Chapter 119: Brother Ji is too good to me!

He stepped out of the elevator, and a small cubicle with a protective door came into view.

The walls of this cubicle were not even tiled; the needle-like barite crystals embedded in the concrete were clearly visible, giving the space a rough yet sturdy appearance. The air carried a faint, unpleasant smell of mortar that made breathing feel somewhat labored. Aside from a high-tech-looking blast door, there were no other decorations.

Once his heavy gasping subsided, Ji Cheng took out his atmospheric water collector, sipped a small amount of clean water, and used the excess to wipe his face. After briefly cleaning the dirt and dust from his clothes, he walked toward the blast door with heavy, weary steps.

"Shana, come out. Let's crack this door."

"Understood!"

As Shana materialized, lines of code scrolled across Ji Cheng’s tactical visor. He read the code through three times, carefully and thoroughly, as if trying to commit every digit and letter to memory, before rolling his eyes.

"I actually don't know how to do this. You'll have to crack it for me."

He could easily dismantle the defense matrices common throughout the galaxy, yet this homemade, simplistic firewall from Nanhang had stumped him. Shana, however, as a data ethereal, had made significant progress in various fields after infiltrating the cluster intelligence in the Hive. Even though her "Computer Theory" experience bar hadn't even reached 1%, it was still enough to bypass this defensive door.

"Consider it done!" Shana beamed, her eyes curving into sweet crescents.

To her, this was an easy task, and it was a chance to please Ji Cheng. Coupled with the relief of having just escaped death, she was in high spirits. She immediately skipped toward the door, leaving Ji Cheng with a beautiful view of her back.

...

In another corner of the Emerald District.

Lu Shangbai and his companion, Qiu Ding, stood rooted to the spot, staring at the massive fireball in the distance, their minds blank for a moment.

The use of the nuclear weapon had been approved with the consent of many ability users, but the sheer oppressive power of a nuclear explosion—the way it kicked up dust to the heavens and obliterated everything in its path—was enough to leave anyone frozen in their tracks the moment they saw it.

One, two, three... a full fifteen gusts of wind swept past. Although they no longer carried lethal force due to the distance, the lingering heat and the stench of scorched matter in the air were enough to induce choking.

"God knows how much of this smell is just incinerated human beings," Qiu Ding remarked cynically.

"I’d say none of it. Mutant animals are running wild everywhere, and the people in the Emerald District have definitely retreated underground. Everyone who lives here is related to an ability user—who doesn't have a safe house?"

Boom!

Only then did the sound of the explosion, like tens of thousands of cannons firing in unison, finally reach them.

Lu Shangbai looked at a high-end sedan left by the roadside; its rubber tires were emitting thin wisps of smoke in the heatwave. A car like that would cost at least a hundred thousand to replace. He felt a twinge of schadenfreude; ever since he had owed Ji Cheng a massive debt, he had become particularly sensitive to monetary figures.

However, deep down, Lu Shangbai was incredibly grateful to Ji Cheng.

When they first met, Ji Cheng had left a very good impression on him. Later, just after he became an ability user, Ji Cheng had helped him cover a mining mission without hesitation. Even later, he had gifted him a Tier 2 genetic progenitor, which was beyond measure in value.

It was truly a gift.

Whenever Lu Shangbai thought of this, he felt he owed him a great deal. On Baishan Star, the value of a Tier 2 progenitor could not be measured in currency; no matter how much Ji Cheng asked for, it was essentially a handout. In reality, no amount of money—whether it was hundreds of billions or trillions—could actually buy a Tier 2 progenitor.

"How much further is your place?" Qiu Ding asked again.

"Almost there, not much further. And keep your voice down. The blast might attract some mutant animals; we need to keep a low profile."

Thinking of his fierce wife waiting for him, Lu Shangbai felt a mix of joy and trepidation. His steps were light, yet he trembled slightly.

"Wait, did Brother Ji specifically ask me to come along just so I could stop by home and pick up my wife?" Lu Shangbai suddenly stopped.

He’s been too good to me!

...

Less than a minute later, while Ji Cheng was busy collecting another tube of water, the heavy blast door was cracked open by Shana.

Behind the door was a remarkably vast and tall space. This single safe house was larger than the mansion above. The walls were constructed of alloy, casting a cold, austere light. After clicking on the electric lights, Ji Cheng grabbed a tissue from a table to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

Similar to his own place, the center of the room featured holographic projectors, while the surrounding area was filled with various precision instruments he didn't recognize. Further in was a deep corridor that appeared to lead to the living quarters.

"Let's go, let's head into the inner room and sit for a while," Ji Cheng said to Shana, heading inside.

Shana floated up and hugged him from behind, weightless, yet her touch felt wonderful.

...

Tap, tap, tap, tap.

Footsteps echoed in the corridor.

Unless you lived on Baishan Star, it was difficult to understand the definition of "home" for the people of this planet. Even among ability users, the vast majority had spent their childhoods living in fear of attacks by mutant animals—underground safe houses were created long after the disasters began.

In Nanhang, at least, the ability users Ji Cheng knew treated these defensive structures as their primary residence, workplace, and entertainment hub. Apart from occasional visits to the Parliament Building for meetings or training, they spent far more time in their underground safe houses than in the houses on the surface.

That was why Ji Cheng wasn't surprised that the mansion above was decorated so crudely. For an ability user, only the underground portion was truly home.

But the room before him exceeded Ji Cheng's expectations.

Truth be told, this was a room hardly fit for an ability user. It was only about seventy or eighty square meters, finished with a hasty coat of ordinary thick-paste paint that hadn't even been sanded down; one could clearly see the marks left by the putty knife. It was clearly not the work of a professional builder, but most likely done by the owner himself.

The furnishings were equally sparse: a wooden single bed, a desk, and a simple sliding-door wardrobe.

"There's not a soul in here."

Ji Cheng was surprised. Since this was an ability user's residence, there should at least be a few servants to handle daily chores. Yet, they had reached the end of the underground safe house, and not a shadow of a person was to be seen.

If he hadn't become an ability user so recently, he probably would have hired a few servants for his own home.

What’s going on with this guy?

The echoes of the nuclear explosion above were still reverberating, monotonous and dull. Ji Cheng sat for a while, then paced back and forth a few times. Boredom finally drove him toward the desk.

"Since there's no one here anyway, I suppose this doesn't count as invading anyone's privacy, right?"