Superhumans of the Dome City-Chapter 1394 - 11: Strategy Assistant

"I don’t understand, I don’t get it, I have no idea what’s going on with him?" Gongsun Ce said, "Is treating his eyes so difficult for someone as skilled as him?"

Qin Ming looked into his eyes: "You haven’t treated your eyes either..."

"I want to wear glasses!" Gongsun Ce became anxious.

"Mr. Zhang said that being like this is beneficial for his cultivation right now, but I think Yan Qi still has his own reasons for not wanting to open his eyes to see the current world," Qin Ming said. "He’s very stubborn; even if something is good or right, if he doesn’t want to do it, he won’t."

"What’s this all about... why be blind for no reason..." Gongsun Ce muttered.

He casually chatted some more, agreed to spar with Qin Ming the next day, bought some snacks for Qin Qianbai, and then took his leave. In just a few words, the previously lively expression disappeared from the grey-haired youth, and the slanting sunset stretched his languid shadow long.

Qin Qianbai tugged on her uncle’s sleeve: "Uncle Ming, that was your new classmate, right?"

"Yes," Qin Ming nodded.

"Then he shouldn’t be very familiar with Uncle Yan; why does he seem so unhappy?" Qin Qianbai asked.

Qin Ming thought for a moment and said, "Some people don’t need much time to get along because their essence is very similar. Just like many elders teach you martial arts at home, but you and I get along best because neither of us bothers with troublesome matters, so we’re both happy."

"But he’s nothing like Uncle Yan; Uncle Yan isn’t so talkative."

"Yan Qi often gets mad about inexplicable things too," Qin Ming said.

Qin Qianbai thought about it for a while and felt that Uncle Ming made a good point. She couldn’t quite grasp what these two were thinking. In this sense, Uncle Gongsun and Uncle Yan were indeed alike.

·

Gongsun Ce threw himself onto the bed of his small wooden house, staring gloomily at the ceiling. The series of events after class today made him unhappy; even the bickering with Situ Yi seemed less detestable compared to the tasks of the Empire’s civil servants and Yan Qi’s situation. He glanced at the monitoring bookshelf and felt a surge of annoyance, hurling a shuriken over.

"This ancient city is like a prison; no matter how skilled you are, you can’t be happy."

"True," Gongsun Ce nodded, "How did you get here? Why did you come? What makes you think you can come?"

The speaker was sitting at his desk looking at the map of Divine Capital, wearing a white trench coat and with blue hair. King Pingdeng tilted his head to dodge the shuriken, turning back with an innocent expression: "Seeing you living alone so lonely, I came out to chat with you. That look of yours driving away suspicious people is so hurtful..."

Gongsun Ce couldn’t be bothered to figure out how this person appeared; these Eternal Kings with their vast divine skills wouldn’t surprise him even if they tore this virtual space-time apart with their bare hands. He waved dismissively: "Mr. Gongsun is busy, just waiting to finish this task so we can concentrate our strength and lead everyone to beat you up, so can you leave if there’s nothing else?"

King Pingdeng looked regretful: "Look at your attitude now! When you first got clear, you were all respectful, but lying there on your bed talking to me with no respect now. Power truly corrupts, Gongsun Ce, you look just like a strong man’s ugly face now!"

Gongsun Ce squinted at him: "Hey, isn’t it you Desolate Form Mages who most like the logic of who is strong and confident? If I were still like before, you’d mock me for not making progress, right?"

"Indeed, which is why I like your ugly face," King Pingdeng flipped faster than a book, somehow producing a handful of seeds to crack, "No idle talk, onto business. Through this afternoon’s little adventure, you should feel Order King is a rotten guy."

"What I feel doesn’t align with the evidence I have."

"You don’t have evidence, but you have intuition, don’t you? Trust yourself; that cold and rotten person doesn’t match your way," King Pingdeng said, "But if things continue like this, you’ll be stuck, so I’ve decided to give you a small hint. You missed important information today."

Gongsun Ce was stunned: "What did I miss?"

"Subjectively, you didn’t do anything wrong, but you should have listened carefully to Liu’s advice before: relying too much on Netherworld Eyes will make you overlook signs you should notice immediately." King Pingdeng wagged his finger, "If you observed the whole process with normal eyesight, you’d see that Yan Qi didn’t use any Illusion Technique at the end. He directly led Master Jing onto the main road of Divine Capital City."

Gongsun Ce immediately reacted: "No Illusion Technique... Information Cloaking?"

"Excellent, talking with you is so easy!" King Pingdeng clapped his hands, "Carry on strategy, buddy, the progress is good so far, waiting for your good news."

King Pingdeng put down the map and disappeared like air. Gongsun Ce pondered for a moment, taking out the rabbit, realizing the gray rabbit’s needle tilted slightly towards ’positive’. This indicated that his actions today promoted history towards the correct direction... but this afternoon’s series of events shouldn’t have involved him; if he wasn’t there, Yan Qi also had no reason to participate in that trivial matter.

Events that originally didn’t occur, yet moved history in the right direction?

Gongsun Ce pondered for a moment, hurriedly left the campus, and returned to Divine Capital City.

·

The cold wind of the twelfth lunar month swept through the gray streets, warm as spring within the brightly lit interior. Actors with painted faces on the stage sang ancient opera tunes, and the audience below listened intently. Situ Yi sat in the last row of the audience, his slender fingers moving gently with the accompaniment.

"Have you gotten acquainted with your new classmate?" asked the black-clad boy beside him, "What kind of person is he?"

"Devil’s Secret Skill performs an Illusion Technique, worldly-wise and emulates true emotions." Situ Yi laughed, "The scheming is profound, unfathomable."

"To receive such an evaluation from you, one must be frightening indeed." Hidden Law Master said, "Here’s an intriguing piece of news for you: Tonight, Gongsun Ce conducted experiments across the Divine Capital. He used some minor Impermanence Skill methods in front of ordinary people to observe their reactions. I think he has guessed the hidden laws."

Situ Yi showed no reaction: "Gongsun bears heavy responsibilities, this matter is commonplace."

"No, this is quite strange." Hidden Law Master objected, "The Universe Patrol Department people must have some understanding of the hidden laws, at the very least they’d have been hinted at by superiors. If he truly belongs to the Universe Patrol Department, why would he conduct such experiments? He acts like an outsider with limited understanding, even with the highest level of confidentiality, such concealment of information has gone too far."

Situ Yi did not reply, humming a tune and shaking his head, Hidden Law Master felt slight dissatisfaction: "Did you listen to me talking?"

Situ Yi turned his head, smiling meaningfully: "A close friend is a warrior, definitely not a strategist or advisor. Not adept at analytical thinking, why force it?"

"That’s why I’m asking for your opinion." Hidden Law Master frowned.

Situ Yi raised his head, looking at the stage, smiled and said: "Watch the play, watch the play!"

"You possess empty wisdom yet short-sighted, I’ve spoken to you about so much regarding major issues and still, you remain indifferent, merely watching the play!" Hidden Law Master sighed helplessly, "Fine, ultimately this is still the time for preparation, you will make your decision one day."

Situ Yi remained unmoved, only asking with a smile: "Has my close friend gained a lot?"

"Found quite a bit in the palace database, will use it to test the current emperor’s bottom line soon." Hidden Law Master stood up, "Sometimes, it feels very uninspiring... Over two thousand years have passed and humans and the world remain in such a state, filthy to the point of nauseating."

Situ Yi suddenly raised his arm: "Rise a great fire, burn down the imperial city!"

The boy in black glanced at him, his young face full of an elder’s world-weariness.

"Burn what?" Hidden Law Master sighed, "Ultimately, it’s about preserving the stained hand at present, everyone is the same."

He quickly headed to the exit, pushed open the large door, and left. The cold wind from the street crept through the door crack, making the elderly man in the front row shiver, he turned and looked but saw no one leaving, only noticed a scholar in white hat in the middle of the back row, happily watching the play.

·

The next day, ten o’clock in the morning. Just after the first session of the morning ended, Gongsun Ce lay on his classroom desk, idly flipping through the "Imperial Academy Supervisor Disciple Rules" given by Liu Zhongwu.

After receiving the hint from King Pingdeng last night, Gongsun Ce immediately went to the Divine Capital City to conduct experiments, and the results were exactly as he predicted. Whether ejecting fire from his mouth, entwined by snakes, or juggling shuriken with both hands—none attracted anyone’s attention, the passersby often cast a glance of surprise then walked away in silence. Such silence wasn’t the kind of disdainful silence people of the Divine Capital would show when seeing a country bumpkin clown but an indifference as if they hadn’t seen anything at all, they simply could not recognize the anomalies around them. It was as if a powerful Information Life Form had woven an illusory net that paralyzed all the minds of the Divine Capital people, causing them to overlook all unusual actions around them.

"So dull!" Gongsun Ce sighed.

"If it’s dull, why not go for a walk?" Liu Zhongwu chimed in. It’s rare for all five to be present in Mr. Zhang’s class on memes and intentions this morning, Liu Zhongwu was the only one earnestly taking notes, while the rest either weren’t listening or were memorizing mentally.

Gongsun Ce got up and walked out of the classroom: "I’m not talking about the environment, but about our Divine Capital City, so dull!"

"This is the Empire’s core at the feet of the Son of Heaven, there’s no reason why the management wouldn’t be strict?" Liu Zhongwu laughed, "Empire management emphasizes stability, better nothing happens than something."

"Overregulation can have adverse effects, you know." Gongsun Ce said, "Don’t believe me? Go and ask outside, I guarantee the ordinary students are also annoyed."

Liu Zhongwu’s face turned peculiar upon hearing this: "I wouldn’t advise you to go... the outside students are having a hard time these days, you’d better not provoke them as a carefree person."

"What happened, again?"

Curiosity piqued, Gongsun Ce saw there was still some time before the next class, so he crossed the stone bridge to the other side of the barrier. The inside and outside layout of the Imperial Academy is symmetrical, the exterior setup mirrors the interior like inside a mirror. It was time for the outside to finish classes too, but none of the students came out for air or casually discussed poetry. Only the faint sound of orders echoed from the playground, several young people standing under pine trees, wearing summer casual attire, each with a grim expression.

"I truly cannot accept this arrangement." A crew-cut student said angrily, "The situation is tense, students preparing for battle, everyone joining the military. Shouting slogans loudly, but what are we learning? Aside from standing at military posture and physical training, it’s listening to a group of things buzzing like flies. And with such low-quality things, they can even enter the gates of the Imperial Academy?"

"Say less, there’s still homework needing preparation tonight..." advised the student with weak legs nearby.

"I insist on saying it! Only the leaders above who act as night chamber pots filled with excrement could think of such idiotic ideas!" The student remained indignant, "If I were to learn the Heavenly Return Skill in a martial arts hall in the city for 10 days, it would be more meaningful than this foolish training..."

"Assemble!!!"

A sharp whistle sounded from afar on the playground, followed by a commanding voice full of arrogance, the kind that immediately triggers dislike, like a monkey prancing arrogantly. The students under the trees stood up one by one, gritted their teeth, and moved forward. A few seconds later, the earlier voice sounded again.

"Two seconds late! I’ve emphasized the discipline style a million times but you don’t listen, do you? All squat down for me!"

Gongsun Ce was incredulous: "What the hell is all this?"

Liu Zhongwu shrugged: "Imperial Academy military training."