Night Journey

Chapter 144 The Golden Partner
Dai Lin stood on the metal grille submerged in water, as the river water continued to pour into the observation area. In the blink of an eye, the water level had reached his thighs.

The source energy within his body remained at its peak, weaving layers of dense defense on his body surface. Not far away, Anya stayed behind at a high place, gripping the last scorching sword tightly.

After Cillian plunged into the river with Darren's head in his arms, they could see nothing but the turbulent current and the surging source energy and soul essence.

"What a lunatic."

Daelin complained about Cillian's recklessness, adopted a defensive stance, and cautiously moved towards the spot where he had sunk.

No one knew what was happening underwater until Dalin was the first to notice the unusual water.

The icy cold water temperature suddenly became mild, as if an underwater volcano was gathering power and heating up the entire body of water.

Immediately afterwards, the river surface exploded with a roar, and a massive amount of water vapor gushed out from beneath the towering waves.

In the hazy steam, Ciri struggled to the surface, coughing violently and spitting out river water that smelled of rust and blood. The golden flames burning in his pupils were slowly dying down, leaving only deep exhaustion.

In order to completely burn Darren's brain, Cillian burned off most of his soul essence. If it weren't for Blessed Wrathful Chewing providing him with sustain, he would probably be unconscious by now.

"Ha ha……"

His lungs burned with pain, and the exhaustion from the intense exertion surged up like a tidal wave.

Cillian stood stubbornly on the metal grille, standing firm in the flowing water.

Scalding white steam billowed and swirled around his body like heavy armor, while thick, scorching white mist rose from the nearby water, twisting and spreading under the dim, flickering searchlights, shrouding this killing field in an eerie and oppressive veil.

Upon seeing Daelin, Cillian forced a pathetic smile.

"It's alright, it's been resolved."

He added, "It seems that Darren was merely using the power of Chaos to morbidly cybernetically modify himself, without being noticed by any evil entity."

Darren possesses extremely pure chaotic power, without any evil influence mixed in.

If he were to be targeted by the Evil Mother of Fungi, who would bestow upon him the power of Chaos and the ability to devour, then this battle would likely not end so easily.

However, Darren's cautious use of the power of chaos explains how he managed to hide so deeply within the Watergate system.

"This...is this solved?"

Dalin exclaimed incredulously, "That was a Mech Soul Master, and he just died at our hands like that?"

"So what if they're Mech Soul People? They're just one rank higher than us," Cillian scoffed. "Do you think we're some kind of weaklings?"

"That's true."

Dalyn accepted Cillian's praise without hesitation.

Cillian reached out, and Daelin pulled him from the water onto the metal grille.

The formidable enemy has been dealt with; now their headache is how to stop the river from flowing back in, otherwise the entire observation area will be submerged.

As superhumans, this wouldn't drown them, but if it caused a malfunction in the water gate system, that would be a huge problem.

crunch--

Suddenly, a sharp, distorted sound ripped through everyone's brief moment of respite.

Just a few meters behind Cillian, the headless torso belonging to Darren, which was submerged in the river, suddenly began to convulse violently.

"What are you doing!"

Dai Lin exclaimed in disbelief.

At the severed neck, the exposed cables that had been hissing were now flailing wildly like venomous snakes that had come to life.

Even more bizarrely, a thick, viscous darkness, like ink, surged out from the broken part of the torso, rapidly enveloping and reshaping the remains.

Cillian sensed the power of Chaos.

He killed Darren, but not the body of steel.

"Are all spirit craftsmen this troublesome?!"

Amid the complaints, Cillian suddenly remembered Bruce. Even though it had turned into a dog, it was still lively and energetic, which was enough to show that the Spirit Craftsman was not as easy to kill as imagined.

At least kill them all.

The headless corpse, completely dominated by chaos, suddenly "stood up" from the water—although it had lost its sight, it seemed to be able to accurately sense the location of the living. Its heavy metal limbs stirred the water and locked onto Cirion, who had just surfaced.

Cillian's pupils contracted sharply, and his body sluggish from exhaustion and cold, leaving him no time to parry.

Daelin grabbed Cillian's body and tried to shield him behind him. Anya, in the distance, let out a cry of alarm and anger, her Blazing Sword poised to strike.

At this extremely dangerous moment, an even more violent and heavy roar resounded.

Out of the corner of their eyes, a stream of fire enveloped in intense heat and light tore through the air, accompanied by a shrill whistling sound that ripped through the air and an overwhelming force, striking the headless corpse squarely in the center of its chest.

Snap—Bang!

The sounds of metal tearing and skeleton shattering blended together to create a deafening roar that sent chills down your spine.

The headless body, which had just been awakened by the power of chaos, had its thick armor dented, cracked, and disintegrated like paper under the attack of the fire.

A terrifying crater collapsed inward from the chest, and countless twisted parts, cables, and engine oil gushed out from the damaged area like a fountain.

"what?"

The three of them froze on the spot. The enormous impact sent the headless corpse flying backward like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily into the reinforced alloy wall behind it. Like a lump of completely smashed scrap metal, it was embedded in the deformed metal wall, twitched a few times, and then remained completely still.

The nauseating, chaotic aura that lingered around it dissipated quickly into the damp, cold air, like a burst bubble.

The three looked in the direction from which the fire was coming. After the smoke and water vapor filled the air, two figures wearing city guard uniforms appeared.

One person knelt on the spot, using his shoulder as a fulcrum to lift a ferocious cannon several meters long, while another person stood behind the cannon, responsible for aiming and firing.

Dai Lin squinted, barely managing to make out the identity of the newcomer through the blurry figure.

"Bill! Weland!"

Amid Daelin's exclamation, Bill cut off the power supply, and the hastily printed, ferocious cannon simply collapsed and dissipated into thin air. Vilan simply sat on the ground, panting heavily.

"Phew..." Bill's voice trembled with lingering fear as he said, "Luckily, I made it in time."

Cillian and Daelin struggled to climb onto the relatively stable lattice platform, and Anya jumped down from the height. The three of them reunited, all bearing injuries of varying degrees.

Bill and Veran came over and asked with concern, "Are you alright, Dalyn?"

Due to the close combat with Darren, Dalyn's uniform was torn in several places, revealing bruises underneath, making him look the most disheveled.

"It's alright... I won't die for now."

Dai Lin spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva and said with emotion, "Luckily, it was you two, the golden duo, who came. Otherwise, it would have been really difficult to deal with this headless body."

"What was that just now?" Cillian asked curiously. "It pierced through with a single blow."

"Hellfire-type Melt Cannon".

Bill had clearly been asked this question before, and he answered it crisply and fluently.

"This is a design blueprint that can only be printed and used by Tier 3. However, Vilan and I have been partners for many years and have excellent teamwork. If we divide the printing work, we can barely drive this weapon."

Bill and Vilan both come from the Mechanical Corpse Path and are at the second rank.

It was through this division of labor and cooperation that they were able to barely print and use weapons beyond their own rank. This unique ability also made them somewhat famous within the city guard bureau, earning them the title of "golden partners".

Then, Vilan added from the side.

"Don't listen to Bill's boasting. The design of the Hellfire-type molten metal cannon is not complicated, which is why we were able to divide the printing work. If it were any other design blueprint, even if we were in perfect harmony, it would be difficult to coordinate."

After a round of flattery, Dai Lin dropped his pretense and spoke aggressively.

"Damn it, what the hell is going on here? If we'd been any later you could have been collecting our corpses!"

Bill and Veran exchanged a glance and gestured to the three of them, saying, "Come with us."

They ignored the flooded observation area and headed towards the upper level before the elevator was submerged.

During the journey, Bill's voice was deep and clear, "We did come to support you, but the support order was received later. Our original mission was to clean up the other spirit craftsmen inside Watergate Fortress who were corrupted by Chaos."

Dai Lin said in surprise, "I thought that only our group was operating at Watergate Fortress."

Bill pointed towards the deeper part of the fortress above, his eyes grave. "While you were fighting fiercely on your side, we took care of three of them up there as well."

The situation is far worse than anticipated... The very foundation of this fortress has been hollowed out, and it's not just the one you encountered.”

"what?"

Anya gasped, her tired face filled with shock. Cillian also frowned; his previous guess had been confirmed: the infiltration of the Watergate fortress's lower levels was far greater than he had imagined.

"But most importantly..."

Bill stopped mid-sentence and stared at Cillian.

“I remember you, Cillian, the new recruit who joined recently. I heard you’re doing a great job, and even the guy from the Lof family likes you very much.”

Cillian responded, "Judging from your tone, it seems your focus is not on doing a good job, but on the latter."

"Haha, of course. Whoever wins Meifuni's heart will rise in social class. Even if they get dumped later, they'll still reap a lot of benefits."

Bill's serious demeanor vanished, and he started rambling incoherently, but the next second, his eyes sharpened again as he turned to look at Dalyn.

"Dailin, we're old friends. Can I trust this newcomer under your command?"

“Of course,” Dalyn put his arm around Cillian’s shoulder, “I can vouch for him.”

"very good."

Bill began, “This operation was originally supposed to be handled by another team, but I have a good relationship with them, so we switched the operation privately.”

Dai Lin pointed out, "This is against the rules."

"That's why I said it was done in private. Anyway, all the people who needed to be killed were killed, right?"

Bill seemed completely unconcerned.

Anya asked, puzzled, "What do you want to do?"

"I just wanted to confirm one thing."

Bill lowered his voice, "Remember that heavy rain not long ago? I was on duty with Viran, and we found many bodies in the rising river..."

A corpse encased in mycelium, resembling a cocoon.

(End of this chapter)