249: Chapter 249 Petty_1 249: Chapter 249 Petty_1 “What’s fake?”

“The stars filling the sky are but illusions…

I wonder if we’ll ever see that vast Star Ocean again…”

Glancing at Feng Yuan, Zhong Liuyan let out a laugh and said,

“You’re talking like a mystic.

Isn’t the Star Ocean out in the outer sea?

What does it have to do with the starry sky?”

Feng Yuan smiled and, without explaining, continued chatting for a while until Pei Yu excitedly interrupted their conversation.

As Pei Yu dragged Zhong Liuyan away, he looked back at Feng Yuan with a thief-like vigilance.

Feng Yuan chuckled and gently stroked Xiao Ji, who had fallen asleep in his arms without him noticing.

“You’re leaving now?”

“Yeah, if I don’t set off now I’m afraid I’ll be late.”

“Alright then, you’d better hurry.”

Having changed into his uniform that he received from Agunas, Feng Yuan said goodbye to Qi Chen, who was on night duty, and rushed down the mountain with Xiao Ji in his arms.

Suddenly Xiao Ji woke up with a start, looked around, nuzzled Feng Yuan with its head a few times, and let out a few calls.

Somewhat puzzled, Feng Yuan stopped and whispered,

“What’s wrong?”

Xiao Ji glanced at Feng Yuan, then jumped out of his arms and transformed into a sky-blue large bird.

Landing on the ground, it shook its head at Feng Yuan as a sign for him to climb on.

Understanding, Feng Yuan gave a knowing smile and climbed onto Xiao Ji’s back.

Along the way, Feng Yuan occasionally corrected Xiao Ji’s flying direction.

Just as he landed at the Special Duty Team’s entrance, a nearby security team member approached cautiously and said,

“May I see your identification, please?”

Feng Yuan easily pulled out his work ID and handed it over.

After a careful check, the guard handed it back and said,

“The area is currently under martial law.

Please wait at the temporary office.”

After storing his work ID, Feng Yuan said with some confusion,

“Haven’t the researchers already moved to the Maomu Research Institute?

Why the sudden martial law?”

Seeing that the guard stood rigidly without responding, Feng Yuan scratched his head and carried Xiao Ji, who had reverted to its original form, towards the temporary office.

As soon as he arrived, he saw Liao Yu yawning and boredly browsing on his phone.

Although Ye Hanlei wasn’t there, Feng Yuan knew her well enough to guess that she would be working on computer files in some office.

Sneaking up behind Liao Yu, Feng Yuan slapped him hard on the back, and evading Liao Yu’s sudden grab, Feng Yuan laughed and said,

“Not bad reflexes.”

“Oh, it’s you.

Han Lei will probably be happy to see you.

Haah…”

Seeing Liao Yu looking tired, Feng Yuan asked curiously,

“What’s the matter with you?

Working overtime again?”

“What else?

A bizarre new area suddenly appeared in the Data Domain, and Captain Yan had us all go explore it late at night.

It’s still not over.

If it weren’t for your brother Liao understanding how to hide his true abilities, I’d probably still be miserably exploring in the Data Domain right now.”

“What kind of changes happened in the Data Domain?”

“This huge floating Mechanical Giant City suddenly appeared, and there’s this weird white-haired middle-aged man challenging us there.

Because Elder Li is holding down Maomu City, all the personnel that could be spared from the city have been sent to explore the Mechanical Giant City.”

“White-haired middle-aged man…

Why do I have this strange sense of familiarity?”

“You know him?”

Seeing Liao Yu looking at him, Feng Yuan hesitated for a moment before saying,

“You guys can’t catch that guy, can you?

Is he constantly shifting and hard to pin down?”

“You know about it?”

“Well…

it’s probably that guy…

I think I need to go over there and see what he’s up to.”

“Eh?

You’re not planning on sneaking open another gate, are you?”

“No, I’ll have Captain Yan take me there.”

As Feng Yuan took out his phone, Liao Yu shook his head and leaned back in his chair to continue playing with his phone.

After a while, Captain Yan came over.

Noticing Captain Yan’s exhausted look, Feng Yuan said with some helplessness,

“Why are you all like this.”

Gazing at Feng Yuan, Captain Yan was silent for a while before slowly speaking,

“Do you really know who that person is?”

“I can’t be sure it’s him.

It’s better if you take me there to have a look.”

“Does he have ill intent towards us?”

“No way.

If he had, you would all be dead by now.

But it is strange what he’s up to.”

Qi Chen cast a glance at Feng Yuan as Captain Yan spoke

“Come with me.”

Leading Feng Yuan through the strict security gate, they arrived at a huge metallic door.

Through the door, Feng Yuan could see the scenery of the Data Domain and, in the distance, the abrupt appearance of a massive mechanical city.

Stepping through the metallic door into the Data Domain, Feng Yuan noticed quite a number of people dressed in the uniform of the guard troops lined up, walking back from the direction of the Mechanical Giant City and resting in tents to the side.

Approaching the Mechanical Giant City, Feng Yuan observed carefully.

The Mechanical Giant City was constructed of dark red metal, encircled by huge, long, arc-shaped buildings floating slowly and rotating around the center.

All these long arc-shaped metallic structures together formed a spherical metallic construction.

There were enormous gaps between each metal arc, and the multiple layers of enclosing metal arcs made it impossible for Feng Yuan to see clearly what was inside.

On each metal arc, there were various large machines operating.

Rubbing his chin, Feng Yuan said with some confusion,

“This thing…

it looks somewhat familiar.”

“You’ve seen it before?”

“Yeah, it seems like it’s something very well-known.”

“Well-known?

Then why do none of the researchers recognize it?”

“It’s well-known in a certain sense, how could those researchers of yours know about this thing.”

“Who’s there!”

Upon hearing a disdainful voice, Captain Yan immediately signaled the Spirit Beast to be alert and scanned the surroundings.

It was then that Captain Yan noticed a white-haired middle-aged man suddenly appearing beside Feng Yuan.

Just as he was about to pull Feng Yuan away, he saw Feng Yuan raise his right hand and wave, saying

“Gitalien, what are you doing with this thing?”

Giving Captain Yan a glance, Gitalien said, looking towards the Mechanical Giant City,

“Negotiations with that guy broke down, so I brought out its nest for the humans to visit, to give everyone a breather.”

“Ah…

that explains why it looked so familiar.

Isn’t this Ernis’ Mechanical Fortress?

How did you manage to bring that thing here?”

Giving Feng Yuan a sidelong glance, Gitalien replied calmly,

“I only pulled out the data information of the Mechanical Fortress.

You don’t think I’m so frivolous as to move that guy’s stinky den over here, do you?”

“Aren’t you afraid of it coming after you?

But how is Arnis doing now?”

“Injured, seems like he was ambushed.

He’s currently recovering, so he doesn’t have the time to care about Ernis.”

“You’re not planning to just leave this Mechanical Fortress here permanently, are you?”

“Is there a problem?”

Feng Yuan gave Captain Yan a glance, then said somewhat helplessly,

“Do you think Ernis is easy to talk to?

If it finds out you’ve brought this here, don’t you think it might come and raise hell?”

“Do you think we would be scared?”

“Scared, perhaps not, since it can’t defeat us, but are you sure you can protect Maomu City when the time comes?”

“That…”

Seeing Gitalien’s hesitation, Feng Yuan turned to Captain Yan and said,

“Get everyone to come back, Gitalien, you better clean this thing up quickly, otherwise it’s going to be troublesome if Ernis comes knocking.”

Noticing that Captain Yan seemed tempted, Feng Yuan said with exasperation,

“What’s there to research about Ernis’ lair?

If Ernis comes attacking Maomu City because of this, the fun will be too great.

Don’t forget, it was it who instigated this, with no one to mediate for sure, a fight will break out the moment they meet.”

Seeing Feng Yuan gesture at Gitalien, Captain Yan quickly said with a sense of urgency,

“I need to report this to Elder Li, but…”

Seeing Captain Yan looking at him with suspicion, Gitalien snorted disdainfully and turned away.

Feng Yuan patted Gitalien on the shoulder and said,

“Isn’t their suspicion quite normal?

After all, which ordinary person would know about your ability to transform into human form?”

Gitalien casually opened a Gate of Light and walked through.

Through the Gate, Feng Yuan could see that the other side was the headquarters of the special service team.

As he prepared to pass through the Gate of Light, Feng Yuan noticed Captain Yan hesitating and waved him over, saying

“Captain Yan, come on over!”

No sooner had Captain Yan passed through the Gate of Light, leaving the Data Domain, than the white-haired middle-aged man let out a long howl and rapidly transformed into a long dragon, soaring into the sky.

“It really is Gitalien…”