Chapter 308: Thunder and Rain (Part 2/3)
Translator: Strivon
Luo Nan made no response whatsoever when faced with Snake Tongue’s courteous and respectful behavior through Black Beetle's body. He leaned against the protective glass. His eyelids drooped down, and he became short of breath. He gave others the impression of increasing weakness.
The poisonous mist closed in all around. Luo Nan, with his poor physique, was in quite a life-threatening situation. Snake Tongue might not even need to expend any more energy. Just by saying a few more words, Luo Nan might simply fall.
"Lord Luo?" Snake Tongue still asked in a civilized and courteous way. Disregarding the shortcomings in attractiveness of her medium, there wasn't anything that could be fussed about.
Xue Lei could no longer bear the hypocrisy. He sneered. "No wonder you have a 'tongue' in your codename. You speak a lot of nonsense!"
"I'm truly sorry. I can't think of anything I need to do right now besides talking."
Snake Tongue drove Black Beetle to step two paces forward to allow Xue Lei to face the formidable foe. Currently, Black Beetle wasn't really much, but if the poison screens were disturbed a few more times, there was an 80% chance that Luo Nan would fall. This was the reason why Snake Tongue was acting so leisurely.
Xue Lei gnashed his teeth in anger as Snake Tongue continued speaking, "I can end this situation much quicker, but I feel quite ashamed. My humble cultivation hasn't reached perfection. I can't guarantee the complete retention of your light of intelligence. What information remains mostly relies on luck. The most likely possibility would be the erasure of Lord Luo's fascinating theories. That would really be a pity...."
"Snake Tongue!" Above the Heavenly Ocean Lake, Puppeteer also had enough. He looked at his wrist once more to confirm the time.
Though the police of Xia City and the security department of Cloud City Water Village were complete trash, they were certainly heading over right now. What if the Xia City branch of the Society were on their tails? They had barely obtained the upper hand. They needed to take Luo Nan into their hands and not let him escape.
"Mind your own matters," Snake Tongue's voice rang directly in his ear, this time with a warning that was neither light nor heavy.
Luo Nan, who maintained silence all this time, finally spoke, "You asked about An Weng a while ago…. Aren't you digressing from the topic?"
"Idiot, you're still in the mood to chat? Shut the hell up! Stop breathing!" Zhang Yingying was already driving up a storm in the metropolis. This year, her driving score was shot to nothing. Now, she even expended a lot of mental energy worrying over this troublemaker. She wanted to tear her steering wheel off her car in her hate.
"Listen to Sister Zhang, Nanster! Don't talk!" Xue Lei also wanted to curb Luo Nan from talking. Luo Nan, however, patted him on the shoulder in slight reassurance.
Black Beetle continued to act like a mouthpiece in front of them, helping realize a dialogue between Snake Tongue and Luo Nan. "From my viewpoint, An Weng's location and the like really don't stir my emotions as much as Lord Luo's theories."
"Then I must truly thank you."
Luo Nan continued to speak in a weak voice, "Therefore, you intend to continue discussing related topics until I fall to the poison mists.... Or perhaps, you've finished constructing your fortifications?"
The viewing platform was suddenly without sound.
"Fortifications?" Whether it was Xue Lei, Zhang Yingying, or even Puppeteer, they all encountered a barrier in understanding. They were stunned for a time.
Snake Tongue probably had the same emotions. She spoke through Black Beetle a full five seconds later, but this time, the tone was much graver than before, "Lord Luo, you've been observing me all this time?"
"I am forming conjectures about you."
The sound of Luo Nan's breathing turned rapid. A smidgen of poison had entered him, and at that moment, the effects were becoming increasingly obvious. However, he still spoke, "I am thinking. Based on your ability, you were originally going to come over here with Black Beetle and the others. With the element of exceptional surprise, I probably wouldn't have made it this long if you had. However, you didn't come. You just made a 'lampshade', doing just better than nothing. It just doesn't make sense for a killing machine to act as a logistics person.
"Therefore….
"I made a conjecture. Of course, I also had the support of someone's intelligence. I thought that you were bound to come over via an out-of-body state. It is convenient, but it is fragile. Especially against me, an expert in sensing and mental attacks. You should have quite a cautious nature, someone who cherishes her own body. You still haven't launched your final offensive. Maybe you're scared of expending too much energy, allowing me to detect you and catch you. Your defensive ability can't compare to Black Beetle’s and the others’."
Snake Tongue was silent for several seconds, before speaking, "Right now, has Lord Luo discovered my position?"
"I'm not too sure yet, so let's do what you suggested. Let's keep chatting?"
Snake Tongue stopped uttering a sound. She seemed to be pondering Luo Nan's means.
Xue Lei, Zhang Yingying, and Puppeteer. These three people were unable to speak a word for a time. So there was another battlefield going on atop the platform, and they were completely ignorant of it all.... Although Luo Nan had brought this out to the open, the situation was as so.
Everyone's gazes, aside from the people absent from the scene, all congregated upon Luo Nan's body. However, they were unable to see even a clue.
Luo Nan's complexion still wasn't very good. The protective glass behind him had an arc to it, so he was uncomfortable as he leaned against it. He painfully adjusted his body's posture, and he finally felt a bit comfortable. He extended two fingers, and gestured with a swipe.
A second passed, and Snake Tongue spoke through Black Beetle, "Lord Luo means...."
"I'm answering your question." Luo Nan seemed to be interested in talking. "You just asked me about my order frame. According to the standard that is Black Beetle, my order frame contains two gears. One big and one small."
Luo Nan had spoken simply, but the implications were much more complicated.
There were two gears. The large one was the Format Pyramid. It represented the soul strength stored within the external neuron as well as the external neuron itself. During one of Xiu Shenyu's lectures, the large gear was called an 'external power'. Xiu Shenyu said that it was like an enormous iceberg. Its power was strict.
The small gear was the heart lantern of the eyes orifice, the progress Luo Nan made in ten days of cultivation. It was an extension of the system of his body, but it had yet to mature. It remained a mere dinghy floating outside the iceberg.
There existed certain coupling relationships between the large and small gears from the very beginning. The infusion of soul strength from the Format Pyramid allowed the heart lantern of the eyes orifice to rapidly develop and strengthen. This was just one relationship between them. The heart lantern of the eyes orifice and the Format Pyramid intercommunicated and overlapped information. This was the second relationship.
The second relationship was quite notable. In the very beginning, whether it was Black Beetle or Puppeteer, when Luo Nan tried to use clairvoyance and see their Life Sketches, they were both obscured by a dense haze. There was interference. Then there was the new coupling relationship, which was like wind passing through the gap and light illuminating the earth below. After this coupling relationship was formed, the two people's Life Sketches, and even the entire star river landscape, had most of the turbid clouds and dark mist brushed away. Layers upon layers were penetrated, and mysteries no longer existed.
It was impossible for Luo Nan to speak these details. What he spoke now, especially the discussion with Snake Tongue, was a technique to gain a better understanding by explaining what he knew through his own words. He was further refining his embryonic ideas.
So he really didn't care whether or not Snake Tongue responded. He just talked, caring only for himself. "My problem lies in the fact that these two gears aren't on the same order of magnitude. They are also too close together. They lack a fair composition. Even when they form a coupling relationship, it is hard to avoid wear and tear due to their differences."
His face turned toward the Heavenly Ocean Lake. He laughed. He clearly blew a fuse, but this rarely seen expression of his made the nearby Puppeteer's scalp go numb.
"A special structure is certainly needed to facilitate a motive connection between the gears with their enormous difference in masses. A link in-between is a necessity. Like the devil ray. It charges and rushes within the crystal pillar, killing numerous marine life. It paves a path of death around it, but just a small distance away, many small fish and prawn can rely on its discarded food and waste to grow."
Puppeteer subconsciously looked down below his feet. He only woke up halfway through his action. The conversation was running way too off-topic!
Even Snake Tongue was slightly unable to follow Luo Nan's tempo. In the end, she just let out a sigh containing an unclear emotion. "Lord Luo, you really make one revere you when you use unique methods in your ponderings.... However, we are still people of the commons. It isn't good to diverge too far from the level of the normal world."
Black Beetle suddenly made a sudden step forward as she spoke.
Xue Lei wasn't sure what sort of stage the situation had developed to, but his duty to protect Luo Nan would never change. He subtly bent his body like a bow. He entered into a combat stance.
Luo Nan paused the conversation that only he could understand. His blood-filled eyes faced Black Beetle's warped and deformed face, but he ultimately just glanced at him to look downcast. "You don't want to discuss theories?"
"I'm very worried about Lord Luo's current state."
Snake Tongue's concern was like Black Beetle's face. All that was left was a shriveled and empty husk. As she spoke, the green poison screen noiselessly gathered and approached the center. The scope was done in an extremely cautious and subtle manner.
Black Beetle pressed forward as well. His speed wasn't quick, but his center of gravity swayed and changed seemingly randomly. He seemed to be as good as 80% of his peak state.
Xue Lei had to pay attention to the poison screen of mist, had to stay locked on to Black Beetle, and also had to worry about Luo Nan's state. His mind was split in all these directions. It was really hard.
At this time, Xue Lei heard Luo Nan cough out a breath of air behind him. He was shocked, and he turned around to look, ignoring Black Beetle's movements in front.
Black Beetle's side seemed to be shocked as well. He unexpectedly didn't seize the opportunity to cause difficulties.
Luo Nan didn't care about how the others acted. He took in a deep breath, then he slowly exhaled. He couldn't avoid the toxic environment of the surrounding poison curtains of mist. He subconsciously moved his jaw during this process, dispersing the feeling of numbness in his face.
"The main ingredient of Black Beetle's insect explosion poison should be a polypeptide neurotoxin, with the greatest likelihood of it being ISTX-3. Normally, it propagates via the bloodstream to directly affect ion channels and cause a strong paralysis effect. But Black Beetle made huge adjustments in its synthesis for the sake of increasing its efficiency. He increased the likelihood of a respiratory infection, but this reduced the toxicity…."
Luo Nan didn't even raise his eyes, having spoken to this point. He just breathed a laugh. "Would you say that this dialogue is now on the level of the normal world? Mrs. Snake Tongue, we had come to an agreement to engage in discussion. It's not good to withdraw midway."
Snake Tongue could hardly hide her astonishment. "Lord Luo has also researched neurotoxins?"
"I've taken many drugs. I can resist the neurotoxin for a bit of time."
Though Luo Nan said this, he had many years without the format foundation as a container. He also just recently pierced through to the eyes orifice, stimulating the functions of his human body. Today, Luo Nan was likely in big trouble. He absolutely wasn't as he appeared, breathing in toxic gas and scaring people in amusement.
Luo Nan leaned against the protective glass and switched to a more comfortable position. He absolutely wouldn't tell Snake Tongue that half his body had numbed already. That he would tumble if he were to take a single step.
However, his nervous system was in an extraordinarily excited state due to the stimulation of the neurotoxin. This was precisely what he needed the most.