Chapter 929: He Didn"t Move
"Do you know?"
After standing silently amidst the heavily guarded crowd for two minutes, Percival Levin suddenly broke the silence in a low voice. Since experiencing the "command," he had been obedient all along, and this was the first time he spoke up on his own. "Although you and our combat members are waiting for someone to come down, there is a significant difference between you and them."
Lin Sanjiu glanced at him.
"Have you not thought about it?" Percival Levin spoke softly, his voice mellifluous, dissipated by the night breeze. "Silvan might not be able to come down."
"You certainly would like to think that," she immediately smiled, "I remember you acknowledging his exceptional combat power. How many people are there in the Commander"s Tower? Over a hundred?"
"No, there are usually only the commander and a few duty officers in the tower."
"Do you think that handful of people can prevent Silvan from coming down?"
"He won"t be easily defeated by a few people, even if one of them is the commander. I don"t have high expectations for that." Percival Levin paused, and when he noticed her gaze on him, he continued, "Look around."
Lin Sanjiu turned around, half doubtful and half curious. In her field of view, most of the people from the Munitions Factory—several "Lollipops" and "Firearms" included—were doing the same as she had just been, tilting their heads upward, listening intently for changes in the aerial battle. On the open ground below the slender tower, a fully armed combat team stood, having just organized themselves and prepared to ascend the tower at any moment. Her gaze lingered on the team for a few seconds, and her eyebrows furrowed involuntarily.
"What are they waiting for? Why aren"t they going up?"
"You asked the right question," Percival Levin sighed, "They are trying to establish communication with the Commander"s Tower. They won"t recklessly charge in until they"ve made contact with the interior..."
"Why?"
"Because the tower itself," he answered quietly, "is a weapon."
In an instant, Lin Sanjiu understood his implicit meaning. Shocked, she immediately turned around to scrutinize the slender tower floating in the air once again. It was smooth and sleek, without a single cannon or deck, but it was precisely its seemingly harmless exterior that made her heart shrink slowly.
"But weapons are meant for external use," she shook her head, "It cannot act inwardly..."
"Are you sure?" Percival Levin crossed his arms as well, "It is considered the Commander"s residence precisely because it has a powerful internal protection system. The two explosions just now, rather than indicating a battle, seemed more like the internal defense system coming into operation. No matter who enters, if they can"t come back down in the end, we won"t be surprised..."
A sentence unfinished, followed by three sharp alarm sounds that instantly pierced the night sky. Each sound was shorter and more urgent than the previous one. Pale faces turned towards the sound, gazing into the sky. Lin Sanjiu"s ears were filled with the urgent alarm, and just as she turned to ask Percival Levin a question, her peripheral vision was suddenly engulfed by a blaze of intense red.
As if the sound was going to shatter the heavens and earth, a thunderous explosion accompanied by a surging shockwave immediately engulfed everything, including Lin Sanjiu. Almost everyone, caught off guard, was knocked to the ground. Those closest to the explosion burst into flames, struggling wildly and scattering sparks in all directions. The sparks streaked across the dark night, becoming even more brilliant and radiant as if they were the light that bloomed after absorbing human lives.
Percival Levin no longer cared that he was still under someone"s control. He flipped over and got up, tearing off his mask. He rushed forward and shouted loudly, "Anyone with spatial abilities, immediately isolate them! The rest of you, move back!"
The black tower floating in the dark night began to distort into an almost transparent blue color from the top, amidst the blazing red. Lin Sanjiu"s face was roasted by the air, yet her fingertips felt icy cold. She stood in a daze for a few seconds before suddenly snapping out of it and quickly rus.h.i.+ng towards Percival Levin. When she reached him from behind, she happened to overhear a half-sentence from a member of the Munitions Factory reporting the situation.
"They"re gone," the person speaking had half of their face illuminated by the raging flames, and countless tiny beads of sweat glistened. "The commander"s life signs, they"re all gone..."
So, Silvan succeeded. He really came to a.s.sa.s.sinate the commander!
"I understand," Lin Sanjiu had just realized this when Percival Levin anxiously asked, "What about the intrusion alarm just now?"
She was taken aback, only then realizing that Silvan had already infiltrated the commander"s tower, and the Munitions Factory had also been mobilized. The previous alarm must have been a new development within the Munitions Factory.
Could it be that they discovered the theft of the "Scholar"?
"It"s from the research building," the member of the Munitions Factory reporting the situation seemed to immediately confirm her speculation. But he quickly added, "Someone saw Officer Silvan there!"
"What?" Percival Levin grabbed the person"s collar, "Who saw him? Are you sure it was him?"
"Y-yes, definitely," the small man"s face was brightly lit by the flames in the sky, and countless tiny beads of sweat glistened. "It was a female researcher who saw him... She was originally going to retrieve some materials as a precaution, but she happened to come across Officer Silvan... He... He seemed to be looking for someone at the time."
Lin Sanjiu quietly approached a few steps. At this moment, the sky was burning as if it were about to collapse, and people were scrambling and calling out as they fell on the ground. Percival Levin hadn"t noticed that she had already approached him.
"The researcher said that he should have been looking for a woman. Because when they were still at a distance, he seemed to have mistaken her for the person he was looking for... They... they came face to face... Fortunately, because she was a woman, Silvan let her go without doing anything. As for where he went afterward, no one has reported yet."
What is going on? Why did Silvan go there to look for her instead? Lin Sanjiu furrowed her brows, realizing that something was wrong. She quickly flicked her hand, tightly grasping the small box in her palm—the "Command" ability imposed on Percival Levin was about to end soon. Just as she clenched the 【Empty-handed Kleptomaniac】, he suddenly released the small man, turned around, and their eyes met.
"He was looking for you," his voice was low, accompanied by the throbbing veins on his cheek. "What"s going on? Who is in that tower?"
Lin Sanjiu slapped her chest, using up her third chance as well.
"Forget about everything else," she stared at Percival Levin without blinking, commanding, "Take me out of the Munitions Factory now and find Luther!"
Percival Levin stood still, his black hair constantly blown onto his face.
"Now!" She felt that peculiar flow of energy within her when her ability was activated, and she emphasized, "Take me to find Luther!"
However, he still didn"t move.