"Dominance—!" Li Yuncong's shirt vaporized in an instant, baring his signature battle-ready, chiseled chest. That faint blue orb clashed furiously with his Dominance, pressing down so hard it made his solid pecs cave in. His sternum creaked, veins bulged across his forehead and neck, face beet-red as he clenched his fists and roared, "Heaven-Shifting! Earth-Moving!"
Crack! His aura flashed—finally, the pale blue orb bounced right back where it came from. Wham! The orb slammed into the white block. No explosion, but the block instantly melted into a basin-sized crater. Inside, a dark red liquid churned—downright disturbing.
"Wait, that's—! Oddball Bro was instantly shocked. "Is this... one of those Childhood Trauma Series things—?"
No time for Oddball Bro to reminisce about his childhood traumas—Rachel Luo was already sprinting forward. She lowered her center of gravity, body crouched, feet shuffling in rapid, precise steps like a pro. Her left hand gripped her sword's sheath, right hand poised but didn't draw—her icy eyes locked onto the direction the attack came from. If her guess was right, in this blindingly white environment, it was nearly impossible to spot that thing with the naked eye, but not entirely hopeless.
"Knew it! You're the Predator!" Oddball Bro totally lost it—who knows what kind of childhood trauma this guy's carrying.
Pop! The pale blue death orb materialized again, murderous intent thick in the air, and shot like lightning straight at Rachel Luo's chest. Yang Qi's eyes darted over but she didn't budge. She had faith in her disciple's skills—and maybe wanted to test her a little.
Sure enough, Rachel Luo danced the Eight Trigrams Step—left, right, a blur of dodges. The pale blue orbs fired in rapid succession, but could only smack the ground one after another.
The new Lightness Skill invented by Teacher Yang could harness both physical prowess and internal energy, perfect for last-second dodges. As the top disciple of the Flower Shifting Palace, Rachel Luo never slacked off in this department, and today, it paid off big time.
"Aaaahhhhhh—!" Chainsaw Girl suddenly clutched her head and screamed like a maniac, staggering like a zombie, then picking up speed, grabbing her chainsaw, and charging straight at the source of the orbs—like she was going full Hulk rage mode.
[Gotcha!]
Her eyes flashed—Rachel Luo flicked her left thumb, and with a metallic zing, her longsword slid out a foot, gleaming. She grabbed the hilt with her right hand, drew, thrust—blade flashed!
Whoosh! Like a cold moon descending, painting new colors in this blindingly white world. The moonlit slash swept through the air, hitting nothing—or so it seemed. But then, crackle and zap! Amidst a storm of electronic noise, a blurry, semi-transparent figure flickered into view.
The semi-transparent figure and Rachel Luo crossed paths, landing on opposite sides. Thud! Heavy footsteps—its cloaking failed, and even its muffled steps left traces. It was a hulking, two-meter-tall shadow, decked out in complicated high-tech armor, with a deathly metal mask. On its shoulder was a bizarre gun, and behind its head, a wild mane of mutant hair—like a killer tentacle mullet.
This look was iconic. Everyone here was old enough to recognize it in a flash.
"Knew it! You're the Super Soldier!" Oddball Bro totally lost it—who knows what kind of childhood trauma this guy's carrying.
Rachel Luo was unfazed. She calmly sized up her opponent, especially the shoulder gun and the self-destruct device on its left wrist, then lunged in for another attack. The Super Soldier whipped out his signature alloy spear, transforming it into its full form with a clang, and the two clashed, the air filled with strange 'gagaga' noises.
Far away, Yang Qi nodded ever so slightly. This top disciple was balanced across the board, like a video game character with all stats set to 'average.' Not outstanding, but not bad either—especially in calmness and grit. If she keeps growing, her future could be bright.
Rachel Luo might never master internal martial arts, but she was still a solid disciple—maybe one day she'd inherit a bit of Teacher Yang's essence.
Rachel Luo and the Super Soldier fought like rabbits and hawks—blink and you'd miss it. Meanwhile, Li Yuncong rushed in to help, but Paladin suddenly drew his greatsword and swung at the space behind Li Yuncong.
Clang! Sparks flew as an otherwise invisible spear was split in two by Paladin's sword, just two inches from Li Yuncong's back. The blow lit up the spear with crackling electricity, its cloaking failing fast, revealing its twisted outline.
Paladin's sword glowed with holy light, swinging wide at the invisible assassin. Li Yuncong spun, stomped, and roared, throwing a punch.
"What the—there's more?!" Oddball Bro took a furious drag on his cigarette, gritted his teeth, and tried to ready his "weapon" for self-defense. One slap to the hip—nope, nothing... another slap to the crotch—still nothing... the more he grabbed, the less it worked...
At the critical moment—performance issues?! Oddball Bro was about to cry.
"Outta my way, you useless lump!" Chainsaw Girl shoved the shadowy Oddball Bro aside, gripped her chainsaw switch tight. The chainsaw roared, spitting sparks everywhere. With a wicked grin, she raised her chainsaw to rush to Rachel Luo's aid—but just as she stepped forward, three laser dots landed on her thigh.
A chill of murderous intent swept over her—every muscle in Chainsaw Girl's body tightened so hard she nearly cramped. Yang Qi's eyes flashed and fingers twitched, but in the end, she held back.
Pop! Another pale blue orb streaked in. In the nick of time, Oddball Bro dashed forward, like a movie hero saving someone from a runaway train, grabbing Chainsaw Girl and rolling them both out of harm's way. Pop-pop-pop! A barrage of orbs chased after them, the two dodging and rolling, leaving a trail of melted craters in the ground.
One shot was impossible to dodge—Chainsaw Girl gritted her teeth, grabbed her chainsaw like a shield, and blocked! Crack! Blue light exploded, sparks everywhere. Eyes squeezed shut, Chainsaw Girl peeked—her beloved chainsaw wasn't wrecked, but now had a ping-pong-ball-sized hole in the blade.
Chainsaw Girl's eyes went wide. She poked the hole with her finger, totally in disbelief. One poke—it went right through. My chainsaw is actually busted!
"Aaaahhhhhh—!" Chainsaw Girl suddenly clutched her head and screamed like a maniac, staggering like a zombie, then picking up speed, grabbing her chainsaw, and charging straight at the source of the orbs.
"Hey! Danger, danger!" Oddball Bro lunged and missed, cursing as he stubbed out his cigarette and chased after her. "That crazy chick is gonna get me killed one day!"
On the other side, Jonathan frowned and called out to Liu Xiaoying: "Xiaoying, hurry!"
Liu Xiaoying was still shaken from that near-death experience, trembling and dazed. She stared at Jonathan and blankly asked, "Huh?"
Seeing this, Jonathan didn't hesitate—he grabbed Liu Xiaoying and slapped her awake, roaring: "Snap out of it! Why do they want you dead first? Because you're a threat! Use whatever lens you have to find those invisible bastards, got it?!"
"I—I got it, I got it!" Liu Xiaoying finally snapped back, regaining her composure. She quickly swapped in a new lens, popped in a few polarizing filters, and swept her camera around. "I can see them now—but holy crap, there are tons, and more are coming from all directions! Hang on, I'll upload the images to the computer!"
"Who has time to check a computer now?" Oddball Bro tumbled out of the way of several pale blue orbs, panting: "These guys' cloaking gear is a pain! Anyone got a counter?"
"Aura—Blast—Wave!" Li Yuncong punched a Super Soldier flying, then clenched his fists, his aura surging and his clothes whipping in the wind. His cape flared as he struck a classic fighting game pose, shouting with echo effects: "Au-ra—Blast—Wave!"
Boom! An indiscriminate shockwave of light and sound burst from Li Yuncong, sweeping out in all directions like an electromagnetic pulse. Our side felt nothing special, but sparks crackled and Super Soldiers popped into view, some twitching like they'd been zapped.
Just like that, the Aura Blast Wave revealed every hidden enemy.
"Awesome!" Oddball Bro pumped his fist, thrilled: "Why didn't you bust out that killer move sooner?"
But when he turned around, Li Yuncong's buff body deflated like a punctured soccer ball—muscles shrank, height dropped, superhero lines faded. In a second, the comic book hero was back to his regular nerd self. Li Yuncong leaned on his knees, panting and giving an awkward grin: "I'm outta aura—guess you all have to protect me now..."
"Ha! Turns out you can't last either!"
Yang Qi watched everything unfold, not moving a muscle. She just observed the surroundings—something was bugging her, big time.
She wanted to find the source of her annoyance.
Meanwhile, deep inside the ship, the distant control room's big screen was filled with flickering data. Amid the chaos, attacks landed on the strange white blocks, and every bit of data was collected, analyzed, and the results grew richer and more detailed.
This Garden of Eden was a different kind of testing ground.
"Aura Blast Wave? Pfft, I like that guy!" Cobra glanced at Li Yuncong's profile on the screen, quirking a mysterious smile. He leaned toward the young man: "Heard the Zade Family started their 'Unknown Experiment' ages ago. Seeing it live today is eye-opening. But what's up with all these Super Soldiers—did the Zade Family figure out how to ship living beings straight from another world?"