Master of the Stars

Luo Nan had a bad feeling ever since they left the room.

They had embarked after they rendezvoused with Bai Xinyan. Their route was none other than the area swept by the sniper bullet trajectories not so long ago. The amusement center was completely empty and all they saw was a complete mess. The helmets and equipment were on the ground everywhere, tossed by customers who lost their minds in fear. Occasionally, they would happen upon human corpses blasted by the high-energy rounds.

The automatic sprinkles had activated above; it now rained both inside and outside the amusement center. The water mixed with the flesh and the blood to form a paste-like substance and the faint red bloody water flowed beneath their feet. Their group, who had been stuck in the room for quite a while, found the current situation hard to imagine.

At the very least, Luo Nan never expected this. He never expected to see this scene in Frost River Reality.

At this time, he had to repeat meaningless words endlessly. "Yes, don’t worry. I’m fine. I’m really fine. I’m with the special forces. It is very safe here. Don’t worry..."

He was talking to Mo Qiu, his older cousin whose legs had turned to jello from the shock and was waiting outside. Mo Qiu did not stop Luo Nan from leading Officer Xue into Frost River Reality. He had thought that Luo Nan was trying to get on this police officer’s good side, to make it easier to plea for leniency for Mo Peng and the others’ sake. After all, they had been taken into custody for being involved in a brawl. But how was he to know that a terrorist attack would happen in the amusement center just a dozen minutes later? There was news that the special forces were knocked out. Then came the explosive sounds of gunshots. Frost River Reality had exploded with chaos.

Mo Qiu and the others had been brought outside by the chaotic tide of people. He wanted to contact Luo Nan but his call went to voicemail. Mo Qiu was scared out of his mind for Luo Nan. He thought about calling again but in these special circumstances, repeated calls would bring Luo Nan troubles. It was an impossible situation and it tormented him until he practically went mad.

In the end, Luo Nan noticed the missed call on his wristband while he evacuated from the room. He called back and let Mo Qiu’s stomach filled with fires of torment settle down. The relieving of stress would inevitably make one be a bit chatty. Luo Nan used a patient tone to lessen Mo Qiu’s worries. From their conversation, he was able to partially grasp the situation outside.

After the so-called terrorist attack hit, the police set up a blockade line surrounding Frost River Reality and they evacuated the civilians nearby. Everyone believed that the police would rush in at godspeed and control the situation within Frost River Reality. But no one ever expected the police to hesitate outside, even after amassing several hundred personnel. They just dispatched a few combat robots and other unmanned machinery inside. These robots would rescue a few civilians from time to time or retrieve a few corpses. Aside from this, they really did not do anything besides draw resentment from the civilians.

Luo Nan heard how the police was handling things. He nodded. "Well, this is the way they should do things..."

Currently, Frost River Reality was enveloped by the Order of Justice’s Words of Krait power. All living beings within its range would likely be reduced to ‘snake hives’. They would help the enemy. The police methods were clearly directed.

Mo Qiu did not understand. "Nanster?"

Luo Nan was unable to explain such things to Mo Qiu. He could only say. "Mo Peng and the others have already been brought to the station right? It’s safe there. Third brother, you, Senior Sister Xiaolin, and Senior Sister Tian should leave quickly. You guys should go far far away. I heard some internal information. These terrorists probably have weapons of great destruction..."

"What!?"

"Don’t talk nonsense." Xue Weilun heard Luo Nan speak without thinking and put a stop to it at once.

Luo Nan waved a hand towards him in apology. He then continued talking with Mo Qiu. "I’m with the special forces. I’ll probably evacuate from a different direction. Don’t be concerned about me. Just be concerned about getting far away from here... Also, don’t talk about this matter with our family for now."

"You think you can hide it from them?" Mo Qiu laughed bitterly. "The media of the entire world have their cameras focused on you guys."

"..."

Luo Nan ended the call with Mo Qiu. His brain could not help but imagine what Mo Qiu said about the rescue and corpse retrieval situation with the police. The indescribably bad feeling invaded his mind once more and forced him to sigh with worry.

Xue Weilun saw that Luo Nan had ended his call. He walked up to him and gave him a few reminders. "Luo Nan. You may be an expert but your family members are not. They may not be able to handle things. You can’t guarantee that he won’t spread information outside and be manipulated by others..."

Luo Nan just wanted to emphasize to Mo Qiu the importance of getting far away asap. He was referring to the Words of Krait when he talked about weapons of great destruction. It was not too far from the truth. However, Xue Weilun was an elder. Having heard these words from Xue Weilun, Luo Nan went along obediently.

Xue Weilun only said such things because of his professional habits. He saw how Luo Nan had manifested the tetrahedron figures to protect their bodies. He saw Luo Nan’s mystical power. He automatically associated the identity of this young man with that of an expert. He naturally had worries of his own.

Now he saw that Luo Nan was able to maintain a respectful attitude towards his elders. Luo Nan possessed impressive discipline. His original solid impression of Luo Nan being a drug abuser was diluted by quite a bit. At the same time, he now had somewhat of a good impression of Luo Nan.

Xue Weilun also did not want to label his son’s friend with any stereotypes. The suspicions he had once harbored were resolved all at once. He reached out with his hand to swipe twice at the ghostly tetrahedron figure on his chest. The air rippled with subtle waves visible to the naked eye. The figure warped and morphed a bit but was soon restored to its original state.

"This figure... It can guard against those mental attacks, right? How long can it be maintained for? What is its name?"

"Format Pyramid, so my grandfather calls it." Luo Nan laughed. "It’s a bit of an exaggeration to say that it can guard against mental attacks. It can only prevent disturbances on the mental plane. For a direct attack, it can only act as a cushion to give one time to react."

As he spoke, he looked at the tetrahedron figures on the chest of the surrounding group of people. Each one of them was protected by the Format Pyramid buff and this made Luo Nan quite happy. His voice was bright and clear. "As for how long it lasts... Things will be fine as long as I’m standing here."

"Student Luo Nan. Are you sure that ’you’ are fine?"

Before Luo Nan could finish speaking, someone else besides him spoke. She spoke with an emphasis on the second ’you’. There were some implications in her words. The speaker was none other than Bai Xinyan.

As their party made their way according to the evacuation route, this doctor of medicine had her head down and was looking at her wristband the entire time. It seemed that she was looking at some data. Her concentration made it so that she was practically blind to her surroundings. She had barely spoken at all today and it seemed that the words she did speak were quite undermining.

"Doctor Bai..." Luo Nan could only squeeze out these words before suddenly going speechless. Bai Xinyan had gotten close to him, reached out with her arm, and seized him by the shoulders in a half-pressing, half-hugging sort of way. She just walked forward with Luo Nan in this dubious position, attracting side-long glances from the people nearby.

Luo Nan understood clearly that Bai Xinyan did not have ‘those’ intentions but her arm held him tight and her body pressed tightly against his. He felt an indescribable softness against his back and his body subconsciously stiffened up.

"Light tactile sense: normal."

"Huh?"

After that, not only did Bai Xinyan have his shoulders in her embrace, she used her other hand to lightly turn his neck and examine his carotid artery. The warmth of her fingers invaded Luo Nan’s skin as his veins and nerves pulsed. This information was fed to Bai Xinyan through her finger.