Chapter 429: Chapter 256: The Death of Blue Arc, Ticket to New York
On August 6th, Gu Wenyu sat on the sofa watching the news.
Just this morning, the Mutants Association officially announced a world-shattering piece of news: during the assassination event of Mu Long, the Mutant "Blue Arc" failed to be rescued, was declared dead, and the body has been sent to the crematorium.
The news quickly fermented after it was announced; all major social platforms instantly boiled over. The surge in views almost caused the servers to collapse.
No matter how many times Gu Wenyu refreshed the Weibo interface, no messages would pop up. At first, he thought he ran out of data, but even after connecting to WiFi, he still only saw a circle spinning and spinning, until it made his eyes dizzy.
At this second, netizens from around the world were frantically discussing this matter, and everyone who saw the news this morning likely faced a jaw-dropping start to their day.
Regardless of whether they supported or opposed Blue Arc before, all the netizens were in an uproar.
As a result, several workers’ strikes and student truancy incidents occurred; many people were gathered under the Mutants Association building, holding signs.
They shouted hoarsely, demanding the association give the truth, or at least let them see Blue Arc’s corpse!
However, Gu Wenyu sat on the sofa like a monk in meditation, extraordinarily calm.
Because he knew his big brother was still alive and well, although he might have turned into a blackened college student.
On TV, the host was recounting the causes and consequences of "Blue Arc’s death" with unusual grief, and halfway through, she even raised her hand to cover her face, tears streaming down as she asked the audience for some time to adjust her emotions.
This is a special day.
Not only would no one criticize her for lacking professionalism, but within a few minutes, a new trending topic on Weibo would appear: "Host chokes up and cries when talking about Blue Arc, what does Blue Arc’s death mean for Li Jing".
It satisfied the audience’s emotional needs and indirectly gave the host a chance to become famous. Such an excellent job opportunity is hard to seize; most people just stick their heads down reading scripts mechanically.
In the news, the Mutants Association took advantage of Blue Arc’s death to completely conceal the truth about Mu Long’s father’s death, claiming that the video played at the award ceremony was just a fake creation by Mu Long.
Rather, even if it were true, no one would care anymore. No one would blame a dead person for doing something wrong, especially since this dead person had done many well-known good deeds while alive.
As "Blue Arc" withdrew from the public’s view, all the previously heated disputes would gradually become no longer cared about.
And the association casually mentioned the memorial service and designated today’s date as "Blue Arc Memorial Day".
Doing so would facilitate organizing conferences on the memorial day, or perhaps opening a Blue Arc life museum or something, squeezing the last bit of heat from this already abandoned IP.
Gu Wenyu lay on the sofa, watching the TV with a blank expression.
He thought to himself, luckily Mu Long had already shifted his attention to the Salvation Society, otherwise, he would have surely started a commotion on the TV station, threatening them with a sword to their throats.
"Wenyu, I have something to tell you." Gu Qiye’s voice came from the staircase, followed by him carrying a suitcase down from the second floor.
He had already changed into a clean, simple black shirt, with his somewhat messy hair draped over the back of his head, his facial expression remaining calm.
"What?" Gu Wenyu turned his head, seeing Gu Qiye still appearing no different from usual, he sighed with relief, truly worried that his big brother might overnight become a cold-faced, paranoid maniac like Mu Long, starting with "what does this world want from me".
"I’ve joined Rainbow Wings." Gu Qiye said calmly, "I’m heading to New York next."
Gu Wenyu was taken aback: "So suddenly?"
"Hm, decided last night." Gu Qiye said softly, looking down, "You were right... the only chance is right in front of me, if I give it up, there won’t be another one."
Gu Wenyu stared at his face for a while, then looked away, lowering his voice:
"Alright then, I support you. Remember to message me more from the U.S., I’ve heard everything there is expensive and hard to eat. You might as well take the ingredients from the fridge, whip up a couple of dishes for yourself after work."
"What are you saying, it’s not like I can’t buy ingredients in the U.S." Gu Qiye smiled.
Gu Wenyu clicked his tongue, "Okay, although I said earlier to call me, skip the video calls. You know I don’t like that stuff. Two grown men on video calls, just embarrassing to watch."
"Got it." Gu Qiye paused, "Will you take care of yourself during this time at home alone?"
"I plan to stay at a classmate’s place for a while, for some company." Gu Wenyu said.
"Going to your classmate’s again?"
"Yeah, I’ll come back when the summer vacation ends, then our little sister will be home too." Gu Wenyu nodded, "I’ll just find something to eat with her on the way to school every day, you’ve already given me the money anyway."
"Stay safe."
As he spoke, Gu Qiye hesitated for a second, then reached out to stroke his hair.
"That’s what I should be saying to you, are you really bold enough to say that before joining Rainbow Wings?" Gu Wenyu shrugged, nonchalantly swatting his hand away.
Not long after, the two bid farewell. Before leaving, Gu Qiye handed Gu Wenyu an old camera, saying it was found in their dad’s room.
Afterward, Gu Qiye took the taxi arranged by the association for him.
The car window buzzed as it vibrated. Gu Qiye turned to look at the fleeting scenery outside the window, the Gu Yima District gradually turning into a colorless outline, with the eaves of old residential buildings replaced by skyscrapers reaching into the clouds, glass curtain walls reflecting a thin and pale face.
Coming back to his senses in a daze, the car had already stopped at the back of the Mutants Association building.
Nearby was chaos and noise, a sea of people, traffic congestion, the sound of horns never ceasing. Citizens held signs for Blue Arc, with loudspeakers, loudly demanding the association reveal the real details of Blue Arc’s death.
They held up the enlarged photo, claiming that someone had witnessed Blue Arc being taken away heavily injured and near death on that day, rather than dying at the scene.
Some said it was a conspiracy, that Blue Arc’s real death was shrouded in mystery.
Gu Qiye rolled down the car window, glanced at the ferocity on those faces, and then slowly withdrew his gaze.
Listening to those hoarse shouts, he suddenly felt somewhat annoyed, unable to tell if they were truly standing up for him or just seizing an opportunity to attract attention.
After getting out of the car, he silently took out his suitcase from the trunk, dragging it through the surging crowd fighting for his justice, entering the building of the Mutants Association via a hidden path.
He walked to the front desk, registered with the staff, and a sunglasses-wearing specialist came to escort him to the Association’s private airport. He took the elevator to the underground floor, walking along an excessively long corridor.
Not long after, he saw a metal door.
The staff inserted an ID card into the card slot, the door opened with a rumble, and a gigantic underground airport unfolded before his eyes.
The dome was open, sunlight pouring in from above. The airport was filled with various private jets, an overwhelming sight; he could only recognize a Gulfstream G550 and a Boeing 447.
Gu Qiye glanced at the floor’s design, which appeared to lift the private planes to the surface during takeoff.
At this moment, at the airport entrance, he spotted a familiar figure.
It was a white-haired girl in tight black clothes, and just by her back and hair color, Gu Qiye recognized her as the Rainbow Wings’ Extreme Ice Maiden, You Ruirui.
She stood about 1.6 meters tall, seemingly 16 or 17 years old, and according to Fan Dongqing’s introduction, this was a side effect of You Ruirui’s superpower:
——Her physical age was forever frozen at 16.
Hearing footsteps from behind, the white-haired girl turned her icy blue eyes towards him, staring intently.
She lowered her eyes and slowly took off her black gloves.
"Gu Qiye, welcome to our ranks," You Ruirui said as she extended her right hand to him, her skin seeming almost translucent in the sunlight, her eyes as blue as the ocean.
Gu Qiye silently grasped her hand, looked at the expressionless girl, and then at the three people walking from the other side of the airport.
Leading them was a person in a plain white Tang suit, naturally Rainbow Wings’ Vessel of Li Qing, Fan Dongqing.
His distinctive attire remained unchanged year-round, which could be explained by his reluctance to change clothes, having only the same outfit in his wardrobe.
The other two consisted of one wearing a black vest and jeans, with air bangs, appearing around twenty, with Asian features, black hair and eyes, pupils clear as Liuli, a slight curve at the mouth;
The other, in Russian military attire with a military cap, was a girl with pink long hair tied into two ponytails behind her head, looking about 1.55 meters tall, resembling a cosplay enthusiast.
"Who are they?" Gu Qiye asked.
He naturally recognized Fan Dongqing, but the other two were unfamiliar to him.
"Travel companions, they’re on the same flight back to New York with us," said the ice-carved white-haired girl.
"Identity," Gu Qiye emphasized.
Upon hearing this, You Ruirui signaled towards the woman in the vest: "Urushibara Ryuri."
Then, turning her icy blue eyes, she indicated the girl in Russian uniform with the dark cap, "This one has no name, only a numeric code: 9999, we generally call her ’Jiushijiu.’"
"Are they... all Rainbow Wings members?" Gu Qiye asked.
"Yes." You Ruirui nodded.
Fan Dongqing approached, looking up from his phone, casting a glance at him: "Time to board, newcomer."
He paused: "The other seven members of Rainbow Wings are waiting to meet you in New York."
.....
.....
Meanwhile, in another corner of China Li Jing.
In an apartment building in Gu Yima District, Gu Wenyu sprawled on the sofa in a big figure, gulping cola and finally understanding what it felt like to have a big house all to himself without elders around.
He satisfactorily took a sip of his carbonated drink and screwed the cap back on.
About to turn on the game console to play "Mutants Alliance" for a while, using his favorite character "Swallowing Silver" to clear the main storyline on the highest difficulty, a prompt panel suddenly popped up before his eyes.
[Main task 1 (Stage 5) completed: Help Gu Qiye enter the United Nations Organization "Rainbow Wings."]
[Task reward received: 1 Split Point, 2 Skill Points, 1 Attribute Point.]
[Main task 1 updated to "Stage 6": Help Gu Qiye kill four Rainbow Wings members of the "Salvation Society Faction."]
"They arranged for four?" Gu Wenyu was stunned, "Salvation Society is really ruthless, looks like it’s going to be busy ahead."