Nightmare’s Call

“Teacher—” Just as Maham wanted to speak again, the person draped in a cloak stopped him.

“Mate, it is no longer your problem now. Just trust Teacher,” a deep female voice was heard saying under the cloak.

Maham stayed silent, gritting his teeth and looking back at Vanyi behind him, his eyes moist.

The Heaven’s Spire of Redwin was not a paradise as the outside world would like to think it to be. It was a place where the strongest Transcendents of Redwin gathered and immersed themselves in the pursuit of the most powerful uses of dark energy. This was why Heaven’s Spire had produced the most powerful monster of dark energy. The study of mysterious dark energy in Redwin had brought about a massive system of Transcendents, the lowest rank of which was called the Darksiders, which was the largest group in the system.

Vanyi glanced ahead into the jungle of spires in snow. The solemn, wide ancient ram seemed to extend endlessly beyond the field of vision. But he knew at the end of the stairs was where the entrance to Heaven’s Spire was. The place was one of the mysterious realms of the world. “Let’s press on. Your wound will only heal when you get there. I think you should know what it means to you when a Darksider loses his dark energy.”

Maham was agape and could say nothing in response. The heinous name, Darksider, did not come about without a reason. For the rest of the journey, nobody said a word as everyone silently followed Vanyi trudging up the ram. Despite Maham’s injury, no one had offered to help nor carry him. It was a test for those who wanted to enter Heaven’s Spire. No one was exempted from this tacit rule.

…

There was no shortcut except absorbing the mysterious energy from the surroundings for Khadula to recover his strength. On the other hand, after the Steel Lord devoured Khadula’s body, his mental connection with Lin Sheng had become even better, and the effective range was even wider than before.

The show of force in Veleon Islands and the defeat of Maham and Vanyi, who was also a six winger, Redwin was forced to reassess the Ironfist Society and how it posed a grave threat to them. Lin Sheng was flipping through the newspaper and stumbling upon the news about Redwin. The article was about the defeat of the Second Mechanized Division of Redwin, which after raiding two cities of Xilin, the division suddenly suffered a heavy casualty in a surprise attack by the peacekeeping forces of Miga. Since then, Miga was practically at war with Redwin without a formal declaration of war. It had deployed a massive number of mechanized infantry along its border with Redwin and occupied thousands of square kilometers of Redwin territory in just a day. At the same time, Xilin had seized this opportunity and begun to work with Miga, planning to launch a counterattack to drive the Redwin army out from his territory.

Brutal wars erupted, just like what was reported in the news. Lin Sheng shook his head as he knew the level of corruption that plagued Xilin. It might be possible for Xilin to win one or two skirmishes when its enemy was under siege in all directions, but entirely driving Redwin out of its territory was just a pipe dream.

He put down the international version paper and picked up the Shermanton Morning Post. Reading the paper had become his habit lately. This was the first time he read the local papers since he moved to Shermanton. He sat at the desk in his dorm, spreading the paper wide open. Soon, a headline quickly caught his eyes.

“Justice or evil? Hero or criminal?”

A high-resolution night photo showing a young police officer, whose face looked hideous, punching a short man in a business suit, was just below the headline. From the picture, blood-covered bodies of men in black suits were lying on the grassy ground. Some of them had even their limbs broken and deformed.

The main article went like this:

“There is no denying that the assault of thirteen members of a gangster group by Officer Zeon has caused an uproar in the city.

“According to reliable testimonies, Officer Zeon is upright and emotionally stable. But he would show incredible brutal and manic behaviors when he is emotionally disturbed.

“During numerous police operations in the past, Zeon had caused severe injury, sometimes death, to suspects. For this reason, he is believed to be suffering from severe sadistic obsessive-compulsive disorder.

“There had been no solid proof to back up this claim, however. But now, eyewitnesses had come forward with proof in photo…”

The rest of the article mainly contained a ton of negative analyses to smear the reputation of this particular police officer.

Lin Sheng browsed the article casually and then put down the newspaper. He recognized this officer. While he was drinking with a mysterious man the other night, the mysterious man kept gazing at Officer Zeon. From the words of the strange man, Lin Sheng could deduce that something was amiss. But he did not give much thought to it because he thought it did not concern him. Now, as Lin Sheng looked at the newspaper photo, he began to feel things more interesting.

With Redwin in a quagmire, it would be a long while before they would come after the Ironfist Society. Coupled with the smokescreen of the Steel Lord, Lin Sheng knew that he was going to be very safe in this city. He had been a bundle of nerves in every step he took. Now, with the pressure suddenly taken off him, he felt a sense of relief.

“It looks like Shermanton is also an interesting place.” He put down the paper and exhaled slowly. He had never felt so good—so relieved that he began to develop an interest in the trivial news.

All of a sudden, the dorm door was kicked open as his two dorm mates bulging in. One of them held a basketball in the arms, and both of them were sweating like a pig. Upon seeing Lin Sheng sitting at the desk, the smile on their faces froze. Since Lin Sheng last showed off his iron handprint, his three dorm mates had been avoiding him like the plague for fear of angering him again. The bogeyman was the iron handprint, which seemed to have been smoothened over by some powerful forces. Since then, they would become yellow-bellied whenever Lin Sheng was in the dorm.

The two quickly cleaned themselves up, changed into a new set of clothes and scrambled out of the door—all done under ten minutes.

Just when Lin Sheng got to his feet and was ready to go to the library to study ancient languages, he suddenly realized that he would soon run out of money and needed to find a way to replenish the fund.

Putting on his jacket, Lin Sheng left the dorm and headed to the library with his bag in his hand. While on his way, his mind was working hard, trying to figure out a way to come up with a moneymaking undertaking to support himself in Shermanton. Robberies were definitely out of the way in the long term. It must be something legal and having the ability to collect a vast amount of ingredients.

As Lin Sheng came before the ancient language department, he deftly went inside and sat at his usual spot. After putting down his bag, he went to retrieve the book that he had last left off from the shelf. This must be the least popular place in the entire library, he thought, because he was the only person here. The librarian, who was seen yawning incessantly behind the counter, must have a sleepless night yesterday.