Chapter 187: Stagnant True Calamity (Chapter 186)

In this world, religions are generally useful, not merely a spiritual comfort.

Just like the Tian Court worshiped by the Great Shang dynasty, as a theocratic state, Great Shang has gained many benefits from its object of worship.

It is the same here; although cults are clearly things that everyone seeks to eradicate, they nevertheless can indeed bring benefits.

And the benefits are substantial.

Take this mech, for example.

Wang Wu doesn't know whether this world has mechs; to him, it seems to be a product of this civilization's own invention. But to the others on site, it is entirely different.

The first floor of the Ling Building is a public area, and the First Base's officials naturally have permission to access its cameras. Consequently, the moment this mech appeared, alarms rang out across all departments of the First Base.

"The Ling family is still tinkering with this thing!??"

When the footage reached Chi Zhi, her gaze instantly turned cold.

She was, of course, very familiar with this thing—it was a product of the Iron Demon Sect, the cult that nearly destroyed half of the First Base three hundred years ago.

Such a hybrid of biological and mechanical traits is also a specialty of the Iron Demon Sect: demon mech.

It is certainly not a technological product, even though it looks quite sci‑fi.

Iron Demons are a type of demonized creature; such creatures are uncommon in this star system, where most troubles are oddities and ghosts.

As for monsters, this system has no "yokai" race; people's transcendental power follows no demonic path, so the chance of demonization is low.

Across the whole system, demonization is mainly seen within the demon race societies, which must worry about it because it is a curse placed on their kind.

Although monsters are few, their great power still sparks interest in some people.

In the past, the Tianyuan people worshipped the dead, demonized Tian Court; the human race here would naturally do the same.

Moreover, compared with the Shang people of Tianyuan, this side is relatively restrained; such acts are limited to a tiny fraction of cultists, not mainstream society.

If monster worship ever becomes mainstream, then all we can say is…

Nevertheless, the few monsters Wang Wu has seen in this system are, to be honest, quite different from those he previously encountered.

He doesn't know why, but the monsters here seem to carry, to some extent, a whiff of "oddness".

Hybrid—if a single word is needed, that's it.

"This is a demon mech from the Iron Demon Sect; I thought these things had all been destroyed…"

After Wang Wu brought this mech into the lobby of the building's first floor, Ling Luo also crawled out.

Looking at the demon mech ahead, Ling Luo said gravely.

Although it's a bit messy and damages his image, there's nothing he can do; Wang Wu didn't carry her out with him.

The building's lower section is actually over six hundred meters deep vertically from the ground, so she could only use some clumsy method to crawl up slowly.

Of course, it wasn't really slow; it didn't take much time.

Wang Wu's front foot landed, and his rear foot followed as he crawled out.

At this moment, Wang Wu had already stepped onto the mech's head.

"Then just destroy this thing again now," Wang Wu said, kicking the mech beneath him.

It had already been beaten to the brink of death, its body constantly disintegrating.

At this moment, on the chest of this "demon mech", a twisted human face wailed and moaned in pain.

Inside it, the Geng metal qi surged wildly, devouring it and driving it toward annihilation.

"It's about to die," Wang Wu said expressionlessly, looking at the monster before him.

As seconds ticked by, when the demon mech's body was half covered in golden light, urgent sirens sounded outside the lobby, and a group of people rushed into the Ling family's building.

Fully armed and exuding strong aura, among them was a presence familiar to Wang Wu.

Although the two—no, the two demons—were not acquainted and had never interacted, they were still compatriots, so Wang Wu held a good impression of his scorpion spirit fellow.

Her surname is Chi; Chi generally refers to a scorpion, so this female demon is very likely a scorpion spirit.

At this moment, Wang Wu's language scores were surprisingly decent, even quite good.

The fully armed soldiers who burst in did not head toward Wang Wu but immediately rushed toward the building's stairs.

Meanwhile, on the upper floors of the building, sporadic explosions and gunfire could already be heard.

Great families are usually extremely powerful, and when they choose to oppose the city authorities, dealing with them becomes very tricky.

However, Chi Zhi has always been a decisive demon; otherwise she wouldn't enjoy such high prestige in the city.

Now, Base One is at the peak of the Administrator's power, controlling both the army and civil affairs, wielding both the gun and the purse.

Even the pen is in hand; the three major forces are united, making its strength unprecedented.

Coupled with Chi Zhi, a top‑tier figure of this civilization, her authority is naturally astounding.

But at this moment, the first thing she does here is not to eliminate the other Ling family members in the building, but to walk straight up to Wang Wu.

At this moment, Wang Wu is kicking the demon mech's head that hasn't been fully engulfed by golden light; when a faint fresh scent reaches his nose, he turns his head toward the other.

"Hello."

Chi Zhi steps before Wang Wu, takes a deep breath, and extends a hand toward him.

"Hello."

Wang Wu also extends his hand, shaking his compatriot's, with a polite smile on his face.

"Chi Zhi."

"Wang Wu."

After exchanging names, Wang Wu stops paying attention to her, turns back and continues staring at the mech, waiting for it to fully dissipate.

"Mr. Wang Wu."

But at this point, Chi Zhi proactively calls him by name.

"What?" Wang Wu turns his head again toward her: "What do you want by calling me?"

"I don't know where Mr. Wang truly comes from," Chi Zhi says, looking at Wang Wu in a low voice.

She was certain that Wang Wu was not from this world, because his power came from his aura.

That power was not possessed by this world's system, and even their transcendental system could not be so pure and condensed.

It already belonged to the 'Immortal' rank, wielding the might to pluck stars and seize the moon.

"Oh?" the other party asked proactively about his true identity, which made Wang Wu feel a bit surprised and curious.

He stopped paying attention to that demon mech, kicked it away with a foot, causing it to disperse rapidly in the air.

Then Wang Wu finally looked at Chi Zhi:

"Extreme Heaven Divine Palace."

"I come from the Extreme Heaven Divine Palace."

Chi Zhi had no recollection of the name Wang Wu mentioned, but that was unimportant.

Any name that dares to bear the character 'Divine' in the universe is hardly a benevolent being.

And being able to travel across star systems makes it even less likely to be an ordinary organization.

Nevertheless, Wang Wu directly stating the name of his organization still surprised Chi Zhi.

In her view, she was merely an ordinary demon, with nothing special about her, so an elder from the Extreme Heaven Divine Palace would not tell her such things.

"I don't know why an immortal has come to our realm, what purpose?"

"I didn't come here of my own accord," Wang Wu said, "I was knocked here by her, her friend, and two other people whose fate—alive or dead—I don't know."

"This…" Chi Zhi listened to Wang Wu's words, somewhat not understanding.

"True Realm." Wang Wu explained briefly, and Chi Zhi instantly understood.

"I was swept from my home into the True Realm of your world, then I used a compass to get out, but the place I emerged was here, not my hometown."

"Then, then Wang Immortal Lord, with that, wouldn't it be hard for you to return?" Chi Zhi asked after hearing Wang Wu.

Even though she could not sense Wang Wu's strength, Chi Zhi was equally certain of one thing: Wang Wu was powerful.

"No, returning is easy." Wang Wu glanced at her, "As for you, you must be over a thousand years old by now, right?"

"Yes." Chi Zhi felt a jolt in her mind, because she hadn't expected Wang Wu to discern her age, which implied her demon race identity would…

However, that was not an issue; although Chi Zhi had never revealed her true species, here it was actually no problem.

This star system originally had no demon race, only some naturally powerful aberrant beasts.

But those aberrant beasts were different; they were destined never to shapeshift, unable to become demons.

As for the reason, it was simple: they are not demon beasts.

"It's quite impressive that no problems have arisen yet," Wang Wu nodded.

The moment he said that, Chi Zhi could no longer hide; his identity was fully exposed before the other side, even his underwear was shaken clean.

"Ha, ha ha." Facing Wang Wu's words, Chi Zhi could only scratch his head and laugh.

"Yes, indeed."

The demon race had a great reputation in this star system, because they were sufficiently powerful.

But the relationship between the demon race and the other three human civilizations was not so good.

This galaxy contained two great demon empires and three great human empires; if the three human empires united, the two demon empires would certainly be overwhelmed.

Fortunately, those three human powers were constantly scheming and fighting each other internally, never as united as the two demon societies.

"Is there anything you need from me?"

Wang Wu asked again.

"Lieutenant Dan! Lieutenant Dan!!"

At this moment, on the upper floors of the Ayanagi Building, Lieutenant Li Dan of the First Base City Defense Force stood in a corridor, bragging with his colleague.

It was the commander of another squad acting with him, also a lieutenant.

Their conversation was miscellaneous, but basically concerned the Ayanagi family and the city lord.

Just as the two were enjoying themselves, a sudden urgent shout interrupted their talk.

The two turned their heads; Li Dan looked toward the voice, whose source was at least forty to fifty meters away, and shouted:

"What's up? Gan Pu?"

"Lieutenant Dan! Lieutenant Dan!" The other side did not answer Li Dan, but kept shouting while sprinting toward them.

The corridor was long and wide, yet he ran swiftly; the 150‑meter distance took only six seconds.

Perhaps it didn't even reach six seconds, but who could tell; no one was timing it here.

It was a very muscular, tall man, sporting the common flat‑top haircut of the army.

He was much taller than Li Dan, over two meters, about two meters and a bit.

His appearance was fierce, yet his aura was somewhat… uh, a bit simple‑hearted and innocent.

In plain terms, he was just stupid.

Gan Pu, a soldier under Li Dan, was the heavy‑armor trooper of his squad.

After Gan Pu rushed to Li Dan's side, he didn't speak at once, but gulped air heavily.

Li Dan, however, was unhurried, a faint smile on his face as he watched Gan Pu recover.

"Dan, Lieutenant Dan!" After four or five seconds, Gan Pu finally caught his breath and said to Li Dan, "Lieutenant Dan!"

"Alright, alright! Just say what you need! Why keep shouting?"

Before Li Dan could speak, the lieutenant beside him grew impatient, looking at Gan Pu with a scornful face and loudly scolding:

"Nothing, no rush, tell me, what happened?"

Unlike that lieutenant, Li Dan treated Gan Pu kindly, cheerfully looking at him as he asked.

"Lieutenant Dan! Layer 327 has an incident!!!"

"Hm?" Li Dan and another lieutenant voiced simultaneously, their tones very different.

Li Dan still wore the same smile as before on his face.

"Lieutenant Dan! Something's happened! Something's happened!!"

"Lieutenant Dan! Something's happened! Something's happened!!"

"Lieutenant Dan! Something's happened! Something's happened!!"

"Lieutenant Dan…" Gan Pu opened his mouth, his lips opening and closing, continuously repeating the words he had said earlier.

This was clearly not a normal situation, yet on the faces of Lieutenant Dan and his colleague at this moment, their expressions still showed no change.

"Lieutenant Dan! Lieutenant Dan!!"

"Something's happened!!! Something's happened!!!"

"Three hundred…"

…………

In the corridor where everything stood still together, Gan Pu's voice kept echoing, but aside from that voice, everything here was motionless.

Motionless humans, motionless tools, motionless everything.

Time at this moment had lost its meaning, because it seemed to be flowing, yet gave a complete illusion of stillness.

But… was it really an illusion?

"There's a problem."

At this moment, in the first‑floor lobby, Wang Wu, completely unaware of what was happening upstairs, was still chatting with his demon‑race compatriot.

Until Master Yin Shenli's elegant voice sounded at his ear.

Unfortunately, it was already too late.

(End of chapter)