Peak Immortal Palace

The pungent smell of disinfectant made Zhang Dianfeng frown. He suddenly opened his eyes, and what came into view was a stark white ceiling and a hanging IV drip bottle. A stinging pain came from the back of his left hand; the needle was stuck in a vein, and clear liquid was slowly dripping down.

"Awake?" A nurse in a white coat approached, her tone calm. "You're lucky. The blast wave threw you more than three meters, and you only got minor scrapes. The police said you live nearby and just happened to be passing by?"

Zhang Dianfeng didn't speak, he just nodded slightly.

His mind was racing, and everything that had just happened in Old Wang's house flashed through his mind like movie clips—the madness of the Black Skull members, the blue light of the star map fragments, and the last sentence, "The star map is in Kunlun."

"The police are waiting outside. They'll take your statement when you feel better." The nurse changed the IV bag and turned to leave the ward.

Zhang Dianfeng immediately sat up and removed the needle from the back of his hand. The stinging pain at the wound was quickly soothed by a warm current. The residual energy from the ancient jade was still repairing his body, which made him even more certain that what was happening to him was not an illusion.

He touched his pocket; the metal disc lay there peacefully, but its temperature had returned to normal, and the patterns on its surface had lost their luster, making it look like an ordinary piece of scrap metal.

"We need to find out who Black Skull is."

He muttered to himself, threw off the covers, and got out of bed. His clothes were still covered in dust and blood. He rummaged through his backpack and took out spare clothes to change into—luckily, he had grabbed the backpack when he ran away last night.

As Zhang Dianfeng walked out of the ward, he saw two men in police uniforms standing at the end of the corridor, talking in hushed tones. Not wanting to get involved with them, he slipped out through the emergency exit while the nurses' station was empty.

The morning sunlight was a bit blinding. Standing at the hospital entrance, looking at the bustling street, he suddenly felt a wave of despair. His home was gone, his job was probably gone too, and now he was being targeted by a terrorist organization called Black Skull, clutching a fragment of a star map of unknown purpose…

"Instead of waiting to be killed, we should take the initiative."

Zhang Dianfeng clenched his fists, his engineer's rationality quickly calming him down.

The fact that Black Skull could find Old Wang indicates that they have a deep understanding of the star map fragments; their ability to mobilize armed helicopters and bombs shows that their power should not be underestimated.

But they also have weaknesses—at least for now, they don't seem to know his true identity, and only regard him as a "programmer who happened to get the fragment."

"Information is an advantage."

He flagged down a taxi and gave them an address—an internet cafe in the city center.

The internet cafe was filled with smoke, and the sound of keyboards clicking could be heard everywhere.

Zhang Dianfeng found a corner to sit down, turned on his computer, and his fingers flew across the keyboard.

Instead of searching for "Black Skull" directly, he first wrote a simple tracking program, masked his IP address, and then accessed the dark web.

The dark web is like a boundless swamp, filled with all sorts of illegal transactions and clandestine information.

Zhang Dianfeng's fingers danced across the keyboard, each line of code like a sharp blade, slicing through layers of encryption.

He was once a well-known white-hat hacker in the industry, but he later wrote commercial code to make a living, but he never lost his technical foundation.

"Black Skull..."

Countless pieces of related information popped up on the screen, most of them unfounded rumors—some said they were a transnational criminal organization that trafficked in arms and people; some said they were researching supernatural powers and specializing in plundering ancient relics; others said their headquarters were in a war-torn country in Africa, and their members were all outlaws.

Zhang Dianfeng frowned. The information was too disorganized and contained no substantial content.

He attempted to hack into several clandestine forums related to Black Skull, only to find that their firewalls were exceptionally robust and even had anti-tracking programs set up, nearly exposing his location.

"He's got something."

Zhang Dianfeng's eyes narrowed, which further convinced him that the Black Skull was no ordinary criminal organization.

Just as he was preparing to write a more complex cracking program, the metal disc in his pocket suddenly started to get hot again.

This time, the heat was more noticeable than before, and the patterns on the plate lit up again, but this time it was no longer blue light, but a faint gold.

At the same time, another message flooded into his mind: "Primary level of spiritual energy can be activated. You can sense energy fluctuations within a radius of 100 meters and attempt to drive low-level artifacts."

"Beginner level of psionic energy?"

Zhang Dianfeng's heart stirred, and he tried to concentrate on feeling the warm current in his body, following the guidance in the information.

The warm current flowed slowly, eventually converging at the dantian, forming a weak vortex.

As the energy swirled, he clearly sensed countless tiny specks of light floating in the surrounding air—the so-called "spiritual energy."

He looked at an empty soda can on the table and tried to "drive" it with his mind.

At first there was no reaction, but when he slightly adjusted the Qi vortex in his dantian, the can suddenly trembled slightly, and then slowly floated up, hovering a few centimeters above the table!

"Holy crap!" A blond-haired teenager playing video games nearby jumped in surprise, rubbing his eyes. "Dude, did your soda can come to life?"

Zhang Dianfeng quickly withdrew his thoughts, and the soda can fell onto the table with a "clatter".

He smiled at the blond-haired man and said, "It's probably static electricity."

The blond-haired man glanced at him suspiciously, then turned back to continue playing his game.

Zhang Dianfeng's heart was pounding wildly.

He can really control objects! It's a wonderful feeling, like calling a function when writing code. As long as you input the correct "instruction," that is, the way to mobilize psionic energy, you can get the corresponding "result," which is the movement of objects.

"Technological cultivation of immortality...may really be feasible."

He muttered to himself, a bold idea sprouting in his mind: "If the laws governing the operation of psionic energy could be quantified using code, wouldn't it be possible to rapidly increase strength, just like optimizing a program?"

Just then, his computer screen suddenly went black, followed by a pop-up image of a blood-red skull, exactly the same as the one that had appeared on his computer before.

The skull's eyes flashed red, and a line of text slowly appeared at the bottom of the screen:

"We know what you're looking for, Zhang Dianfeng. Don't waste your energy; the star map fragments don't belong to you. Three days later, at Kunlun Pass, we'll trade the fragments for your life. —Black Skull"

Zhang Dianfeng's pupils suddenly contracted.

They knew his name! And what's more, they actually arranged to meet him directly at the Kunlun Pass for a transaction!

It was a trap; even a fool could see it. But he had no choice. If the Black Skull could find his name, it must have a way to find his location.

Moreover, he also had to go to Kunlun—he needed to know what the Star Map Fragment was, why Old Wang had it, and why Black Skull was so obsessed with it.

He turned off the computer and stood up. The heat from the metal disk gradually subsided, but he could feel the vortex of energy in his dantian still slowly rotating.

"Kunlun Mountain Pass..."

Zhang Dianfeng walked out of the internet cafe and looked up at the sky. The sun was shining brightly, and the streets were bustling with traffic—a scene of peace. But he knew that beneath this peace lurked countless darkness and dangers.

He touched the metal plate in his pocket, his eyes hardening.

Three days later, at Kunlun Pass.

"Whether it's a trap or an opportunity, we must take the plunge."

He didn't notice that in an office building across from the internet cafe, a man in a black suit was standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, watching his back with a cold smile.

The man picked up his phone and dialed a number:

"The target has received the message and is on its way to Kunlun."

A hoarse voice came from the other end of the phone: "Very good, proceed as planned. Remember, we need to see them alive or dead, and also, the fragments of the star map must be retrieved."

"clear."

The man hung up the phone and turned to look at the large screen behind him.

The screen displayed Zhang Fengdian's information, from his birth date to his university grades, and even the awards he received as a child.

In the corner of the screen, there is a line of small text:

"Subject number 734, psionic awakening level: 89%, potential rating: S+."