Volume 6, Heaven or Hell, Ninth Level: Safe Room, Safety or Freedom (1/2)

Volume 6, Heaven or Hell, Ninth Level: Safe Room, Safety or Freedom

Translator: ever4493 (proofread by Trespasserby; C/E edited by lucathia)

First Wind, Dark Sun just phoned me. The situation doesn’t seem good. The signal was severely distorted so I couldn’t make out what he was saying. Can you contact him?

“Hold on a sec!”

O.K.!

“Solitary Butterfly, he’s really gone!”

So you do know Dark Sun’s true identity?

“…”

Oh well, that’s not important. We should find Dark Sun first!

“Mhm! I’ll tell the police to look for places with bad signals. We’ll find him faster with more people.”

Wait, there’s another call. It’s from the police.

“Attention to all heroes, there are groups of armed criminals randomly attacking civilians in the business district. Their intentions are unknown.”

“Yue Gang?” First Wind said, “This is First Wind. We also have a problem. Dark Sun seems to be stuck in a place with almost no signal. Can you find out where he is?”

“… It must be the sewer! Definitely! I’ll send someone over. I’ll go over myself too!”

First Wind, I’ll go to the business district. You go look for Dark Sun with the police!

“No, I’ll go to the business district with you. One extra person looking for him won’t make a difference. Armed criminals roaming the business district doesn’t sound good. It feels a bit like the bank robbery last time. If we don’t know what their intentions are, it’s too dangerous for you to go alone. I’ll get Dragon Peace to come along!”

Aren’t you worried about Dark Sun?

“Of course I am! But someone’s with him. If they’re together, then there won’t be much of a problem.”

As I ran, I phoned Nitewalker to ask where he was. Unexpectedly, he was nearby, so asking him to give me and the young master a ride would be much faster than just running or contacting Melody and the others.

I carefully put the young master in the cab and said, “To the business district.”

“The business area’s blocked right now, so I can only give you twenty percent off.” Nitewalker turned his head and said, “If you pay me full price, I can drive you somewhere near your destination. You’re going to the building that’s being broadcasted right now, right?”

I asked in surprise, “Are you sure? Did you not say that that area was blocked?”

Nitewalker said emotionlessly, “Human blockades aren’t really useful against nightwalkers.”

I climbed into the car and said, “I will pay you double the price. Please get there as fast as you can!”

Hearing this, Nitewalker stretched out his hand and pressed a button. The car shook slightly as the car body lowered and the car hood changed into a rather streamlined shape, a spoiler was added to the back and even the circular steering wheel turned into one with handles on the side… The taxi had turned into a race car.

The young master’s eyes widened and he gasped, “That was so cool!”

The car started. I did not know how fast it was going. All I noticed was that the moment it started, my entire back pressed against the car seat.

“This mode uses a lot of gas.” Nitewalker said, “If you’re willing to pay five times the price, I can use another kind of method that uses even more gas but can get us there even faster.”

“For sure!” The young master shouted immediately.

And then the car climbed onto the side of a building.

I looked out the car window and could see that the tires were splashing up quite a bit of water. The car seems to be driving on water… As expected from a race from the ocean. So nightwalkers also have the ability to control water?

With high speed and the ability to go straight ahead no matter what obstacles there might be on the road, it did not take long before the car arrived in the business district.

The entire business district was full of office buildings. This place was usually as quiet as a ghost town at night. Aside from the commercials playing from some of the TV walls of the buildings, there were usually no other noises.

But tonight was a bit different. The roads were crowded with armed people. Judging from their clothing, there seemed to be guerrilla warfare going on between two groups. For some reason, they held their fire and continued to look for better hiding places. Direct combat was rare.

Since we entered the business district, Nitewalker had been driving on the buildings instead of the roads, which was why we were able to proceed smoothly.

The young master pointed at a few armed teams that were hiding and said, “That team, that team, and this team might have been sent by Kyle-gē. The others might be Lieder’s. The other side might not only have Lieder, Josh, and Ni Cai, as you said, because it’s not possible to control the situation with only three people.”

“I understand now. The people that Secretary Kyle sent do not seem to be part of the adjudication squad?” I thought the strongest team under the Sun Emperor’s control was the adjudication squad. Why did he not send them?

“The adjudication squad is useful for killing, but not for rescuing. Their ability to react under different circumstances is much lower than DSII’s.”

So that is why.

The young master thought silently for a while and said, “The other side’s equipment looks similar to the equipment the bank robbers who separated themselves into five groups had. They might be the same group of people. Speaking of which, the bank robberies just might have been directed by Lieder! To start one of these plans requires a lot of money. Just the equipment needed to hack into the security cameras costs a lot, and the security cameras in the business district are mostly dead right now.”

I spaced out for a brief while, and just then, the taxi suddenly zoomed above the building, as if hovering in mid-air, and then landed on the roof. Even while making such large movements, the car remained steady. Five times the price was definitely worth it!

Nitewalker turned around and said, “We’re here. The next building is your destination. I think you’ll want to get up there without any sound, right?”

“Thank you,” I stepped out of the car first before carrying the young master out.

Nitewalker peered out of the car window and said lightly, “I’ll wait for you around here. I can also pick you up inside the building, but that would be ten times the price, and if the car gets damaged, you’ll need to take full responsibility.”

I laughed and said, “I appreciate it.”

With the young master on my back, I jumped over to the next building, landing soundlessly on the wall, parallel to the ground and walked upwards.

As I walked, the young master took out his phone to make a call, asking, “Kyle-gē, how’s Gēge?”

“… I thought you went to the hospital?”

“I’m not going to the hospital!”

Secretary Kyle sighed and said, “Do you have a television near you? You can see the Sun Emperor’s condition on TV.”

Hearing that, the young master sliced open the building window with his plasma hair strands, and we stepped inside. The room we were in was a small meeting room with a television hanging from the left corner of the ceiling. I stepped forward to turn on the television. There was no need to change channels as the television was already broadcasting relevant news.

The Sun Emperor has been abducted. The business district is now completely under lockdown!

We ask civilians not to enter the business district under any circumstance. People may only exit but not enter the business district right now. Exiting also requires a full security scan. Our reporters are negotiating, hoping to be able to interview inside, but have not been granted permission yet… Wait, the criminals have turned on their camera again. We’ll be switching over now.

The television’s view switched, and the Sun Emperor appeared on screen. The black office chair he was sitting in and his dark colored windbreaker made his golden hair and red eyes appear even brighter, but beneath the bright colors, his expression was extremely cold. He did not resemble someone who had been abducted, but a chairman who was looking at an employee who had made a mistake… No, probably more like an emperor looking at his officials.

Regarding this, Lieder might be right. The Sun Emperor is an emperor.

Another person appeared on screen. The person wore a unique looking mask. It was completely white with only a red reversed-cross on the forehead.

The person held a gun to the Sun Emperor’s head and said toward the camera, “Have those who are here to rescue him leave the business district in half an hour, or else…”

Having said this, the person suddenly smashed the gunstock against the Sun Emperor’s temple. Blood trickled down the side of the Sun Emperor’s forehead, but he merely glanced sideways at the person. His glance was emotionless, as if he had simply seen an ant crawl by, as though the event did not even raise a single thought in his mind.

Would this kind of attitude anger Lieder? I felt a bit worried.

“How dare they hit my brother! Damn it, I’ll kill all of you!” The young master hollered angrily, his silver hair dancing out of control as if it wanted to tear someone to pieces.

Thank goodness the conference room we are in is nicely soundproofed. I glanced at the young master who was covered in injuries but was completely unaware of them. Compared to those, the scratch on the side of the Sun Emperor’s forehead was…

“Young Master!” Secretary Kyle’s voice sounded from the phone, “Since you’ve decided to participate in the rescue mission, please coordinate with the special squad’s actions.”

“Understood.” The young master nodded.

“Please enter the safe room through the third hidden door. Door number three is located under the main seat in the conference room. This is the door that is least likely to startle the criminals. Also, please switch your cell phone to vibrate. About ten minutes from now, I’ll have people draw the criminals’ attention away and then phone you. Please enter the room as soon as the phone vibrates…”

The young master looked at me as Secretary Kyle gave instructions. I nodded to let him know that I had understood them.

Carrying the young master on my back, we left this room and headed toward the conference room.

We would sometimes hear footsteps. During those times, I would backflip onto the ceiling, stepping through one of the ceiling panels and then quietly vanishing inside, waiting until they passed us before dropping down to the floor and continuing onwards.

The young master said quietly, “Charles, when you’re serious, you’re really hard to fight! You’re super fast and silent. Your only weakness is probably just that you don’t have enough strength.”

“You and X are both far stronger than I am.”

“But we’re not as fast as you, and if hidden, you’re harder to find. If we’re warriors, then you’re probably an assassin!”

I said softly, “Young Master, I am neither a warrior nor an assassin. I am your butler.”

The young master laughed. “Right, but I’ll need to ask you to be an assassin this time.”

As he said the last sentence, the young master sounded a bit downhearted, so I changed the subject hurriedly, “Young Master, do your knees still hurt?”

“The painkillers are still effective, so it doesn’t hurt much as long as I don’t move my knees.”

I asked, “Please do not fight later. If you do, use only your hair. Would that be all right?”

The young master did not answer.

I asked in a different way, “Young Master, if I have the upper hand during battle, would you stay by the master’s side and not fight?”

Behind me, the young master replied after a while, “Charles, you’re really weird. The painkillers’ effect on you seems to be more like the effect of stimulants? You hate fighting, and when you had to, you would think a lot about the after-effects. But when we were in the sewer, you didn’t hesitate to kill anyone, were super fast, and made all critical hits…”

That does seem to be the case. But I did not mind at all, since given the circumstances right now, the stronger I was then the better it was for us. I needed to be strong enough that the young master would not need to fight.

The young master said weakly, “I feel like I’m taking advantage of you. You’re only agreeing to fight because you took painkillers, right?”

I hurriedly explained, “Perhaps the painkillers raised my fighting skills, but being willing to fight has nothing to do with them. All I want is for Young Master to stop pushing yourself and not get hurt anymore!”

“The painkillers also made you meaner…”

“Young Master, changing the subject will not make me forget the favor I just asked.” I stopped walking, turned my head and said, “Please promise that if I have the upper hand during battle, you will stay by the master’s side and not fight voluntarily.”

The young master looked stunned and asked, “Don’t tell me that you won’t keep walking until I agree?”

“Yes!” I said strongly.

“… O.K.,” The young master agreed helplessly.

After acquiring the young master’s promise, I continued to walk. The young master grumbled behind me, “I’m definitely warning Bàba not to let you use any painkillers from now on.”

We arrived at the meeting room, but after a while, we still did not get Secretary Kyle’s phone call signal.