After awakening his superpower through the Victory Encounter Stone, the goal of this trip had been achieved.
Everyone rode back to the Caolu Academy members' residential area. Only after completing physical examinations and psychological evaluations to ensure the four superpowered individuals were in good physical and mental health could the whole process be considered complete.
By then, night had already enveloped the earth.
The moon shone brightly, and few stars were visible as the cold wind howled.
Inside the medical building.
"Brother Ran, can you see more of the future now?"
The person asking was a young nurse who had accompanied them throughout the day.
She had noticed that Su Qiangwei, Liu Huadie, and He Nanguang's superpowers had all gone from nonexistent to awakened.
Ma Ran, however, had gone from "half-awakened" to "fully awakened."
Even if his improvement wasn't as great as the other three's, it was impossible for nothing to have changed, right?
"There's been no fundamental evolution."
Ma Ran answered calmly. "I'm just receiving random information from the future more frequently."
"Trying to change the future through Limited Precognition will still accelerate cellular aging and overdraw my lifespan."
At that, he looked toward Director Huang and changed the subject. "You've read my file, so you should know."
"Given my personality, barring special circumstances, I would only have displayed an average level of ability and lived out this life mediocrely."
He didn't continue, instead giving Director Huang some time to think.
Hearing Ma Ran's words, not only Director Huang but also the others present vaguely sensed that the atmosphere had become unusual.
Ma Ran's expression remained calm, no different from usual, but his tone was exceptionally grave.
The smile faded from Director Huang's face, and his expression grew serious. "You... Go on."
Liu Huadie and He Nanguang had been discussing their experiences with their superpowers nearby, but now they both shut their mouths at the same time.
The two fell silent and quietly waited for Ma Ran to speak.
An invisible, intangible oppressive atmosphere spread throughout the entire medical building, as if something vitally important was about to happen.
"Thirteen days ago, my Limited Precognition awakened naturally."
Ma Ran remained as calm as an ancient well, but his words made everyone hold their breath. "At that time, I heard a voice and saw a scene."
"What can be confirmed is that the language used by that voice doesn't belong to any language on Earth."
"It came from an extraterrestrial civilization."
"That language has roughly twenty percent similarity to the Southern Dravidian languages and fifteen percent similarity to Hausa."
Thirteen days ago...
Su Qiangwei's eyes sharpened after she had just finished her psychological intervention therapy.
If she remembered correctly, that was precisely the day Ma Ran had stopped hiding his talents.
So...
Was Caolu Academy's invitation not the only reason Ma Ran had decided to abandon his pretense of mediocrity?
Aside from the temptation of superpowers, were there other reasons?
Ma Ran paid no attention to everyone's jumbled thoughts and continued speaking to himself.
"I&@?*&*@#￥,%@￥!@*,##%@#!*&#."
Not one person present could understand what he was saying.
Even so, everyone vaguely sensed that this was a mature and fully developed language system they had never heard before.
"After joining Caolu Academy, I devoted part of my energy to translating this extraterrestrial language while cultivating the Black Rock Martial Way."
"Its meaning is..."
"Earth? My loyal warriors will crush seven billion ants and conquer this beautiful blue planet."
Hearing that, everyone felt a chill run through them. The joy brought by awakening their superpowers was completely swept away.
That short sentence concealed a great deal of information.
First, the extraterrestrial who had spoken was a feudal ruler who considered himself supreme.
Second, that civilization was more advanced than Earth's—the other side could observe Earth's existence, while the people of Earth knew nothing about him.
Finally, the extraterrestrial who had said those words was definitely no "friend of the universe."
The malice in his words was almost overflowing.
"We'll deal with what happens later when the time comes."
Ma Ran didn't give them much time to think.
He sighed, his eyes turning slightly grim. "For now, just remember this sentence."
"Let's deal with the urgent problem at hand first..."
Standing beside Ma Ran, Director Huang felt his scalp go numb and broke out in a cold sweat.
If Ma Ran's Limited Precognition hadn't been mistaken...
No!
They absolutely couldn't harbor any wishful thinking!
Ma Ran's prophecies had never been even slightly wrong so far.
Moreover...
Ma Ran was different from Su Qiangwei, Wu Di, and Dong Huaiming.
Even setting aside the uniqueness of his superpower and his progress in cultivating the Black Rock Martial Way, Ma Ran was different from every other member of Caolu Academy!
Perhaps because his intelligence was so high, Ma Ran didn't act like an inexperienced teenager. Instead, he seemed absurdly mature.
In Director Huang's eyes, Ma Ran was calm and composed. No matter what happened, he remained unhurried, always planning before acting.
He was neither frivolous and arrogant nor timid and insecure.
Even his unusual words and actions had deeper meaning. (For example: rescuing Wu Di.)
When the same words came from Ma Ran's mouth, they were countless times more credible than when they came from any other member of Caolu Academy!
Credibility was difficult to quantify.
But there was no doubt!
In Director Huang's eyes, Ma Ran was a steady, reliable, and outstanding successor!
So...
There truly had to be an extraterrestrial ruler in this world who harbored immense malice toward Earth's civilization!
The other side wanted to invade Earth and completely exterminate humanity!
Director Huang made an immediate decision. He pulled out his phone, opened the "Dajiang" app, and immediately started an emergency online meeting, dragging all his sufficiently high-ranking colleagues into the room.
"Put down everything you're doing!"
"Don't speak. Listen carefully!"
"I'll share the first half of the video recording with you later."
"What Ma Ran is about to say is extremely important!!!"
After sending those messages, Director Huang enabled Mute All mode.
Then, while listening, he carefully recorded every word Ma Ran said.
The more he listened, the more terrifying it felt.
"As I said earlier."
Ma Ran rubbed his temples, a trace of pain appearing on his face. "Thirteen days ago, my Limited Precognition allowed me to hear a voice and see a scene."
"After analysis, it can now be confirmed that there's more than one extraterrestrial civilization with plans to invade Earth."
"Two days from now..."
"An extraterrestrial colonization team will descend upon Jinshui Town."
"According to the subsequent statistics, a total of 653 civilians and soldiers will die."
"Please make preparations in advance."
After saying those three sentences, Ma Ran silently outlined the Youwen characters in his mind and created an illusion.
His brows knitted tightly, as if he were enduring some kind of pain.
A moment later, a strand of hair above Ma Ran's forehead suddenly changed from black to white.
It was glaringly conspicuous.
"So I really did overdraw my lifespan..."
Director Huang, Su Qiangwei, Wu Di, Liu Huadie, He Nanguang, and all the medical staff present looked toward Ma Ran in unison, their expressions complicated.
Sympathy? Admiration? Or something else?
Who could say for sure...
Before you continue