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…