Chapter 90#
Fu Yucheng and Bai Mo finalized their plan to split up and agreed to meet at a deserted waste disposal plant on the edge of the settlement after the mission was accomplished—Fu Yucheng’s small spacecraft was hidden there.
Fu Yucheng thought for a moment, then walked to a tall beast pen. After pondering for a bit, he removed the lock from the pen’s gate, leaving it loosely ajar.
Inside the pen, a giant dark green crocodile lizard was dozing peacefully beside a water trough.
Bai Mo asked in confusion: “Yu-ge, what are you doing?”
Fu Yucheng put a small sealed packet of spices into his pocket and laughed: “Crocodile lizards, these genetically modified monsters, are particularly sensitive to longan tree spices. Sometimes when I play with it, just a pinch of spice powder can make it incredibly excited…”
Bai Mo suddenly understood: “You want to lure it to the Fortress Top.”
Fu Yucheng shrugged: “Anyway, the more chaotic it gets later, the better.”
After exchanging a few more words, they split up.
…
Fu Yucheng pushed the kitchen’s small food cart along the winding gravel path and slowly arrived beneath the Fortress Top.
On the lowest floor of the Fortress Top, there was a small duty room where several guards were lazily chatting.
One of the guards had a very keen sense of smell. He smelled the aroma from afar and hurried out: “A-Cheng, what delicious food did the kitchen make today?”
Fu Yucheng smiled and opened the lid of the food cart: “There’s braised pork hock, roasted ribs, stewed pig’s head, and pickled radishes. Oh, and this too.”
As he spoke, he took out a large ceramic pot from the food cart.
The guard’s eyes widened, his face showing delight: “Wine too? It smells so good!”
Fu Yucheng laughed: “It smells even better when warmed.”
At this moment, seven or eight more hungry guards walked out. They gathered around the small food cart, greedily sniffing the aroma, and chattered: “By the way, there’s a small stove in the duty room, perfect for warming wine.”
“Right, right, right. Such good wine shouldn’t be wasted.”
“Braised pork hock with wine, tsk tsk, oh my, that taste would be incredible.”
“Come on, come on, let’s warm the wine first!”
Before long, the guards, with many hands, set up a stove in the duty room and began warming the wine.
Fu Yucheng distributed the boxed meals from the cart while greeting: “Just warm the wine enough; don’t make it too hot.”
“What’s all this commotion?” Suddenly, a steady voice rang out.
“Captain!”
“Good day, Captain!”
The guards quickly stood up and saluted the newcomer.
The newcomer was the duty captain for today, named Deva. He was a mixed-race A-class fire-type controller, very tall, with a messy, curly beard that made him look very imposing.
Deva stared at the wine pot on the stove, licking his lips: “Cough, what is this?”
Fu Yucheng chuckled inwardly. He had already found out that Captain Deva was a heavy drinker, so he intentionally brought a pot of wine today and had the guards warm it—when wine is heated, its aroma rises toward the Fortress Top.
Sure enough, Captain Deva was lured down.
Fu Yucheng had his reasons for doing this. The Fortress Top was very high, and the “Grim Reaper’s Wings” was located in the highest secret vault of the Fortress Top. The duty captain guarded the entrance to the secret vault.
Normally, if an alarm suddenly sounded, Deva would naturally open the secret vault nearby to check if the “Grim Reaper’s Wings” was still there. However, if the alarm sounded while he was on the ground floor of the Fortress Top, he would definitely hesitate whether to follow the alarm or go back to the top floor secret vault to check.
While calculating in his mind, Fu Yucheng poured Deva a full cup of wine: “Captain, please try it. This wine is brewed using ancient methods; its taste is long-lasting, and its kick is strong.”
Deva carefully took a small sip, then couldn’t help closing his eyes and making several “tsk tsk” sounds: “Good wine, good wine.”
Since the captain also joined in, the guards relaxed. A group of people ate braised meat and drank wine. For a time, the duty room on the ground floor of the Fortress Top was filled with joy.
“Beep—beep—beep—” Suddenly, the alarm on the duty room wall rang out!
Deva froze: “What’s going on?”
“Beep—beep—Strong blue gold signal detected at the east inner gate, suspected theft of Grim Reaper’s Wings. Suspect is fleeing along the east avenue outside the fortress. All guard teams, please provide support! Repeating, strong blue gold signal detected at the east inner gate…”
The duty room immediately erupted in an uproar, everyone looking at each other in astonishment.
Deva was completely stunned. He unconsciously looked up: “Grim Reaper’s Wings is stolen? How is that possible?”
He stared at the spiraling staircase above, his mind a mess.
Today was clearly calm and peaceful; how could it have been stolen?
Could a thief have secretly infiltrated?
The Fortress Top was very high; it would take climbing over a dozen floors from the ground floor duty room to the top floor secret vault. And the east inner gate was only a quarter of an hour away from here…
Fu Yucheng also showed surprise: “Grim Reaper’s Wings is stolen? This is a serious crime! This, what should we do now? If it can’t be recovered, the Lord will…”
Deva heard the words “can’t be recovered,” and a shiver ran through him. He waved his hand and shouted: “Third squad stay, first squad, second squad, follow me!”
The guards shouted: “Yes!”
Deva led dozens of guards and rushed out in a swarm. Fu Yucheng watched their retreating figures, secretly breathing a sigh of relief—the plan was half successful.
While tidying the food cart, he muttered to himself: “Sigh, how could it have been stolen?”
In the duty room, the remaining dozens of guards from the third squad also shook their heads blankly: “I don’t know, it’s strange.”
“But the inner gate’s detector can’t be wrong. Was the Fortress Top infiltrated last night?”
“Captain A-Wei was on duty last night, so it’s not our business.”
“Sigh, how could this happen…”
Fu Yucheng listened to their murmuring and raised an eyebrow: “Aren’t you going up to check?”
A guard said: “A-Cheng, you don’t know, only the captains’ fingerprints, combined with mental power of A-class or higher, can open the secret vault door. We don’t have that ability.”
Fu Yucheng had already inquired about the secret vault door; he was just asking knowingly now. He held the wine glass Deva had just touched and nodded in a feigned manner: “I see.”
As they were chatting, a low growling sound suddenly came from afar.
“Woo—woo—”
The guards in the duty room looked at each other. One sharp-eyed guard had already seen something from the window in the distance and shouted: “Oh no, it’s a crocodile lizard! Damn, how did this thing get out!”
His shout threw the entire duty room into chaos.
Some rushed out with weapons, some hurried back to get weapons, and others quickly put on light armor… Captain Deva was absent, and the third squad’s leader was also at a loss, only shouting: “Don’t panic, everyone! Don’t panic!”
And Fu Yucheng had already secretly slipped in.
He quickly turned a corner and arrived at the guards’ changing room. He swiftly changed into light armor and goggles, then ran up the spiral staircase, shouting in a panicked voice as he ran: “The crocodile lizard is coming! The crocodile lizard is coming!”
Normally, the Fortress Top was heavily guarded, and a new face, even with goggles, would easily be recognized. Moreover, the internal spiral staircase of the Fortress Top had a checkpoint every five floors, requiring an ID card to pass.
But at this moment, Captain Deva had taken a group of people to chase the stolen Grim Reaper’s Wings, and with the giant crocodile lizard causing trouble downstairs, the Fortress Top was already in chaos, and no one was in charge.
Fu Yucheng climbed a dozen floors in succession. There was no one left on the spiral staircase; the surroundings were quiet.
He turned another narrow staircase. At the very top of the staircase was a heavy circular metal door—inside the metal circular door was the secret vault.
Fu Yucheng looked around, confirmed there was no one, then took out the wine glass from his pocket, pulled out a roll of tape, and then carefully peeled off the fingerprints from the wine glass little by little.
He pressed the tape onto the fingerprint scanner and slowly injected a bit of Deva’s fire-type mental power. With a crisp “ding—” sound, the heavy metal door slowly opened.
Fu Yucheng was overjoyed and quickly slipped inside.
Inside the metal door was a small secret vault, dimly lit.
The walls of the secret vault were made of ochre-red rock, several feet thick, and hung with various Soul Weapons of different qualities: bows and arrows, long sabers, battle axes… and so on. Clearly, the Titan Lord was a collector of cold weapon Soul Weapons.
Fu Yucheng didn’t notice these Soul Weapons at all. His gaze was completely drawn to the white stone platform in the center of the secret vault.
On the pure white stone platform was a golden statue of the Goddess of Death, about a foot tall. This statue of the Goddess of Death was extremely exquisite, made of pure gold. She lowered her eyes, her expression compassionate and serene.
And on the back of the statue were a pair of soaring dark blue wings—the “Grim Reaper’s Wings.”
Fu Yucheng was slightly stunned upon seeing the true appearance of the Grim Reaper’s Wings for the first time. This peerless Soul Weapon, as famous as the “Silent Blue Moon,” didn’t look like a weapon but rather a pair of palm-sized wings. Every feather was meticulously detailed and lifelike, shimmering with a faint blue light.
Fu Yucheng looked at it for a moment, unable to make sense of it, then reached out and took down the “Grim Reaper’s Wings.”
The moment the “Grim Reaper’s Wings” was in his hand, he almost uncontrollably shivered violently and couldn’t help closing his eyes tightly—the absolutely pure blue-gold Soul Weapon resonated with his mental power, like a surging wave, roaring through his mind.
At this moment, a flurry of footsteps and faint human voices suddenly came from the spiral staircase outside the door: “Someone’s in the secret vault!”
“Lord, what should we do?”
“Who’s in there?!”
“Lord, please let your subordinate…”
Fu Yucheng reacted extremely quickly, immediately spun around, and then with a “Bang!”, fiercely kicked the loosely ajar metal circular door shut, then rotated the anti-lock compass several times.
He had just locked the door when he suddenly blanked for a moment, couldn’t help cursing himself for being an idiot—locking this metal door meant that people outside couldn’t get in, but he couldn’t get out either!
Fu Yucheng hesitated for only a moment, then tucked the “Grim Reaper’s Wings” into his waist, and quickly took down a Soul Weapon from the secret vault wall—a giant battle axe—and then fiercely chopped at the wall!
“Bang! Bang!!”
Before long, with a loud “Boom!”, countless stone fragments fell, and a large hole appeared in the wall of the Fortress Top secret vault.
Fu Yucheng poked his head out of the hole and cautiously looked down.
With several “whoosh” sounds, several sharp arrows grazed his hairline, passing by with barely an inch to spare!
He touched a graze on the side of his face and couldn’t help but inwardly groan—at some point, a group of archers had gathered in the small plaza below the Fortress Top!
At this moment, a “squeaking” sound came from the metal door, and with this sound, a series of crimson sparks erupted from the edge of the door. Clearly, someone was trying to force the door open.
And outside the door were the Titan Lord and his many guards.
Fu Yucheng weighed his options for only a few seconds, then gritted his teeth fiercely and, with a nimble leap, jumped out!
The moment he was airborne, the archer captain below gave a soft command: “Fire!”
In a flash, thousands of sharp arrows, accompanied by the whistling of fierce wind, came rushing toward him!
Fu Yucheng was in mid-air, with nowhere to dodge!
He was about to brace himself for the impact, when his body suddenly felt light.
The “Grim Reaper’s Wings,” which had been tucked into his waist, broke free from its restraints and silently soared into the air, suddenly unfurling on Fu Yucheng’s back!
These dark blue wings instantly transformed into a massive, substantial blue afterimage, over a zhang long, shimmering eerily in mid-air!
Fu Yucheng, with wings on his back, looked down upon all living beings from above, like the Grim Reaper descending upon the world.
The crowd below the Fortress Top was dumbfounded, and the released arrows had already reached Fu Yucheng!
The Grim Reaper’s Wings vibrated slightly, emitting a low “humming” sound… And those thousands of sharp arrows, with the vibration of this peerless Soul Weapon, actually froze in mid-air and then fell to the ground.
The archers stared blankly at the Grim Reaper looking down upon all living beings. Because of the great distance and the dazzling, magnificent “Grim Reaper’s Wings,” they couldn’t clearly see the deity’s appearance. But no one drew their bow again, nor did anyone speak a word.
At some point, someone slowly knelt down: “General Mo!”
“It’s General Mo!”
More people knelt down.
“General Mo is back! He’s come back for us!”
“General Mo, we finally waited for you!”
Fu Yucheng floated quietly in mid-air, his eyes lowered in silence.
He naturally understood that Mo Hanchuan had been a close friend of his great-grandfather. Perhaps this General Mo’s innate Soul Weapon—these “Grim Reaper’s Wings”—had some connection with Rong Qian, or even recognized two masters. That’s why he, as Rong Qian’s S-class direct blood relative, could also wield this peerless Soul Weapon.
Gradually, a dense crowd gathered below the Fortress Top. They knelt down in waves, like a tide.
Some were shocked, some were bewildered, some prostrated themselves on the ground, crying loudly, and some reverently watched that faint blue light… until the last trace of light disappeared into the distant sky.