[Restart Volume] Chapter 223: Is Making a Key Really That Difficult?

"Vicious? Compared to some people, I don't even qualify!" Li Qingchi said.

"Huh?"

Mo Xing looked confused. This ruthless Li Qingchi, who had been so vicious just a moment ago, seemed to have changed into a different person, actually revealing the location of the keys. Had he turned over a new leaf?

Mo Xing glanced toward Senior Brother Mianhua, who was still pulling out the IV tubes without saying a word.

He looked back at Li Qingchi. Seeing him lying on the ground, gasping for breath, he figured he couldn't be playing any tricks. After all, he was now a "tiger fallen in the plains"!

Mo Xing walked over, rummaged through the cyan-white cabinet, and sure enough, found a set of keys!

He headed back the way he came, giving Li Qingchi a wide, cautious berth as he passed.

"Wait... wait!"

Li Qingchi called out to him again.

"What... what is it now?" Mo Xing asked, puzzled.

"That set of keys..."

Li Qingchi pointed at the keys in Mo Xing's hand.

"Is it a trap?" Mo Xing asked. "Or are you going back on your word?"

"Not anymore!"

Li Qingchi smiled, gathering his remaining strength into a wind-element attack, and shattered the keys in Mo Xing's hand!

"What the hell!"

Mo Xing was completely stunned.

"The things you just gained are gone in an instant, just like a small match that goes out the moment it's lit. Isn't that feeling particularly interesting?"

Li Qingchi smiled, his eyes seeming to say: If I can't have it, none of you will.

How vicious!

As the saying goes, villains are devils!

Devils that deserve to be struck by lightning!

Mo Xing picked up the shattered fragments of the keys, cupping them in his hands with a heavy heart.

"It's alright, come over here."

A voice sounded from behind. Mo Xing turned around and saw the gentleman beckoning to him. The red IV tubes on Senior Brother Mianhua's body had all been removed!

"O-okay."

Mo Xing trotted over obediently, clutching the key fragments.

"The... the unlocking keys were shattered," Mo Xing said. "Without the keys, the chains will..."

"I know," the man smiled. "I heard everything you said."

"Then what should we do?" Mo Xing felt a pang of anxiety; he didn't want to witness Senior Brother Mianhua self-destruct.

"There will always be a way," the man smiled calmly, showing no signs of nervousness.

"Huh?" Mo Xing asked, confused.

"Chairman Zhang, you truly live up to your reputation as someone who has seen it all. How can you be so calm at a time like this?" Li Qingchi, lying on the ground, suddenly laughed loudly. "The keys are gone. Don't tell me you can forge new ones?"

"You joke." Chairman Zhang patted Mo Xing on the shoulder. "Things like this should be left to the professionals."

"What? Leave it to me?" Mo Xing was bewildered. When did he become a professional locksmith?

"Yes," Chairman Zhang whispered. "Your ability can do it. I believe in you."

"How? Give me a hint!" Mo Xing really didn't understand what Chairman Zhang meant.

"Elements," Chairman Zhang explained.

"Oh!" Mo Xing suddenly realized, feeling as if he had been enlightened.

Right! Ice! Just like when he had created the umbrella and the long sword, he could use the same technique to forge a key! Unlike large objects, a key wouldn't take long to make; he could do it in no time!

But the problem was...

"I don't have a template for the key!" Mo Xing sighed.

"Isn't that what you have in your hand?" Chairman Zhang shrugged. "Think about what you are best at."

What he was best at...

"I don't think... I have one," Mo Xing scratched his head.

Chairman Zhang rubbed his forehead, his lips moving slightly.

Lip-reading!

"Oh!"

Mo Xing finally understood. Chairman Zhang, couldn't you have just said it directly instead of making me guess so hard?

Mo Xing closed his eyes, concentrated, and channeled a surge of power into the key fragments in his hand.

Although Li Qingchi was lying on the floor facing the ceiling, he could still catch glimpses of the two.

He didn't believe it. Could this Mo Xing really forge a key? Ice elements could create things, but there were so many variables! A key might be small, but it was intricate; the details alone would be enough to stump him for a while!

And even if he made one, so what? The temperature of the ice had to be perfectly controlled, or it would melt easily! Besides, an ice key wasn't as sturdy as a metal one; wouldn't it just jam after a couple of turns in the lock?

The point was, the original keys were shattered, and they had no reference template. They couldn't forge a damn thing!

"I... I made it!"

Hearing Mo Xing’s cheer, Li Qingchi’s face was full of shock. What happened? The key was made? He wanted to get up and see what was going on, but his damn body was practically immobile, as if paralyzed. It couldn't be a side effect of the medicine, could it? Or did Chairman Zhang’s sword have a paralysis effect? That would be too absurd!

"Thank you, Brother Qingchi, for providing the raw materials!" Chairman Zhang expressed his "respect" with a gesture, then walked with Mo Xing toward Mianhua.

It was so frustrating!

He was a villain!

A genuine, certified bad guy!

It was truly infuriating!

But...

Come to think of it...

It had been a long time since he had felt this frustrated.

Over the years, he had maintained a haughty attitude, looking down on those weaker than himself, often bullying or mocking them. Training was only meant to increase his power so he could become stronger and bully even more people. That feeling had seemed quite comfortable—it really was quite comfortable...

No, that wasn't right!

He hadn't been like this before!

What had turned him into this?

Was it his innate personality?

No, that wasn't it!

It was...

That war!

The war the alien race had launched against them!

Mo Xing held the key, unlocking the chains on Senior Brother Mianhua’s hands and feet one by one. Then, he and Chairman Zhang carried Mianhua to the side to settle him down. Chairman Zhang even took some medical tools from his storage bracelet to perform simple wound treatment on Mianhua.

To Mo Xing's further surprise, Chairman Zhang took out some snacks like biscuits to share with him, and even produced a small stove, releasing fire elements to light it for warmth.

He was practically Doraemon!

"Doraemon" had broken into the laboratory, defeated the Great Demon King, rescued Mianhua, and was now eating snacks around a stove with him.

This plot was getting interesting!

"Hey!"

At this moment, Li Qingchi, who was lying nearby, spoke up. Mo Xing turned to look at him.

"I still don't get it. How did you create the key?"

"Actually, it wasn't creating it from scratch. My special ability restored the key to its original state," Mo Xing replied.

"Oh? A special ability?" Li Qingchi asked. "Tell me about it."

"It’s water—"

Mo Xing was about to continue, but Chairman Zhang reached out to signal him to stop.

"Li Qingchi, communication is a two-way street. Why don't we talk about you first?" Chairman Zhang said. "For instance, why build a laboratory here, or why did you join the Dark Sect?"

Mo Xing suddenly woke up. The guy was from the Dark Sect! He had almost been tricked into talking! He had been on the verge of telling Li Qingchi about the power of the Water Dragon God! Thank goodness Chairman Zhang had stopped him in time, or his secrets would have been revealed!

"Why should I?" Li Qingchi smiled.

"Because of your eyes," Chairman Zhang said calmly. "I can tell that you must have a particularly unforgettable past."

Li Qingchi’s mouth twitched, and he fell into silence. Mo Xing wanted to say something, but seeing that neither of them was speaking, he went back to eating.

After a long while, a voice finally broke the silence. It was Li Qingchi. He had finally spoken.

"Actually, it's a long story. A story about me and my hometown."

"A long story..." Mo Xing paused, then quickly chimed in, "Tell us."

"I'll give you the gist of it," Li Qingchi said. "I grew up at Twin Moon Cliff, living a relatively peaceful life."

"Until one day, the alien race launched a war against us. The adults hid me and the other children in a cellar, stuffed us with a pile of food, and told us never to come out unless the Holy Sky Guardian Group came to rescue us."

"We stayed in that cellar, breathing the air from the small vents, eating that seemingly abundant food, listening to the constant bombing and shouting. We stayed there for a full half-month!"

"My god, that long!" Mo Xing exclaimed. It sounded like the end of the world—the adults fighting off invaders above, while the children lived in an underworld.

"Yes, but I couldn't endure it for that long, so I decided to go out and see," Li Qingchi continued.

"That night, the other children were asleep on the hay, and the sounds outside seemed to have ceased. I wanted to sneak out to check on the situation. But the exit to the outside was sealed tight, and it took me a great deal of effort to pry it open."

"I remember very clearly. The moon that night was a crescent, it was drizzling, and the stars were hidden by dark clouds. The night wind made me feel cold and blew away the hope in my heart."

"I saw the pervasive smoke, broken flags, and corpses everywhere. It was a slaughterhouse! I wiped the tears from my face and stood there alone in the rainy night, staring at it all."

"Quite poetic..." Mo Xing muttered. He was reminded of the scenes described in the frontier poetry he had studied: "The moon of Qin and the passes of Han, the long march of thousands of miles where no one returned."

A sense of inexplicable desolation welled up in his heart, and Mo Xing suddenly felt a bit of pity for Li Qingchi.

"I pulled myself together and kept running through the rainy night, searching for them. I believed my relatives must be fighting in some corner—" Li Qingchi paused.

"I crossed the hills and finally saw those relatives. I waved and shouted at them. They turned their heads, their faces full of panic, and screamed, 'Run!' Just as I was wondering what was happening, a group of aliens suddenly appeared, and a few violent shockwaves blew them all to pieces."

"One second they were alive, the next they were reduced to nothing. It was truly dramatic," Li Qingchi said with a bitter smile.

"Seeing that, my legs trembled and I collapsed to the ground. The aliens noticed me, too, and a beam of purple shockwave blasted toward me!"

"I closed my eyes in fear. After a long while, I slowly opened them and realized I was still alive. All those aliens had been wiped out. A man in a black-purple mask appeared in mid-air. He had saved me!"

"Who was he?" Mo Xing asked.

"Him?" Li Qingchi paused. "Actually, he was—"

"The Master of the Dark Sect!"