Skinwalker Belle – Chapter 509 – The Answer to Everything is About to be Revealed

The deep-night temperature at the Western Sichuan base was extremely low, with frost and mist clinging to the metal exterior walls.

Lin Fan sat on the black leather sofa in her private lounge, legs crossed, slender fingers holding a thin menthol cigarette.

The room was dark, lit only by the faint red glow at her fingertips.

The walls were forged from special alloy, with soundproofing and insulation layers sandwiched in between.

To Lin Fan, a mid-Level 9 awakener, they might as well not exist.

The sounds from the adjacent room traveled through the air vibrations, reaching her ears with perfect clarity.

The violent scraping of a bed frame. The sound of fabric being roughly torn. Lu Yuan’s heavy, ragged breathing, and Zhu Yan’s muffled, suppressed moans that still managed to slip out now and then.

The sounds went on for a long time, showing no signs of dying down—only growing more intense.

Lin Fan exhaled a wisp of smoke and leaned her head back against the sofa.

Back in the early days of the Blue Star post-apocalypse three years ago, her mind had been filled with nothing but survival. Everyone who came near her fell into only two categories: tools to be used, or materials to be made into Skins.

Extreme self-interest had been her armor for surviving the apocalypse.

But after devouring Bai Lu’s Skin, a crack had appeared in that armor. She found herself unable to strike against the people who trusted her wholeheartedly.

Su Xiaoxiao, Zhou Ming, Sun Jing—without her realizing it, they had become “her people.”

And just a few days ago, on the far northern ice plains, she had forcibly fused with “Long Xi,” a peak Level 9 Legendary Grade Skin.

Even though it was a primordial dragon.

It carried innocence, kindness, and an all-embracing compassion that had subtly eroded her darker nature during the fusion process.

Listening to the passionate sounds of the young man and woman next door, Lin Fan felt no annoyance—instead, a genuine joy rose within her.

It was the satisfaction of watching lives she had protected grow and thrive.

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Now that her power had reached its peak, she no longer needed cruelty and ruthlessness to mask her strength.

“That position is wild enough.” Lin Fan heard a muffled thud from next door and felt a rare flicker of embarrassment, a faint blush creeping across her jade-white cheeks.

Time couldn’t be wasted eavesdropping.

She stubbed out her cigarette in the crystal ashtray, lay down on the bed, and bit her lip as she began the work of crafting high-purity Energy Potions.

————

Azurewood City, Council Hall.

When Chu Chen arrived, Su Yue was in the middle of checking the supply inventory.

Zhou Ming’s Portal split open in the center of the Council Hall with a flash of blue light. Chu Chen stepped out of it, his face pale.

Cross-dimensional teleportation took a heavy toll on someone with a mind as sensitive as Chu Chen’s.

Su Yue set down the register and rose to bow. “Commander Chu, you must have had a tiring journey.”

“No need for formalities.” Chu Chen looked around the room. “Where’s Long Teng? And Long Yi? Call them both here.”

“General Long Teng is patrolling the north gate, and General Long Yi is overseeing production at the weapons factory—”

“Now.”

Su Yue gave him a look, then turned and went to fetch them.

A quarter of an hour later.

The Council Hall doors closed.

Long Teng, Long Yi, Long Yan, Sun Jing, Su Yue—plus Chu Chen and Zhou Ming.

Seven people.

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Chu Chen didn’t take the head seat. Instead, he curled himself onto a low stool, knees drawn to his chest, looking like a vagrant squatting under a rooftop eaves to escape the rain.

He fished a hard candy from his pocket, popped it into his mouth, and crunched it down.

“I’ll keep this brief.” Chu Chen’s gaze swept across everyone in the room. “The situation is worse than we anticipated.”

Long Yi leaned against a pillar with his arms crossed, still dusted with grime from the weapons factory.

“How much worse?”

“Long Feng ran back,” Chu Chen said. “Azurewood City’s coordinates, troop deployment, and defense systems are all exposed. The Dragon Emperor Hall’s response time won’t exceed three days. What’s coming won’t be scattered remnants—it’ll be the full main force of the Pureblood Dragon Clan.”

Long Teng’s hand pressed on his sword hilt, knuckles tightening.

The days of hiding and biding his time in Border Dragon City fifteen years ago resurfaced. Back then, he faced the scrutiny of the entire Council of Elders alone, watched his wife die before his eyes while unable to do anything—all to keep his daughter alive.

But now, he had no lingering worries left.

“How many troops can we muster right now?” Long Teng asked.

Su Yue flipped open the roster: “Four thousand two hundred standing garrison troops, of which nine hundred and seventeen are combat personnel at Level Six or above. Three hundred and sixty Gene Warriors transferred from Blue Star, all at Level Six. Copperbeard’s arsenal currently stocks one hundred Crystal cannons, four thousand eight hundred Crystal rifles, and ammunition reserves sufficient for seven consecutive days of combat.”

“Rune defense formation coverage?”

“Three layers across the city—the outer wall has one reinforced layer, and the core district has two. But if they send anyone above Level Eight, the outer wall layer won’t hold for more than ten minutes.”

Long Yi scoffed. “Ten minutes is enough. Wars aren’t won by walls.”

Chu Chen crunched down on his candy. Crack.

“One piece of news,” he said.

Everyone turned to look at him.

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“Lei Li has broken through to Level Nine.”

The war room fell silent for two seconds.

Long Yan was the first to react, jerking his head up. “Level Nine?”

“Mid-Level Nine,” Chu Chen corrected. “She single-handedly cleared over four hundred Level Seven Pureblood Giant Dragons on Blue Star—averaging under three minutes per dragon.”

The silence turned to dead stillness.

Su Yue’s roster slipped from her hand and hit the floor without her even noticing.

Long Yi’s breathing grew visibly rapid. Level Nine. What did that even mean? In the entire history of the Dragon Spirit Continent, the only being he’d ever seen reach Level Nine was one person—the Dragon Emperor.

And this mysterious Lei Li had already stepped onto the same line as the Dragon Emperor.

“So when can she get here?” Long Yi cut straight to the point.

Chu Chen paused.

“Ten days.”

“What?”

“The energy carrying capacity of the Rift is expanding, but not fast enough.” Chu Chen pulled a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket, covered in dense formulas and data. “Her current life-energy level is too high—forcing a cross-dimensional crossing would collapse the Space Channel. Based on the Rift’s current expansion rate, it’ll take at least ten days before it can accommodate her passage.”

“What about Zhou Ming’s Portal?” Long Yan asked.

Zhou Ming shook his head. “My limit is Level Five. If she so much as steps one foot in, my ability collapses.”

Ten days.

Good news and bad news crashed down simultaneously, and the expression on everyone’s face grew complicated.

They had a super weapon on their side—but it couldn’t get here.

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Long Yi picked up his teacup, gulped it down, chewed up the tea leaves, and swallowed.

“Ten days. We can hold.” he said.

No one agreed. No one objected.

Chu Chen stood up, brushing the dust off his pants.

“One more thing.”

His tone shifted abruptly—calmer than it had been at any point before.

“I need to leave for a while.”

Long Teng frowned. “Where are you going?”

“To verify a hypothesis.” Chu Chen offered no further explanation. “If my judgment is correct, this battle will play out completely differently. If I’m wrong…”

He paused.

“Then pretend I was never here.”

Long Yi stared at him for three seconds. “You’re a weakling at Level Four. Going out there is just suicide.”

“Zhou Ming is coming with me.” Chu Chen patted Zhou Ming on the shoulder. “He’s a Level Seven spatial-type now, with maxed-out escape talent. He won’t die.”

Zhou Ming’s mouth twitched, but he said nothing.

Chu Chen walked to the door and paused for a step.

“Hold out for ten days,” he said, his silhouette so thin it seemed impossible that he could bear the fate of all humanity on his shoulders.

“After ten days, all the mysteries will be revealed.”