38: Chapter 38 Method
Spiritual energy detection capabilities.
The alarm bells in Su Yun's head were ringing at full volume.
A city-wide dragnet, scanning district by district, building by building, household by household.
They definitely recorded his spiritual energy fluctuations from last night.
If he were scanned face-to-face, they might actually be able to track him down.
Su Yun cursed inwardly.
He recalled the events of the past two days.
No, that wasn't right.
Su Yao had said during dinner yesterday that something big would happen in Linhai tomorrow.
He hadn't started his metamorphosis back then; the spiritual energy fluctuations in the early hours of last night were not the reason for the lockdown.
They were just being used as an excuse.
The real reason was Su Yao.
"Eldest Sister watched me destroy the world with her own eyes in her past life."
"And in this life, she witnessed me in my infancy at the factory in the south of the city..."
Su Yun thought.
Given her personality, her first reaction would inevitably be to use every resource available to nip the threat in the bud.
That was why she had turned herself in to the Great Xia authorities.
She had come clean about being a Rebirth.
By using her memories from her previous life, she had made some accurate predictions, which was why the Great Xia authorities took her seriously.
Nominally, they were searching for the abnormal spiritual energy source from last night, but in reality, they were coming for that terminator who devoured the black day.
And that terminator was him.
Su Yun's face remained expressionless.
He processed this information in half a second, then looked up at Su Chen.
"Big Brother, since you called me here, you must already have a solution?"
A hint of approval flashed in Su Chen's eyes.
As expected of Night Owl.
To remain calm under such pressure and skip the emotional reaction to ask for a solution immediately.
"That's right."
Su Chen walked to the window and tapped the frame three times.
A faint, water-blue film of light appeared on the surface of the window glass, isolating any possible external eavesdropping.
"The Investigation Bureau's standard procedure is to advance by zone, gradually compressing the encirclement from the city's periphery toward the core area.
Given Linhai's area and population density, even with the Abyssal Eye running at full power, it would take at least forty-eight hours to complete a city-wide scan."
Su Chen turned around, his gaze sharp.
"We cannot just wait to be caught like turtles in a jar.
The initiative must be in our own hands."
"How do we do that?"
Su Chen's finger traced a line in the air.
"Buried beneath Linhai City are three spirit vein anchors left behind by the Sanctuary.
These anchors are the key nodes maintaining the stability of the reality barrier.
As long as we sever the anchors—"
He paused for a beat, his voice dropping.
"The Abyssal Rift will tear open a gap in the area where the anchor collapses.
Strange Tales will flood out from the gap in large numbers.
All of the Investigation Bureau's personnel will have to be deployed for emergency defense and evacuation."
Su Chen looked at Su Yun, his tone steady.
"By then, how would they have any spare energy to conduct a dragnet search?"
Su Yun didn't respond immediately.
He leaned back in his chair, his fingers idly twisting the cap of a mineral water bottle.
Three anchors.
Severing them all.
Large-scale opening of the Abyssal Rift.
Isn't this just a replica of Neon?
Su Yun looked at Su Chen's burning eyes, a cold realization rising in his heart.
As expected.
Big Brother's nature had never changed.
The sinking of Sakura Island, Strange Tales everywhere—that was an experimental ground he had designed himself.
Pressure fosters evolution, survival of the fittest.
A form of extreme, cold-blooded social Darwinism.
Now he wanted to do it again right on their own doorstep.
Su Yun recalled Su Yao's dream.
That apocalyptic scene, the scarred earth, swarms of Strange Tales wandering among the ruins.
In his past life, he had no reason and turned everything into nothingness.
If he really let Su Chen blow up all three spirit vein anchors, what would Linhai become?
A Hundred Ghosts Parade.
The lives of countless civilians would be crushed as the "price of evolution."
And what about him?
Hundreds of Strange Tales pouring out of the Abyssal Rift—for Su Yun, who needed to devour Strange Tales to gain growth, this was simply a gluttonous feast.
Growth: 0/1000.
This number flashed in his mind.
Su Yun extinguished it.
It wasn't that he hadn't thought about it.
Strange Tales emerge, he devours them in the chaos.
Growth skyrockets, strength surges.
Very logical.
Very efficient.
But Su Yun was very clear about one thing.
Humanity was his anchor.
The day his bottom line disappeared, he would no longer be human.
He would turn back into that monster.
"No."
Su Yun's voice was flat.
Su Chen's expression froze for a moment.
"If all three spirit vein anchors are severed, Linhai will become the second Neon."
Su Yun stared at him, "Big Brother, eight million people live in this city.
That includes our mom and dad, Eldest Sister, and our sharp-tongued little sister."
"I will move them beforehand!"
"And then what?
What about the remaining seven million, nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-six people?"
Su Chen's lips pressed into a thin line.
Silence stretched for five seconds.
Su Yun knew that during those five seconds, Su Chen was battling the devil in his mind named "by any means necessary."
He didn't urge him.
Because urging was useless.
People like Su Chen, the more you push them, the more determined they become.
You have to let him turn the corner himself.
"Big Brother."
Su Yun changed his tone, adding a touch of pragmatism to his calm.
"I understand your line of thought.
But have you considered that if Linhai truly falls, although the Investigation Bureau will retreat to lick its wounds, they will directly upgrade the response level and mobilize all S-Rank combat power from across the country.
By then, it won't just be the Strange Tales being hunted."
He paused for a beat.
"Neither you nor I will be able to escape."
This sentence precisely struck Su Chen's line of rational defense.
Su Chen was silent for a long time.
So long that Su Yun had begun to consider whether to add more fuel to the fire.
Then, Su Chen's eyes changed.
It wasn't the look of giving up.
It was the look of someone accustomed to finding the optimal solution in desperate situations, having found a new path.
"One."
Su Chen held up a finger.
"Only sever one spirit vein anchor."
Su Yun didn't move.
"If one anchor collapses, the scale of the rift created will be limited.
It won't trigger a Hundred Ghosts Parade, but it will be enough to create sustained spiritual energy turbulence in a local area.
The detection precision of the Abyssal Eye will be severely interfered with, like splashing a basin of ink on a radar screen."
Su Chen's speaking speed increased.
"The Investigation Bureau will have to split its forces to deal with the Strange Tales spilling from the rift, and the progress of the dragnet search will be delayed by at least seventy-two hours.
These seventy-two hours are enough for me to complete all the aftermath, move everyone in Linhai, and the authorities cannot possibly keep the city locked down for that long."
Su Yun calculated in his heart.
One anchor.
Local rift.
Controllable Strange Tales overflow.
Investigation Bureau splits forces.
Dragnet search rhythm disrupted.
And the overflowing Strange Tales...
Just enough for him to take a few bites in the chaos.
Su Yun stood up and placed the mineral water bottle, which he had never touched, back on the table.
"Fine."
Su Chen's shoulders visibly relaxed.
"But there is one condition."
Su Yun looked at him.
"Name it."
Su Yun opened the door and stopped at the threshold.
He didn't look back, his voice as casual as if he were commenting on the weather.
"Big Brother, if you get caught, whatever you do, don't sell me out."
Su Chen was stunned for two seconds.
Then he laughed.
There was helplessness in his smile, relief, and a hint of pride that even he himself hadn't noticed.
"Don't worry."
Su Chen leaned back against the headboard, hands clasped behind his head, staring at the ceiling, "I, Bai Cang, have been interrogated thirty-seven times, and I have never opened my mouth once."