The two abilities of unknown whereabouts

"Huh... this thing is a star core?"

Fang Yuan hurriedly took out the laptop in his room and searched online for information on star cores.

Rift star beasts had existed on Earth for decades.

Star cores had long since ceased to be a secret.

As a result, there was plenty of information and pictures of star cores online.

However, all the information and pictures online showed that star cores were spherical or ellipsoidal.

He had never seen one shaped like a triangular pyramid.

Fang Yuan compared the triangular star core before him with the information online. The more he looked, the stranger it seemed.

And what did it mean that this triangular star core had 33.33% energy remaining?

There was nothing strange about a star core containing energy.

What was strange was the number.

The number was too much of a coincidence. If it only displayed two decimal places, there could be infinitely many threes after the decimal point.

In that case, the remaining energy was actually one-third.

"How can there be a triangular star core? I can't find any triangular star cores online at all," Fang Yuan mused as he searched on the computer.

"This thing is a star core? How can you be sure?" Fang Zhenguo was also very surprised.

"The ability I awakened is Iris Data. The school tested it a few days ago." Fang Yuan pointed two fingers at his eyes.

Fang Zhenguo had once served in an amphibious combat unit of the Huaxia Navy.

There were many Awakened in the military, so he was no stranger to their abilities. Once he learned that Fang Yuan's awakened ability was Iris Data, he had no reason to doubt him.

Instead, Fang Yuan grew puzzled. "You didn't know this thing was a star core?"

"This thing..." Fang Zhenguo stopped with the words on the tip of his tongue.

"Just tell me," Fang Yuan urged.

"All right. Things have come to this, and you've grown up. It's time I told you this secret."

Fang Zhenguo let out a long sigh and began recounting the secret of the triangular star core.

"Twenty years ago, I was still serving in the navy's amphibious combat unit. Once, we received orders to head deep into the Pacific Ocean's first island chain, rendezvous with another team, and escort something back."

"Your history classes should have covered this. The hardest domain for humanity to control isn't the sky or the forests, but the ocean. So that mission deep into the Pacific Ocean's first island chain was extremely dangerous."

It had indeed been written in the high school history textbook.

The hardest domain for humanity to control was indeed the ocean.

Even though humans could build warships and aircraft carriers, the four oceans were too vast for humanity to occupy every inch of them.

Moreover, the deep sea was somewhere humans could not reach.

Rift star beasts were different.

Aquatic star beasts could easily dive ten thousand meters into the ocean. Even the deepest waters of the Pacific Ocean could not restrict them.

Thus, ever since the star beasts began invading Earth, the ocean had become the most dangerous place.

Fang Zhenguo continued, "That mission went smoothly at first, but three days later, we suddenly came under attack by a foreign Awakened organization. Both teams carrying out the mission suffered heavy losses, and we couldn't contact the command center aboard the destroyer behind us..."

At this point, Fang Zhenguo's expression grew somewhat grave.

"Only three people from our combat squad survived to the end of that mission, and our squad leader was badly wounded. Before he died, he told us there was a mole in the mission, which was why the foreign Awakened organization had attacked our teams. He ordered the two of us to hide the alloy case and only reveal the truth when we met a higher-ranking general."

"After our squad leader died, only Old Xiao and I were left. Old Xiao's awakened ability was Underwater Breathing. After discussing it, we had him hide the alloy case in an ocean trench. Then we returned to shore and lit a fire to signal the destroyer for help."

"In the end, we were rescued. Since we didn't know who the mole was, our squad leader had insisted that we only reveal the truth to a senior general. So we didn't mention the alloy case at all. We only said we'd gotten separated from the mission team along the way and didn't know what happened afterward."

"Old Xiao and I were investigated by our superiors. During that time, I repeatedly requested to meet a general, but every request was refused."

"Three months later, Old Xiao and I received our demobilization notices. Old Xiao returned to his hometown, and I returned to Donghai City. Later, I met your mother, got married, and had you. I settled down and didn't want to revisit the past."

"Then, ten years ago, I received a call from Old Xiao and learned a few things. Your mother and I went to his hometown in Wu County, and when we came back, we brought this thing with us."

Fang Yuan remembered that trip. He had only just started elementary school, and these two irresponsible parents had left him at his maternal grandmother's house and gone away for over half a year.

Later, when the two of them returned, Fang Zhenguo was carrying a large case, while Li Shuhua held a baby in her arms.

After recounting the triangular star core's origins, Fang Zhenguo offered his conjecture. "I suspect the people investigating us now belong to that foreign Awakened organization from twenty years ago, the Spear of God."

This was a foreign Awakened organization that dared to attack the military.

Fang Yuan realized that things were far more serious than he had imagined.

The only fortunate thing was that the reason the Spear of God was a foreign Awakened organization was that its members were forbidden from entering the country, and they were even less willing to enter a major metropolis like Donghai without restraint.

So they could only buy off local forces in Donghai to do their bidding.

"No. I'm handing this over to the military. We can't keep this thing in our home." As Fang Zhenguo spoke, he moved to close the alloy case.

Fang Yuan hurriedly stopped him. "Wait. We can't hand this thing over."

"Our family will only be safe if we hand it over."

"Handing it over is what will get us into trouble!"

"If we hand it over, we can apply for military protection," Fang Zhenguo insisted.

"We're finished if we hand it over. If we want to keep our family out of this, we can't have ever seen this thing." Fang Yuan was just as adamant.

"Why?"

"Because this thing is missing two-thirds of its energy." Fang Yuan pointed at the triangular star core.

"What does that have to do with anything? Once we hand it over, it'll have nothing to do with us." Fang Zhenguo did not care how much energy it had left.

"It has everything to do with it. The amount of energy remaining in this thing is too much of a coincidence. Only 33.33% is left. There's only one possibility: this star core originally stored three superpower traits, and someone has already absorbed two of them, leaving the final third of its energy."

According to probability theory, there was only a one-in-ten-thousand chance of randomly arriving at the number 33.33%.

Thus, Fang Yuan concluded that this number represented one-third.

Fang Zhenguo calmed down and thought it over. He, too, felt that this deduction made sense.

Fang Yuan continued his analysis. "I don't know who absorbed those two superpower traits. It might have been your comrade Old Xiao, or it might have been Xiaozhu. But whoever absorbed them, as long as we're the ones who hand it over, we'll be the ones under suspicion in the end."

After a pause, Fang Yuan continued, "Think about it. Twenty years have passed, and members of the Spear of God are still looking for this thing. That means it's extremely important. If they suspect that Xiaozhu or I absorbed the superpower traits inside, how do you think they'll treat us?"

Fang Zhenguo knew those people's methods very well. Whoever had absorbed the superpower traits inside would be captured and experimented on.