Eleven-year-old Little Guo’er knelt beside the stone foundation of the impounded toll-fortress, her small palm pressed against a heavy black-iron cellar hatch hidden under a torn rug.
“Big Brother Lin Mo, hurry!” Little Guo’er called out, her wide eyes glistening with distress. “The iron door is locked with dark chains, and ten thousand little voices down there are crying because they’re burning up!”
Wedged inside the flattened frame of his dragon-chariot ten yards away, Young Master Ba (Goodness: -55/100) stiffened.
Beside him, former Toll-Gate Overseer Lord Wuji (Goodness: -48/100) tried to slide his foot over the edge of the rug to cover the trapdoor.
“Don’t touch that hatch!” Wuji barked nervously. “That’s the Outer-Heaven Tax Inspectorate’s classified energy sub-station! Trespassing in a government utility room is a capital offense!”
Lin Mo walked down the steps from the toll balcony, his boots clicking softly against the golden roadbed.
He didn’t look at Wuji. Instead, he activated his [Pure-Heart Eye Lv.10] and looked straight through the six-foot-thick black-iron cellar hatch into the subterranean cavern below the fortress.
Down in the airless dark beneath the bridge abutment, ten thousand glowing golden numbers flickered like dying candle flames inside cramped iron extractor-cages. Every single spirit read [GOODNESS SCORE: 95 / 100], led by an ancient elder reading [GOODNESS SCORE: 97 / 100]!
