451: Chapter 451 The Bridge of Helplessness, The City of Night

Hearing her father bring up this matter, Li Biyun could not help but frown:

"Dingjian said he should be able to rush back during the Qingming Festival."

"I even called him the day before yesterday before going to sweep the graves, wanting to ask when he would arrive in Dongdu, but the call didn't go through."

As she spoke, she looked at Fang Cheng, her eyes carrying a hint of inquiry:

"Chengcheng, has your uncle contacted you?"

Fang Cheng shook his head, his expression as usual:

"He called me a few days ago, but I was busy at the time and didn't manage to answer."

The originally warm atmosphere at the dinner table quietly quieted down a bit because of this topic.

Grandfather's chopsticks paused for a moment while picking up food, and a trace of lingering worry also dyed the mother's face.

Seeing this, Fang Cheng thought for a moment and spoke to comfort them:

"Grandfather, Mom, don't worry. Uncle has many friends and a wide network outside. He might be inspecting business projects in a place with bad signal."

"I know a few of his friends. I'll ask them later to see if I can get in touch."

Although he said that, Fang Cheng was clear in his heart.

Before cultivating the Visualization Technique at the Ma Family, his uncle had already mentioned to him that he was going to accompany that Professor to Tiannan Province to handle some private matters, which would take about a week or more.

Calculating the time, he should indeed return to Dongdu these few days.

While pondering, Fang Cheng's chewing action involuntarily slowed down.

It seemed he still had to ask the other people in the Professor's team.

Perhaps they knew where Uncle had actually gone and where he was now.

After dinner, Fang Cheng took on the chore of washing the dishes as usual.

Then he accompanied his grandfather and mother to watch TV for a while in the living room, chatting about daily trivia, before returning to his own bedroom on the second floor.

Closing the door, the room was dead silent.

Fang Cheng took out his phone from the shoulder bag by the bed, lit up the screen, and flipped straight to the call logs.

Amidst the tapping of his fingertips, a missed call record came into view.

On April 18th, at 9:57 PM, the caller ID showed "Uncle".

At that time, he was in seclusion in the Ma Family's water dungeon, concentrating on cultivating, and all contact with the outside world had been cut off, naturally missing this call.

After coming out, he also tried to call back once, but it still didn't go through.

Fang Cheng's gaze narrowed slightly as he continued to scroll down.

He found that in the days before and after this missed call, Uncle hadn't called again.

This was somewhat unusual.

Given Uncle's personality, if he really had something to look for him about, he would never give up after just calling once.

Could it be that he encountered some sudden situation and temporarily couldn't spare time to contact?

Or could it be... they had already penetrated deep into the border regions of Tiannan Province?

A map of Tiannan Province surfaced in Fang Cheng's mind.

Located in the south of the national border, mountains stretched continuously, and there were plenty of undeveloped primitive jungles.

Furthermore, it bordered countries like Siam and Khmer, with interlocking borders and complex situations.

In such places, having no phone signal was a common occurrence, and missing one or two calls was completely normal.

But for some reason, there was always a trace of faint unease in Fang Cheng's heart.

He pondered for a moment, his gaze finally falling on a number.

The note was: Bailing.

In the Professor's secret team, Bailing and Uncle's relationship seemed quite good, usually joking with each other, and they could be considered quite familiar.

Last time, targeting the Monster Hunting Plan of the Noah Organization, he needed the identity of a Special Investigation Team officer as a cover, and it was also through Uncle's introduction that he asked her to help disguise himself as Officer Zhou Liang.

Perhaps, she would know some inside information.

Fang Cheng immediately pressed the dial button and made the call.

"Beep—Beep—"

The phone only rang twice and was answered almost instantly.

"Hello, White Ghost Boss?! It really is you! I thought I saw wrong!"

A crisp and lively female voice immediately came through the receiver, chattering away like a newly fledged lark.

Bailing truly lived up to her name.

"It's me."

Fang Cheng replied in a calm tone.

"Wow, Boss, you finally remembered me!"

Bailing's voice was full of undisguised surprise and excitement:

"Let me count, we haven't seen each other for about a month, right?"

"Let me tell you, recently I feel like I'm getting stronger and stronger. Going home the night before last, I met a few blind rascals who wanted to take advantage of me, hehe, and I knocked them all down in a few moves!"

"That feeling was simply awesome! This is all thanks to you, Boss!"

"If you hadn't punched and exploded that broken bottle back then, how could we have had this good luck."

Back then on Miwu Mountain, she and her team members were trapped in the Inner World created by the Lu Family. It was Fang Cheng who descended from the sky and shattered the golden bumpa bottle acting as the array eye with a single punch, rescuing everyone.

Many people turned misfortune into a blessing, bathing in that rain of blood containing majestic life energy, and their physical fitness was greatly enhanced.

Precisely because of this, in Bailing's feelings toward Fang Cheng, besides gratitude, there was always a trace of undisguised adoration.

"Right, right."

She seemed to remember something else, and continued to ask:

"Last time I helped you disguise and made a fake identity, did things go smoothly? Didn't any mishaps happen?"

Fang Cheng patiently listened to her finish, a faint smile curling up the corner of his mouth as he casually replied:

"Yeah, very smoothly. Thanks."

"Hey, what are you being polite with me for, Boss!"

"Let me ask you something."

Fang Cheng interrupted her chattering and cut to the chase:

"Raven and the Professor, do you know where they went?"

Raven was the codename of Uncle Li Dingjian in the team.

Bailing only knew that Fang Cheng, codenamed White Ghost, and Raven knew each other in reality, but didn't know the two had a blood-relative relationship.

Perhaps, aside from Lin Chuqiao, only that Professor was clear about this relationship.

Bailing on the other end of the phone was clearly stunned, her chattering voice stopping abruptly:

"Raven and the Professor? Didn't they go to Tiannan Province to handle matters? Boss, you don't know?"

"I've been a bit busy recently and haven't contacted them much."

Fang Cheng explained calmly and asked again:

"What business did they go to handle?"

"This... I'm not too sure either."

Bailing's tone was somewhat hesitant, and the other end of the phone went quiet for a moment, seemingly trying hard to recall and organize her words.

"It seems to be related to a friend the Professor knew many years ago..."

"They didn't tell us the specifics, just briefly explained the itinerary during a gathering, saying it was quite an important private matter."

"Have you been in contact recently?"

"Nope."

Bailing answered very crisply.

"Our small team, usually besides needing to meet up for missions, tries to minimize contact. This is the rule, to avoid exposure."

Speaking of this, she paused, a hint of vigilance leaking into her tone, as if realizing something.

"Boss, you suddenly asking this... could it be that Raven and the Professor are in trouble?"

"No."

Fang Cheng's tone remained calm and waveless: "I just have something to look for Raven about recently, but haven't been able to get in touch, so I'm a bit worried."

"Is that so... Wait a moment, I'll try calling them to see!"

Bailing's voice sounded somewhat eager.

The phone was then hung up.

Fang Cheng put down his phone, walked to the window, and gently pushed it open.

The evening breeze blew over with a trace of coolness, stirring the newly grown hair in front of his forehead.

Waiting for about five minutes, the phone ringtone suddenly sounded.

Fang Cheng turned around, picked up the phone, and connected the call again.

This time, the voice coming through the receiver lost its previous relaxed liveliness, adding an obvious tension and anxiety.

"White Ghost Boss... I called both Raven and the Professor, tried many times, and the prompt was always, the user you dialed is temporarily unavailable, please try again later..."

"What on earth is going on? Could they... really be in trouble?"

Reaching the end, Bailing's voice even carried a hint of a tremor.

"Don't rush, it's still too early to jump to conclusions. Panic can't solve any problems."

Fang Cheng's voice appeared very steady, turning back to comfort her with a few words, then guiding her:

"Think carefully now, before the Professor and the others left, did they say anything special, or have any abnormal actions?"

"Special words..."

Bailing on the other end of the phone fell into deep thought, her breathing even becoming somewhat heavy.

After a long time, she spoke uncertainly:

"That gathering... about a week ago, it was mainly the Professor helping a few of us check our physical and mental conditions after absorbing the blood rain, to see if any abnormal problems occurred."

"Before the meeting adjourned, he did mention that he was going to the south with Raven to handle a matter, telling those of us staying in Dongdu to keep a low profile recently and not go out to stir up trouble."

"Dachui and I even joked at the time that we wanted to follow along to gain some experience, but the Professor flatly refused. Raven also said this time belonged to a private matter, and having too many people would instead get in the way..."

As she spoke, her voice suddenly rose a bit, as if remembering some key detail.

"Right, I remembered!"

"When I arrived at the base to attend the gathering, I saw Raven holding a document file in his hand, discussing softly with the Professor, saying things like 'that should be that person's modus operandi', 'it looks very similar'."

"At that time, out of curiosity, I leaned over and glanced at it, it seemed to be talking about a murder case, and the title had something like... Tiannan Province... jewelry tycoon... Chen Family Curse Case..."

"Chen Family Curse Case?"

Fang Cheng rapidly searched for this keyword in his mind, his brow furrowing slightly.

"This case, I don't seem to have seen it in the news. Where did they get the news?"

"This I'm not clear about."

Bailing's throat lowered deliberately, as if afraid of others hearing some secret:

"But I guess, eight times out of ten it was bought from Naihe Bridge."

"Naihe Bridge?"

Hearing this, Fang Cheng softly chewed on the name.

He only felt that within these three words, there was an unspeakable weirdness and danger.

"Mm."

Bailing's tone became serious:

"That's an intermediary organization for assassins and intelligence peddlers."

"Boss, you should know that people like us do many things that cannot be brought out into the open, and Naihe Bridge serves people like us."

"It's like an information distribution center. You can post missions on it, and you can also accept missions. Of course, more often it's buying and selling intelligence."

"Naihe Bridge only acts as a middleman, earning the information price difference, never asking about the identities of buyers and sellers, and never interfering with the specific process of missions."

"Our team used to often take some jobs on it to earn commissions. The previous intelligence about the golden bumpa bottle was also bought by the Professor from Naihe Bridge at a high price."

Fang Cheng's heart stirred, and he pursued:

"How to find this organization?"

"They don't have a fixed address in reality, or rather, nobody knows where their headquarters is."

Bailing explained:

"To get in touch with them, there is only one way—go to Night City, and inside there, Naihe Bridge has a dedicated contact point."

"Night City?"

"Right, it's Night City."

Bailing took a deep breath, seemingly harboring awe for this place as well:

"That seems to be a super-large Secret Realm, a lawless land independent of the real society."

"The Professor said it's located in the cracks of the world, the legendary intersection between the mortal world and the netherworld, a bit like the Inner World we experienced before, but on a much broader and boundless scale."

"No one knows how big it really is, nor who the behind-the-scenes boss of Night City is. They only know that it's a true lawless zone."

"In Night City, the laws and morals of real society are completely meaningless. Many organizations and ability users wanted in reality, and even some notorious cult groups, have their own dens there."

"All kinds of shady transactions, such as contract killing, trafficking contraband, and intelligence exchange, happen every moment."

"Even..."

Bailing paused, lowering her voice a bit more:

"I heard the Professor say that some people's physical bodies are already dead in reality, but as long as their Mental Energy is strong enough, their conscious entities can continue to survive in Night City for a long time, becoming a special kind of ghost."

"Right."

She then added another sentence:

"That very famous International Shadow Auction also has a permanent stronghold in Night City."

What Bailing said unveiled an unprecedented secret world for Fang Cheng.

That world seemed even darker and more chaotic.

"How to get in?"

Fang Cheng pondered for a moment and asked directly.

"Go in with consciousness."

Although Bailing found it strange why White Ghost Boss was so powerful yet didn't know these things, she still patiently explained:

"The method is about the same as when we entered the Professor's spiritual Secret Realm back then. You have to recite an incantation."

She reminisced slightly, reciting a string of words with strange syllables and peculiar rhythms.

Fang Cheng listened quietly, his gaze narrowing slightly.

This tongue-twisting incantation, in its structure and pronunciation rhythm, was surprisingly seven or eight parts similar to the voice password he used to contact Cheng Jiashu.

"However."

Bailing then solemnly exhorted:

"Boss, if you want to enter Night City, I must remind you."

"Although it's only a conscious entity, if you suffer an attack inside leading to 'death', it will also cause trauma to the brain in reality, and may even directly turn you into an idiot."

"Therefore, you must be careful."

"Got it, thanks."

The call ended.

Fang Cheng held the phone as the screen dimmed, reflecting his blurred face.

He didn't put it down immediately, standing just like that in the room.

His gaze passed through the window, looking at the myriad lights of Wanghu Town in the heavy night curtain.

For a long time, he only used a voice that only he could hear to say:

"Go check out the situation first."