Quantum Cultivation by Jace Kang (simple e reader TXT) 📕

too dangerous, and it was undoubtedly tied to his biometrics.

A hero didn’t kill helpless opponents, but maybe it was time for an exception.

No, it was wrong. Ken started towards the lab, when the man scrambled up and tackled him from behind.

Chapter 35:

The Cultivator

S till keeping Keiko hostage with a Peacekeeper knife, Ryu guided her across the landing pad.  The other Peacekeepers gave them a wide berth as the doors swished open.

As soon as they entered, the doors closed behind them. The Peacekeepers on the other side pounded, trying to get in.

“Aya!” Keiko said. “What are you doing here?”

Ryu turned to see Aya waiting there. Instead of Siena’s dress, she now wore a kimono.

A pang of nostalgia yanked at him. It’d been eight hundred years since he’d seen a woman in a kimono, and he’d forgotten how beautiful it made her…them.

He shook the idea out of his head. “Aya, you’re all right.”

“How do you even know each other?” Keiko asked.

Aya ignored her, instead turning to Ryu. “Ryusuke, follow me.”

“Wait, Aya!” Keiko said in an authoritative voice that sounded less like Peacekeeper captain and more like Big Sister.

Aya turned to her. “What?”

“Why are you helping Ishihara?” Keiko thumbed over her shoulder at him.

“I haven’t coughed once in the last six hours,” Aya said.

She hadn’t. With the lack of water vapor, it was harder to connect to her Core; when he did, there was nothing there.  Unsurprisingly, this was a holoprojection of Aya. Keiko didn’t seem to realize.

“And? What does you not coughing have to do with him?”

“He’s teaching me to cure myself.”

Keiko looked over her shoulder at him, scowling. “Impossible.”

“Check his genetic scans. He has the same defect as I do.”

Keiko snarled. “And you’ll murder for that?”

“He hasn’t murdered anyone!” Aya shouted. “He saved at least two people!”

“All those dead people…”

As beautiful as Keiko was, especially the way her tactical suit clung to her, Ryu didn’t have time to waste.  “If we don’t hurry, more people will die. That creature you saw? It comes from a parallel dimension. More will come. Lead on, Aya.”

With a nod, Aya turned around and guided them into the halls.

Keiko grumbled. “Parallel dimension. You are insane. And you’re corrupting my sister.”

Ryu chuckled. If Keiko only knew what Aya did behind closed doors. “Then where did you think it comes from?”

“Clearly a Ministry of Defense creation gone awry.”

Ryu chuckled. Of course, a Nue was beyond anyone in this world’s comprehension. “What about Teppin?”

“That green thing?  That…that…”

Maybe she could be convinced with a little more evidence.  Too bad he’d told Teppin to return to a portal, lest he get caught in this world when the barriers went up.

As they continued through the halls, groups of Peacekeepers aimed weapons, but didn’t approach.

“Don’t worry about them,” Aya said. “I’ve set up force fields to clear our way to the maglifts.”

“What?” Keiko demanded. “How did you do that?”

“You know nothing about me.” Aya’s tone carried more ice than Ryu could melt with his meager Fire Path skills.

They arrived at the bank of maglifts, and one waited with doors open.

When they stepped in and the doors closed, Ryu released Keiko.

She spun on him. “Why are you letting me go?”

“I just needed to get past your comrades. Holding you hostage kept me from having to hurt them.”

Her expression contorted. “Even without a weapon, I could—”

“—not even defeat Aya right now. Her fighting skills far surpass yours in just a few days.”

Crying out, Keiko lunged into a flurry of attacks. With her enhanced tactical suit, she moved decently fast, and with admirable grace.

Still, Ryu stood in place, using one hand to deflect all of her punches and kicks. When an opening presented itself, he pressed her into a corner. “You are skilled, but only on the surface. You would never survive without help in the land from which that monster you saw tonight came.  Now that they are coming into this world, all of humanity is at risk.”

“You are insane,” she said. She reached for Aya’s holoprojection. “He’s insane. If you continue to aid and abet him, there’s nothing I can do to keep you out of trouble.”

With so little space, Aya couldn’t back her holoprojection out of reach. Keiko’s hand passed through her arm. She gasped.   “What is this? Is this one of your tricks, Ishihara?”

“Not mine.” He shrugged.

“We’re here.” Aya said.

Already? Ryu hadn’t felt the maglift press on him as it rose. He turned and seized Keiko. “Come on.”

The doors opened, and shouts—along with the energy of a Cultivator—poured into the maglift in waves. Metal, Fire, and Water… It had to be Ken, and he’d Advanced in three Paths!

Ryu guided Keiko out, and immediately saw Ken locked in a hand-to-hand battle with a very fast Peacekeeper. The man apparently knew Xingyi Fist very well.

“Smith!” Keiko yelled.

The man paused and looked. “Oyama!”

“And Kentaro?” Keiko said in disbelief.

Kentaro’s gaze barely registered Keiko before falling on Ryu. “Master, I beat him, but I couldn’t bring myself to hurt him after he was down.”

Ryu nodded. “That is the Code of the World of Rivers and Lakes.”

“Kentaro beat Smith? In a tactical suit?” Keiko was just shaking her head.

“Be careful,” Aya said. “The Peacekeeper is wearing a prototype tactical suit. It’s not as invasive as the MoD assassin’s wiring, but its AI can learn attack patterns and formulate responses.”

As if to prove the point, Kentaro reengaged with a flurry of Wing Chun punches. Smith transitioned to Xingyi First’s Water Form, and enveloped Kentaro’s movements.

Kentaro snarled. “He’s figured out a solution to everything you taught me!”

Luckily, the