Cyber ​​Sword Immortal Iron Rain

"But the top leaders in the research institute should understand this. The same should be true for the Induction Society and Pan-Asian Military Industry. Otherwise, they wouldn't have participated in this game."

Fang Bailu hesitated for a moment, but still asked directly - he had gradually figured out Anbennola's dislike of beating around the bush:

"What is your relationship with Shou Niang? Is she your... counselor?"

Fang Bailu had some understanding of the Microcomputer Taoism Research Society: there was no "master-disciple" relationship between them, only "learning partners" who helped each other. This title also spread among the Qigong practitioners in Singapore and Malaysia due to the influence of the research society.

Even if she was just hanging out at the research institute, the title should make no difference.

Anbenola looked at the small puddle of rain water slowly accumulating in his hands and fell into a long silence.

Fang Bailu followed the silence and did not continue to ask questions. Suddenly, he found that Anbennola was using the small handful of water as a mirror.

She let go of her hand, and the raindrops hitting the alloy floor on top of the oil tower were almost silent:

"I guess so. Shou Niang taught me a lot."

Anbenola stood up straight and calm again. This contrast made Fang Bailu realize that she was more active than before.

"She is emotionally unstable... We need to get more information now."

Fang Bailu concluded: When you become familiar with a person, one abnormality can allow you to obtain information.

"Is it you who wants to obtain the immortal body, or her?"

He stared at Anbennola's full-face mask. Fang Bailu's own burning gaze was reflected in the mirror - but he seemed to be able to see the pair of emerald green eyes in the mask.

"...Boss Fang. Are you planning to join forces with me to take action against Shou Niang?"

Every word Anbenola uttered was slow and heavy.

"Yes."

Fang Bailu gave an affirmative answer to Anbennola's question without hesitation.

He was not surprised that Anbennola saw through his thoughts - his undisguised hostility towards Shou Niang was a tool to increase the bargaining power in the negotiations. Judging from the various entanglements that had arisen so far, Shou Niang did not seem to care about Fang Bailu's suspicion and hostility.

In fact, it would be abnormal if Fang Bailu cooperated with him in a friendly manner. Sometimes, the pursuit of common interests between enemies is more solid.

Anbennola's mask let out a long, heavy exhalation sound, which Fang Bailu understood as some kind of sigh.

"I can only say that if she obtains the immortal body, it will not conflict with my goal..."

Fang Bailu suddenly took a step forward and moved closer to her.

Snapped!

Anbennola raised his hand reflexively, but then stopped - the distance was only a dozen centimeters, and the strong wind caused a sound like an air explosion.

Fang Bailu didn't care that his shirt was blown by the strong wind, and put his hands on Anbennola's shoulders:

"So what exactly do you want?"

The raindrops pierced into his eyes, making them cold and painful. But Fang Bailu just kept his eyes open, looking at himself in the mirror.

Surprise attack, get straight to the point - this is also one of the skills Fang Bailu learned from his small business, used to deal with some seemingly strong people.

As a human being, you will have the desire to express and talk. Many times, you will get the answer as long as you ask.

……

"Shou Niang can build me a 'flying boat' to take me across the sea of ​​stars."

Fang Bailu's reflection in the mask did not move at all. Anbennola did not avoid Fang Bailu's questions, and did not even make the slightest body movement.

He pondered for a moment and chose a guess from his mind:

"Is there anywhere you want to go?"

"Yes. I want to go to the outer space to have a look."

She raised her head.

After a while, the mask began to emit a mixture of faint sobbing sounds, breathing with a hint of phlegm like a broken bellows, and the sound of whistling wind.

"Is it a recording...?"

A man's voice rang out - from his dying gasps, Fang Bailu could imagine the blood bubbles around his mouth:

"...What's your favorite? I think it should be "Stars, My Home". In that case, it would be nice if I could die outside the Earth..."

The man's voice gradually faded away, and the child's sobs suddenly became louder and turned into cries.

Suddenly, all the sounds coming from the mask stopped.

“Is this a recording?”

"There are at least two people... a child and an adult. The crying child is Anbenola. Is that man her elder? "The Stars, My Destination" seems to be a science fiction novel from my time?"

But Fang Bailu understood one thing: Anbennola was trying to explain her motives to him.

A dark red horizontal line flashed across Anbenola's mask:

“This is an agreement.”

She continued, not giving Fang Bailu time to think:

"No one knows how to build a ferry across the stars, and no one is even remotely interested in doing so. What's happening on Earth is enough to keep everyone busy."

"But Shou Niang knows how to do it. She said that the old world once left behind the technology to cross the galaxy. I need her - I want to know what it is like outside. This is what I must do."

Fang Bailu was a little surprised: he thought Shou Niang promised Anbennola power, authority or wealth.

But what Anbenola asked for was this kind of reward... I don't know how to describe it.

"She's right. No one cares about this anymore."

Fang Bailu had only heard about manned spaceflight again during this conversation since he woke up. Even if the super-corporations had some old world heritage in this area, Fang Bailu could not see that they had any intention of putting it back on the agenda.

Indeed: everyone is already too busy to handle the trivial matters on the surface. At least, he doesn't see the possibility of this before the resources in the hands of the enterprises are exhausted.

He took his hand back:

"Is the information Shou Niang gave her true?"

Fang Bailu is skeptical: Judging from Shou Niang's current performance, she is too concerned about the turmoil in Kuala Lumpur. Whether she is a human still living in an extraterrestrial colony or another form of existence, Shou Niang's purpose is still a mystery.

In any case, judging from the resources he had at hand, it would be difficult for the time being to persuade Anbennola to join his united front - Fang Bailu knew very little about space travel such as "crossing the sea of ​​stars".

He wiped the rain off his nose and brought the topic back to business:

"I have clues about the immortal's body. What do you plan to exchange for it? Although we want to cooperate, it doesn't mean that the information is free."

Fang Bailu did not intend to reveal the existence of "Knuckles", but he had other information to exchange.

The Pan-Asian Military Industry represented by Night Owl tried to find "The Song of Feathering" through an intelligence network that could cover the entire city, so it would soon be no secret - a piece of news would spread quickly in Kuala Lumpur.

In this case, why not kill two birds with one stone: get some benefits from Anbennola first.

Chapter 81 Seven-character quatrain (end)

"What do you want in exchange?" Anbennola answered much faster than Bai Lu had imagined.

"A Luo Street." Fang Bailu said without hesitation, "Fu Yisheng was defeated by Mr. Kui, and a power vacuum has appeared on the streets of the entire south city. I think a street war will break out soon, and A Luo Street will be one of the battlefields."

The power of Fang’s Hardware Store can indeed influence the direction of this fight, but it is not enough.

He needed the power within the research institute, at least to prevent other Qigong practitioners' agents from getting involved - at present, Fang Bailu did not have enough resources to compete with the Qigong practitioners without exposing his "cell phone flying sword".

"...I can't intervene directly. The research institute has special rules and regulations for Qigong practitioners. In this case-"

"No need. I just want no other Qigong practitioners to get involved. Or I can deal with the Qigong practitioners' agents but not bring about any retaliation - that's fine too."

Anbenola tilted his head, his body language revealing doubt:

"In the past few days, you have become quite different from usual. Doesn't Fang's Hardware Store play the game of making money through harmony?"

Fang Bailu shook his head, but his eyes never left Anbennola's mask:

"make a deal?"

"…Deal. But don't overdo it. If too many people die and it affects the economy and consumption, you know how much trouble it will cause."

"People" are unimportant in the eyes of Singaporean and Malaysian officials and super-corporations, but "consumers" are much more important.

It’s just that on Alor Street, there are so few real “consumers” who don’t buy pirated products - so it doesn’t matter if some others die.

Now that he had received Anbennola's promise, Fang Bailu told him the information he had just received:

"Pan-Asia Military Industry sent agents into the city. They are horse thieves from the suburbs. They are looking for an ancient poem called "The Song of Feathering."

Fang Bailu regretted that his eyes could not penetrate the mask, so he could not judge Anbennola's micro-expressions.

"If you have any information related to the "Song of Transformation", you'd better tell me. Although the Pan-Asia Military Industry's branch in Singapore and Malaysia has been suppressed by the Microcomputer Taoism Research Association, you also know how powerful they are. If we can deal with both sides, we will have the possibility of seizing the immortal's body."

“If I can gain their trust further, it will be much more beneficial to us.”

Since they were going to cooperate, it would be best to take control of the initiative in their own hands - Fang Bailu decided to take the initiative to put forward a proposal and let them make a choice passively.

Say "we" more and "I" less.

"After all, Anbenola is not as cunning as Shouniang..."

As fellow villagers in time, Fang Bailu and Shou Niang were much more wary of her. If they could take more actions when she couldn't "descend" or communicate with Anbennola, perhaps they could pull the balance to their side.

Anbennola remained silent, while Fang Bailu remained patient.

Although there was a fierce gale blowing from the sky on the top of the oil tower, Fang Bailu didn't feel much cold - the three yang meridians of the foot improved his body circulation and raised his body temperature.

But under normal circumstances, Fang Bailu, who was used to wearing a shirt and a rubber raincoat, would probably shiver after staying there for a while.

"Tsk... She chose to meet here, probably intending to use the environment to influence my thinking..."

This thought flashed through Fang Bailu's mind: Anbennola may not be so cunning, but he is also meticulous.

"...How do you know this is related to the immortal's body?"

"At this time, is Pan Asia Military Industry here to study archaeology and cultural knowledge? The simplest inference is often correct."

Fang Bailu answered without hesitation. He would not tell Anbennola that this was his conjecture after seeing the strange existence of "Knuckles" and "Zombies".

After a while, Anbenola's full-face mask turned aside:

"Woe betide anyone who finds this poem."

"Do you really know?" Fang Bailu secretly confirmed in his heart: In his opinion, the person who knows the most about the immortal's physical body in Kuala Lumpur is Anbennola, who has a close relationship with Shou Niang.

"Suffer? What do you mean?"

He frowned fiercely - this doubt was not entirely disguised.

Anbenola shook open her robe sleeves, exposing her crystal-clear right hand in front of Fang Bailu. Compared with the last time Fang Bailu saw it, the circuits on the surface that glowed blue were more complicated, like some kind of tattoo wrapped around the poreless skin.

"This is my 'Tao Fruit'. It can split gold and stone, and its grip and strength far exceed the limits of what any living being can achieve."

"So this prosthetic hand is her Dao Fruit... Indeed, this strength is definitely not something that an ordinary blacksmith can create."

Fang Bailu didn't understand why she suddenly mentioned her Dao Fruit:

"But what does this have to do with the 'Feathering Song'?"

"This 'Tao Fruit' was copied from the old world's technology by the research institute, but the immortals can create a prosthetic body with performance far superior to it with their own guidance." Anbenola put his hands back into his sleeves. "The immortals cannot be guessed by our common sense."

"You know those 'empty shells' in 'Haji Yitai Lane' who cut off the connection between the three souls and seven spirits and rent out their bodies to provide services, right?"

Fang Bailu nodded - everyone in Kuala Lumpur knew it.

"If the store owner wants their souls to return to their bodies, they need to enter a key."

"This song, 'The Song of Transmigration', is the key used by 'this immortal' when he wants his soul to return to his body. It is a simulation of the 'one soul' among the immortal's three souls and seven spirits, recorded in the form of a special arrangement of fifty-four Chinese characters."

"Once an ordinary person finishes reading this poem..." Anbenola shook his head. "I don't know, but it probably won't be a good result. An ordinary person's brain cannot bear the consciousness of an immortal, even if it's just one of its 'souls'. My own guess is that it's because of the stress on the body that it induces cerebral infarction or even brain death."

This time, it was Fang Bailu who remained silent. After a moment, he let out a long breath:

"I don't understand. It's just a few dozen Chinese characters, how can it be... and the human brain can't handle it, but just a few dozen characters can do it?"

Anbenola was still as calm as ever—but there was an inexplicable tremor in the dry, mechanical synthesized voice. She repeated what she had said before:

"That's how immortals are. We can't guess with our common sense."

"Shou Niang said that immortals are the embodiment of technology? But this is too metaphysical..."

Fang Bailu didn't think much about this question: no matter how hard he thought, he couldn't figure it out in a short time. But he knew that this information alone was not enough to report to Ye Xiao.