Main Quest: Save the World, Again!

Ten minutes later, the girl finally calmed down.

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"Feeling better?" Chen Xuan rubbed his shoulder. Despite her slender arms, she was ridiculously strong. If he hadn't had the Heavenly Cloud Skill reinforcing him, she might have crushed his ribs in that hug.

"Sorry, I was just so happy that I didn't control my strength," Lin Qing said embarrassedly.

Chen Xuan believed her on that point.

Before talking with her, he had removed the Thousand Thoughts Sword and replaced it with the Voice of Trust to gauge this new customer's attitude. From beginning to end, the ability's feedback had remained at least friendly, which meant none of her actions had been deliberately feigned.

"I want to ask what exactly happened back then. In Space City."

Chen Xuan had been curious about it for a long time. Thinking back afterward, there had been plenty of strange details. For instance, the first thing she had called him when she saw him was "survivor." N43 had indeed been completely empty, with no one else in sight. Yet it did not seem to have suffered any major destruction. At least until that armed mech crashed through the partition wall and entered the lobby, everything had been intact. The cleaning had even been impeccable; the floors shone brightly enough to reflect faces.

"Our enemies wanted to destroy us. Crystal Palace was their weapon." Lin Qing stared at his neck for a moment. "It seems you don't have the Individual Interconnection Protocol installed, so I can only explain it verbally. Mr. Shopkeeper, you saw the six-legged mech chasing me, right?"

Chen Xuan nodded. The sight of that mech smashing through the wall had been quite shocking.

"It was the enemy, or rather, one member of the enemy."

He noticed her wording—one member of the enemy, rather than an enemy mech. "Was it an AI rebellion?"

"Not AI. It was alive, possessing a degree of self-awareness. It was more like a lifeform made of microscopic machines. We called them Nano-Lifeforms," she explained.

"You mean it was actually pieced together from countless nanoscopic units?"

Lin Qing shook her head. "That isn't entirely accurate, but it should make it easier for you to understand. It originated from Nanoworm Technology, and nanoworms really are tiny. Those tiny individuals brought about many technological changes. But when they gathered together, they developed a certain degree of self-awareness, much like how enough nerve bundles can form a brain. This consciousness cannot be divided at will, so every large Nano-Lifeform possesses a unique consciousness... Do you understand what I mean?"

"More or less. Go on."

"At the time, Nanoworm Technology was used everywhere. It could be made large or small and was extremely versatile, so by the time we realized some large lifeforms had developed intelligence and emotions, it was already too late. Riots broke out in some cities. A washing machine you used yesterday might swallow its owner whole and grind them into meat paste the next day. Or traffic lights would turn into monsters and direct a mass of self-driving cars over cliffs." Lin Qing could not help pressing a hand to her forehead. "But all those so-called signs of rebellion were merely a smokescreen. Their target had been clear from the beginning: Crystal Palace."

"Why?" Chen Xuan knew they had reached the important part.

"Because Crystal Palace's energy came from a Cold Fusion Core, or rather, an Annihilation Reaction Core. If it fell intact onto Earth, it would be like a super meteorite, ten times more destructive than the one that wiped out the dinosaurs! According to experts' estimates, the entire biosphere on the Earth's crust would be reset, and the planet's surface would return to a molten state."

An Annihilation Reaction Core? Something that could directly destroy Earth's ecosystem?

Chen Xuan did not think his hometown could develop technology at that level even a century later.

Besides, wouldn't that be a mutually destructive move? But then he reconsidered. The current biosphere was dominated by carbon-based lifeforms. For a lifeform like nanoworms, which could not even be properly categorized, flipping the table on carbon-based life would not be digging their own graves. Instead, it would clear out every potential competitor in one stroke.

"I understand. Crystal Palace's fall was intentional, and you were trying to stop it."

"Not just me. There were twenty people aboard that spacecraft, but all my companions died along the way..." Lin Qing said sorrowfully. "Crystal Palace was too large and had its own defense systems. Missile attacks from the ground could barely penetrate its defensive perimeter. Our team was humanity's only hope. You know what happened afterward... We failed. We never had a chance. If you hadn't appeared there, everything would have been over."

Chen Xuan finally understood why she had mistaken him for a survivor, and why the shop had appeared in that place.

Perhaps she had not realized it herself, but when she saw that the mission could no longer be completed and found herself trapped in a dead end, she must have made the most desperate plea from the depths of her heart.

Yet this was completely different from Liu Shuyue's problem.

Crystal Palace had already fallen. Even if Earth had not been shattered, it would have regressed to prehistoric times. Expecting the abilities in his inventory to turn the situation around was giving him far too much credit.

Of course, he would not reject her gratitude outright. "Anyway, it's good that you survived. This world might be a little boring, but at least it's safe—"

"No, what happened in the future will definitely happen again if we do nothing!" Lin Qing grabbed his hand again. "Our enemies still exist in this era!"

From the perspective of psychological suggestion, this was a sign that she feared he would walk away.

Had the shock been too much for this girl? Had she gone mad?

"Where's the evidence?"

"I connected to your network. Every piece of information I found online matches the data in my memory bank exactly!" she insisted. "You said you're the shopkeeper of an Ability Store, right? There aren't detailed records of that, but there really was a period when abilities were dominant, especially in battles against invasions from other worlds... You've heard of the Dimensional Limit Organization, haven't you?"

Other-world... invasion? The term made Chen Xuan's heart skip slightly.

He could not help recalling the red sky Liu Shuyue had split apart with one sword, as well as the gun-wielding witch who had been determined to make Joan of Arc die.

"Unfortunately, I haven't."

"Huh?" The girl blanked for a moment, then slapped her forehead. "I was thinking about it wrong. You definitely haven't been captured by the Dimensional Limit Organization, or there would have been records. Sorry, I never personally experienced this period, so I can only compare information. Then have you ever been attacked or hunted by any mysterious people?"

Chen Xuan frowned. Was she referring to people like those from Crazy Thursday? "Why do you ask?"

"The Dimensional Limit Organization, fully known as the Organization for Maintaining World Stability and Limiting the Spread of Abilites, has been committed since its founding to secretly placing people with abilities under its control, preventing them from abusing those abilities for personal gain." Lin Qing's answer greatly surprised him. "If you are not one of them, then sooner or later they will set their sights on you. According to declassified intelligence, in 2025 the organization was still hidden underground and did not operate openly in society. Unaffiliated ability users were often controlled without even realizing it."

She looked around. "Of course... people who have been controlled also leave traces, so I guess you haven't been exposed yet. But that doesn't mean you are absolutely safe."

Was that for real?

Should he first complain about this, or first complain about that ridiculous name?

Chen Xuan looked out the window. The residential complex remained as peaceful as ever. Birds chirped in the trees, and a few elderly men would occasionally appear on the benches beside the tree-lined road to bask in the sun. He had lived for over twenty years and had never felt that anything about this world was wrong.

Or had things already been wrong ever since he started dreaming?

"I'm curious why you know all this," Chen Xuan said after a moment of silence. "Even if it was no longer a secret in the future, I doubt that organization would announce all the dirty work it had done to the world."

"Because I'm a member of the Dimensional Limit Organization!" Lin Qing introduced herself, pressing a hand to her chest.

Chen Xuan's gaze immediately turned strange.

The girl seemed to realize something and hurriedly corrected herself. "Don't misunderstand. I won't capture you. Thirty years later, unstable abilities had all been replaced by various kinds of cybernetic bodies. Besides, I don't think this kind of arrest is right either... No." She paused, and her tone became firmer. "This theory must be wrong, because the facts proved that the Dimensional Limit Organization ultimately failed to stop the disaster from coming. The entire world was razed to the ground because of it. But things are different now. Thanks to you, I've returned to a century ago. This time, we have enough time to stop the Dimensional Limit Organization and change humanity's fate!"

Chen Xuan frowned. Us?

She extended her hand. "With me, who possesses all the intelligence, and you, who possesses powerful abilities, we absolutely cannot fail if we work together!"

Chen Xuan pushed her hand back. "Go get a job. The shop was damaged this badly, and you're responsible for half of it. Once you've paid it off, you'll be free."

Lin Qing wore an incredulous expression. "This world is heading toward destruction!"

He shrugged, unconcerned. "So what? Leaving aside how similar the two worlds really are, I run an Ability Store, not a Save-the-World Association. Who can worry about something that won't happen for another hundred years?"