The Death of Lily Bai 1

Lily Bai looked up at the mountain. "Is that you?"

"Yep, it's me!" He laughed. "Surprised?"

"I'm going to tear you to pieces and feed you to the turtles!" Lily Bai slammed her foot on the gas, ready to charge up.

"Listen to this voice first." A scream echoed from the phone.

Then came Eric Lan's angry shout: "Shaun Fane! You bastard! What the hell are you doing? Are you insane?"

Lily Bai slammed the brakes. "You kidnapped Eric Lan?"

"Not just him! There's also... your biggest support!" As he spoke, a muffled groan came through the phone, followed by Eric shouting, "His Majesty the Supreme Emperor!"

Lily Bai's pupils contracted. "Dad! Is that you?"

The Supreme Emperor's voice came through the phone: "Lily! Little Ev is in their hands! Don't worry about me, you must save him!"

Lily Bai took a deep breath and asked Shaun Fane, "What do you want?"

Shaun Fane: "Nothing much! All you have to do is wait obediently at the foot of the mountain! Tomorrow... I'll give both of them back to you, and your Vanishing Plant too!"

"What do you really want?"

"Nothing at all!" Shaun Fane said. "I just wanted to invite you all here for a little fun!"

Lily Bai asked, "So we just wait down here, right? You won't hurt them, will you?"

"No way! I guarantee you'll get them back alive, not a single hair missing!"

"Alright," Lily Bai said. "We'll wait right here then."

They didn't go any further and got out of the car.

"Can you see what's going on up there?" Lily Bai asked Sandy.

"Nothing in any area I can scan," Sandy replied. "I bet there's Otherworld energy up there blocking my sensors."

"What are they really up to?" Lily Bai frowned. "Why take Evan Lan, and kidnap those two as well?"

"I think their real focus is on the Gatekeeper," Max Mo said. "Kidnapping the President and Eric Lan is just to keep us and the army from storming up there... They're definitely planning something for the Gatekeeper!"

Lily Bai clenched her fists and asked Sandy, "There's surveillance all the way up, right?"

"Yes."

"Tonight, after dark, we'll climb up from the back mountain."

"This whole area is karst terrain. There's no path on the back side—it's a sheer cliff." Sandy said. "I'll have to carry you up myself."

"Okay." Lily Bai said. "Thank you, Sandy."

...

After dark, Sandy strapped Lily Bai onto her back and, using her hands and feet like pitons, climbed up the sheer cliff like a gecko.

Once they reached the top, Lily Bai saw it: "There's Otherworld energy inside the mountain by the suspension bridge."

It was a rocky mountain.

It was much taller than the peak they'd just climbed.

The anomalous energy Sandy detected was inside this mountain's core.

"Where's the entrance?" Lily Bai asked.

The mountain looked seamless—no caves, no doors, nothing.

"The entrance is down in the elevator passage," Sandy said. "Let's go!"

She carried Lily Bai down again, opened the door to the elevator passage, and went inside.

Sure enough, there was a horizontally sliding door at the entrance to the elevator.

Inside, a wide corridor stretched ahead—big enough for two tanks to drive side by side—all the way up.

At the end stood an extremely sturdy bulkhead.

"Protect yourself—I'll go in alone," Sandy said.

Lily Bai nodded.