Chapter 84: Task
This book is first released on 𝕥𝕨𝕜𝕒𝕟.𝕔𝕠𝕞
Faced with Zhang Wenda’s attitude of dumping everything on him, 2826 trembled with anger, but in the end, he still pulled a flashlight from his pocket and snapped,「Step back!」
He then twisted the flashlight on. Its beam, directed by his fingers, continuously shifted between red, blue, and yellow cores, displaying a variety of colors.
As he kept toggling the switch, lights of various hues flashed in the air with a certain rhythm.
「Why does it feel like this guy is—casting a spell?」
Zhang Wenda couldn’t quite understand what was happening. A Drone-head waving a flashlight like it was casting magic?? Why was it so bizarre?
He had no idea what the other party was doing, but judging by the looks of it, the man seemed to be using the flashlight as a medium, channeling the three cores as energy to perform some sort of ritual.
Zhang Wenda glanced at his own wrist. He realized he had completely failed to tap into this device’s potential. It definitely wasn't just about enhancing the body or switching Thought Streams.
Thinking back to the wall-piercing beam and the climbing light beam, it was clear that the people inside the Third Front Unit had probably long since mastered these three types of energy.
「Grandpa, oh Grandpa, you even brought back the flashlight, why didn’t you bring a user manual too?」Zhang Wenda muttered in his heart.
Still, he had made up his mind. Since 2826 could do it, he was sure he could figure it out from somewhere else too.
Under 2826’s flickering beam, the light from the flashlight didn’t vanish but instead accumulated on the wall. Eventually, a flowing rainbow-colored gate appeared on the wall.
Seeing Zhang Wenda’s burning gaze, 2826 swiftly tucked the flashlight into his sleeve.
「Let’s go. Inside is the Dark Web. Remember, if anything happens along the way—no matter how small—stop everything immediately. As long as you stay still, they can’t see you.」
As 2826 stepped into the rainbow gate, Zhang Wenda pulled out his flashlight and waved to Song Jianguo nearby.「Let’s go, follow me.」
「Running into danger again, trying to get killed. I'm exhausted.」Song Jianguo grumbled.
「Once we’re back, I’ll give you one and a half days off each week.」
Hearing that, all of Song Jianguo’s discontent vanished instantly. With Cat Blanket in tow, she cheerfully followed along.
With utmost caution, Zhang Wenda followed 2826 through the gate. A grotesque scene unfolded before him.
There was no real “ground” in the Dark Web. Countless floating islands of varying shapes hovered in mid-air, interconnected by a massive twisted net woven from mosaic snowflakes and glitchy noise.
Nearby, bizarre objects floated—such as half a rotting whale.
At that moment, they stood on one of these floating dead islands made of black rock. The landscape stretched endlessly before them, filled with floating islands of all shapes.
「The gravity feels off.」Zhang Wenda lightly bounced and found himself significantly lighter. He estimated gravity to be only a third of the outside world’s.
「I told you, anything is possible here. The rule of the Dark Web is that there are no rules.」
Before 2826 could finish speaking, a burst of heat rose beneath their feet. With a loud explosion and rumble, they were blown skyward.
「There’s a trap in the rock! We’re ambushed!」
Mid-air, Zhang Wenda glanced at his legs, now a mangled mess of flesh and blood, and quickly shoved a Lollipop into his mouth.
Then he pushed off the floating corpse of a giant whale and launched himself toward several figures rushing at 2826 and Song Jianguo.
Noticing someone above, those figures looked up simultaneously. The sight startled Zhang Wenda. These beings looked more like Scythe Imposters than humans.
They had eyes where their noses should be, ears three times too large, and eyes growing from shoulders.
Whatever they were, Zhang Wenda’s light sword was already slicing through the air.
As the sword passed through their bodies like it was cutting tofu, the imposters’ forms dissipated like smoke.
「Watch out! It’s bait!」2826 shouted as he raised his flashlight and fired a spiral beam of light toward them. A vague silhouette creeping toward Zhang Wenda began to materialize.
It was a half-human, half-beast monster with twisted joints. Its head resembled a goat’s, but perhaps due to dwelling too long in the dark, thick cobwebs clung between its horns.
Zhang Wenda swung his right hand hard. A red beam slashed past. Even though the monster tried to dodge, half its skull was still cleaved off, and a dense mass of spiders burst out from its goat head and lunged at him.
Just as he was about to retreat, a blue light shot over, enveloping the spiders and the goat monster. As 2826 moved his flashlight in the distance, the goat creature was levitated mid-air away from Zhang Wenda.
As the light retracted, the goat-headed monster and its spiders plummeted into the endless void below.
Zhang Wenda cautiously surveyed the surroundings but was surprised to find no further attacks. It was as if the goat creature had attacked alone.
「It’s fine now. They recognized I’m from the Third Front Unit—they won’t make trouble on purpose.」
2826 walked over and said,「Even in a dangerous place like this, being Third Front means a special shield. Most people wouldn’t dare mess with you.」
「So, what now?」Zhang Wenda asked.
「Down. Something like the Oil Tyrant could only exist in the lower levels.」
Under 2826’s guidance, they cautiously climbed down, stepping across floating islands using the cobwebs as bridges.
Perhaps 2826 was right—no more attacks came for a while.
Feeling things were settling, Zhang Wenda looked curiously at the flashlight in 2826’s hand.「You’re amazing. Having powerful backing really makes a difference. Say, was that technique just now, the one that moved people, a Blue Core ability?」
This time, 2826 surprisingly didn’t say it was classified. He looked down at Zhang Wenda and asked,「What do you think? Do you want to have it?」
「Huh? You want to teach me for free?」Zhang Wenda asked, surprised.
「Of course. All you have to do is join Bureau 507. Not only that technique—everything I’ve shown, you can learn. And as long as you’re Third Front, in situations like earlier, ordinary folks wouldn’t dare touch you.」
Hearing the sudden sales pitch, Zhang Wenda finally came to his senses and eyed 2826 suspiciously up and down.
「So this is why you helped me. Not out of goodwill—you had a mission, didn’t you?」
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