Chapter 196: Shelter No. 88 (78k Big Chapter)

Even with Wu Chang's astonishing comprehension, he couldn't digest such a long string of information all at once, so he said first:

"Don't rush. First tell me which mystical realm you're trapped in."

Fang Hui said hurriedly, "There's a small hill in the western suburbs of Wanghai City. I drove out of the city yesterday and saw an aurora flickering on the mountaintop, so I wanted to get close and film a video. I followed the light and came to an underground cave. Who would've known there was a special mystical realm inside—and one with people in it!"

"Before I could even figure out what was happening, a group of people kidnapped me and locked me in a stone temple."

Seeing Fang Hui still wanting to say more, Wu Chang cut him off: "We can talk about the rest later. First tell me what that mountain looked like. There are too many hills in the western suburbs—we can't go searching them one by one."

"How would I remember that? I was only paying attention to the light on the mountaintop…"

At this point, Fang Hui suddenly seemed to remember something and said, "Don't worry about the mountain. My car is parked near that mountain. If you have someone find my car, they'll find the mountain."

A powerful will to live forced even Fang Hui to get smart—he actually thought of an angle Wu Chang hadn't considered from the start.

Wu Chang noted down the intel. Once he knew where Fang Hui had disappeared, ninety percent of the problem was already solved. Even if Fang Hui hung up the phone, it wouldn't affect things much.

Having grasped the most crucial intel, Wu Chang immediately felt much more at ease and began asking Fang Hui for details.

"Are you in any danger right now? How are they holding you, and why can you still make calls?"

Facing Wu Chang's questions, Fang Hui answered them one by one.

"There's no danger to my life. After they captured me and brought me back, they didn't short me on food or drink at all, and even arranged a clean room for me. They just put me under house arrest for now, saying I'm some kind of Holy Son, that I was born with a divine blessing in my body, and that they're going to hold some kind of ceremony for me."

"As for the phone—this special mystical realm is different from the others. It's cut off from outside signals. I tried calling the police, and I tried calling everyone I know, but after going through a whole round of calls, only yours could get through. I was about to ask you what's going on with that."

Wu Chang clicked his tongue. How did he end up being the one questioned? He brushed it off:

"Probably father-son connection. A father can't let go of his son."

Fang Hui said in a tearful voice, "Boss, help me call the police. Once I get out, I'll call you 'adoptive father' for a whole year. No—I'll start right now. Adoptive father, my life is entirely in your hands!"

Wu Chang said, "I know you're anxious, but calm down first. What you're caught up in is very troublesome. Regular police can't save you—we need to send professionals. It just so happens I know a buddy who owes me a favor. I can have him lend me a hand."

"In a bit I'll have him call you. You two set up a time to regularly report your situation."

Fang Hui said, "Alright, I'll do whatever you say. I won't say more for now—my phone's about to die. I'm going to ask the guys who kidnapped me for a charger. If they won't give me one, I still need to save some battery to talk with the professionals."

Seeing the notification that the other party had hung up, Wu Chang laughed in spite of himself.

This rascal—the second before he was still calling me adoptive father, but the moment he knew professionals were coming to save him, he immediately felt talking to me was a waste of battery.

Wu Chang didn't delay. The moment he hung up, he had Aileen search the western suburbs through the Earthly Divine Kingdom.

With the Earthly Divine Kingdom's blessing, the entire Wanghai City was Aileen's turf. As long as she wanted, a single thought would let her see every corner of Wanghai City. It was by relying on this ability that she had locked down Yu Na's position and forced her into a desperate situation.

Once Aileen acted, results came quickly.

She didn't find Fang Hui's car in the western suburbs, but she did find the mystical realm where Fang Hui had disappeared.

Just as Fang Hui had described, it was an extremely hidden underground cave, not conspicuous or eye-catching like other mystical realms.

Unless one saw the aurora's guidance like Fang Hui did, even searching for it would be very difficult.

Aileen was able to discover it by relying on the Earthly Divine Kingdom's perception of rules and aura, detecting that within the underground cave, there was actually a faint aura of the second layer of the Abyss.

The aura of the second layer of the Abyss.

Wu Chang was stunned for a moment, then quickly recalled the Pillar of the Present World he'd heard about from Christine.

According to Christine, after the four major organizations were attacked, the 36 Pillars of the Present World—which the four organizations had originally set to be visible only to themselves—became public, and the passages into them appeared randomly in various places around the world.

It couldn't be that much of a coincidence, could it?

Now that the location was confirmed, the next step was to rescue him.

He put on the disguise mask Yu Na had given him. A soap-bubble-like colored film spread out from the mask and covered his entire body in the blink of an eye.

When the light faded, he had changed his appearance into a burly man, 1.85 meters tall, with a broad frame and sharply angular features.

From now on, this appearance would be the look of the mysterious newcomer passing through Moonlight Sanatorium.

Regardless of whether the mystical realm where Fang Hui disappeared was a Pillar of the Present World, the fact that there were people inside the mystical realm was something Fang Hui had personally mentioned.

Moreover, from what he meant, the people inside the mystical realm and the people who had kidnapped him were not the same group.

Rescuing Fang Hui would inevitably involve dealing with people.

He hadn't yet reached the point where he'd kill every witness just to hide his identity, so unless something unexpected happened, it was time for the mysterious newcomer that all the factions had been discussing to greet the various Wasteland Realm players.

With Aileen's help, Wu Chang teleported to the underground cave leading to the mystical realm.

This underground cave was indeed something special. Even with his Inspiration value of 136 and the Law-Breaking Eyes that had seen the Light of Origin, he could only detect a trace of anomaly when right next to it. Once he was more than ten meters from the cave, he couldn't sense anything different at all.

Aileen looked at Wu Chang's eyes and said with some concern, "I'll wait for you here. If you run into danger, you must tell me, and I'll come help you right away."

There was no hesitation in Aileen's voice. In her view, the Earthly Divine Kingdom shrouding Wanghai City was far less important than Wu Chang.

Win!

Wu Chang, who had just mentally declared himself the victor, said with a smile, "Don't worry. It's just the Wasteland Realm—what danger could possibly stump me?"

He took one last look at Aileen and said, "I'm setting off."

Aileen said with a smile, "Have a safe journey."

Wu Chang stepped forward and plunged into the underground cave.

Relying on his powerful Inspiration, he could feel the surrounding space and even the rules of time twisting. The downward-falling passage was like a passage where the world's rules had been distorted.

A tremendous will he couldn't clearly perceive enveloped the underground mystical realm, as if every change within the underground mystical realm was under the control of that powerful force.

He suddenly recalled Christine's words.

The fate of the Pillars of the Present World and the Wasteland Realm is already sealed, unchangeable. You cannot stop it.

He scoffed and repeated the answer he'd given Christine back then.

"Really? I don't believe it."

Whoosh.

As the sound of wind rose in his ears again, light flared before his eyes. He broke free from the pitch-black falling passage and arrived in an unfamiliar space.

Before he could adjust to the light around him, he smelled a rancid stench like a garbage dump mixed with a drunkard's vomit, and at the same time heard the voices of several drunks.

"Did you hear that, Xiaoliang? The man said he doesn't believe it!"

Wu Chang followed the sound and saw, not far from him, two drunks leaning on a streetlight vomiting, while another gaunt drunk was squatting atop a streetlight over ten meters tall, as if he had found a lookout point and switched on overlook mode.

After overlook mode, is it time for a leap of faith?

The drunk squatting on the streetlight, hearing that someone actually didn't believe what he said, immediately flew into a rage.

"Kid, open your eyes wide and watch closely!"

The drunks below egged him on: "Come on, Xiaoliang, give him a show!"

"Shit, go, ignore!"

With a full-throated shout, the drunk leaped high into the air, executing a backward somersault with three and a half tuck rotations—fast, extended, and perfectly poised.

Splat.

Crack.

The form was perfect; only the landing wasn't. Xiaoliang went head-first and slammed straight into the ground, the sound of his skull and cervical vertebra shattering clearly audible.

No way, bro, you actually jumped?

Before Wu Chang could react, the two burly men by the road pulled out their phones, both screens showing the number 10, and started lavishing praise on the thoroughly chilled corpse.

Saying his form was steady, his body opened up gracefully in the air, and the landing produced no splash.

How could there be any splash? Smashing his head into concrete—whatever splashed up would definitely be brains.

These people aren't right in the head; he had to get out of here fast, or when the police showed up later, it'd delay his real business.

As he turned to leave, he heard the two drunks behind him shout at him:

"Hey, outsider, welcome to Underground Shelter No. 88, have a good time!"

The drunks called this place Underground Shelter No. 88, but in Wu Chang's eyes, this was a city.

Not only did it have every element a city needed, but in the distance one could even see a twenty-story high-rise.

If it weren't for his superhuman eyesight letting him see that the moon and starry sky overhead were all simulated by electronic screens, he really wouldn't have guessed this was an underground shelter.

He walked along the road toward where the lights were densest, and as the number of people on the road grew, he quickly realized he was wrong.

It wasn't just those three burly men who were off—everyone he saw here was f***ing nuts.

The residents of the entire underground shelter seemed to all have hypermasculine syndrome; the slightest disagreement led to a brawl, the kill-or-be-killed kind.

He saw with his own eyes, while waiting for a car at an intersection, a grown burly man got startled by the lead car's horn, his ice cream dropped onto his crotch, so he got out to duel the lead car.

Then he watched a burly man and a fat guy put on brass knuckles and start hammering at each other's heads.

In the end, the fat guy won the duel thanks to the cushioning from his facial fat; as spoils, he took away the cone tip from the burly man's ice cream, and the half-melted ice cream ball stuck to the burly man's pants.

WDF.

Even the Wild West, with its one million ways to die, would count as a civilized city compared to here.

Wu Chang, who had seen plenty of outrageous stunts, watched and could only exclaim how outrageous it was.

If Fang Hui got kidnapped here, it wouldn't be surprising if the next time they met he'd been turned into chunks, sliced into strips, or even minced into Fang Hui paste.

Wu Chang hurriedly pulled out the Unlimited Portable Livestream Room and connected to Fang Hui's phone.

He gave a small cough, then in a low, magnetic voice—though with a bubbly rasp as if he had a chunk of phlegm stuck in his throat—said to Fang Hui:

"Are you Fang Hui?"

Fang Hui was overjoyed at the sound of his voice. "That voice—it's Batman, I'm saved!"

Well, he's still in the mood to shoot the breeze, so it seems the kidnappers haven't started heating the water yet.

"I'm the helper your friend called in. You can call me Peace, or Mr. Peace." Wu Chang held back the urge to spit phlegm through the phone into Fang Hui's face, and patiently said. One should know that the Unlimited Portable Livestream Room really could let him spit at people along the signal.

"Hello, Mr. Peace. Wu Chang told me about you beforehand, said you'd contact me. I didn't expect you so soon. Do I need to repeat to you what I told Wu Chang earlier?"

Wu Chang: "No need. Also, I've already entered the special mystical realm you're in—Shelter No. 88, right?"

"Huh?" Fang Hui was stunned. He glanced at the time on his phone—less than 20 minutes had passed since he hung up on Wu Chang.

"This is what a professional is like? Way too efficient."

Wu Chang said, "Do you know what part of the shelter you're being held in?"

Fang Hui hesitated a moment, seemingly observing his surroundings, then said:

"I'm not sure where I am. When I was brought in, my head was covered with a burlap sack. I can only confirm I'm locked inside a stone-built structure. The interior decoration has a very dated feel—probably an old building."

"Outside the window it's full of fog; I can't see any farther, so I can't provide more information."

Wu Chang frowned. He scanned his surroundings—Underground Shelter No. 88 had an overall futuristic tech aesthetic, its modernization definitely surpassing reality. Where would there be any stone-built old building?

This kid Fang Hui hasn't been burlap-sacked and moved somewhere else, has he?

"How's your situation right now? Are you in danger?"

Fang Hui breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Not really. The people here are pretty kind, very polite too. They even lent me a charger just now, and afraid I'd be bored, they set me up with a computer, and even moved a fridge into the room."

Pop.

As he spoke, Wu Chang heard the sound of a pull-tab can opening from the other end of the line, followed by gulping sounds of drinking, and finally a faint little burp.

This bastard is even drinking ice-cold cola.

Fang Hui: "The only pity is there's no internet."

Wu Chang took a deep breath and held back the urge to curse up a storm.

"In that case, make sure you stay safe first. If there's danger or new intel, call me right away—my phone won't be restricted."

To rescue Fang Hui, before starting the operation he had already set Fang Hui's number to a fixed connection.

Fang Hui said, "Got it."

After hanging up, Wu Chang rubbed his forehead. He'd been worried Fang Hui wouldn't adapt to the environment here, but he didn't expect this bastard to be living pretty comfortably.

Looks like his Holy Son title is different in nature from the Serenity Sect's so-called Holy Son Candidate, which was really just a free workhorse. No matter what sect it was, as long as they wanted something from Fang Hui, they wouldn't hurt him for now.

As long as the ones who grabbed Fang Hui aren't the Apocalypse, everything's manageable.

Because the Apocalypse has no Holy Son, only a Holy Maiden—the ritual they prepared outside is probably a transformation ritual.

Now that Meixiao Sect has been eliminated and Meishen Sect has reclaimed the throne, joining the LGBT right now is like emigrating to Hiroshima in '42.

Wu Chang sighed and muttered that Fang Hui should look out for himself.

After walking a few hundred more meters, a bar appeared before him; its name was quite distinctive — Broken Bottle.

On the neon sign was drawn a wine bottle with half of it smashed off, full of sharp jagged edges.

Just from the name, one could tell the atmosphere inside the bar.

A bar is a fine place — you can soak up the local customs and it's also good for gathering intel. When first entering a dungeon, there's no better place than a bar.

The moment Wu Chang stepped into the bar, he heard lively cheering and shouts of encouragement. Following the cheers, he saw that the bar had sectioned off a special area with an iron-caged boxing ring.

!

The match rules allowed wearing boxing mecha that covered the upper body, but no weapon systems were permitted on the mecha.

Boxing mecha isn't bulky — it's a thin, portable exoskeleton; wearing it isn't much different from wearing a layer of armor.

Two fighters were going at it in the ring. One was a Mediterranean-looking burly man wearing a rugged external mecha, warming up at ringside — clearly a local.

His opponent was a slender young man wearing glasses, looking very bookish and frail.

Notably, the glasses-wearing man wore no mecha and was preparing to fight with his bare body.

From the glasses-wearing man's aura and his movements, it wasn't hard to tell he was a player — and a very strong max-level player at that.

Wu Chang swept a glance and stopped paying attention, because the gap in strength between the two was too vast — there was no suspense at all.

He came to the bar counter. The moment he got close, he caught the strong smell of alcohol in the air. He glanced over — there didn't seem to be a single drink on the shelf with an alcohol content below 60.

He knocked on the counter and said to the bartender;

"A cup of hot milk."

The bartender, who was wiping a glass, hissed and dug at his ear with his left hand — the one that wasn't a prosthetic. "You little punk here to cause trouble?"

Wu Chang sighed. "No milk? Then a latte."

The bartender slammed the glass down on the table with a bang. "If you want to suck on a pacifier, go home to your mommy. This isn't a children's restaurant. Get lost."

Wu Chang frowned slightly, scanned his surroundings, and asked: "Who's the toughest fighter sitting here?"

No one around spoke — apparently no one took Wu Chang's question seriously.

Just as Wu Chang was about to filter by inspiration and randomly pick a lucky audience member, a voice sounded behind him.

"Hey, the moment I step away to take a piss, someone actually takes my seat. There's really someone who isn't afraid of dying."

Turning his head, he saw the speaker was a man wearing a studded leather jacket, sporting a green mohawk, with implanted mecha on both arms and a metal protective shell covering half his head.

No wonder — even though the bar was clearly packed, there was an empty seat at the counter. Turns out the seat's owner had gone to the restroom, and no one dared take his spot.

The bar's waiter swept the broken cup pieces on the tabletop into the trash and said to the green mohawk: "Viper, he says he's looking for the toughest fighter at the counter — looks like he's looking for you."

Wu Chang beckoned to the green mohawk and said: "Throw me a punch — make sure you put some force into it."

"Really here to die, huh!" The green mohawk's arm mecha lit up with breathing lights. He shot forward, flashed in front of Wu Chang, and immediately threw a punch.

The punch was both fast and vicious — faster than Sword Star's flying sword in speed, and so heavy that both Strength and Agility attributes had definitely broken 100 points.

Put this combat power on the Silent Route, and one person could solo Li Zaishi's Four Great Vajras. Even many max-level players without a good class change wouldn't be a match for the green mohawk.

This left Wu Chang quite astonished — he hadn't expected that picking any random small fry would yield someone this strong.

Stats exceeding even Wasteland Realm A-rank dungeons convinced him that this place was either an S-rank dungeon or a half-step Abyss Layer 2 Pillar of Reality.

Facing the urgent, fast punch, Wu Chang didn't block at all — he directly grabbed the green mohawk's fist with his hand, then twisted it behind his back in a single motion.

Then he followed up with a press, pinning the green mohawk down onto the bar counter.

That said, the mohawk hairstyle is especially handy when grabbing hair — he grabbed the mohawk's green locks and slammed his head against the counter, again and again.

"Looking to die, huh? Toughest fighter, huh? Viper, huh? Snake fist, huh…"

After a few back-and-forths, the green mohawk's forehead was already red, blood staining his hair — a perfect red-on-green combo.

The mohawk had powerful stats thanks to the Pillar of Reality, but did Wu Chang himself not have stats of his own?

Although the Pillar of Reality sits in the middle layer, drifting outside the Abyss Game's system, like an eroding dungeon it's not considered an official dungeon.

But in essence it's still a dungeon — and if it's a dungeon, it'll activate Wu Chang's Grandmaster of Breaking the Game.

To qualify as a Pillar of Reality, its pollution value is higher than even a dungeon on the brink of losing control — pollution value has undoubtedly hit 100. With the Grandmaster of Breaking the Game boost, Wu Chang's attribute panel is:

Player Nickname: Doesn't Eat Beef.

Player Level: 24 (3210/9900)

HP: 92 (61)

Strength: 87 (58)

Agility: 50 (33)

Endurance: 60 (40)

Energy: 208 (136)

Inspiration: 136

Will: 138

(Note: values in parentheses are attributes before the Grandmaster of Breaking the Game boost.)

Free Attribute Points: 0

Beyond the attributes boosted by the Grandmaster of Breaking the Game, his Sea Giant bloodline — activated after he triggered his bloodline — can further amplify his Strength.

"Bloodline Talent: Deep-Sea Aberrant — Sea Giant"

"Transformation Description: Unleash the bloodline power within, transforming into a deep-sea aberrant. In deep-sea aberrant form, gain Ocean Mastery state. Movement in water increased by 30%, all skills cast in water have their effect amplified by 20%, and gain water-attribute effects."

"Talent Skill: Infinite Growth"

"Skill Description: In deep-sea aberrant state, your Strength attribute increases by 70%; devouring the souls of the dead grants a temporary Strength attribute cap increase — each enemy devoured temporarily lowers Will cap by 1. Duration: one plane."

"Talent Skill: Body of Strength"

Skill Description: You can freely manipulate your body size; your maximum height cannot exceed twice your current Strength attribute (in meters). Simultaneously, you will gain temporary HP and temporary Stamina proportional to your size, each equal to half your current size.

Under the Sea Giant's buff, Wu Chang's Strength attribute reached 148 points—enough to exert absolute physical dominance over Green Mohawk, even without stacking any temporary Strength caps.

Wu Chang landed a few more blows; seeing the metallic half of Green Mohawk's skull caved in and a dent carved into the metal bar counter, he grabbed Green Mohawk by the neck with one hand and his pants with the other, tossing him out the bar door like garbage.

When he returned to his seat, he found a cup of hot milk already placed before the vacant chair.

The bartender pulled out several bottles and jars and said eagerly, "We also have maple syrup, honey, chocolate sauce, and white sugar—add whatever flavor you like."

Wu Chang nodded and said, "I'll take it plain."

In an instance plane, you must follow local customs; in an instance plane like Shelter #88, nothing beats fists for negotiation.

A bartender in a bar can mix drinks slowly, but must change his expression quickly.

Seeing Wu Chang's strength, the bartender instantly switched to a warm smile and asked, "What's your name, sir?"

Wu Chang said, "Peace."

The bartender's eyelid twitched—he saw not a trace of peace on Wu Chang.

"You're an outsider, aren't you, Mr. Peace?"

Wu Chang frowned. "Is it that obvious?"

Shelter #88's clothing wasn't particularly distinctive; Wu Chang wore jeans and a flight jacket, blending in visually—but whether the drunkard who first saw him or the bartender before him, everyone recognized him at a glance as an outsider.

The bartender smiled mysteriously. "Outsiders and locals are fundamentally different. You'll understand after a few visits."

"Are you here to trade? I know the ropes. Whatever you want to trade, I can act as middleman. New customer discount—first deal, I take only 10% commission. How about it?"

Wu Chang raised an eyebrow. From the bartender's tone, Shelter #88 had been trading continuously with players entering here.

He took a sip of hot milk and spoke slowly:

"Trading can wait. I'm here for the first time—I don't yet understand the rules. Just now, I accidentally clashed with an innocent passerby. I'm a pacifist; this is bad. So I'd like to learn the rules first."

"If possible, I'd like a catalog of tradable goods and a list of local taboos."

The bartender kept smiling. "Mr. Peace, just like in other realms you've visited, information here comes at a price."

Wu Chang said flatly, "Put it on my tab."

The bartender smiled. "This is a small shop—we don't do credit."

Wu Chang's eyes turned sharp, his fist clenched. "Don't you trust me? Do you think I, Peace, would dodge paying for a few pieces of information? This is an insult!"

Sweat broke on the bartender's forehead. He glanced at Wu Chang's fist, the size of a sandbag, and swallowed his refusal.

You see? You understand the rules here just fine.

"Alright, I'll put it on your tab. As for the goods list, I need to consult my clients—I can't give it to you yet. But I can tell you the taboos right now."

"The taboos here are simple: two points. First, as an outsider, never copy the locals—not their behavior, not their attitude. We're different."

"Second: never provoke He Yun."

Wu Chang caught the key point; interest sparked in his eyes. "Who is He Yun?"

The bartender nodded toward the corner.

There sat a young woman with short hair, wearing a tank top that revealed her sun-kissed skin and toned, sculpted frame.

She maintained low body fat while allowing fat to accumulate precisely where it should—her figure resembled Cammy from Street Fighter.

She was calibrating a mech at her table, expression intensely focused. Sensing Wu Chang's gaze, He Yun, the short-haired woman, lifted her head and locked eyes with him across the room.

Powerful. Sharp. Impactful.

That was Wu Chang's first impression of He Yun.

While Wu Chang spoke with the bartender, the fight in the cage had already ended.

The glasses-wearing man defeated the bald man without suspense, but restrained his movements—just a single punch to the chin, enough to knock him unconscious, then he stopped, refusing to follow up.

"Outsiders—Scalpel Fighter—defeated Barrel 15-5, winning again tonight!"

"Now, Scalpel Fighter's record stands at an astonishing 9-0! Will the shattered-bottle ring be conquered today by a stranger outsider? Let's see—who can stop him?"

As the host spoke, the bartender sighed. "Damn."

Wu Chang asked, "What's wrong?"

"The guy stronger than Barrel just got tossed out like trash. If this outsider keeps challenging, he'll have to face He Yun." The bartender sighed helplessly.

Wu Chang finished his hot milk. "I don't think He Yun will lose."

"I don't think so either," said the bartender. "I'm saying 'damn' for the outsider."

As the bartender said, the host checked around and found no other fighters willing to step up. Scalpel Fighter, however, remained on the ring, clearly ready to challenge again.

Helplessly, the host turned to He Yun in the corner.

After brief words, He Yun donned the freshly calibrated mech and entered the ring.

Beep!

As the cage locking mechanism sealed the ring, the crowd erupted in cheers, stoking the night's main event.

The host was about to introduce the fighters and open betting for the drunks—when Scalpel Fighter, who had maintained a humble, polite demeanor all night, revealed his fangs.

Scalpel Fighter raised both hands—and two giant Wu Shidao, each over two meters long, appeared in his grip.

The matches held in the ring were essentially boxing bouts; every fighter from the underground shelter underwent strict screening to ensure all weapon systems on their mech were removed.

Scalpel Fighter's action was a serious violation.

The referee moved to stop the match—but Scalpel Fighter slashed once, cutting the referee cleanly in half, then charged at He Yun with murderous intent.

Clearly, his goal wasn't the match—it was murder.

His assassination target had always been He Yun!

This book's title will change in the next two days. The final name isn't decided yet, but the proposed options follow the current format. Brothers, any suggestions? Let me borrow some inspiration.

(End of Chapter)