Cha Zheng wasn't sure whether what he was seeing was an illusion—after all, at this moment, he couldn't even be certain of the state of his own senses.
Not until someone in the Public Consciousness Space asked in an uncertain tone, "Is it just me, or is a piece missing from this map?"
"Where?"
This time, someone else answered, "The one we just passed. The one we just took out."
That was clear enough.
Everyone's attention instinctively focused there. Sure enough, not far from the center of the sensing area, they found the region that had just been bombarded by a Light Beam Cannon and confirmed cleared—only to have abruptly vanished.
More precisely, it had been stripped of its three-dimensionality, sense of reality, and all corresponding details, reduced to the lowest-energy "flat" state.
Amid a perception map bursting with rich detail, such an area should not have stood out so much. But it was too close, and it was also a victory they had only just secured. Many people kept glancing over there now and then, and that one glance brought trouble.
Though it wasn't really trouble... What trouble could there be?
Ronan clearly had no interest in responding. He was still talking with his "friend" far away.
As for that inexplicable card, it flipped back and forth between his fingertips. Who would have thought this young man, who seemed to have devoted himself to research at such an early age, was actually skilled at card tricks? He did not even appear to be paying much attention, yet the card kept tumbling between his fingers, almost leaving afterimages... My ass!
Unknowingly, Cha Zheng had finally managed to turn his neck into place and see clearly: what rolled between Ronan's fingers was no card at all, but a lively stretch of