Chapter 224: Our Territory
After finis.h.i.+ng work at the set of ‘Divergent Paths’, Gu Xiqiao walked to the slums after informing Mrs. Zhang that she wouldn’t be home so early.
The training arena was still brightly lit, and Gu Xiqiao stood there in front of the cave, rubbing her chin thoughtfully and thinking about ways to redesign it.
Behind her, all the teams that didn’t go out patrolling were looking at her with admiration.
“Qiao Qiao, why did you get a cave over here?” Yin Shaoyuan stood next to her and looked at the cave together, but he didn’t know what she was trying to do. They had tried to enter the cave that afternoon, but they were all blocked by the seal on the entrance of the cave.
Gu Xiqiao smiled. “Big Brother Yin, you know about the Trial Tower right?”
Upon thinking of the Trial Tower, the first thing that came to Yin Shaoyuan’s mind was its the difference in the flow of time between the inside of the tower and the outside world, and since Gu Xiqiao wouldn’t mention that for no reason, Yin Shaoyuan turned around and looked at Gu Xiqiao with a shaken gaze. “You… Don’t tell me?”
“Yes, this cave is actually a Cybers.p.a.ce with a time ratio of one to seven with the flow of time outside, and if I reverse that, it’ll become so that the ratio will become seven to one instead.” Gu Xiqiao looked towards the cave. “I still need some time to fine-tune it, but you guys can go inside to train by tomorrow morning.”
Yao Jiamu and Wu Hongwen heard this too when they were walking over, and they were stunned shock in place to the point where they didn’t react to Gu Xiqiao walking into the cave.
“Young Master Yin, did she say…?” Wu Hongwen felt a little short of breath as he reconfirmed what was real and what was fake in this world. Did the time in there really flow so that seven days in there equated to one day out here?
Yin Shaoyuan inhaled deeply and reached to pat Wu Hongwen’s shoulder weakly. “Yes, just like the Trial Tower in the ancient martial arts world but better.”
“Will I become older quicker?” Xiao Yun asked.
Yin Shaoyuan: “… That won’t happen. The laws of s.p.a.ce and time are different inside the Cybers.p.a.ce, and you’ll age at the same rate as you would in the outside world.”
“The gap between us is too big…” Yao Jiamu felt an endless shock as he looked on at the cave. He had thought that the gap between them would decrease in time with his training speed, but he never expected it to become larger and larger instead.
Everyone was in silent agreement on this statement as they stood in front of the cave. Each one of Gu Xiqiao’s skills astonished them day after day, with each thing she did more unbelievable than the next.
It was too scary.
Yin Shaoyuan was the one who knew the most about how precious this cave was.
The Trial Tower was the greatest treasure of the ancient martial arts world, created by an ancient warrior using a Cybers.p.a.ce and taken care of through the generations, and most importantly, Gu Xiqiao was still extremely young! No one in the ancient martial arts world would believe that she could accomplish such a feat!
Everyone watched silently to see what would happen, until a bunch of clouds converged above the cave and sent vicious, purple bolts of lightning down onto the cave, but was blocked by a transparent barrier.
This commotion continued for half an hour, and the people in the arena looked on in bated breath until the clouds dissipated and revealed the moon once again, breathing a sigh of relief when Gu Xiqiao walked out of the cave.
Under the dim lighting of the arena, purple lightning danced between her fingers as her hair danced even though there wasn’t a breeze.
When she walked out of the cave, she stopped and raised her hands, and the purple lightning that was in her hands magnified and formed the shape of a mighty dragon, flying up to coil up on top of the cave as if it were protecting it. Its mighty form inspired respect in those that looked at it, and in fact, it was created to combat and suppress the miasma inside the cave.
“Alright.” After doing all of this, Gu Xiqiao was truly, completely, exhausted. She looked over at Yin Shaoyuan, and said, “I haven’t made any training grounds inside yet, so the only thing this cave has is a difference in the flow of time. You know about Cybers.p.a.ce best, Big Brother Yin, so look over everything in my stead for a while okay? I’ll be back in a few days.”
“Alright.” Yin Shaoyuan looked at her pale, exhausted expression in distress and concern. “Do you really have to push yourself like this? Let me send you home!”
“No need.” Gu Xiqiao waved at him dismissively. “They need you here.”
Yin Shaoyuan didn’t relent, of course, but before he could stop her, she started walking, and even though she seemed to be walking slowly, she appeared a hundred meters away in the next second.
Yin Shaoyuan: “…” What, was he a flying c.o.c.kroach?
***
Meanwhile, in a southern city in China.
“Boss.” Yi Bing handed Jiang Shuxuan a black cube with a serious expression. “We found this in the vicinity, and from the looks of it, it’s the exact same as the one we found near the cave.”
Jiang Shuxuan took the cube and fiddled with it in his palm, his pale fingers contrasting against the obsidian colored cube, and his head was lowered slightly, hiding the thoughts that were going through his eyes.
“Boss, Boss!” Yi Tiao ran in in a rush.
Yi Bing glanced at Jiang Shuxuan and kicked Yi Tiao when he saw Jiang Shuxuan’s brows furrow slightly. “What are you, a bull?”
Yi Tiao rubbed his cheek and handed his phone to Jiang Shuxuan. “Look at this video that Yi Tong sent me, Boss, Miss Gu…”
Before he could even finish his sentence, the phone was taken away by Jiang Shuxuan.
Even Yi Bing was curious about what it was that shocked Yi Tiao so, and like a curious cat, he slowly made his way behind Jiang Shuxuan and peeked at the screen of the phone, before becoming stunned by the sight.
On the screen, there was a silhouette that was quite some distance away, and even though their face wasn’t clear, it was easy to tell that it was Gu Xiqiao just from her clear aura.
They couldn’t feel the mental power surge through the video, but they could take a good enough guess as to what was happening judging by how the dust and gravel were sent flying, and at the end of the video, the cave disappeared.
Yi Bing’s mouth hung agape as if he had seen a ghost.
Jiang Shuxuan’s expression didn’t change much, but the cold aura around him seemed to thaw a bit as he swiped and tapped a few times on the screen, before returning it to Yi Tiao.
Yi Tiao kept the phone again, before reporting in a serious tone, “Also, we have news from the elder committee. They created a law enforcement team according to Yi Tong’s orders, but before they could do anything, an organization called the Peace Squad appeared in the capital all of a sudden, and all of them are stronger than the team leader! Boss, should we investigate? We don’t have any records of such a powerful organization at all!”
Such a terrifying organization appeared out of nowhere, and the elder committee was almost at their wit’s end, so they wanted to get Jiang Shuxuan’s team to investigate,
Jiang Shuxuan’s expression didn’t change in the slightest, and he looked at Yi Tiao. “Tell them that it’s not needed.”
“Not needed?” Yi Tiao looked at Jiang Shuxuan in surprise but didn’t oppose his decision, as worried as he was. “Will they listen to us, though?”
The Jiang Family elder committee in general seemed to be quite wary of it, in particular.
Jiang Shuxuan’s expression only turned cold at this question, and he huffed. “Don’t mind them. Let them learn that they’re just frogs under a well.”
His phone vibrated in his pocket, and his brows furrowed slightly when he looked at it before he walked upstairs.
Downstairs, Yi Bing immediately ran towards Yi Tiao. “Quick, send me that video! How did that cave disappear like that?!” He had to work out what happened!
Yi Tiao took out his phone and tapped into his videos file, but he couldn’t find the video anymore.
He blinked, before shutting down his phone and opening it again, then he looked towards Yi Bing. “I think… Boss deleted it.”
Yi Tiao: “… F*ck!”
***
Meanwhile, Gu Xiqiao had already made her way to the alleyway.
The system spirit floated in front of her with a solemn expression. “Beauty Qiao, you can’t use any more of your mental powers! You have to rest!”
“Alright, alright.” Gu Xiqiao sighed and looked around at the dimly lit roads.
She took a couple more steps before she heard the blaring horn of a car along with bright headlights s.h.i.+ning on her, and the next moment, a car stopped right in front of her. The windows rolled down to reveal a gentle-looking face, smiling at her. “I’ll give you a ride.”
Half an hour later, the car stopped in the residential area.
“Thank you Big Brother Baili.” Gu Xiqiao waved goodbye before walking upstairs.
After seeing her walk upstairs, he took out his phone and messaged Jiang Shuxuan.
‘I got her home safely! Don’t hesitate to get me to help with this sort of thing okay?’
Upstairs, Mrs. Zhang was still waiting for her in the living room, and upon seeing her step in she immediately scurried off to the kitchen, coming out with a warm meal for her.
After she ate, Gu Xiqiao played with Haha for a bit before going to take a shower.
After she got out of the shower, her phone rang and she picked it up upon seeing that it was Jiang Shuxuan, “Brother Jiang!”
“Mhm. When are you planning to sleep?” The deep voice rumbled through the line.
Gu Xiqiao sat in front of her computer. “It’s still quite early, so I’ll watch some TV.”
“Don’t sleep too late,” Jiang Shuxuan reminded, before continuing, “I’ll get Baili to fetch you to the studio tomorrow, and I’ll get Director Cheng to tell him when you get off work.”
Gu Xiqiao: “… Okay.”
“Those people from the ancient martial arts world will probably go look for your Peace Squad, tell them that they don’t need to hold back.” Jiang Shuxuan said.
Gu Xiqiao’s expression brightened upon being provided with a bunch of sandbags for Yao Jiamu and co.
If Jiang Shuxuan said so, then don’t mind if she took advantage of them!
Gu Xiqiao hung up with a devious smile, fiddling with her phone.
The ancient martial arts world, huh?
***
The next day.
Fu Dongyi went to Nine Heavens to look for Luo Wenlang. “Mr. Luo, CEO Fu agreed.”
He had been scared that the man would throw him out of Fu Enterprise immediately upon hearing the two choices, but he only smiled in response, calming Fu Dongyi’s heart down.
Both him and Fu Wei knew that Nine Heavens Group didn’t speak empty promises.
“Very good.” Luo Wenlang picked up a bunch of doc.u.ments and looked at his phone, where Yao Jiamu had sent him the address. “Let’s go, then.”
“Mr. Luo, I really don’t have a lot of talent in this field…” Fu Dongyi knew about Luo Wenlang’s terrifying genius and talent. “In terms of natural talent, I’m a million miles away from Miss Fu…”
Luo Wenlang only patted his shoulder rea.s.suringly. “To my knowledge, she’s already starting to take over some of the Fu family’s businesses, yes?”
“Yes.” Fu Dongyi nodded, knowing that it wasn’t a secret to the industry. “She’s really talented.”
Fu Xuejun seemed to have been impacted by something lately and was soaking up business and management knowledge like a sponge. Right now, she was in charge of a project under Fu Enterprise, and her ability had become recognized by a majority of the employees and higher-ups in the company.
“Don’t worry.” Luo Wenlang smiled. “You’ll pity her in a few days.”
Gu Xiqiao never pulled any punches when she attacked, and however high Fu Xuejun stood currently, the more painful would be the fall.
Fu Dongyi was shocked by this statement, but Luo Wenlang didn’t explain any further, only driving him towards the eastern side of town.
Yao Jiamu was waiting at the entrance for the two of them. “Come in.”
As he spoke, he glanced at Fu Dongyi. This person didn’t seem to be all that special, why did Miss Gu give him such special treatment?
Luo Wenlang and Fu Dongyi walked into the door and walked through the hallway before entering a training arena with a cave, and above the cave was a dragon made of purple lightning.
Luo Wenlang had already seen pictures of this place, so he could calm himself down, but Fu Dongyi was completely baffled by the sight. Was this reality, or was he dreaming?
Yin Shaoyuan walked out of the cave and looked at the both of them with a devilish smile.
“Welcome to our territory—the Cybers.p.a.ce.”