!
The drunken bliss of a free feast was plastered across Xie Yong's flushed face. Under Su Jin's relentless pouring and calculated prodding, the man's paternalistic need to lecture had erupted in full force.
Even though Su Jin asked questions a toddler should know, Xie Yong scoffed at his ignorance before meticulously answering every single one.
The geopolitical landscape of this wretched world slowly took shape in Su Jin's mind.
Su Jin's expression remained as placid as a stagnant pool. While Xie Yong animatedly gestured before him, his mind was already miles away, processing the grim data.
This world was fundamentally broken; a localized apocalypse had triggered centuries ago.
Demon Springs regularly ruptured from the earth's crust, violently eroding the habitable zones of all living creatures.
Where the Demon Spring flowed, nothing survived. The residual waters festered into highly toxic swamps, breeding aberrations; a single touch induced agonizing madness and death.
Of the five great nations, two had already been wiped off the map. The surviving three forged a desperate alliance, establishing the Disaster Phenomenon Chart Bureau to analyze and repel the creeping doom.
The Suyuan Dynasty, his current drop-zone, was a theocratic autocracy. It enforced its rule through two core pillars of violence.
Tanyu Temple and the Xuanjia Army. The local cultivation system was split between the Art Dao and the Martial Dao, monopolized respectively by the Temple and the Army.
Combat strength was verified by the momentum and intricate patterns woven into their uniforms, with seven patterns marking the absolute apex. These cultivators possessed capabilities far beyond baseline humanity.
Beyond investigating and fighting the Demon Springs, these two military branches brutally suppressed rebellions and relentlessly hunted down the Suzai.
And the so-called Suzai... cutting through the superstitious drivel Xie Yong spewed, Su Jin deduced they were simply women born with innate Abilities.
Tanyu Temple held regular Burning Ceremonies, offering these Suzai as living sacrifices to the heavens to supposedly suppress the Demon Springs...
"Ah..." Xie Yong was still drunkenly rambling, high on his own perceived wisdom. Su Jin dragged a hand down his face, exhaling a heavy, exhausted sigh.
The foreman wasn't entirely useless; he let slip that a century ago, the Suzai were revered as Spirit Girls.
But over the past few decades, as the violent eruptions of the Demon Springs waned, those same Spirit Girls were stigmatized and hunted as fated calamities—the Suzai.
Corporate logic dictated that no organization expended resources without a return on investment. This was either a political purge to consolidate divine and imperial power.
Or harvesting Spirit Girls provided a tangible power boost to the ruling cultivators. In this cutthroat reality, the latter was practically a guarantee.
After all, there were cheaper ways to terrorize peasants; hunting down superpowered anomalies purely for propaganda was a terrible return on investment.
A century ago, when the Demon Springs threatened total annihilation, the Spirit Girls were useful tools. Now that the crisis had ebbed, they were liquidated. It was a textbook witch hunt.
But the plight of the Suzai was secondary. The real problem was the data: Su Jin was eighty percent certain the Demon Springs were the root cause of this timeline's apocalypse.
This 'fading' Demon Spring disaster wasn't drying up at all—it was merely accumulating capital for a massive, world-ending market crash!
If the entire planet was swallowed by the Demon Springs...
Timing, terrain, and talent. Favorable timing lay with Shen Yufeng. The man possessed sterling PR, renowned for virtue and talent—a variable best avoided for now.
Talent and alliances could be actively recruited, but the terrain... the very ground beneath their feet might be eradicated.
This assignment was an absolute nightmare!
Frustration flared hot in Su Jin's chest. He downed his own cup of cheap tea and pivoted the interrogation. "Old brother, earlier in the city, I thought I saw a mountain floating in the sky. Was it an optical illusion?"
"Ah, little brother, you really can't hold your liquor... Even completely trashed, I've got more sense than you. Why keep asking things a beggar knows?" Xie Yong barked a wet laugh. "That's Tanyu Temple! Tanyu Mountain!"
A breakthrough!
Su Jin's eyes sharpened as he dug deeper. "How do the Tanyu Temple and the local Town Guardian's Mansion get along?"
"The Tanyu Temple and the Xuanjia Army are like oil and water; they're constantly fighting over jurisdiction to capture the Suzai. The Guardian's Mansion is deep in bed with the Xuanjia Army. Take a wild guess how they get along."
"Then, aside from Tanyu Mountain, is there any other landmass suspended in the sky?"
"Not a chance. Hoisting Tanyu Mountain into the clouds drained the treasury of the entire empire. Even His Imperial Majesty conducts the Heaven Worship Ceremony up there."
"What's the mechanism? What makes a mountain defy gravity?" Su Jin pressed urgently.
"Damned if I know. Good question, though... who even bothers studying that garbage?" Xie Yong tilted his head, sucking on a piece of gristle caught in his teeth, his alcohol-addled brain hitting a brick wall.
Tch. Su Jin averted his gaze, masking his profound disgust.
It was a dead end. He lacked the technical specs to solve the apocalypse, but at least he had spotted a potential extraction zone.
"Old brother, I'll level with you. I want to expand my family's business to other provinces, maybe even other nations. But I don't have the proper transit documents or border passes. Is it doable?"
"Ha! Kid, what are you smoking?!" Xie Yong slammed a heavy palm against the sticky table. "That's a pipe dream. Doesn't your family already have a stable enterprise? Why not just inherit the ledger?"
"I want to build my own portfolio while I'm young."
"I had the same delusions at your age, and look at me—still hammering fucking iron! Take it from a veteran. The Demon Springs are quiet now; the economic boom is just around the corner..."
"Cut the corporate pep talk. Just give me a yes or no!" Su Jin snapped, losing his patience.
Offended by the sharp tone, Xie Yong's expression darkened. "Not a snowball's chance in hell! Without a travel permit, where exactly do you plan to go? You wouldn't make it past the city gates before the guards threw you in irons!"
"Then where do I submit the paperwork for—"
Before Su Jin could finish, the wooden door exploded inward with a deafening crash.
Two armored soldiers breached the room, leveling polearms at their chests. The tavern waiter cowered right behind them.
Emboldened by the guards, the waiter planted his hands on his hips. "Officers, it's them! They smuggled in outside liquor! Our establishment is entirely innocent!"
"You suicidal bastards!" The lead soldier thrust his spear tip inches from Su Jin's throat, his eyes blazing with state-sanctioned malice. "Daring to openly violate the Imperial Court's Prohibition on Alcohol? On your feet!"
Su Jin froze, his blood running cold.
A Prohibition on Alcohol! No wonder Xie Yong had acted like a paranoid junkie when offered a drink!
This loudmouthed idiot had rambled about everything under the sun, yet conveniently forgot to mention the prohibition!
His survival instincts overriding his pride, Su Jin instantly threw Xie Yong under the bus. "Officers, I didn't drink a drop! It was all him! I'm completely sober; test me!"
The moment the soldiers breached the door, Xie Yong had been soaked in a terrified, icy sweat.
Hearing Su Jin flawlessly shift the blame, the foreman sobered up instantly. He pointed a trembling finger at Su Jin and roared.
"Wu Zihao, you treacherous snake! You poured the damn cups! Officers, I beg you, let me explain..."
"Guilt by association! If you're at the table, you're an accomplice! Save it for the magistrate. Bag them both!" At the leader's command, the second soldier advanced.
He unspooled a length of rough hemp rope, viciously binding their wrists together. "By Imperial Decree, a first offense carries a mandatory three-month sentence! Second offense: twenty lashes and six months! Third offense: execution! Lie to the magistrate, and the sentence doubles! March!"
Dragged from the tavern, Su Jin's mind raced through a dozen aborted contingency plans as he and Xie Yong were hauled into the streets...
At the threshold, the rear guard shoved the rope into his partner's hands and quickly ducked back inside the private room.
Spotting his commanding officer eagerly shaking the empty clay jar, he hissed, "Any left?"
"None, not a drop left. We're too late... Smell that proof, though. This was high-grade contraband!"
"Selfish bastards, fuck!"
...
"Injustice! I am an innocent man!"
Deep within the damp, subterranean black site, Su Jin clung to the rotting wooden bars, kneeling in the filth and projecting his voice with dramatic, theatrical grief.
"I demand to see an auditor! I have a grievance!"
"I'm innocent too!" The moment Su Jin broke the silence, the rest of the cell block erupted in a chaotic chorus of wailing pleas.
The discordant howling echoed through the stone halls until three jailers stepped into the corridor, their faces shrouded in the flickering torchlight, casually swinging heavy wooden cudgels.
Su Jin pressed his face against the bars. "Officers, hold on, just listen to the facts. I am entirely innocent—"
"Wait, listen, I was framed!" wailed a prisoner in the cell opposite his. "I accidentally ate fermented fruit and tested positive for alcohol... Have a heart! I'm a beggar! The whole sector knows I don't have the capital for black-market liquor. The logistics make no sense!"
"Gentlemen, I have direct ties to the magistrate..." Su Jin tried a different angle.
"Guards, the magistrate is my personal mentor! I barely had a sip! If Lord Chen finds out you locked me in this hole, he'll have your badges!" another inmate bellowed.
"You suicidal worm, name-dropping the magistrate?"
The head jailer's expression twisted into an ugly sneer. He unlocked the loudmouth's cell, and all three guards swarmed inside. A sickening symphony of thuds and wet crunches followed.
A minute later, they stepped back into the corridor, dark blood dripping slowly from the ends of their cudgels.
The head jailer spat a wad of phlegm onto the stones. "I'm putting this plainly! The next inmate to open their mouth loses their rations for a week! If you want to keep complaining, I'll shatter your kneecaps!"
Dead silence fell over the cell block. The head jailer sauntered over to Su Jin, rhythmically tapping his bloody club against the wooden bars. "You were making the most noise. File your grievance."
"Sir... a terrible misunderstanding." Su Jin dropped his voice, subtly sliding a piece of silver through the bars. "I confess I had the intent to drink, but I was arrested before the transaction went through."
The guards exchanged knowing smirks. The head jailer smoothly pocketed the silver, his tone entirely deadpan. "Oh, intent is illegal too. Thoughtcrime is a felony. And attempting to bribe an officer adds an additional charge! However... considering your swift confession and the fact that no contraband was consumed... we'll confiscate the illicit funds and shave ten days off your sentence."
Su Jin bowed his head in mock gratitude and melted back into the shadows of his cell, his mind running cold analytics.
His operational timeline was rapidly deteriorating.
The bribery window had closed. These low-level grunts possessed bottomless greed, and explaining his sudden wealth would only invite an audit he couldn't survive.
The arresting officers had been standard infantry, but resisting in a crowded street was a tactical error. Escalation would draw high-level cultivators, and his current loadout couldn't guarantee survival.
This holding facility housed petty criminals. The guards were baseline humans. During the march in, he had already mapped the security checkpoints and architectural layout.
If the street-level bureaucracy was this aggressively corrupt, the upper echelons were likely a bureaucratic nightmare.
Procuring legitimate travel documents would be a massive drain on time and capital. Ergo, he wouldn't bother with legal channels.
He would wait for the night cycle, breach the cell, and extract himself...