Chapter 139: Ling Ling’s Little Secret
Ninth level of Suspended High Tower 132.
Ling Ling sat in her room, several vials of potions before her, the fruits of her recent labor.
Or rather, her father’s work.
—Awakening potions.
A miraculous creation that could grant ordinary people abilities, humanity’s most ambitious attempt in this disaster-ridden civilization, on the verge of success, just one step away.
However, for some reason…
Whenever Ling Ling looked at these potions, fragmented memories would surface in her mind, filling her with sadness and helplessness.
Why…
Where did these feelings come from?
Ling Ling looked down at her chest.
Around her neck was a beautiful necklace, its pendant a crimson gem, faintly emitting a sinister red light.
Ling Ling gently picked up the pendant and held it up to the warm light above, staring intently.
“Daddy…?”
A silent ray of light emanated from the crimson gem.
Mayor Qualcomm had told her that this was the only thing her father had left her, and by wearing it, she would gain his wisdom, to complete his unfinished work.
Mayor Qualcomm was right. Ling Ling knew that whenever she stood at the lab table, countless thoughts and memories would guide her experiments.
If she took off the necklace, she couldn’t understand any of the experimental parameters or procedures…
However…
Ling Ling had no memories of her father, as described by Mayor Qualcomm.
Her earliest memories were of living in the wasteland with other Wastelanders, struggling to survive.
Until she was seven years old, when everyone she knew had died in accidents, and she was left alone in the settlement, found by Qualcomm and brought back to the Suspended High Tower.
But even though life in the Suspended High Tower was much better than in the settlement, Ling Ling still didn’t feel a sense of belonging.
She felt lost and uncertain, always cautious, afraid of upsetting others.
Mayor Qualcomm said that these experiments were her father’s unfinished work and that she had to continue them. Ling Ling agreed.
Her innocent mind couldn’t understand all of this. In her eyes, Mayor Qualcomm was a good person, who treated her well, although he looked scary and fierce.
“Creak…”
Just then, the door opened slightly.
A thin figure appeared at the doorway, a middle-aged man in a wheelchair, looking older than usual.
“Uncle Qualcomm?”
Ling Ling quickly put down the necklace pendant, her movements flustered.
“Relax, Little Doctor, why don’t you rest for a bit?” Qualcomm said gently, a smile on his face. “Still… working?”
“No, Uncle Qualcomm, I’m already resting.”
Ling Ling shook her head and said softly.
Qualcomm didn’t enter the room, just sat at the doorway, looking at the potions in front of Ling Ling, a complicated look flashing through his eyes.
“Sigh, still… not much progress?”
These awakening potions were all theories proposed by Lingxi when he was alive. Ling Ling was only responsible for verifying and replicating them.
But even so… the progress was still far from ideal.
Even though Ling Ling’s compatibility with the “Lingxi Remains” she wore had reached an astonishing level, compared to Lingxi, she was still less than half as capable.
Not to mention replicating Lingxi’s brilliant ideas, even continuing his research was extremely difficult.
Qualcomm knew that the appearance of one Lingxi was already a miracle. He shouldn’t expect a second one.
Even Lingxi’s biological daughter couldn’t do it.
“Um, Uncle Qualcomm, is it because… I’m too stupid…”
Ling Ling asked timidly, her eyes filled with anxiety.
“No, Little Doctor, this matter… is my fault.” Qualcomm sighed and closed his eyes slightly. “If not for the mistake I made back then… sigh, it wouldn’t have come to this.”
His mistake was letting Lingxi know about the public opinion, letting him know that he was the culprit behind the deaths of thousands, which led him to choose suicide in despair and pain.
If he had realized this earlier, Qualcomm would have confined Lingxi, just like the current Ling Ling, on the eighth or ninth level, blocking all outside information, and let him focus on his research.
Ling Ling remained silent. The more Qualcomm said this, the more she felt it was her fault.
She lowered her head, clutching her clothes tightly.
“It’s fine, just continue the research at a normal pace, don’t rush, relax.”
Qualcomm smiled gently, trying to ease the atmosphere. “By the way, Little Doctor, do you know why I call you Little Doctor, instead of your name?”
“Why?”
Ling Ling looked up slightly, her beautiful eyes filled with childlike curiosity.
“Because your father’s nickname since childhood was ‘Doctor.’ He was always very smart, a genius, so we all liked to call him Doctor. I didn’t expect him to actually get a doctorate from the Federation and even hold an important position in the Federal Laboratory.”
A look of reminiscence appeared in Qualcomm’s eyes. “If I hadn’t called him back, he would probably still be at Federal Headquarters. Heh… it’s a pity, there are no ‘ifs’.”
Ling Ling listened, but didn’t speak.
Whether it was Uncle Qualcomm or her father, they were both strangers to her, and these past stories didn’t resonate with her.
However, Qualcomm was just here for some casual conversation.
He wouldn’t reveal anything she shouldn’t know. He didn’t want to make the same mistake again.
More importantly, after today, once Night Owl was dead, many secrets would be buried forever.
The only place that might leak these secrets, the Archives Bureau, had already been burned down by Qualcomm, and he had even blamed it on Night Owl.
If nothing unexpected happened, Ling Ling would spend the rest of her life in the laboratory, carrying her father’s will, continuing this great, yet unacceptable, experiment, and the deeper secrets within it.
“Little Doctor, you’ve worked hard recently, so take a break. I’m also going to rest for a bit.” Qualcomm looked up, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes deepening. “When you get old, you always think about the past, wanting to chat with old friends. I hope you don’t find me annoying, little one.”
“No, no,” Ling Ling quickly waved her hands. “Uncle Qualcomm… is a good person.”
“Heh… if you say so.”
Qualcomm smiled noncommittally, left the room, and thoughtfully closed the door behind him.
After Qualcomm left, the small room became quiet again, and Ling Ling breathed a sigh of relief.
Whenever she faced Uncle Qualcomm, although he was always kind, Ling Ling couldn’t help but feel afraid.
She lay down on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.
She wondered… how was Sister Xue’er doing now?
Was she missing, or…
No, impossible, she would definitely find Sister Xue’er…
Ling Ling slowly closed her eyes and unknowingly entered a meditative state, the Breathing Technique circulating naturally.
After Luo Xue taught her the Breathing Technique, Ling Ling had been cultivating diligently, but the results weren’t very good. She could only barely progress in the Post-Heaven Realm, mostly just strengthening her body.
Actually, the best time to start cultivating was around ten years old, when the soul was fully formed. Forcibly cultivating earlier could damage the body.
However, the Breathing Technique was different. As the most common cultivation technique in the Immortal Domain, even ordinary people with a little bit of talent could cultivate it, so it was fine for Ling Ling to start early, even if her strength didn’t improve much.
Of course, there were still benefits. At least, her strength was much greater than that of ordinary children, and nourished by the spiritual energy, Ling Ling had become quite graceful, looking older than her actual age.
…
“Hmm? The surrounding spiritual energy seems to be disturbed?”
Luo Xue paused slightly. Her senses were very sharp, especially towards changes in spiritual energy.
This level of disturbance was common in the Immortal Domain and the Demon Abyss, but this was her first time encountering it in the post-apocalyptic world—after all, she hadn’t embarked on the path of cultivation before and couldn’t sense spiritual energy.
“What are you talking about?”
Ceres looked up and asked.
“It’s nothing, you continue, you continue…”
Luo Xue scratched her cheek.
Perhaps, it was just some special ability…
Luo Xue and Ceres were currently in the Archives Bureau on the seventh level, avoiding all of the mayor’s eyes and ears.
The Federation had established Archives Bureaus and Investigation Bureaus in every Suspended High Tower, independent of the towers themselves, answering only to the Federation.
Therefore… information like access control and surveillance here wouldn’t go through the Suspended High Tower, but directly to the Federation.
Of course, the guards around were still from the Suspended High Tower, but for Ceres, a Seer, ordinary people couldn’t stop her.
Ceres easily snuck Luo Xue into the Archives Bureau and began searching for Night Owl’s file.
“This is… strange…” Ceres put down her digital terminal and scratched her head. “How could this be?”
“What’s wrong?”
Luo Xue looked up and asked.
“About Night Owl… a lot of information is missing from his file. This is normal, since he’s an assassin, doing dirty work for Suspended High Tower 132 for many years, but it shouldn’t be… completely blank, without any records.”
Ceres flipped through the information on the digital terminal. “Look here, three months of information from two years ago were deliberately erased. After returning from a special mission, the next record is that he fled after the Archives Bureau arson incident and is still at large.”
“You’re saying… the Suspended High Tower tampered with it?”
“Impossible, although this data is stored within the Suspended High Tower, but… wait, the arson case before?” Ceres seemed to realize something and frowned slightly. “Could it be the arson case… yes, it’s possible, using the arson case to erase a portion of the records, this has happened before…”
“But when the data was restored, the Federation should have checked and made sure there were no missing important files…”
“Do you think Night Owl’s file is important?” Luo Xue suddenly asked.
Ceres paused, then shook her head.
“It’s… not really important…”
“Perhaps there are other files you consider unimportant that were also destroyed, and Night Owl knows about them.” Luo Xue said in a deep voice. “It seems that this Mayor Qualcomm… is indeed hiding quite a few things.”
Ceres wasn’t surprised. She said,
“It’s normal. Every Suspended High Tower has its secrets, and so does the Federation. So as long as it’s within the rules… these things are tacitly approved.”
“Hmm… well, there are some things I want to know. Since the files were destroyed, I can only find Night Owl himself.” Luo Xue said.
She had originally wanted to see if she could find any information about Ling Ling in the Archives Bureau, but she found nothing. Now, the only one who might know Ling Ling’s whereabouts was Night Owl.
She couldn’t just ask Qualcomm directly…
Luo Xue wasn’t that naive, and her Foundation Establishment cultivation didn’t allow her to act recklessly in the Suspended High Tower.
“But where can we find Night Owl… He’s still a fugitive. According to the records, Suspended High Tower 132 has been searching for him for two years without any results.” Ceres asked.
“It’s just that the records haven’t been updated. Liu Yun’s reaction just now was quite obvious.” Luo Xue said in a deep voice. “I initially thought she just didn’t want us to interfere in the affairs of this tower city, but now it seems… it’s probably because Night Owl knows something he shouldn’t.”
The destroyed files, the deliberately concealed information, and Mayor Qualcomm’s hasty departure just now…
“So now, they must be pursuing Night Owl.” Luo Xue said with certainty. “At least for now, the battle isn’t over yet!”
Once the battle ended, the files would be updated.
Just a simple sentence, “The mastermind of the Archives Bureau arson case resisted arrest and was killed,” and these secrets would be buried forever.
Ceres pondered for a moment, then said,
“If what you said is true, then he should be on the lower three levels.”
“Why?”
Luo Xue asked.
“Because for such a search, they can be thorough on the upper and middle three levels, but the lower three levels… it’s difficult to conduct a thorough search.” Ceres smiled wryly.
“Because the lower three levels are all maintenance workers, their registration files aren’t complete, and even with tight security, there are still some Wastelanders who sneak in during docking. There are many unregistered residents.”
“The higher-ups don’t really care. After all, the resource quota for the lower three levels is fixed. More people mean less for each person. The specific distribution is up to the workers themselves. Even a few deaths aren’t a big deal.”
“In this situation… how can they conduct a thorough search?”
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