Nightmare’s Call

After stacking the discs together, Lin Sheng carried them along with the Flaming Sword, ran out of the research lab toward the direction of the small temple, and arrived in just a few beats. It was not until he put the discs on the praying altar that he began to breathe a sigh of relief.

To a sacred power cultivator, the temple was the safest place in such a strange realm. Lin Sheng went to shut the metal gate on the outside, and then the main door before putting on the latch. He quickly checked all the windows to make sure they were all closed. After making sure that he had left no opening behind, he breathed a sigh of relief. Back to the metal discs, Lin Sheng began to memorize the content on the discs.

“As stated in the record, the core should be the conversion system and storage. It is not a rare material, which I cannot easily find in the real world. That means, if I memorize the list of materials and the design diagram, I can recreate this sacred power font in the real world.” After figuring this out, Lin Sheng began to concentrate on memorizing the disc content.

His memory ability had become better after ingesting a large number of souls. He could quickly memorize the content with five to six rounds of careful reading. After refreshing it a few times, the content of the discs became a snapshot in his mind. During his time in the temple, he did nothing else but memorizing and engraving the information of the discs into his mind until it was time to leave the dream, just like how he did previously.

As soon as he woke up, Lin Sheng got a stack of papers and a pen immediately and jotted down the entire things he had memorized, including the diagram. An average person could write down at least five out of ten items from his immediate memory, let alone when Lin Sheng had such a super capacious memory. In just a few minutes, Lin Sheng had filled the papers with all the information about the sacred power font. He flicked the paper in his hand and reexamined it. Only after he was satisfied that everything was in order, he folded them together.

Just when he picked up his cellphone from the bedside table and was about to call his student, Adolf, he faintly sensed a message was coming into his mind from afar. He paused and began to identify the message, his brows knitting together.

“Brother, we have caught someone over here. Our movement must have been exposed. Trouble is looming, and I am afraid I cannot protect everyone here.”

Khadula was the one sending the message. As the ship approached Xylond, her soul connection with Lin Sheng became better, and she could use telepathic communication as usual.

“They are even monitoring my relatives. It looks like they really miss me.” Lin Sheng let out a sly smile. He thought for a while and quickly meditated, sending a command to the Steel Lord, who was far away in another continent, to meet Khadula. He was not sure of the exact location, but he could roughly perceive with his soul the correct direction. That done, Lin Sheng thought for a moment before he got out of bed and put on his slippers. A plume of black smoke appeared behind him and covered him like a piece of garment.

“The Steel Lord needs to change ships twice. He is not going to make it even if he takes the flight. I have to get ready.” He hesitated for a while before quickly putting on his jacket and rushing out of his rented house toward the harbor.

…

Inside the passenger compartment, Khadula and Chen Minjia stared suspiciously at the middle-aged man, who appeared calm.

“Tell us! Who do you send the signal to?” Chen Minjia asked. “The Gladin Family, the Leaping Tiger Group, or…”

“Save your breath. I am just a small fry who knows little more than nothing,” the man answered coldly.

“This guy has a backbone.” Khadula smiled. “But it is already too late to interrogate him.”

“Why?” Chen Minjia could faintly hear the crew shouting outside, but it was too far to hear what they were talking about.

“There is a ship approaching,” Khadula replied, waving her hand. The body of the middle-aged man suddenly wizened, and all his blood flew to his arms. In just a few seconds, the arms dropped and disappeared into the floor before the eyes of Chen Minjia. What remained of the man was only his clothes and a pair of shoes.

Chen Minjia felt a chill running up her spine and could not help taking a step back. Seeing this gruesome thing happening before her eyes, her good impression of Khadula crumbled and was replaced by a completely new image of mystery, fear, and unfamiliarity.

“Let’s get out of here and see what happens outside.” Khadula smiled and strode out of the cabin.

By now, many passengers had come out into the corridor to see what happened. Some of the passengers even inquired of the crew what was going on. In their effort to allay the fear of the passengers, the crew repeated the same standard but useless words of assurance.

Khadula and Chen Minjia emerged from the cabin, closed the door behind them, and darted out onto the white square-patterned deck at the stern, where many crews had come out, along with the passenger, looked into the distance.

“It is a warship!” Someone was heard shouting.

“It flies a Redwin flag. Why is there a Redwin warship in this place?”

“I can see cannons! An entire row of them!”

The passengers were more surprised than frightened. It was rare for average people—especially those who lived inland—to see warship patrolling the sea.

“How could it be Redwin warship?” Chen Minjia looked at Khadula, surprised, and worried.

“It is fine. Let me handle it,” Khadula replied with a smile. She stared at the small warship in the far distance, her eyes turning dark as the pale arms in her body transformed into thin plumes of smoke and flew toward the enemy. The smoke landed and permeated into the bridge of the battleship.

A few minutes later, Khadula pulled back her sight. “Done. Everything is going to be all right. The warship might have lost its way. It is now on its way back home.”

“Is it?” Chen Minjia instinctively got what Khadula meant. But she did not ask further. She had once encountered the strange realm. She thought she had better stay away from it.

“Yup. No worries. We will very soon return safely to meet my brother….” Before Khadula finished, her face suddenly turned pale with blood spurting out from her mouth.

Chen Minjia was startled. Just when she was about to hold Khadula up, a roaring voice was heard coming from the faraway warship at the rear.

“The rat of the Ironfist Society, get your butts out over here!”

“Damn it!” Khadula’s face was ashen. She had just killed no less than thirty people on board the warship. But little did she know that mysterious energy suddenly burst out of the thirty people that she had just killed and impaired the arms inside her. This alien energy quickly seeped into her body like a poison and traveled in her veins throughout her body. No matter how strong she was on the outside, it was tough to get rid of the harmful substance that lurked within her.