Chapter 46 Calling for Backup

Demanding a debt directly from Helios is a good idea. It is not like we cannot make a phone call.

"The plan has changed now," he grabbed Wenyuan's shoulder. "Listen, let's get out of here first. Forget about whatever cosmic encounters or opportunities; there will be new ones. There might be a way out right now."

"Sorry... Actually, you could have just stayed here, right?"

"What is the point of talking about that now? I am a walking treasure trove, with opportunities as numerous as the stars. Even cutting off a piece of my flesh and eating it grants immortality. If you get trapped here, the karmic debt I owe you will only grow larger. Luoluo! Do you want to come along?"

He did not forget to call out to the white lion, but Luoluo merely lay in place, unmoving.

"Then I am sorry, but we are leaving first." Shang Luo held his spear horizontally, aiming toward the direction of the elevator:

"Apollonia! Light the lamp!"

[Here comes the light~~~]

The tip of the spear began to vibrate, even generating recoil. A massive surge of phlogiston flowed out from the box where Apollonia resided, and a fireball brighter than a welding point erupted, as if gathering the energy of the sun into a tiny dot.

The darkness churned and retreated to the sides, revealing an iron door three meters away. Behind the iron door was a stairway that had been locked previously.

"I remember the stairs here cannot be opened. We will take the left. There is an elevator on the left, and we can take the elevator up."

Waving a huge flashlight, Shang Luo led the way ahead, while a somewhat dazed Wenyuan placed a hand on his shoulder. The giant flashlight cast a fierce, bright, and cold light, illuminating the dark zone for at least three meters ahead.

With a heavy thud, Shang Luo stopped.

"What is it?" Wenyuan poked his head out from behind—the stone statue of the Trimurti abruptly appeared ahead, its eyes closed, silently gazing at everything within the darkness. It was identical to the statue they had just seen.

"Hey... Shang Luo, did we just walk in a circle?"

...

Shang Luo swallowed, but his throat was so tense it felt constricted.

"No, the white lion is not here... This is another one. Never mind it, let's keep going; the elevator is right ahead."

He turned left, heading toward the direction of the elevator in his memory.

Thud.

The tip of the spear struck a stone statue once again. The elevator in his memory was gone, and in its place was a new three-way intersection. The stone statue stood silently, as if it had been meant to be there all along, destined to end there.

[The Trimurti may appear at any three-way intersection; she guides the living and she guides the dead. She symbolizes fortune and decay. Following the path she points out, the shepherd can return home, while those destined to die will know the place they belong. It seems the previous calculation was correct; we cannot get out. If we keep going forward, we will likely reach the place where we 'belong'. Do you want me to turn off the light? Lighting a lamp there is very dangerous.]

"Damn it... Why??? Why would we suddenly encounter such a powerful enemy!"

[Because of ill fortune. If we were in an open area, it would be easy for us to shake off the night of the Trimurti. But this is a basement, and almost every path here is a three-way intersection. Moreover, sunlight cannot reach this place; the sun is buried beneath a dozen meters of strata. My light is merely a tiny firefly compared to the sun, unable to illuminate this entire darkness, and can only make us wander between three-way intersections. It seems our journey ends here...]

"Wait, is your phlogiston the same as sunlight?"

[The same. From an occult perspective, my light is equivalent to sunlight.]

"Then what on earth is phlogiston?"

[Phlogiston is light. But not light in the ordinary sense—instead, I should ask you, what is spiritual energy? Why are there fairy-root radishes prepared in this world specifically for humans? Why can so many things be used to strengthen the human body? Why can the human body contain the profound truths of the Great Dao? Why does heaven have five phases and humans five viscera? Why does heaven have six pitch pipes and humans six bowels? Why does heaven have seven stars and humans seven orifices? Why does heaven have eight winds and humans eight joints? Because there is a universal connection between humanity and nature, and humans are the primates of all things. If you believe this connection exists, if you believe you are the primate of all things, then phlogiston is light.]

"What if I don't believe it?"

[Then phlogiston does not exist, and my entire world will cease to exist. Just as if you were not talking to me, no second person in the world would ever hear me speak. Phaethon does not count as a person.]

"I understand... If phlogiston is light." He slowly raised the spear toward the ceiling, illuminating it.

"Wenyuan!"

"Is there hope?"

"Can you see the spiritual energy! The ball of light at the tip of the spear—can you see the spiritual energy!"

"I can see it, I can see the gushing spiritual energy. Weren't you just using it as a flashlight?"

"Ha! That is the exact point. Apollonia."

He questioned Apollonia: "You calculated that my death was certain, but I think otherwise. If your world is entirely independent, my death in this situation would indeed be certain. But this transcendent world does not consist of just the two of us. Wenyuan can also see phlogiston, and he believes it is spiritual energy! So what did you tell me earlier? How can one damage a Divine Machine?"

[Only a Divine Machine can damage a Divine Machine? In other words, we can introduce the intervention of other Divine Machines to break the deadlock!]

"We can transmit spiritual energy to summon backup! Although they don't believe in you, they believe in the existence of other Divine Machines. As long as there is still one person in this world who believes in Divine Machines, we are not alone."

[But we can only communicate indirectly. We can... Yes, I can use phlogiston to summon backup, as long as I convert the encoding. As long as it is converted into an encoding that others can also understand. Yes, a telegram! But how do we send a spiritual energy telegram? Who can receive a spiritual energy telegram?]

"Hold on a second." He grabbed the back of Wenyuan's shoulder: "We're saved! We can send a signal to summon backup! Quick, think of a way to summon someone! Your Jinyiwei have secret codes, right? Like that one from earlier—'15 chicken nuggets with two packs of Sichuan spicy sauce and two packs of sweet and sour sauce'?"

"Yes, yes, that works indeed. But you would have to make a phone call to McDonald's for that."

"We can send a telegram! Think quickly, do you still remember how to send a telegram? Send the telegraph message to us. It has to be secret code that the Jinyiwei can understand."

"I remember! Right, there seems to be one! But... my brain, it was just wiped once, I forgot what it means. But my muscles still remember. Wait a second."

He pressed his hand against the wall: "Are you ready? Transmit the rhythm of me knocking on the wall as a telegraph message."

"Apollonia, did you hear that?"

[No problem, knock away.]

Wenyuan began to tap the wall with his knuckles. As an outstanding student at the Wutai Mountain Training Institute, telegraphy was a mandatory subject. He treated the wall like a telegraph machine, tapping out the message with his fingers.

[What he tapped was... 'Zero-Zero-Wan, Nine-Two, Upper-Six, Class-C Coordination, Enter per Kun-Wei Needle, Zhen.'... Enter? What enter?]

Apollonia paused for a moment.

[Holy crap! There's a reply! I received a signal! 'Xuanhuang-Eleven, Upper-Six, Class-C Coordination, Enter per Kun-Wei Needle, Grand Ceremony-Twelve. Zhen.' What does this mean? What kind of nonsense is this? Why are they all secret codes? Ask him quickly, how should I reply?]

Shang Luo hurriedly repeated it to him.

"Wait... Let me think." Wenyuan violently banged his head, "Reply with this, it's all muscle memory, if it's wrong there's nothing I can do."

He resumed tapping the wall. He only tapped four times.

[Then I am sending it. The content is: 'Xuanhuang-Eleven, Upper-Six, Class-C Coordination, Enter per Kun-Wei Needle, Grand Ceremony-Twelve. Zhen.' What does this mean? Why did he repeat it?]

Before the words faded, a low "humming" sound suddenly came from overhead. The frequency of the sound was extremely low, like a primordial beast roaring, and the entire world resonated with it.

"Ah!!!" Wenyuan slammed his hand against the wall, "I remember! 'Zhen' means to repeat verbatim without error!"

"Repeat what? What does 'Enter per Kun-Wei Needle' mean?"

"'Enter per Kun-Wei Needle' means to enter the target's airspace from the southwest. This secret code is used to call for air support! I was calling for a bombardment right above our heads, they asked me to repeat it, and then I repeated it..."

"Then why did they arrive so fast?"

"Because I called for it earlier! Several hours ago, I called McDonald's. These scoundrels dared to kidnap me. I straight up ordered a 'Double Chicken Burger, no lettuce, no salad dressing', and summoned the scorched-earth bombardment fleet! They seem to have arrived right above our heads."

While they were speaking, the buzzing sound of "whoosh" from overhead came from afar, growing louder, larger, and closer.

"The bombs are coming down! The stairwell! Run to the stairwell! I have seen the fire safety diagram, the stairwell of this building is a structural core tube; even if the building collapses, the stairwell won't collapse. The bombers of the San Francisco Garrison are naval bombers, and they drop armor-piercing high-explosive bombs that can smash straight through an entire building from top to bottom! If we don't hide in the stairwell, we will all die!"