Chapter 143: The Sun Also Rises
Ninth Level of Suspended High Tower 132.
This was the highest level of the entire Suspended High Tower. Compared to the vast first level, it was quite small, only the size of a small village.
For many years, only Qualcomm and Lingxi, the best of brothers, lived here.
But after Lingxi’s suicide, Qualcomm rarely stayed here.
The ninth level remained closed until Ling Ling arrived.
After coming to the Suspended High Tower, Ling Ling lived on the ninth level. She was also the only one who could freely enter and exit the ninth level without the mayor’s permission.
Qualcomm, on the other hand, rarely stayed here. Today was just a whim, coming up for a short rest.
There was an observation window on the ninth level that offered a direct view of the outside world. It was the only place besides the main control room where one could see the outside.
Qualcomm sat huddled in his wheelchair, his hands tucked in.
At this moment, he didn’t look like the omnipotent master of the Suspended High Tower, the powerful Mayor Qualcomm, but rather a lonely old man.
Indeed, although he looked middle-aged, Qualcomm was already quite old.
Another difference between ability users and cultivators was their lifespan. Ability users lived much shorter lives.
Qualcomm possessed combat power equivalent to the Core Formation Realm, but his lifespan was similar to a mortal’s.
A ninety-year-old cultivator could still look like a youth, while a ninety-year-old ability user was already old and frail.
“…”
Qualcomm silently looked out the observation window at the boundless darkness enveloping the earth, stretching between the clouds.
He looked at the endless natural disasters raging on the surface below. Every disaster meant that a group of Wastelanders would be displaced, forced to embark on a journey to find a new home.
And it also meant that countless lives would be lost.
After the fall of the previous civilization, the new human civilization had already survived twelve day-night cycles, but… how much longer could they last? Could they continue to survive?
Qualcomm didn’t know.
He just felt that he was doing what he had to do, whether others understood or not.
“Little Doctor, you’re here?”
Qualcomm said faintly.
As his voice fell, a small figure beside him jumped, like a startled rabbit.
“Ah!”
“Hmm… your footsteps have become much lighter. I almost didn’t hear you. Could it be that you’ve awakened?”
Qualcomm slowly turned around, his gaze softening as it fell on the trembling young girl. “Don’t be nervous, I’m just asking.”
There were rumors that Lingxi had used a normal awakening potion on his daughter, but only Qualcomm knew it was a lie.
Not to mention that there was no such thing as a “normal” awakening potion. Lingxi’s research hadn’t reached that point before his death. Moreover, Lingxi wished for his daughter to be an ordinary person, to avoid being involved in these troublesome matters.
In Lingxi’s own words, ability users were just “patients.”
Ling Ling had been tested at birth. Like her parents, she didn’t have the potential to be an ability user.
Qualcomm had always respected his old friend’s wishes and didn’t intend to use the awakening potion on Ling Ling.
So if Ling Ling awakened her abilities, Qualcomm would actually be worried.
“No…”
Ling Ling hid slightly behind the wheelchair, avoiding Qualcomm’s gaze.
“Perhaps after coming to the Suspended High Tower, with proper nutrition, your physique has improved.”
Qualcomm chuckled, not minding Ling Ling’s wariness.
He looked towards the horizon again, seemingly waiting for something.
Ling Ling curiously peeked out, but saw nothing. There was only desolate darkness outside the observation window.
Seeming to sense Ling Ling’s confusion, Qualcomm said slowly,
“Wait, just wait a little longer…”
Wait for what?
Before Ling Ling could ask, she saw what Qualcomm was waiting for.
A faintly golden sun appeared, its light piercing through the mist shrouding the sky, casting a weak but persistent sunlight on the observation window.
It was warm.
“Wow…”
Ling Ling was stunned.
She knew about the sun, but during the long twelfth Eternal Night she had experienced in her short life, the sun had never appeared.
The endless night was the main theme of this world.
“The thirteenth Eternal Day of the new civilization… is about to arrive.” Qualcomm said faintly. “The current sun is the gentlest sun… but then, it will be the most terrifying disaster. Heh, you’ll miss the night.”
“Oh…”
Ling Ling was still dazed, staring at the increasingly bright sun, as if she was seeing the most beautiful thing in the world, greedily cherishing every moment.
“It’s said that before the disasters arrived, the previous civilization used the power of the sun to drive these disaster engines. It was a glorious era, a pity we can’t see such grandeur again.”
Qualcomm muttered to himself, then seemed to be chatting with Ling Ling. “I’ve always wondered, the disasters that even such a great civilization couldn’t withstand, why has the new civilization been able to survive? Is it just luck?”
“Does this mean that the new civilization is actually precarious? No matter how much it develops, it can’t escape its current predicament?”
“If that’s the case… does our effort even have any meaning?”
Qualcomm murmured softly.
Ling Ling, although she had recovered, couldn’t understand Qualcomm’s words.
So she thought for a moment and channeled these words into the necklace.
Soon, a response came from the necklace, directly entering Ling Ling’s mind.
“All lives have an end, but we can’t deny the meaning of life just because there’s an ‘end’ or a ‘conclusion.’ The meaning of life isn’t just about its ‘length’ or ‘continuation.’ A fleeting moment of brilliance is still brilliant. Human civilization… should be the same.” Ling Ling blurted out.
Qualcomm abruptly turned to look at Ling Ling, his gaze unfamiliar.
“Uncle Qualcomm, what… what’s wrong?” Ling Ling shrank back slightly. “Did I say something wrong…”
“…I think it’s wrong, but also right.” Qualcomm’s eyes flickered slightly, then he leaned back in his wheelchair. “He thought I was wrong, and I thought he was wrong, but we were still brothers.”
“He believed in the power of life, I carried the burden of civilization. We weren’t the same kind of people… Perhaps this tragedy was destined from the moment we met.”
“Mmm…”
Ling Ling didn’t dare to input these words into the necklace again, afraid of saying something wrong.
“Little Doctor… thanks to you, I thought I would never have the chance to talk to him again.” A faint smile appeared on Qualcomm’s lips, carrying a sincerity he rarely showed.
“…Who?”
Ling Ling peeked out from behind the wheelchair.
“Your father.” Qualcomm exhaled slowly and raised his trembling hand, pointing at the sky. “Look… that’s the sun, our mother, the source of our disasters.”
“Before such a magnificent existence, all human joys and sorrows are insignificant.”
The difference between Qualcomm and Lingxi was whether they were willing to pay any price to achieve their goals. Lingxi’s answer was no, while Qualcomm walked alone on a path no one understood.
Ling Ling didn’t know what to say. She only knew that Uncle Qualcomm was saying something profound, and she couldn’t even understand it, let alone comprehend it.
If she used the necklace to understand, Qualcomm would show that expression again…
However, if Ling Ling could truly understand Qualcomm, he wouldn’t have said these things in front of her.
Only in front of Ling Ling would Qualcomm reveal a sliver of his long and terrifying plan.
This was an absolute secret that couldn’t be mentioned.
The two sat there quietly for a while, watching the faintly visible sun gradually brighten, its weak light bringing a hint of warmth. Then, Qualcomm’s hunched posture changed.
He slowly straightened his back, his expression stern and dignified, like a general planning a battle.
His cold and indifferent gaze was fixed on something ahead, but not the sun, but something further, something unseen.
“It failed.”
Qualcomm said slowly.
No one had reported to him, no one had told him that everything was ready, no one had reported on the battle… Qualcomm already knew that they had failed again, and it was a more crushing defeat than two years ago.
Two years ago, after Night Owl brought Ling Ling back to the Suspended High Tower, the time had finally come to destroy the data stored in the Archives Bureau.
Qualcomm himself was responsible for these records of the past and secrets, and it was impossible for them to be leaked.
Qualcomm had thought that these secrets would be buried forever, until the plan was complete, but he hadn’t expected that Night Owl would learn about them from Ling Ling…
After Ling Ling resonated with the necklace, some unprocessed secret memories, including some buried past events, surfaced in her mind.
Night Owl’s most egregious act was asking Ling Ling some questions after she resonated with the necklace.
Ling Ling, without hesitation, revealed the plan that Lingxi and Night Owl had formulated. Although she didn’t understand it, everyone present was shocked, including Night Owl.
Soon, everyone except for Night Owl was silenced. Only Night Owl, relying on his newly acquired Level 6 abilities, managed to escape.
But because Suspended High Tower 132 hadn’t docked with the ground, Night Owl couldn’t leave the tower.
Two years after the scheduled ground docking, Night Owl’s whereabouts were finally discovered, and Qualcomm thought that this matter could finally be put to rest.
But unexpectedly…
“Who could it be? Those two Federal officers? Or…”
Qualcomm turned to look at the trembling Ling Ling, a habitual smile appearing on his lips, but it was devoid of its usual warmth, only coldness.
“Uncle Qualcomm…”
“Little Doctor, you go back and rest first. Uncle has some matters to attend to.” Qualcomm patted Ling Ling’s head and said with a smile.
“Oh… okay.”
Ling Ling quickly nodded, then looked back at Qualcomm as she left, as if pondering something.
Qualcomm just smiled and turned his wheelchair, watching Ling Ling leave.
The bright sunlight fell on the back of his wheelchair, his expression hidden in the shadows.
…
“The gravity elevator doesn’t go directly to the ninth level. It only operates between the first and eighth levels.” Ceres said. “Because the ninth level is the mayor’s private domain. Even in the most chaotic Suspended High Towers, the ninth level remains untouchable.”
“This is also a symbol of the mayor’s supreme authority. Only the highest authority can occupy the ninth level.”
“Well said,” Luo Xue blinked and asked, “So the question is… how do we get up there?”
“There’s only one way to reach the ninth level: obtain the mayor’s permission.”
“…Do you think Qualcomm will agree?”
“I don’t think so,” Ceres shrugged. “Of course, there’s another method, although it’s not really a method.”
“Tell me.”
Luo Xue twitched her lips. She had a feeling that this so-called method… wasn’t very reliable.
“Although there are no official records, there are rumors that there’s a small observation window on the ninth level that offers a direct view of the outside.” Ceres gestured with her hands. “About this big, made of high-strength glass, but much weaker than the outer shell of the Suspended High Tower.”
“So you’re saying…”
Luo Xue had a bad feeling.
“If you can expose your body to the vacuum at five thousand meters, and have the destructive power of a Level 8 martial artist in their transformed state, you should be able to attack from the outside, shatter the glass, and enter the ninth level.”
Ceres waved her fist, a faint smile on her lips. She was clearly joking.
How could any human do that…
The observation window was too small, only big enough for one or two people to pass through, so using large-scale weapons was also impossible.
But after hearing Ceres’s words, Luo Xue actually started thinking seriously.
“It seems… feasible…”
With her physique, the five-thousand-meter altitude shouldn’t be a problem.
Charging Hidden Flower for two days would be enough destructive power.
“Hey, hey, Miss Guijiao, don’t do anything crazy!” Ceres’s eyes widened. “Five thousand meters, that’s almost directly exposed to deep space!”
“I can do it, but unfortunately, there’s no time…” Luo Xue murmured.
Ceres broke out in a cold sweat. Miss Guijiao was too bold!
Did she mean that if she had enough time, she could use this method to invade the ninth level?
“Moreover, if we want to leave the Suspended High Tower now, we can only use ‘Sparrow’…”
Luo Xue was still considering the possibilities.
“Don’t actually start planning! Not to mention whether it’s even possible, invading the ninth level is equivalent to declaring war on the entire Suspended High Tower!”
Ceres almost jumped up, wanting to slap herself. Why did she even say that?
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