The Almighty Ring

“Alright, we’ll do it your way.” Jiang Fei caved in since 0541 was convinced.

Jiang Fei and Ariel retraced their path and escaped the facility undetected. They were in and out like ghosts. Jiang Fei and Ariel traveled far away from the facility, far enough for Ariel’s ability to go detected.

“Let’s go!” Jiang Fei held Ariel’s hands and said.

“Mhm,” Ariel blushed before replying Jiang Fei. There was a small part of her that wanted to delay the teleportation—she wanted to savor the moment for herself.

“Ariel…” Jiang Fei turned and give her a smile.

“Alright, we’re going now,” she muttered. Jiang Fei had caught her red-handed.

It literally took her less than a second to teleport. Jiang Fei hardly felt anything when he reappeared right in front of Han Tianyu, inside the cell. It was not hard since Ariel had been outside the cell. All she needed to do was to adjust their position slightly beyond the wall.

“Mhm?”

Han Tianyu opened his eyes immediately when he felt a sudden change in the air. Although he was a lowly Level 2 martial artist, he could still feel that. It was trained into him like all martial artists would be.

When he opened his eyes and checked the insides of his cell, there was nothing. Both Jiang Fei and Ariel were still wrapped inside the stealth barrier that 0541 had created.

“0541, mask the entire cell!” said Jiang Fei. He knew that the cell would have surveillance cameras installed. Masking the entire cell would project a false feed to the camera, letting the guards outside to not notice anything.

“Yes, Captain.”

0541 created a masking effect that covered all four corners of the cell, including Han Tianyu.

The guards that were monitoring the cell had only seen Han Tianyu opening his eyes and returning to sleep. That was the falsified feed that 0541 was projecting. In reality, Han Tianyu was on his feet, on the verge of crying as he greeted Jiang Fei.

“Thank god… Are you real? Or am I dreaming?” Han Tianyu cried.

“Of course it’s me,” Jiang Fei rolled his eyes and jabbed.

“Wait, let me try something,” Han Tianyu interrupted. He punched himself in the leg so hard that it left a small red bruise. When the pain felt real, Han Tianyu limped his way closer to Jiang Fei and hugged him.

“Happy now? Want me to slap your face just to make sure?” said Jiang Fei, jesting.

“Wait! I want you to prove yourself! Do something only the real Jiang Fei could do!” said Han Tianyu, retreating slightly. Even though he was certain that he was not dreaming, he had to be cautious since it might be playing into the hands of the military.

“Heh. Good call,” Jiang Fei snickered and projected the images of alien structures, the same one that Jiang Fei had shown to Han Tianyu a long time ago.

“Alright. Sheesh, you scared me there. How did you come inside?” said Han Tianyu as he sat down on his bed, worried.

“Ariel can teleport, did you forget that?” said Jiang Fei laughing.

“I’m surprised you could still laugh at this. We need to leave right away!” said Han Tianyu as he rose to his feet and headed straight for the door.

“Wait,” Jiang Fei cried, stopping Han Tianyu from turning the doorknob.

“I’ve made sure that the cameras are not recording this. What they are seeing now is the image of you drooling in that bed. I’ve also put up an isolation field. No one can see, hear, or know what we are talking about.”

“Huh… I see…”

Han Tianyu calmed down. Once he did, he realized that Jiang Fei’s words held some truth since, after his appearance, the guards outside did not respond. It proved that Jiang Fei’s masking technique was effective.

“Geez man. What did they do to you? I regret not coming sooner. I mean, I knew something was off with you but I would never think that you would be imprisoned!” said Jiang Fei, bitterly.

“It’s not your fault. If anything, it’s mine. I was too weak. The guys from the military came in too fast and captured me,” Han Tianyu explained.

“Right. About that, I have something to ask about…”

“Don’t waste your time. If there’s something you want to know about the military, I wouldn’t know about it. They had caught me early on,” Han Tianyu interjected before Jiang Fei could finish his sentence.

“It’s not that. I have the information. All I wanted was to hear your thoughts,” said Jiang Fei, explaining everything he had heard from the meeting room.

“Mhm…” Han Tianyu went into a long silence.

“So… What are your thoughts on this matter?”

“I see why Qin Tian was being harsh on me. It seems that the Supreme Android Project had made large progress,” Han Tianyu gasped.

“What do you think I should do now?” Jiang Fei asked.

“Let me think. Give me some time,” Han Tianyu sat down, legs crossed over the other.

Half an hour of silent muttering, Han Tianyu stood up again and said, “Alright. I’ve got something. Let’s focus on the present first and worry about the future later.”

“Go ahead.”

“If what you told me was all the information, the military is still unable to make any further development on the Androids. They have been stuck at the same level for a long time. At their current state, they cannot face the Mutants alone. However, with more time, they would be able to further develop their Android and Artificial Soul. It would not take long for them to really improve their army of robots. We have only a small window of opportunity here,” Han Tianyu explained.

“What opportunity?”

“I’m getting there. The military wants to reduce martial artists fighting force and at the same time, we can do the same thing to their Androids. Once the problem with the Mutants is solved, we can destroy the Android Project!”

“How are we going to reduce Android fighting force? They are not even going to send reinforcements to Japan!” Jiang Fei roared.

“That’s because the Mutants are not sending everything they have to fight you, and by you, I mean the entire martial artist group in Japan. If a final decisive war is coming, the military would have no choice but to help the martial artists. Imagine if all our forces were destroyed completely, who would be able to fend off the Mutants from attacking China directly? The military could not do that. That is why I want you to forcefully create a situation where all of the Mutants and every martial artist in Japan would fight each other. You can take this chance to treat the Androids as an expendable fighting force to fight instead.”

Han Tianyu had conflicted about being in two opposing sides. On one hand, he needed to report everything the government. At the same time, he needed to maintain a good relationship with the Martial Artist Alliance since he was the only liaison between them and the government. However, his mind was set on helping the martial artists when Qin Tian had thrown him into a cell for even siding with the martial artists.

“That… could work. But…”

If given a choice, he would not bat an eye to sent in the Androids to fight since they were empty shells. All clockwork and light bulbs ticking away. He would not want the martial artists to waste their lives just to have the Androids decimate them at the end of the war.

“I can’t think of a plan right now. Anyway, let’s get you out of here first. We’ll talk when you’re actually safe,” said Jiang Fei.

“Actually… I have a different idea. It is best for me to stay here. If I leave, things might get out of hand…” Han Tianyu jabbed. He was worried if he was missing from his cell, the military would get paranoid and would bring forward their plan to severe the alliance with the martial artists. That would only benefit the Mutants!