Chapter 268 — Deteriorating
Blade of Dawn · Page 1 of 3
Ever since the aberrations had attacked the camp, Gao Yang had never stopped keeping an eye on the Great Wall. Having personally witnessed its construction, he understood better than anyone what that magical barrier meant to every race on this continent—and better than anyone, how unthinkable the consequences would be should anything go wrong with it.
So even when the domain was at its most straitened, he had still spent heavily to set up several observation posts near the southern pass of the Dark Mountains, watching the Great Wall day and night. That pass was precisely the gap through which the aberrations had once crossed the range to invade the domain; it was, so to speak, the greatest weak point in the entire Dark Mountains barrier, and the only "window" from which one could gaze upon the Great Wall from a relatively safe vantage.
This very morning, several of the posts had sent word: they had observed an eerie "flicker" in the middle section of the Great Wall. The vast magical barrier had dimmed for a moment, then grown unusually bright all over, the whole process lasting only a few seconds—yet clearly visible.
It was not the entire barrier that had flickered, and afterward it had returned to normal. That was the sole piece of good news: it seemed there was no risk of total collapse just yet, and the barrier's self-repair function was still operating properly.
Upon receiving the report, Gao Yang did not even attend the subsequent inauguration ceremony for the arcane obelisks. He shut himself in his study at once and pulled up the satellite surveillance data from the recent period, and only after confirming that there had been no excessive mana surges around the domain and no anomalous energy readings from the direction of the Dark Mountains did he relax slightly: the problem still lay with the Gondor Wasteland itself, and had nothing to do with the giant sun overhead or the world's ambient mana.
"What has Suojilin been up to these past two days?" Gao Yang suddenly changed tack, bringing up the bald powerhouse who was currently freeloading in the domain under the status of "prisoner of war."
Hetty thought it over and said, none too certainly, "He's been cooperative the whole time, and basically never leaves his quarters. But I hear he's grown rather close to Pi Yun lately—though that's only natural, I suppose. The druidic tradition ultimately stems from the elves, after all; the two of them may find some common ground on the path of nature."
Gao Yang's mouth twitched involuntarily. Suojilin truly was a powerhouse who never gave up easily—he still hadn't abandoned hope of curing his baldness! Only, to pin his hopes on a quack potion peddler like Pi Yun... Was Suojilin planning to trade all the commission he'd earned over the years for amulets and luck-changing salves?
Suojilin's "true nature as a powerhouse" was known to Gao Yang alone, so he could hardly explain it to Hetty. He merely instructed, "Go and fetch him for me."
Before long, Suojilin arrived in Gao Yang's study. This "Typhon officer"—theoretically a prisoner of war—had suffered no mistreatment whatsoever in the Cecil domain. Apart from a modicum of necessary surveillance, his living conditions were roughly on par with those of Hetty and Rebecca, and he was free to move about most of the domain. The moment he appeared, he greeted Gao Yang cheerfully: "Hey! Gao Yang, let me tell you something—there's a fellow in your domain who..."
"Don't believe him. Apart from the legitimate potions of the druidic tradition, more than half of the salves he peddles on the sly are fake."
Suojilin: "..."
"The amulets are fake too. Those so-called ancient relics dug up from primordial ruins—they're all taken from the scrap heaps at the steelworks."
Suojilin: "..."
"And don't believe that health-and-hair-care routine of his either. His hair is thick because he was born that way—and he isn't even the same race as you, so believing him won't do you any good."