Colonia Storm Tour

“That’s right, and this talent isn’t just for me; all humans can use it, as long as they know the exact path. It’s not a difficult thing.”

As Lin Haiyuan spoke, he manipulated the airflow in the office, creating a slowly rotating vortex above his palm. "You can also possess this mental power to control airflow, and you must possess it."

When Hua Zhizi learned about the power of the mind and saw the vortex in Lin Haiyuan's hand, her understanding and respect for the entire Burning Wind organization, including Lin Haiyuan, the person in charge of the 9991 Project, increased.

But then she thought of something, "Chief Lin, since you can control people's minds, then you can read minds?!"

Her face, like that of a gardenia, slowly but irresistibly turned red. Wasn't that a clear indication that her fantasies about Lin Haiyuan had been exposed from the very beginning?

“I can read minds, but that also requires using mental power. However, doing this kind of thing is very detrimental to mental health, so I will only use it when necessary. Don’t worry, I haven’t used mind reading on you from the beginning, and you are a person with a strong will. Mind reading is ineffective on people with a strong will.”

Lin Haiyuan was indeed telling the truth. The mind-reading ability created by spiritual power is indeed ineffective against people with strong will. However, what Lin Haiyuan said was also half true and half false. It is obvious which part is true and which part is false.

"Is that so... Mind reading is ineffective against people with strong wills."

Youhua Zhizi felt relieved after hearing Lin Haiyuan's words, because she considered herself a person with a strong will.

Did you manage to appease her? ...Perfect, time to change the subject.

"We still have important business to attend to..."

Lin Haiyuan looked at Edgar F. Carroll and asked, "Where are the design drawings and technical specifications for the display device and CR-UNIT?"

"The design drawings and technical specifications of the display device and CR-UNIT are all within the DEM Research Institute."

Edgar F. Carroll answered truthfully.

"Very good, so where exactly is the DEM Research Institute?"

Lin Haiyuan continued to press for answers.

"In a comprehensive research base belonging to DEM Company in the eastern part of the city, the owner."

Edgar F. Carroll gave a curt reply.

"Very good, do you know how to take us there?"

Lin Haiyuan insisted that Edgar F. Carroll take him and Youhua Zhizi along, otherwise they would be searching for the database like headless flies.

“I know. I was just talking to Westcott’s Executive Director and Second Executive Secretary, Messer, about visiting the Integrated Research Base to see WhiteLycoris, Scarletlycoris, and Mordred.”

Edgar F. Carroll revealed two familiar CR-UNIT names.

"Well, all right."

After reciting a line from the peacekeeping bomber's return flight dialogue, Lin Haiyuan crossed out his question and asked, "Have the WhiteLycoris, Scarletlycoris, and Mordred been completed?"

"Yes, manufacturing has been completed, testing has been completed, and the data has been entered into the database. It awaits my final signature for acceptance."

Edgar F. Carroll's answer clearly satisfied Lin Haiyuan.

"Very good, accept this."

Lin Haiyuan took out a strange syringe from the yellow toolbox. The tip of the syringe was not sharp, but rather spherical.

He didn't intend to kill or drug the other person, but rather to cover their skin with a layer of nano-location drones that wouldn't cause any sensation. This would make it easier for Lin Haiyuan and Youhua Zhizi to locate Edgar F. Carroll's position. These nano-drones could work for 24 hours and would automatically decompose into harmless particulate dust after 24 hours.

He couldn't maintain strong mental control over Edgar F. Carroll indefinitely, because that would cause him to appear listless and abnormal, which would certainly be noticed by someone like his secretary.

Like a wisp of mist about to disappear, a nano-positioning drone slowly emerged from the spherical tip of a syringe, covered the back of the other person's neck, and vanished.

"Youhua, now open the window and wait there. We're ready to proceed with the next step."

Lin Haiyuan put the nano-positioning drone launcher back into the yellow toolbox.

"Ah."

Gardenia immediately went to the large window behind Edgar F. Carroll and opened it, letting a biting wind blow into the luxurious office.

Lin Haiyuan, carrying two toolboxes, came up behind Youhua Zhizi, who was facing away from the window. "Youhua, you're going to hold me while we fly."

"Huh?!"

When Hua Zhizi heard Lin Haiyuan say this, she exclaimed in confusion.

“We can’t follow him into the DEM Corporation’s integrated research base. The abnormal dents and movements would arouse suspicion, and his expression was too stiff when he was being controlled, which would also arouse suspicion. So we can only follow the vehicle he was in from the air and enter the integrated research base, and then take control of him again, understand?”

Lin Haiyuan specifically explained to Hua Zhizi why he did this.

"Ah... yes."

With a slight blush, Hua Zhizi could only agree. She never imagined that she would be hugging a man she had only recently met twice in the same period of time, once in the cockpit of a tank and once now flying with him in the sky.

"How much longer do you have left to utilize the CR-UNIT's operational limits?"

Lin Haiyuan asked her—Activity limit usually refers to the amount of time a magician equipped with a CR-UNIT can fight. The longer the time, the stronger the user's energy and willpower, and vice versa. This activity limit is also affected by the performance of the CR-UNIT, because the higher the performance of the CR-UNIT, the greater the load it generates.

"The wiring kit is equipment designed to enable ordinary people to fight against spirits. If there is no intense battle and it is just simple flight, theoretically it should be no problem for 6 hours. I don't feel tired at all right now."

After thinking about it, Hua Zhizi gave a reliable answer.

"Alright, just keep holding me from behind while we fly, and I'll use airflow manipulation to help you fly."

After Lin Haiyuan finished speaking, Hua Zhizi thought to herself, "Strange, since he can manipulate airflow, can he also manipulate airflow to make himself fly? That should be possible, right?"

Why did Commander Lin want him to hug him? Was he trying to take advantage of him? No, no, Commander Lin's calm and nonchalant attitude when he entered the tank's driver's compartment proves that he is not that kind of person. Perhaps it's due to his strength limitations.

Gardenia's conjecture is undoubtedly correct; he does not have enough mental strength to defy Earth's gravity and fly high into the sky, something even Libra and Yuri could not do.

Without hesitation, Hua Zhizi easily grabbed Lin Haiyuan and flew towards the sky outside the window. Lin Haiyuan had left some mental power on Edgar F. Carroll, which kept hinting to him to go to the DEM Comprehensive Research Base as soon as possible.

Just in case, Lin Haiyuan made sure to close the window perfectly when Hua Zhizi carried him out to the sky.

He then activated the nano-location drone on Edgar F. Carroll, and his eyepiece immediately displayed the target's location information attached to the nano-drone, including three-dimensional coordinates, relative direction, and relative speed.

After waiting in the air for a few minutes, Edgar F. Carroll's car drove out of the underground parking garage entrance.

"Hey, do you see that black Chevrolet over there with DEM on it? Edgar F. Carroll is sitting in it. Follow him. I'll remind you to correct the position if the visual tracking loses sight of the target."

Lin Haiyuan turned his head towards the entrance and exit of the underground parking lot.

Following Lin Haiyuan's turned head, Hua Zhizi looked towards the entrance and exit of the underground parking lot and saw a black Chevrolet with "DEM" written on its side, just as he had described.

"Understood, the target has been identified."

Gardenia activated its flight thrusters to accelerate and catch up with the black Chevrolet that had already left.

"Youhua, the power of the flight thrusters needs to be controlled to the minimum. The individual illusion core cannot perfectly conceal the mint green tail flame of the flight thrusters!"

Lin Haiyuan noticed that the tail flame produced by the flight thruster of the Gardenia had generated a very violent light deflection, that is, a clear ring-shaped fluctuation. Anyone with sharp eyes and sensitive monitors would definitely be able to detect the abnormality.

"Ah, yes!"

Gardenia panicked and adjusted the power of the flight thruster to reduce the mint green tail flame produced by the flight thruster to the minimum, so that the individual illusion core could only have a slight flaw to cover the tail flame.

"I will manipulate the airflow to help you fly, so don't worry about your speed decreasing."

Since this was her first time carrying out such a covert operation, Lin Haiyuan did not blame her. Instead, he used his mental power to manipulate the surrounding airflow to "push" Youhua Zhizi forward at an accelerated pace.

Youhua Zhizi sensed the abnormal airflow within the random domain, but she didn't add any unnecessary acceleration, because she knew it wasn't necessary. She just needed to float and fly with Lin Haiyuan.

During this period, Lin Haiyuan also directly contacted WalkerNet AI through the satellite phone function of the built-in communicator—his Synchronous Ninja Nano Combat Suit was special.

"Walker AI, first retrieve the Terror Turtle Cannon from DEM headquarters. The technical data we need to steal is not in DEM headquarters, but in a comprehensive research base in the eastern part of the city."

"Yes, Master."

Walker.com AI immediately activated the hyperspace teleporter at Colonia's flank air base and retrieved the Terror Turtle Cannon back to the hangar.

After that, Lin Haiyuan focused on maintaining the mental power he had applied to Edgar F. Carroll and manipulating airflow—manipulating airflow was an instinctive action for the Apostle of the Air Pressure Ball; otherwise, how could the Apostle of the Air Pressure Ball always be able to form an air pressure ball surrounding itself? With his superior mental power, it was not difficult for Lin Haiyuan to do this.

After flying in the sky for a full 15 minutes, Lin Haiyuan and Youhua Zhizi finally caught a glimpse of the so-called comprehensive research base.

However, compared to Lin Haiyuan, whose eyesight was still within the normal range, Hua Zhizi's eyesight, enhanced by the Free Domain, was like that of a superhuman. She quickly spotted the magicians (wizards) flying in the distant sky and even saw a magician with orange hair in the queue.

"Chief Lin, I see DEM magicians in the sky above that group of buildings ahead!"

You Huazhizi reported to Lin Haiyuan in a nervous tone.

"A patrol team? If they're just regular magicians, I'll help you avoid them and prevent random contact between your areas."

Lin Haiyuan had no idea that there was an extraordinary magician in the sky ahead.

"Not just ordinary magicians, but also Artemisia Bel Ashcroft!"

Gardenia revealed the name of the orange-haired magician.

“Emmmmmm…”

Lin Haiyuan wasn't surprised by Artemisia Bel Ashcroft's appearance. He knew from the side stories that she had been invited by the anti-Wescott faction of DEM to join the Ashcroft Project. However, according to his speculation, she should have appeared in a similar place after April 10, 2017, when the original story began. But she appeared here in January 2014. It seems that her health condition is... not good. Not good at all, even worse than expected. She has gone to that kind of place for treatment ahead of schedule.

Lin Haiyuan didn't take Artemisia Bel Ashcroft's appearance at the DEM Integrated Research Base too seriously or suspect anything else; he just wanted to be careful to avoid her.

"Just stay far away from her, as long as you don't appear in areas where she might be able to detect us. Their patrols have enough gaps for us to pass through those multiple defenses."

"Yes."

After receiving the reply, Gardenia became even more cautious in her flight. To avoid being detected at high altitudes, Gardenia opted for complex low-altitude flight to confuse potential detection.

For modern fighter jets, flying at low altitudes in densely built-up cities is like bungee jumping; a single tremor or mistake by the pilot could easily lead to a 9/11-like event.

However, for the "machine girl" characters like Gardenia or Magician, this problem is practically nonexistent unless you're completely confused. Generally speaking, they can't maintain supersonic or transonic speeds, and even maintaining subsonic speeds is difficult. In other words, their flight envelope performance is worse at the right end than that of the F-35 and Hornet. However, this thing is so strange that infrared-guided and radar-guided missiles cannot easily lock onto it. Even if they do, it can make rapid turns on the spot and even perform arbitrary horizontal and vertical maneuvers. Combined with its explosive acceleration and virtually impenetrable range, it makes it impossible for any modern fighter jet to engage in BVR beyond-visual-range shooting or dogfights. Even using cannons is useless.

As it turned out, Youhua Zhizi's choice to enter from a low altitude was correct. Artemisia Bel Ashcroft and the other DEM magicians were all high in the air. With enough distance and a mixed crowd, Artemisia Bel Ashcroft, who was not a humanoid sonar detector, was completely helpless against the invisible Lin Haiyuan and Youhua Zhizi.

With Hua Zhizi leading Lin Haiyuan, they bypassed the heavily armed guards and air defense system as if they didn't notice anything, and then stopped above a parking lot.

Lin Haiyuan said into the built-in communicator, "Youhua, turn off the flight thrusters and go to the ground. We need to go to the ground to catch up."

"Yes!"

With careful assistance, Hua Zhizi helped Lin Haiyuan land in the parking lot. Carrying two toolboxes, Lin Haiyuan immediately followed Edgar F. Carroll, who was accompanied by his female secretary, after his feet touched the ground.

She carefully followed Lin Haiyuan while remaining afloat, avoiding any collisions with the flight thrusters on her back and feet.

However, getting through the steel gates next will be a small challenge, because Edgar F. Carroll and his secretary must enter the gates in sync.

This door verification is entirely done manually with identification documents. Lin Haiyuan couldn't possibly use the tools in his toolbox to open the door, because that would attract the attention of the guards.

"There are flowers, get ready to rush in, 3, 2, 1!"

As Lin Haiyuan spoke, he picked up two toolboxes and quickly ran to Edgar F. Carroll's side.

This time, with Hua Zhizi present, unlike the unexpected situation at DEM headquarters, she managed to control her movements and follow the female secretary, silently entering the world behind the gate together.

The following verification was entirely mechanically controlled. Although there were no guards to perform manual verification, we still had to enter in sync with Edgar F. Carroll and his secretary, just like before.

After walking a long way, Edgar F. Carroll arrived at a room marked "Office of the Chief Executive Officer." He went in alone, leaving his female secretary outside.