Light Barrier

“One minute.” Wei Shu’s voice was the last tranquility in the noisy world.

He was sitting alone in the control room, connected to Deep Sea. After permissions were activated, he seemed to have become a part of the omnipotent computer, and his consciousness and thoughts spread out.

He had a panoramic view of the entire Oto City.

Wei Shu saw the scene transmitted in real time and A-009’s frenzied attack. All the scenes were converted into data in real time, and a large amount of data was synchronously uploaded like a tide… Unfortunately, this data was meaningless. A-009’s strength, speed, and tenacity far exceeded Nanjin’s. The balance maintained by relying on her sabers and overdrafting her strength would soon be broken.

Wei Shu was well aware of this.

One minute in reality was very short… But at this moment, every second might be Nan Jin’s limit.

Every attack of A-009 forced her closer to the brink of exhaustion, and she could collapse at any time before reinforcements arrived.

Why did A-009 become so crazy? And now… how do we break out of this situation?

At this moment of silence, Wei Shu connected his thoughts to Deep Sea and began to think about these questions.

He entered the deepest state of contemplation. Through his connection to Deep Sea, countless pieces of information flooded into his mind.

Wei Shu felt like a blade of grass swept by a towering wave.

He pondered.

He descended.

He tried to see the ‘truth’ and find the answer.

In the boundless sea, a flash of insight suddenly crossed Wei Shu’s mind, and he saw the blurry figure of a young man.

It was the guidance given by Deep Sea.

…

Sixty…

Fifty-nine…

Nan Jin closed her eyes and counted silently in her mind. Each second felt like a year.

She could still hold on, but two streams of blood tears covered her cheeks. The two sabers were on the verge of shattering under the rapid attacks, and the mystic engravings were almost worn away.

She was like a boat caught in surging waves, almost submerging in the raging sea.

But her fading consciousness firmly grasped onto the last straw.

It was Wei Shu’s promised ‘one minute’.

Forty…

Thirty-nine…

In the depths of despair, an urgent voice sounded.

“There’s no time to explain. Nan Jin, you—” Wei Shu told her the guidance from his mind in one breath.

After hearing it, Nan Jin quickly glanced at the young man behind her.

Gu Shen’s mind was buzzing. He still didn’t know what was going on.

On the other end of the electric currents, Wei Shu’s voice was resolute. “… Do this, and you’ll be fine!”

Clang!

With a final crisp sound, the sabers shattered.

Without any time to think, Nan Jin took a big step back without hesitation and came to the young man’s side.

In front of her, the tall lady in the formal dress was as imposing as a mountain as she broke through the defense line of the saber domain. With a ferocious expression, she raised her knife and slashed down.

In a flash, Nan Jin grabbed the back of Gu Shen’s collar and raised him.

“What the fuck!” Gu Shen’s mind went blank. This woman was ridiculously strong, and he couldn’t resist even if he wanted to. He was like a sandbag lifted up in an instant and suspended in front of her.

Is she using me as a shield because she can’t hold on anymore?!

A gust of wind blew.

Gu Shen closed his eyes.

…

All sound vanished.

All was calm.

Nothing happened.

The tall woman held the sharp knife in front of Gu Shen, stopping her slash in midair. Under the shadow of her wide bonnet, the two faint red glows slowly dissipated.

Nan Jin was stunned… The method Wei Shu suggested actually worked!

For some reason, using this young man as a shield, A-009 stopped its fierce assault.

The tall woman, who had stopped all movements, suddenly quieted down.

She neither attacked nor escaped. She just stood there silently, maintaining the confrontation. Gu Shen felt the focus of her eyes… The tall lady put away the boning knife.

Three… Two… One…

The countdown in Nan Jin’s mind ended. The one minute that Wei Shu had promised was up.

Nan Jin looked up.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The silence of the night sky in the suburbs was shattered by the distant roar of rotating helicopter blades. Beams of bright light shone through the dark clouds and converged on the three figures on the patch of grass.

The cabin door on one side of the helicopter opened.

Nan Jin looked up and saw a familiar face in the light.

The reinforcements arrived.

The woman’s expression was complicated. She let out a long breath, and her tense nerves relaxed.

…

“It’s over.”

The moment the helicopter arrived…

Wei Shu knew that he had finally overcome the most difficult part of the mission to detain A-009.

Wei Shu ended the connection in the control room, his face as pale as paper.

Every connection to Deep Sea involved massive amounts of data downloading. It wasn’t easy to digest such vast information. Veins bulged on Wei Shu’s temples, and he felt waves of stabbing pain. Sweat had long soaked through the back of his shirt.

He was exhausted.

He felt as if his entire being had been hollowed out.

At this moment, Wei Shu could only sit in his chair, so weak that it took him great effort to even move a finger.

The woman on the other end of the earpiece was silent.

“…”

Wei Shu knew what this silence meant. He smiled softly. “Time was of the essence just now, so I didn’t have time to explain. The final ‘directive’ was actually guidance from Deep Sea.”

“… Yes, I can tell.” Nan Jin did not say anything else and ended the call tiredly.

She knew that Wei Shu had made the correct choice.

Boom! Boom!

Grass and debris flew.

The helicopter landed, and a gentle wave of power spread out.

The powerful pressure that A-009 gave off was slowly suppressed by an even stronger force. The woman in the black dress wanted to move, but dozens of thick vines instantly burst out from under her feet, spreading out and wrapping around her. In seconds, she had turned into a solid wooden figure.

The vines wrapping around the tall woman continued to grow and tighten around her, becoming increasingly secure.

However, upon closer observation, one would find that when these vines wrapped around her, there was a slight sizzling sound. It was the corrosive power of A-009 taking effect. While the restraint of these vines was very powerful, there was a time limit.

Under the light of the helicopter, an old man in a Chinese tunic suit slowly walked out.

“Teacher…” Nan Jin had a complicated expression and wanted to say something.

The old man smiled and waved his hand, indicating that Nan Jin didn’t need to be tense and could relax. “As expected of my disciple, do you now have the courage to challenge A-009?”

Holding a purple wooden dragon-headed cane, he slowly walked to the side of the wooden figure that used to be the woman in the formal dress. He looked at the restrained A-009 and observed the traces of Nan Jin’s battle with her.

“But…” The old man patted the lady’s broad shoulder and laughed loudly. “It’s a good thing to have courage, but it’s not good to lose your life because of impulse… You must cherish your life! Life is very precious. It’s not worth losing it here!”

“…”

Nan Jin felt somewhat regretful and said softly, “If I could do it again, I would definitely do better.”

“You’ve already done very well.”

The old man looked at the wooden figure and frowned. “A-009 is much stronger than when I detained her. It’s already a miracle that you could last until I arrived… But I don’t understand. It’s only been three days. What kind of stimulation did she encounter?”

Sure enough, some change occurred… Nan Jin hesitated for a moment before saying, “The emergency report said that A-009 escaped because of a malfunction in Deep Sea.”

“Impossible.” Mr. Tree shook his head firmly. “It’s impossible for there to be a malfunction in Deep Sea.”

At this point, the old man suddenly stopped and looked at the young man in Nan Jin’s hand.

Nan Jin lowered her head. The fellow in her hand was on all fours, looking like a shrimp. He had evidently fainted.

“…”

Fortunately, he had… saved her life at the critical moment.

It was hard to imagine why A-009 didn’t kill him.

“After A-009 escaped, she rode alone on Line 13… This guy stayed in the same carriage as her for twenty minutes.” Nan Jin recalled a certain scene, and her expression changed slightly. “So far, no injuries have been found on him.”

“Oh?” The old man raised an eyebrow, a smile playing on his lips.

“… Perhaps he was just lucky,” Nan Jin explained for Gu Shen while rubbing her forehead.

Mr. Tree stared at Gu Shen for a moment.

He raised his finger, gesturing for Nan Jin to keep silent. Then he smiled and said, “For an ordinary person to survive under A-009’s grasp, that’s… quite lucky. Let’s bring him back and cut him up for research.”

The eyelids of a certain someone who had just fainted trembled, and he immediately jumped up. As expected, he was promptly pressed back down.

Nan Jin had a strange expression. Was this kid pretending to be unconscious?

“Aha… Do you want to escape?” Mr. Tree smiled. “Don’t be afraid. We’re not good people.”

He snapped his fingers.

With two thuds, two vines emerged from the mud, turned into a pair of handcuffs, and securely locked Gu Shen’s wrists.

Several staff members put the tall wooden figure of the lady into a large sealed container and grabbed Gu Shen along the way.

The helicopter roared again.

“… Let’s go.”