Chapter Ten: Illusion! Spirit Demon! (Part One)

Gong Hou stood atop the container, his face brimming with self-assurance, basking in the imagined glow of the setting sun—even though it was obviously still afternoon. A gentle breeze seemed to lift his robes, if only there were any wind in the temporal seal. His tall silhouette appeared monumental, like an imposing monument. (Ye Ling thought it looked more like a gravestone.)

“Life is lonely,” Gong Hou sighed theatrically, trying to sound profound. “It looks like it’s all over. The other side has been wiped out. Ling Ghost, can you reach anyone else?” He pressed his hand to his ear.

“You brute,” came Ling Ghost’s calm voice from the other end. Gong Hou’s face twitched, silently plotting how he might teach Li Shizhu what a true brute was. Then Li Shizhu spoke again. “Flash Sword landed thirteen kilometers from you, apparently… inside the wildlife park.”

…

“Ahhh—help!” Lin Yang darted across the scene, chased by three leopards. Not far off was the viewing platform—perhaps it was off-season, for the people there were sparse, a few wandering here and there. No one noticed Lin Yang’s desperate sprint.

“Mom, Mom, there’s someone inside,” a child tugged at his mother’s skirt, pointing through the iron bars and whispering. The young mother turned to look, but Lin Yang had already run past and was nowhere to be seen, so she glared at her child. “There’s no one, you must have seen wrong.” She dragged him away, the child still muttering, “But there is someone.” Unconvinced, he followed his mother away, a “Danger, Keep Out” sign visible behind them.

In the distance, Lin Yang’s screams echoed as he ran past again.

…

“As for Electric Fox…” Ling Ghost paused, his ability scanning through his teammates, and soon pinpointed Electric Fox’s location. “Uh, he’s already at the internet café.”

Gong Hou felt his head ache. No need to ask about Xie Liu; he was surely slacking somewhere. “Alright then, where are you now?”

“Me?” Li Shizhu lifted his head from the comic book, glanced around, saw shelves packed with comics. “I don’t know.” He severed the connection and buried himself back in his manga.

“Can anyone be reliable?” Gong Hou sighed helplessly, then shouted toward Ye Ling, “Hey, princess, you—” but there was no one behind him.

“Huh?” Gong Hou was stunned, and overhead someone began to laugh—strange noises, a mix of snickers, electric crackles, and mechanical beeps. Gong Hou glanced up and saw the mantis-like robot he thought he’d already destroyed. Now, not a single part of it was whole; half its face had been sliced off, exposing integrated circuits sparking with blue electricity, clearly unable to form coherent speech.

But in its hand, it still clutched Ye Ling! Flapping its battered wings, it hovered in midair.

“You… beep—%…% crackle… hiss-hiss… this… crunch… the girl… clack-clack… alive, I… bang!” The robot’s mouth exploded, blue sparks burning its face black. Giving up on speech, it simply snatched Ye Ling and soared skyward, fleeing at top speed.

Gong Hou stared in shock for a few seconds, then pressed his hand to his ear. “Guys, we’ve got trouble.”

…

Five of them gathered, exchanging glances, silent for a long time until Xie Liu spoke. “Shouldn’t we be thinking of a plan now?” He looked at Electric Fox, Xu Xiong. “Can you figure out where they’ve taken Ye Ling?”

Xu Xiong nodded, opened his laptop, and typed rapidly. Soon he said, “Yesterday I scanned Ye Ling’s bioelectric currents and simulated all their characteristics. As long as I search globally, I can pinpoint any organism matching her signature.”

“You tech nerd, just tell me where she is,” Xie Liu grumbled. Xu Xiong tapped the keyboard and the city map appeared on the screen. He spun the laptop around for everyone to see.

“The computer shows she’s here.” Xu Xiong pointed at a building on the map. Xie Liu and Gong Hou glanced at each other and shook their heads in resignation. “No, that’s downtown. This company looks like a regular pharmaceutical firm, with lots of ordinary employees. We can’t just barge in.”

“So what do you suggest?” Lin Yang asked, watching Xie Liu’s rare seriousness. Xie Liu stroked his chin and murmured, “If we can’t force our way in, we’ll have to infiltrate from within. We need someone who can blend in.”

He looked toward the boy engrossed in his manga.

Li Shizhu apparently felt Xie Liu’s gaze and slowly lifted his eyes from the comic. “I’m not going,” he said bluntly, returning to his reading. The other three looked at Li Shizhu, their faces filled with resignation. Ling Ghost Li Shizhu was the team’s most eccentric member, bar none, but his abilities were invaluable.

“Your ability is Soul Manipulation—you can influence thoughts, emotions, even share vision, hearing, sensation, and feelings. Besides that, you have Forced Implantation, which lets you make others mistake you for whoever you want them to see.” Xie Liu explained softly. Li Shizhu’s voice came from behind the manga. “So what?”

“You could impersonate a company executive, move freely within, and infiltrate. Lin Yang and I could sneak in, Gong Hou would provide outside support, and Xu Xiong can handle all the electronics for you,” Xie Liu continued.

“Not interested.” Li Shizhu was curt, his gaze never leaving the comic. The fate of Ye Ling, the so-called princess, meant nothing to him.

“Ugh. This is troublesome!” Xie Liu was exasperated by Li Shizhu’s stubbornness. His eyes lingered on the manga cover, “Mystery Girl,” and he rubbed his forehead helplessly. “Honestly, does anyone support domestic comics?” His gaze fell on Li Shizhu’s face, then noticed his teammates’ looks. “Alright, I’ll have to persuade him head-on.” With that thought, Xie Liu spoke.

“You know, this mission was taken by the princess. If she dies, we fail, and lose a hundred thousand yuan. At a hundred yuan per manga, that’s a thousand volumes you’ll miss out on.” Xie Liu said solemnly. Li Shizhu’s eyes snapped up, a glint of gold flashing.

“Got him!” Xie Liu’s heart lifted. Language is a weapon, a truth he firmly believed in. Seeing Li Shizhu’s attention shift from the manga, Xie Liu pressed his advantage. “If you help save the princess, we finish the mission, and can squeeze her for a reward. You don’t have much stock left, right? Maybe you should consider rescuing her?”

Li Shizhu looked coolly at Xie Liu’s incessant persuasion. “I know you’re trying to trick me, but for the sake of manga, I’ll do it. And I want seventy percent of the cut.”

“Fifty at most.” Li Shizhu’s gaze returned to his comic, “Go yourself.”

“Sixty!” Xie Liu pushed, but Li Shizhu remained unmoved. Xie Liu gritted his teeth. “Seventy, fine. Gong Hou’s responsible anyway—it’s his fault she’s missing.” Gong Hou’s face darkened, clearly vowing to settle the score later.

“Deal!”

…

From afar, they looked at the towering company headquarters. Xie Liu unwrapped a lollipop, popped it in his mouth, and grinned mischievously. “Is this the place? Xu Xiong, what’s the company called?”

“Umbrella Corporation,” Xu Xiong replied blandly.

Xie Liu rolled his eyes. “I don’t have time for jokes, nor for Resident Evil references.”

“Hey, it really is Umbrella Corporation,” Lin Yang pointed at the giant sign overhead, which clearly read “Umbrella Corporation, two kilometers ahead.”

“What a bizarre setting,” Xie Liu muttered. “Alright, let’s hope there are no zombies.” He crouched, and the others quickly gathered.

“Xu Xiong, bring up the company’s 3D layout.” As he spoke, Xu Xiong’s computer projected green light, forming a holographic schematic.

“From now, the operation begins. Everyone use codenames. Ling Ghost, you infiltrate in thirty minutes. Your identity is chairman of the corporation’s parent company. Before that, Electric Fox, you have ten minutes to hack their files and modify records to legitimize Ling Ghost’s identity.”

“I need access to their circuits,” Xu Xiong reminded.

Xie Liu nodded. “Flash Sword and I will sneak inside and connect you to the network in ten minutes.”

“This company likely belongs to the Special Alliance, so we can’t be sure if they have psychic detection devices. For safety, we’ll cut our psychic link during infiltration. All communication will use this.” Xie Liu waved his watch. “Wireless channel seven, password is ‘lollipop.’ Remember it?”

“I object. The password should be ‘comic book.’”

Xie Liu slapped Li Shizhu’s manga sideways. “That’s final. Gong Hou, you’re with me. Everyone else, follow standard procedure. Now, go!”

He clenched his fists. The five nodded in silence, then split into two groups.

The rescue plan had begun.