103: Chapter 103 Breaking into the Noble District
Before long, the silhouette of the space elevator tower emerged from among the buildings.
Four support pillars rose straight from the ground to the top of the Sky Dome, with deep blue energy pulses flowing inside the columns, and the fully transparent glass pillars gleaming coldly in the night.
When he flew closer, an elevator happened to be descending from the surface, and the transparent elevator car slid into the bottom station between the four pillars.
Without waiting for the next one, he cut his Mental Power directly into the Electromagnetic Force field of the support pillars, using the energy flow of the pillars themselves to propel him as he spiraled up along the perimeter of the elevator shaft.
The moment his Mental Power connected, the energy pulses of the support pillars synchronized and resonated with his own psychokinetic field, making his spiraling speed faster than his previous gliding.
He flew up along the transparent glass pillars, and Radiance City beneath his feet gradually shrank into a dense network of light points in the night, while the curved outline of the Sky Dome drew closer and closer.
When he reached the top of the Sky Dome, the exit of the elevator shaft was right before his eyes—an open-air platform resembling a pavilion, exposed to the wind on all sides, without even a railing installed.
Several rows of sensor probes and identity scanners were embedded along the edge of the platform, their red standby lights flickering on and off in the night.
Before he flew past the exit, his Mental Power had already invaded the scanner's control module; data streams spread out in his consciousness, a few lines of code were rewritten, the identification records were wiped clean, and no alarm was triggered.
The red standby lights continued to blink methodically, and the platform remained as quiet as ever.
He passed through the exit and officially set foot on the surface.
The real sky unfolded overhead; there were no dome projections, no holy light cross, only the real sky and the sun, and he could even see white clouds moving slowly.
The manors and residences that the nobles had built on top of the Sky Dome, with their neatly trimmed hedges, winding stone driveways, and scattered gardens and ponds, appeared exceptionally quiet.
The air here was colder than in Radiance City, carrying a fresh, sweet scent of plants, completely different from Radiance City.
He had already found the location of the Crick Family manor while he was down below.
Without hesitation, he redeployed his glider, lowered his altitude, and flew toward the manor, hugging the shadows of the hedges and walls.
Following the coordinates and address he had found in Radiance City, he flew along the driveway for quite a while before finally stopping outside a sprawling manor.
The Crick Family manor was larger than any other building he had seen along the way; the black iron gate was tightly shut, the walls were extremely high, and the dark golden family crest was embedded on the top of the wall.
There were multiple independent buildings distributed within the manor—a three-story main residence, a row of buildings on both the east and west sides, and a separate glass greenhouse and stables in the backyard.
He did not enter the manor; his Stealth and Camouflage were constantly running, completely obscuring him from both optical and scanning levels.
He stopped in the crown of an old oak tree outside the manor wall, leaning against a thick branch, his field of vision covering the entire front yard of the manor and the front of the main residence.
The moment his Mental Power connected to the surrounding Electromagnetic Force field, he brought all networked devices inside the manor into his perception range; surveillance probes, communication terminals, smart access controls, data pads, and even personal communicators were all arranged into a clear network topology map in his consciousness.
The distribution of personnel detected by the surveillance probes made him immediately notice that the guards inside the manor belonged to two distinctly different factions.
The larger group wore uniform outfits, had fixed positions, and followed regular and orderly patrol routes; the smaller group wore slightly lighter-colored uniforms, and their patrol routes had subtle intersections and misalignments with the old guards' routes, always maintaining a certain distance from each other.
The two groups of guards were wary of each other in the passages and corridors inside the manor, occasionally exchanging brief glances when they crossed paths before continuing their patrols.
This was not the normal coordination within a single guard team, but two forces monitoring each other in the same space.
He seeped his Mental Power into the deeper data links.
Communication records showed that the old guards' communication frequency bands were concentrated in several rooms on the east side of the first floor of the main residence; the guards in light-colored uniforms frequently conducted encrypted communications with another location at the rear of the manor.
He withdrew his Mental Power from the data links and re-confirmed the area where the Old Noble was most likely located: the rooms on the east side of the first floor of the main residence, where surveillance density was the highest and the old guards' patrol frequency was the most intense.
As for that undercover Healer, he hadn't found the corresponding communication records yet; they might be in a more hidden location.
He spread out his Mental Power and Electromagnetic Force field simultaneously, and the entire Crick Family manor turned into a clear energy map within his perception range.
Several C-grade energy fields were distributed in different locations of the manor, like heavy iron anchors pressing down on various corners.
He scanned it carefully, confirmed that there were no Mental-type or Mechanical-type people in the manor, and only then did he feel at ease to continue probing further.
Just at this moment, a new energy field suddenly appeared within his perception range.
D-grade, Mental-type, with a relatively gentle field frequency, somewhat similar to his own Holy Light and the Healer he had seen at the Guardians medical station before.
The way this field appeared made him take note; it had not moved in from any entrance on the perimeter of the manor, but had appeared out of thin air at a certain spot inside the manor.
He immediately thought that there was very likely an underground passage in the manor.
Only a secret passage or an underground corridor could explain why a D-grade energy field would just pop out instead of entering normally from the perimeter.
Moreover, this Healer had arrived slower than him; he had flown such a long way in Radiance City and had even spent quite a while on Reconnaissance outside the manor, so if the other party had set off normally, they should have arrived long ago.
Being this late was likely because they had to avoid the second son's eyes and ears, taking a more hidden but also more time-consuming route.
Without hesitation, he used his Electromagnetic Force to lock onto the moving D-grade field and followed it as it moved inside the manor.
The other party's route was very cautious, specifically choosing to pass through during the gaps in the guards' patrols.
He followed the direction of the field's movement all the way to a bedroom in the east wing of the main residence.
After his Electromagnetic Force cut into the surveillance equipment inside the room, the image was simultaneously transmitted back into his consciousness.
The room was furnished simply and solemnly; it didn't look like a medical room, but rather like a private bedroom that had been temporarily converted into a nursing room.
Several simple treatment tables were placed against the wall, on which sat portable diagnostic instruments and a few medicine bottles—none of them advanced equipment, but they were fairly complete.
An old man lay on the large bed in the very center of the room, with white hair and beard, a gaunt face, and slow, rhythmic breathing.
The old man was covered by a thin quilt, and the collar and cuffs of his pajamas were embroidered with extremely fine gold thread patterns; this type of embroidery craft was something only nobles would use to embroider such family crest-level decorations on their personal clothing.
The D-grade field stopped by the old man's bedside.
From the surveillance footage, he could only see the position of the field; the person themselves had also concealed their figure.
On the monitor screen next to the treatment table, a few lines of vital signs data were jumping: the heart rate was on the low side, and blood pressure was unstable.
He readjusted the scanning range.
Now the undercover Healer had already made contact with the Old Noble, the second son's guards were still distributed throughout the manor, and several C-grade powerhouses were still guarding their respective positions.
He decided to observe for a moment, to see the treatment process of this undercover Healer before deciding how to intervene in the next step.
That Healer's skill was indeed quite good.
Zhen Lu saw from the surveillance footage that he first performed a round of Purification on the Old Noble, with clean and neat techniques; after the Purification energy circulated through the old man's body once, several indicators on the bedside monitor began to return to the normal range.
Immediately following this, several Holy Light spells were cast in succession, the white light permeating the old man's gaunt body, and his complexion, which had been as pale as paper, regained some color at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The old man's tightly closed eyelids trembled a few times, and he slowly opened them.