirclement, holding a torch in his hand. He gave Nanmen Jue a strange smile, his face looking sinister and eerie in the firelight.
Nanmen Jue's eyes slowly moved, and on the load-bearing pillar at the edge of the corridor railing, a person was tied up. Her head was lowered, and her hair, which was always neatly arranged, was disheveled. Her face could not be seen, and it was even impossible to tell whether she was alive or dead.
"President Lin," Qin Yehan said in a low, hoarse voice.
Almost simultaneously, everyone raised their guns. Qin Yehan and Tong Gu pointed at Xu Yang, Xu Yang pointed at Nanmen Jue, and the other guards pointed at the three people surrounding them.
Except for Nanmenjue.
Nanmen Jue didn't move; she just looked at Lin Suwen and asked, "What do you want to do with her?"
“Recently, the people of Gray Tower have been very uneasy.” Xu Yang’s eyes were crazed, but his expression was gentle and compassionate, as if he really was a good secretary who cared about the country and the people. “Because a revolution has occurred in the tower, the incompetent president who repeatedly concealed information from the people has been ousted from office. I have the support of the masses and have no choice but to step forward to take charge of the situation. However, because of the former president’s concealment, too many tragedies have already been caused… I am deeply saddened by this.”
His gun was always firmly pointed at Nanmenjue, but he bowed slightly in a rather elegant manner, as if there were a large crowd of people eagerly watching him. Then he raised his head and raised his voice.
"I must execute the heinous former president for the sake of the people of the Tower, for the sake of the rest of humanity! This is what the people want! This is what the people desire! I don't want to do this either, Your Excellency, but I have no choice."
He changed his expression to one of sadness, even to the point of tears, making Nanmen Jue wonder if he had some kind of face-changing prop.
Lin Suwen, who was tied to the supporting pillar, moved slightly. Her bloodshot eyes were revealed under her disheveled hair. She looked at Xu Yang and spat at him.
"Pooh."
Xu Yang's face darkened. "It seems the former president's verdict against me is meaningless. Your Excellency, you're lucky; there are others joining you on your journey today!"
"...South Gate!"
Lin Suwen's cloudy gaze followed the direction of his arm and saw Nanmen Jue. Her expression changed drastically, and she screamed with all her might, but at the same time, a crisp gunshot rang out.
Just like the shot Nanmen Jue fired at Qi Mo before, Xu Yang also fired without hesitation. He admitted that he had an uncontrollable fear of Nanmen Jue, a newbie with no experience, so much so that even though he had gathered so many troops to protect him, he was still willing to pay the price of becoming a red name and fire at the moment he saw Nanmen Jue!
What does a red name matter compared to my life right now? Becoming a red name means I'll die later, but after seeing Nanmen Jue's eyes, Xu Yang felt that if he didn't shoot, he would die here!
The gunshot was so sharp that no one present could react in time. When they realized who the bullet was aimed at, Qin Yehan and Tong Gu's expressions turned to the same terror as Lin Suwen's. They turned their heads as if in slow motion, their features contorted as they screamed.
"No--"
In full view of everyone, the bullet struck Nanmenjue in the heart.
"Nanmen Jue, I know you came here for revenge, but you've missed your chance. You're too foolish to have come all this way here. Who did it all for? Zhang Chuxi? Did she manage to persuade you? I'm truly impressed!" Xu Yang laughed maniacally, pleased with his success. "Let me tell you, I never expected that stupid girl to accomplish anything, but you actually came. Looks like you're not so smart after all... Hmm?"
He laughed for a while, then suddenly realized something was wrong.
Everyone stared at Nanmen Jue's chest, where a bullet had undoubtedly struck her. Under normal circumstances, she should have collapsed in disbelief, coughing up blood. But the bullet bounced off right before everyone's eyes, as if Nanmen Jue was wearing a transparent bulletproof vest. And Nanmen Jue was still standing there, showing no signs of falling.
With her slender, beautiful fingers touching her chest, Nanmen Jue looked at Xu Yang, whose pupils were trembling, and a smile slowly appeared on her face.
Blood-red and stunningly beautiful, like a vengeful, alluring ghost.
The gun in Xu Yang's hand fell to the ground.
"This is impossible, this is impossible... this is impossible!"
If Nanmen Jue weren't a newcomer, he wouldn't be so terrified. He knew that there were no superpowers in this world, and she shouldn't have any gadgets. How could she survive being hit by a bullet?
"Monster, you're a monster, no, you're a ghost!" Xu Yang screamed shrilly, pointing his finger, "Kill them!"
"No!!"
Lin Suwen's desperate cries were drowned out by the surging gunfire. Everyone opened fire, and the monster that reversed the flow of energy pounced on her and began to bite. Qin Yehan and Tong Gu both thought they wouldn't survive this wave, so they both showed their most ruthless side in a counterattack. In any case, since they had decided to come out with Nanmen Jue, they had no intention of going back alive!
But a figure blocked their way. Bullets struck her body, and monsters tore into her flesh, but she acted as if nothing had happened, even managing to wink at them once she had a spare moment.
The two: "..."
Let alone others, even the two of them, who were on their own side, broke out in a cold sweat!
She was impervious to blades and spears. When the monster bit her, it was like biting into rubber. It could bite down, but it couldn't tear her off. Was she even alive?
"South South South South Gate..." Tong Gu remained calm despite the hail of bullets, but he was almost scared to tears by Nanmen Jue's smiling face. "Are you even human?!"
"Of course I'm human," Nanmen Jue shouted back, still barely able to hear herself. She shook her head impatiently; it was just too noisy.
Only now does she realize just how incredible the cheat code Xiao Nuo gave her was.
"To fix the body in a static state"—it really was exactly what it said! Her body seemed to be isolated into another space. She could touch it normally, but she could no longer change its state. Not even a scratch from a fingernail was allowed. In addition, with the pain shield that Nanmen Jue had negotiated, Nanmen Jue felt as if she had become invincible.
"Xu Yang is trying to escape," Nanmen Jue said. "Are you two sure you can handle this?"
"What kind of question is that?" Tong Gu protested loudly. "We can do it! We're absolutely amazing!"
Qin Yehan was busy retaliating and completely ignored the two's nonsensical conversation. Upon hearing this, he turned around and gave them a firm look.
"Leave this to us!"
Nanmen Jue, like a cheetah leaping out, moved through the hail of bullets as if they were nothing, chasing after Xu Yang in the direction he fled. His scalpel spun rapidly, reaping those who stood in his way and monsters.
"Get out of the way!"
Xu Yang was unremarkable in appearance, looking like an overly corporate slave. He ran very fast, and neither the others nor the monsters stopped him. He quickly distanced himself from Nanmen Jue. Seeing him rush into the elevator, he revealed a sinister smile to Nanmen Jue. Nanmen Jue plunged a knife into the monster's head and rushed over at his fastest speed, but still ended up crashing into the closing elevator door.
"Damn it!" She slammed her fist on the elevator door. Seeing that the numbers indicated the elevator was going down, she turned around and rushed into the circular corridor.
This time, she didn't need the steel cable. She braced herself with one arm over the railing, lifted her leg, and jumped!
Many monsters followed her and jumped down, but she didn't care. Every few floors she jumped down, she would glance at the numbers on the elevator. Seeing that Xu Yang was still going down, she frowned and continued jumping.
Where is he headed? Is there a secret weapon hidden at the bottom of the Gray Tower?
But so what if he has weapons? Nanmen Jue is invincible now!
Xiao Nuo's claws remained firmly hooked on Nanmen's shoulder. Nanmen, panting, complained, "Can't you help me peck a few monsters to death?"
"It's too dirty." Xiao Nuo turned her head away, expressing her refusal.
Nanmen Jue didn't have time to argue with the crow right now. When she jumped to the fifty-sixth floor, she found that the elevator had actually reached the bottom floor, the basement.
What is the basement level for?
Before he could think, the monsters behind him caught up, and one of them fell from above, almost hitting Nanmen Jue directly in the face.
She hadn't gone down to the lowest few floors, south of the gate. When she reached the fifth basement level, she discovered that the circular corridor had disappeared, so she had to rush to the stairwell.
She was a step ahead, rushed in, and locked the stairwell door, which was then slammed shut with a loud crashing sound.
The monsters were kept outside.
Nanmen Jue quickly arrived at the basement level. After opening the door, it was pitch black, just like the floor where she had been accidentally stopped when Zhu Wenjie had taken her down the stairs.
She took out a flashlight and went inside.
There was a lot of machine noise on this floor, making it too difficult to find anyone. Nanmenjue walked towards the center based on the spatial layout of the other floors, making up a little tune as he went.
"Xu Yang? Xu~~ Yang~~ I'm here~"
"Hurry up and come out. Now it's just the two of us. Let's settle our scores and have a good real-life fight."
"Come out~ Come out~ Where are you~ It's getting dark, little ones should go home and sleep, otherwise their souls will be eaten~"
Her voice is naturally beautiful, with a touch of androgynous magnetism, but the way she's singing in a high-pitched voice makes it sound strange.
The song, in particular, is deliberately cheerful, but anyone can hear the gloom and resentment within it.
Nanmen Jue was very observant; whenever he heard something unusual, he would quickly shine his light in that direction, but he would find nothing.
After taking a few steps, she vaguely saw the outline of a huge dark shadow and stopped in her tracks.
The shadow was enormous. From her current angle, she initially thought it was a wall, but then realized it looked more like a machine. It occupied part of the circular corridor on the other floors. Nanmen Jue shone the light upwards, but its top was not visible in the limited light.
Nanmen Jue's expression darkened. Was Xu Yang's arrival here related to this machine?
She hesitated for a moment, then walked over, her voice returning to normal: "Xu Yang? I'm already here. If you want to do something, at least do it in front of me."
As if in response to her words, the lights on the entire floor suddenly turned on. Nanmen Jue couldn't adapt to such a bright environment and squinted.
She turned off the flashlight, and after her eyes adjusted slightly, she could see what the machine looked like.
I saw it, but I didn't recognize it. It was encased in a metal shell, which is why Nanmenjue initially mistook it for a wall.
"Nanmen Jue, I'm here."
Xu Yang's voice rang out, filled with a strange excitement.
"Nanmen Jue, I'm right here. Do you dare come over?"
Nanmen Jue raised an eyebrow, turned around without hesitation, and headed in the direction from which the sound came.
"Wouldn't it have been better to make a move sooner? It would have saved us both some time."
After walking around the machine a few steps, Xu Yang's figure appeared before them. In front of him was an operating panel, which should be related to this machine. A dark blue halo reflected on his face, and he gave Nanmen Jue a strange smile.
Nanmen Jue stood at a certain distance, twirling her scalpel between her fingers, and looked up at the machine.
"Do you know what this is?" Xu Yang guided patiently, like a good teacher standing on a podium. "This is the root of this tower's existence, its most fundamental energy supply system."
He operated something, and with a loud buzzing sound, the metal shell of the machine slowly descended. This machine should occupy the entire space from the first basement level to the fifth basement level. The descent process lasted for a short while, gradually revealing its appearance. Nanmen Jue also recognized what it was.
The outer shell, made of an indestructible multi-layered alloy, has countless overlapping metal rings on its surface, interlocking like a giant honeycomb. Dozens of huge metal conduits are inserted around it, transporting the contents of the machine to all directions.
The machine is running, like the heart of this gray tower.
“This is…” Nanmen Jue paused, “a nuclear reactor?”
It looks similar to a nuclear reactor in a nuclear power plant, but it's much larger.
“Half right, I’ll give the good student ten points.” Xu Yang said, “This is the energy conversion device. It doesn’t produce energy on its own, but rather it converts some kind of substance at the bottom to supply energy to the entire gray tower.”
What's underground? Oil?
"Who knows? This world calls it Blue Essence. I've never heard of it in other worlds..." Xu Yang's expression suddenly froze halfway through his sentence, as if he had been punched. He became agitated, his eyes frantically scanning his surroundings as he roared, "Who! Who's hiding here?!"
What's going on? Are there other people here?
The momentary surprise flashed through Nanmen Jue's mind, but he quickly realized that when the natives were not around, they did not make any special effort to conceal their words. However, according to the rules, if they revealed any concepts related to the main god or the cycle of reincarnation to the natives, they would be punished, with the severity of the punishment depending on the extent of the revelation.
Xu Yang just mentioned "other worlds," which means he was probably found to have violated the rules, but it's unclear what the punishment was.
In other words, there must be indigenous people around them.
Nanmen Jue also looked around, but kept a watchful eye on Xu Yang, lest he use a feint to attack from the opposite direction.
But he was clearly not using a feint; he roared menacingly, "I know you're here! Get out here! Now!"
It seems he paid a heavy price.
Knowing they couldn't hide it any longer, footsteps sounded from the other side of the corridor, and a person appeared there. Nanmen Jue and Xu Yang showed surprised expressions.
"It's you?"
"Sister Wu?"
The person who arrived was Wu Qing, who had been captured by the Gray Tower.
She looked much more haggard, but she shouldn't have been injured. Her already messy hair was even more disheveled and tangled.
She glanced at Nanmen Jue with her round, bulging eyes, gave her a brief, slight smile, and then turned to look at Xu Yang with an extremely serious expression.
"What are you going to do?" she asked.
"How did you get here?" Xu Yang said grimly. "I didn't send someone..."
"Yes, yes, you had me locked up in the lab and made to make you take antiretroviral drugs. You even sent a guy with a gun to guard me. It's so annoying. Couldn't you have arranged for a woman? It's not embarrassing for a man to follow me to the toilet, is it?" Wu Qing interrupted him impatiently.
Xu Yang suppressed his rage, "How did you get out here!"
“I walked out on my own two feet, what else could I do?” Wu Qing said. “You think a useless guy with a gun can hold me off? You’re underestimating me, Wu Qing. I didn’t escape before because I was too lazy. Now that I know the South Gate is here, I’ve come out to see what’s going on.”
Xu Yang's face was extremely ugly. Nanmen Jue burst out laughing, which immediately drew Xu Yang's sinister gaze.
"Heh, whatever, just one... nothing." He ignored Wu Qing. "Nanmen Jue, I'm giving you one last chance. Hand over the chip and surrender, or I'll activate this thing's self-destruct mechanism. Once activated, it can't be stopped. You know who I am. Guess who the only person here will survive when this thing explodes?"
Nanmen Jue's smile vanished.
So that's what that old scoundrel was planning, and Nanmen Jue had to admit that he was being threatened.
If this energy device of this size were to explode, the entire Gray Tower would likely be reduced to ashes.
She can live, but no one else can live.
Wu Qing said, "Who else could he be but a traitor who suffered from the plague?"
Her tone was dismissive, but Nanmen Jue could hear the tension in her voice. Xu Yang's threat was too effective, making both the natives and the reincarnators feel as if they were facing a formidable enemy.
Nanmen Jue stopped twirling his knife, a kind and innocent smile appearing on his face. "I can make this deal with you, but I'd like to ask you some questions first."
She was stalling for time, betting that Qin Yehan and the others upstairs could rescue Lin Suwen. As long as they noticed the anomaly here, there was still a chance to turn the tide!
"Ask me questions? Do you think you can still ask me questions now?" Xu Yang let out a neurotic laugh, his eyes as venomous as if they were poisoned. "Who do you think you are, Nanmen Jue? It's your first time, yet you dare to lay a hand on me? Newcomers like you should obediently grovel and serve us well, then we'll share some survival methods and resources with you. That's the correct logic! Who gave you permission to be so arrogant from the start? People like you deserve a miserable and painful death!"
He became more and more agitated as he spoke, and finally roared out loud. Nanmen Jue understood what he meant completely, but Wu Qing looked completely bewildered.
"South Gate, what kind of gibberish is he speaking?"
"Just the ravings of a madman," Nanmen Jue said.
Xu Yang used very evasive words, so he probably didn't trigger the punishment mechanism. He twitched a few times, then regained his sinister calm.
"A madman? You, a madman, have the right to call others madmen? Ha."
"How is Zhu Wenjie?" Nanmen Jue suddenly asked.
"Zhu Wenjie? I don't know, he's probably dead by now." Xu Yang shook his head impatiently. "Stop dawdling, hand over the chip to me, right now. No tricks allowed, or I'll really activate the self-destruct program. You know I know the password."
“I thought you were friends, or at least allies?” Nanmen Jue said to himself, “But you don’t care about his life or death at all.”
"Friends? How naive, Nanmen Jue! I thought you were ruthless and could adapt well, but you're just a naive and foolish little girl!" Xu Yang laughed maniacally. "Where are the friends here? Anyone who treats people as friends like you will end up like you, on the chopping block! Be grateful to me for teaching you this lesson before you die. I'm such a kind and understanding senior."
A cold glint flashed in Nanmen Jue's eyes. "Since we're on the topic, why don't you tell me why Zhang Chuxi made that deal with you?"
Xu Yang stopped laughing, looking somewhat surprised. "She actually told you? You knew she was cooperating with me, yet you still came back? Perhaps I should have an even lower opinion of you. You're not only a fool who makes friends in this godforsaken place, but also a selfless saint."
Nanmen Jue's expression vanished. "Tell me, what did you promise her?"
Wu Qing didn't understand, but she realized that this question was very important to Nanmen Jue. She saw Nanmen Jue's somewhat frightening fingers clenching the scalpel, making the exposed muscles throb and look even more terrifying.
Xu Yang was even more surprised, "She told you she was cooperating with me, but she didn't tell you the details of the cooperation?"
Nanmen Jue was silent for a few seconds, then said, "She's dead. I killed her."
Wu Qing gasped, and Xu Yang's eyes widened suddenly, then he burst into laughter.
“Very good! Nanmen Jue, you really don’t hesitate to kill people, even your ‘friends’… Interesting, very interesting.” Xu Yang said with great interest, “In that case, I will do you a favor and tell you.”
His eyes, as he looked at Nanmen Jue, were filled with deep malice.
"The deal is that she will help me trick you into coming back, or kill you, and I will be kind enough not to kill her family, her mother."
“She struggled for days until I showed her the evidence that I could find her mother, and you know what I mean.”
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