"I"m not afraid of death, but we"re the future hopes of the academy, so we definitely can"t reveal ourselves to the world for no good reason in this current situation. Everyone thinks that we perished along with the academy, and that"s our only advantage. We"re still in the shadows at the moment, and I"ve decided that we should go into hiding during the upcoming period of time.
"Don"t contact anyone unless you have to, and observe everything that"s unfolding from the shadows. At the very least, we can only devise a long-term plan after the situation in the outside world stabilizes. At the same time, we have to a.n.a.lyze who is trustworthy, and which powers are ones that we can borrow in the future. We also have to observe which side is benefitting the most in the wake of this disaster.
"There"s no way you can convince me that just the Holy Spirit Cult alone is powerful enough to steal two G.o.dslayer missiles and detonate them within Shrek City. They have to have powerful backers elsewhere, and we have to find a target. Only after finding a target will we be able to make better preparations. During this period that we"re in hiding, we also have to work on bettering ourselves and completing our suits of two-word battle armor. Only as two-word battle armor masters will we have a better chance of survival in this world."
At this moment, Tang Wulin was merely expressing his thoughts and decisions as opposed to holding a discussion with everyone. Diplomacy wasn"t what was needed now. Instead, everyone needed a leader who could make decisions and guide everyone forward. It was undoubtedly the case that Tang Wulin was the only one who could fill that role.
After hearing Tang Wulin"s words, hints of life immediately returned to everyone"s eyes. Now that their leader had returned and they had clear objectives to work toward, they were no longer feeling completely lost.
"Where should we go into hiding?" Yue Zhengyu asked.
This small hotel definitely wasn"t a suitable place as there was no way for them to craft their suits of two-word battle armor here. That process required sufficient resources and a quiet environment.
Tang Wulin replied, "I"ll think of something."
He pulled out his soul communicator as he spoke before dialing a number. This was the first person he"d contacted after the terrorist attack aside from his friends.
"Wulin?" An urgent voice sounded from the other end of the line.
Tears immediately welled up in Tang Wulin"s eyes upon hearing this voice, and he did his best to repress the strong emotions in his heart as he said, "Teacher."
That"s right, the first person that he had chosen to contact was none other than one of his teachers, the current master of the Body Sect, Body Douluo Mu Ye.
Mu Ye hurriedly asked, "Where are you? How are you? Shrek..."
A wry smile appeared on Tang Wulin"s face. "I"m fine, Teacher. Where are you right now? And how is my uncle-teacher?"
Mu Ye immediately fell silent for a moment after hearing Tang Wulin"s questions. "Your uncle-teacher..."
Tang Wulin"s chest immediately constricted. "Did something happen to him?"
Had Zhen Hua been attacked after all? He had already guessed that this would happen. Even Shrek Academy and the Tang Sect had been attacked; there was no way that the Holy Spirit Cult would refrain from attacking the only Divine Blacksmith on the continent.
Mu Ye replied, "It"s a good thing I was with him; we just barely managed to escape, and he"s still alive, but he"s suffered very severe injuries. His entire body has been eroded by the malicious spirits of the evil Soul Masters, and he"s still in an unconscious state. We"re currently on a mountain on the outskirts of Heaven Dou City; our Body Sect has a safety bunker here."
Tang Wulin heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing this. At the very least, his uncle-teacher was still alive.
Tang Wulin"s eyes narrowed slightly as he said, "Teacher, can you provide me with an address? We"ll go to meet up with you."
Mu Ye paused momentarily, seemingly in a contemplative manner, before asking, "Wulin, you need to prove your ident.i.ty to me. Your name is on the official list of deceased victims released by the government."
Tang Wulin replied, "Of course, how would you like me to prove my ident.i.ty?"
Mu Ye asked, "What level blacksmith are you right now?"
Tang Wulin replied, "I"m a Saint Blacksmith. I only recently reached this level during my last trip to Heaven Dou City after studying under my uncle-teacher. At the same time, I learned from you the ability to control my own strength to a minute degree that"s accurate down to every single muscle. While you were instructing me, you told me that I"ll have fully mastered this secret technique of our Body Sect after I learn to control my body down to a cellular level."
"Phew!" Mu Ye seemed to have heaved a long sigh of relief, and he said, "Alright, I"ll also prove my ident.i.ty to you. Back when you were heading to the Star Luo Empire, my 49-day elementary training set a solid foundation for you."
Tang Wulin"s lips twitched slightly at the recollection of this memory, and he urged, "Tell me the address, Teacher; we"ll get there as quickly as possible."
"Sure."
Thus, Mu Ye disclosed an address to Tang Wulin, as well as a route that they could take to get there.
After ending the call, Tang Wulin heaved a sigh of relief. The most trustworthy people he could think of at the moment were naturally his teachers and this uncle-teacher of his.
Teacher Mu Chen had always been living in Shrek City, and it was unclear whether he was dead or alive, so the first people he decided to contact were Mu Ye and Zhen Hua.
After ending the call with Mu Ye, he immediately dialed another number, and his hands were trembling slightly as he did so.
The ringtone sounded for four or five times, but no one was picking up on the other side. Tang Wulin"s heart sank further and further with each successive ring.
Just as he was about to cut off the call, the line was suddenly connected.
"Who is it?" A slightly raspy voice sounded from the other end.
Tang Wulin"s entire body shuddered violently upon hearing this voice, and his emotions finally spilled over as he sobbed, "Teacher."
"Wulin?" the voice on the other side immediately raised a few octaves as it exclaimed, "You"re still alive? Wh, where are you right now?"
The voice coming from the communicator was so loud that even Tang Wulin"s friends could hear it.
That"s right, this voice belonged to Mu Chen, the Saint Blacksmith who had been instrumental to Tang Wulin"s forging journey.
"It"s me, Teacher. I"m still alive, and I managed to escape; it"s a really long story. I"m so glad that you"re alive and well; where are you?"
Mu Chen was clearly very worked up, and he panted heavily for several seconds before finally forcibly repressing his strong emotions. "I"m at Heaven Dou City. I came to find your uncle-teacher, but the blacksmith a.s.sociation at Heaven Dou City was attacked two days ago, and your uncle-teacher disappeared. The a.s.sociation is in complete shambles, and I"m trying to hold everything together. Don"t come to find me for now; we can"t be sure of which places are safe at the moment. Go into hiding first, and I"ll sort everything out here. I"m so glad you"re alive! Don"t worry about me and your senior disciple sister; we went back to Eastsea City for a while, so we just so happened to avoid this disaster."
Tang Wulin heaved a long sigh of relief. He had finally received a piece of good news, and his entire body was feeling slightly more buoyant.
"Alright, look after yourself, Teacher."
After ending the call, Tang Wulin was gasping for breath, and he reflexively proceeded to dial another number, only for Ye Xinglan to stop him from doing so.
"Calm down, Wulin."
Tang Wulin"s heart jolted upon hearing this, and he immediately stopped what he was doing. The more people they contacted now, the greater the chance that they"d be exposed.
He turned off his communicator and stowed it away. "I"m sorry, I let my emotions get the better of me."
In this current situation, they could never be too careful.
"We"ll rest for today, then set off tomorrow to find my teacher and uncle-teacher. After we meet up with them, we can also get Senior Yali to inspect my uncle-teacher"s condition to see if he can be healed." If his body were being afflicted by malicious spirits, then Holy Douluo Yali"s healing powers should be the perfect counter.
A peaceful night pa.s.sed by, and after having some breakfast the next morning, all of them departed from the hotel. Under normal circ.u.mstances, Tang Wulin"s Tang Sect battle vehicle had a capacity for eight pa.s.sengers, and with the addition of Holy Spirit Douluo Yali, they had nine pa.s.sengers in total, so it was slightly packed. They could only get the more pet.i.te female pa.s.sengers to sit in the last row.
Everyone was very quiet along the drive. The recent attack had dealt all of them an extremely heavy blow, and they didn"t even dare to think about the teachers who had once taught them and the friends that they"d once studied alongside. Thankfully, all of them still had their lovers by their sides, so their psychological pillars were still intact. Only Holy Spirit Douluo Yali was sitting in the car, looking out the window in a completely dazed and soulless manner.
Gu Yue was the only one who was in high spirits, and she would occasionally give Tang Wulin a wide smile and call him "Father" in a sweet voice. All of his friends would then appraise him with peculiar expressions, and only then would the heavy atmosphere be somewhat alleviated.
After entering the mountain range, the road became rather difficult to drive on. Thankfully, the Tang Sect battle vehicle lived up to its reputation and was equipped to drive over all types of terrains. Finally, a stone bunker appeared in their field of view in a col in the distance.
If Mu Ye hadn"t given them detailed instructions on how to get here, it would"ve been quite difficult to find this place.
When Tang Wulin opened the door and caught sight of Mu Ye, tears welled up in his eyes once again. The feeling of meeting someone close to his heart following such a tragic disaster almost pushed his emotions over the edge again.