The World, Right in My Hand

Chapter 19: The World, Right in His Hands

"Wrong!" Duhe suddenly stopped moving, his voice taut. "Quick! Sound the alarm, report to the—"

Before he could finish, his form abruptly froze solid, his entire body transforming into a crystalline ice sculpture, even the last moment of shock on his face clearly visible.

Beside him, Morgan reacted with lightning speed, lunging almost instinctively toward the alarm button on the right—

But before his hand could touch the button, bone-piercing cold had already engulfed his entire body.

The next second, he too stood frozen in place, becoming another ice sculpture. His outstretched arm seemed to still tell the tale of his obsession in the final second before being frozen solid.

A pity... it was ultimately too late.

Inside the warship, the Taotie vanguard members, completely unaware of what had happened on the deck, were still assigning tasks.

"For the next surface reconnaissance mission, who's going?" Yu Ting's gaze swept over the few people present.

"Heh, this time it should be our turn, right?" Feng Lei stepped forward first.

Almost simultaneously, Xiong Feng on the opposite side also stood up.

"I can barely hold back any longer. I want to offer more deaths to my god, Cal."

Yu Ting glanced at the two and was about to nod—

"Captain! Something's wrong!"

A hurried report suddenly came from the control console.

Yu Ting frowned and turned his head:

"What's going on?"

The speaker was Di Shen, who was in charge of navigation. His hands flew across the console, his tone laced with obvious confusion:

"The exterior of the warship is shrouded by a large patch of unknown dark clouds. All external detectors are unable to penetrate it. We... have lost real-time monitoring of the outside."

Yu Ting's frown deepened.

"This is space. Where would clouds come from? Di Shen, you're not losing your mind, are you?" Xiong Feng let out a derisive laugh.

Feng Lei, however, mused, "It looks like clouds, but since it's appearing in space... it might be some unknown phenomenon, or else..."

He paused, lowering his voice:

"Someone is doing this deliberately."

Yu Ting pondered for a moment, then made a swift decision:

"All units, enter first-level combat readiness. Be prepared to engage the enemy at any moment!"

"Yes!"

Di Shen immediately tapped rapidly on the console. The alarms inside all three warships blared almost simultaneously, the red warning lights casting a grim, murderous glow across the cabins.

Yu Ting turned to Xiong Feng and Feng Lei, issuing orders in a deep voice:

"Feng Lei, Xiong Feng, the two of you will lead a reconnaissance squad into that... black fog. Find out exactly what's going on."

"Yes!"

Feng Lei and Xiong Feng answered in unison, their metal combat boots thudding heavily against the floor.

The two turned and strode quickly toward the equipment bay, where a ten-man elite reconnaissance squad had already assembled.

"Check your gear. We rendezvous outside the hatch in thirty seconds." Feng Lei's voice was calm and concise.

Xiong Feng, meanwhile, bared his teeth in a grin, a warlike glint flashing in his eyes:

"Finally get to stretch our legs. I was starting to rust in this tin can."

Thirty seconds later, the airlock hatch of the deployment bay slowly opened.

Twelve fully armed Taotie warriors stepped into the narrow connecting passage. Ahead lay the final gate leading to the external hatch.

"Open the hatch." Feng Lei ordered.

The hydraulic mechanism let out a low rumble as the thick alloy hatch slid open to both sides—

The biting cold of space rushed in instantly, but following it was a far more unsettling sense of presence.

Beyond the passage, instead of the expected starry blackness, they were engulfed by a dense darkness that seemed to absorb all light.

"Damn, this really does look like a storm cloud..." Feng Lei stared at the thick, churning darkness before him, muttering under his breath.

The reconnaissance squad maintained a tight formation as they slowly advanced into the cloud.

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Suddenly, a flash of icy blue light streaked through the darkness.

"Enemy attack!"

Feng Lei reacted instantly, his energy gun spraying wildly toward the source of the light. The soldiers behind him immediately raised their weapons and joined in, their concentrated fire blanketing the area completely.

After a full twenty seconds of sustained fire, Feng Lei raised his hand to signal a ceasefire.

The gunfire ceased abruptly, but every Taotie warrior still gripped their weapons tightly, staring warily ahead.

Feng Lei slowly stepped forward, his combat boots treading on the silent void—

Then his pupils abruptly contracted.

But before he could make any reaction, a bone-piercing chill had already engulfed his entire body. The next instant, he had transformed into a solidified ice sculpture.

The squad members behind him didn't even have time to cry out before they met the same fate.

Xiong Feng reacted the fastest, turning to flee back the way he came—

Unfortunately, his speed was still too slow.

Ice crystals crept like vines over his battle armor, freezing even his final struggle in time.

Above the cloud mass, Azhui was staring wide-eyed at Su Bai beside her, her mind struggling to keep up.

This... doesn't seem right, does it?

Are you sure his "mind isn't sharp"?

It wasn't just Azhui—everyone in the livestream was equally stunned.

At this moment, Su Bai had unfurled behind him a pair of "wings," one half made of crystalline ice and the other of blazing flames. His face no longer bore that simple, dazed expression from before; instead, a calm, confident smile had surfaced.

This didn't look at all... like the demeanor of someone with a damaged soul and the mind of a child.

Had he been pretending all along?

But they were mistaken.

The reason Su Bai appeared this way was twofold: on one hand, the continuous writing of the Diary had partially restored his soul; as for the smile—

Ahem, Xiao Xue had asked him to "look a bit cooler."

Su Bai gently exhaled a wisp of ice-blue mist, countless fine ice crystals reflected deep in his eyes.

Ahead, three Taotie warships had been completely shrouded by the surging dark clouds. And around the perimeter of those clouds, countless ice crystals reflected and refracted off one another, forming a massive, dazzling cage.

"The world—"

He slowly raised his left hand, his voice calm yet carrying an indescribable penetrating force.

"Is in my hand."

As the words fell, a miniature, blazingly hot "sun" suddenly manifested in his palm, spinning rapidly.

Then, an emerald-green gale howled into existence, spiraling around the sun.

Gray storm clouds surged forth, staining the gale with chaotic hues.

Crackle—azure lightning flickered and leaped around it.

Clear water droplets appeared, intertwining and winding with the dancing electric light.

Finally, scattered ice crystal fragments orbited the outermost layer like a ring of stars, rotating slowly.

"This is—"

Su Bai gazed at the miniature wonder in his palm—a fusion of multiple elements coexisting in harmony—and said softly:

"A farewell gift."

The next moment—

That "Rasengan," condensed from several elements, dragged a trail of orange-yellow lightning in a jagged, almost lightning-bolt-shaped trajectory, shooting rapidly toward the fleet below.

And at that moment, inside the warship's command room.

Yu Ting realized that the Feng Lei squad had been out of contact for a long time, their signals completely gone.

"What's going on? Could there really be enemies lurking in the black mist?"

He no longer hesitated and decisively ordered:

"Di Shen, command the other two warships to coordinate. Launch full-firepower orbital cannon saturation on the black cloud zone!"