Chapter 41: Rescue

Chapter 41: Rescue

Looking at the electronic spacetime-boundary generator, I had never expected the thing to actually interfere with time itself.

But no matter how powerful it was, at the end of the day it was still an electronic device — intricate structure, advanced components and all. I refused to believe I could not smash it.

I found a loose floor brick inside the hall and brought it down hard on the device.

Bang.

Crack.

The device shattered.

But because I had already frozen time, the fragments, though broken apart, did not scatter. Every shard hung suspended in the air, perfectly still.

A strange sight.

The moment the device was destroyed, the conical air shield collapsed.

And in that same instant, the frozen time took effect on the interior as well.

Inside and outside — everything stopped.

Everything except me.

I dropped down beneath the great bell. The two mist-figures I had immobilized stood motionless, like a pair of illusory human skeleton specimens.

I was not Sun Wukong. But if I happened to have an immobilizing spell on hand, why on earth would I not use it?

This was so much more convenient.

Of course, I knew I only had eight minutes. Several had already gone.

Inside what had been the air shield, some equipment was now exposed — probably the AI brain-mapping device Lu Qingyue had mentioned, or something like it. I had no interest in any of it. I was here for one thing: finding a person.

I swept the area with penetrating waves. Apart from the two mist-figures, there were two other anomalies.

I lifted the cover from one of them, and Gu Qiutang appeared.

He had been hidden under an invisibility blanket.

At the second spot, I lifted the cover and found two people bound there. I did not recognize either of them — probably the two who had sold out the organization.

I could not be bothered with those two. I would leave them for the Sweepers.

I hauled Gu Qiutang onto my back, invisibility blanket and all, and bolted out of the hall. I did not stop running until I was through the temple gate and out onto the street beyond. Here, the frozen time could no longer reach.

Traffic flowed normally on the road.

The time freeze definitely had a distance limit. I had never tested it carefully before, but this time I had confirmed at least a rough range.

I did not hail a taxi. The safe house at Mingguang Bridge was not that far from here, and a taxi would only make it easier to leave a trail.

Invisible, with an invisible Gu Qiutang on my back, I ran quickly toward the safe house.

Then — somewhere behind me —

Dong.

A deep, hollow toll rolled in from the direction of Big Bell Temple. That was the sound caused a few minutes earlier when I struck the pulao on the great bell.

The time freeze over there had already dissolved.

Pedestrians on the street stopped and turned toward the sound. The bell at Big Bell Temple rang only once a year, at New Year. This was not normal.

I could not worry about that now. Getting Gu Qiutang to the safe house came first.

Inside the safe house, Zhu Shiqing was still there looking after Zhu Zhaojie. My sudden arrival startled him — he had not expected me to walk in carrying another unconscious person.

I gave him a few quick instructions and left.

I had to go back to Big Bell Temple. I still owed Dharma Master Zisheng an explanation.

I returned to the scene invisible.

In my rush to get Gu Qiutang out, I had not stayed to see what happened after. By the time I hurried back to the Great Bell Tower, the Sweepers were already there ahead of me. A cordon had gone up; monks and tourists alike were being kept back.

The two who had betrayed the organization were being carried out of the hall.

Sorry, you two. I had taken their invisibility blankets on the way out. Useful things — I had a use for them. So when the local time freeze lifted, those two simply became visible where they lay. The two Soul Hunters, however, were nowhere to be found.

I stayed invisible for the moment, senses stretched for any trace of Soul Hunters in the vicinity.

Nothing.

What I did spot was Dharma Master Zisheng craning his neck at the edge of the crowd, still looking thoroughly dazed.

I materialized behind him and gave him a light tap on the shoulder. He turned, saw it was me, and immediately drew me aside, asking in a hushed voice what had happened inside.

I told him to wait — once we were in the hall, I would explain everything.

The Sweepers worked for a while longer, most likely collecting the equipment the Soul Hunters had left behind. I had been too pressed for time earlier to examine any of it.

Once the Sweepers cleared out, Dharma Master Zisheng and I entered the hall. I pulled the doors shut behind us. Zisheng posted a young monk at the entrance with instructions to turn people away — the hall was closed.

Scattered beneath the great bell were the fragments of the smashed device. Around them were messy traces of someone having lived there: chairs, lengths of rope, a few cups.

The Sweepers had not even bothered to tidy up.

I looked up at the rafters and leaped. On one of the beams, the broken device was still where I had left it. The Sweepers had not taken it — either because it was destroyed, or because they had simply not known it was there.

Equipment this sophisticated might well be beyond the Sweepers’ own inventory.

I pulled it down, landed, and held it out toward Zisheng.

“Senior Brother Zisheng — have a look. This is the electronic spacetime-boundary generator. The so-called spacetime disturbances here recently were all caused by this device.”

Dharma Master Zisheng took it and turned it over in his hands. He could not make sense of the mechanism, but he understood what I was telling him well enough. “So Master Xuan is saying someone hid inside my temple and installed this thing to shield the area. What were they after?”

“Didn’t you see the Sweepers?” I said. “The invisible figures and the Sweepers — they’re connected. And those two injured people are tied to the same mission. I can tell you plainly, Senior Brother: this has nothing to do with the Six Realms, no criminals in the ordinary sense, no ghosts. Those people were executing a special operation. They simply borrowed your place.”

Dharma Master Zisheng was a sharp man. That much was more than enough for him to piece the rest together. Still, he asked one more question.

“Master Xuan — you mentioned earlier that Tansong Temple had experienced something similar?”

“It did,” I said. “The same group. That case was even stranger than this one, though the nature of it was broadly the same. There were even jianghu swindlers who tried to muddy the waters and disrupt the temple — I rooted them out. As for the invisible figures, they operate at a level above ours, and they have their own missions. As long as they do not affect our people, I have always instructed the stewards to leave well enough alone. I would suggest the same here. Look at this with a calm mind, and let it pass.”

Zisheng pressed his palms together. “Thank you, Master Xuan, for resolving this matter. I am afraid I will have to trouble Senior Brother again in the future.”

I returned the gesture. “No need. The people who hid here have been exposed. I expect no further disturbances of this kind for some time. Abbot, you can set your mind at ease.”

Zisheng bowed. “My gratitude.”

I took my leave of Dharma Master Zisheng and made my way back to the safe house under invisibility.

Zhu Shiqing and Zhu Zhaojie were tending to the unconscious Gu Qiutang.

He was clearly in poor shape — face pale, breathing uneven.

I examined him with same-frequency sensing and penetrating vision. No Wisdom Capsule. Gu Qiutang really was an ordinary person.

His injuries were primarily to the brain, caused by the AI brain-mapping device, which had impaired certain functions. On top of that, the drugs: the Soul Hunters had injected him with a hallucinogen during the interrogation. The rest of his body showed no organic damage.

I turned my attention to Zhu Zhaojie. Her body was recovering, but the brain injury was still causing her considerable pain — mainly the neural void left by the missing Wisdom Capsule.

“Stay here and rest for now,” I told her. “Once I find a way, I’ll help ease the pain. I do have some experience with this.”

That was not an empty boast. At the incapacitated people’s base, I had helped set up medical facilities and treated quite a few cases like hers, mostly through coordinating neural repair work with Pingdu Hospital. The pain could be significantly reduced. And of course, the fastest solution would be reinstalling a Wisdom Capsule — that would bring an immediate recovery and grant superhuman abilities.

I already knew that Gu Kunling’s organization was quietly producing Wisdom Capsules — and those capsules should not have the side effects of the Sweepers’ version.

I wanted to get one for Zhu Zhaojie.

She gave a weak nod. “Go finish what you’re doing. Come back and take care of me when you have time. I’m not in a hurry.”

From the moment she had seen Gu Qiutang, she had understood what I was caught up in. Gu Qiutang was a significant figure — a familiar face from television for years. And Zhu Zhaojie herself had once been an operative in the Sweepers’ Qiankun Department; she knew exactly what his presence here meant.

I settled things at the safe house and headed back to the company.

Gu Kunling had not returned. There was clearly still a great deal happening on her end.

I did not dare call her. The Sweepers and Soul Hunters cast a wide detection net.

I had learned the general locations of the bases from Ren Jingze, but by now those places were almost certainly under Sweeper and Soul Hunter control.

It was only then that I realized I had gone the entire day without eating.

I went to the Sichuan restaurant on the ground floor of the building, ordered a few small dishes, and ate slowly.

I came here often — not because the food was exceptional, but because it tasted faintly of home.

Their business had always been poor, if I was honest. Sichuan food ran to numbing heat, and Pingdu City had once been the national capital; the Zhongguan Village crowd leaned intellectual, not the type to seek out fiery spice.

That afternoon, I was the only customer. The lunch rush was long over.

Then four heavyset men walked in off the street. The moment they entered, one of them drove a cleaver into the cashier counter and bellowed at the owner.

“Boss Zhang! So you really think you can disrespect us brothers like this?”

The restaurant was run entirely by an elderly couple — cooking, serving, all of it. The old man put on a placating smile, pulled some bills from a drawer, and held them out.

“Brother Xiong, times are tough. This is everything we took in today. It isn’t that I don’t respect you — Sichuan food just doesn’t suit Pingdu tastes very well.”

The leader knocked the bills out of his hand. “Cut the crap. You think that pittance is good enough? Think I’ve never seen money before? Full payment. Today.”

He leveled the cleaver at the terrified old couple.

I had seen enough. I stood, walked over to the leader, and flicked my finger. The cleaver flew from his hand and buried itself in the wall.

“Easy,” I said. “I’m not going to stand here and lecture you. Just know that this place is under my protection now. All right?”

The leader stared at his empty hand, then at the cleaver lodged in the wall. He went very still. He knew he had run into someone he could not push around.