Ye Ling's words froze the smile on Gao He's face.
However, Gao He quickly chuckled, "Very well, as long as your people are unharmed. A mere doctor, what could he..."
Boom!
Before Gao He could finish speaking, the Gu King that Ye Ling had subdued erupted from the ground and swallowed him whole.
The other hooded figures around were startled by the sudden appearance of the massive centipede, their faces turning pale as they retreated.
With over twenty meters of its body emerging from the ground, the centipede squeezed into the narrow alley, exuding an immense sense of pressure.
"Gao... Gao He... is dead?"
The crowd, witnessing the colossal centipede, finally reacted, their faces filled with horror!
Gao He was the only Rank Six cultivator present. With his death, the others were rendered utterly incapable of fighting.
Seeing the enormous centipede emerge from the ground, Ye Yi was also stunned. She looked at Ye Ling and asked, "Great Centipede King... when did you release it?"
Ye Ling smiled and replied, "While following you, I just happened to let it out."
As soon as he finished speaking, the giant centipede opened its cavernous maw and spat out Gao He's bones, making the scalps of the hooded figures tingle!
"Retreat... quickly retreat!"
Their courage shattered, not a single person dared to confront the centipede. They all fled outwards.
However, in the confined space of the alley, escape was impossible. Ye Ling's Gu King, like a wild horse that had broken free from its reins, madly devoured the hooded figures, sending them fleeing in utter disarray!
Ye Yi stared blankly at the Gu King rampaging ahead, her mind a complete blank.
She had never imagined that her predicament would be so easily resolved by Ye Ling's Gu King!
"Thank you..." Ye Yi said to Ye Ling with a complex mix of emotions, unsure whether to feel happy or sad.
Gao He was one of her few trusted confidantes in the Shanghai Research Branch. Now that this confidante had betrayed her, she wondered how many others in the Shanghai Research Branch were disloyal to her.
She would have to resume a life of constant vigilance.
Ye Ling ignored the assassins and asked Ye Yi, "You're welcome. Can you still walk?"
Although he didn't care about the fate of the Hongchen Pavilion, the more internal strife they had, the happier he would be.
However, Ye Yi looked exactly like his sister, and he couldn't bear to see her die here.
It was a pity that he was currently impersonating Kong Xuhan and could only control the Gu King to crudely devour his enemies. Otherwise, he would have liked to torture Gao He thoroughly and extract all his secrets.
Ye Yi, unaware of Ye Ling's true thoughts, lowered her head and asked him, "I'm fine, but I can't move right now. Can you carry me to the research branch? They have the antidote for the Meridian Severing Soft Tendon Powder there."
Ye Ling said, "Don't you even look at the person you're asking for a favor?"
Ye Yi trembled. After a moment's pause, she finally looked up into Ye Ling's eyes, opened her mouth, and then said with difficulty, "Please, please."
Seeing Ye Yi's demeanor, Ye Ling merely smiled. Without another word, he turned and picked her up.
The moment he carried Ye Yi on his back, Ye Ling was momentarily stunned, feeling a sense of daze.
Carrying Ye Yi now, he felt as if he had returned to six years ago, carrying his mischievous sister home.
That familiar feeling made Ye Ling believe that the person on his back was Ye You!
Ye Yi's face was also flushed. Since she could remember, she had never had such close physical contact with a man.
The moment Ye Ling carried her, a strange emotion bloomed in her heart.
However, it wasn't romantic love, but rather a sense of blood-related connection.
'Why do I feel this way?'
Ye Yi wondered, lost in thought as she was carried by Ye Ling.
Ye Ling snapped back to reality, recalled the rampaging Gu King, and gently told Ye Yi, "Hold on tight."
"Mhm..."
Ye Yi softly responded, and the two of them vanished from the spot.
Shortly after Ye Ling's departure, a man in black with a Shura mask appeared in the narrow alley. He looked at the mangled corpses and the large hole in the ground with an utterly indifferent gaze.
"Kong Xuhan, the Great Centipede King... a dignified Gu Immortal, to choose to aid a lowly clone. I once drew the Blood-Luring Qilin away for you, giving you the chance to seize the young Qilin and refine the Elixir of Immortality, yet I never expected you to be so ungrateful..."
"So be it. Since you have chosen to stand on the other side, you are no longer valuable to me. You shall obediently become my alchemy machine."
The man in black spoke softly, and the surrounding corpses ignited with green flames, quickly burning to ash.
After completing this, the man in black dissipated into black mist, and the narrow alley returned to its dead silence.
A short while later, the Dragon Department, secretly notified by Ye Ling to handle the bodies, arrived belatedly.
They looked at the broken yet clean alley, exchanging bewildered glances, unsure of what to do.
What exactly happened here?
Shanghai, Red Maple Research Institute, also the Shanghai Research Branch of the Hongchen Pavilion.
Ye Ling placed Ye Yi into a medical pod and asked, "Is this it?"
Ye Yi, lying in the medical pod, replied, "Yes, I've taken the antidote. Although the poison has been neutralized, my damaged meridians still need to be repaired by the medical pod. I might have to sleep for a few hours inside."
"During this period, Mr. Kong, please do not move around freely. Many areas in this facility require entry authorization. Mr. Kong has not yet received my authorization, and entering those areas rashly will result in an attack."
"Understood," Ye Ling replied, though whether he had truly registered her words was anyone's guess.
After closing the medical pod, Ye Yi immediately fell into a deep sleep, undergoing treatment from the medical pod.
With nothing else to do, Ye Ling scanned the research institute with his divine sense, memorizing the entire layout.
However, to Ye Ling's surprise, many laboratories in the institute were in a state of disuse. The machines and various peculiar containers within were all shut down, and he couldn't fathom why.
"Hmm... there's a 'Tongtian Tower' here too?"
Soon, Ye Ling discovered a black pyramid in a room beneath the research institute.
The external structure of the pyramid was identical to the ones Ye Ling had seen before. The only difference was that this black pyramid was scaled down, standing only five meters tall and housed within a rather large room.
Around the pyramid, ancient altars were arranged, with green flames burning within them.
A purely mechanical pyramid combined with ancient Chinese Taoist altars – the appearance of these two elements in the same room created a truly bizarre scene.
Ye Ling glanced at Ye Yi in the medical pod, then left a clone in her place. He then concealed his presence and headed towards the peculiar room.
At that very moment, Ye Ling received information from the Dragon Department regarding the alley.
The man in black wearing the Shura mask was also heading towards the Hongchen Pavilion Research Branch.