Chapter 98: The Tower

“No, there’s no one else.”

The person who had been talking continued, “There are only two of us here. We weren’t brought here willingly; that guy forced us.

“We had no choice. For the safety of others, we had to come deal with him…”

Lu Xi’an certainly couldn’t easily believe these two. Even after they came out and he observed them closely, confirming they were truly raising their hands obediently to surrender with no threat, he remained wary.

He quietly told the mechanical dog, “Doggy, have the drone keep scouting.”

Doggy, on the car roof and held by Yao Wei, could still hear Lu Xi’an’s command.

So, the drone that had already flown into the building no longer paid attention to the two people. Under Doggy’s control, it began flying through the building, room by room.

Lu Xi’an waited patiently until the drone flew out. Yao Wei said from the car roof, “No one inside.”

He got out of the car, holding a rope taken from the backpack in the back row. He threw it towards the two people and said, “One of you go bind the other.”

The two people paused for a moment, then finally exchanged a glance, made up their minds, and the one who spoke picked up the rope and tied the other.

Lu Xi’an watched the binding process closely the whole time, offering comments if he felt something was wrong:

“Not tight enough, tie it again.”

“It needs to go under the armpits.”

“And there too.”

“Don’t do it that way.”

“Pull harder, cinch it tight.”

…

Finally, under his guidance, the two men tightly bound one of them. The one being tied was so tightly bound he could barely stand and ended up falling to the ground.

Lu Xi’an finally felt a bit relieved. He called the remaining person over, took another rope, and tied him up as well, then looked up at the car roof.

He saw Yao Wei standing high on the car roof, drawing a bow and arrow, her foot on a head, looking cold and majestic.

No wonder the two people who came out of the building were so scared.

Lu Xi’an asked the two people again, “Is there anyone in the launch tower?”

Although he asked two people, he was actually addressing the one in front of him.

Of the two, the one who had been speaking was the one he had tied up. The other one seemed uncommunicative and hadn’t said a word.

And indeed, it was the person in front of him who answered his question.

This person, tightly bound, couldn’t stand steadily and leaned against the car as he fell. He replied, “No more, no one at all. It’s too dangerous in there, and that New Human didn’t want to stay there either.

“We just discovered Fungal Stones in there… you should know about these things, right?”

Lu Xi’an sneered, “Are you trying to test me again? Be careful, I’ll kill you. Ask your companion.”

The man finally didn’t dare to question Lu Xi’an any further. He chuckled nervously and continued, “I won’t, I won’t. I really didn’t mean anything else, I just thought I should explain if you didn’t know.”

He was extremely fawning, no longer saying “you” but addressing Lu Xi’an as “you” (polite form). “Anyway, that person always stayed in this building, except to get the Fungal Stones. He never went to the tower.”

Lu Xi’an asked, “What about the Resonant Gene Scanner?”

The man was slightly surprised that Lu Xi’an knew about this too. “This Resonant Scanner has always been in the building, it’s still here. You can go see if you don’t believe me.”

But Lu Xi’an didn’t rush to see it. Instead, he asked, “What’s in the tower, and why is it dangerous?”

The man said, “There’s nothing. It’s empty inside. It’s very deep down and very tall up, not much space to stand.”

Lu Xi’an then had Doggy control the drone to fly to the launch tower.

The launch tower had a tightly sealed structure, its walls covered in sturdy brick and rock with almost invisible gaps. Lu Xi’an felt inexplicably that even if he were to kick the wall with all his might, it wouldn’t react.

At the base of the wall was only an iron door. It looked sturdy, but its size was severely mismatched with the massive tower body, even smaller than the door of the building next to the tower, only allowing two people to enter side-by-side.

The small door was open. The effects of weather and years of human tampering had rendered the door useless.

The drone flew in and out. Lu Xi’an glanced up. The lights in Doggy’s eyes didn’t flicker, indicating the man’s words were accurate.

The two bound men both looked at Doggy on the car roof, then at the drone in the sky, their faces filled with astonishment.

The man in front of Lu Xi’an even started flattering him, “Amazing! Truly amazing! These two things, that person didn’t have them, plus the car and the guns!

“Truly amazing, no wonder you could kill him! Compared to you, that person was nothing!”

Lu Xi’an didn’t bother listening to his nonsense. He walked over to the side of the tower and poked his head into the doorway to look.

The guy hadn’t lied. Inside, it was exactly as he said. The ceiling was a distant, hollow space above, and the pit below was dark and seemed bottomless.

On the inner wall of the tower, there were only narrow walkways circling the edges. One loop near the entrance, several loops higher up, and it looked like there were some below as well, all connected by vertical ladders.

The edges of these circular walkways should have had guardrails, but now they looked completely corroded. In most places, only the roots embedded in the walkway platform remained.

In a few sections, the guardrails were still intact but looked incredibly fragile, making one hesitant to touch them. It felt like a touch would break them, and possibly cause oneself to lose balance and fall into the pit.

No wonder the man called it dangerous.

Lu Xi’an turned back and asked, “Where did you find that Fungal Stone?”

The man unconsciously showed an expression that seemed to say, “I knew you’d ask,” and replied, “Inside the tower, at the bottom. You can go down by climbing two ladders.

“That stone was just lying there at the bottom. The person who first found it died down there.

“He touched the stone, and his whole body rotted. He was in so much pain he couldn’t get up. We went down to save him, but it was no use. We later wrapped the stone and brought it up.”

Lu Xi’an nodded and stepped back from the doorway. He first asked Doggy, “Is there anything at the bottom of the tower?”

Doggy’s dog eyes flickered twice, indicating no discovery.

Then Lu Xi’an pointed to the head Yao Wei was stepping on atop the car and asked the bound man, “What about that person? Did he go into the tower?”

The man said, “He planned to go in at first. But after he learned the Fungal Stone wasn’t inside, he didn’t go in. He heard the Fungal Stone was taken by someone else, and he punished us severely…”

Speaking of this, he seemed to recall something extremely painful. His eyelids twitched wildly, and his face turned pale. “We suddenly felt immense pain, even wanting to die.

“Several people couldn’t resist self-harming. It was too painful! You guys managed to kill him, you’re truly amazing!”

Lu Xi’an: “…”

It seemed that New Human was skilled at torture. But why hadn’t he used such methods on himself and Yao Wei before?