Master of the Stars

Red Fox smashed down with rapid-fire questions but Bamboo Pole lectured beside him, explaining in calm and even-tempered manner. "Well, we’re not helping Fairchild exactly. You see, there are still innocent civilians within Frost River Reality. My initial estimation places the numbers at a hundred, with all of them being in Area A. They are divided into twenty clusters, with each of them containing two to seven people."

As Luo Nan listened attentively, Zhang Yingying came over to him, unwilling to forgive him. Bai Xinyan tried to hold her back by the shoulders but it was no use. "Hey! You said you could feel a sharp change. Were you telling the truth?"

"It’s true," replied Luo Nan without hesitation.

"Baseless talk. Who would believe you? Yea! So, draw me another portrait!"

"Eh?" In the time before Luo Nan could react, Zhang Yingying had stuffed a thin notebook into his hands. As she did this, she prodded a pencil into one of his hands as well. She was actually quite considerate; the pencil was already sharpened and it nearly pierced his skin.

It was really quite difficult to find paper notebooks and similar consumer articles in places like this amusement center. The things Zhang Yingying had stuffed into his hands must be game related merchandise. There should be showy game related icons and decorations on the borders, covers, and inner layers.

Luo Nan was speechless for a time. He was able to get a fan from his sketched drawings? Moreover, his fan was actually this unfathomable and odd woman, Zhang Yingying?

Bai Xinyan was quite baffled. "Are you saying that you really like his drawings?"

Zhang Yingying was beaming with smiles. Not a trace of anger could be seen. "He’s a psychic! He can trace back the past. He can know the future. He can see what others can’t see. My boss explained to me that my sense toward White Rainbow is far too subjective. I need more references from different perspectives. His drawings are simple and open. I can save a lot of effort with them."

Luo Nan could only smile wryly in regards to her reasoning. He opened the notebook but looked at the ceiling above. The sprinklers were going off, soaking Luo Nan’s hair. The water scattered onto the notebook and soon a page was soaked as well.

Zhang Yingying rolled her eyes in response. She pressed him. "Do it when things are over! You will give it to me tomorrow!"

"Will there be one for me?" Bai Xinyan came to join in on the action. Luo Nan always maintained a bit of vigilance toward this woman. He could only tilt his head and laugh, adopting an introverted and shy appearance.

However, his attention was soon drawn in by Bamboo Pole’s explanation.

"The presence of the hundred civilians is really a big headache. The Knights of Equity currently do not plan to capture and hold people hostage. However, they’re not making any signs of letting people go freely outside."

Bamboo Pole then played a video. It showed that there were gunmen guarding the exit passageways. When a civilian tried to escape, the gunman would shoot their legs and let them scream and moan on the ground. It was utterly cruel.

Xue Lei growled next to Luo Nan. He really did not like the scene. He could not hold back from muttering, "This is not a hostage situation..?"

"They’re just establishing snake hives with them."

Bamboo Pole adjusted to a different monitoring screen to let everyone see the specifics of the current situation. Those who tried to escape were shot in the legs to generate pain and fear. Together, those emotions formed the best medium for the Words of Krait. The suffering of the civilians was increased by several folds but they were not allowed to faint. They could only struggle and scream, allowing the incorporeal viper to come in and out of their bodies. Soon, they were on their last breaths

The screams and struggles had another effect; they broadcasted out enormous quantities of negative psychic waves. The trapped civilians, who were not that harmed, were dominated by emotions of terror and panic. The radiation of negative emotions and psychic waves allowed the snake hives to spread and propagate.

"The more concentrated and the larger the number of snake hives, the easier it is for the Order of Justice’s First Oblatum to display their abilities. Their limiting distance becomes smaller as well. According to previous information, it is standard to have three snake hives for a Human Weapon like Baze to output at full power. If more Oblatum Knights are to be added, the number of snake hives needs to be doubled at least... Now that I mention it, you guys made the correct choice in bringing that rich kid out of there. Boss Nan’s Format Pyramid is also very awesome."

Bamboo Pole was talking about Huang Bingzhen, who had fainted once again. Right now, his body was buffed by Luo Nan’s Format Pyramid, so the effects of the snake hive were suppressed.

Though Luo Nan was praised, he was not that happy. The cruel mental torment in the monitoring feed was still displayed. Xue Lei could not stand looking at it and Luo Nan could not stand it either. Such a scene continued to spark the terrible feeling he had before. It made him feel unwell from inside out.

At this moment, Red Fox gave another roasting. "The program has been changed once again! Now we’re doing a gargantuan rescue mission? I say, is infantilism contagious? Just having one brat over here is enough!"

Luo Nan felt really horrible. He was attacked for no reason. He was vexed and just as he was about to take a breath of air to calm down, he felt a slight pain in his fingers. It turned out that he had subconsciously squeezed his hand, breaking the sharp tip of the pencil and lodging the tip into his finger.

Zhang Yingying spoke out in the encrypted channel. "Hey! Hey! Fox-dog! That’s enough of your mumbo jumbo! The Order of Justice couldn’t have scared you this bad."

Red Fox’s views had never changed all this time. He never thought that Zhang Yingying and even Bamboo Pole would say that he was a turncoat! Red Fox was in a bad mood from top to bottom. His fury hailed down as a torrent of words.

"Pardon me, I’m really not scared of the Order of Justice. I’m just scared by this dumbf**k teammate. The Order of Justice is going around unbridled and they are one of the three major secret orders. To accomplish what you want, to continue on, anyone would be helpless and that includes me. But this brat is different. He doesn’t even know the common sense of picking your battles! He wants to make things big! Human-Faced Arachnid, Fairchild, Words of Krait, he set them all off! You guys aren’t scared of losing your face when playing with explosives with him? And you say I’m scared to the point of imploding my pants!? Look at these innocent civilians, aren’t they imploding?"

Zhang Yingying suddenly exploded with fury. "FOX-DOG! DON’T YOU GO TOO FAR!"

Red Fox’s words were far too reproaching and hurtful. There was a moment when Luo Nan forgot to breathe. He just subconsciously removed the pencil nib from his finger, letting the nib fall into the shallow waters beneath.

A profound and exquisite perception inexplicably locked onto the entire process of this tiny object falling down. The process included the nib tumbling and turning, the moment it entered the water, and even the resulting fine ripples.

Luo Nan used this method to distract himself, to experience a moment of serenity. But when his attention came back, the burning, scalding heat in his chest became all the more unbearable.

He wanted to go along with this burning emotion and roar in defiance. He wanted to rebuke Red Fox’s irrational behavior. However, he did not utter a single word in the end. His expression was calm and relaxed, he took the range of his mental senses, which he had restricted down to a ten meter radius in caution and released it outward layer by layer.

Ten meters. Twenty meters. Fifty Meters... Soon, the range of his mental senses exceeded that of Cat Eyes and it continued to expand.

As the range of his mental senses rapidly expanded, the rate of information pouring in grew exponentially. The information was fed back to him but it was not like that of a simple soul configuration. He could realize and facilitate a conversation with this energy and information. The energy and information had to follow the functional mechanisms of the human body’s nervous system. Through special neurotransmitters and various forms of stimulants, the energy and information could be transmitted with order. They advanced under the process, step by step, to ultimately merge into the central hub of his brain. They assembled and combined into a complete, all-encompassing scene. This entire process tested the body’s ability to receive information and energy to an ultimate degree.

In a few breaths time, various details and information of the scene in Frost River Reality Area A rushed in like the swelled wave of the ocean. Luo Nan was bombarded head on and a rumble could actually be heard.