Chapter 122: Two Worlds (Part 2/2)
Translator: Strivon
At the center of the platform atop building B, the gear-like graphic structure hummed in operation, establishing a refined and marvelous formation. Rays knit closely together like a cocoon of light, wrapping An Chengli within.
Within this shielding layer, An Chengli openly revealed a face that was green with emotion as he ground his teeth. His mind was currently completely occupied with the large building below him, on those damned members of the Society. The mere thought of them made his chest feel like it was on fire.
As a Clearsworn, he was a mentally enhanced ability user in a certain sense. Yet mental sensing was never his forte. He had to use the Evolution Field in order to lock onto the targets located several hundred meters away, separated by several dozen floors of reinforced concrete.
However, just by having his consciousness exist for a moment within the Evolution Field, he could hear An Weng's evaluation of him. It seemed formless as it tangled in his thoughts.
"How unsightly."
An Weng's words had always been faint and subtle, worthy of mulling over. But this time, the most superficial meaning behind it made An Chengli feel like he had been smacked fiercely in the face, leaving his face stiff like wood.
He stood in the middle of the spell formation, but he felt like he was a prisoner held in a cage. The gazes cast by the surrounding people had become extremely bizarre.
Actually, the surrounding priests and knights of the Order were far from the level of being able to access the information from the Evolution Field. It was very hard for them to know what the First Oblatums were doing and what they were communicating within.
But An Chengli still felt horrible. He felt that An Weng’s words were spreading far and wide. Along with those words, his performance as Inquisitor and the job assigned to him by An Weng spread as well... The situation was quite different from what he had initially imagined.
He never imagined that this little kid called Luo Nan would be such a thorn in his side.
Regardless of anything else, Luo Nan's soul strength was truly extremely solid. Most importantly, Luo Nan had a self-developed system, the so-called Format Pyramid. It looked unreal and illusionary, but it was like an annoying screen. It acted as a cushion against penetrating forces on the mental plane. An Weng had tried time and again to act against it, but he was never able to break it with each attack. He could only continue to accumulate power.
An Chengli hesitated like this for a long time. He bided his time until the military ‘activated’ Ghost Thunder, allowing An Chengli to borrow this chance to use the Oblatum Knight as a medium. That would be his chance to kill the enemy. However, how could he possibly imagine that Ghost Thunder would be killed in a single stroke by that damned Secretary before he could use his accumulated power? Not only that, An Chengli suffered a whiplash from Ghost Thunder’s death. The turmoil it caused his soul had yet to recover even now.
The most damnable thing of all was the ridiculing way Luo Nan and the Secretary had called him out... Especially since they had blindly picked him in this one-sided situation.
Utter shame and humiliation!
If news of this got out, then he, An Chengli, would become an eternal laughingstock in Xia City and even the Order of Justice! No one would want to get involved with him!
All An Chengli wanted in this very moment was to exact vengeance.
The members of the Society had already crossed the connecting passageway to enter Building B... Building B, that's great! He was at Building B!
The three connected buildings had heights of approximately 700 meters. They slanted down toward Frost River Reality that was in the center of their connected areas. When Luo Nan's party arrived, the straight line distance between An Chengli and Luo Nan shrank to 400 meters. Luo Nan's party had even split up!
A golden opportunity bestowed by the heavens!
An Chengli began to siphon power from the Evolution Field, but An Weng's thoughts cut through just as he started, seizing all privileges toward the Evolution Field. The projection of the Scales of Truth was in the center of their triangular formation and this projection forcefully sucked in the attention of each First Oblatum.
Atop this classical hanging balance scale, the white plate was raised a bit higher than before, while the black plate had dropped a bit lower. The unbalanced state seemed to have been amended somewhat. The coiling and swiveling state of the Krait atop the black plate was more lively than before, showing that the ritual was making great progress.
An Chengli was startled at first when he was deprived of his privileges, but his face grew feverish when he saw this scene.
Arguably, An Weng's ultimate goal of appointing An Chengli to try Luo Nan was to destroy the order formed by Luo Nan. It was to release the elements of pain and chaos in order to restore equilibrium to the Scales of Truth. Great progress had been made, An Chengli should be happy.
However, there was a problem. Just how much did he contribute to it?
After the Secretary had slayed Ghost Thunder in a single stroke, the majority of An Chengli's accumulated power had dissipated into nothingness. He might have caused those unfortunate civilians trapped in Frost River Reality to be scared out of their minds, but the chaotic element from those hundred or so people was simply negligible!
What truly affected the balance of the scales were the civilians' panic due to the power outage of the three buildings. Moreover, An Weng had realized all of this by issuing orders to their mobile units. He did not use any extraordinary powers.
When An Chengli compared himself to An Weng, he felt like a fool.
However, An Weng was not very satisfied with the current situation. "It's still lacking. Perhaps the underlying mass I placed on the truth side is far too heavy... The situation still needs to be remedied."
Zheng Xiao was atop another building. He wanted to ask just what in the world was the underlying mass that An Weng had placed on the truth side?
But at this very moment, An Chengli expressed himself impatiently in his eagerness to redeem his pride and dignity. "Leave the job to me, An Weng. This time, I will dispose of this batch of people from the Society for sure..."
"You only have one chance, child."
An Weng's telepathic thought felt gentle yet firm, but only those familiar with him would know of the callousness that lay hidden in the deepest depths. It was like the bottom of the iceberg hidden by the seas. "When one mends the pen after the sheep are lost, what is mended isn't the flock of sheep, but the fence. What we should solely focus on is order! Nothing else!"
As he spoke, the image under the projection of the Scales of Truth rapidly switched to the crowds of people densely packed together. These people were scattered in various locations around the three connected buildings. They were anxious and worried due to the sudden darkness.
But with the passage of time, the human instinct to adapt to any environment displayed its effects. In this modern society with its convenient and efficient information systems, a high degree of law and order was displayed as well.
As the government broadcasted information targeted toward the trapped civilians, giving them instructions to disperse and evacuate, the people's emotions of panic gradually receded. Over ten thousand civilians withdrew through fire escape passageways and emergency evacuation exits in an orderly fashion.
Modern metropolises often had connections of high-altitude escalators and transportation belts between their high-rise commercial buildings. It was like the spiraling and extending vines within forests of the old. It made the evacuation work of the current pressing situation much easier. People flooded out from these passageways like ants. Surprisingly, the overall process went smoothly due to the appropriate deployment of information.
However, this was a factor in the unbalanced state of the Scales of Truth and the state was growing increasingly unbalanced.
Just looking at the height of the white plate, one could see that it had lowered once more. Let alone Zheng Xiao, even An Chengli, who had not been focused on the Scales of Truth, could not help but divide some of his attention back.
Their spell ritual would fail if they could not transform the scales from an unbalanced state to a balanced state. In this case, the three First Oblatums would receive a heavy whiplash that would be far more disastrous than the one caused by the Secretary killing Ghost Thunder a while ago.
"One order. One world."
An Weng let out a light sigh. "I like order. Order is the brightest path to the Truth. But sometimes we need to discard the inferior portions and swap them with superior portions. We need to use the inferior world as stepping stones to get to the superior world..."
"An Weng!" Zheng Xiao felt more and more than something was wrong. Back when An Weng sought to have the power cut from the three buildings, he believed An Weng's actions to be quite inappropriate. But did An Weng's words not indicate that he wanted to do something a step more extreme?
A more extreme step. Now what kind of step could it be?
An Weng response was as clear as always. "Disorder always comes before order. Birth of life always accompanies destruction."
His telepathic words hung in the air as a dazzling radiance exploded within Frost River Reality. The shock wave instantly flattened one side of the glass walls. Shards and fragments filled the sky, fluttering around. Streaks of seven-to-eight humanoid shadows dispersed apart within the radiance, shooting toward the three connected buildings.
In mutual response to this unforeseen event, several guns sprayed with their fire atop the three buildings, tearing away the calm darkness.
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Chapter Synopsis:
It is now the First Oblatums' perspective. An Chengli is furious for his failure to deal with Luo Nan and for An Weng's evaluation of him being unsightly. His plan was indeed to use Ghost Thunder as a medium with his accumulated power, but He Yueyin had slain him before he could do anything. Then Luo Nan and the Secretary had even called him out. He was humiliated.
An Chengli begins to siphon power from the Evolution Field to exact vengeance on Luo Nan, but An Weng takes away all his privileges. The First Oblatums attentions turn towards the Scales of Truth for the unbalanced state is becoming more balanced. An Weng seeks to cause more chaos to make the Scales of Truth more balanced. The civilians are evacuating in an orderly fashion, increasing the unbalanced state.
An Weng goes extremest as he has the seven-to-eight humanoid shadows, presumed to be Oblatum Knights, disperse from Frost River Reality to the surrounding three buildings. He then has the gunmen shoot into the night, presumably at the civilians.