In a room that looked very much like a medieval period dungeon, two bright lights flashed. As the light faded, crumpled figures of two people could be seen.
"Urgh…"
Feng Yan immediately puked.
"Hey, if you want to puke at least go further away from me!"
When Feng Yan didn't, he moved away from Feng Yan.
"Can't even handle teleportation. Hmph! Weakling!"
Ikasa took great pleasure in teasing Feng Yan. After all the times Feng Yan had called him weakling, it felt good to be able to retaliate.
Feng Yan wiped his mouth and shot Ikasa a stinky glare. He rubbed his stomach and muttered, " I don't want to feel that kind of weightlessness again."
When teleporting, they felt a peculiar weightless feeling in the stomach. Ikasa was very familiar with that feeling. It was the same sensation you get when a plane takes off or lands.
In fact, Ikasa was addicted to it after having so many flight miles on his card.
"But it feels really good. If possible, I want to feel it again." Ikasa replied to Feng Yan's murmur with a longing in his voice.
Feng Yan assumed Ikasa was mocking him. He retorted in a scathing tone, "Wait till you reach the Sense Realm; that sensation will be multiplied two-fold."
Ikasa turned toward Feng Yan with sparkling eyes and asked, "Truly? You are not joking right?"
Feng Yan looked at Ikasa as if looking at a Madman. He turned and shook his head and uttered a single word.
"Weirdo!"
Ikasa was going to pester Feng Yan more, but his gaze was attracted by a new source of light in the room. A circular platform had lit up as soon as Ikasa had stepped into its vicinity.
"I think you need to prepare yourself to teleport once more, Father-In-Law."
Ikasa could barely suppress the smile at the thought of another teleportation.
Feng Yan groaned at the thought. He thought of postponing his inevitable fate, even if a little. He remembered Wu Nan's whereabouts were still unknown.
"By the way, did you see a human come near the Inner area before I arrived?"
"Oh, Wu Nan? Yeah, he entered the Inner area before us. I found the entrance by observing him."
Feng Yan stared at Ikasa. When Ikasa noticed his stare, he met Feng Yan's gaze. Then Feng Yan's emotionless voice echoed in the room.
"So it was you… Last Night…"
Ikasa noticed the weird atmosphere in the room. He let the silence answer for himself.
Feng Yan let out a long sigh. He looked as if he had just deliberated and come to a difficult decision.
"Say, old man, what is 'The Underworld'?"
Hearing the flippant tone, Feng Yan almost choked on his saliva.
"Shhh… Don't speak of their name."
Feng Yan surveyed his surroundings as if he had done it countless times. Ikasa had never seen him act so paranoid.
"It is an extremely exclusive black market. If you utter their name in the wrong place, you might get in trouble with the Empire as well as the Underworld."
"Huh, so it's just a black market. Looks like I was getting anxious for no reason."
"The ignorant are fearless."
Ikasa didn't pay any heed to the obvious warning. Anyways he had no intention of even uttering the name 'The Underworld,' let alone contacting them.
"C'mon old man, we need to go now before Wu Nan takes all the goodies for himself."
Wu Nan's name caused Feng Yan's expression to turn savage. With his fists clenched, he joined Ikasa as they stepped onto the Teleportation ring.
—
"Hahaha! That old fool thinks he can find something good in Monkey King's den. As if… Everything good must be here, in this Inner area." Wu Nan scoffed in ridicule as he stepped on the Teleportation ring.
Fast forward to one hour into the future, the present.
"What the hell? Why is there nothing here? Where are my treasures?"
Wu Nan had ransacked the entire room. He couldn't find anything except a few big boxes that won't open, no matter how he tried. They were so heavy that he couldn't even lift them.
He banged those boxes trying to open them, but to no avail. While he was finding a suitable rock to try and break open the box, he discovered a strange discus stuck between a box and the wall.
When he picked it up, he noticed it was much lighter than he thought. He picked it up and swung it on the box. His hand hurt from the rebound.
As for the box; It didn't even leave a dent or a scratch.
Just as he was about to smash the box again, a blue light flashed in the room. Wu Nan stopped his actions and prepared to attack the newcomers.
—
Ikasa and Feng Yan had not even gotten rid of the bright light when a human holding a palm-sized disc charged toward them. His target obviously was Feng Yan.
Ikasa was ignored as a harmless being by the attacker. When Ikasa's eyes finally adjusted to the dim light, he recognized their assailant as Wu Nan.
Wu Nan's first swing missed thanks to the instinctive side step by Feng Yan. Even So, Wu Nan perceived Feng Yan's disorientation. He kept up his barrage of attacks hoping to make the most out of this advantageous situation.
Feng Yan did his best to dodge the attacks relying on his heightened senses but they were also the cause of his long period of disorientation.
He dodged once more as Wu Nan's swing barely missed his head. And then the queasy feeling from the teleportation came back.
"Blergghhh…"
Feng Yan retched all over Wu Nan. Wu Nan froze for a moment. He looked at the gooey yellow liquid covering his body and yelled, livid with rage. He didn't stop his attack, instead, he slammed the discus with even more gusto toward Feng Yan's head.
Feng Yan heaved for breath as he felt another wave rising up. He turned to Wu Nan and spewed the content on him once again. Wu Nan braved the projectile vomit to land his attack on Feng Yan's lowered head.
The discus hit the back of Feng Yan's neck, hard. The impact, luckily or unluckily, depending on perspective, managed to knock out Feng Yan. The discus slipped from Wu Nan's vomit-covered hands and rolled to Ikasa's feet.
Ikasa looked at the discus that was stopped by his shoe and lowered his raised fist. He cheerily waved as if he wasn't just about to sneak attack Wu Nan.
"Brother Handsome, you are amazing you managed to take down Feng Yan, that old coot. You even found out how to enter this place. I admire you…"
"Shut up!"
Wu Nan looked at Ikasa murderously. Now that the bigger threat was knocked out, it was time to take care of the small fry.
He stepped leisurely towards Ikasa, intending to play with him before finishing him. He had once participated in beating up Ikasa, so he knew exactly how weak this guy was.
Ikasa panicked, seeing through Wu Nan's intentions. He picked up the discus and outstretched his other hand.
"Wu Nan, don't come closer or you won't like the consequences."
Ikasa said as he backed away for every step Wu Nan took forward. When he tried to take another step back, Ikasa hit the solid wall.
Left with no choice, Ikasa brought both of his hands together near his chest. He joined his hands together with the discus held vertically between them.
"Brother Wu Nan! We have no prior enmity. If you can let me go, I am willing to offer you 1000 gold. Aren't you here just for gold?"
His intentions were obvious; He was going to beg for mercy while stalling for time. He just hoped Feng Yan would come back to his senses soon.
Wu Nan didn't stop his advancement. Ikasa grew more desperate and that's when he saw the symbol on the Discus. The triangle that had become the universal symbol for 'play/start' on Earth.
Ikasa clicked the symbol hoping for a miracle to happen. A ding sounded from the discus. A hologram projection of a hunched old man appeared and Ikasa was scanned from head to toe.
Then the blue light spread across the room scanning everything else, including Wu Nan.
{Detected specimen 1k3a, detected a nuisance. Initiating clean up…}
The same blue light that had scanned Ikasa and Wu Nan formed a beam of light and entered Ikasa's USB slot on his chest.
Even though the actual USB slot didn't appear, Ikasa instinctively knew it was the same spot where the printer connected to his body.
Then it was as if Ikasa turned bystander in his own body. He could see everything that was happening outside. Still, he was unable to feel any of the sensations. He couldn't feel his clammy hands or the wall that his back was pressed against. All he could see was Wu Nan.
Wu Nan grew apprehensive as he saw the Ikasa's eyes flash blue. He rushed forth with a punch ready to smash in Ikasa's face.
Ikasa watched with dread as the powerful punch approached him. He couldn't even feel his body, let alone move it. He closed his eyes in anticipation of upcoming pain, but he never felt it.
After opening his eyes he saw a lightning blue energy blade dissipate from his right hand and Wu Nan's headless body falling back with a thump.
Before Ikasa could process the indirect killing of Wu Nan by his hands, the short old man appeared before him. His image was turning blurry as if there was interference in the signal.
[Sanctuary…. breached. ….arriving soon. Energy gathering acceleration is needed. ETA - 80 years.]
And Ikasa was once again back in control of his body. He collapsed onto his knees as he processed everything. It seemed as if the Old man was still trying to say something but no new messages appeared in his head.
Then the hologram dissipated and the central part of the discus popped up, revealing the hidden compartment inside.