An Unexpected Time

At the Pitch Black Portugal headquarters, within a secret experimental field surrounded by three reinforced legions, Yaming stood quietly, watching the busy workers below.

Various high-density instruments and fast-moving workers seemed tense, as if bracing for this final moment.

Yaming turned back, silent, lost in her own thoughts...

Just then, the broadcast crackled: "Reporting to Miss Yaming, everything is ready. Shall we begin?"

Yaming snapped back to reality and gave a gentle nod.

Half a year had passed since that incident involving Lv Tian and Hemin in Japan...

Lv Tian and Hemin were dead...

This was undoubtedly the heaviest blow to Pitch Black. Upon receiving the news, Zhen Yajie had immediately pushed her abilities to the limit and rushed to the B-017 base in San Francisco.

Over these six months, the B-017 aliens had vanished, and all factions on Earth had reached a unified agreement to eradicate them.

Hemin's death was perhaps not surprising, as he had only just begun his journey.

But Lv Tian, who possessed the strength of a Pitch Black special-grade operative—what method could have killed him in mere seconds?

To this day, no one knew; they could only wait for the resurrection of Lv Tian and Hemin.

To bring them back, Yaming had engaged in countless diplomatic efforts with various factions.

Finally, with the consent of the vast majority of Earth's powers, the resurrection project had begun.

Zhen Yajie waited anxiously in Antarctica for news.

As the machines hummed, everyone held their breath.

Smoke billowed from the equipment, and two figures slowly emerged. A familiar voice spoke: "Damn it, if it weren't for protecting the surrounding environment, I wouldn't have died!" The voice belonged to Lv Tian—a voice Yajie had not heard in so long.

Hemin merely let out a soft grunt.

Everyone was shocked; after only half a year of research, they had succeeded on the first attempt!

With tears in her eyes, Yaming pulled out her phone and dialed Zhen Yajie's number.

Once connected, Yaming said, "Yajie, Lv Tian is fine. He'll come over tonight." Although her tone was joyful, the recent period had clearly left Yaming haggard.

Zhen Yajie was silent for a moment, then replied, "He doesn't need to come. I'll come over myself the day after tomorrow. You're tired, too; get some good rest."

Yaming gave a soft "en" and hung up the phone...

It had always been awkward when Yaming and Zhen Yajie spoke, and everyone knew exactly why...

After greeting the workers, Lv Tian and Hemin arrived at the lowest-level conference room of Pitch Black, where all first-grade and special-grade operatives were seated.

By the time they arrived, Yaming was already sitting at the head of the table.

Hemin and Lv Tian were each directed to their assigned seats.

Then, the person beside Yaming spoke: "Please identify by code GC399. Guangcheng Hemin, please provide us with a report on the situation at that time."

Hemin stood up, walked to the center of the conference room, and said, "After receiving Lv Tian's order, I rushed from the hotel toward the location of the B-017 aliens. I encountered a few stragglers on the way and took care of them. Then, I reached the rooftop where the B-017s were gathered. I saw a few of them talking, and then I was attacked and fell."

After Hemin finished, the man signaled for him to return to his seat and said, "Please identify by code A-111. Guangcheng Mingjian, please provide us with a report on the situation at that time."

The conference room began to murmur, as many were hearing Lv Tian's code for the first time, but it quieted down shortly after.

Mingjian complained, "Tianming, could you not announce my name and code like that? Damn it, just as Hemin said, I was following behind him the whole time until we reached the roof. I saw Hemin get attacked and fall. The opponent used Y-016 transparent bullets; Hemin was taken out before he even knew what happened. I immediately took out the few nearby, leaving one behind to extract some intelligence, but then a strange thing appeared above the roof. It looked like a black jellyfish. I sensed with my energy that the black jellyfish was preparing to attack with a destructive energy weapon, so I used my energy to encase it in a shield and added a small energy shield to myself. I didn't expect its attack power to be so high—it actually killed me. How frustrating."

Turning around, Mingjian continued, "Oh, for the energy shield, I used up all my energy, and the small energy shield used the weapon's energy. That's how it went." With that, he returned to his seat.

The murmuring began again. A black jellyfish, a destructive energy weapon—first, they could confirm these were not aliens, as aliens did not use energy.

Tianming spoke again: "The meeting ends here. Hemin and Mingjian, please come to the command room."

Ten minutes later, in the command room, Yaming looked at the large screen on the console and said, "Then there is no mistake. It was those two traitors who helped others develop this energy weapon. Half a month ago, we received news that a certain factory was manufacturing special lethal weapons, so we sent people there. What we found was that black jellyfish. After recovery, we found that the data and information inside were similar to what was stolen a year ago, just slightly improved."

After listening, Mingjian asked, "Are you saying Min Hui and Gu Waiyi did this? If I had known, I would have killed them both that day."

Tianming tossed a notebook at Mingjian and said, "One of them has already been killed by Kuo Ming. Only Min Hui remains. Min Hui is a dual-ability user, and you know his abilities: undetectable and intermittent transparency. This is a real headache for us. The only one who can directly detect him is Zhen Yajie, but she has always been unwilling to join the organization. I think you should have a good talk with her!"

Mingjian was speechless.

Yaming said, "Ke Ming, go bring that corpse over."

Mingjian smiled and said to Hemin, "Good fellow, we found this corpse about 200 meters from the Pacific. Kuo Ming didn't want to use it, so it's yours. You might get something good, but it mostly depends on your luck."

Hemin remained silent.

Ke Ming pushed over a surgical table, on which lay a mummified corpse that had lost its human shape.

Hemin swallowed hard and walked up to it, copying the power within the body. But a strange thing happened: the corpse began to emit a purple glow.

Mingjian laughed, "Well, well, it's actually a corpse of the Devil Race. How exciting! You all step back; this one is mine." After Mingjian spoke, Yaming and the others slowly backed away.

The purple light grew larger, and the mummified corpse began to absorb the surrounding natural energy. Hemin felt very uncomfortable, so Ke Ming smilingly cast an energy shield for him.

Two minutes later, the corpse had regained its human form. Seeing that the regeneration was complete, Mingjian shouted, "Heh heh, I have one more God-tier piece of equipment." He then pulled a transparent sword from his palm and charged forward.

Yaming looked at the Devil Race member that had already stood up and said, "It's Chelsbei. If I had known, I would have gone myself. Hmph."

Seeing Mingjian charge, Chelsbei immediately turned his claws into blades, blocking Mingjian's first strike.

Ming Jian missed with his first strike, so he quickly pulled back and hurled the sword in his hand fiercely toward Chelsbei.

Chelsbei slashed horizontally at the incoming blade, knocking it aside, but Ming Jian had already appeared behind him and landed a heavy punch on his body.

With a shrill cry, Chelsbei went flying, and Ming Jian rushed after him, snatched up the deflected sword, and thrust it violently into Chelsbei's body.

Ming Jian then smiled at Yaming and said, "It's over. Thirty-seven seconds. Heh, faster than your last time, right?"

Yaming gave a soft huff and replied, "Go on and see what good loot you've gotten."

Chelsbei's body began to emit a flash of light once more, though this time the glow radiated outward from within his very form.

After the light faded, Chelsbei vanished, leaving behind a purple ring on the ground. Ming Jian picked up the ring and said, "A Purple Mirror, huh? I've already got a few of these. Who among you wants it?"

Yaming immediately chimed in, "How extravagant. Give it to He Ming; we already have ours, and this thing doesn't really matter to us anyway."