Chapter 307: Super-Gravity Bomb

Chapter 307: Super-Gravity Bomb

Ming Chongwu and the others exited the conference room.

Ji Xinghuo cut straight to the point, "Director Zhou, it was Su Qingqiu who ordered Feng Jiao to detain me at the Olympia Stargate."

Zhou Yishang's face turned grave.

Of course, he knew who Su Qingqiu was, and if someone of such a high military caliber had been bought by the Qingyuan Association, or was even a member, it would be a dire situation.

"Are you sure?" Zhou Yishang frowned.

Ji Xinghuo nodded.

"We just need to interrogate Feng Jiao. We can get her to spill everything about Su Qingqiu," Ji Xinghuo asserted. Given the circumstances, it was clear that Feng Jiao had been acting under Su Qingqiu's orders.

However, Zhou Yishang shook his head, "What reason do we have to interrogate her?"

Ji Xinghuo was taken aback.

Indeed, while the Sword Bureau wielded significant power, it still had to abide by the nation's laws. They had no grounds to arbitrarily detain and interrogate a citizen, especially one who was a Stellar Army soldier simply carrying out her duties.

If they wanted to initiate an interrogation, they would need solid evidence.

And he had none.

"If I'm not mistaken, the Starry Sky Department will soon be questioning the Sword Bureau about why you didn't cooperate with their work," Zhou Yishang said, leaning back in his chair. "You could be charged with 'obstruction of justice' and 'endangering stargate security'. Even with your status as a swordsman, it would be difficult to escape punishment."

"Hehe..." Ji Xinghuo let out a cold laugh. "What a well-calculated scheme."

This was a plot out in the open.

If he had complied with Feng Jiao and left the stargate to enter the military camp, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

But by refusing to cooperate, he had earned himself several charges.

The Asia-Pacific Community was a society governed by the rule of law, and paranormals had no special privileges, at least not on the surface. In a country where 95% of the citizens were ordinary people, the public was highly sensitive to any hint of special treatment for paranormals, especially in the legal realm.

Once public opinion was ignited, no matter how powerful or influential a paranormal was, their reputation would be ruined.

Thus, no matter what choice he made, breaking free from this predicament seemed impossible.

"The Qingyuan Association has gone to great lengths to deal with me," Ji Xinghuo said, organizing his thoughts. "Next, there will be smear campaigns against me online, guiding public opinion to believe that I've committed a crime..."

"The Sword Bureau will suppress those negative sentiments," Zhou Yishang assured. "You don't have to worry."

However, Ji Xinghuo remained unconvinced.

While the Asia-Pacific Community had strong control over online public opinion, it wasn't solely up to the Sword Bureau. The various departments didn't always work in unison.

The "Net Trust Department," responsible for controlling public opinion, often simply followed the lead of other powerful departments.

Although the Sword Bureau was influential and on par with the Starry Sky Department, its reach and scale paled in comparison.

Moreover, the Qingyuan Association would likely infiltrate the network through other means, covertly influencing public opinion.

Zhou Yishang was well aware of this possibility.

"You don't seem worried," he remarked, a bit surprised that Ji Xinghuo was taking the news so calmly. In his position, Zhou Yishang knew he would be feeling anxious.

Ji Xinghuo smiled.

He truly wasn't concerned. What did public opinion and reputation matter? If he really couldn't resolve the issue for the time being, he could always find an opportunity to slip into the Starry Sky and lie low for a few years. Then, upon his return, he could use his strength to silence all doubts and criticisms.

He could simply flip the table and refuse to play their game.

Just as Ji Xinghuo was about to speak, a call came through directly to the conference room, and a spirited old man appeared on the screen.

"Director," Zhou Yishang immediately stood up and greeted the caller, and Ji Xinghuo followed suit.

The man on the screen was Li Hui, the director of the Sword Bureau. His eyes rested on Ji Xinghuo for a moment before he spoke, "Minister Yan personally called me to ask why one of my swordsmen was resisting enforcement at the stargate."

Ji Xinghuo and Zhou Yishang exchanged a glance.

The Minister Yan that Director Li mentioned was none other than Yan Wen zhe, the minister of the Starry Sky Department.

"Director, the situation is—" Zhou Yishang began to explain, but Li Hui waved his hand, interrupting him. He turned to Ji Xinghuo and said, "Xinghuo, I want to hear it from you."

"Yes, Director," Ji Xinghuo acknowledged.

Once again, he recounted the previous events, including his perception of Su Qingqiu's actions, in an objective manner devoid of any personal emotions.

After listening intently, Li Hui remained silent for half a minute before finally speaking, "Well done!"

A look of appreciation flashed in his eyes, and he nodded, "In your position, I would have also rushed into the stargate and escaped back to the country through the Bhopal Stargate. But I definitely wouldn't have dared to fly directly across the border as you did. You've achieved what I couldn't."

"Do you know what the Starry Sky Department is saying about this?" Li Hui inquired.

Ji Xinghuo shook his head.

"Minister Yan showed me the report he received," Li Hui continued.

A look of surprise flashed in Zhou Yishang's eyes, and he asked, "Can you provide the evidence?"

"Not sure," Ji Xinghuo answered honestly. He wasn't sure if what Shen Yucheng had mentioned was true or not, but it was worth a shot.

About ten minutes later, Li Hui walked into the conference room.

"Director," Ji Xinghuo stood up and said, "The two of you, please come with me, but don't use any tools for transportation. Can you fly?"

"I can," Li Hui replied.

"I can't," Zhou Yishang said, his expression turning sour. "But I can use a rocket backpack."

Ji Xinghuo shook his head. "That's too slow. Director Zhou, I'll carry you and fly."

"Alright..."

The three of them left the conference room and made their way to the base's landing platform. The cover above the channel slid open, and Ji Xinghuo grabbed onto Zhou Yishang's waist, taking off into the sky and soon breaking through the sound barrier with a loud boom.

Carrying another person didn't seem to affect Ji Xinghuo's speed much, but he didn't accelerate to his full potential. Even so, he reached a speed of 220 meters per second, entering the transonic range.

Director Li quickly caught up, flying alongside them.

Ji Xinghuo glanced at the older man, noting the gray feathered wings on his back, likely a result of fusing with the wings of a winged person. With years of training, Director Li's speed was impressive, and he could easily match Ji Xinghuo's cruising speed.

"Where are we going?" Director Li asked.

"Lishan Park," Ji Xinghuo replied, adjusting his direction. With another burst of speed, he broke the sound barrier once more.

The distance from the Qinling Base of the Sword Bureau to Lishan Park was about 100 kilometers, so they arrived in just a few minutes.

By then, it was already evening, and the light was beginning to fade.

Several ancient buildings on Lishan Mountain were lit up, and there were still quite a few tourists hiking up and down the mountain. The most famous attraction there was the "Huaqing Pool." Ji Xinghuo slowed down and scanned the entire park with his electromagnetic sensing ability.

Shen Yucheng had mentioned that he had buried the "thing" under a tree and had made a mark to identify it.

"Over there," Ji Xinghuo said, spotting the tree on a secluded trail. His electromagnetic sensing ability also detected something metallic buried about two meters underground.

He landed with Zhou Yishang, and Director Li followed suit.

Due to the secluded location, they didn't attract any attention from the tourists.

Zhou Yishang, still a bit unsteady from the flight, asked curiously, "What's the source of your flight ability? How can you fly so fast? Most paranormals wouldn't be able to withstand the changes in inertia caused by such acceleration."

Director Li also looked on with curiosity, as he had struggled to keep up despite appearing relaxed.

"Shock turbulence and acceleration," Ji Xinghuo replied casually.

The two directors looked even more confused after hearing his answer. They had heard of shock turbulence, but wasn't that supposed to be much slower? And they had never heard of anyone using acceleration as a flight ability.

Without further explanation, Ji Xinghuo walked up to the tree and used his electromagnetic sensing ability to pinpoint the exact location of the "thing." It was buried about two meters underground, and its main structure seemed to be metallic, with a volume about the size of a fist.

He tried to manipulate the metal directly to pull the object out, but to his surprise, his psychic power had no effect on it.

His electromagnetic sensing ability also failed to penetrate its interior, as if the object had no magnetic field at all.

"Strange..." Ji Xinghuo muttered.

Without further hesitation, he removed his Spirit Sword gauntlet, and it transformed into four blades. They dug into the ground like a miniature excavator, quickly creating a pit. Just as they were about to reach the object, Ji Xinghuo stopped.

Half of the object was now exposed, and the three of them frowned as they recognized what it was.

It was an icosahedron, about ten centimeters in diameter, with a silver-gray body. Each face was an equilateral triangle, seamlessly cast, and each edge and vertex emitted a faint blue light, so subtle that one had to look closely to notice it.

Ji Xinghuo had never seen anything like it, but as soon as he laid eyes on it, he felt a stabbing pain in his brow, and a sense of immense danger arose in his mind. It felt similar to the time he almost got caught in a nuclear explosion on the Earth Abyss Planet, but even more terrifying.

Instinctively, he took a few steps back and exclaimed, "This thing is extremely dangerous!"

Upon hearing Ji Xinghuo's warning, Li Hui, who had been staring intently at the metal ball in the pit, furrowed his brows as if he suddenly remembered something. His expression turned grave.

"Super-gravity bomb!" he exclaimed.

"Don't touch it!" Li Hui shouted. "This is a super-gravity bomb. If it detonates, we're all dead!"

Ji Xinghuo's heart lurched, and he immediately grabbed Zhou Yishang and took off into the air.

He had read about "super-gravity bombs" before. They were an incredibly formidable type of weapon that only a handful of top civilizations in the Milky Way Galaxy could manufacture. When detonated, they instantly generated tens of thousands of times the force of gravity, similar to the environment near a white dwarf star.

In just an instant, all matter within the range of its effect would be sucked toward the center of the explosion, highly compressed, and even atoms would be crushed.

It was akin to creating an artificial black hole.

However, it would only last for an extremely short period before gravity returned to normal, and the compressed matter would release an immense amount of energy, resulting in an explosion far more devastating than a nuclear blast.

Everything within its range would be utterly obliterated!

However, Li Hui remained where he was, unmoving.

Ji Xinghuo had no choice but to stop as well. Zhou Yishang anxiously said, "Director, let's retreat first and then figure out how to deal with it."

Li Hui, keeping his eyes fixed on the bomb in the pit, suddenly breathed a sigh of relief. He turned and said, "I overreacted. A super-gravity bomb can only be detonated by a Gravitational String user, and there aren't any on Earth, so we should be safe for now."

'You could've mentioned that earlier...'

Ji Xinghuo couldn't help but mutter under his breath. He landed again.

Li Hui jumped into the pit for a closer inspection. As Ji Xinghuo and Zhou Yishang watched with bated breath, he reached out and picked up the metal ball. Nothing happened.

"See?" Li Hui climbed out of the pit and said, "This super-gravity bomb has been buried here for so long. Clearly, they can't detonate it easily either."

As he spoke, he handed the metal ball to Ji Xinghuo.

Zhou Yishang took it carefully and examined it briefly before passing it to Ji Xinghuo.

Ji Xinghuo held the metal ball and found it to have an extremely high density. Despite its small size, it weighed over three tons, making it impossible for an ordinary person to lift. He wondered how Shen Yucheng had managed to bring it back from the Starry Sky and bury it here.

Li Hui turned to Ji Xinghuo and asked, "How did you find out about this location?"

"Shen Yucheng told me," Ji Xinghuo replied truthfully. "I encountered him on the Bloody Highland and forced the information out of him."

Ji Xinghuo then proceeded to share all the information he had extracted from Shen Yucheng.

The revelations left Li Hui and Zhou Yishang stunned.

"The influence and threat of the Qingyuan Association are greater than I initially suspected," Li Hui said gravely. "I had thought they were just a group of petty individuals acting in their self-interest, pulling some strings in the shadows. I never imagined that the Winged People were involved."

Zhou Yishang also looked enlightened. "No wonder the Qingyuan Association has been relentlessly pursuing you. It's all because of this super-gravity bomb. As for their ultimate goal..."

The three of them looked toward Chang'an.

Standing on the mountain in Lishan Park, they could see most of Chang'an spread out before them, a bustling city that never slept.

"Our country's air defense system can intercept enemy nuclear weapons," Li Hui said. "Chang'an is the most heavily guarded place, and it's impossible to bypass the monitoring and interception systems with any mode of transportation." But if it's a super-gravity bomb..."

Ji Xinghuo looked at the metal ball in his hand.

Its small size belied its devastating power, which far surpassed that of a nuclear bomb. If detonated in the heart of Chang'an, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Furthermore, if it were brought to the capital and detonated during an important meeting, it could wipe out the entire leadership of the Asia-Pacific Community in one fell swoop.

In a single day, the most powerful country on Earth would fall apart.

This was an immense conspiracy!

Thinking about the catastrophic consequences if the Qingyuan Association succeeded, Li Hui broke into a cold sweat. "I'll go see the Head of State immediately."

He looked at Ji Xinghuo and said, "As a precaution, take the super-gravity bomb and head west, away from Chang'an, into the desert no-man's land. Wait there for further instructions."

"Yes, Director," Ji Xinghuo acknowledged.

Holding the metal ball, he soared into the sky, and with a thunderous boom, he disappeared from view in the blink of an eye.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end