160: Game in the Shadows

Even though it was broad daylight, the shadow cast by the inverted pyramid swallowed the entire area.

It wasn't just darkness here.

Sizzle—!

Several infrared scanning beams sliced through the air like a knife through cake, leaving no blind spots.

A dozen hovering "Hummingbird" sentry cannons patrolled silently in mid-air.

Their muzzles rotated along with heat sensors, exuding a murderous aura that warned strangers to stay away.

Chen Du grabbed Xia Mo and pulled her into the corner between containers, his back pressed tight against the sheet metal.

"Good grief, with this level of security, anyone who didn't know better would think there's an alien corpse hidden inside."

Chen Du squinted his eyes.

His gaze locked onto a faint layer of blue ripples in the air.

That wasn't light; it was high temperatures distorting the air.

A High-Frequency Thermal Barrier—the nemesis of Shadow-type abilities.

This thing was like a giant microwave.

Anyone who dared to crash into it would be cooked seventy to eighty percent through on the spot.

"This security level is practically Hell Mode."

Chen Du clicked his tongue. "It seems Manager Liu Sheng wasn't bragging; the things hidden in here are indeed extraordinary."

A layer of white frost had already condensed on the sword name in Xia Mo's hand, her eyes calculating the sentry cannons' trajectories.

"Forcing our way in will be difficult."

She spoke rapidly: "This thermal energy field provides total coverage. My Shadow Evasion will be forcibly deactivated the moment it touches it."

"When that happens, we'll be turned into sieves like target practice."

"Unless..."

She grit her teeth, "I go and detonate the transformer over there to buy us some time."

"Too violent."

Chen Du suddenly turned around, pinning her between himself and the container.

Their noses almost touched, and Xia Mo could even see the playful reflection in his pupils.

"Teacher Xia, let's play something a bit more high-end."

"Wh-what?"

Xia Mo was stunned.

Before she could react, the shadow beneath Chen Du's feet suddenly came to life!

Like a pool of boiling oil, the black shadow surged, climbing frantically up their ankles!

"Hold me tight! Wrap your legs around!"

Chen Du's low shout left no room for doubt.

Xia Mo hesitated for only 0.1 seconds—her legs snapped around Chen Du's lean, powerful waist, and her hands locked tightly around his neck.

Splash!

A viscous, icy darkness instantly swallowed them both.

In the next second, the world changed.

Colors were stripped away, sounds were isolated, and only a gray-white dimension of deathly silence remained before them.

This was Chen Du's Shadow Domain.

But this time, things weren't looking good.

The surrounding space was extremely cramped, with a powerful repulsive force squeezing inward.

To maintain a two-person stealth, they had to be like Siamese twins, with not a single gap between them.

"Mmph..."

Xia Mo let out a muffled groan, her cheeks turning bright red.

This was... too tight!

To stabilize their center of gravity, Chen Du unceremoniously supported her buttocks.

The elasticity beneath the fabric was startling!

"Don't move around."

The voice sounded directly in her ear, carrying a distorted echo.

"The space here is very crowded. If you stick a hand out, it'll be severed by the dimensional wall in an instant."

"I can't! You... you definitely said that on purpose!"

Xia Mo grit her silver teeth.

Shame made her want to find a hole to crawl into, but her body honestly pressed even closer.

This posture... it was practically criminal!

"Shh—don't talk, we're about to pass through security."

Chen Du had no time for flirting; he controlled the mass of eerie shadow, darting across the ground like a swimming fish.

Ahead was that terrifying thermal barrier.

Viewed from the Shadow Dimension, it was like a wall of fire reaching for the sky!

"Hold on tight!"

Chen Du growled low, maneuvering the shadow into a sudden sprint!

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle—!

The moment they drew near, the shadow enveloping them began to boil and dissipate frantically, as if splashed with sulfuric acid!

A soul-searing pain quickly spread through his entire body.

"Damn it... this temperature is even higher than expected!"

Veins bulged on Chen Du's forehead.

The shadow shell was thinning rapidly, and they were on the verge of being exposed!

Once exposed, the two of them would be roasted alive!

"Xia Mo! Lower the temperature!!"

"I know!"

Xia Mo also felt the lethal heatwave.

At this moment, the power of her S-rank talent, Shadow Assassin, erupted in full!

She freed one hand, a point of extreme deep blue condensing at her fingertip.

Absolute Zero: Point Kill!

There were no special effects, only the purest, most extreme power of ice.

That finger precisely tapped the cooling valve of the field generator!

Crack!

The high-temperature turbine, spinning at tens of thousands of RPMs, was frozen into a lump of ice in milliseconds.

A momentary, chaotic gap appeared in the thermal barrier.

"Now! Let's go!"

Chen Du seized this fleeting opportunity, holding Xia Mo as they turned into a black stream of light, forcibly squeezing through the gap!

Whoosh—!

The moment they crossed the barrier, it was like jumping from a steel furnace into an ice cellar.

The two of them slammed heavily onto the hard metal floor.

The landing was silent.

Chen Du did not deactivate the shadow form.

Instead, he immediately controlled the shadow to stick to the ceiling, hanging upside down in the shadows of the beams like a large bat.

"Someone's coming."

He pressed down on Xia Mo as she tried to get up.

Below, two armored guards walked past, cradling rifles.

"Everything's normal. Did the data just jump for a second?"

"Probably a rat bumped into it. Forget it, let's finish the patrol and go for a drink."

Only after the footsteps faded away did Chen Du let out a long sigh of relief.

He deactivated the shadow state.

The darkness receded, and their figures were revealed on the beam.

Their posture still maintained that ambiguous "koala hugging a tree" look.

Xia Mo let go and jumped down from him.

She straightened her slightly messy skirt and leather jacket, quickly returning to her mature, elder-sisterly demeanor.

"Next time... we're changing tactics."

She tried hard to put on a stern face, but her voice was so soft it lacked conviction. "This infiltration method is too shameful."

"Why be picky? As long as it works, it's a good tactic!"

Chen Du stretched his shoulders, which were numb from the heat, a smirk playing on his lips: "Besides, Teacher Xia, your heart was beating so fast. Were you lusting after me just now?"

"Get lost!"

Xia Mo glared at him, then turned to look down past the railing.

However, in the next second, her pupils dilated violently.

"Chen Du... look down there."

Chen Du put away his playful grin and walked to the edge to look down.

Even for someone like him, who was used to seeing mountains of corpses and seas of blood, his scalp couldn't help but tingle at this moment.

Looking down from where they were.

Inside this massive hollow cylinder, hundreds upon thousands of large glass culture dishes were suspended in dense rows.

These containers didn't hold some kind of biochemical monsters.

They held people.

Living human beings who had awakened their talents!

They were completely naked, covered in various tubes of different thicknesses.

Some tubes were inserted into their spines, some into the cerebral cortex, and some were connected directly to their hearts.

Glug, glug.

Accompanied by the pumping sound of machines, bright red blood and pale yellow spinal fluid were being continuously extracted from their bodies.

These fluids gathered in a central reaction kettle, undergoing a series of complex purification and concentration processes.

Ultimately, they were transformed into drops of golden-red medicine.

"blood of god..."

Chen Du stared at the final product, his voice icy.

He saw the nearest culture dish.

A young man was soaked inside, looking to be only in his early twenties.

His chest rose and fell weakly with his breath, but his eyes were as hollow as a dead man's.

On the electronic nameplate below the container, a line of small text was written:

[Sample Number: 89757]

[Talent: B-Rank - Flame Manipulation]

[Status: Extracting (Remaining Value: 12%)]

[Remarks: This sample's hematopoietic stem cells are exhausted. Disposal recommended today; to be sold as C-rank meat jerky raw material.]

"Disposal... meat jerky?"

Xia Mo felt a chill run from the soles of her feet straight to the top of her head.

She hadn't expected that in this so-called high society, there was actually a sophisticated assembly line!

They captured Awakened ones, penned them up like pigs, and squeezed out their talent energy like juicing fruit.

In the end, when nothing was left, they were even made into meat jerky to be sold back to the common people to eat!

"This is what that waiter was talking about..."

Chen Du reached out and touched the cold glass wall, an uncontrollable rage burning in his golden eyes.

But beneath this rage, there was also a primal hunger stirring.

It was the reaction of the sacrifice notebook.

Deep in his mind, that ancient notebook was trembling frantically!

Lines of twisted blood-red words exploded across Chen Du's retina:

[So fragrant! Such a fragrant smell!]

[This place is filled with high-purity divinity residue!]

[I sense a perfect sacrifice deep underground! Go! I can give you everything you desire!]