get-shopping Chapter 52
Chapter 52
Shen Ge felt like he was standing on a glass walkway thirteen stories high—except there was no glass beneath him. Just empty air. Anyone with even a hint of acrophobia would’ve collapsed in terror by now.
“Director?” Shen Ge called out to Deng Yuqi.
Her voice quickly responded through the earpiece:
“I’ve only taken one step up. Are you hearing my voice directly, or just through the comms?” Shen Ge asked.
Deng Yuqi replied.
“Fascinating. We’re only a step apart, yet sound can’t travel normally. But signals still work,” Shen Ge mused.
Shen Ge experimentally stepped back. Instead of returning to the stairwell, he merely retreated a pace, still suspended in midair.
He took a few more cautious steps upward.
Even for someone unafraid of heights, this “skywalk” was enough to make his legs wobble.
Deng Yuqi radioed.
came Huo Yu’s reply.
Shen Ge analyzed,
Deng Yuqi instructed.
“Understood.” Shen Ge continued upward, using the ghost glove to trace the unseen wall. From his vantage, even the lower twelve floors had vanished—his gaze dropped straight to the ground.
Though his feet registered solid ground, the sheer psychological weight of seeing nothing below was something only acrophobics could truly grasp.
Before entering, Shen Ge and Deng Yuqi had studied the building’s floor plan. The stairwell had exactly 23 steps per floor. On the final step, he moved with extra caution.
As his foot landed on the last step, he gripped the railing tightly. Thanks to the glove’s “Unyielding” trait, even if he slipped, he wouldn’t fall.
Unsure of his current floor, Shen Ge headed for the elevator lobby, hoping to find survivors for intel.
Guided by mental blueprints, he navigated the unseen hallway. The building had two staircases and four units per floor. The moment he stepped into the lobby, cries erupted from his right.
Ten meters away, suspended in midair, a family of three—two adults and a child—clung to each other in terror. The man spotted Shen Ge first and shouted,
His accent was odd—like a foreigner mangling Mandarin. Stranger still, Shen Ge could hear him clearly, despite Cheng Shengnan’s earlier report that sound couldn’t penetrate the anomaly.
Shen Ge signaled for silence.
The man scrambled up, legs shaking too violently to glance downward.
His wife and young son, paralyzed by fear, couldn’t even stand.
Ignoring them, the man hunched forward like a crab, lurching toward Shen Ge—only to slam face-first into an invisible barrier.
He battered the unseen wall, desperation morphing into rage.
The man looked to be in his thirties, with narrow eyes and a plaid bathrobe. Fear twisted his features.
Shen Ge’s voice turned icy.
“Idiot.” Shen Ge strode past without a second glance.
Fumbling along the barrier, the man suddenly yanked at something—and a painting materialized in his grip.
He groped further, “finding” another painting. The first one vanished the moment he dropped it.
Realizing the “wall” was his own home, he traced it to the door, wrenched the handle open, and bolted out—abandoning his family.
Ignoring their pleas, he sprinted after Shen Ge.
The man lunged wildly.
Between the submachine gun and sidearm, Shen Ge was hardly an easy target. He pivoted, delivering a textbook side kick—freshly mastered the day before—to the man’s gut, dropping him to his knees.
“Apologies. My priority is protecting our citizens. For Korean emergencies, dial Korean police. Need the embassy’s number? I’d be happy to look it up.” Shen Ge smiled politely.
Gasping, the man switched tactics:
“Oh?” Shen Ge feigned interest. “Then answer this: What’s the largest island in our country? No thinking—answer now! Three, two—”
the man blurted.
Shen Ge tsked. “Wrong. It’s Hokkaido.”
The man gaped, finally realizing Shen Ge was toying with him.
“Traitor.” Shen Ge eyed him with disgust.
“A wife-and-child-abandoning traitor.”
He turned toward the hallway corner. Over his shoulder, he asked,
the man muttered.
Without another word, Shen Ge walked away.
The man’s shouts faded behind him.