The Girl From Before...

The next day.

That afternoon.

Yan, Moy, and A'Zhui spent the entire morning touring Juxia City with Qing Qing. Afterward, they headed to the Super Seminary to discuss cooperation with Huaxia.

Meanwhile, the members of the Xiong Bing Lian at the Super Seminary received their first mission since its establishment: a test from Sun Wukong.

"Lena, this is urgent. We have an important mission. Assemble the Xiong Bing Lian immediately... Head to Liangshan in the southwest province at once."

Lena, who was eating, received a call from her superiors.

"Mm... Alright, I understand."

Lena stood and walked before the group, her expression grave.

"Everyone, we've received our first mission since being established. It's time to assess your strength."

"A mission? Have the aliens attacked?"

Hearing Lena's words, some looked confused, while others were shocked and afraid.

The past few peaceful months had made them far too comfortable.

They trained from Monday through Saturday and rested on Sunday. Everyone had started to feel that aliens were just an illusion.

"Not exactly. You all know the Victorious Fighting Buddha, right?"

Lena had not expected there to be things on Earth that even she did not know about.

She had been on Earth for so long, yet Huaxia's higher-ups had not revealed a single thing to her.

"The monkey sleeping in your mythology, Bimawen. That's what he was called, right? He... has awakened."

Of course, Lena had read Journey to the West, one of Huaxia's Four Great Classical Novels.

"Boss, the Victorious Fighting Buddha you mentioned is Monkey Bro, right?"

When Zhao Xin heard Lena mention the Victorious Fighting Buddha, he did not remember at first. But the moment he heard the name Bimawen, it clicked. Bimawen—wasn't that the exclusive title of Monkey Bro, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven?

"Fuck, I thought this was science, and now you're telling me this is mysticism."

Although Liu Chuang had not gone to school for many years, there was no way he did not know Sun Wukong.

Now someone was suddenly telling him that Sun Wukong actually existed in this world. Wasn't that enough to shatter his worldview?

It felt like his brain had been repeatedly ground into the dirt.

"Alright, alright. There's no such thing as mysticism. He's a super soldier just like you. The military wants us moving immediately."

"Received. Xiong Bing Lian, assemble and board the aircraft."

Under Qiangwei's command, everyone in the Xiong Bing Lian except Lena lined up and boarded the Dawn of Light transport plane parked on the Super Seminary's training field.

They took the transport plane and soon transferred to helicopters at a military airfield not far from Liangshan. Finally, they disembarked at the temporary camp of a field regiment, switched to jeeps, and headed deep into Liangshan.

"They say it's Sun Wukong, but I don't think so. The Great Sage Equal to Heaven is a figure from mythology, and he's my idol. If it really were the Great Sage, he definitely wouldn't attack us. But according to a friend of a comrade, this guy who looks like the Great Sage is incredibly mobile. He even attacked our fighter jets. With a casual leap, he can cover dozens of kilometers, maybe even farther. We can't do anything about him."

On a winding road through Liangshan, two jeeps sped along the highway.

The soldier driving complained to his comrade beside him.

"Who knows? I think it probably is the Great Sage. A few months ago, someone from my hometown was stationed in Juxia City, and an alien mech broke his leg. Then angels showed up afterward. So Sun Wukong appearing doesn't seem that strange anymore.

But is this world still the world we knew?"

The other soldier sighed, his tone full of helplessness and shock.

Then he turned to Qiangwei and the others beside him. "You're the, uh, special forces among special forces the regiment commander mentioned, right? Super soldiers?"

"Uh, we're the Xiong Bing Lian. You could say we count as special forces."

Qiangwei nodded and corrected the soldier.

Strictly speaking, they did count as special forces, though Ge Xiaolun and the others were not soldiers yet.

"Alright then. Xiong Bing Lian—it sounds mighty. But can technology really beat cultivation?"

The soldier driving looked worried as well.

Technology and cultivation... It felt like there should be a gap between the two.

"Cultivation is just an old-fashioned term. He's a super soldier, just like us."

"Oh, so that's how it is? I thought spiritual energy had been revived and we could all cultivate."

"You must be dreaming. Cultivation is for people with talent. Do you think you have spiritual roots or something?"

"..."

The atmosphere in the car was quickly livened up by the two soldiers. Before long, they arrived at their destination.

"We're here. We can only take you this far. The cars can't go any farther. We're at the foot of the mountain. According to the fighter pilots, the Great Sage is on the Buddhist tower at the summit, around eight to ten kilometers from here."

A second lieutenant from the lead jeep walked up to Qiangwei and the others, then pointed at the immense, lush mountain range stretching behind him.

"Alright, leave the rest to us. You've worked hard."

As the team leader, Qiangwei walked up to the second lieutenant and spoke.

"It's nothing. We're all serving the people."

"Let's go. We're heading in..."

Qiangwei waved to the team members beside her and took the lead toward a narrow trail.

"Wow, I didn't expect there to be trees this tall. They're at least ten meters high, right? This one's huge. It'd take at least three of us to wrap our arms around it."

"It's the mountains of the southwest. It's normal for there to be lots of primeval forests."

The group walked along the forest trail. The massive trees around them blocked out the sky, while moonlight filtered through the branches and illuminated their path.

"Everyone, maintain formation. Ge Xiaolun and Liu Chuang, take point. Zhao Xin and Cheng Yaowen, watch the flanks. Rui Mengmeng, make sure you protect Qi Lin."

Using wormhole displacement to scout ahead, Qiangwei issued orders to everyone through dark communications. She was worried that Sun Wukong might launch a sudden ambush.

She did not know how strong Sun Wukong was, but he was surely more than capable of beating them up.

"Qiangwei, Monkey Bro won't notice us, right?"

Looking at the dense, towering trees before him, Zhao Xin suddenly lost confidence. After all, they were about to face the legendary Great Sage Equal to Heaven.

"No. We're wearing Dark Alloy Armor. Sun Wukong can't sense our existence through Dark Energy."

As Qiangwei moved forward, she explained it to everyone over the general channel.

"Wait, doesn't Monkey Bro have Fiery Golden Eyes?"

Ge Xiaolun suddenly chimed in.

"Fiery Golden Eyes is a Dark Energy analyzer. It can see the flow of Dark Energy and find weaknesses."

Qiangwei sighed and explained it to them.

She wondered why Ge Xiaolun was so stupid. Wasn't he a college student? How could he lack even basic thinking skills?

"Then what are the Seventy-Two Transformations? Monkey Bro won't turn into one of us, will he?"

Ge Xiaolun was being foolish again and kept asking.

He was worried that Monkey Bro might turn into one of them and break them apart from within.

"Sun Wukong is also a super soldier with a Divine River Gene. Victorious Fighting Buddha is his genetic designation. According to the information Lena provided, he doesn't have that ability. Don't worry."

Qiangwei still answered Ge Xiaolun's questions patiently.

"So that means Sun Wukong's strength in Journey to the West was exaggerated, right?"

Cheng Yaowen frowned and sighed.

"Yeah. Journey to the West is a novel, after all."

Let's turn the clock back an hour or two.

Juxia City.

"Liangshan, right? Let me see... Fuck, two thousand kilometers. It's my turn now. Come on, Monkey Bro.

Twenty-four hours of transformation. Hopefully nothing else goes wrong."

After checking the distance on the map, Long Qian took Sun Wukong's experience card from the system space and used it directly. His whole body then transformed into Supreme Treasure from the Honor of Kings backstory.

"Does loving someone require a reason?"

"That girl from before left a tear in my heart."

"Hey, Somersault Cloud..."