Chapter 1235: Tengen 1
In a method Xia Fei had never thought of before, a Cosmic Gate was opened. Seeing the suspicious look in his eyes, Merry explained, “There’s more than one road to the Undercurrent. This is a hidden pa.s.sage very few people outside of the Bluebloods know of. Sir, please keep this a secret.”
Xia Fei nodded and said no more.
The pa.s.sage was not very wide, just enough to fit in the Silver Specter. A larger wars.h.i.+p, like a battles.h.i.+p, probably would have gotten stuck, and an even larger capital s.h.i.+p could not even dream of fitting inside.
*Whoos.h.!.+*
The Silver Specter moved very quickly, and with one acceleration, it had arrived at the Undercurrent. Xia Fei saw a chaotic sea of stars, with whirlpool-like galaxies appearing before him. The Undercurrent was much darker and quieter than the Law Realm or the Alpha Universe.
“You will have to anchor the wars.h.i.+p here, for the Undercurrent Universe has its own method of teleportation. Just like in the universe you resided before, it’s very fast, but there’s no means of transporting wars.h.i.+ps,” Merry lowered his head and said.
Xia Fei smiled and asked, “Oh, so you know that I’m from the Law Realm?”
Merry replied, “Before you arrived, I took a look at your file, but the Law Realm you speak of is called Wild Glacier here.”
Wild Glacier, the Undercurrent, Torrent, Glaze, and Alpha were the official names of the universes that comprised the 5 Lower Stars. Xia Fei knew this, but he was used to calling it the Law Realm and was too lazy to change.
As he spoke, he disembarked from his s.h.i.+p. He failed to notice Merry taking one last reluctant glance at the Dark Gem Spirit Gathering Tower and sighing softly thereafter. He appeared to be lamenting how wasteful Xia Fei was being.
…
Xia Fei truly did not lack for good things; he had so many he had yet to use most of them; worse, he had even forgotten some of his stuff. The Dark Gem Spirit Gathering Tower had abundant energy, but it was being used by Xia Fei as the Silver Specter’s energy source. Merry naturally regarded such an action as wasteful.
The Undercurrent Universe used spatial gates similar to those of the Law Realm, but they were heavier and more complicated. A square-shaped solid pillar towered in the middle of a barren wilderness. The Zadin Clan had presumably chosen this place on purpose.
Xia Fei ordered the other Bluebloods to take care of his wars.h.i.+p, and then he followed Merry through a spatial gate to a bustling metropolis.
Towering skysc.r.a.pers could be seen all around, and the streets were packed with people, making him feel like he had gone back to the Panhuman Alliance. Be it the Law Realm or the Alpha Universe, they mostly had faux ancient buildings. As for the Bluebloods who were not particularly fans of history, most of their buildings were huge and ugly. The entire city teemed with a modern aura.
Sure enough, mostly blue-skinned people could be seen on the streets. There were people from other species, even humans; alas, more than fifty percent of the Undercurrent’s population comprised Bluebloods. The other several thousand species were simply pitiful when compared with the Bluebloods, so calling this the base of the Bluebloods was not excessive in the least.
“What is this place?” Xia Fei looked around and asked.
“The metropolis of Falan. One of the most populous systems of the Undercurrent Universe. The items this sir has come to look for appeared in a nearby black market,” Merry replied.
“The Blueblood Clan has many elites. My eyes have truly been opened,” Xia Fei said offhandedly. He had only walked a few steps and had already seen many Blueblood experts at Law Sage and above. There were even Law G.o.d warriors. They were no different from ordinary people. The surrounding people seemed used to the sight of Law G.o.ds flying about and showed no surprise.
Merry smiled. “Sir, please don’t joke around. When it comes to elites, the human species naturally is the strongest. Our Blueblood Clan is only ranked second. After all, the human species has far more potential than all others, and it possesses the largest group of high-level warriors. As for us, Bluebloods, we are formidable in our youth, but at the truly high levels, we fall far behind the humans.”
Xia Fei knew well the situation of his own species. Humans, who were very weak in their youth, could only run if they ran into monsters like the Bluebloods or Oro, but the universes had their rules and sense of fairness. Humans were not skilled in cultivating positive energy, but they were extremel good at cultivating soul power!
The Law Realm was a cla.s.sic example. Once the seal had been lifted, it began to make incredible progress! For example, Grand Ancestor Xia Gucheng was already a level 5 Founder, and more than twenty Founders had appeared among the Skywings; this number was quickly approaching thirty, perhaps even forty. The other human groups were also making swift progress, but when it came to non-human races like Oro’s Lionheart Clan, their progress was not as obvious.
“Do the Bluebloods not like the Alpha Universe? I’ve never seen your people there before,” Xia Fei asked with a smile.
Merry thought this over and replied, “Humans have a powerful sense of adventure, and they const.i.tute eighty percent of the Alpha Universe’s population. Moreover, that place is where humans have always congregated. We, the Bluebloods, are homebodies, so the vast majority of us prefer to remain in the Undercurrent. Besides this place, some of my people are currently in the Torrent Universe. Still, one can find humans who love adventuring everywhere.”
Xia Fei suddenly thought of an interesting question. Smiling, he asked, “Right now, the humans and the Bluebloods are the strongest in the universe, but what if the Fiends were still around?”
Merry was startled and then whispered, “Juniors like us haven’t seen the splendor of the Fiend Clan, so I unfortunately don’t know the answer to your question.”
The two went to an inconspicuous teahouse and found a corner to sit. Merry ordered two pots of tea and four snacks; after which, he took out his personal laptop and powered it on.
“The situation is very complicated. Several soul weapons from the blacklist suddenly appeared overnight in Falan. While it’s not many, they’re distributed broadly, with hundred of stores of varying sizes selling the blacklist soul weapons. Based on our preliminary understanding, someone deposited those items, which are now being sold through consignment, with price tags clearly lower than their market value.
“For the sake of caution, we haven’t made any moves yet. Now that you’re here, we can go store to store and investigate each, planting our men to see who placed those lost soul weapons on consignment,” Merry said.
Xia Fei grabbed the list and, after lighting a cigarette, began to inspect it carefully.
Just as the cigarette burned out, Xia Fei waved his hand, letting Merry put away the files.
“Come on; we’ll go to Tengen 1,” Xia Fei narrowed his eyes and said.
Merry was startled, asking hastily, “Tengen 1? While they’re the biggest company around, they don’t have anything to do with the lost soul weapons.”
Xia Fei said casually, “While that company isn’t selling stolen goods, there’s rumor that Tengen 1 is secretly selling forbidden Fiend Clan relics.”
“Uh…”
Merry became rather confused. It seemed like Xia Fei had come for the lost soul weapons of the Fiend Clan and had no interest in the goods that had been stolen from the Collapsed Expanse of Founders.
He was about to advise Xia Fei to focus on the main matter when the latter stood up and said, “A top-cla.s.s trading company that conducts legal and illegal trades, when everyone else is selling stolen goods, is completely uninvolved? Someone clearly doesn’t want Tengen 1 to be under scrutiny. Companies like such are the most suspicious.”
Merry’s eyes brightened, and he looked at Xia Fei in shock and admiration. No wonder his superiors had sent over Xia Fei. This person was amazing!
Xia Fei had always been good at deduction. The argument was very simple. When everyone else had their hands dirty, while one person appeared clean, the clean one was probably the dirtiest of all!
…
Xia Fei walked into a dimly lit alley on 19th Avenue and was able to spot Tengen 1’s sign in the distance.
Though the location was out of the way, the store was rather large, taking up all six floors. However, there did not seem to be a lot of people around.
“Good Sir, what do you need?” the goateed manager asked Merry, taking him for a client. This was very normal in the Undercurrent Universe, where the Bluebloods were king. The human species had a much inferior status.
Merry’s face stiffened. He bowed to Xia Fei and replied, “This person is my master.”
The goateed manager sized up Xia Fei with suspicious eyes. To tell the truth, Xia Fei was dressed in a very conspicuous style, and it was hard to tell that he had money. His gray jacket was very old, and his hands were thrust into his pockets.
Someone who could make it to manager must have some ability. He suddenly realized that Xia Fei’s bearing was completely different from what he wore. Neither meek nor proud, he had a harmless smile on his face and had a very carefree expression. Despite the expensive clothes the manager was wearing, he felt like a beggar next to Xia Fei.
Surprised, he turned to Xia Fei fast and asked, “May I ask what Sir has come here to purchase? Our store is holding a sale, so you’ve come at the perfect time.”
Businessmen were all like this, and Xia Fei didn’t mind. He raised his voice and said, “I heard you’re selling Fiend soul weapons!?”
*Whoos.h.!.+*
Dozen pairs of eyes instantly turned to look at Xia Fei, and a flurry of footsteps came from the second floor.
Xia Fei was sure then that all the so-called clients were fakes created by the company.
Merry almost broke out in a cold sweat. Xia Fei was being far too obvious here. Soul weapons were precious items, and Fiend soul weapons were both more precious and also banned! Who went around boldly asking about them like this?
“Sir, are you making a joke? A small store like ours doesn’t have anything like soul weapons, let alone banned items,” the manager said with a smile.
Xia Fei calmly snapped his fingers.
*Pa!*
A faint white light suddenly appeared, just enough so that the manager could get a good look.
“Spirit Energy!” the manager blurted out. He instantly became very humble, whispering, “I did not realize that I was speaking to a revered Spiritualist. Please follow me.”
The manager moved out from behind the counter and led Xia Fei to the elevator.
Xia Fei looked around, upon which all the so-called customers dropped their heads and continued their pretend shopping.
“I did not know that you were a revered Spiritualist. Please forgive me for my rudeness just now,” the manager said, pulling open the elevator door.
Spiritualists were respected wherever they went. Undercurrent was even more lacking in Spiritualists than Alpha, so it was very normal for this manager to treat Xia Fei with such respect.
Rather than going up, the elevator went down.
When the elevator stopped, it wasn’t the door that Xia Fei had come in through that opened. Rather, an exit mysteriously opened up behind him.