Chapter 137: Sorry, There Really Is No One Else to Turn To

The man who entered from outside the classroom was Lawrence. After coming in, he first drove away the men in white coats before approaching Ou Xiaolu.

“Mr. Ou, you’ve seen the situation here. If this continues, the Stone Creek Campus itself may be in danger. Please help me.”

Ou Xiaolu’s expression grew serious. “Tell me what happened. And who are these people?”

“This isn’t the place to talk. Let’s leave first.” The moment Lawrence heard Ou Xiaolu agree, he hurried to speak.

Ou Xiaolu glanced at the teacher, whose face was swollen, and said helplessly, “Teacher, I…”

“You go take care of your business. We probably won’t be able to hold class here for the time being anyway.”

Ou Xiaolu apologized to the teacher, then followed Lawrence out.

Once they had left the teaching building, Lawrence began to explain. After the former archbishop acquired the leyline space beneath the Stone Creek Campus, he had truly moved his entire laboratory there.

The former archbishop had originally been a high-ranking bishop. Later, as spiritual energy faded and the world entered an Age of Declining Magic, he was never able to cultivate the unique power of the Church. So he chose a path opposed to the Church’s—the path of the Science Divine Church.

The most crucial part of his research naturally involved the power the Church attributed to God: the creation of human beings.

The former archbishop had first modified existing humans, then moved directly to creating artificial humans through DNA manipulation. His achievements were already comparable to Wayne’s cloning technology.

Unfortunately, the former archbishop’s imagination far exceeded his technical ability. The progress of his artificial-human research had always been slow, and so far only Artificial Human Number Eleven had received an independent designation.

The rest were all beings like the men in white coats, classified as Intelligent Modified Humans and Combat-Type Modified Humans.

“This was an unforeseen incident,” Lawrence complained. “It wasn’t that the artificial-human research failed. Some mysterious force sealed off the space and affected several of the artificial humans. Several escaped, and the Combat-Type Modified Humans are hunting them down.

“Artificial Human Number Eight, the one you encountered, has a fairly decent personality. If you run into the others, you may really have to fight.”

“Is your boss still trapped inside the space?” Ou Xiaolu was not particularly concerned about that. What puzzled him was why the former archbishop had not appeared after such a serious incident.

“I don’t know either. I can’t get any message into the space at all. Please help us.”

“Then I need to know what you want me to do. Enter the leyline space and help your boss, or capture the artificial humans?”

“Neither. Please just notify Master Wayne and the others. After that, if you can stop the artificial humans from leaving, that would be even better. Several of them have escaped. Some are as dangerous as the artificial humans themselves. If they start running wild around the school, they could cause a serious disturbance.”

Ou Xiaolu nodded and took out his phone. Before Wayne had left, he had given Ou Xiaolu his number. Given the relationship between the former archbishop and Wayne, a single call should be enough for Wayne to send people over.

Things did not go quite as Ou Xiaolu expected. Wayne answered the call, but after hearing about the former archbishop’s situation, he said helplessly, “It’s not that I don’t want to go. I simply can’t right now. Someone has already fought his way to my doorstep. If I don’t crush that fellow’s arrogance, they’ll never know who the true King of New Township is.

“Oh, and for your problem, ask Senior Brother. He may be able to help.”

Ou Xiaolu was stunned. What was happening in New Township lately? First the former archbishop had run into trouble, and now even Master Wayne was in trouble.

He thought of the four people who had worked with him last time. Zhong Kui had gone into seclusion and could not be summoned for the time being. That left only Senior Brother.

“Lawrence, you know the Fist Association, right?”

Ou Xiaolu was not sure what relationship Lawrence and the others had with the Fist Association, so he asked just to be certain.

Lawrence smiled awkwardly. “I know them, but could we avoid asking them? Our relationship with them isn’t very good.”

“I understand. Everyone I know is unavailable, so I’ll have to handle it myself.” Ou Xiaolu’s expression turned solemn. “There’s no other way. How do I get inside?”

Seeing how decisively Ou Xiaolu had made up his mind, Lawrence was stunned as well. After hesitating, he asked cautiously, “The situation inside is unclear. Are you certain you want to go in?”

“What? You look down on me? I refuse to believe that my strength is any weaker than those people’s. Why does no one believe in my abilities?”

Lawrence rolled his eyes. Wasn’t it obvious why no one believed him? The others had each lived for one or two centuries and knew one another well. And Ou Xiaolu? He was young, newly arrived, and crippled. If Lawrence himself had not lacked Wayne’s contact information, he never would have gone to Ou Xiaolu in the first place.

Naturally, Lawrence did not say any of that aloud. He merely muttered, “It’s just that I don’t know you very well. I’ve followed my master for many years, but I’ve only heard him mention a few names. I don’t know the others at all. I only met you last time, when I was helping my master with a task. I truly have no idea how strong you are.”

“It doesn’t matter. The truth will prove everything. After you obtained that space, you must have opened a dedicated passage, right?”

“There is a dedicated passage, but it has been forcibly sealed off. Come to think of it, my master once said that opening the passage was troublesome, so he left the original entrance intact. We should still be able to enter through there.”

“The original entrance?” Ou Xiaolu understood at once. It was the spatial passage through which he and Senior Brother had entered the leyline space.

Ou Xiaolu nodded firmly. “I’ve been there before. I know where it is. But first I need to find a place to confirm something. Come with me.”

“Of course. If you’re going in, I’ll certainly have to watch you go in.”

“Fine. Don’t move around… Let’s go!”

Ou Xiaolu seized Lawrence and, in a flash, transformed into a current of electricity. The next moment, they appeared on the rooftop where Wayne had once parked his helicopter.

Standing there, Ou Xiaolu looked toward the place where they had previously entered the leyline space and saw strange lights still flickering there.

“We can enter. Once you go in, there’s no turning back. I told you not to move.”

Lawrence lay sprawled on the ground, afraid to move even a finger. He cursed inwardly. Yes, you told me not to move—but could you not have warned me that you were going to teleport me? I had no time to prepare at all.

Ou Xiaolu had no time to concern himself with Lawrence’s complaints. He began arranging what needed to be done next.

“I’ll go in first. You go to my valley and bring my pets here. There’s also a girl named Emilia in the valley. Tell her there’s a fight and ask her to come over.”

After giving these instructions, Ou Xiaolu flashed once more, transformed into a current of electricity, and flew toward the node through which he had entered the leyline space the previous time.