"Hurry! Hurry! Where is the Qingbei University professor who studies extraterrestrial civilizations?!"
"Have all the signal and communications experts arrived?"
"Get all the research staff moving. Confirm once again whether the signal connection is on Blue Star!"
"Quick, quick, quick! We're running out of time!"
Jing City, General Administration of Security.
In the spacious, brightly lit command hall, telephones rang one after another amid the clamor of the crowd.
But Li Yuanchao, the head of the General Administration, stood perfectly still.
He silently watched the fish-shaped jade pendant before him, which flickered with a faint light, his brow deeply furrowed.
An hour ago, officers from the local police station had brought the pendant and a report to him.
As a firm materialist and an atheist,
he could never have believed that immortals and gods existed in this world.
Still less did he believe in transmigration or the existence of a cultivation world.
But now...
"Director Li, we've checked."
"Three months ago, a missing-person report was indeed filed in Panyuan Community."
"Also, according to the witnesses at the scene, they saw a young man vanish into thin air with their own eyes... They even posted about it on Moments, but nobody believed them."
"We also checked all the surveillance footage from the surrounding area. Lu Li did disappear after touching this jade pendant."
A young officer in a navy-blue police uniform stood behind Li Yuanchao, delivering his report rapidly in a trembling voice.
Those few brief sentences had left him drenched in sweat.
Clearly, this unremarkable "false alarm" was not so simple.
Li Yuanchao made no response to the report. He merely picked up the paper report before him.
Lu Li, 22 years old, a native of Jing City, lived in Panyuan Subdistrict.
Before his disappearance, he had been an engineering intern at a large machinery and equipment company.
His last known location was Panyuan.
After reading the report, Li Yuanchao took a deep breath and set it down.
For the first time, hesitation appeared in his eyes.
He looked at the busy people before him and slowly spoke.
"Has the signal connection been checked again?"
"I want a precise answer. No 'suspected,' no 'possible.' Activate our agency's equipment network across all of Blue Star."
"This time, give me an answer we can be certain of."
As his voice fell, the command hall fell silent.
Then... "Whoosh!"
An even louder clamor of activity erupted.
The General Administration directly activated all its covert forces overseas. A jumble of languages filled the air: Chinese, English, Russian, German...
At that moment, the command hall seemed connected to the entire world.
It was not until half an hour later
that an elderly academician in a white lab coat shakily rose to his feet.
His face alight and his expression animated, he reported to Li Yuanchao.
"Director Li, the signal connection has been confirmed!"
"The signal coordinates for this jade pendant are not on Blue Star!"
"Gasp!"
As soon as he spoke, gasps rang out one after another throughout the command hall.
The scientists, researchers, police officers, and soldiers who had been busy at work all turned to look at the elderly academician in the white lab coat.
Their eyes held nothing but shock and anticipation.
"Are you certain?"
Li Yuanchao's expression had never been so grave.
The veteran, who had lived through many foreign campaigns, was visibly moved for a rare moment.
"I'm certain!"
The elderly academician in the white lab coat responded excitedly.
He picked up a hastily written research report.
"I'm absolutely certain! The signal this jade pendant sends and receives is definitely not on Blue Star!"
"Moreover, when the jade pendant transmitted communications, there was indeed a fluctuation of some strange energetic substance."
"If that young man named Lu Li wasn't lying, then this energetic substance should be called... Spiritual Power!"
"Spiritual Power!"
"Spiritual Power!"
"..."
Everyone was stunned upon hearing those words, so clearly steeped in myth.
Spiritual Power.
Did such a thing really exist in reality?
Wasn't that a term found only in webnovels?
"That's right! And I also discovered that the fluctuations of this strange energetic substance seem capable of interfering with the jade pendant's force field!"
"The greater the energy fluctuations, the stronger the force field fluctuations. They can even set space itself fluctuating!"
"In other words..."
"Gulp!"
The elderly academician paused briefly and swallowed, his eyes full of hope and shock as he looked at the pendant.
"In other words, theoretically, this pendant can do more than transmit voices."
"It can also transmit objects!"
"It can function as a wormhole!"
"Whoosh!"
"..."
This conclusion undoubtedly shocked everyone once again.
The researchers present all understood what the elderly academician had just said.
If it really could be done,
wouldn't that mean Great Xia was about to make contact with another world?
And a cultivation civilization possessing supernatural powers at that?!
Li Yuanchao forcibly suppressed his shock and steadied himself.
No matter how much he disbelieved it, the facts were right before his eyes.
Cultivation really did exist!
"Swish!"
Without hesitating or delaying any longer, Li Yuanchao snatched up the jade pendant before him.
He spoke in a serious, solemn tone:
"Comrade Lu Li."
"I'm the person in charge of security in Jing City."
"In other words, the nation believes you."
"At the same time, according to our researchers' assessment, this jade pendant can not only transmit voices, but Spiritual Power-yes, as long as there's enough of that Spiritual Power you mentioned, it can even transmit objects!"
The utterly solemn words rang in Lu Li's ears like heavenly music.
They instantly brought Lu Li back to his senses, astonishing him.
He had not expected Great Xia to make so many deductions and decisions in such a short time, and so decisively. The nation was the nation, after all!
It can transmit objects?
As long as there's enough Spiritual Power?
As a thoroughly typical science-and-engineering guy,
Lu Li was exceptionally logical and methodical.
If objects could be transmitted, that meant he could receive tangible help from a superpower in the year 2099.
Perhaps he could even use this jade pendant to get home later on.
Of course, that was only speculation. With Five Spirit Roots, gathering Spiritual Power was extraordinarily difficult.
Maintaining the current communication alone left his Dantian empty, let alone anything else.
However,
Transmitting objects might be worth a try.
As long as I pay three pieces of spirit ore by tomorrow evening, I can keep my life safe for the time being.
I'll get past this hurdle first!
His mind made up, Lu Li steeled himself.
Gritting his teeth, he took from his robes a piece of spirit ore that had taken him an entire day to chisel out.
As long as the Spiritual Power contained in this piece of first-tier azure gold ore can help me transmit an object,
I'll be saved!
"Chief!"
"Please help me prepare the following supplies. I'll increase my Spiritual Power output in ten minutes."
"As long as you can send me the supplies I need, I can escape my current predicament!"
"All right! Go ahead."
Li Yuanchao responded immediately, and the people behind him stood ready.
They were prepared to respond at any moment.
"I need the toughest one-person handheld hammer drill on the market! The kind that can drill through diamond!"
"Then... a Desert Eagle, too!"