Balancing

Chapter 22: Balance

Seeing the quest description, Yi Chen finally understood that the shadowy figures from before were actually a third party intervening in the war between Earth and the aliens. He also finally understood why the creatures of this world couldn't sense him, while those figures could see him; it was a setup by the System to prevent him from influencing this world.

Returning to the surface, Yi Chen felt a sense of emerging into daylight. He couldn't help but wonder what the feelings of those who had lived underground for years would be upon seeing the brilliant sun.

Sunlight pierced through the city's smoke and dust, illuminating the cracked earth, offering a sliver of warmth to this ravaged world.

As Yi Chen appeared on the surface, the blurry figures began to converge on him. However, he had no intention of waiting to be killed.

Using his spatial powers, Yi Chen instantly appeared behind several of the figures. However, their senses seemed exceptionally sharp. As they swiftly turned, their pre-prepared attacks flew towards Yi Chen at high speed.

They were bolts of lightning wrapped in strange dark matter. The lightning flew around Yi Chen and then exploded simultaneously, instantly creating a dark lightning field around him that was more terrifying than a thunderstorm.

"Huh? How could..."

Yi Chen tried to leave the lightning field using his spatial powers but was forced to stop. This electric field could actually disrupt space. They wanted to force Yi Chen to constantly endure the whipping of lightning within it.

"Hmph, this level of lightning is far inferior to Yan's. You think this can trap me?" Yi Chen snorted inwardly. His training with Yan had subjected him to plenty of shocks.

He took out the Flowing Light Blade, which he hadn't used in a long time, from his System space. Although it was a beginner weapon gifted by the System, its quality was comparable to the Sword of Flames.

"Hmph, you guys can taste what it's like to be electrocuted too."

As Yi Chen's voice fell, his originally orange pupils turned deep red, with flickering arcs of lightning appearing at the corners of his eyes. The surrounding dark lightning gradually converged and was absorbed into the Flowing Light Blade. Even the lightning attached to the figures was absorbed into the Flowing Light Blade. The figures, drained of their lightning, slumped weakly to the ground.

"It's reached its limit." As the lightning was continuously absorbed, Yi Chen felt that the Flowing Light Blade could no longer withstand the energy.

"Star Stream Lightning Strike!!"

With Yi Chen's roar, the absorbed dark lightning erupted from the Flowing Light Blade, transforming into blood-red arcs of lightning. Accompanied by the attack of the lightning arcs, a crisp sound rang out. The Flowing Light Blade, unable to withstand the immense energy, finally developed a crack.

"As expected, it couldn't hold, but it's dealt with."

The lightning arc attack was incredibly swift, instantly covering the figures who had collapsed on the ground. After a moment of crackling sounds, the surroundings gradually returned to peace. On the ground, apart from a few imprints in the deep pit, the figures were gone.

"Star Departure, scan for target existence characteristics," Yi Chen said to Star Departure in the dark dimension as he walked towards the destroyed deep pit.

"Target has been completely destroyed," Star Departure's voice replied.

"Analyze the composition of these substances," Yi Chen said again, looking at the black matter that remained even though the humanoid forms were destroyed.

"Star Departure has not yet recorded relevant information, making accurate analysis difficult."

"Then track this substance."

"Target substance location has been pinpointed, please view."

"Hmm... so many gathered here, this must be the main base. Rushing in directly would be troublesome. I'll check the perimeter," Yi Chen muttered to himself while looking at the coordinates provided by Star Departure, then he walked towards the target location.

Using spatial jumps, it only took a few minutes to reach the destination.

Yi Chen appeared in an old-era skyscraper. Although it was somewhat dilapidated due to the war, it had not yet collapsed.

However, what struck him as strange was that with the sensory abilities of the previous figures, they should have detected his arrival long ago. But now, those figures were standing there motionlessly. Looking at the dense crowd of figures, Yi Chen began to proceed cautiously.

These figures stood in a large circle, and at the center was a spherical device, wrapped in black matter but still emitting a faint blue light. It was undoubtedly something extremely important to them, yet Yi Chen sensed that this device originally belonged to this world.

"Could they also be plunderers?" Yi Chen couldn't help but guess inwardly.

"Rumble~"

Just as Yi Chen was contemplating how to destroy the device, a sound echoed from the sky. Then, a massive flying machine pierced through the smoke and dust, landing steadily above the street where he was. Two colossal figures emerged from the flying machine.

"Ku Xi, the vaguely detected location is here. Haven't you seen the core?" asked a figure clad in worn Iridium to Ku Xi beside him. These two colossal figures were the mechanical behemoths Yi Chen had encountered when he first entered this place. Ku Xi, in particular, gave him a sense of danger.

"Hmph, just watch," Ku Xi said dismissively. Then, Yi Chen detected dark energy surging from within him. This dark energy began to spread outwards from his body, but it stopped after only fifty meters.

"This mechanical beast can use dark energy," Yi Chen thought, somewhat shocked. Being able to manipulate dark energy was something even most interstellar-level technology couldn't achieve.

"What are they looking for? Could it be that thing?" Yi Chen looked curiously at the spherical device on the ground, his mind racing with speculation.

"Hmph, found it. Wait, what is that? It's absorbing our core." Ku Xi, before he could even celebrate, suddenly discovered that the surface of the core was covered in a layer of strange black matter. This black matter also occasionally emitted flowing light, obscuring the core's original brilliance.

"No wonder we couldn't find it, it was being concealed. Could it be the work of Earthlings? No, they don't have this capability yet. Then who could it be..." Ku Xi's excitement at finding the core vanished completely. The ability to conceal their detection indicated that the opponent's technology was at least on par with theirs.

Meanwhile, upon learning that the spherical device belonged to outsiders, Yi Chen felt a headache coming on. The System restricted him from interfering in this world's affairs, yet he felt an urge to destroy the device. Earlier, he had heard the outsiders say that if they obtained this device, they would activate planet-destroying firepower.

"Zzz~" While Yi Chen was struggling with his thoughts, the figures standing around the core suddenly looked up towards the mechanical behemoth Ku Xi. A mechanical voice emanated from their mouths:

"Balance... shall not be broken. Now... leave."

(End of Chapter)

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