Chapter 72: First Fortress 24

Gu Xianqing?

Impossible.

An He instinctively denied Sekhmet’s claim. She shifted her numbing legs and placed her hands back on her knees. “Why do you say that?”

Sekhmet strolled slowly back to the desk and sat down. “It’s understandable that you’re not familiar with her.”

No, I am familiar with her, An He rebutted inwardly.

They had spent many days together. Most nights, Gu Xianqing would “communicate” with her without any sense of distance—close enough to be called pillow talk.

Over three to five months, An He had formed her own judgment of Gu Xianqing’s character.

Admittedly, Gu Xianqing did have some unknown connection to the God, and she was using An He to achieve certain goals. But Gu Xianqing had never shown malice toward the entire human race. She had even taken in Lady Heli and given kind guidance to Lan Ming.

How could she collude with the Black Fog and watch humanity head toward extinction?

Was this another layer of Sekhmet’s brainwashing? Smearing Gu Xianqing as a threat to human survival to make An He even more determined to eliminate her?

An He speculated silently, waiting quietly for Sekhmet to continue.

“Do you know where she came from?” Sekhmet asked. But it wasn’t a real question—it was a leading prompt to guide her thinking.

An He froze for a moment and shook her head.

Sekhmet’s prompt hit perfectly, with devastating power. An He’s defenses of Gu Xianqing crumbled in an instant.

An He truly didn’t know.

That’s right. I’ve never really understood her. Her mood sank into a brief low with the realization.

Sekhmet continued on her own. “Gu Xianqing’s origins are a mystery. Five years ago, she appeared out of nowhere and vanished just as suddenly. According to reports from our spies embedded in various fortresses, she never joined any of them.”

Sekhmet paused. “This means she doesn’t belong here. She likely came from the outside—that land shrouded in Black Fog. In the past, even our fully armed exploration teams couldn’t return from it unscathed. Yet Gu Xianqing walked in here empty-handed, without a scratch.”

An He felt sweat beading in her palms.

This question, which Gu Xianqing had always dodged and An He had never dwelled on, was now laid bare by Sekhmet.

“How did she do it?” An He heard her own voice come out hoarse.

“Probably because she’s not purely human. She’s a special Nestsoul.” Sekhmet pulled open the desk drawer and took out a folder. “And that’s the strange part. This kind of unique evolution has never appeared in humans before. First, no matter how powerful a Nestsoul is, it always has a summoning range and time limit. Exceed either threshold, and the Nestsoul vanishes automatically. But Gu Xianqing is the exception.”

“We once held her captive for two days, and she never disappeared. That’s far beyond our longest record. And her true body isn’t in the First Fortress.” Sekhmet looked up, gazing deeply into An He’s eyes. “You’ve been in contact with her. Have you seen her true body?”

An He shook her head again. “No.”

She truly hadn’t.

Moreover, Gu Xianqing had said that if her Nestsoul form vanished, she herself would cease to exist.

“I thought as much.” Sekhmet pinched the upper right corner of the folder with two fingers and swiftly pulled out a report. “Wen Yewang drew her blood and studied it. Her blood is peculiar, and one detail caught my attention. All known Embedded Spirit Bodies so far are the result of mutations and evolutions from a host body—their genes differ subtly from ordinary humans.”

“So no matter how far our experiments go, we need Embedded Spirit Body genes to assist, either for reproduction or cloning. But Gu Xianqing’s genetic makeup is completely different from our Embedded Spirit Bodies.”

The paper was handed to An He.

Sekhmet spoke with keen interest. “Take a look at her test report.”

An He wiped the sweat from her palms and took the paper. She didn’t need to read the technical terms; her eyes fell on the final box with the results.

Sekhmet read the text slowly. “Her genes are closer to those of an ordinary human.”

An unevolved human.

How is that possible? An He scanned the paper back and forth. Shock made the air in her chest feel trapped, unable to cycle through her nose. She opened her mouth and drew in a soft breath.

Gu Xianqing had a Nestsoul and an Innate Talent—how could she be an ordinary human? An He had never considered it.

“Surprised?” Sekhmet gazed at An He with fascination. “I was even more shocked than you at the time. To be precise, Gu Xianqing used to be an ordinary human. So Wen Yewang once theorized that ordinary people could gain a human Nestsoul and achieve a form of immortality. We ran a batch of experiments—all failures.”

The paper was pulled away. The corner An He had pinched was crumpled; Sekhmet smoothed it flat. “Wen Yewang is a believer. When scientific reasoning failed, Professor Wen proposed it was the work of the God. Only the God has such creative power.”

“The God…”

Sekhmet gave a brief explanation. “You don’t believe, so you’ve probably never encountered the Church. The Ancient God New Testament says the God has devotees who carry out Its will, called Red-Clothed Apostles. Gu Xianqing fits perfectly—she’s the God’s masterpiece.”

“But.” Sekhmet tapped the folder’s hard cover. “Her arrival terrifies me. If the God is truly the one who bestowed blessings on humanity as the doctrine claims, such an apostle should ultimately benefit us. But Gu Xianqing does the opposite.”

“She plucks human memories like candy from a baby, intimately familiar with most of this city’s mechanisms. We’ve only half-understood the Shell Membrane after years of research, yet she knew it like the back of her hand and destroyed the searchlight on Babel Tower, causing outages in District 21 ever since.”

An He was speechless once more.

From Sekhmet’s perspective, Gu Xianqing was a devil with world-destroying power, a dark cloud hanging over everyone’s heads. Only when An He truly absorbed the Saint Lord’s words and adopted that viewpoint did she feel the fear Gu Xianqing instilled.

“That’s the problem.” Sekhmet tossed the folder onto the desk. “She borrowed my army, damaged the Shell Membrane, lured in Bone Eaters, stole a Cabin Cocoon—and Cabin Cocoons like yours are our guarantee for survival in the future. Gu Xianqing acts like she doesn’t want that plan to succeed. Everything she does threatens me.”

Sekhmet’s demeanor shifted subtly. Wisps of killing intent brewed in her dignified eyes. “If she’s the God’s apostle, I can basically confirm that the God is not one that cares for humanity.”

An He shivered.

By sheer coincidence, Sekhmet’s conclusion matched her own—the God was no benevolent force.

But the Saint Lord’s deduction came from Gu Xianqing, not firsthand.

“Gu Xianqing…” An He murmured the name unconsciously.

“Before you arrived, I kept wondering what her goal was. If the Black Fog is destined to swallow this city, her actions have undoubtedly accelerated it. Stripping our weapons, destroying our fighters, toppling human civilization.” Sekhmet raised her eyes to An He. “She took you away once. Do you know her purpose?”

An He shook her head for the third time.

She didn’t know.

Gu Xianqing had never explicitly revealed her intentions. Aside from destroying the Mental Device and Lock-On on Wen Yewang, every step of her approach and use of An He had been behind-the-scenes support. She had even given An He enough space for her own choices.

But stepping back to examine it objectively, Gu Xianqing had pushed the war between the two fortresses and destroyed the First Fortress’s Shell Membrane—acts showing no mercy toward humanity.

An He recalled their bathroom conversation again. Yes, Gu Xianqing had said early on that humanity’s frantic development was meaningless; she had known the Black Fog was coming.

Sure enough, Gu Xianqing is deeply tied to the God. Are they in cahoots? Will they destroy this land in the future, guiding me into the God’s embrace? Then why pretend to warn me against reading the Ancient God New Testament?

Or did Gu Xianqing deliberately warn me, knowing I’d be drawn to what I’m told to avoid?

Admittedly, An He didn’t fully believe Sekhmet’s accusations against Gu Xianqing. But the Saint Lord’s words unintentionally reminded her: if someone hides their goals from you, they’re either planning to harm your interests or telling a white lie. An He didn’t think Gu Xianqing was capable of white lies. Complex emotions churned in her chest, turning the budding goodwill toward Gu Xianqing into suspicion. Once doubt took root, she couldn’t stop wondering if every word had been held back.

An He’s heart swelled and ached. She frantically searched her mind for evidence.

Amid countless memories of “intimacy” and “confrontation,” An He suddenly recalled that night of their bet on a kiss. Gu Xianqing had said: “How do you know I’m helping you? Have you ever considered that I might be misleading you, seducing you, pushing you toward an irreversible abyss…?”

An He jolted awake.

That’s right. My instincts back then weren’t wrong for no reason. Close call—she had nearly fallen for Gu Xianqing’s ploy. An He raised her hand and viciously wiped her lips with her sleeve.

What was Gu Xianqing’s true purpose in approaching her? Would she ever tell her? Or hide it until she died?

Sekhmet turned her head and saw An He’s eyes blazing with fury—overflowing with disgust, brimming with killing intent, taut like a bowstring ready to fire.

“You think she’s suspicious too?” Sekhmet said.

An He finally had the chance to nod.

Sekhmet’s voice deepened. “Vivian, I called you here tonight for a mission.”

“What do I need to do?” An He asked proactively.

“During your fight, Gu Xianqing said her Dream Erosion would come for you tonight.”

It’s already come.

An He kept her composure and continued listening.

“From now until dawn tomorrow, rest here. If Min He can’t catch her, pass a message for me.”

“What?” The request was odd. An He masked her reaction. “Will she even talk to me?”

“The controller of Dream Erosion will always be present.” Sekhmet turned sideways. “It doesn’t matter if she doesn’t communicate with you. Just remember the message—she can pick it up from your subconscious.”

Looks like Wen Yewang figured out Gu Xianqing’s Innate Talent completely.

“What message?”

An He leaned forward, awaiting Sekhmet’s orders.

“Five years ago, I rejected her deal.” Sekhmet’s gaze dropped slightly, heavy with implication. “But now I have a new idea. Tell her to come to this room. We can talk face-to-face again. She’s elusive enough to make the meeting if she wants.”

An He quickly realized this was a declaration of war, delivered through her to lure Gu Xianqing out. The challenge was now in the courier’s hands—Gu Xianqing just needed to scan her memories to see it.

Would Gu Xianqing come?

If she did, it would be two against one for her—An He and the Saint Lord teamed up, not counting Tina.

It might be more than that. Who knew if this room, chosen specifically by the Saint Lord, was already rigged with an inescapable trap.

An He suddenly felt on pins and needles. The vast room turned perilous; even the sofa beneath her might hide deadly explosives.

No doubt, it was a trap.

What had Gu Xianqing and Sekhmet discussed five years ago? Would that woman risk it for this proposal?

An He already harbored suspicions about Gu Xianqing’s deceptions. When the time came, which side should she take? How would she face Gu Xianqing?

After weighing it, An He decided to follow orders—to force out both Sekhmet’s and Gu Xianqing’s true aims. But before Gu Xianqing arrived, she would grab her and demand answers, then decide which “two” she stood with in this “two-on-one.”

“Understood the mission? Your answer?” Sekhmet pressed.

“Yes.” An He replied firmly, her voice resounding.