26. Gateway to the World

Night.

Observatory 3, Rooftop.

Xia Feng stood at the edge of the rooftop, facing the breeze as he glanced at the time.

7:01PM

He had arrived a full two hours early, yet Mu Qingtong hadn't set up any traps and was freaking late!

"This guy, what's he playing at?" Xia Feng looked up and swept his gaze vigilantly across the dark surroundings, quite annoyed. It was just a trade for an Infinite Stone, so why the hell choose the rooftop as the location?

Didn't they know this was the place where people were most likely to die?

7:03PM

[Xia Feng: Where are you?]

The other side didn't respond.

But at that moment.

[Having evaded three Holy Department Investigators, you have gained a deeper understanding of Concealment Spiritual Clothes.]

[After subconsciously pondering, you made some modifications to the Concealment Spiritual Clothes.]

[Standing behind Xia Feng to test them, you completely mastered how to become invisible in the darkness.]

"???"

Xia Feng's neck stiffened, and he nonchalantly tilted his head slightly.

In his peripheral vision, there was just darkness behind him; not a trace of anyone.

[Xia Feng faintly sensed something was off, so he hid behind a wall to ponder for a moment, and you once again patched up the flaws in the Concealment Spiritual Clothes.]

Xia Feng: "..."

"Whoosh—"

But at that moment, the sound of something cutting through the air came from the night sky. Xia Feng looked up cautiously, only to spot three men dressed in abyss-black uniforms.

The black and gold ♁-shaped badge on the left breast of their uniforms heralded their identities—Holy Department Investigators.

The Holy Department was an official law enforcement agency established by the Empire specifically for supernatural incidents within the country.

The three Holy Department Investigators hovered in the air, scanned the area, and quickly noticed Xia Feng standing on the rooftop.

With a flicker, they appeared in front of Xia Feng.

The leading middle-aged man asked gently, "Young man, have you seen anyone acting suspiciously?"

Xia Feng: "Suspicious actions?"

"Someone in a red robe wearing a black and red spade mask?"

A spade mask? That probably referred to Mu Qingtong. Xia Feng blinked and shook his head blankly, "Haven't seen them, wow~"

The middle-aged man nodded and didn't seem to doubt him, but as he turned to leave, his footsteps suddenly halted. He whipped around with a sharp glare, "What are you doing on the rooftop alone?"

Xia Feng pointed at the old stargazing mirror not far away, blinked earnestly, and with a serious expression, said, "I'm studying the 'Dependency Theory of the Three Realms: Star Realm, Evil Realm, and Present Realm.' This is the only spot where one can observe the Star Realm for free."

"Investigator sir, that's not illegal, right...."

The middle-aged man's gaze softened instantly and he coughed a bit, "Hmm, it's not illegal, carry on."

But Xia Feng asked again, "Is Mr. Investigator pursuing an Evil Beast? Has one gotten into the academy?"

The middle-aged man waved at his subordinates to continue the search southward and pulled out a detector, waving it at the sky while explaining, "Not an Evil Beast, but a Spirit Science criminal."

"Spirit Science criminal?"

"You know Blood Evil Street, right?

The space there is unstable; Evil Beasts often slip into the Present Realm, and Evils are rampant—it's very chaotic. This 'Red Spade' bastard often lurks around there, indifferently killing people. Whether they are from the Evil Clan, Evils, and Spirit Masters, or even ordinary people, many have fallen to Ta's hand, and there's no pattern to these crimes at all."

"But one thing is for certain, every person who dies at Ta's hands shows signs of soul extraction, obviously for some inhumane experiments."

Upon saying this, the middle-aged man's tone grew slightly more grave, his teeth clenched in obvious extreme loathing for this Spirit Science criminal.

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"Ever since that scumbag committed his crime half a year ago, I thought he had given up on his experiment. To think that he'd jump back into action today! And in broad daylight, no less! The audacity!"

Xia Feng: "..."

"You agree, don't you?" asked the talkative middle-aged man, turning his head as if seeking approval.

"Ah? Right!"

Xia Feng nodded earnestly, filled with righteous indignation, "So arrogant! Too arrogant! If I catch such a heartless evildoer, I'll—I'll make her cry until she calls me daddy!"

"?" The middle-aged uncle looked at Xia Feng strangely. Was this some newfangled interrogation method of the young generation? Pretty twisted.

He shook his head and set down the detector: "Alright, this Spirit Science criminal has fled into the academy. I will inform your academy's higher-ups; you'd better be careful yourself."

With that, the middle-aged uncle stepped and leapt directly to the opposite rooftop, then bounded away and quickly disappeared from view.

Huff~~~ Xia Feng secretly breathed a sigh of relief and glanced at his watch.

7:08 PM

Seeing the time, he muttered softly, "Really, I'll wait for her another two minutes. If she doesn't show, I'm leaving."

One minute and fifty seconds later.

Clear footsteps could be heard behind him. Without turning around, Xia Feng stood with his hands behind his back, looking up at the moonlit sky: "You're here."

"?" Mu Qingtong paused her footsteps, "Sorry, I was delayed by some matters. Here are two grams of Infinite Stone. Take them."

With that, she tossed the item casually over.

"!" Startled, Xia Feng quickly abandoned his pose and turned around to catch the box.

Really, this woman always liked to play her cards in such an unpredictable way. Xia Feng carefully lifted the lid of the box to reveal a small crack through which the two small stones inside shimmered with a black and golden glow, one of them faintly emitting a weak red light.

"This box cannot prevent quantization. The red-glowing one has only three hours of existence left, the other one a month's time. I suggest you use them quickly, otherwise, they're liable to quantize into unobservable quantum entities and vanish."

The woman in the black dress said this, waved her hand, and turned to walk away.

"I have other matters to attend to, I'm leaving first."

Xia Feng watched the woman's decisive departure, dazed for a moment before reacting, "Only three hours left? Hey! That's way too irresponsible!"

With the woman in black gone, Xia Feng could do nothing but finish examining the contents and hurriedly close the box.

Infinite Stone was a very mysterious substance. Without special storage measures, it would slowly self-quantize, entering what was known in legend as the quantum dimension—also referred to as quantization by Mu Qingtong.

Once quantized, Infinite Stone would become unobservable in the Present Realm, effectively disappearing.

That's why Mu Qingtong had urged him to use it quickly.

"No, time waits for no one!"

After some thought and waiting a few more minutes to ensure Mu Qingtong wasn't secretly peeping from a hidden spot, he dashed downstairs to an experimental classroom, locked the door, and cleared the tables and chairs.

He laid out the summoning materials on the tiled floor.

Xia Feng mixed faded ink and leopard fish blood into a beaker. Once the liquid boiled, he added World Tree branch powder and Dragon God's Spiritual Particles, stirred until the mixture settled and cooled for one minute into a fiery red lava-like fluid, then bit his own thumb, pressing it into the mixture.

Instantly, the fluid clung and wrapped around his thumb, with white mist continuously rising into the air.

Xia Feng frowned, enduring the pain as he rapidly drew an Array on the ground—up and down, left and right, BABA....

Finally, a flame-red pattern suddenly expanded on the floor. Xia Feng took out the Infinite Stone that was emitting a faint red light and placed it on the central hollow circle of the Array.

At the same time, his eyes turned sharp, and he formed a hand seal: "Gate of the Present World, in the boundless void!"

As he solemnly chanted, the entire snowflake-shaped Array instantly blazed with golden light, and the Infinite Stone in the center melted away in an instant, as the space directly above it split open with a two-meter-high golden vertical crevice.

Xia Feng looked up nervously to see the vertical crevice swiftly extend horizontally, transforming into a blinding golden door.

"Nice, this must be the 'Gate of the Present World'." Xia Feng was somewhat surprised as he walked around the lofty door, which was filled with a white luminescence on both sides.

Seeing that he couldn't discern anything important, he didn't hesitate further and stepped forward.

As his body passed through the light door, he didn't enter any Different Space, but instead walked straight out to the other side of the door.

However, the lines of the Array on the ground followed suit, soaring into the light door—snap—the door closed.

The dark classroom reverted to silence, Xia Feng standing still, his gaze hollow.

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