Short, Light, Free - Chapter 146
“There’s still hope for me?” I asked.
“Have you forgotten that I’m a scientist, Junior?” Jiao Tu replied.
Dongfang took a few steps forward. “Use any method you deemed necessary as long as you fix Xiu.”
Jiao Tu walked back to his table and pressed a button underneath it, causing it to lower and open up slowly.
Shortly after, a cave emerged before our eyes.
Jiao Tu smiled and waved us over. “You guys are in luck. This is my secret spot and I don’t let many people in here.”
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He walked down the cellar-like room.
Dongfang grabbed me up before following behind.
Xiaoai turned to Kylin. “Have you been in there?”
“Turtle’s treasures are all inside,” Kylin answered vaguely before walking down after us.
As Xiaoai hesitated with her decision, the table started to close.
She shook her head and quickly made her way through.
She walked down the spiral stairs and finally reached at least 10 meters sub-ground.
I was feeling dizzy from being held around.
After what seemed like hours, Dongfang finally slowed down.
Jiao Tu stopped before a big door. He transformed into a dragon and looked at the panel briefly.
“What are you doing, Senior?” I asked.
“Facial recognition, Junior,” he responded before transforming back into a human form. The door opened slowly.
“I don’t usually let more than one person in here, but today is an exception. Come on into my treasury,” he invited.
Dongfang carried me in while Kylin and Xiaoai joined us shortly after.
It was an underground palace. Each item in the treasure had me lost for words.
At the forefront stood a massive oval-shaped missile, its head extraordinarily huge.
“What is this, Senior?” I asked in surprise.
Jiao Tu turned to it and answered with a smile, “One of the three bombs America retaliated with after Japan invaded Pearl Habor. There were Thin Man, Fat Man, and Little Boy. Little Boy exploded, Fat Man did not, and I picked Thin Man back.”
“This is an atomic bomb?” I asked, eyes bulging wide.
“There’s better stuff at the back.” He pointed at an old glider about five meters behind the bomb and said, “That is the first glider the Wright Brothers invented.”
Xiaoyi reached her hand out to touch the atomic bomb but Jiao Tu roared in time, “Lady, no touching. You’ll set off the alarm and the room will be sealed up.”
Xiaoai quickly retracted her hand and lowered her head, “Sorry…”
“Tesla’s electricity generator is below,” he continued proudly as he walked forward.
“What is this?” I looked at a gigantic machine in front of us.
“World’s first automobile, a steam tricycle,” Jiao Tu answered.
“The first automobile was a tricycle?” I repeated in shock.
Dongfang seemed unamused by it all as she continued pulling me forward.
Kylin, too, did not seem surprised. They must have seen these treasures before.
Xiaoai observed each collection with great interest, which was understandable since I would’ve acted the same way if I could walk.
“World’s first telephone.”
“Titanic’s blueprint.”
“Moon rocks. The Americans didn’t want to give it to me so I flew to the moon and grabbed a bunch back myself. I was so angry at that time and even trampled on their flag.”
“This is the moon buggy used by the Americans. I took it back together with the rocks. I forgot to remove the cables and a camera on it captured my face. The photo was sent straight to NASA. The Americans were scared sh*tless and gave up on moon exploration without revealing their discovery to the public.”
“There are Gundam figurines. I have the whole series here.”
“Ironman’s costume that I stole from the production team.”
“This is great stuff, Saddam’s Gold AK. It wasn’t easy to get.”
…
The half-hour tour made me feel like I was back in history, from the real to fictional world, from men’s dreams to romance.
Cars, planes, guns, rockets… my view of the world and life was renewed.
Jiao Tu said cheerfully, “You’ve just seen region A. There are five other regions but we’re out of time. Follow me to the center of my treasury.”
He led us to a resting room that was about 50 square meters wide.
“Sorry to ask, Senior, but what are you going to do next?” I asked.
“Well… you have three options to choose from,” Jiao Tu started.
Jiao Tu pointed to a sofa and Dongfang placed me on it.
He continued, “Over 60 years ago, there was an army that had me create an exoskeleton mechanical system. From that, I developed two versions. I have the backup here.”
He took two exoskeleton armors, one thick and one thin.
“One’s heavy and one’s light? I want the light one,” I decided.
Jiao Tu laughed. “The heavy one’s external while the light is internal.”
He raised the smaller one up. “This is to be attached above the bones. There will be a charger on the waist. Every three-hour charge gives you enough power for a day. You might feel some pain when you put it on.”
“What? Wait! I’ll just take the external one,” I hurriedly intercepted.’
“What are you afraid of? Put it in quick now so that you can recover fast. You can easily take it out when you can move on your own. Convenient, right? When it was first created, the success rate was only 10% for normal humans. Now that I’ve come across someone like you, I could finally see its true potential. How would you know you can’t unless you try it?” he encouraged with a smile.
“Oh my God, I don’t want it. Are you kidding me? This is murder…” I yelled.
Jiao Tu approached me slowly but he was stopped by Dongfang. “Didn’t you say there are three options? What else is there?”
After a brief pause, Jiao Tu pressed his hand on Dongfang’s head. She did not resist but she did glare murderously at him.
He let go and continued, “Much of your memory has been peeled off. It seems like you’ll need a long time to recover. I’m not sure if you remember our discussion about Project Chaos.”
Kylin added nervously, “Hasn’t it been abandoned a long time ago?”
“Project Chaos? What’s that?” I questioned.
“DIdn’t Pi get injured by the chaos? So what about it?” Dongfang asked doubtfully.
Jiao Tu answered faintly, “The chaos’ been sealed in the bottle since that year. Real Dragon had me look after it.”
He squatted down and pressed his hand to the ground.
Instantly, the ground shook and a mechanical arm raised a burning bottle from beneath.
Jiao Tu grabbed it and the arm returned to the darkness.
Jiao Tu held the glass bottle up. There was a black round ball inside with two big eyes on it, scanning around the room.
The eyes made the black ball look extremely innocent and adorable but under them was a multi-layered bloody mouth.
“This is a chaos?” I asked.
“The weakest one. I call him Small Bottle Man,” Jiao Tu said.
The small man looked at us with big googly eyes. Its smile made my hair stand.
“It is a misty blend of air, form, and essence. He has a real, kind, and beautiful nature, which often attract opposite, in this case negative, traits. Just as how a white paper gets stained easily, chaos is the result of contaminated virtues,” he explained.
“What can he do about my condition?” I asked.
“Chaos will absorb the world’s evil and harmonize with it. It can harmonize with all objects to form a new body. 600 years ago, I discussed this concept with her. We had planned to use it on her but I did not know what was going to happen. The residual effects of a complete blend of a male and female are beyond my understanding and cure. You carry Pi with you so it should be easy for chaos to fuse you two together.”
“Wait, chaotic fusion? You want to use chaos’ power to fuse Pi and me? What’s the outcome? Don’t you dare do anything before you clarify this,” I demanded.
Dongfang looked at Jiao Tu. “You can bring Pi back and cure him fully?”
“Theoretically, yes, since chaos’ unique ability is to guarantee a 100% blend. Even if it does work, at least 50% of this fellow will still be Pi,” he revealed.
Dongfang nodded. “Go ahead.”
“Are you crazy? Save me, Xiaoai?” I shouted.
Xiaoai stood rooted to the ground, speechless.
“You don’t think we’re harming you, do you?” Jiao Tu asked.
“Of course, you’re trying to harm me! You’re trying to kill me!” I yelled frantically.
“You’re a soul or two stronger than average humans. You were born without all three immortal souls and seven mortal forms. You only have one of each so I don’t even know how you’re still alive. The stuff my brothers gave you are good but because you’re in this state, you were unable to absorb them. Things will only get worse so decide quickly. I can help you become whole,” he offered.
“Is he for real, Xiaoai? Xiaoai?” I called out.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her nod. “The green dragon beard is a lock. Tao Tie is gentle while Pu Lao is aggressive. Pi’s been lost for thousands of years. Dad told me a few days ago that he hadn’t planned for you to absorb Pi but it seems that everyone has a different idea. It’s not something a person can call into question.”
“It’s very safe and you’ll still be you. After the fusion, I will give you a part of my soul, as part of Brother Tao Tie’s plans,” Jiao Tu reassured.
“Tao Tie? His plans? Why are all of you doing this to me?” I cried out.
The chair behind me locked itself and a massive headgear appeared above my head.
I could feel many needles entering my scalp. They hurt slightly.
Jiao Tu placed the Small Bottle Man into a small groove on the ground and opened it.
I started to feel numb all over and it made me feel very uncomfortable.
Jiao Tu added slowly, “I have something to tell you since I don’t know if you can come back after this. All nine of us brothers are connected. Pi, of course, has trouble catching up. Brother Tao Tie’s idea is simple. Each of us will give a part of our soul to you. On your own, you’ll have all three immortal souls and seven mortal forms. The nine of us aren’t real dragons, to begin with, and the green dragon is merely a subspecies, but gathering our essences into your body might work.”
“Might work? What exactly are you guys trying to achieve?” I asked him helplessly.
“We want to turn you into a god and have you help us do something, that’s all,” he answered simply.
“What…” Before I could finish my sentence, I lost all consciousness.
It was as if I had fallen into an abyss.
The machine was still operating when Jiao Tu placed his hands on it and said, “I’ll be adjusting the power unit to make sure that it gets in touch with your body and souls slowly. I can’t promise that your body will be cured, but your souls will definitely become one.”
“Nothing will go wrong, right?” Dongfang asked.
Jiao Tu scratched his head. “There shouldn’t be a problem. I’ve been studying it for over thousands of years and have tried it on animals, too. I never had issues.”
The bottle seal opened. The black mist entered the headgear and into my body through the connecting needle tubes.
I was already unconscious by then.
The whole room turned red as the machine started to light up and flicker.
An alarm was set off and the treasury doors started sealing up.
“What’s happening?” Kylin asked, confused.
“Security system’s been activated. I’ll go deactivate it, no biggie. It has happened a few times before. Each treasure has a sensor attached to it. One might’ve gone off by mistake.”
He turned to the wall behind him and tapped on it. A computer emerged from within.
After pressing a few buttons, the surrounding lights shut off and the room returned to its original state.
The metal doors to the treasury started opening again.
“Is Pi alright?” Dongfang asked.
As if remembering something, Jiao Tu turned around but the bottle was already empty.
“Not good. I forgot to stop it!” Jiao Tu yelled.
A huge volume of black mist shot out from my eyes, nose, ears, and mouth.
The mist congealed into a big black face, 10 times the size of the bottle.
“Finally willing to release me, you stupid turtle? I’ve been trying to brainwash you but it did not work. I’m actually surprised that this plan is so successful,” the innocent-looking face started.
