The Path Toward Heaven

Capital City was the most important city in the Federation of the Milky Way. Though Shou’er City and Capital City sounded similar, the two cities were built quite differently.

The fog flowing out from the mountains arrived at the outskirts of Capital City along the sea dams before drifting into the streets and alleys; it was an amazing scene.

A great many high skyscrapers were intermittently visible amid the clouds and fog. The elevators leading to the space looked like dozens of thin threads and zither strings in the distance. The space regulations on the Main Planet were very strict, which is why the space elevators could be seen everywhere, otherwise it would be like witnessing spacecraft flying around like insects landing on a spider’s web every day.

Jing Jiu and Ran Handong walked on the street casually like two regular tourists.

There were many tourists visiting the city from the other states, cities, and other colonized planets every day.

Ran Handong introduced the scenery, traditions and famous buildings to Jing Jiu in a low voice, thinking that everything would be fine as long as he didn’t take off his hoodie.

The people were basically the same; Jing Jiu was more interested in the scenery.

Unfortunately, the fog was too thick. Even though the scenery on another planet was quite attractive when intermittently visible, it was a pity that he couldn’t see it clearly.

The fog seemed to have sensed his displeasure. By noon, all the fog in Capital City had vanished without a trace.

The hot sunlight shone down from the nearly transparent sky, illuminating every object.

There was a large sun in the sky that was accompanied by many specks of light. There was a planet to the west, the ring of which could be seen with the naked eye.

The stars and a planet could be seen even during daytime.

This wasn’t something one could witness in Chaotian or on the Stargate Base. Jing Jiu uttered “hmm” in satisfaction.

In addition to the stars, many space stations could be seen in the sky, reflecting the light of the permanent star brighter than the real stars. The Main Planet had three layers of shields to protect it; otherwise, the humans in the Federation of the Milky Way wouldn’t last long on a planet full of ultraviolet rays and space radiations, even though they had gone through the gene modifications and most of them were capable of cultivating.

“The largest space station in the middle of the ring is the Science Academy. Next to it is the No. 3 laboratory of the military. Farther away is a vacation resort owned by a famous clan.”

Ran Handong explained earnestly while pointing toward the sky like a qualified tour guide.

His line of sight followed Ran Handong’s fingertip forward and then came back to the ground, ultimately fixing on a building at the end of the street.

The building was rather conspicuous and as big as a mountain, or a space battleship moored on the ground.

Ran Handong said, “That is the building for military headquarters. In fact, it is a battleship that can take off at any moment. Actually, it can do so during war in just twenty minutes.”

Looking at the large building, Jing Jiu remained silent for a while. “Where is General Li’s office?” asked he.

“A large office on the top floor of the building. However, he is often with a battleship fleet somewhere engaged in the battles, and his whereabouts is a top secret. So nobody is certain of where he is and if he is in his office,” said Ran Handong. “And my father has an office here, but it’s not been used for many years.”

Jing Jiu knew she had guessed his intention. “What are the chances that he’ll be in his office?” he asked.

Ran Handong pressed while staring at his eyes, “Are you sure you want to know?”

Jing Jiu uttered “hmm”.

Ran Handong led him to a teahouse by the street and sat down. She ordered two cups of water before she turned on the monitor on her bracelet and started to search for the relevant information.

She was indeed one of the most killed Cloud Ghosts in the Federation of the Milky Way; it didn’t take her long to find the information she needed.

A special parking lot in the garage in the basement of the military building. Each time a vehicle entered it, a weight change would be recorded because this building was a battleship.

Based on the analysis of the weight changes, seven vehicles owned by General Li were all parked there.

The dining hall of the military headquarters received the order ten days ago to purchase a load of white truffles, but only a third of those had been consumed so far. It was General Li’s favorite spring food. He had traveled among several colonized planets constantly for two standard years for the sake of staying in spring.

Ran Handong had obtained more information than this. In the end, she came up with the final calculation, “The probability of his being in his office is about seventy-two percent.”

Jing Jiu didn’t miss his wicked disciple Gu Qing that much anymore. “It should be only forty-three percent,” he couldn’t help but correct her.

Ran Handong didn’t wish to argue with him, but she couldn’t help but remark, “He will come back for sure if he knows you’re here on the Main Planet.”

“He was on Planet Lindeng eight days ago,” said Jing Jiu.

Ran Handong was taken aback, offering, “Is it the mining planet that had a quake?”

The mining planet Lindeng was not well known in the Federation of the Milky Way. If she hadn’t noticed that Jing Jiu was interested in the news, she wouldn’t have known where it was.

Jing Jiu remarked, “Due to the distance between the mining planet and here, the trip would be still too grueling to come back in time even if they could leap many times in a row; and I believe he doesn’t like to be so hard on himself.”

This statement had many hidden messages, one of which was about a certain person’s self-confidence. Unfortunately, Ran Handong didn’t figure it out.

As far as this aspect was concerned, she was still far inferior to Gu Qing.

“Well, let’s assume the probability is forty-three percent…” said Ran Handong while staring into his eyes. “Do you wish to see him?”

“I’m here on the Main Planet to see him,” Jing Jiu said while looking at the building.

After a moment of silence, Ran Handong picked up the cup of water and emptied it. Then she plucked the sunglasses from her collar and handed them to Jing Jiu before she got up to head toward the building of the military headquarters.

Jing Jiu took the sunglasses, put them on, and pulled down the hoodie before he followed her.

…

…

The lobby on the first floor of the military building was quite empty.

It was because the vast majority of the officers entered the building through the garage in the basement; some of them opted to land on the top of the building in a flying device.

Leading Jing Jiu in the lobby, Ran Handong suddenly had a feeling of detesting her leather boots. It was not because the calf pelt from the Planet Shepherd was not comfortable, but because the heels of the boots stepping on the floor made too much noise.

She, as the daughter of Ran Donglou, was rather popular in the military; and her talent in Cultivation and pretty appearance drew many suitors.

She had been unconcerned about such an encounter, but she felt it rather uncomfortable today.

She had been approached by four generals and talked to amiably only after she walked several hundred meters, not to mention how incessantly she was greeted.

Along with two dings, the elevator started ascending. Seeing the reflection on the door of the elevator, she commented expressionlessly, “Am I insane?”

“I don’t think so,” returned Jing Jiu.

Ran Handong said, “If I were not insane, why would I bring you to the headquarters of the military to see General Li?”

“He and I had an appointment,” said Jing Jiu.

Upon hearing this, Ran Handong couldn’t help but spin her head around to glance at him, wondering if what he said was true.

If he had contacted General Li in secret, why did he tell her about it?

“If he is in his office, what will you…do when you see him?”

“We’ll see when I meet him.”

It was exceedingly quiet in the elevator.

It didn’t take long for the elevator to open slowly. The two of them walked out of it.

The passage and all the devices on the top floor of the battleship were made from a special alloy, smooth and hard; the green plants in the corners were all fake.

This place was devoid of life force, and no one could employ any magic method here.

An office desk was placed up ahead of the passage. It was made from metal as well. A middle-aged female officer stood up and said to Ran Handong with a faint smile, “Hello, Lieutenant Colonel Ran.”

Ran Handong returned calmly, “Hello, Colonel Chen.”

General Li was the Commander-in-Chief of the military and the uppermost leader of the humans.

It was understandable that his secretary was a colonel.

The female colonel looked at Jing Jiu.

As Ran Handong was about to say something, Colonel Chen had already spoken with a faint smile, “Hello, Mr. Jing. Please come with me.”