Chapter 420: The Unveiling

Even the all-capable Engineer Sun was a bit stumped.

He had been leading his crew in road construction at the edge of the Black Forest when he suddenly received a call from Yu Sheng, saying there was a special "little job" out of town that needed help. The honest civil engineering bro didn't think twice. Following Yu Sheng's instructions, he led his men and equipment through a gate that had appeared right at the edge of the Black Forest—only then did he learn that the so-called "little job" was digging a nine-tailed celestial fox out of a pile of fused crystal.

And the reason this nine-tailed celestial fox was stuck in the ground was that she had conducted an orbital bombardment.

"I'm serious," Engineer Sun's voice came from the speakers of his power armor, sounding a bit muffled. "I've dug trenches on planets on the verge of breaking apart, paved roads in bizarre spaces contaminated by entities, and even knocked out bunkers on wastelands infested with swarms—but I've never seen anything like this. Following you really broadens one's horizons."

"You're not the only one. I feel like I've learned a lot too," Yu Sheng chuckled, turning to glance at Engineer Sun. "So, can you do it or not? If not, I'll go ask the civil engineering immortals from Thousand Peaks Spirit Mountain to figure something out."

"That's you looking down on me. I've never done this job before, but it's not difficult," Engineer Sun immediately shot Yu Sheng a look. The pride of a civil engineering bro made him take on the task without hesitation. "You keep the gate open. I'll have a few brothers go back and grab some more suitable tools. What we brought won't cut it."

Before long, the workers Engineer Sun had brought changed into proper gear and began bustling around Hu Li.

The civil engineering bros' jackhammers roared, cutting machines clattered, sparks flew, and crystal dust danced across the ground around Hu Li.

Yu Sheng, Aileen, and Luna just stood by and watched the commotion.

Engineer Sun stood beside him, curiously observing the place.

Garrison-3's environment was not suitable for human survival—severe radiation, toxic atmosphere. So Engineer Sun and his civil engineering bros had come wearing heavy, engineering-type power armor designed for extraterrestrial operations. Though this outfit wasn't as imposing as Xu Jiali's armor, it still carried the unique heaviness and power of construction machinery. The only thing worth complaining about was that Engineer Sun had covered his armor with all sorts of messy graffiti, the most conspicuous being a line of large characters on the chest plate: "AAA Civil Engineering Bro Sun."

He was clearly quite proud of this gear. Every now and then, he would launch a small drone from his arm to take selfies of himself with the desolate alien background, each movement showing off his power armor.

After posing like that for a while, he finally turned his gaze to Yu Sheng. His expression flickered with subtle hesitation for a few seconds before he couldn't help speaking up: "Seriously, I know you're special, but I really didn't expect you wouldn't even need a protective suit in a place like this—aren't you suffocating?"

"How should I put it? This place does smell pretty bad, so I stopped breathing a while ago," Yu Sheng thought for a moment, then waved his hand honestly. "I'm pretty adaptable—I can breathe, but I can also go without."

"...I don't think this is about adaptability anymore," Engineer Sun's eye twitched, but having dealt with Yu Sheng many times and being a veteran agent in the Special Operations Bureau, he quickly moved past this "minor detail." "Forget it. Let's talk about this place instead... What the hell did you guys fight? Look at the scale of this mess."

"We're not sure what that thing was yet, but I suspect it's related to the Dim Angel," Yu Sheng noticed Engineer Sun's expression change and quickly waved his hand mid-sentence. "Don't worry. The Dim Angel's true body definitely isn't here. If it were, this fight wouldn't have ended so easily."

Engineer Sun's face was still stiff. After a long pause, he choked out a single word: "...Holy shit."

"We still haven't figured out the exact state of the 'enemy,' so there are a few more things I'll need your help with later," Yu Sheng continued, recalling the various visions he had seen while establishing the "connection" with that crystal forest. "After we dig Hu Li out, I want you to keep digging around here. There should be some residual 'crystal branch' structures under this layer of ground. We need to take samples and send them to the Bureau—Zheng Zhi already submitted a report to the higher-ups. Your director knows how to handle it."

Hearing Yu Sheng talk about these serious matters, Engineer Sun's expression turned grave. He nodded solemnly: "No problem. We've done this kind of work before. But for sample recovery, we'll need to call in people from the Bureau. We're only good at the rough stuff. Encapsulating, containing, and transferring high-risk samples is delicate work—that's for the specialist recovery teams."

Yu Sheng had already pulled out his phone: "I know. I'll message your director right now."

As they spoke, a sudden cracking sound of rock breaking came from not far away, interrupting their conversation.

Yu Sheng looked up and saw the civil engineering bros around Hu Li backing away, with some shouting as they retreated: "We broke through! We broke through! Watch out for her claws! Back off, back off—"

Once the bros had retreated to a safe distance, Hu Li shook her body in place, carefully set her four legs on the ground, then pushed back and pulled her head out of the dirt.

The dusty nine-tailed silver fox sat there dazedly, front paws on the ground, a ring of incompletely broken stone still around her neck. Her eyes looked a bit vacant. After a moment, she shook her head left and right, shattering the ring of stone, causing another shower of sand and debris.

Yu Sheng dodged the falling rocks while looking up at the seemingly dazed giant fox, calling out to her: "Hu Li, how do you feel?"

"My head's buzzing," Hu Li replied honestly, though her eyes were still a bit vacant, she quickly lowered her head and nuzzled Yu Sheng with her nose. "There's this boom-boom-boom sound in my ears."

Yu Sheng laughed. Of course, he knew why her head was buzzing—after all, a group of civil engineering bros in power armor had been hammering around her head with jackhammers for half an hour. Anyone would be dazed by that. "What can you do? Digging you out was tough. The rocks and crystals around your head were all fused into one solid chunk."

Hu Li shook her head again, shaking off the gravel stuck to her. She seemed to have finally recovered, looking cheerful again. She stuck out her tongue and licked Yu Sheng (an action that nearly sent him flying), then a thunderous rumble came from her stomach.

"Benefactor, I'm hungry. Food."

Yu Sheng's head was still buzzing from being slapped by Hu Li's tongue, and then he broke into a cold sweat at her words. But he quickly reacted, opening a gate large enough for even the fox-form Hu Li to walk through. "Let's eat, let's eat. I've already contacted the Bureau. Their cafeteria is ready for you."

Hu Li looked up and saw the Bureau's cafeteria on the other side of the gate, along with those familiar, friendly kitchen staff. Her eyes lit up.

Yu Sheng only saw a flash of white light, and by the time he reacted, Hu Li had already darted into the cafeteria on the other side.

Aileen, perched on Yu Sheng's shoulder, craned her neck to look through the gate and sighed, "What a tough battle..."

Yu Sheng: "It's fine. The Bureau people are battle-hardened and well-traveled..."

Engineer Sun stood nearby, sweating profusely. He glanced at the scene on the other side of the gate, where Hu Li was already wolfing down food, and silently sympathized with his colleagues in the Bureau. Then he turned his attention back to the work at hand.

"So... we start digging?"

"Let's begin," Yu Sheng nodded, pointing at the big pit Hu Li's head had made, while using the connection established through blood to carefully sense the faint residual reactions deep underground. "Start here. I'll tell you the approximate structure below."

...

Shuji, Mo City.

The rain had not stopped.

Xuan Che had come to the city lord's manor again—this time at the invitation of City Lord Mo Ran.

Following Xuan Che the "Celestial Envoy's" request, Mo Ran had contacted Shuji's "Star-Calming Elder" yesterday. The elder was scheduled to arrive in the city today. Counting the time, he should be here soon.

Now Xuan Che was waiting in the reception room for the Star-Calming Elder. While waiting, he also kept himself updated on what was happening on Garrison-3 through messages from Yu Sheng.

The bizarre crystal forest, the "Yun Qingzi" appearing in the crystal clusters, the strange signals from deep underground, and the cross-stellar "echo" between Garrison-3 and Shuji...

Xuan Che's brows were tightly furrowed. He stood by the window, his expression heavy as he gazed at the rain outside.

His divine sense slowly spread outward, now covering the entire city lord's manor, and then cautiously extended further, probing this rain-shrouded border city.

Everything seemed normal in the city. People came and went on the roads. The central district was still bustling. Even though the mining industry that had once been the pillar had declined, Mo City, as the largest city on this planet, still appeared prosperous.

But he still felt something was off—a strange sense of dissonance, a coldness, an eerie feeling of being submerged in something. Like the relentless rain outside the window, it seemed to envelop everything, unsettling his mind.

Especially after receiving the news from Garrison-3, this unease and dissonance grew more pronounced.

A presence was approaching.

Xuan Che immediately adjusted his expression, withdrew his focus, and turned to look at the door of the reception room.

The door opened, and Mo City's lord, Mo Ran, appeared at the entrance.

This dignified, calm woman bowed to Xuan Che: "Celestial Envoy, you've been waiting long. Elder Daoheng has arrived."

As she spoke, she stepped half a pace to the side, making way for someone to enter, and then raised her hand to introduce: "This is Shuji's 'Star Guardian,' Elder Daoheng."

Then she pointed to Xuan Che: "Elder Daoheng, this is Celestial Envoy Xuan Che from the Taixu Spiritual Pivot, representing Thousand Peaks Spirit Mountain."

There were two seconds of silence in the room. Mo Ran bowed slightly: "Then I won't disturb the two of you."

Xuan Che stood by the window, his face calm as still water as he looked at Mo Ran, and at the space beside her.

There were only two people in the room: him and Mo Ran. At the door... there was no one else.