318: Chapter 311 Let's find Number Seventeen together

The Russian President's support was absolute.

Not only did he pull the entire Security Bureau from their shifts to find Seventeen, but he also issued an emergency order for those on leave to arrive fully armed.

If he hadn't been worried about causing public panic, he probably would have deployed the army.

When the search began, the President and his Aides were full of confidence.

Were they really afraid they couldn't find a single classroom in their own capital?

However, after a group of Security Bureau personnel rushed through the streets and alleys of Mosco until dawn with nothing to show for it, they realized that things might not be so simple.

The President and his Aides, feeling a surge of unease, walked into the meeting room as the morning sun rose.

Although the search had reached a stalemate, the cause was actually not difficult to analyze.

China's Mountain Gate entrance is by the South Sea, a light gate that opens in the sky. Hogwarts, just like in Rowling's novels, has its entrance as a wall at a station.

After discussing it for a short while at the long table, they reached a conclusion—Seventeen was not on Planet Blue, but like the Mountain Gate and Hogwarts, it was an independent space.

The cause had been found, but everyone still had no clue how to solve it.

According to disclosures from China and the Ying Country, the unknown energy used by the transcendent cannot be detected by any current human detection tools.

This resulted in search personnel passing right by the entrance to Seventeen without even knowing it.

It was very tricky.

The Aides all had worried expressions on their faces.

The long-awaited transcendent had finally appeared, and very fortunately, he was an easy-going youth.

It just so happened that the youth was lost; as long as they helped him find the classroom, both sides could establish a friendship, laying the foundation for close ties in the future.

This was the first, and very likely the last, opportunity.

Were they just going to watch it slip away?

After a long time, an Aide spoke up hesitantly: "In Farid's report, didn't he mention that Seventeen is a place where many people drink?"

"Please, this is Russia." The Aide sitting opposite him spread his hands. "This is a country where you might have trouble finding a public toilet, but drinking establishments are all over the streets.

Do you intend to lead Tevan through every single bar to confirm one by one if it's the classroom entrance?"

"...Sorry."

The Aides lost their direction and fell silent.

The President looked left and right, realizing it was time for him to make a decision: "It sounds a bit ridiculous, but this is our only way, isn't it?"

"Uh, Mr. President, are you really prepared to have Tevan visit every bar in Mosco?

With all due respect, aside from the ones operating legally on the surface, there are many underground bars in the alleys of Mosco."

"It's better than doing nothing." The President stood up. "As for the latter problem, don't worry. We will mobilize the entire city to search together.

I believe that no matter how hidden an underground bar is, it will be exposed to the sunlight."

The Aides thought for a moment and felt that the President's plan was feasible.

The transcendent possessed a fatal attraction; this was the same for everyone on Planet Blue. Therefore, the public would not be indifferent to the mobilization; instead, they would show unprecedented enthusiasm.

Everyone's opinion was unified, so the President called his secretary and ordered the immediate release of a "mission" on the internet, TV stations, newspapers, and other channels to help Mr. Tevan find the bar.

With the President personally giving the order, those below naturally did not dare to be negligent. In just half an hour, the news of helping the transcendent find the classroom reached the ears of everyone in the city.

It did not exceed their expectations.

The public was incredibly excited. They threw aside their work, grabbed a bottle of vodka, and rushed out of their homes and offices to search everywhere on the streets for inconspicuous little bars.

Faced with employees being absent from work, the superiors were not angry; instead, they joined in themselves.

As for the superiors' superiors, there was no need to worry about them; they were the first to see the news and had long since rushed onto the streets shouting.

They were all different people, but they held the same hope in their hearts.

This was a chance for close contact with the transcendent. If one was lucky enough to be chosen, why would they still go to work?

What business would they do?

Wouldn't it be better to become a transcendent and live for thousands of years?

One must know that the Chinese officials had said that their Immortal Xu was already several thousand years old.

For a time, Mosco became bustling with activity.

Tevan sat in the back seat of a car parked by the roadside, looking through the window at the pedestrians hurrying to and fro outside.

"Mr. Farid, what are they doing?"

Farid, holding the steering wheel, turned his head: "They are all here to help."

"Help who? Me?"

"Aside from you, no one else could cause such a sensation."

"No, no, no, there are many people more powerful than me—Teacher, the Mountain Gate, Hogwarts, and those in the Pyramids."

"Those in the Pyramids?" Farid muttered and asked, "Who are they?"

"They are Chaos."

"Can you introduce them in detail?"

"I don't know much either, but there are certainly records in the library of Seventeen. If you are intere... oh, the kind sister."

Halfway through his sentence, Tevan suddenly pointed excitedly out the window at a Young Woman passing by the car: "She is a good person. Can she come into the car?"

Farid looked out the window, very nimbly pushed open the car door, and grabbed the Young Woman's wrist.

She seemed to be in a hurry. While struggling to break free, she got angry without even looking back: "Let go! I'm in no mood for pick-up lines right now!"

"Are you sure?"

Feeling the voice was somewhat familiar, she instinctively turned her head. Seeing the face of the man holding her, she said in surprise: "It's you?"

"And me." The back window rolled down slightly, revealing half of the youth's face. "We meet again, sister."

"Mr. Tevan, don't!" Farid was startled and hastily pressed a button to close the window tight.

He then signaled the Young Woman to get into the passenger seat. Only after closing the door did he say: "Mr. Tevan, if people see you here, we won't be able to leave."

"We can fly out."

A car can fly? Do we have such technology?

Farid was stunned for a moment before realizing that Tevan was referring to transcendent means.

"What are you doing?" Tevan asked the Young Woman.

"Looking for Seventeen. Didn't you say the teacher there can identify talent? Maybe I have some too?!" Her face was flushed, partly from the surprise of meeting the youth again and partly from the vigorous exercise.

Tevan opened his mouth to say something, but Farid, who had been looking at his Mobile Phone for a while, spoke first: "The bar locations have been compiled. Mr. Tevan, shall we go take a look now?"

"Right now!" He was very excited and also a bit anxious. "It's already been delayed for too long. I'm almost late!"

Hearing this, Farid decisively started the car and floored the accelerator, but then slammed on the brakes an instant later.

The pedestrians on the road were so crowded that even a bicycle couldn't move, let alone a car.

Farid leaned forward and looked left and right for a while: "Driving probably won't work. Let's walk."

He took out three face masks from the storage compartment on the car door and handed them to the Young Woman and Tevan respectively: "You might not like it, but I'm sorry, Mr. Tevan, in order not to be surrounded, you have to..."

"We'll fly!"

Tevan reached his right hand into his sleeve and pulled out a wooden staff: "Vaza!"

The moment the incantation left his mouth, Farid and the Young Woman felt a force pulling them down, their backs pressed tightly against the seats.

At the same time, the crowd in their vision sank and disappeared, then the rooftops, until only blue sky and white clouds remained before their eyes.

Farid stuck his head out of the car window, looking down at the shrunken city.

This was the transcendent... not relying on machinery, but using one's own power to break free from the earth's shackles.

How fascinating...

Desire welled up in his eyes: "Mr. Tevan, is it possible for me to become a trans... someone like you?"

"You have to ask Teacher."

An expected reply. Farid took a deep breath and temporarily suppressed the turmoil in his heart: "Mr. Tevan, fly to the right."

Tevan raised his wooden staff, and the car turned in place, speeding off to the right.

Thanks to flying, they didn't have to waste too much time on the road, checking the bars one by one.

At each one, the car would slowly lower its height, hovering at a distance of over twenty meters from the ground—Tevan had originally planned to land, but Farid suggested not to, because they would be overwhelmed by the frenzied public.

Afterward, Tevan went inside the bars alone while invisible to investigate if Seventeen was there.

However, after flying from morning until evening, the three of them still hadn't found the entrance.

On the way to the next bar.

Even though he wasn't the one controlling the car, Farid still instinctively gripped the steering wheel while chatting with Tevan in the back seat: "Mr. Tevan, is your ability to make the car fly the same as Dumbledore's?"

"How could it be?" Tevan shifted his gaze from outside the window to him. "I'm just simply using a technique to prop the car up. Headmaster Dumbledore's is a magical creature."

"Magical creature?" The two in front turned their heads in shock. "Wasn't that a car?"

"Have you ever seen a car that can fly by itself?"

"But... we've never seen a magical creature that looks exactly like a car either. Or rather, how can a creature look like a car?"

"Hmm..." Tevan scratched his head. "I don't understand why Headmaster Dumbledore would turn a Pegasus into a car... maybe it's his personal hobby?"

"What a bizarre hobby." The Young Woman kept rubbing her arms. "What kind of terrifying magic is that, to be able to change a creature's shape!"

She rubbed her arms until they felt hot before the horror in her heart eased slightly. Then she asked with lingering fear: "Is that kind of magic hard to learn?"

"The entry level is simple, but mastery requires hard work and practice. To reach Headmaster Dumbledore's level of proficiency also requires a certain amount of talent."

Farid said with a fearful expression: "If this magic were learned by someone with bad intentions... wait, I remember some legends I've read, like 'meat sheep' and such, turning people into sheep and selling them to butcher shops.

Could these... not be legends?"

The Young Woman's nerves, which had just relaxed a bit, tightened again. She turned her head slightly, glancing at Tevan out of the corner of her eye: "Um... do you know this kind of magic?"

"I don't know magic."

Just as the hearts of the two were about to settle back down, they heard Tevan add cheerfully: "I've learned a similar technique."

Farid's whole body stiffened.

Before, he had always fantasized about how the transcendent would make the world beautiful, but he forgot that power can destroy as well as build.

"Tevan... uh... Mr. Tevan." The Young Woman's expression was hesitant, and she stammered, "The story Farid just told... is it a legend or real?"

"Well, legends probably make up a part of it, and the rest is real."

Meaning, people were really turned into animals and sold to butcher shops?

They were terrified and instinctively shuddered.

Noticing the abnormality of the two, Tevan smiled and comforted them: "Don't worry, with Teacher around, the Wu will no longer have the chance to harm humans."

He mentioned a new term—Wu.

Farid had some understanding of the Wu. They were a mysterious group with strange and eerie abilities.

Of course, these were all rumors and mentioned in fictional literary works; they were likely not the same entities Tevan was talking about.

The Young Woman was equally curious, her curiosity even overriding her awe and fear of the transcendent.

"Is a Wu a witch?"

"A Wu is a Wu. Both men and women can become Wu."

"Are they bad guys?"

"I've never seen them do anything good, anyway."

"Mr. Tevan, we've arrived," Farid reminded.

Tevan, as before, made the car hover in mid-air and then his figure disappeared.

The remaining two did not speak; the silence in the car was so heavy you could hear a pin drop.

Finally, the Young Woman was the first to start the conversation: "Do you still want to have contact with the transcendent?"

"Why not?" Farid had clearly calmed down, his tone returning to a steady pace.

"Even after hearing what Mr. Tevan said?"

"Even after hearing what Mr. Tevan said."

"But... it's dangerous."

Dangerous?

Farid smiled, pressed the window button, stuck his head out, and looked down at the crowd holding Mobile Phones and looking up to take pictures.

"If the transcendent is truly as dangerous as Mr. Tevan says, then approaching, understanding, and becoming familiar with it is the only way to have a better chance of survival.

After all, you wouldn't want to be turned into a sheep, slaughtered, skinned, and hung on an iron hook for sale without any ability to resist, would you?"

The Young Woman lowered her head and remained silent, seemingly torn between whether she should immediately distance herself from Tevan or follow Farid's example.

Perhaps having seen through her thoughts, Farid said somewhat speechlessly: "What makes you think that just by staying with Mr. Tevan, you have a hope of becoming a transcendent?"

"..." The Young Woman was very angry, but she didn't know how to refute him.

After a while, the displeasure in her heart had not receded but instead accumulated.

Just as she couldn't help but burst out into a loud scolding, a scream suddenly came from the ground.

"Look inside the bar!"

"What is that?!"

The two lowered the car windows all the way and stuck their heads out to look.

Because the car was parked directly above the bar, after looking for a long time, they only saw the crowd rushing toward the bar's entrance.

This made the Young Woman very anxious: "We have to find a way to get down quickly!"

"Weren't you planning to stay away from the transcendent?"

"I was only considering it!"

Farid couldn't be bothered to argue with her anymore. He stepped hard on the brake pedal, trying to make the car land, but after trying for a long time, there was no movement at all.

"Damn it!" He punched the steering wheel, then pushed open the car door and was about to jump out.

"Are you crazy?! You'll fall to your death!" The Young Woman desperately pulled at him.

"Let go of me!" Farid, who had always acted rationally, was now like a gambler who had lost all his property, his eyes red as he shouted at the Young Woman to let go. "Jumping to the roof is only seven or eight meters. I won't die!"

"Your legs will break!"

"Mr. Tevan will help me set them back together perfectly!"

Farid was much stronger. The stalemate between the two did not last long before he broke free from the Young Woman and prepared to jump out of the car.

"I'll catch you." Tevan was in the bar, but his voice clearly reached the ears of the two people over twenty meters up in the air.