At 8 a.m. on June 11th.
It was heavily raining in Dongdu.
As the plane landed on a runway soundly in the storm, Li Tianlan walked out of the cabin and went along the pa.s.sageway towards the airport terminal. When he saw rain drops intensively and crazily beating the ground outside windows, his originally serene heart seemed to become somewhat depressed.
Was a rainstorm coming?
No.
The storm had already happened, as if it was overturning the world.
Outside the windows, the sky, which should have been wholly sunny, was gloomy and dotted with strange black. With no rising sun, the morning Dongdu seemed to embrace a long night.
“What a terrible day was selected.”
Li Baitian held one of Ye Huayu’s little hands and put down his phone in the other hand, worriedly saying, “I just checked the weather forecast, which told it would be rainstorm in the next week. In this f.u.c.king climate, a tsunami or an earthquake isn’t strange, but I only hope not to die in the heavenly calamity without killing one person. Otherwise, it would be the most unfair thing.”
Though Li Baitian kept his voice down and the mood ambiguous, a few sensitive words still stimulated some people’s nerves. For example, in front of the six people from the East Emperor Palace, a graceful and slender female figure almost turned around instinctively, casting her eyes on Li Baitian.
With a quite pretty appearance and bobbed hair uncommon in East Island, she was full of vigorous courage and looked simple and experienced. She looked at Li Baitian with narrowed eyes and said to him in a bit imposing mood, “Who did you say just now?”
“Eh?”
Li Baitian was bewildered. After all, even if his status wasn’t lower than the woman in front of him, his strength was weaker. In the previous one-month special training, he could be labelled one of the objects to which she paid much attention, because she kept defeating him that month. Consequently, despite the strong psychological quality, Li Baitian was also left with a mental shadow. He dared not to retort, but replied timidly, “I didn’t say anyone.”
“Heavenly Calamity?”
Her focused eyes indicated she was serious, which presented her strange and perilous temperament. Although her eyes weren’t forceful, her femininity seemed to be all-pervasive, making her look frightful and vicious.
The literal meaning of Heavenly Calamity was a natural disaster. But in the Dark World, it was a famous code.
Ranked fifth on the killer list in the Dark World and known as “Contemporary King of Gun”, he, though just equalled to those at the Fire-flaming Realm, was good at lurking and disguise, and even an elite in modifying guns who was second to none in the Dark World. Furthermore, the two renowned guns in his hands, even though not murderous weapons, were quite powerful. Any master in the Thunder-shocking Realm, who was targeted by him from a distance, would face a fatal threat.
At present, the situation in East Island was very complicated and on the verge of disaster. So suddenly hearing the name of Heavenly Calamity, she also couldn’t help but be nervous.
“Teacher Bai, what he said just now was the weather.”
Li Tianlan pointed to the torrential rain outside and said with a slight smile, “The outside torrential rain has already been a.s.sociated with the tsunami and earthquake by him. Baitian said he is not afraid of man-made disasters but natural ones.”
“Oh,” replied Teacher Bai. Then, with the beautiful but extremely dangerous staring eyes, she immediately said, “Why do you call me Teacher Bai? You should call me sister from now on. The word ‘teacher’ sounds terrible. Do I look very old?”
Stepping towards Li Tianlan, she said to him in a low voice, “If it weren’t you, the little b.a.s.t.a.r.d, my aunt would not have dispatched me to the Sky Academy. I hate to be called ‘teacher’ and others like this, but you even press salt on this wound. Do you want to die? Eh? Do you want to die?”
“…”
Li Tianlan, touching his nose with a forced smile, called her “Sister Bai”. This lady from the Bai family, who was a group leader of Actual Combat Lesson in the Sky Academy, made friends quite quickly. Since she came to the Sky Academy, Li Tianlan had only met her once several hours earlier when boarding and they hadn’t spoken more than ten sentences, thus he was bewildered how this Lady Bai who was seemingly aloof naturally became close to him. Besides, the sister named him a little b.a.s.t.a.r.d, but Li Tianlan should not mind it.
Bai Youming nodded satisfactorily. Hardly had she turned around to leave, when Li Tianlan calmly asked her, “Has Sister Bai encountered Heavenly Calamity?”
Today, Li Tianlan was no longer a man who used to be young and inexperienced. At the very least, he had a general understanding of the Dark World, so he had naturally heard of the famous Heavenly Calamity.
As her delicate face became slightly cold, Bai Youming nodded and said, “He is a monster. Two years ago when I led a team to perform a mission, I met him once. Hadn’t my subordinates contributed themselves to shield me, I would have been killed in Africa. Heavenly Calamity is naturally not frightful, but with his two guns and a certain distance, he can kill almost all people under the Invincible Realm. After all, it isn’t a fair battle between modern hot weapons and Martial Arts.”
Li Tianlan nodded, as if in deep thought, and recalled Skyattack that could be returned to him around the dusk through a special channel.
Bai Youming turned around again and walked forward.
They entered Dongdu in the name of a tourist group and in the disguise of fake ident.i.ties that were truer than real ones. Besides, the flight wasn’t private, in which among hundreds of pa.s.sengers, all others were ordinary people except for 50 people from the Sky Academy and several leaders, masters of the Thunder-shocking Realm.
As it was raining heavily, both male and female tourists were walking in the pa.s.sageway densely and they were mixed in the crowd, really being inconspicuous.
Dongdu was the capital of East Island, in which Divine Wind Force, the special warfare center of Dongdao, headquartered. Although Zhongzhou State invested the least personnel in this city, it possessed the most elite forces.
Tribulation, Bai Youming, Gu Yunxia, the Enchantress, Horsewoman, and Flaming Fire were responsible for actions in Dongdu.
Thunder G.o.d, Qin Ke and others were dispatched to the other two huge islands of East Island.
2,000 elites who infiltrated into East Island had already continuously entered various parts here within one month.
With the arrival of the elites of the Sky Academy, there were only 50 people from the Deep-sea Academy left.
Before the arrival of the second batch of support personnel from Zhongzhou State, 100 people, the elites of the Sky Academy and Deep-sea Academy, were all the fighting forces of Zhongzhou State in East Island.
Outside the windows, the heavy rain fell wildly.
Li Tianlan looked beyond the window. In the mighty rain, heaven and earth seemed to be blood-like red, forlorn and glaring.
He turned around nonchalantly and walked directly into the airport hall.
Though not flying, once flying, he would soar into the sky.
Though not acting, once acting, he would be amazing.
East Island, his first battlefield, was a large enough stage, on which he could embrace a magnificent general trend.
On this day.
In the torrential rain in Dongdu, Li Tianlan officially stepped onto the stage of the Dark World as a p.a.w.n.
Like a p.a.w.n crossing a river, there was no retreat but advance!
…
As a Special Warfare Academy with the same specifications as the Sky Academy, the Deep-sea Academy was located deep in the western hills of Youzhou.
Although there wasn’t surging tides of rivers and seas, the Deep-sea Academy, surrounded by mountains, was equally as magnificent as the Sky Academy.
The scale of Deep-sea Academy was roughly the same as that of Sky Academy. Although its president, General Chen Songlin, was not one of the top ten contemporary masters in Zhongzhou State, ten years younger than Zhuang Huayang and had an un.o.bvious reputation, the actual battle strength of the two should be equal to each other. High-level officials had always attached great importance to the two Special Warfare Academies, employing special personnel to be responsible for the establishment of a list of high-level officers, the selection of school sites, the curriculum formulation, and even the recruitment of students, so as to balance the strength of the two Special Warfare Academies as far as possible. Only in this way could Zhongzhou State’s Special Warfare System develop vigorously. Students were trained in the two Special Warfare Academies every three years. After a lot of bloodshed and sacrifice, the talents coming out of them could be regarded as the foundation of a country. The importance of such strength and mutual balance was self-evident.
As for Huating’s special and delicate situation in recent years, it was not the key point to be considered when the high-level managers chose to a.s.sign students. Were it not the case, many big figures wouldn’t have let their children and disciples avoid the list chosen by the senior managers and enter the Sky Academy through unofficial channels.
At eight a.m. in the morning.
When it was raining heavily in Dongdu, it was also drizzly in Youzhou.
Surrounded by the western hills, the Deep-sea Academy was as foggy and ethereal as a fairyland.
Different from Ye Dongsheng of the Sky Academy, before the top 50 elites of the Deep-sea Academy went out to battle, Gu Xingyun, the G.o.d of War in Zhongzhou State, stepped onto the platform to hold an oath-taking rally with great elan which was sufficient enough to make people’s blood boil, and sent the 50 elites on the plane himself after that.
After everything was settled, he returned to his temporary resting place offered by the Deep-sea Academy.
The resting place, located on the second floor of a residential area, was not internally decorated luxuriously but extremely comfortable. Gu Xingyun, in the military uniform with red marshal rank, walked into the door, hang the overcoat in his hands on the hanger, and calmly stepped towards the living room.
In the living room was sitting a beautiful woman, whose age could not be figured out. She, dressed in a light green cheongsam, sat quietly on the sofa with serene and deep coolness, like an orchid in an empty valley.
Her long, black, beautiful hair, like a waterfall, was hanging over her shoulder. She, holding a cup of tea in her white palm with an aquamarine bracelet, kept silent.
Gu Xingyun walked beside her, sat down and poured himself a cup of tea.
The woman, sitting still, seemed unaware of everything around her.
This was a woman who could be called a startling beauty from a distance, but from a close look, she was still extremely beautiful, though, lacked a trace of charming liveliness.
She was just like a lifelike delicate doll, which was certainly and extremely beautiful, but not a living creature.
“I heard that you paid attention to several new students in the Deep-sea Academy. Today, I deliberately came to see them. They are really good, and all are diamonds in the rough.”
Gu Xingyun sipped from his teacup, and said with a smile, “Of the five people, three are likely to be employed by Kunlun City. For the other two, although one that can be said to be one of us drifts his mind, I can still hold on to him on the whole. As for the other one, you don’t have to think over him. You should also know from the family name that he is from Dongcheng Clan and we can’t win over him.”
The woman was still silent, showing a kind of numbness, as if her heart was like dead ashes and she was not interested in everything in the world.
For this plot of Zhongzhou State, the part of East Island was almost entirely based on the Sky Academy. Not to mention the 50 most elite students, there were several high-level leaders from the Sky Academy in the team. Although such a scale might not be considered as the full strength of the Sky Academy, it at least was also a princ.i.p.al capital. As the highest leader of the Special Warfare System of Zhongzhou State, Gu Xingyun should reasonably and emotionally go to the Sky Academy and send its personnel to the war.
But the fact shocked everyone.
It was Qi Beicang, the administrative minister of the Army Headquarters who was another leader of the Special Warfare Group that went to the Sky Academy.
However, Gu Xingyun himself came to the Deep-sea Academy.
Everyone was speculating about the significance of such an act by Gu Xingyun, and some even suspected that Gu Xingyun was afraid to see Samsara’s members in the Sky Academy at this moment. However, this rumor was strangled just after making the first appearance in that such a rumor was really stupid. On June 15th, two superpowers fought with each other, but it was not really a battle between life and death. After all, as the G.o.d of War in Zhongzhou State, how could Gu Xingyun be afraid to fight?
But in this way, everyone couldn’t figure out what it meant that Gu Xingyun came to the Deep-sea Academy.
Did he just intend to pay attention to the freshmen whom the woman in front of him was concerned?
Not to say others didn’t believe it, nor did the woman herself. She didn’t believe, nor did she want to think about it.
Kunlun City.
It had nothing to do with her.
Gu Xingyun.
He also had nothing to do with her.
Life and death, general trend, the mortal world, white snow and all others seemed to have no relation to her.
After waiting for a while, Gu Xingyun sensed that the woman didn’t want to speak and said softly with a self-scorn smile, “Li Xi, after this incident, I’ll accompany you to Zhongzhou State to visit Hongyan Waterfall that you expect in Beihai Province. How about my accompanying you?”
Hongyan Waterfall…
In the woman’s numb eyes finally appeared a trace of vague fluctuation, but it flashed away.
She shook her head and said in a dead tone, “I have been there. We don’t need to visit it.”
“It is also good to revisit the old place.”
Gu Xingyun smiled with an elegant and gentle tone and looked unusually warm.
The woman was silent again, saying nothing.
Li Xi.
A name that sounded extremely sad and of which even countless people in Zhongzhou State had never heard.
But this name, however, also represented a quite prominent ident.i.ty.
The Governor’s wife of Kunlun City!
The Governor’s wife who had an icebound relationship with Gu Xingyun, the Governor, for countless years.
Gu Xingyun picked up the cup to drink water and also became silent.
The mobile phone vibrated slightly in his pocket.
Gu Xingyun put down his teacup and took out the phone to open it. On the screen appeared a slightly dim but tender photo.
That was a photo of a pair of young kissing man and woman.
With beautiful hair flying in the sky, the woman was extremely beautiful.
The men, dressed in camouflage clothing, was seemingly ordinary, but kissed intently and deeply.
Qin Weibai.
Li Tianlan.
Gu Xingyun, holding the phone steadily and staring at the photo on the screen, remained silent for a long time, even without moving his body.
Such a bold and unrestrained photo was related to Qin Weibai, a core senior member of Samsara. What was it expressing?
He narrowed his eyes slightly, placed his mobile phone in front of Li Xi and said with a gentle smile, “How is this young man? He has Wind and Thunder Veins, and his future achievements are simply limitless. When he enters the Invincible Realm and grows for another few years, even I can’t suppress him.”
Li Xi’s eyes were empty and she kept silent, thus he couldn’t know if she saw the photo again.
Gu Xingyun took back his mobile phone and remained silent for a moment before suddenly saying, “What do you think of Qingcheng?”
Li Xi’s deathly still body quivered suddenly. She slowly turned around and stared intensely at Gu Xingyun.
Gu Hanshan, the young master of Kunlun City, wasn’t her own son.
However, the little princess, Gu Qingcheng, was her and Gu Xingyun’s daughter, who was only 17 this year.
“I am afraid that Youlan can’t handle him.”
Gu Xingyun, pointing at Li Tianlan in the photo, said with a smile, “What do you think of Qingcheng?”
“Swish!”
Li Xi abruptly raised her hand.
The teacup held in her hand was suddenly lifted up, and the whole cup of tea, without any reservation, was splashed on Gu Xingyun’s face by her.
“Clap!”
Li Xi threw the cup on the tea table indifferently and got up slowly, saying with a face of disdain, “Shameless!”
She turned around and left the living room without stopping.
The G.o.d of War of Zhongzhou State, who was splashed with tea, sat motionlessly on the sofa. After a long time, he wiped the tea on his face carefully and earnestly.
He felt the coldness of the tea water and tea.
The feeling was like the beauty’s heart that had been sealed for nearly 20 years.
—