Chapter 23

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"Basic True Force Seed..."

Lin Fei stood up, turned off the desk lamp, and the bedroom was instantly engulfed in darkness.

The moonlight outside the window quietly spilled into the room like a layer of jade-colored gauze. The sound of the TV from the living room faintly reached her, creating a stark contrast with the peacefulness of the bedroom.

For a moment, Lin Fei almost felt the illusion of being in a world of her own.

She knew that if she couldn't solve the issue with the Basic True Force Seed, her future development would face a tremendous gap.

"Moreover, I must acquire a real longsword as soon as possible. Otherwise, the power of the Basic Sword Technique will never be fully utilized," Lin Fei thought, looking at her outstretched hands.

With her younger sister Lin You's early exposure to the Inner World, Lin Fei became more aware that she too might come into contact with the Inner World sooner than expected. There were countless hidden threats. Without sufficient power to protect herself, she might be devoured without a trace remaining.

"Tomorrow, I'll go to the club and get a good longsword from Lu Jun."

Having made up her mind, Lin Fei's hand gently rested on the passbook on the table. This was the exchange money she hadn't used to buy a car. A total of 150,000. In this era, that was already a large sum of money. There should be no problem in buying a high-level longsword.

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Ling Room

Lin You's gaze was fixed on the television screen, where the rapidly changing advertisements failed to calm her. The volume, already turned down very low, still felt unbearably noisy to her.

The events of that night seemed to replay before her eyes.

"During these past couple of days, as a newly awakened Ice System Power User who joined our heretical organization, it is very possible that the Pantheon is already aware of you. You had almost reached level combat power at the time of your awakening, and with us restraining the Pantheon, at most, a few fish that slip through the net will come after you. There might not be a threat to you personally, but for your parents and siblings, it's uncertain. So, if you don't want something to happen to your family, it's better to stay close to them during this period."

"What exactly is the strength of those who have slipped through? Please be specific!"

"They're just ordinary desperadoes. Due to their number and dispersion, we can't intercept them all," said the messenger with an even tone, "This is how we all got through in the beginning."

Lin You fell silent for a while. She was just an ordinary middle school girl, and facing such threats undoubtedly exceeded her psychological limit.

"But, didn't we agree earlier?!! You said you would protect me and my family's safety!!! That's why I agreed to join you!! Now what's this about desperadoes? Can I not join now?"

"......"

"Aren't you very powerful?? Didn't you say you valued me highly?" Lin You questioned the other party.

"Actually, no matter what, you must join an organization. A psychic staying unaffiliated won't survive long. This is a consensus among all organizations," the messenger paused, "And even if you were to join the Pantheon, there would still be attacks from our heretics. It's unavoidable."

Lin You fell silent again.

"If I hadn't shown my psychic abilities, maybe none of this would have happened." She folded her knees and hugged her arms around them, resting her chin on her knees. "Maybe then everyone could continue to live peacefully as before."

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Outside the community, at the school gate.

Two men stood under a street lamp by the roadside, looking from afar towards the direction of the faculty residential area inside the school.

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One of the two men had a strand of hair above his forehead dyed silver, his skin was sallow, and his lips were dry and cracked. However, his body was still sturdy, and the contour of muscles could be clearly seen under his black T-shirt.

The other man was dressed in a black jacket, with a cigarette hanging from his lips, looking a bit thin. His hands were stuffed in his jacket pockets, and there seemed to be something long in his right pocket. His chin was covered with a scruffy beard, and under the light of the street lamps, one could see the bloodshot eyes.

"Lei Zi, according to the plan, you go after Lin Fei first. I'll take the main target myself," the silver-haired man whispered.

"No problem, according to the intel, Lin Fei is just an ordinary high school student. I'll handle it quickly and then support you," the man in the black jacket said in a low voice.

"The order from above was, if it can't be done within two hours, to give up immediately," the silver-haired man's gaze fell on the right pocket of the black jacket. "You've always been so secretive, what are you keeping in your pocket?"

"Nothing much. Just a fruit knife I bought from the supermarket," the man in the black jacket suddenly stepped back nervously. "Big brother, after the job is done, that money..."

"Don't worry, a forty-sixty split between us, have you ever heard of Lei Kun shortchanging a brother?" the silver-haired man slapped the shoulder of the man in the black jacket generously.

"Just following your orders, big brother. You know, my son is waiting for this money to save his life," the man in the black jacket remembered his well-behaved and adorable son, a softness flickering in his eyes.

"Rest assured," the silver-haired man nodded solemnly. If it weren't for your son needing the money to save his life, I might not have even chosen you!

"Let's go."

The two men disappeared into the darkness that the light couldn't reach, one after the other.

From within the darkness, the man in the black jacket took one last look back in the direction he came from. His right hand gripped the fruit knife in his pocket tightly. He was just a common ex-soldier, completely subjugated by the cruelties of life to the foot of money. He remembered the photos from this mission, those two young boys.

"There's no going back now." He sighed lightly. The fruit knife in his hand seemed to possess an unusual magic, imparting a coolness that seeped into his heart. At this point, even if he wanted to back out, it was too late; against the vastness of the organization above him, all he felt was endless oppression and strength.

Besides, with Lei Kun by his side, with his unimpressive strength, if he had a gun, perhaps he could overpower Lei Kun, but that was clearly unrealistic. Holding only a knife, he would not be a match for Lei Kun. That's why he was the underling, and Lei Kun was the boss.

On the rooftop of a distant residential building, under the moonlight, two figures silently watched this scene. One was squatting, the other standing. The squatter held a color screen mobile phone, engrossed in a game of Sokoban. He appeared to be a young man who had just stepped out of college.

The standing figure was a girl in her teens, wearing a short skirt with black stockings and a simple black cinched waist T-shirt. However, her chest was completely flat. Her black silk short skirt fluttered with the rooftop wind, forming waves of folds.

"They're gone, Dongdong. If Lin You can pass this test, he'll be qualified to become one of us. If not, it's meaningless," the girl said indifferently, scruffing her shoulder-length hair and turning toward the rooftop stairway.

"Fine, fine, I'll leave once I finish this round," the squatting young man casually replied. "It's quite cool here."

The young man's eyes were glues to the mobile phone screen, showing no awareness of being a watcher. Perhaps, in his view, this trivial matter didn't warrant monitoring.

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In the bedroom

Lin Fei lay quietly with his eyes closed, immersed in darkness. His mind rapidly flipped through the comments on Sword Dao True Solution, trying to find information about the True Force seed.

Unfortunately, all the content merely hinted that the True Force seed was a kind of energy used as a foundation. With it as a catalyst, humans could continue to evolve and cultivate rapidly. Its essence was nothing more than a tiny thread of True Force, only separated out.

However, no one provided a detailed account of its true source. Perhaps, in their view, such a basic concept didn't need to occupy space in the Sword Dao True Solution. But for Lin Fei, it was like an insurmountable chasm lying ahead, and he had a vague feeling that without the True Force seed, he might not ever reach the true secrets of cultivation.

Taking a deep breath and suddenly opening his eyes, Lin Fei slowly drew Bear Claw out from his waist. Visualization of the first picture had healed the wound on his thigh considerably. A surge of warmth constantly nourished the injury, a method of concentrating energy at the wound to speed up recovery through visualization. According to this pace, Lin Fei's wounds would be fully healed in less a week.

Before then, he could exert only half of his strength.

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