The Universe Jumper Chapter 05 Part 01
Chapter 05 Part 1/2: Four People
When Jiang Liu and Qi Fei climbed up the Chang’le Gate City Wall, they easily spotted Yun Fan.
There were a few tourists at the old city wall. It wasn’t a holiday, and it was during the depression period of the war, so the number of people who came out to travel for leisure was much less than before the war. There were parents who took their children out to take pictures in the city, and a few couples who were going for a walk or riding bicycles. The old city wall had retained its appearance of being desolate for thousands of years, and the lack of timely maintenance and repairs in recent years has made the city's tower appear even more barren and devastated.
It was almost dusk, and the setting sun fell upon the turret of the city wall. The sky was blue with a few sliver of clouds.
Yun Fan was hugged by a man in a suit. The two of them were sitting on a bench next to the observation deck of the tower, and Yun Fan's head was resting on the man's shoulders with her eyes closed. In the eyes of passersby, they looked like young lovers who grew tired from walking and were resting. However, Jiang Liu and Qi Fei immediately saw how dangerous the situation was. Yun Fan’s expression was too calm, making it obvious to them that she was unconscious. The man also had his arm around Yun Fan’s waist, and any discerning person could immediately see that he was using something to control her.
He was outright holding her hostage.
Jiang Liu and Qi Fei glanced at each other and began to walk cautiously towards the bench. Without exchanging any words, they both started to move their hands at the same time. One person rotated his ring, the other person touched the temple of his glasses. They both got their AI cameras to help them search for everything related to the man.
The young man obviously saw them too, and he let out a satisfied smile on his face.
"Young Master Jiang, Director Qi, how are you?" The young man’s Chinese was not quite fluent and he had a slight foreign accent.
Jiang Liu and Qi Fei approached him, and the young man stretched out his right hand, beckoning them not to get too close. The young man was still holding onto Yun Fan with his left hand, and he even pulled her body closer to himself. Jiang Liu and Qi Fei were hesitant to make a move. They stood two or three meters in front of the man, not daring to come closer, and at the same time, they carefully observed whether the man had hidden weapons in his hands and on his body.
"Zhao Yi'teng?" Qi Fei was the first to speak up. The chip in his skull kept outputting this young man’s basic information, and he listened as he considered what he had to say, "An outstanding graduate of West Point Military Academy, executive director of the International New Energy Association, Global Technology Fund Investment Consultant, and a well-known news writer. So, it turns out that you’re a distinguished guest. What brought you here?"
The young man nodded with a smile: "Since you have done such a thorough search, you should also know about my other identities."
"AIA Senior Agent of the Atlantic Alliance?" Jiang Liu said.
Zhao Yi'teng did not deny it. "I usually don't talk about this identity, but I have no secrets in front of you two."
Listening to the message read to him through his ear clip, Jiang Liu knew that Zhao Yi'teng had more hidden information, and he also knew that he had come prepared. He then smiled and asked, "Then you are here to travel, just like me?"
Zhao Yi'teng chuckled, "Yes, that's right, just like Young Master Jiang, I'm here for this girl."
"How do you know Yun Fan?" Qi Fei asked sharply.
"I didn't know her at the beginning," Zhao Yi'teng said with a smile, "but through you two, I got to know her. I have long admired you two for a long time, and I wanted to know what kind of girl it is that can bring two geniuses together." While talking, he observed the reactions of the two people, "I originally thought you two would fight for her, but I didn't expect you two to be so harmonious and would cooperate so well with each other."
Jiang Liu glanced at Qi Fei and knew that Qi Fei had also thought of the same thing as him. Zhao Yi'teng's words couldn't be more clear. He found Yun Fan because he followed the two of them. What kind of person would follow the two of them? Who would know and care about their identities? Even using their toes, they could figure out the answer. Only a few people in the world would do such a thing. They briefly answered the possible options in their heads, and in the end there was only one left, Quantum Fog.
"Since the identities are all clear, let's not play guessing games." Qi Fei said, "What do you want?"
Zhao Yi'teng smiled leisurely and said, "I really just wanted to meet the two of you, chat under this beautiful sunset, and listen to your travel plans."
"What travel plan?" Qi Fei asked tentatively.
"The two of you are here to find Yun Fan," Zhao Yi'teng said, "Isn’t it because you want to travel with her? I just want to know where you are going."
Jiang Liu moved a bit closer to them, "This is easy to answer. Let's find a restaurant, sit down and talk slowly? However, Yun Fan seems to be very tired today. Let her go to bed first. I will invite Chief Zhao to have a meal tomorrow at noon and we can talk then?"
Zhao Yi'teng noticed his movements, and his pupils contracted slightly, but he still said calmly, "Young Master Jiang, you'd better not come over. I invited you two here for the sake of making a friendly deal with you tol. This deal is very simple--- no matter what your plan is, let me join your plan and let's do it together. This way, Yun Fan can go home tonight. If the two of you refuse, then I'm sorry, I will ask Yun Fan myself. Maybe Yun Fan will travel with me alone."
This time, Qi Fei and Jiang Liu didn't need to exchange glances, and they knew about each other's decision. What Yun Fan wanted to do was of great importance, and Jiang Liu and Qi Fei were still facing a Prisoner’s dilemma, and they had the Atlantic Alliance as their common opponent. Getting involved would only complicate things, and it may result in a messy brawl in the end. Before more people and forces get involved, it is best to resolve it quickly and cleanly. Qi Fei and Jiang Liu shared the same thoughts, so they both took a step forward and blocked the left and right routes that Zhao Yi’teng could escape to after he stood up. They predicted that Zhao Yi'teng had no path to retreat into. They could control his movement and save Yun Fan as long as they worked together.
However, just when they were less than one meter away from Zhao Yi'teng, something unexpected happened. The bench that Zhao Yi'teng was sitting on suddenly floated slightly and quickly slid away in the direction of the city wall. The speed was so fast that the two of them were caught off guard. In a blink of an eye, Zhao Yi'teng and Yun Fan were already ten meters away.
At this time, the two people realized that there was originally no bench beside the city wall, and there was only that one. When they first climbed up the tower, they had their attention focused on Yun Fan, so they didn't notice such an anomaly. Jiang Liu saw the traces left by the bench after it slid away. After thinking about it, he immediately realized that it was a marking of a virtual track. The bench quickly ejected the metal track and activated the magnetic levitation to turn it into an ultra-fast transportation device. He did not expect that the high-temperature magnetic levitation technology of the Atlantic Alliance was so advanced now.
"It's magnetic levitation. We can't catch up with him by foot." Jiang Liu said in a low voice to Qi Fei.
However, Zhao Yi'teng didn't seem to plan to go far just yet. It seemed that he still wanted to get some information from them.
"Don’t be anxious. Let’s discuss things properly." Zhao Yi'teng raised his voice and said, causing some passersby to look at him. “You can just answer with yes or no. Is what you're planning to do related to outer space?"
Qi Fei turned his head slightly, and whispered to Jiang Liu, "I’ll be responsible for stopping him, and you save Yun Fan when you see the opportunity."
"Can you stop him?" Jiang Liu projected his voice without moving his lips.
Qi Fei smiled and said, "I haven't let you see my skills yet." As he spoke, Qi Fei took a step forward, and at the same time took out his baton and waved it.
Zhao Yi'teng instinctively moved the bench to move backwards, but a gigantic iron frame suddenly crashed down behind Zhao Yi'teng. It turned out that the supporting iron frame of the performance stage on the inner side of the ancient city wall was lifted up and tilted towards the city wall. Normally, this iron frame only moved up and down on the inner side of the wall, but for some reason, the frame curved backwards and scraped against the side of the tower as it fell, crashing onto the city wall. It perfectly blocked the path of Zhao Yi'teng's bench. If Zhao Yi'teng did not stop in time, the bench would have smashed into it.
The moment when Jiang Liu charged forward, Qi Fei also charged outwards with him, staying on Qi Fei’s right side. Qi Fei spreaded out his arms to obscure Jiang Liu's actions from Zhao Yi'teng’s vision. As soon as the iron frame fell, Jiang Liu also rushed to the place near to the bench and reached out to Yun Fan, almost touching Yun Fan's body.
However, at this time, Zhao Yi'teng's movements were also just as fast. He pulled Yun Fan's body to one side, supporting himself on the right armrest of the bench with his right hand. The right armrest of the bench collapsed downwards, and following this, the bench automatically transformed. Surprisingly, the bench quickly turned into a portable magnetic levitation vehicle. It didn’t have any wheels nor engine, but it was evident that it had a strong magnet power unit at the bottom. Once the transformation was complete, the vehicle floated on the spot and started spraying metallic paint tracks onto the ground again. It was not obvious what material the paint was, but it should have excellent electrical conductivity. The modified vehicle was similar in size to a single-person motorcycle, and had a lot of flexibility in steering. It moved towards Qi Fei’s and Jiang Liu’s side, where there was a large gap that he could escape through prompty. Zhao Yi'teng grabbed onto Yun Fan's waist with his left hand, letting Yun Fan's head fall on the nape of his neck. He took out a small ball with his right hand from somewhere. The entire ball was transparent, with an opaque "belt" in the center that looked like a coi and some delicate devices that flickered dimly inside.
"This is a micronucleus bomb." Zhao Yi'teng said, "It is not very lethal and will not destroy the world, but it is not a problem to blow this turret up into rubble."
Jiang Liu and Qi Fei froze after hearing this, and did not dare to step forward. "What are you planning to do?" Jiang Liu asked.
"I’m not planning to do anything," said Zhao Yi'teng, "I just want to ask one last time, is it a space operation? The first thing I noticed about your movements was that Young Master Jiang violated the regulations and downloaded a large amount of non-public data from the NASA system. A large number of NASA observation data, aside from scientific research data, are highly confidential. I was the one who made the quantum encryption system, but surprisingly, Young Master Jiang was able to bypass the system and invade the database to download data. You’re very skilled. You thought that no one would know, but what you don’t know is that the system I designed can be breached, but traceable evidence will definitely be left behind. I tracked down Young Master Jiang’s personal address, however, unexpectedly, I ran into Director Qi. And what I saw was that recently, Director Qi has also manually increased the number of satellite missions for observing changing orbits. I just want to make friends today and ask you two what you have discovered. We all work in the same field so we understand the importance of space missions. Don’t say that you just want to see the stars and court girls. This kind of talk can fool outsiders, but not me. If you don’t want to talk at this time, then I will take Yun Fan away first. Tonight, I’ll accompany her to observe the stars. Once you have thought things through, you can come to the hotel to find me."
As he spoke, he straightened his arm so that the micronucleus bomb in his hand was facing Jiang Liu and Qi Fei. This was an obvious threatening posture. The magnetic levitation vehicle under him was already slightly floating backwards at this time, and it was obviously ready to leave at any time.
For a second or two, neither Jiang Liu nor Qi Fei moved. Various countermeasures flashed across their minds. While hesitating, something unexpected happened. Yun Fan suddenly opened her eyes and smashed down on Zhao Yi'teng’s left wrist with her left wrist. A row of spikes had popped out from the bracelet on her hand, viciously piercing him. Although it was not fatal, it was painful. Zhao Yi'teng made a deep grunting noise and withdrew his left hand instinctively. Yun Fan took advantage of this moment to escape. She stood up and stretched out her right foot, kicking swiftly and accurately in a series of kicks. She kicked Zhao Yi'teng's chest with her heel first, and when she retracted her leg back, she used the tip of her foot to knock the micronucleus bomb in Zhao Yi’teng’s right hand to the ground. Then she ran to the other wall in a few steps while shouting, "Jump!"
Jiang Liu and Qi Fei instantly understood what was going on, and they ran with her. The three of them jumped over the wall and down. The moment they jumped down, Jiang Liu realized his own madness. Without knowing what this girl had planned, he jumped down from a ten-meter-high tower with her without any hesitation. If they were unprepared, then the three of them would have fallen to their death.
He couldn't guarantee whether Yun Fan had plans to commit suicide or not, but he just jumped down with her like this.
As soon as they jumped out of the city wall, they saw an unmanned vehicle floating at the bottom of the city wall. A 24-propeller two-person flying vehicle maintained balance there. It was probably parked against the wall just now, hidden in the shadows. At this time, it floated outwards automatically at an angle and position that was just the same as the direction they jumped out. Yun Fan and Jiang Liu landed on the vehicle very easily, and they crawled into the vehicle. Qi Fei's position was slightly off, but he also caught the outer edge of the flying car, and Yun Fan and Jiang Liu reached out to pull him in.
"How close." Jiang Liu sighed after he took his seat. The flying vehicle only had two seats, so it was too crowded for three people.
"How did you know there was this thing here?" Qi Fei asked Yun Fan.
"I know that the micronucleus bomb in Zhao Yi'teng's hand will not detonate," Yun Fan said. "It's just something used to scare people. The real function of that thing is to distract people. When he throws it to the ground, it will start this flying vehicle. As long as Zhao Yi'teng jumps down from the designated place, it will catch him."
"That's why you kicked the micronucleus bomb to the ground?" Jiang Liu suddenly realized, "You woke up a long time ago?"
"Not really." Yun Fan shook her head, "I was unconscious when you first came, but when Zhao Yi'teng moved for the first time, he bumped into me and I woke up."
"Then how do you know..." Jiang Liu wanted to get to the bottom of this.
"It's not the time to talk about this," Yun Fan said. "This vehicle belongs to Zhao Yi'teng. We have to jump out quickly, otherwise, he will transport us all back with a remote control."
Surely enough, the speed of the flying vehicle slowed down. It was originally not fast, and after slowing down, its speed quickly returned to zero and began to slowly drive towards the tower. They turned their heads around and saw Zhao Yi'teng on the tower. Seeing this, Qi Fei hurriedly waved his baton. A street lamp next to him suddenly bent down to a height that they could reach. Without any hesitation, the three of them climbed onto the street lamp and slid down to the ground. Then, they moved towards the surrounding bustling downtown area.
The moment he turned into an alley, Jiang Liu looked back. The street lights had been restored to their original state and Zhao Yi'teng was no longer on the tower. He let out a sigh of relief.
"Nice. There are so many things that your Qian’kun can control." Jiang Liu said, "The infrastructure in the city all connected to the network? Is the entire city connected?"
Qi Fei smiled, "’Infrastructure lunatic’ is not a brag."
"Where are we going now?" Yun Fan asked.
Qi Fei thought for a while, "It's not safe to go back to Qin Mausoleum now. It might lead Zhao Yi'teng over. A friend of mine opened a tavern nearby. Let's stay there for a while before leaving."
So they followed Qi through the crowded small alleys. This place was originally a tourist walking area full of red lanterns and there were many people queuing to buy food. Qi Fei moved too sneakily, and Yun Fan almost lost track of him. She thought to herself about how no one would be able to tail him. After twisting around a few alleys, they arrived at the door of a small tavern. Qi Fei paid special attention to whether there were any micro tracking aircrafts, and after he confirmed that there were no abnormalities, he pushed the door and went in.
This is an old Chinese styled tavern with Tang Dynasty style eaves and wooden framed doors, and white gravel pits and bluestone paths in the yard. There were two palace lanterns at the door of the building. Its orange lantern light was gentle and warm, giving people a sense of stability that has been long-lost.
Before entering the place, Qi Fei suddenly stood still. When the latter two nearly ran into him, Jiang Liu complained in a low voice.
Qi Fei turned around, and he said to Yun Fan with a slightly stiff voice, "I have to say something. You know this friend too."
After entering the place, Yun Fan recognized Chang Tian at the glance.
Chang Tian was not surprised when he first saw Qi Fei first. It was obvious that Qi Fei was a regular visitor. Chang Tian greeted him, and asked Qi Fei if he was going to the old spot. Then, Qi Fei began to introduce the friends behind him, but Chang Tian was stunned when he saw Yun Fan. His reaction was so sudden, instanting freezing on the spot. Jiang Liu could feel the awkwardness in the air.
"Yun Fan...is it really you? Why are you here?" Chang Tian asked softly.
Yun Fan lowered her head, “Let’s go in and talk afterwards."
The four people sat in a small private room. There were ancient-style low tables and seats, making the place feel pleasant and quiet. The seats were slightly modified to make them more comfortable to sit on. The private room was very small, and the low table was not that big. It was covered with small dishes, which made it look crowded but homely. There was nothing special about the side dishes since they were all ordinary foods, but their presentation was very meticulous. The dishes are all made of plain three color glazed pottery characteristic of the Tang Dynasty, and it was exquisite in shape and simple in color. There are raw fish and oysters, as well as gourd-shaped chicken, sour plum ribs and lychee shrimp, forming a wonderful mix of food from all over the world. Chang’tian warmed up a few pots of homemade liquor, and poured it into Chinese-styled three glazed pottery decanters and wine cups. There was one decanter for each person, which was quite warming.
"Where is your girlfriend?" Qi Fei asked Chang Tian.
"She went back to her hometown for a few days," Chang Tian said. "Her mother has been in poor health recently, so she have been going back often."
"Business is okay recently?" Qi Fei asked again.
"It’s been alright. It's better than the previous few months. Recently, it's a bit more peaceful, and people are out and about again." Chang Tian shrugged, "But it's just enough to just keep the business going. Not quite great."
"Why did you even retire?" Qi Fei sighed, "When I was adjusting the organization two days ago, I was still thinking that if you didn't retreat, you would have been a major and brigade commander by this time."
Chang Tian laughed. Very calmly, he lowered his head and picked up the small wine cup and drank a glass of wine, "Don't keep talking about me. It's hard for you all to come here, so why talk just about me. Yun Fan, we haven't seen each other for a long time. How are you doing now? What do you do?"
"I'm still the same." Yun Fan said. The three words "still the same" caused everyone to think briefly. They didn’t didn't know what exactly “still the same” meant coming from her mouth. She diverted the topic back to Chang’tian, "You joined the army?"
Chang Tian nodded, "Yeah, I was an airman for a few years."
"He wasn't just an airman," Qi Fei added for him, "He was an air hero. Three years ago, in a fight near the South China Sea, Chang’tian led a ten-man squadron by himself and fought against a squadron on an aircraft carrier. They kept diving down to prevent the opponent from taking off, preventing an attack planned by the opponent. There was also the defense at Qing’hai. In the middle of the cross fire, not a single fire missed its target. He shot down two Gercrantz K82s, which was the strongest model of that time. Originally, the Atlantic Alliance was about to switch to fully unmanned pilots, but after this battle, they didn’t dare to. They have been sending their ace pilots over here the past two years."
"Then why did you retire?" Yun Fan asked Chang Tian.
"Tired." Chang’tian said, "Suddenly I woke up one day, and I felt a little scared. I felt that opening a small shop by myself and simply earning a living was more suitable for me. I wasn't the material for being a hero."
"Isn’t it because of your girlfriend,” Qi Fei jokingly said, "Having a wife and child is the dream."
"It's not related to Qian’qian. Even without her, I would still want to retire," Chang’tian said, "I just happened to meet her."
"What were you afraid of?" Yun Fan asked, "it shouldn't be that you were scared of fighting."
Chang’tian filled up the three people’s decanters with wine, "I wawa scared that I won't be able to open a tavern like this in my life."
Yun Fan and Qi Fei were silent at the same time, as if they were wondering what Chang’tian's words meant, and how much of it was true and how much of it was fake.
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