Chapter 177: The New Rift
The girl tightened her hands and looked at Zhong Lingfan. “When I agreed to this, I had already resolved never to regret it.”
“I trust Miss Administrator will also keep her promise.”
Zhong Lingfan nodded. “Of course. Your family, your brother — the Bureau will do its utmost to protect them.”
“Alright then, go get some rest.”
She patted the girl’s shoulder.
After the girl left, one of Zhong Lingfan’s close research aides hesitated for a moment before speaking. “Professor, after making such cruel decisions… do you never feel lost?”
Zhong Lingfan looked up and smiled. “Cruel decisions, hmm?”
“Well, perhaps.”
To have a young girl — full of potential, gifted with extraordinary power — choose to die…
But—
“No,” Zhong Lingfan answered firmly. “As long as it’s the right decision — one that lets more people survive — I’ll make it without hesitation, no matter how cruel.”
In her judgment, the girl’s death would be more beneficial for the coming war.
“What if,” the researcher asked softly, “even after making such cruel decisions, sacrificing innocent people… you still can’t save anyone?”
Zhong Lingfan sighed. “Then at least I’ve done everything within my power.”
That was still better than losing the chance to act because of hesitation or sentimentality.
“Of course,” she continued, “that’s my way of doing things. You’re just a researcher — your job is to follow orders and focus on your experiments. Don’t think too much, and don’t burden yourself with guilt. After all, this is a command.”
The weight of issuing such orders — that was hers to bear. She was the administrator of Cloud City, after all.
By now, she had already made many ‘cruel’ decisions, and she knew there would be more to come. Zhong Lingfan understood perfectly what she was doing, but she never thought herself noble — quite the opposite. She often felt guilty. Yet even so, she continued making one “right” choice after another.
That was her Dao — her path.
When Xu Zhi arrived, Zhong Lingfan had just taken her blade from the lab table. It seemed to have calmed down — the patterns along its surface had returned to gold. But when Xu Zhi looked at it, she sensed that something was… different.
Its appearance hadn’t changed, nor its weight.
“What did you do to it?” Xu Zhi asked curiously.
“A small modification,” Zhong Lingfan replied.
“When I advanced in rank, I gained a new extraordinary ability — I call it Contract.”
She didn’t hide a thing. “Through a contract, I can bind with extraordinary beings or objects to obtain their powers — or grant them new ones.”
“Of course, there are limits — like my energy reserves, my level, and the target’s own level.”
Xu Zhi nodded as she caught on. “So, what ability did you give my blade?”
“The girl’s ability — the power to sever the connection between an object and the extraordinary.”
Xu Zhi was surprised; that was a very useful ability. But—
“You can contract on behalf of others?”
Zhong Lingfan shook her head. “Not directly. I needed a medium. So I first contracted with the blade, then with the girl. In other words, I act as a… middle link, connecting her to the weapon.”
Xu Zhi was astonished. “That’s even possible?”
Zhong Lingfan chuckled. “Only after many experiments.”
Even then, there were still side effects — though that was something Xu Zhi didn’t need to know.
“But her level is far lower than yours,” Zhong Lingfan warned. “When you use this ability, keep in mind how much energy she can actually afford. Use it sparingly, only when it matters.”
That was the tricky part — after forming a contract, the one using the ability didn’t necessarily pay for it.
When Xu Zhi used the [Sever] ability, it was the girl who supplied the energy — not Xu Zhi.
To prevent Xu Zhi from accidentally draining the girl dry, Zhong Lingfan had installed a “valve,” a control mechanism through which she could regulate the energy flow as the intermediary.
After all, given the disparity in their levels, the girl would have no way to resist Xu Zhi’s demands.
“Alright, got it.” Xu Zhi nodded and sheathed her blade. “The believers have already started moving. Have you made any preparations?”
Zhong Lingfan sighed. “Some. But I’m not sure if they’ll be enough when the time comes. We’ll do our best and leave the rest to fate.”
She had never once asked Xu Zhi for a favor. Xu Zhi thought for a moment before saying, “Is there anything you need help with right now?”
She said right now because she wasn’t sure whether she’d still have the strength to help anyone once things truly began.
Zhong Lingfan was a bit surprised, then replied seriously, “Then please… focus on growing stronger.”
As they spoke, the ground trembled faintly.
An instrument in Zhong Lingfan’s lab began to beep rapidly, and Xu Zhi turned toward the direction of the Federation.
Through the mist, she saw it — the rise of the second pillar of red light.
The first red light had only begun to alter the Federation’s environment, but the second had already triggered natural disasters.
As more pillars appeared, the world would become increasingly hostile to life — but by the time the final pillar rose, those within the great formation wouldn’t need to worry about survival at all.
Zhong Lingfan stepped forward, studied the readings on the screen, silenced the alarm, and turned to Xu Zhi. “I have to get busy. Time’s running out.”
It was a dismissal. Xu Zhi didn’t mind — she nodded. “Alright. I’ll be going, then.”
Not long after she left — just after the second red light rose — several strange energy fluctuations appeared at various points around Cloud City.
Xu Zhi immediately headed to the nearest one.
When she arrived, she saw a grim sight:
In midair, twenty or thirty meters above the ground, a red fissure had opened abruptly — as if the very air had been torn apart. It looked like a narrow wound in space itself, or perhaps a closed, blood-red eye waiting for the right moment to open.
She quickly checked the other sites — all the same.
There was no doubt about it — these were rifts from Midnight.
Clearly, whoever was inside had chosen the simplest, most brutal strategy: tear open multiple rifts across Cloud City, betting that Xu Zhi couldn’t guard them all.
There would always be one that slipped through.
Xu Zhi smiled faintly. What a coincidence — she had just received her new ability.
If this had happened any earlier, she really wouldn’t have known what to do with these rifts.
