155: Chapter 155 The Sound of the Rope

The deepest part of the pit.

That line of red text was still glowing.

[Backup Vessel matched successfully.]

[Target: Liu Cuilan.]

[Current Location: Tianshu Dragon Garden.]

Li Yan was the first to explode.

"It dares?!"

This shout made the military professionals at the edge of the square tense up.

Xiao Zhenjiang did not scold him.

Because he, too, had felt the intent to kill.

It was just that he was steadier than Li Yan.

He looked at Jiang Feng.

Jiang Feng did not speak.

He simply pulled the second blue star earth key into his palm.

*Click.*

He pinched a fine crack into the edge of the stone fragment.

Zero Seven's eyelids twitched.

She really wanted to remind him that it was a Grade 13 Taboo Object, not a walnut.

But the words reached her lips and she swallowed them back down.

At a time like this, anyone who tried to persuade him would be asking for trouble.

Jiang Feng looked up.

"Dragon Girl."

His voice was not loud.

The next second, a crisp response came from the direction of Tianshu Dragon Garden.

"Present!"

Dragon Girl's voice was no longer weak.

After swallowing the extreme grade godhead, her aura was like a newborn Heavenly Dao, spanning across the sky above Dongjiang City.

Jiang Feng asked, "Where is my mom?"

Dragon Girl immediately replied, "Grandma is in the kitchen chopping green onions, saying she's stewing pork ribs for your dad tonight."

Li Yan's mouth twitched.

This family's nerves were truly steady.

Outside, people were starting to fight over her as a vessel.

And yet, Auntie was still thinking about stewing pork ribs.

Jiang Feng asked again, "Is there anything unusual?"

Dragon Girl paused for a moment.

"Yes."

Everyone in the square felt their hearts sink.

Dragon Girl lowered her voice: "The kitchen faucet turned on three times and turned itself off twice."

Li Yan was stunned. "That's it?"

Dragon Girl was very serious: "Grandma said the water meter must be broken."

Zero Seven's expression changed, however.

"It's not the water meter."

She looked at Jiang Feng.

"The backup array won't attempt Possession right away."

"It will first test the family anchor points in reality."

"Water, fire, doors, mirrors."

"These things are the easiest for it to use as a path."

Li Yan felt his head ache.

"Can you speak in plain English?"

Zero Seven gritted her teeth.

"It's testing the door."

Jiang Feng finally moved.

He didn't tear through space to go home.

Instead, he turned his head and looked at the red crack in the pit.

"The door is here."

Zero Seven was startled.

Jiang Feng raised his foot and stepped beside the red crack.

"It wants to connect from this old array at the school to my kitchen at home."

"Then I don't need to go back."

"I'll wait for it here."

As his voice fell.

The red light in the pit suddenly surged.

The entire Fourth High School began to vibrate.

The playground cracked.

The windows of the teaching building lit up row by row.

In those long-disused classrooms, rows of old records simultaneously surfaced on the blackboards.

[Senior Three Class 1, Awakening records retrieved.]

[Senior Three Class 2, Awakening records retrieved.]

[Senior Three Class 4, Jiang Feng's record retrieved.]

Shen Qingni stood by the edge of the pit, watching her own name light up in mid-air.

She pursed her lips.

This time, she did not hide.

The red light continued to spread.

From the end of the teaching building's corridor, a rhythmic ringing sounded.

*Ring, ring—*

*Ring, ring—*

That was the school bell from Awakening Day three years ago.

Many military professionals turned pale.

They were clearly standing on the playground, yet it sounded as if someone was calling roll in their ears.

"Shen Qingni."

"S-rank, Frost Empress."

"Jiang Feng."

"B-rank, Diligence Makes Up for Lack of Talent."

The voice was ice-cold.

It lacked even a hint of humanity.

Li Yan clenched his fists.

"Playing ghost."

Jiang Feng looked at the red crack.

"Continue."

The red light seemed to understand.

The next second, the scene from Tianshu Dragon Garden was projected above the playground.

In the kitchen.

Liu Cuilan was standing before the cutting board, chopping green onions.

She still had no idea what was happening outside.

Dragon Girl sat at the dining table, her small face very tense.

Jiang Jianguo stood at the kitchen door, still holding half a bag of pork ribs.

He saw the faucet turn on by itself and frowned.

"Old Liu, is this faucet really broken?"

Liu Cuilan said crossly, "Broken? It's probably just unstable water pressure."

As she spoke, she reached out to turn it off.

Zero Seven's expression changed.

"Don't touch it!"

On the square, everyone looked at Jiang Feng at the same time.

Jiang Feng didn't move.

He simply flicked his finger, tapping across the projection.

*Thump.*

In the Tianshu Dragon Garden kitchen, the faucet instantly shattered into powder.

Liu Cuilan was stunned.

Jiang Jianguo was also stunned.

Dragon Girl immediately stood up and said in a milky voice, "Grandma, I did it!"

Liu Cuilan glared at her. "Why are you dismantling the faucet for no reason?"

Dragon Girl hemmed and hawed for a long time.

"I... I'm practicing my bite."

Jiang Jianguo glanced at her.

"Longlong, practicing your bite on a faucet—you've got quite the future ahead of you."

Dragon Girl lowered her head.

"Oh."

On the square, Li Yan almost burst out laughing.

But he immediately held it in.

Because the red light changed again.

The old mirror on the kitchen wall took on a bloody hue.

In the mirror, Liu Cuilan's reflection did not move with her.

The reflection looked up.

The corners of its mouth slowly pulled back.

"Cuilan."

"It's time to come back."

The kitchen knife in Liu Cuilan's hand stopped.

She stared at the mirror for two seconds.

Then she turned back and shouted, "Jianguo."

Jiang Jianguo asked in a deep voice, "What's wrong?"

Liu Cuilan pointed at the mirror.

"Is it time to replace this mirror too?"

Jiang Jianguo: "..."

Dragon Girl: "..."

In the square, Zero Seven was completely dumbfounded.

Shouldn't a normal person scream upon seeing such a scene?

This auntie was actually calculating the home renovation budget.

Ridiculous.

Yet very logical.

The reflection in the mirror clearly lagged for a moment as well.

Then, its voice turned cold.

"You borrowed my life."

"You gave birth to the Variable."

"You must pay it back."

Liu Cuilan frowned.

"Who are you?"

The reflection said slowly, "I am you."

Liu Cuilan picked up the kitchen knife.

"Bullshit."

"I, Liu Cuilan, have lived for decades. When did I ever have such a miserable look like yours?"

Li Yan slapped his thigh.

"Auntie is awesome!"

Xiao Zhenjiang glanced at him.

Li Yan immediately shut up.

Jiang Feng looked at the projection, his expression remaining calm.

But the coldness in the depths of his eyes could no longer be suppressed.

As expected of his own mother.

A steady performance.

The reflection in the mirror completely lost its patience.

Red array patterns lit up on the kitchen floor.

The patterns crawled out from the gaps in the floor tiles, winding toward Liu Cuilan's ankles.

Dragon Girl was about to act.

Jiang Feng's voice rang out.

"Don't move."

Dragon Girl stopped.

She knew that Jiang Feng wanted to deal with it from the source.

In the pit.

Jiang Feng raised his hand and threw the recording chip of the Awakening Array's dark screen toward the red crack.

"Don't you like recording?"

"Then let's watch together."

The chip vanished into the red light.

The next second, above the entire Fourth High School, the scene of the night Liu Cuilan gave birth surfaced.

An old hospital.

A dilapidated delivery room.

A young Liu Cuilan lay on the hospital bed, her head covered in sweat.

Outside the window, a faceless shadow tried to crawl into her body.

At that time, she knew nothing.

She didn't know about higher dimensions.

She didn't know about Variables.

Nor did she know anything about The First Blue Star.

She just gripped the bedsheets tightly, repeatedly muttering one sentence.

"As long as the child is fine."

"As long as the child is fine."

That shadow entered her body for three seconds.

The next second, it was forcefully squeezed out.

The delivery room light bulb exploded.

An infant's cry rang out.

The image stopped.

From within the red light, a piercing fluctuation came.

Like something hidden for eighteen years had been publicly stripped of its skin.

Xiao Zhenjiang spoke slowly, "So that's how it was."

Li Yan gritted his teeth.

"It failed to snatch her back then, and now it wants to buy a late ticket?"

Jiang Feng looked at the red crack.

"Did you hear that?"

"She doesn't owe you."

"It's you who were incompetent."

The red light vibrated frantically.

[Backup plan forced execution.]

[Vessel locked.]

[Blood relation confirmed.]

[Seizure authority increased.]

In the kitchen.

The mirror exploded.

Countless red lines rushed toward Liu Cuilan.

Jiang Jianguo stepped in front.

"Courting death!"

The Immeasurable Divine Monkey Bloodline within him erupted.

But those red lines did not attack him.

They passed directly through Jiang Jianguo's body and continued to wind toward Liu Cuilan.

Zero Seven said urgently, "This is fate seizure, it can't be blocked!"

Jiang Feng nodded.

"Then we won't block it."

He reached out and grabbed the red crack in the pit.

"The source is here."

His fingers closed.

The entire Backup Awakening Array was forcefully pulled out of the ground by him.

*Boom!*

The ground of Fourth High School collapsed.

A blood-red disk was dragged out from underground.

The disk was covered with the names of past Awakened ones.

There were ordinary students.

Strong military figures.

Fallen heroes.

And also Jiang Feng.

Everyone's names were like they were nailed onto it.

Shen Qingni saw her own name and her face turned pale.

Jiang Feng only took one look.

"This thing should not remain."

Zero Seven hurriedly said, "Wait!"

"If you destroy it directly, the fates of those recorded inside might be damaged!"

Li Yan said angrily, "Then what should we do?"

Zero Seven looked at the two earth keys in Jiang Feng's hand.

"We can only seize authority first."

"The earth keys are the highest authority."

"But you only have two, it's incomplete."

Jiang Feng looked at the blood-red disk.

"It's enough."

He pressed the two earth keys into the center of the disk.

The disk resisted violently.

The red lines withdrew from the kitchen and all stabbed toward Jiang Feng.

Jiang Feng did not dodge.

The red lines stabbed into him.

One by one, they snapped.

A System prompt popped up.

[Backup Awakening Array core detected.]

[Plunderable.]

[Execute Profound Truth · Pangu Plunder?]

Jiang Feng said indifferently, "Execute."

The next second.

The names on the blood-red disk went out one by one.

They didn't disappear.

They were unbinding.

Shen Qingni felt a weight lift from her chest.

She raised her hand, and frost condensed once more.

This time, it was very clean.

No restraints.

No pre-arranged trajectory.

A crisp sound also rang out within Li Yan's body.

Like some invisible lock had broken.

Xiao Zhenjiang was silent for a long while before saying in a low voice, "The fates of all Awakened ones in Huaxia have been released."

The blood-red disk shattered frantically.

[Authority lost.]

[Backup plan failed.]

[Agent return failed.]

[Warning: variable body is reverse-seizing the Awakening Array.]

A System prompt followed.

[Ding! Successfully plundered the Backup Awakening Array core.]

[Gained All Attributes: 20 Extreme Grade.]

[Current basic six-dimensional attributes: 85 Extreme Grade.]

[Gained special authority: Blue Star Awakening Array Recasting Right.]

Jiang Feng's eyes flickered.

This authority was somewhat useful.

From now on, when Blue Star newcomers awaken, they would no longer have to pass through these filthy things.

He casually crushed the broken disk into a red crystal core and threw it to Xiao Zhenjiang.

"Take it."

Xiao Zhenjiang caught it. "This is?"

Jiang Feng said, "The old array core."

"Investigate it, then make it public."

"Then rebuild the Awakening System."

Xiao Zhenjiang gripped the crystal core and nodded solemnly.

"Huaxia will handle it."

Li Yan grinned.

"Now there's going to be a good show."

"Those who secretly profited using the old array in the past won't have a peaceful night tonight."

Jiang Feng did not respond.

He looked at the Tianshu Dragon Garden projection.

In the kitchen, the red lines had already disappeared.

Liu Cuilan looked at the shattered mirror and faucet and remained silent for a long time.

Then, she turned her head toward Dragon Girl.

"Longlong."

Dragon Girl gave a start.

"Grandma."

Liu Cuilan pointed at the mess all over the floor.

"This month's allowance is gone."

Dragon Girl was dazed.

"Huh?"

Jiang Jianguo coughed to the side, trying not to laugh.

In the square, the tense atmosphere finally relaxed a bit.

Jiang Feng also withdrew his gaze.

But just then.

The two earth keys in his palm simultaneously grew hot.

From the crushed backup array core, a small black iron plate suddenly fell out.

A line of words was engraved on the iron plate.

[The Third Earth Key Fragment was deployed eighteen years ago.]

[Custodian: Liu Cuilan.]

[Storage Location: Tianshu Dragon Garden, old wooden box in the bedroom.]

Jiang Feng's gaze paused.

Zero Seven was also stunned.

"Your mom... has been keeping the third earth key all this time?"

The next second.

In the Tianshu Dragon Garden projection.

Liu Cuilan seemed to remember something, wiped her hands, and walked into the bedroom.

She dragged an old wooden box from under the bed.

The lid opened.

Inside were baby swaddling clothes, a few old photos, and a cracked blue stone fragment.

Liu Cuilan picked up the stone fragment and muttered.

"Isn't this the broken stone the nurse said fell out of the swaddling clothes the night Xiaofeng was born?"

Just as she finished speaking.

The stone fragment lit up.

A strange woman's voice came from the old wooden box.

"Cuilan."

"Eighteen years are up."

"Give the child back to me."