Chapter 156: The Standout Package

Chapter 156: The Standout Package

Professor Mo clearly recognized the man and quickly pushed through the crowd to greet him. "Captain Xing, we're the researchers from the Seventh Branch. Did Director Liu send you to rescue us?"

Xing Yuan raised an eyebrow coolly, neither confirming nor denying. "Let's discuss matters once we're on the aircraft. Time is pressing; don't delay."

Half an hour ago, the main headquarters had received news of major trouble on Cloud Road. More than half of the psychics were trapped there, and in such a critical moment, who would have the heart to risk their life to save them? It was just that Xing Yuan happened to be nearby, clearing out loiterers in the area, so this task fell onto him, and he came along the way to provide support.

The nearby streets were narrow and cramped, with no place for the aircraft to land. Everyone could only climb up one by one using the suspended ladder. Lu Yan stood at the back, his gaze under the brim of his hat uncontrollably drawn to Xing Yuan. The expression beneath his mask was complex, and he began to doubt his life choices:

It couldn't be this coincidental, could it? He was just scamming a couple of bucks online, how did he end up running into the real deal?

Xing Yuan keenly sensed a pair of eyes scrutinizing him from behind. He frowned and looked over, only to find a man standing at the back of the line, dressed entirely in black, covered from head to toe. Amidst a sea of white lab coats, he stood out conspicuously.

Xing Yuan raised an eyebrow coldly, asking ambiguously, "What's the matter? Aren't you going up? Waiting for me to invite you?"

Lu Yan was taken aback upon hearing this, realizing everyone else had already boarded the aircraft, leaving him as the last one. He quickly averted his gaze, determined not to make a sound. Using the suspended ladder, he nimbly climbed aboard the aircraft, his movements far more graceful than those of the few people before him who climbed like clumsy bears.

Lu Yan sat down in a random seat in the aisle, only to find Feng Xiangming sitting right behind him. Leaning forward slightly, Feng Xiangming asked, "Why were you staring at Captain Xing earlier?"

Lu Yan: "? ? ?"

Was this something you could ask casually?!

Lu Yan discreetly cut off the live stream, veins pulsing on his forehead. "It's none of your business!"

Feng Xiangming didn't understand why Lu Yan was angry, leaving him utterly confused. Whispering into his ear, he reminded him, "Let me tell you, that guy is the No.1 psychic in Sky City, known for his bad temper. Don't go up to him and start talking; it's like putting a hot face against a cold butt."

After saying this, he seemed to recall something and added reassuringly, "But you don't have to be afraid of him. You and Xing Yuan both have lightning abilities. If it really comes to a fight, it's uncertain who would win."

Although Feng Xiangming didn't know where Xing Yuan's power ceiling was, he was sure that even if Lu Yan wasn't first in Sky City, he was more than capable of ranking in the top three. As one of the two lightning psychics in the entire district, the value of this ability was clear to anyone with common sense.

As they spoke, Xing Yuan had already boarded the aircraft. Both of them instinctively fell silent, turning their heads to look out the window as if nothing had happened.

Luo Yang stood in the aisle, counting heads. Suddenly noticing that the numbers didn't quite match, he couldn't help but hiss, "Are you all researchers from the Seventh Branch?"

Professor Mo rose to explain, "There are a few citizens we found on the way. They all live nearby. I wonder if it's convenient for you to take them home."

In theory, the psychic team's mission was only to clear out loiterers and did not include rescuing citizens. However, since Professor Mo had spoken up, Luo Yang felt compelled to give him some face. "Sure, have them report their addresses later. We can drop them off on the side."

After saying this, he glanced at Xing Yuan, who was sitting in the front row, and still approached to ask, lowering his voice, "Captain, there are a few civilians on the aircraft. It'll take some time, but let's take them home."

Xing Yuan had been staring at the data on his tablet, which showed that the loiterers in this area had been mostly dispersed. Upon hearing this, he imperceptibly furrowed his brow, not looking up as he said, "Handle it as quickly as possible. Don't waste too much time. The main headquarters said there's big trouble on Cloud Road and ordered us to return immediately."

Luo Yang inwardly marveled, not expecting Xing Yuan to actually agree. After all, the latter usually disliked getting involved in such trivial matters. Once, when they were on a mission outside, the director of the transport team tried to take advantage of their situation and asked them to escort supplies. Xing Yuan, upon learning about it, directly kicked each of the supply boxes, sending them all tumbling off the aircraft.

Tsk, that day, the sky above Devil City rained compressed biscuits, a scene that was quite spectacular.

After this incident, Xing Yuan gained the nickname "One Kick" in the psychic special zone. Anyone who wanted to take advantage of him had to think twice. Luo Yang assumed he would refuse and was prepared with a whole speech to persuade him, but it turned out to be completely unnecessary. After holding it in for a while, he finally managed to say:

"You're truly peculiar today. The sun must be rising from the west."

Xing Yuan was acting strangely everywhere today, ignoring tasks in the central area to come all the way to Devil City, a small, broken-down district, to clear out loiterers. Now, he was even agreeing to take those stranded citizens home. At one point, Luo Yang suspected he might have taken the wrong medicine.

Xing Yuan was unaware of Luo Yang's thoughts, only feeling annoyed by the blazing sun outside. Frowning, he tossed the tablet aside and leaned back in his chair with his eyes closed to rest. But then, as if remembering something, he suddenly opened his eyes.

Xing Yuan took out his phone and skillfully switched to the chat interface. His finger paused momentarily on the red fox avatar, as if pondering something. Finally, he sent a message:

"The loiterers near your house have been cleared out. Stay put and don't leave."

"Ding—!"

The aircraft was originally silent, making the sudden notification tone from Lu Yan's phone particularly jarring. Many people turned around to look at him.

Lu Yan: "…"

Lu Yan stiffened, slowly pulling out his phone under everyone's gaze. Only then did he realize it was a message from his benefactor. Hurriedly setting it to silent, his fingers rapidly tapped on the keyboard, quickly replying:

"I know. Be careful while you're on duty outside."

After typing, Lu Yan clicked send, then stuffed the phone into his pocket and held it tightly, finally breathing a sigh of relief. However, before he could celebrate narrowly avoiding disaster, he heard Xing Yuan's phone, sitting in the front row, suddenly ring as well:

"Ding—!"

Lu Yan: "…"

Lu Yan closed his eyes in despair, silently pulling down his cap and leaning against the porthole, pretending to be dead asleep, feeling he could now rest in peace.

Fortunately, their phones only rang back and forth once. Others might consider it a coincidence but didn't notice any suspicious signs. The aircraft followed its route, dropping off the rescued citizens one by one at their homes, leaving only Lu Yan at the end.

Luo Yang scanned Lu Yan up and down. Seeing the man wearing a hat and a mask, covering his face completely, dressed entirely in black, he found him strange. He asked aloud, "Hey, where do you live?"

Lu Yan dared not speak, only hoping these people would quickly let him off. Without a word, he pointed downward from the aircraft.

Luo Yang's eyelids twitched. "You're saying you live in that area below?"

Lu Yan nodded coolly.

Luo Yang looked out the porthole. "There's a river below. Are you a black fish spirit living in there?"

Lu Yan: "…"

Just as Lu Yan was contemplating whether to jump directly from the aircraft, Professor Mo spoke up in time to save him. "Mr. Lu is our friend. If it weren't for his timely intervention in the factory, we probably wouldn't have been able to come out alive. I want to take him to Sky City and treat him to a meal as thanks."

Even if Lu Yan didn't want to go, he could only reluctantly agree at this point.

Upon hearing this, Luo Yang chuckled. Although he didn't say anything, his tone was rather intriguing. "He saved you?"

Feng Xiangming explained indignantly, "He's a psychic, and a very powerful one…"

"Ahem!"

Before Feng Xiangming could finish his sentence, Lu Yan's heavy cough interrupted him. Instinctively turning to look at Lu Yan, he saw him giving subtle signals, forcing him to swallow back his words.

Luo Yang raised an eyebrow and said, "So you're a psychic, huh? That's quite impressive."

Anyone could hear the insincerity in his voice. After all, who on the entire aircraft wasn't a psychic? This identity might be valuable in Devil City, but in the Psychic Special Zone, it was less impressive.

Meanwhile, after Lu Yan cut off the live stream, the comment section fell into confusion. After all, everything had been fine just moments ago; how did the screen suddenly go black?!

"Oh no, has Brother Lu encountered some massive monster?"

"It can't be. He did run into Sky City's rescue team earlier. Maybe it's just bad signal up in the sky?"

"My husband is invincible! Those big monsters wouldn't even fill his teeth!"

"The signal might just be bad up there. I'll wait a bit longer."

Since nobody had work today, everyone was lounging at home. At this moment, the number of people watching Lu Yan's live stream had reached a staggering one million, taking up most of the platform's traffic. Yet, these netizens preferred chatting in Lu Yan's live stream rather than glancing at Sky City's official channel, rendering any platform recommendations useless. As a result, the latter's viewer count remained awkwardly stuck around 100,000.

Netizens now felt that Sky City's leaders were merely putting on a show. They talked about sending out a psychic team for rescue, yet after half a day, they were still stuck on Cloud Road, unaware of the significant troubles that had arisen.

The connection between Sky City and Cloud Road was a long celestial staircase, towering over a thousand meters high, responsible for trade between the two cities. Nobody knew how this ladder existed, just as they didn't know when Sky City first appeared.

At this moment, countless wanderers filled the junction between the two cities, forming a dark shadow large enough to blot out the sky. Like flies and vultures drawn to blood, they densely crowded the sky, surging crazily toward Sky City.

Due to the nearby residential area, large-scale weapons couldn't be used. The upper echelons of the Monitoring Academy could only dispatch psychics and military units to the front lines of the celestial staircase, using manpower and firearms to block the wanderers. However, these wanderers seemed endless, with more rushing forward as soon as one batch died, causing many psychics to become overwhelmed and retreat.

The head of the academy stood high above, his face turning livid at the sight. Gripping his walkie-talkie, he ranted incessantly, "Team Three can't hold on anymore. Teams Four, Five, and Six, get up here immediately!! These wanderers wouldn't attack Sky City without reason; someone must be controlling them from behind. Find out who it is immediately!!"

"And ask when Team One will return. Move all fire and mental psychics to the front! They must hold the entrance until the Red Sun ends!"

"What about the patrol teams!! Didn't I tell them to disperse the nearby citizens? Why are there still people running below? Clear them out immediately!"

Sky City housed countless nobles and thousands upon thousands of research materials. If it fell, the losses and consequences would be immeasurable. The head of the academy could only send the fire and mental psychics, second only to lightning in destructive power, to the front lines, hoping to stall until the evacuation ended. Then, they could use heavy weaponry against the enemy.

The head of the academy fumed on the celestial staircase, while netizens shook their heads at their screens. Seeing the plummeting viewership data, the TV reporter decided to risk his life and step forward for an interview:

"Head of the academy, how long do you estimate it will take to clear these overwhelming wanderers? Will they pose a threat to the residents of Sky City..."

"Scram!"

Before the reporter could finish, the head of the academy spat in his face, roaring angrily, "What time is it for an interview?! If you dare ask such nonsense again, I'll throw you to the wanderers! If you have so much energy, take a gun and fight for me!!"

The reporter silently wiped the spit off his face and hurriedly moved aside. While lamenting that money was hard to earn and shit was hard to eat, he flashed a professional smile at the camera lens and spoke in a standard broadcasting tone:

"The situation in Sky City is grim. The number of wanderers is increasing, while the psychic teams are severely understaffed. The patrol teams below are doing their best to evacuate the crowd. We believe the situation will improve once heavy weaponry arrives. This is frontline reporter Wang Xiaole reporting."

Another batch of psychics retreated due to exhaustion. The captain in charge of combat command had lost his voice, shouting hoarsely, "Are there any fire psychics left?! Get up here immediately! Hurry!"

Those psychics' legs trembled like they had just been pulled out of water. Hearing this, they angrily cursed, "Damn it, where's there any fire left! Burn me if you want!"

Their psychic abilities usually lasted no more than two hours, but they had been fighting continuously for four hours now. Even iron men couldn't endure this. If they continued, they'd really turn to ashes.

Just as the battle looked bleak, a familiar aircraft suddenly flew in. The pilot skillfully avoided the clusters of wanderers, signaling to rejoin the team, and slowly landed above Sky City.

"Reporting to the academy, Team One has successfully arrived in the city and requests to rejoin!"

Hearing this, the head of the academy felt a great relief. Team One was the ace team of the Psychic Special Zone. With their return, they could hold out for a while. Quickly, he used the walkie-talkie to say, "All members of Team One, follow orders. Immediately join the battle and defend the celestial staircase before the citizens evacuate! Repeat, all members of Team One, join the battle immediately!"

Xing Yuan and the others had been clearing out Devil City earlier, never expecting Sky City's situation to be so dire. Hearing the head of the academy's order, they immediately gathered their equipment and disembarked from the aircraft, rushing to the front to prepare for battle. Lu Yan also followed Professor Mo and the others to the temporary safety zone above the celestial staircase.

Feng Xiangming was terrified by the overwhelming wanderers overhead. His face pale, he doubted Sky City's impending fall: "Lu... Brother Lu, why are there more wanderers here than in Devil City?"

Lu Yan had originally wanted to help, but the combat zone was tightly guarded by the military, not allowing anyone unrelated to enter or exit. When he tried to go over, he was directly chased away, leaving him to stand by and watch the battle with Feng Xiangming and the others.

Hearing this, Lu Yan put his hands in his coat pockets, looked up at the sky, and sighed silently, "Yeah, there are indeed a lot of wanderers here."

They were all living time points.

Unbeknownst to them, among the hundreds of thousands of viewers in Sky City's official live stream, someone had noticed something amiss. Besides focusing the camera on the intense battle above, the cameraman occasionally switched to scenes of citizens evacuating to the safety zone. Amidst the chaotic background, a dozen researchers in white coats stood out, and the black figure standing among them was even more conspicuous.

Although Lu Yan had never shown his face during his live streams, his fans knew that he often wore black clothing. Coupled with his abrupt termination of the live stream earlier, it was hard not to think twice.

Someone hesitantly commented:

"That... when the camera switched over just now, there was someone standing at the front. Did anyone else find them strangely familiar?"