Chapter 00230: Show Off Before Lao Deng
# Show Off Before Lao Deng
Chapter 230
Novel: Above Destiny
Chapter 230: Show Off Before Lao Deng
Before the tremor, the entire workshop was peaceful and orderly, like a clock wound tight, with all departments cooperating smoothly.
However, the moment the alarm rang, the closely working parts lost synchronization, spiraling out of control, each functioning independently, and even crashing.
The crowd scattered in all directions.
Collisions and trampling erupted continuously as the crowd surged toward the exit, the entrances crowded beyond capacity.
It wasn’t just the apprentices; even the craftsmen were filled with anxiety.
The Safety Bureau is here?
Damn, that was fast!
What will they do? Where is the Master Artisan?
Where did the Master Artisan go?
In a moment, many apprentices rushed toward the exit, while several craftsmen instinctively pushed toward the upper levels.
After the brief jolt, chaos spread like wildfire in the workshop, especially amidst the sporadic sounds of explosions.
The elevator plummeted, accompanied by screams.
Fuel exploded, circuits went haywire, the power went out, and in the darkness lit only by emergency lights, stunned and shocked faces reflected unease.
“Quiet down! Everyone, be quiet!”
A furious craftsman dressed in a black robe pushed open the door, staring at the chaos in the corridor, and shouted angrily, “It’s just a minor tremor! Everyone, get back to your positions!”
“Get out of my way!”
With a shove, the panicking apprentice was pushed aside as Lian Yun, the Fourth Disciple of Master Jian Yuan, roared, “Stand still! No disorder! Do you want the Master Artisan to come personally for accountability?”
In an instant, a deathly silence fell upon the hall; everyone froze for a moment.
Under Lian Yun's cold gaze, the manager was the first to step forward, forcing his subordinates back to their positions through intimidation.
Soon, the crowd began to thin out, and the remaining apprentices dispersed one by one.
Primarily, after the initial upheaval, there was no further reaction.
It was just an earthquake.
“Mob of fools!”
Lian Yun sneered, not understanding why the Master Artisan had gathered such a bunch of inexperienced fools.
Even if the Safety Bureau truly attacked, the workshop was absolutely secure; even a celestial being could not breach the outer defenses.
At a crucial moment, they could even phase out and escape, posing no threats whatsoever.
Only these worthless people, who couldn’t even perform their tasks well, would panic with the slightest disturbance and create chaos.
If they were to disturb the Master Artisan, every single one of them would face the punishment of petrifaction.
After the chaos, they would have to crawl out with their petrified limbs!
The disorder on his way fueled Lian Yun's fury.
When he saw an apprentice squatting behind a panel at a corridor corner, seemingly doing something inexplicable, his anger soared. “You useless fool! What are you doing?”
“Ah? Me?”
The panicked apprentice dazedly looked up, still holding tools in his hands, speaking incoherently, “I—I’m not, just now, the alarm… the workshop’s verification system malfunctioned, I—I am troubleshooting...”
Lian Yun’s expression stiffened.
“Get out of my way!”
Irritated, he pushed the apprentice aside, opened the panel, activated the circuit, and scrutinized it, but the more he looked, the angrier he became.
“What’s broken?” He turned around to scold, “Isn’t this just fine?”
“Ah?”
The ugly, scarred apprentice was taken aback, leaned over for a look, and then reached out to touch it.
Clap!
A crisp sound echoed as the authentication and verification module in the workshop’s lower circuit instantly collapsed, vanishing like dust in the wind.
It was as if it had never existed.
And just as the alarm had just stopped, it was once again triggered, ringing loudly.
“Now it’s broken.”
He said, “You…”
Lian Yun stood there, rigid, abruptly turning back to see a smile forming on the scarred face, and then, a chill traversed his spine.
Pfft…
Blood spewed forth, surging out as his spiritual essence unraveled, blessings went haywire, and the matrix shook.
Under the blade that looked like it was forged from starlight, situated between existence and non-existence, his own defenses felt nonexistent, not responding at all.
Once the starlight’s edge infiltrated his body, it instantly expanded, surging throughout him, the tangible blade transforming into intangible scattering particles, pervading everywhere, obstructing the circulation and flow of his spiritual essence, tarnishing the blessings.
The operation of the matrix grew increasingly difficult, losing responsiveness.
He opened his mouth, spewing out large mouthfuls of blood, convulsing, instinctively wanting to struggle.
He saw that the apprentice extended his hand again, producing a bone knife out of thin air.
It pierced into his forehead.
Then, he could no longer move…
“Hah…”
Ji Jue wiped the sweat from his forehead, glancing at the hallway where no one dared to enter, relieving a sigh.
[Starlight Blade], a consumable blessed creation contributed by Young Master Lou.
Shaped like a dagger, the edge on the grip shimmered transparently, like flowing light.
In reality, it was a crystallized creation formed after the metamorphosis of spiritual essence.
Internally, it contained the blessing from the Tianyuan lineage, [Harmony with Dust], originally meant to reduce conflicts between other blessings in the body, serving as a buffer to lessen the clash between oneself and the rules.
However, after being carefully concocted by Master Kong, it had transformed into a vicious tool for sneak attacks.
The Lou Family’s spiritual essence shaping granted the dagger an edge that approached the utmost invisibility, allowing it to circumvent various defensive mechanisms.
Once it pierced into the body, the spiritual essence would disintegrate on its own, along with the blessing of [Harmony with Dust], permeating the soul and the flesh.
At such a moment, the victim's consciousness, under the interference of [Harmony with Dust], would rapidly blur the distinctions between self, super-ego, and id resulting in chaotic thoughts.
Furthermore, the soul, body, matrix, and blessings would lose their independence under multiple overload effects, being forcibly harmonized and overlapped.
It was like deleting all the delimiters from a database, removing all sections, erasing comments and identifications, causing everything to merge into chaos, losing responsiveness and crashing entirely.
Thus, the victim would ultimately degrade to a commoner, left at the mercy of others.
Of course, if it were the White Deer, a massive herd, or the Wasteland, it might just cause momentary sluggishness, but if the victim happened to be an Ember…that would be interesting indeed.
Certainly, it was fellow practitioners wishing misfortune upon one another.
The toxicity was truly harmful.
But it was also extremely useful!
Breaking defenses, dealing real damage, along with sealing magic and control; once you use it, you simply cannot stop relishing the experience.
After laboring through life and death so painstakingly, wouldn’t it be nice to obtain a handful more from Young Master Lou?!
At this moment, looking at the craftsmen on the ground, continuously convulsing and unable to move, Ji Jue calmly extended his hand to take the other’s protective talisman, tucking it away.
The emblem of non-aggression appeared on his hands, and under the gaze of those despairing eyes, he skillfully extracted the workshop identification permissions attached to the other’s matrix, transplanting it into his own soul.
“Thank you for nature’s gift.”
Ji Jue joined his hands in gratitude, then smiled as he reached out toward the visage writhing in agony.
An estimated three minutes remained; extracting materials would be sufficient.
…
In reality, it wasn’t enough.
He had originally anticipated that the workshop would fall into chaos, and it would take at least ten minutes for it to stabilize.
However, it hadn’t even been five minutes, and the chaos had returned to stillness under severe suppression, with not a single soul daring to venture out of line.
Fast, too fast!
After all, this was right under Jian Yuan’s watchful eyes; there was no space for mischief whatsoever.
Facing the unexpected attack, the emergency response measures within the workshop remained mature and stable, minimizing the issues, and then began to check for potential hazards.
When they saw the bloodied and mangled corpse in the hallway, all collectively gasped in shock.
“Each department, check for hazards and confirm the member list. Anyone not at their position or showing abnormalities, take them down!” The temporary manager of the workshop, with a grim expression, issued orders, “Do you understand?!”
“Yes!”
Subordinates hurriedly nodded.
Among the crowd, Sun Ci, who had just been promoted to supervise the rubbish heap, was especially alarmed, and especially recalling the mysterious movements of his assistant over the past few days made him increasingly uneasy.
He could only barely maintain calm on his face.
Handling his colleagues’ idle chatter, he hurriedly returned underground, cautiously tapping on the door of his office, where an impatient voice came from within.
“What is it?”
“No, nothing, nothing.” Sun Ci instinctively sighed in relief, forcing a smile, “Just a bit of trouble in the workshop, an urgent investigation.”
The door opened to reveal a familiar, ugly face.
It was full of impatience.
“What? Do you need my help?”
“No, no!” Sun Ci vehemently shook his head, his heart fully sinking, “I just worry about your…”
“Worrying about whether I am the one stirring trouble?” The scar-faced apprentice smirked, “You can relax, I don’t have the guts to play tricks under the Master Artisan’s nose.”
“No, no, how could that be?!”
Sun Ci smiled, feeling completely at ease as the door slammed shut with a loud bang, nearly hitting his nose, but he didn’t mind at all.
All burdens lifted, he felt light.
Nothing’s wrong, as long as nothing is wrong.
Behind the door, the mercury puppet, which had aether correction pages attached, began to lose the color of its skin, becoming unresponsive.
No more sounds.
Meanwhile, on the third floor, the warehouse was still bustling with inspections and inventories.
As the external reserve gradually became clearer, the bald woman’s expression lightened, and her gaze toward the spacious chair beside her became more relaxed.
“It seems the materials and reserves here are fine.” She looked at the compiled report in her hands, letting out a sigh of relief, “They’re all here. Should we show it to Master Lian Yun?”
“Just some garbage materials; what’s there to look at?”
The craftsman ‘Lian Yun,’ waiting for the results with his feet up, waved his hand expressionlessly, “If I were a thief, I wouldn’t have come for this pile of junk. Are you sure there’s no issue with the precious materials inside?”
“Uh… um…”
The bald woman’s expression stiffened, her tension palpable, “The external lockdown is intact, but inside, my permissions are insufficient; there’s only one key.”
“That’s why I’m here.”
Lian Yun glanced at her, raising his hand, and the spiritual essence sequence granted by the workshop appeared, “The other key is with me. You remember the emergency management regulations, right?”
“Yes, yes.”
The bald woman nodded hurriedly, leading the way.
Under emergency conditions, to unlock the precious material storage, besides the Master Jian Yuan, warehouse management and effective permissions required dual verification; two keys were essential.
Moreover, upon entering, at least two people must be present, and no withdrawals or movements of any kind were permitted.
Having managed the warehouse for such a long time, she remembered it like the back of her hand.
However, the deeper she went, the more unrest she felt in her heart for an unknown reason.
It was as if she felt there was some oversight, but she couldn't pin it down; she kept recalling those movie plots where, when the managers opened the warehouse door, the contents turned out to be entirely empty…
Until they reached the innermost door, which slowly opened.
Upon seeing the familiar scene within, unchanged, she immediately breathed a sigh of relief, already drenched in sweat.
Thank goodness, thank goodness, it was just a false alarm.
“The Level 2 precious materials and newly arrived urgent items are all here.” She skillfully picked up the list and handed it to the craftsman beside her, but in the moment she turned back, her movements froze in place.
A chill ran down her spine.
“Hmm?”
Lian Yun looked over, puzzled.
But the bald woman’s expression twitched uncontrollably. “Master… Master Lian Yun, your… your… face… face…”
A smile.
As a smile appeared on that face, a thin line of blood abruptly manifested from the forehead, slowly extending downward.
Bang!
Half of the thin skin on the face lost adhesion, falling into the dirt below.
Rendering the despair and horror prior to death.
“Oh, it’s nothing new; it just didn’t stick properly.”
‘Lian Yun’ bent down to pick up the half face.
With a clap, he reattached it to the disfigured face, but it was attached incorrectly.
Stuck to the other half of the face still attached, half dangled down, contrasting with the other half of the face that exposed muscle, looking even more gruesome.
From the pale light, blood seeped slowly from the fissured edge, dripping down.
Drawing a mocking arc.
Gulp.
The bald woman had difficulty swallowing.
That hideous face was now mere inches away.
Smiling, it asked:
“What did you just say… about my face?”
(End of Chapter)