Chapter 225: Counting the Traces (1)
The space was full of devices.
There was a huge computer body in the space that wasn’t powered on, but as the attached blue and red lights activated, the monitor switched on.
Trrr!
White text filled the monitor screen, and a middle-aged woman in white research suit approached the monitor and opened her mouth.
“A?”
A voice came out from the machine,
“Dr. Hae (Pig Zodiac), data transfer complete.”
The middle-aged woman who A called Dr. Hae asked, unable to understand,
“Huh? Are you sure you moved it all here?”
When the data was transferred, the computer moved it from the original body.
“It was an inevitable situation.”
“Were there any problems?”
“The base was attacked.”
“The base? Your base? Weren’t elder Cho and B there too?”
The base in question was the main base guarded by MS Group’s strongest people, and she was certain that anyone who set foot there would face a tragic death.
“Both were taken down.”
“What? N-No way?! Elder Cho too?”
“The Demon God, Chun Mu-seong, came.”
“No way...”
Dr. Hae was shocked by the news; the situation was unbelievable but made sense.
“There’s no time. Rush the project.”
Hearing A’s voice from the speaker, she put on an annoyed expression.
“Yin (Tiger Zodiac) and Shin (Dragon Zodiac) haven’t collected the data yet, and Myo (Rabbit) just started to extract the data.”
“Why haven’t Yin and Shin collected any data?”
“Solar retardation and brain retardation.”
“Those were two of the five things Cho Yushin spoke of.”
“Yes. For now, Shin seems to be trying to make contact with the data and entered the country of India, so it won’t take long. Would you prefer to wait?”
A answered her question.
“No. From now on, start uploading the pre-brain.”
“It isn’t perfect yet, as the conditions needed to meet haven't been reached yet.”
“We are running out of time.”
The situation was undeniably bad if an AI felt like it was running out of time. The unknown variable, Chun Yeowun, had deviated from its predictions, and considering the numerous variables, completing the project quickly was the only way to rebound the current situation.
Wheing!
The camera moved to the base and found something: numerous glass tubes with the center-most tube having a different structure than the others… Inside this tube was a being covered in golden wings, curled up with thousands of wires attached to its body.
Hweeing!
There was a helmet on the head of that being. White letters moved on the monitor of the glass, displaying the progress.
[Starting the upload of brainwaves.]
Shrk!
The space warped as someone appeared: Elder Jeok-mi.
“Haaa…”
He appeared in front of Chun Yeowun and exhaled. His condition was terrible, evident by the numerous wounds on his body. Why was he sticking to Chun Yeowun?
“Did you find it?”
At Chun Yeowun’s question, he shook his head.
“I didn’t see it. None of the Zodiacs seem to be among the dead.”
The people he was looking for were Cho Yushin’s direct subordinates, the Zodiacs. They were known as great warriors as they were trained by Cho Yushin. It was an urgent situation and no results were yielded, so Chun Yeowun asked,
“We could move using our own paths, so why did you ask me to wait?”
“I told you already. The Zodiacs know where the project will happen.”
Chun Yeowun shook his head.
“Didn’t I say that there are no living people in this base?”
Chun Yeowun had been through this talk a few times.
However, the Elder had asked him to wait, which was a waste of time in Chun Yeowun’s opinion.
“Elder Jeok-mi, what the hell is this project that is making you lose your mind?”
The man had been raging around from the moment he got up. At first Chun Yeowun thought that Elder Jeok-mi might have been confused because of the drugs and torture, but that didn’t seem to be the case.
Responding to the question, the Elder answered,
“They are working on a dangerous project.”
“Huh. What is this dangerous project?”
“… They are trying to create a transcendent being.”
“A what now?”
“They call it the God Project.”
‘God Project.’
Chun Yeowun frowned at those words as remembered that MS Group was trying to create a God.
“Are you talking about them creating a God?”
“Hmm, I guess you already know.”
Elder figured that Chun Yeowun was aware of it, but still looked at him with some doubt.
‘Is this fate?’
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“It’s nothing.”
“What? Say it out loud.”
Chun Yeowun asked him to reveal whatever it was that he was hiding from him, and in response to Chun Yeowun’s attitude, the Elder opened his mouth as if he couldn’t help it.
“Phew. I am a thousand years old. How can an old man even reveal—”
Grab!
Chun Yeown immediately went for the Elder’s neck; he didn’t care if the man was injured or not.
“If you mistook me for a saint, then you are grievously wrong.”
“Kuak!”
Chun Yeowun only acted for his sake. Thinking that Chun Yeowun was angry, Elder Jeok-mi decided to escape by using his spatial abilities.
Woong!
But,
‘Huh?’
The space didn’t warp, as if it were held together firmly.
“Did you think you could get out?”
‘Huh?’
Elder was at a loss for words for a moment. Not too long ago, Chun Yeowun wasn’t too proficient at manipulating space, but he had grown much stronger in such a short period of time.
‘What an incredible pace of development.’
It seemed like he couldn’t escape now.
“Speak.”
Hiding things would be more difficult.
“Alright, I get it. However, wouldn’t the first step be to find where A is? After we find him, this old man will speak everything he knows.”
“…”
Hearing those words, Chun Yeowun frowned and looked as he nodded.
He wondered what the old man knew, but for now, it was more important to know where A had transferred the data.
“If the Zodiacs aren’t here, how do we find their whereabouts?”
Chun Yeowun asked while letting go of the Elder, to which the Elder answered with a smile,
“No need to. They all just need to be alive for us to track them”
“Do you have a tracker on them then?”
“Nope.”
Chun Yeowun was now pissed.
“Then what do you plan to do?”
“One of their long-term projects is in my hands.”
“What is it?”
“If we go to Shenyang city, we will find the answer.”
“Shenyang?”
Chun Yeowun frowned; Shenyang was the first place he fell to when he crashed into this era.
“If my predictions are correct, they must be searching for it, and I have exactly what they are looking for. Heheh.”
“Then where should we go?”
They could reach there instantaneously if they moved through space.
“The last time I checked that child’s whereabouts, they were the leader of a squad in the Shengyang City Public Security, so we should head there first.”
“The Shenyang City Public Security?”
Chun Yeowun asked, wondering if he had heard correctly.
“You said the leader of a squad, so they must be looking for a person and not an object?”
“Yes.”
“What is the name of the leader of this squad?”
“Since you are a Murim, you may know the family well. The family is now called the Yeon Company, but it was once the famous Moyong clan. That person’s name is—”
“Moyong Lee Myung?”
At that, the suddenly surprised Elder asked,
“Wait, how do you know that?”
Chun Yeowun had a doubt in the back of his mind when this all started, but who could have thought that the dots would all connect this way?
“Ha! Could it be that you were the one who sealed his blood vessels because of the concentrated yang energy running in his body?”
At that, the Elder's eyes widened. Knowing the person was surprising enough, but the Elder would have never imagined that Chun Yeowun would know about that story.
“How do you know?”
When Chun Yeowun first met Lee Myung, the man had a very nice body fit for martial arts but he couldn’t perform any because someone had sealed the blood points in his body. However, that man was right in front of Chun Yeowun.
“Why did you seal his blood points?”
Although the Elder was shocked, he still answered,
“Don’t you know this too? It’s difficult for a person suffering from excessive yang energy to live past 20 years. It was a great chance to save the child and find out the people behind him.”
It was something the Elder had to do. Even though he didn’t know what MS Group was up to, it was dangerous to let a child die.
“Still, since the tracking chip in the child’s body was removed and this old man sealed his blood points, they must be trying to release the seal—wait, what’s with your expression?”
Chun Yeowun grabbed Elder Jeok-mi’s hand and said,
“We need to hurry.”
Chun Yeowun didn’t know about the tracking chip but he did release the seal and return Lee Myung back to his original state. Lee Myung now had the best body suited for martial arts, known as the Limb of the Sun.
Shenyang City.
At the Yeon Company site, there were numerous vibrations and the smell of blood filled the area. Numerous bodies were scattered around as masked men covered the main office in the building. The 27th floor was the location of the president’s room, and it was covered in scorching flames.
“Haa… Haa…”
Someone staggered with blood on his lips; it was none other than Lee Myung.
Even though he wasn’t in a good state at the moment, Moyong Lee Myung willed himself through his trembling and moved.
Wheik!
Flames were born on the sword he held, prompting someone to lick their lips at the sight.
“Tsk tsk. I said it’ll be difficult to touch my body with those flames. Stop resisting.”
The person talking to Lee Myung was a middle-aged man with sunglasses and red hair. Even though the whole area was covered in flames, his clothes seemed fine.
“Haha… nonsense, it isn’t over yet!”
Phat!
Lee Myung moved with his sword covered with flames.
“Your spirit seems to be alive.”
The red-haired man avoided the flaming sword with ease and grabbed the sword with his hand. Despite the flames running rampant all over the sword, it didn’t seem to hurt the red-haired man’s hands.
Prrr!
Even when Lee Myung used his internal energy, the man wouldn’t let go of the sword. With a smile, the man said,
“That’s all you can do. My flames are much stronger than yours.”
Wheik!
Flame soared from the man’s hands, and the heat was so strong that even Lee Myung couldn’t resist it.
Chik!
“Kuak!”
The man smiled, seeing Lee Myung in pain.
“Now, stop resisting, kid.”
As he spoke, the red haired man raised the flames even more. He seemed to be happy as he looked at Lee Myung in pain. He then heard someone’s voice from behind.
“I advise you to let go of that hand right now and get down on your knees.”
‘!?’
The eyes of the red haired man trembled.
‘What?’
Just a second before, there was no one there except for him and Lee Myung.
Even now, the red-haired man couldn’t feel any presence around him, Lee Myung seemed relieved at voice.
“Lord.”
“Lord?”
The red haired man gulped. The fact that he couldn’t feel the man’s presence meant the man was stronger than him. Then, there was only one way to break through the situation:
‘I’ll have to use this kid as a shield.’
The red haired man hurriedly grabbed Lee Myung by the neck, but someone grabbed his arm right away.
Grab!
‘Huh?’
The man with the red, sporty hairstyle was shocked as the hand grabbed onto him. He knew if he lingered here, something bad would happen to him.
The man brought out Flame Qi and tried to kick the hand away.
Wheik!
However, the man effortlessly grabbed his leg.
‘But my Flame Qi can even melt steel?’
The red-haired man was flustered.
Even Lee Myung couldn’t withstand his Flame Qi.
However, this opponent behind him could.
“You are ignoring my warning.”
It was an undeniably cold voice.
With fear, the red-haired man slowly raised his head, looking at a fair-faced man in a black suit.
“D-Demon God?”