Chapter 43: Shadow Of The Red Hare

  Vaestro's Restorations was harder to break into than I would have thought for a building that looked like it had been abandoned for years. I considered breaking down its front door, but I couldn't help but feel that was somewhat defeating the point if I intended to use the warehouse-sized store as a place to lay low. Not to mention the ruckus it would make in the first place, while I doubted anyone was in here hunting me mere hours after the encounter with my daughter, I had no intention of drawing down more scout drones onto me until it was on my terms. So I decided to get creative, and by that I mean I ordered Diaochan to get creative for me.

  "Find plans on the city net thing for the warehouses in these kinds of blocks. When you do figure out a way for me to get in without having to break either the front door or that larger sliding gate."

  Diaochan went silent for almost ten minutes, whilst I kept watch for any more patrolling scout drones.

  The entire time, I could still hear the hoof beats running laps inside the warehouse, like there was a horse trapped in there. I was confident I would find no such beast, nor even some hoofed variant of the purple drones. This was, I thought, something on the spiritual side of things.

  When my A.I assistant finally spoke up once more she had a plan that mostly met my specifications. As I'd ordered she had found an old map for this type of block, that was no surprise. What was surprising was that the path she laid out for me required me to backtrack and then climb out of one of the missing chunks of wall onto the outside of the gigantic building.

  "This is the best I can do." She informed me apologetically. "I have to advise, I think it would be safer to just break open the front door."

  "Advice noted," I grunted as I pulled myself onto the outside of the block and began seeking handholds in the heavily cracked cement wall. They were mostly tiny, but I managed to find places where I could slip fingertips. After a little assessment, I kicked off my shoes so I could use my toes the same way.

  "I scaled Mount Tai multiple times," I said primarily to myself. "I can manage this even without Qi." I was right, of course, but it was still a challenging endeavour that took me the better part of half an hour to find my way across the building and to the [Ventilation Shaft] that Diaochan was directing me to. By the time I did, my fingers ached and I was covered in sweat, also I'd received a congratulations screen on my HUD informing me that my [Might] had increased from sixty-three to sixty-four. As always, a little window showing fireworks appeared as the number increased. Normally, I greeted that window gladly, but in the midst of hanging off the side of a wall by my fingertips, I was more than a little irritated by its presence and dismissed it immediately.

  There was a small metal grate that covered the gap in the wall that was my apparent destination. I tore the grating away and pulled myself into the tight metal tunnel.

  "Right, like a mine shaft," I said aloud once I was fully inside. It was an apt description, though unlike a mine shaft, this rectangular and claustrophobic tunnel couldn't possibly be used to transport ore. It was only just large enough to transport me, and even then, only if I squeezed myself along it in an awkward, compressed crawl. By the time the blue navigation line my HUD was showing me led to an exit from the shaft, I was more than willing to reopen several of my arm wounds by punching my way through another grating to get out.

  Bleeding again, covered in dust and sweat, and feeling all around irritated, I nevertheless did find myself inside the warehouse I had wished to break into. Next time, I just break the front door down.' I swore to myself as I climbed out of the hole where the grating had been.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  It was dark beyond my ability to see in the cavernous space, but my HUD insisted I was now inside Vaestro's Restorations. The sound of hooves thundered in the darkness and was now joined by the occasional bouts of hoselike panting.

  "That's you, isn't it, Red?" I said quietly. A few seconds later, there was a neighed response, and I knew I was right. Slowly, the sound of hoofbeats running laps changed to the rhythm of those same hooves walking slowly towards me. Soon, I could sense the mighty stallion that had ridden with me through so many battles, that had served me no matter the risk, and had saved my life more times than I could count.

  I could feel the heat of his breath, smell the earthy scent of his sweat. I knew that if I reached out into the darkness, I would feel nothing, but that didn't matter. I knew that the beast was there, my greatest ally, my mightiest weapon, a king and cultivator among horses; His name was The Red Hare.

  "Diaochan, figure out how to get some lights going," I ordered, my voice still low with awe.

  "I can do that." She said, sounding a little unsure. "But the power is going to have to come from you until we can make some repairs or set up an Ambient Essence Generator."

  A brief explanation of what an Ambient Essence Generator was and how it worked flashed before my vision. Something about pulling tiny shards of Soul stuff from the air and converting it to electricity. I dismissed that window and its little machine cultivator.

  "Come from me how?" I asked, unsure if Diaochan realized that I had not yet indulged in any cybernetics.

  "The class system will allow you to project a field that the lighting system and hopefully the doors will pick up." This was the first I had heard of such an ability.

  "And every class can do this?" I probed.

  "Sure, but in general, only Paradox Incursions have that kind of power to spare without feeling weaker." That sounded off as well.

  "Keeping the lights on is so costly?"

  "Projecting a field of energy out from a human being isn't very efficient, so a lot of the power is lost along the way.

  "Alright," I will concede that did make sense. "How long can I do so without feeling a negative effect?"

  "You?!" Diaochan scoffed in a manner that I had heard many times. I could still picture the quirk of the real one's lips when she did so.

  "You are Lu Bu. You can power this place for three days straight without noticing the slightest of ill effects. The real problem will be how broken the system in here turns out to be."

  I smiled at that, the A.I spirit was learning my greatness and the correct ways to speak to me. Red Hare let out an excited nicker, and my smile only widened. I knew when the lights came on, my horse probably wouldn't be there waiting for me, but I was certain something would be. Something that the spirit of Red Hare wanted me to find.

  I have since learned that I carry a fragment of the horse's soul inside my own being, at the time however I had no clue how he had found me, in fact a small part of me thought Diaochan had been subject to one of these 'hackings' that could happen to machines and the both of us were just being subjected to an illusion.

  "Do it. Turn on the field, power the lights and doors."

  Even once the doors were turned back on, Diaochan would have to do some hacking of her own in order to get them to obey me, but the lights should do what they were told without having to overcome some sort of security measure.

  A particularly small window called [Wireless Energy Projection] popped up near the top middle of my HUD, which promptly switched its single option from [Disabled] to [Enabled]. Approximately three seconds after it did, lights began to switch on in sequence throughout the warehouse-sized store. There was a slight buzzing sound followed by a loud thud as each light came on individually, drawing closer and closer to where I stood as they did. Several of the lights let out sparks or simply failed to turn on, but soon the entire place was lit up enough that I could see everywhere.

  Of course, there was no red king of horses waiting for me; his shadowy presence had given me the impression of rearing up and then vanished just as the lights came on. In the place of my grand horse was a steel machine that shone in the light, and I knew why Red had bid me to come here.

  Among Men Lu Bu, Among Horses Red Hare...

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