area51novel Chapter 177 Star Luo City
Chapter 177 Star Luo City
Upon receiving this signal, Longyou activated its large stealthy, soul-guided unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, which was parked one kilometer away from the Guangming Baitie reconnaissance vehicle.
The reconnaissance aircraft didn't need to identify the newcomers. By comparing their soul power characteristics, the Guangming Iron Reconnaissance Vehicle had already confirmed that the newcomers were indeed Fan Yu and Qian Duoduo. The task Long You assigned to the reconnaissance aircraft was simply to confirm whether Huang Que was following Fan Yu, Qian Duoduo, and Elder Zhuang (at an extremely long distance, tracked via a soul tool).
The Guangming Iron Reconnaissance Vehicle fell silent again. Long You knew that the vehicle was guiding Fan Yu, Qian Duoduo, and Zhuang Lao to a transfer point according to the predetermined route.
This section of the route is reserved for large stealth guided unmanned reconnaissance aircraft to conduct reconnaissance and determine targets.
At 10:16 a.m., the luxury sphere welcomed new guests.
"This thing is quite convenient. Did you just make it, Xiao You?"
"Well, I think it was done about a month ago. At the time, I had a lot of soul tools that needed to be modified and upgraded, so I forgot to upload them to the system."
"Alright, now let's talk about the specifics of yesterday. Do you know the last place Elder Xuan disappeared from?"
This time, Long You doesn't need to come. Zhang Lexuan and others who personally experienced the battle are the ones who can best explain the situation and their own feelings at the time.
It took about an hour for Zhang Lexuan to recount her experiences with the main team. After Zhuang Lao, who possessed the Life Angel Martial Soul (the author couldn't find the specific information about the Martial Soul, but if any readers know, please let the author know), carefully examined the physical condition of the group, he confirmed that apart from Ma Xiaotao and the other three who had already shown signs of Martial Soul corruption, the other four had no residual effects of the Soul-Absorbing Blood Mist in their bodies.
"So, it can control the blood and also directly erode the Soul Master's sea of consciousness through unknown factors that seep into the blood, thereby controlling and influencing the Soul Master?"
"Yes, the unknown factors that seep into the blood also have a guiding power. If these unknown factors cannot be eliminated for a long time, or if one does not leave the area covered by these unknown factors, then even a normal Soul Master's Martial Soul may be led astray."
"I now understand the situation of Xiao Tao and the others," said Elder Zhuang, who was in charge of checking and treating the inner court students, as the battle situation had been explained.
"The academy already has experience in dealing with this level of martial soul mutation. As long as one can awaken the martial soul consciousness, and communicate and interact with the martial soul consciousness, the martial soul consciousness will naturally correct this degenerate tendency."
"You guys go deal with that evil spirit master's lair later, I'll take Xiao Tao and the others back to the academy."
“Okay, Elder Zhuang. For safety’s sake this time, Fan Yu and Le Xuan will take the remaining students to find another place to hide. I will go and explore that old lair myself.”
"Is there any problem with what Dean Qian is doing? We don't even know the situation of Elder Xuan. If someone caused Elder Xuan's disappearance, could those people be in their hideout right now?"
"We need to be careful, Dean Qian."
"That's why I'm not letting you go. If Elder Xuan really disappeared due to human error, and those who caused Elder Xuan's disappearance happen to be in that lair right now, it would be very dangerous for any of you to go. It's much more flexible for me to go alone."
"this······"
Contra's strength is not weak, but compared to the person who caused Xuan Lao, a level 98 Super Douluo, to go missing, Contra's strength is really insignificant and he is completely a burden.
"Still no news from Xuanzi? How is Lin Huiqun handling things?"
Because he wasn't familiar with the communication soul tool, Elder Zhuang hadn't been paying close attention to its status. Now, hearing Qian Duoduo and Fan Yu's conversation, Elder Zhuang realized that Elder Xuan hadn't sent any news back yet.
"Elder Zhuang, finding Elder Xuan is far more difficult than finding Le Xuan and the others. As for the children, unless Elder Xuan shows himself, they will have absolutely no chance of finding him."
In this way, if Elder Lin and the others want to find Elder Xuan, they will have to start by investigating bit by bit from the Northwest Army camp of the Star Luo Empire, which will take much longer than if we came directly here.
"I can't let you go alone. Anyone else would be a burden. I, your old woman, will be fine. If the worst-case scenario you've anticipated really happens, with me here, there'll at least be some room for maneuver."
"Old Zhuang, Xiao Tao and the others' condition cannot be delayed."
"It's alright, let Fanyu take them back. I know your Soul Guidance Department has recently developed a flying Soul Guidance Device that can carry people, but it only carries four people, so it can take them."
If you're worried about your health deteriorating on the road, then bring Big White along. Based on previous checkups, Big White should be enough.
Having heard Zhuang Lao speak to this extent, Qian Duoduo stopped refuting him. When facing an enemy whose abilities and circumstances are unknown, having a strong ally by your side is a blessing.
"Um, Elder Zhuang, Dean Qian, I have some information that might be related to the Death Hand Bandit Gang. Would you like to hear it?"
Long You, who had been silent for a long time, finally spoke. The two gray-robed evil spirit masters who came to support the Holy Spirit Cult were indeed an unexpected problem for Long You, but he still knew the original situation of the Death Hand bandit group.
Last night, after his consciousness entered the Pearl of Imagination, Long You even pondered whether there was any connection between the Soul-Stealing Blood Mist and the Corpse Explosion ability of the leader of the Death Hand Bandit Gang.
Although Long You's conventional mind couldn't figure out the connection between the two in the end, the spiritual intuition granted to him by the Pearl of Imagination kept reminding him that there was a relationship between them.
Since his spiritual intuition had never betrayed him, Long You decided to tell Qian Duoduo all the information he still remembered about the former leader of the Death Hand bandit gang.
"Speak up. At a time like this, whatever the information is, just say it."
"According to the information gathered from the Star Luo Empire, the evil ability of the former leader of the Death Hand bandit gang should be related to corpses. I have carefully analyzed the cases provided by the Star Luo Empire, and in every case where this leader appeared, the corpses left at the scene were all incomplete pieces of flesh."
Since there are no pictures, I cannot analyze the state of the minced meat, but judging from the fact that the corpse turned into minced meat, that evil ability is probably something like the ability to control the corpse to explode.
My intuition tells me that this corpse explosion ability is the real reason why the Holy Spirit Cult sent two Soul Saint-level evil soul masters with the ability of Soul-Sucking Blood Mist.
"One can control people, and the other can control corpses. Something doesn't feel right!"
As people age, they become more shrewd. Qian Duoduo has lived a lifetime and encountered far more situations than Long You. Sure enough, Qian Duoduo also noticed the things that Long You could intuitively sense were amiss.
"Le Xuan, tell this old woman again about the situation of your battle back then."
Not only did Qian Duoduo notice something amiss, but Old Zhuang also clearly made the connection. Moreover, Old Zhuang clearly had a further line of thought.
"Something's not right. How could two evil soul masters at the Soul Saint level have used so few techniques during the battle?"
The Holy Spirit Cult likely sent these two to have the Hand of Death cooperate in conducting some horrific experiments. The reason these two appeared at this time is probably because they exhausted themselves during the experiments and wanted to do something to replenish their energy.
"Duo Duo, this time when we're infiltrating that lair, we need to be wary of those controlled, fearless soul masters and bandit members who will self-destruct at the last moment."
Undead creatures, biological weapons
After Zhuang Lao finished speaking, Long You felt as if he had been possessed by Conan in an instant. A flash of lightning struck his mind, and all the clues were connected at that moment.
In this life, compared to the original story, the situation of the Long family in Xingluo City has changed, so the Holy Spirit Cult has obviously increased its attention to the Xingluo Empire.
This increased attention brought the Holy Spirit Cult to the attention of the Hand of Death, which was active on the borders of the Star Luo Empire. After learning of the Hand of Death's unique abilities, the Holy Spirit Cult likely conceived the idea of creating a batch of biological weapons.
Those two gray-robed evil spirit masters were sent by the higher-ups of the Holy Spirit Cult to reclaim the Hand of Death and, incidentally, conduct biological experiments.
Once Long You had sorted out his thoughts, Qian Duoduo and Zhuang Lao also left the luxury ball.
After the soul probe confirmed the safety of the surroundings once again, Fan Yu and Zhang Lexuan led the team away from the luxury ball.
This time, they won't continue traversing and hiding in these mountains; they'll head directly to Star Luo City. The competition is fast approaching, and while failing to complete the mission perfectly is one thing, missing the competition altogether is unforgivable.
Because Dai Yueheng, Ling Luochen, and Gongyang Mo had not yet recovered from their injuries, the group did not travel very fast, and everyone rested in the luxury sphere that day.
However, there was some good news as well. At least, Qian Duoduo and Elder Zhuang had good news: the Death Hand bandit gang's hideout had been destroyed.
The most complicated situation that everyone expected did not occur. There were indeed a considerable number of self-destructing puppets in that lair, but with Qian Duoduo and Zhuang Lao on guard, these self-destructing puppets, whose quality (strength in life) was not particularly high, could not affect the two titled Douluo at all.
In the end, the evil spirit master who was exhausted from the modification experiment and could only rest in his lair was locked up by Qian Duoduo's martial spirit and taken directly back to Shrek Academy.
"This is good news; at least we can rest easy for half of us. But why haven't we heard anything from Elder Xuan yet?"
"Ah, it's not that we had absolutely no information. It's just that the distance was too great and communication wasn't reliable enough, so we couldn't get very accurate information during the flight."
As an eighth-level Soul Master, Fan Yu's communication Soul Tool was of a higher level than those used by Long You and the others. During the day's flight, Fan Yu's phone could occasionally receive a signal, but no one else, including Long You, received a signal (from the academy) on their communication Soul Tools.
"Rest now. It's not bad news. Elder Xuan is out of danger, and we have a pretty good idea of who did it. However, Elder Xuan will probably need to return to the academy and have Elder Mu help him fully recover."
[Dragon Emperor Douluo! It must be Dragon Emperor Douluo, but why is he appearing now? Could it be that this experiment has attracted the attention of the Holy Spirit Cult leader?]
Others might not know how many people on this continent could threaten Elder Xuan, but Long You knew very well. Using the Holy Spirit Cult as a filter, and considering that Elder Xuan was not in mortal danger, the already small number of potential candidates instantly became the only option.
(If it were Di Tian who made the move, Elder Xuan would most likely not survive.)
Long You's mind was filled with various questions, but he clearly couldn't bring himself to ask about information that was beyond his current knowledge.
The students from various academies, relieved, had a good night's rest. Having temporarily lost Da Bai, their powerful healer, Dai Yueheng and his companions' recovery speed had noticeably slowed, meaning tomorrow would still be another day they couldn't travel at full speed.
(In the middle, Song Lao and Qian Duoduo caught up with Fan Yu, who was transporting Ma Xiaotao and the other three in a manned flying soul tool. Then Fan Yu was sent back, but Da Bai was temporarily and forcibly requisitioned.)
However, everyone was not too far from Xingluo City at the moment. Even without traveling at full speed, everyone entered the territory of Xingluo City by the afternoon of the second day.
To show respect, the Shrek Academy group landed from the air when they were still five kilometers away from the city wall.
As the capital of the Star Luo Empire, Star Luo City truly deserves its title as the empire's largest city. Returning to this city more than a decade later, Long You could still see many familiar faces.
However, according to Grandpa Long and Uncle Long You, now is not the time for the Long You family to appear at the Long family mansion.
Therefore, although Long You was very familiar with the city, the academy's guide was still Dai Yueheng, the eldest son of Duke Baihu.
Passing through the city wall, which is hundreds of meters high and built entirely of solid rock, you will come to the widest main road. This main road can accommodate sixteen carriages traveling in both directions, making it the most iconic building in the outer city of Xingluo City.
However, the core of Star Luo City is still the inner city located in the city center, a true city within a city. Only high-ranking officials and nobles can live in this city within a city, which has been built and renovated since the lineage of the White Tiger Duke.
Sitting in the Soul Guide Off-Road Vehicle, Long You could clearly see that the flow of people in the city had increased significantly.