Balance

Balance

After seeing the mission briefing, Yi Chen finally understood that the figures he had seen earlier belonged to a third party that had intervened in the war between Earth and the aliens. He also finally understood that the system had made the creatures of this world unable to perceive him, while allowing those figures to see him, to prevent him from affecting this world.

Back on the surface, Yi Chen felt as if he were seeing daylight again. He couldn't help wondering how people who had lived underground for years would feel upon seeing the glorious sun.

Sunlight pierced the city's smoke and shone upon the scarred earth, offering a faint warmth to this disaster-stricken world.

As Yi Chen appeared on the surface, the blurry figures began converging on him. But he had no intention of waiting passively for death.

Using his spatial powers, Yi Chen appeared directly behind several of the figures. But they seemed unusually perceptive; as they spun around, the attacks they had already prepared shot toward him at high speed.

They were clumps of lightning wrapped in strange, dark matter. The bolts flew toward Yi Chen, then exploded all at once around him, instantly forming a field of dark lightning more terrifying than a thunderstorm.

"Hm? How could this be..."

Yi Chen tried to use his spatial powers to escape the field, but he was forced to stop. The electric field could actually disrupt space. They wanted to force Yi Chen to endure the lightning's lashings from within.

Hmph, this lightning is nothing compared to Yan's. You think this is enough to trap me? Yi Chen scoffed inwardly. He'd been electrocuted plenty while training with Yan.

He took the Flowing Light Blade, which he hadn't seen in a long time, out of his system space. Though it was a beginner weapon given to him by the system, its quality could just about rival the Sword of Flames.

"Hmph, now you can taste what it's like to get zapped."

As Yi Chen's voice fell, his orange pupils turned deep red, and arcs of lightning flickered at the corners of his eyes. The dark lightning around him gradually drew toward and was absorbed by the Flowing Light Blade in his hand. Even the lightning clinging to the figures was absorbed into the blade, and the figures, drained of their lightning, all crumpled weakly to the ground.

"It's at its limit." As the lightning continued to be absorbed, Yi Chen felt that the Flowing Light Blade was close to being unable to bear the energy.

"Star Stream Lightning Strike!!"

With Yi Chen's furious roar, the dark lightning that had been absorbed burst from the Flowing Light Blade, turning into blood-red arcs. Amid the attack, a sharp cracking sound rang out. The Flowing Light Blade had finally failed to withstand the tremendous energy, and a crack appeared in it.

"As expected, it couldn't take it. But it's over now."

The lightning arcs struck with incredible speed, covering the figures collapsed on the ground in an instant. After a brief crackling, the area gradually fell quiet. Apart from a few imprints in the craters, the figures were gone.

"Star Departure, scan for signs of the targets." Yi Chen headed toward the craters left by the explosions as he spoke to Star Departure in the Dark Dimension.

"The targets have been completely destroyed," Star Departure replied.

"Analyze the composition of this substance." Yi Chen looked at the black matter that remained even after the humanoid figures had been destroyed and spoke again.

"Star Departure has not yet recorded relevant information and cannot provide an accurate analysis."

"Then track this substance."

"The target substance's location has been identified. Please check."

"Hmm... There's a lot gathered here. It should be their main base. Going straight there would be troublesome, so I'll check the outskirts." Yi Chen looked at the coordinates Star Departure had provided and muttered to himself, then headed toward the target.

Using spatial jumps, he reached his destination in just a few minutes.

Yi Chen appeared atop a high-rise from the old era. Though it had fallen into disrepair because of the war, it had yet to collapse.

What puzzled him was that, given how perceptive the figures had been earlier, they should have noticed his arrival long ago. But now they stood motionless. Seeing the densely packed figures, Yi Chen grew cautious.

The figures stood in a huge circle. At its center was a spherical device, wrapped in black matter but still faintly glowing blue. It was clearly something of immense importance to them, yet Yi Chen sensed that the device originally belonged to this world.

Could they be looters too? Yi Chen couldn't help wondering.

"Rumble—"

Just as Yi Chen was considering how to destroy the device, a sound suddenly rang out from the sky. A huge aircraft then cut through the smoke and came to a steady halt above the street where he stood. Two enormous figures emerged from it.

"Ku Xi, the location we detected should be here. I don't see the Core anywhere," Yijin, whose body was in a state of disrepair, asked Ku Xi beside him. The two enormous figures were the same mechanical beasts Yi Chen had first encountered upon arriving here. Of the two, Ku Xi gave him a vague sense of danger.

"Hmph. Just watch." Ku Xi spoke dismissively. Yi Chen then sensed Dark Energy pouring out of his body, spreading outward. But it stopped after extending only fifty meters.

"This mechanical beast can use Dark Energy." Yi Chen was shocked. Even Aerospace-Class technology generally couldn't harness Dark Energy.

"What are they looking for? Could it be that thing?" Yi Chen looked in surprise at the spherical device on the ground, unable to help wondering.

"Hmph, found it. Wait, what's that? It's absorbing our Core." Ku Xi had barely begun to celebrate when he suddenly noticed a strange black substance covering the surface of the Core. The black substance occasionally gave off a flowing glow, obscuring the Core's original brightness.

"No wonder we couldn't find it. It was concealed. Could humans have done this? No, they don't have that kind of ability yet. Then who..." Ku Xi's excitement at finding the Core vanished completely. Anyone capable of concealing it from their scans had technology at least on par with theirs.

Meanwhile, after learning that the spherical device belonged to outsiders, Yi Chen felt troubled. The system had forbidden him from interfering in the affairs of this world, but he still felt an urge to destroy the device. He'd heard the outsiders say earlier that obtaining it would let them activate planet-destroying firepower.

"Bzz—" As Yi Chen wavered, the figures standing around the Core all raised their heads and looked toward Ku Xi, the mechanical beast. Mechanical voices came from their mouths:

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