Chapter 8: The Dark Alley Incident: Xie Wujiu’s Poison Needle Trap

Shen Yan’s footsteps came to an abrupt halt at the mouth of the alley.

The scythe in the gray-robed man’s hand was still dripping water, and the green light on the blade flashed briefly, eerily similar to the loading animation on his phone terminal when it first started up. But the image lasted only an instant before the figure suddenly swayed and dispersed like smoke, leaving behind only a wisp of green mist and a half-burned talisman paper.

“An illusion?”

His heart tightened, and his fingers slid to the edge of the phone screen. The stranger he had been confronting just moments ago had vanished without a trace, leaving no spiritual energy fluctuations behind—it defied logic. Unless… some kind of high-level illusion program had been pre-deployed along this path.

He didn’t dare linger, turning and running toward the old data tower. The earlier auction farce had drained too much of his mental power, the armor repair patch was still running in the background, and his energy bar had already dropped to seventeen. If he had to fight another tough battle, he’d have to rely on sheer willpower.

The data tower was just two streets away, its rusted iron frame piercing the night sky, with a broken signal antenna dangling from the top. Shen Yan crept along the wall toward the tower’s base, but just as he was about to climb over the collapsed fence, a gentle voice called out from behind.

“Senior Brother, please wait.”

He spun around to see a young man in light green Medical Cultivator robes standing about three meters away. The man had delicate features, carried a medicine pouch in his hand, and wore a jade thumb ring at his waist that glowed softly under the streetlight.

“This place is heavy with yin energy. I’ve been sent by Medicine Valley to assist you,” the other said, taking two steps closer. “Your aura seems unstable. Did you just use a major technique? Take an anti-miasma pill first.”

Shen Yan didn’t move.

He stared at the man’s sleeve—there was a faint glint of metal there, as if something was hidden inside. What was even stranger was that his phone terminal suddenly flashed a line of red text: 【Warning: High concentration of neurotoxin detected. Source: Moving target at three o’clock ahead】.

His pupils contracted.

The next moment, the “Medical Cultivator” curled the corner of his lips, lightly flicked open his folding fan, and with a soft “shh,” shot out three silver needles so fast they almost left afterimages.

“Holy shit!”

Shen Yan instinctively leaped backward, frantically tapping on his screen. A string of code instantly flashed through his mind: 【Call upon spiritual energy, generate acidic solution, effective range: Poison needle trajectory】. He named it the “Metal Dissolution Program” and sent it with a single tap.

The result was a “boom” as a section of the ground collapsed.

The concrete layer rapidly corroded as if splashed with strong acid, cracking open a hole wide enough for a person. The poison needles veered off course, but he couldn’t stop his momentum and tumbled straight down.

“Damn it! I messed up the parameters again!” he shouted mid-air. “Who told me the corrosion coefficient was ten times?!”

During the fall, he twisted his body, cushioning his back with the Black Tortoise Armor. Upon impact, the armor’s cracks trembled and automatically released a faint golden barrier, buffering most of the impact force.

But he still landed in a dazed heap.

The opening above was quickly obscured by dust, plunging everything into complete darkness. He lay on the damp ground, with only the sound of dripping water and the distant echoes of pipes in his ears.

Great. Now he was truly an underground worker.

He struggled to sit up. His phone screen flickered, popping up a new notice: 【System unstable. It is recommended to immediately close non-essential processes.】 Just as he was about to switch away, he suddenly heard footsteps from above.

Light, steady, step by step—as if deliberately letting him hear clearly.

“Never thought that the host of the Source Code Spiritual Root would stumble over such a low-level mistake,” a voice drifted down, tinged with amusement. “But that’s fine too—saves me an extra step.”

Shen Yan looked up. By the faint light of his phone, he saw the man crouching at the edge of the hole, looking down at him from above. The folding fan was closed and tucked back into his sleeve, but the jade thumb ring slowly lifted, giving a gentle pinch.

“Crack.”

The moment the jade shattered, a cloud of red mist surged out, rapidly spreading along the pipes. The air was instantly filled with a sickly sweet, metallic scent—like rotting peach blossoms mixed with rust.

Shen Yan’s breath hitched. The scene before him began to distort—shattered car windows, flying glass, a hand reaching for the steering wheel… The images from the car accident seven years ago actually reappeared in the toxic mist!

“Hallucination-inducing toxin?” He gritted his teeth, forcing his eyes shut. “No, I have to build a barrier!”

He raised his hand and bit his fingertip. As soon as blood seeped out, he quickly drew the outline of a talisman shape on the screen. This wasn’t a traditional talisman, but his self-created “Blood Code Talisman”—using blood as the key to invoke the root permission of the Source Code Spiritual Root and forcibly initiate the defense protocol.

Code formed: 【If toxin concentration exceeds ninety points, generate crystalline barrier】

Execute!

A translucent hexagonal crystalline barrier rose out of thin air, unfolding layer by layer like a honeycomb structure, instantly blocking the toxic mist outside. Even more bizarrely, the surface of the barrier displayed intricate Data Stream patterns, which actually began to compress the red mist in reverse!

“What?!” A startled, angry cry came from above.

The red mist recoiled, rushing straight toward the man’s face. He staggered back, covering his eyes, letting out a muffled groan.

Shen Yan seized the chance to roll against the wall, panting heavily as he stared upward. The man swayed but remained standing, his voice turning cold. “You’re more troublesome than I imagined.”

“Who are you?” Shen Yan wiped the mud and water from his face. “Xie Wujiu? Or some impostor?”

The man sneered. “Karma is a cycle. You can’t escape.”

Before the words faded, the man had already retreated into the depths of the darkness. The sound of footsteps gradually faded away, leaving only a lingering scent of sandalwood and blood intertwined, winding through the damp air.

Shen Yan leaned against the brick wall, his chest heaving. His phone battery showed seventeen percent. The shield program was still running, but the Terminal Interface kept flashing the 【System unstable】 notice. He looked down at his hand—his fingertip was still bleeding. Drops of blood fell onto the screen, enveloped by the Code Flow, transforming into faint streaks of light that merged into the cracks of the armor.

The Black Tortoise Armor trembled slightly, as if sensing something.

He glanced around, finally seeing clearly that he was in a abandoned sewer. The walls were covered in moss, black water pooled on the ground, and several rusted iron pipes lay haphazardly on either side. At his feet, a faint blue pattern was slowly lighting up, its lines and direction completely matching the cracks on the armor.

“This thing… could it be part of an ancient Teleportation Array?”

Just as he reached out to touch it, the armor suddenly heated up on its own, emitting a series of tiny electric arcs from the cracks. The blue pattern flashed in sync, its frequency growing faster and faster.

The air began to ripple.

His eyes widened as the last line of the Log on his mobile Terminal popped up: 【Matching Energy source Detected. Establish connection?】

The next moment, a blue light erupted.

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(End of Chapter)