Glorious God Throne

Chapter 164

The city after the earthquake resembled toppled building blocks, with schools, hospitals, shopping centers, supermarkets, and factories… everything that once belonged to an orderly world now reduced to ruins and debris, starkly displaying the chaos that had nearly destroyed millions just moments ago.

Despite the prophecy of the Heavenly Master of Divine Calculation and the full mobilization of state machinery, seven days was ultimately too short. Even though most fortunate ones had escaped before the disaster struck, there were still unfortunate souls who couldn’t evacuate in time, buried beneath the rubble.

On the ground paved with ruins, rescue workers hurried about, looking like ants wandering through a soil maze compared to the endless devastation. Above the ruins, in areas not yet searched by rescue teams, several figures moved back and forth high in the air, looking down as if investigating something.

Suddenly, a figure swiftly swept past, seemingly precisely targeting something, leaping down in a specific direction. Gradually treading several steps on the bricks and stones to dissipate momentum, he landed steadily in front of a large collapsed steel plate.

Li Fufeng released his perception, actively exploring beneath the steel plate, confirming his earlier mid-air judgment, and quickly turned back to call out. “Here! There are several living life forces underneath. The distance is… about seven meters deep?”

“Coming!” Someone responded.

Before the voice finished, a figure silently landed beside him, as light as a bird floating from a tree branch.

“Here?” Liu Ningshuang’s face bore the same exhaustion as Li Fufeng’s, having worked almost non-stop for several days. She rubbed her eyes and, following her partner’s indication, immediately stepped forward, grabbing the massive steel plate and preparing to lift it with a single effort.

“Be careful,” Li Fufeng habitually reminded her, “Don’t destabilize the underlying structure and cause secondary trauma to survivors.” He then concentrated, mobilizing his pure spiritual sense, feeling the position and state of the fragile life flames in the spiritual world, occasionally directing Liu Ningshuang, “A bit to the left, right there, the wall structure is very fragile, absolutely do not move…”

He spoke while approaching, and after Liu Ningshuang finally cleared away layer after layer of obstacles, he carefully approached the area above the life flames he sensed, gently creating some gaps in the diagonally tilted wall, then sensed again before looking up.

“It’s right below, the people are probably unconscious. Not crushed by this wall, with a gap in between, creating a perfect space…”

He hadn’t finished speaking when wind rushed toward his face.

Li Fufeng instinctively slightly tilted his head to the side.

Bang!

The incoming punch’s wind was almost like a substantial blade, with invisible shockwaves rolling through the air.

More significantly, the wall’s disintegration created massive amounts of dust violently dispersing in the air. The wall’s vanished space revealed several human figures huddled within.

Liu Ningshuang withdrew her hand, blowing on her fist.

One punch!

Just one punch had pulverized an entire wall into dust! This was even more difficult than simply breaking it into fragments. Being able to evenly transmit force to completely destroy a wall was extremely rare even among martial arts practitioners.

Liu Ningshuang’s punch possessed its own will.

—This was probably what Qing Fei had meant by “seeing oneself”.

The substantial punch wind had dissipated but left a profound mark on the ruins – the surroundings looked as if swept by a sandstorm, with the wall’s dust lingering like endless battlefield smoke.

Even having witnessed such scenes multiple times, Li Fufeng couldn’t help but marvel at Liu Ningshuang’s martial arts talent.

By comparison, his martial arts aptitude was quite ordinary. Recently, however, the Spirit Forging system he’d encountered had benefited him more, directly enhancing his keen perception into an ability.

“Cough cough cough cough cough.” Even though Li Fufeng had covered his mouth and nose as quickly as possible, he still bent over, coughing. After the dust finally dispersed, he raised his head, rolling his eyes helplessly.

“I’m saying, could you give me a heads up next time? Dying from overwork is one thing, but being killed by a partner would be too miserable.”

Liu Ningshuang sheepishly shrank her neck. “Well, don’t mind such small matters. Aren’t we perfectly in sync?”

“You think this sync just happened by itself?!” Recalling their previous experience of building this sync made Li Fufeng even more exasperated.

Liu Ningshuang avoided his reproachful gaze even more guiltily, stepping forward, “Got it, got it. I’ll definitely be more careful next time. Now isn’t the time to argue about this. Let’s rescue people quickly!”

Li Fufeng immediately dropped the topic and hurried to help rescue.

The two divided tasks and quickly rescued the five people trapped in the ruins. Arriving rescue workers swiftly placed them on stretchers and sent them for emergency treatment.

“How are their injuries?” “Apart from one serious injury, the other four are okay…” “That’s good…”

They only had time for a few quick words with the rescue workers before diving back into search work.

—As extraordinaries who had stepped onto the extraordinary path, their physical strength was already much stronger than ordinary people. They were destined to shoulder more work. One had tremendous combat power, making debris clearing far more efficient than clumsy tools, while the other had powerful perception, being uniquely talented in search operations. Years of tacit cooperation made their work efficiency incredibly high. Even other extraordinaries were far from matching their task completion rate, though they also bore a correspondingly high labor intensity.

—From the Heavenly Master’s prophecy until now, less than seven days had passed, and they had already traversed three cities. Before today’s earthquake, their figures had appeared at numerous disaster sites, both before and after the disasters.

This was actually the standard state for most Special Case Investigation Team members.

After all, in today’s Yao Country, there was far too much work to be done. Not just the Special Case Investigation Team, but other departments were also working non-stop. Even just settling disaster victims was a considerable challenge.

“Phew…”

After sending another rescued injured person onto a stretcher, Li Fufeng accepted water from a rescue worker and took a heavy breath, temporarily resting.

He passed another water bottle to Liu Ningshuang, who was equally exhausted.

They casually sat on a large rock.

“I can’t take it anymore. We might actually die from overwork.”

Liu Ningshuang suddenly remembered her partner’s previous concern. After becoming a martial arts practitioner, this was the first time she felt so tired.

Li Fufeng glanced at the notifications on his phone. “Most of the subsequent work should be handled by other departments. We were involved earlier due to personnel shortages, but the Special Case Investigation Team ultimately needs to focus on its primary duties.”

Li Fufeng understood the higher-ups’ intentions very clearly.

—Extraordinaries of Liu Ningshuang’s caliber were not numerous. Using them merely for post-disaster reconstruction would be a waste. What she could do, slightly weaker extraordinaries could also do, and while ordinary people would be less efficient, they could manage. Thus, there was no need to squander her power.

—Otherwise, what would they do when extraordinary power was needed in future situations?

—In the Heavenly Master’s prophecy, this was just the beginning.

So, one cannot use a butcher’s knife to kill a chicken.

Liu Ningshuang, while not thinking too deeply about it, completely agreed with his words. She yawned. “Looks like we can finally go home and sleep. I really miss my cozy bed.”

……Although she would never refuse rescue work, she felt she might suddenly drop dead if they continued.

The two swayed as they walked towards the return city vehicle.

In the invisible half-space above them, an imperceptible ghost circled around the two. Had they been able to see it, they would have immediately recognized its identity.

Suddenly, Liu Ningshuang jolted, and Li Fufeng simultaneously stopped, instinctively touching his forehead.

“…What’s going on?” His forehead had just felt suddenly cool, like something gelatin-like had been stuck on it.

Seeing Li Fufeng’s identical motion, Liu Ningshuang was taken aback. She quickly withdrew her hand and grabbed Li Fufeng’s arm, lowering her voice. “You felt it too, right?!”

“What?” Li Fufeng was stunned.

“A ghost! It’s a ghost! There’s a ghost here. I should have thought of this…” Liu Ningshuang struggled to maintain her expression.

……How could an earthquake with insufficient evacuation not have casualties? In this world where spiritual energy was reviving, wouldn’t becoming a ghost be reasonable? She should have thought of this earlier!

Her hand holding Li Fufeng’s arm trembled slightly. She lowered her voice even more. “These ghosts… they won’t allow us to leave like this, right?”

Li Fufeng couldn’t help but cover his face. “…No, you’re overthinking.”

“You clearly felt it too. How could I be overthinking?” Liu Ningshuang’s expression was serious. She wanted to grab her partner and shake him frantically. “Have you forgotten? When we first met Adams at the inn, that chilly feeling was exactly the same as back then!”

“I mean, it’s just Adams!”

Seeing Liu Ningshuang’s increasingly absurd speculation, Li Fufeng was both amused and exasperated. He finally helplessly revealed his discovery.

“…There’s no other ghost. Just Adams.”

In the past, he might not have noticed.

But after learning Spirit Forging techniques, his perception, enhanced by spiritual sensitivity, had keenly captured that the cold touch just now was identical to the feeling Adams had given him.

Speaking thus, Li Fufeng looked toward the empty air before him, extending a hand with a tone as natural as greeting an old friend. “…Is that you, Adams? Suddenly coming to find us, do you need us to do something?”

Got discovered?!

Adams, who had left his mark and was about to depart, paused. The small boy in mid-air showed a hesitant expression.

……He was currently executing the White King’s task. Should he acknowledge it? Might it affect the White King’s assigned mission?

The ghost in mid-air anxiously looked down.

“…It’s okay, Adams.”

“…Don’t hide. They’ll find out eventually.”

At this moment, another voice resonated in the ghost’s consciousness, making the decision for him.

The boy’s eyes instantly brightened. “Yes, White King.”

In the next second, the invisible ghost materialized before them, revealing the thin, pale figure of a small boy. His icy little hand reached out, placing it on Li Fufeng’s extended palm in a handshake. “It’s me.”

The ghost’s pitch-black eyes stared at the two before him.

“…I’ve come to deliver something for the White King.”

“An invitation to a new world, or perhaps a qualification certificate.”

White King?

This familiar title triggered Li Fufeng’s memory. He cautiously asked, “I heard about this White King from Master Qi Tian. Apparently, He maintains order and human reason, transcending extraordinaries and ordinary people. He has always established the rules of the extraordinary world and maintained world order. I unilaterally understand it as something like a game GM… may I ask if this White King is the same person who invited us?”

In fact, while Qi Jiu had mentioned the White King’s existence, he had also said he wasn’t clear about the White King’s true nature, uncertain whether it had always been the same person or a generationally inherited position.

Li Fufeng’s current interpretation leaned towards the former, also serving as a probe into Adams’ obvious familiarity with the White King. Adams’ response would reveal the answer.

Adams was unaware of Li Fufeng’s roundabout approach but, since this could be discussed, he directly nodded. “That’s right. Compared to those extraordinaries who are worshipped like gods with just a bit of power, the White King is the world’s only true god!”

Liu Ningshuang had also recovered from her initial shock. Discovering the ghost was Adams, she immediately forgot her previous fear and, hearing their conversation, suddenly remembered something, “Right, when we first met you, didn’t you say you inexplicably awoke as a ghost in this world, originally wandering outside the inn? A mysterious person sent you back to the inn and told you that this world then didn’t allow ghosts to exist, that physical laws would erase you…”

The fear of thinking there was a ghost was so profound that she vividly recalled the memories of being startled by Adams before, roughly repeating what he had said. “Now we know that spiritual energy hadn’t yet revived then, and except for the Flower Speaker, this world shouldn’t have had such powerful extraordinaries…so could that mysterious person have been the White King?”

……This fit His persona perfectly!

Liu Ningshuang stared intently at the small boy in mid-air.

Li Fufeng also couldn’t help looking at him.

“Yes, that person was the White King. Without Him, I would have long lost the opportunity to appear in this world,” Adams didn’t hesitate for a second, a smile spreading across his face. “I recently met the White King again and am now working for Him.”

After Liu Ningshuang and Li Fufeng absorbed this shocking news, the small boy continued, “Well, farewell for now. This invitation from the White King is not just for you. I still need to find others.” He seriously warned them. “This is a qualification certificate for a new world. Please choose carefully.”

Their expressions became solemn, and Adams’ little face tightened as well.

This was perhaps his special warning to “friends” —

“……If you choose to give up, what you’ll miss…is probably beyond your imagination.”