CHAPTER 143: CH-143

The bronze door opened with a loud scrape until it stopped against the wall.

A warm light from lanterns spilled out from inside the chamber, showing shelves, racks, and stands filled with strange items.

’Are all these from the East?’

Many items had patterns tied to it.

Dragons curled around handles. Tigers crouched on plates. A bronze monkey hung onto a stone ball. A giant roc covered the side of an old chest. Even the carvings on the walls followed the same theme.

Some objects looked old and dull. Others shined under the lights. The whole place smelled like metal mixed with the scent of old wood.

"Did all these come from the tower?"

Master Tang shook his head. "No. Most of these items existed before the tower even appeared. A few became unique later, but only a small number of them."

That checked out. When the tower absorbed a city block, including me, only a handful of items changed. Everything else either stayed useless or didn’t change at all.

"Kid, if you like anything, just tell me. Take it. No need for payment. Think of it as a gift."

A small laugh escaped from my lips. "Then I won’t hold back."

My hands slid across different items to trigger the system notification.

A jade box. A bronze staff. Gold rings shaped like snakes. A black bead.

Shelf after shelf. Stand after stand.

Nothing happened.

Still, I kept going since the owner didn’t seem to mind me looking around.

Then it came.

[DING]

The sound rang in the mind.

[Would you like to activate this item?]

My eyes landed on a large burial urn. It didn’t glow. It didn’t look powerful. It looked like something someone picked up from an old market stall. Yet this was the first item the system reacted to.

"Master Tang, what’s this thing?"

He walked over and chuckled. "That? Just a normal urn. Got it from the 30th floor of a tower in the east. Had people test it. Nothing showed up. No energy. No power. No effect."

I let my fingers linger on the urn’s surface, pretending to study it while my pulse sped up. He got no idea that he was sitting on a gold mine.

"I’ll take this."

He raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? There are better things here."

"If you insist, I’ll take another. But I like how this one looks. It’ll fit in an office."

Master Tang laughed. "Take it. It does nothing for me, and I don’t even like how it looks."

He truly meant it. He even looked pleased that I chose something he himself ignored.

What a gullible old man. He would probably choke if he found out the urn could outclass the Aegis Armor in both power and value.

I picked up a few more items, but none of them triggered any notification.

At that point, the room felt more like a showpiece than a real treasure vault.

The real deal were probably hidden somewhere deeper. Most of the items even looked cheap up close. I guessed most of them were here just for show, so visitors would feel important by being able to pick a souvenir .

So much for being his favorite person. What a load of bullcrap.

I picked a beautiful pendant, just to get it over with.

Once everything settled, he led the way into another corridor. This hall was colder.

A narrow door stood at the end. When he opened it, the next chamber came into view. Only one display case sat in the middle. Glass walls protected a an item on a black pedestal.

"Wait." he pulled out a small device and pressed a button.

A soft beep followed as the alarms shut off.

Next, he lifted the glass cover and placed it aside.

The item was now open for anyone to touch.

Step by step, I closed the distance. The air felt different near it, like a quiet buzz.

When my fingers brushed the surface, the system reacted almost instantly.

[Celestial grade Item – Detected]

[Would the host like to merge this with the Shadow Armor?]

’It can merge?’

[Yes. The original effect will stay. You can use it through Shadow Armor as part of transformation. No one will notice when you activate it.]

There was no reason to refuse. But this wasn’t the right place to do it.

The last thing I needed was an old man dropping dead from frustration after seeing one of his prized possessions swallowed by darkness.

"Master Tang, I accept your request. Consider it done."

He looked worried. "How will you do it?"

"There are many ways. Just give me all the information I needed."

"You’ll get all of it after we leave the room. Everything is written on paper. No digital trail."

I nodded in satisfaction. "Smart move. I like it."

We walked back to his office. On his desk lay three stacks of folders, some thick, some thin, all sealed.

He tapped the top one. "This has everything. Routes, times, people. No copies exist."

I picked up the folder. Every detail of the senator’s visit was ready. Nothing left to guess.

Master Tang leaned back. "Finish this cleanly. After that, I’ll talk to the Order to get you promoted. That way, you’ll gain more benefits from our organization."

A promotion from him wasn’t just a title—it meant resources, influence, and trust that could make future endeavors much easier.

"I won’t disappoint you." I bowed my head one last time before leaving his house.

***

***

***

The streets passed by quickly as I made my way back to the mansion.

When I arrived, Ellie appeared almost instantly at the front door, as if she had been waiting.

Her blue eyes brightened the moment she saw me, and I couldn’t help but smile. She stepped forward, and before I could stop myself, I pressed a quick kiss to her soft lips.

"This is for you," I said, handing her a wooden box.

Ellie’s fingers trembled slightly as she opened it. Inside lay a pendant made mostly of pearls. Each pearl was etched with a different eastern character.

Light caught on the surface, making the symbols glow faintly in the room’s warm light.

"It’s so pretty. I love it!" she exclaimed, her eyes sparkling. She leaned up and kissed me back, soft and full of joy.

I held her close for a moment. All the people in the mansion were under my control now, so there was no need to hide our relationship. No sneaking around. No forced secrecy.

Her smile stayed a beat longer, and I realized that, despite everything—missions, treasures, plans—this small moment was worth more than any celestial item or rare urn.

Just having a beautiful stepmother to come home to was a blessing on its own.

"Can you accompany me in my art room? I need a model right now," she asked politely, though the mischievous glint in her eyes made it clear we would do more than just paint.

Instead of responding normally, I kissed her again and whispered, "Let’s do it tonight. I’ll come to your room later and lick your p*ssy clean. Sounds good?"

"Y... yeah. I will love that." she stammered, her voice practically melting with anticipation.

"We got a date then. By the way, you don’t need to shave—I like it long and raw. " I winked before heading to the mansion’s unused panic room, where I could safely activate my cards.

Inside, the room was surprisingly spacious. It had its own food pantry, a bed, a television, a radio for sending distress signals, and other amenities in case the mansion got compromised.

Almost every house in this wealthy district had one as part of the building code.

"Just put it there," I commanded.

The driver gently positioned the urn near the bed.

"You can go now," I waved him off before locking the heavy metal door, thick as a bank vault. Not even a bomb could destroy it.

"Finally." My grin widened as I touched the urn and saw the familiar translucent window.

[Would you like to activate this item?]

"Yes!"

[Initializing Activation:]

"What the—" Before I could even finish, I felt all my energy being drained by the urn.

In just five seconds, dizziness hit me, and I was forced to pull my hand back before I died from overexertion.

[Host: Activation Incomplete – 5 %. You need to fill the base with your energy to 100% to complete the process.]

Instead of getting frustrated, I was actually very pleased with this turn of events.

Even though it drained all my energy and only reached 5%, it meant I just found a real game changer. I couldn’t wait to discover its ability.

I sat in a meditative position and began inhaling deeply. The air here had a thinner concentration than the tower, which slowed my recovery.

Good thing I prepared in advance. I took a bunch of energy-rich minerals and crushed them into dust, mixing it with the air as I breathed in.

This maneuver alone cost around eight million.

"Inhale... exhale..." I repeated, focusing on my breathing as the mineral dust started to be filtered out by my lungs.

crack!

I broke another batch, and this time it was worth ten million.

Frankly, this method of cultivating was wasteful, but it was effective.

Although it didn’t reach the level of the tower, it still managed to multiply the energy in the air by tenfold.

Such result meant that I effectively reduced my recovery time by ten times.

When my dantians were full, I started injecting my energy into the urn again, repeating the process until all the minerals I had brought were used up.

’I need more... good thing I have loads of money to burn.’