For the overwhelming majority of people in the world,today was an utterly ordinary day.The only unusual thing was that, outside the regions controlled by sects and clans, residents in many cities received blackout notices from their local governnts.【Good evening, residents. Due to a major inspection of the power infrastructure, there will be a brief outage in ten minutes. Please stop your work and make preparations.】【Good evening, poor people. Power goes out in ten minutes. If you don't like it, endure it. It's not as if we've ever charged you for electricity anyway. It's just a bonus included in your city tax, a welfare handout for you poor trash. You didn't seriously think electricity was free, did you? Did you?】【A power interruption is expected in ten minutes. Quantum computer clusters will undergo overload testing. Please prepare accordingly.】【This is a power outage notice. Maintenance is expected to begin at approximately 8:15 p.m. Please do not panic.】Countless people received notices like these.Of course, for most of them, it made no difference at all.Hospitals, major corporations, governnt agencies, and the like all had their own independent power sources and did not rely entirely on public supply.anwhile, in New Tokyo's Upper District, inside the Heavenly Dao Computer's quantum domain field...The Heavenly Dao Council had already ended.One shadowy figure after another faded away until only Yoren remained.Seeing this, Xia Li took the initiative to walk over.He even had Cang remove the concealnt on his identity and reveal his true appearance.It was a gesture of respect.After seeing Xia Li's real face, Yoren reached out with that half-transparent virtual body of his and patted Xia Li on the shoulder.To Xia Li's surprise, there was actually tactile feedback."I can't help you with much. I'm not on Earth anymore, after all. But if sothing happens, you can contact through Cang and I'll do what I can.""I did this because I want you to understand one thing. When you light a torch in the dark, monsters will covet it, yes. But precisely because the darkness is so deep, others holding torches, even from the far side of the stars, can also locate you.""Don't fear the dark forest. Beco an even brighter fire. Shelter those who co after you and try to kindle their own flas.""And then... go save Protheus. She's at Astarte. You understand what I an. I was fortunate enough to have contact with her."Yoren was speaking in hints.And in modern human history, there was only one person whose accomplishnts could be called Prothean.Xia Shu.His younger sister."You..."Xia Li was speechless.He had not expected news of his sister to co so quickly.And the man who possessed that news was soone he should, under normal circumstances, never have had any chance of eting.The other party was at Proxima Centauri.If Xia Li had not resolved to take this step forward, he likely would never even have had the chance to know Yoren."Surprised that I know you? She helped once too, and she entrusted with finding you. Unfortunately, I had no freedom back then. I never expected we'd et under circumstances like these. You're worthy of being her family."Plainly, Yoren too had never expected that this progressor who had caught his interest would turn out to be Xia Li."That's quite a coincidence.""This isn't coincidence. Both of us have had our orbits affected by her gravity. Our trajectories were always going to intersect. The more you understand this world, the more you'll realize there are fewer and fewer coincidences."Yoren offered a very different point of view.He did not believe in coincidence at all.In his eyes, every coincidence was an inevitability created once the conditions were t."Is that so..."Xia Li could not help sinking into thought.The theory really did make a certain amount of sense.His eting with Lin Ge, for instance, had happened because both he and Lin Ge had been influenced by Ning Ge's gravity.So the convergence of fate had already been inevitable, hidden long before it arrived.
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"You're still too weak. For now, do not touch Astarte's secrets no matter what. I'm telling you this so you have a goal, not so you can go throw your life away.""I understand."Xia Li nodded heavily.Who on Earth had not heard of Astarte Technologies?It was one of the five giant corporations of the Corporate Alliance.A massive military-industrial colossus.There were not many Astarte products on the market now, but that was only because Astarte had shifted its main focus toward space exploration and was actively developing all kinds of interstellar long-voyage technologies.It had licensed out much of its military technology to other companies for production, but the core technology was unquestionably still Astarte's own.In other words, even if a product bore no trace of Astarte inside or out, a portion of its final sales would still flow back to Astarte."The domain field generators on my side are already overloaded, so I'll be leaving first. May everything you want eventually intersect with your orbit."Yoren sincerely wished Xia Li success in all his hopes.That blessing itself was the Great Dao cultivators pursued.Why cultivate?To make everything proceed as one wished.Yoren's figure faded away.Xia Li turned to look at Cang, who imdiately applauded him."Congratulations. What you wished to know has now been revealed to you.""I've only learned the news, that's all. Let's continue with tonight's main task. Cang, prepare to form my golden core!"Xia Li lifted his head to look at the enlarged Golden Crow inner core suspended above him, slowly revolving and shining with a light that was dim, yet enduring and unextinguished."According to the latest theory, a ninth-grade imitation-star golden core can now be preforged into a beyond ninth-grade stellar golden core. The material you have provided this ti has already reached the threshold for a grade upgrade. Do you wish to raise the prefabrication target to a beyond ninth-grade stellar golden core?""Upgrade it!"Xia Li agreed without the slightest hesitation.He had earned this.He had traveled countless miles to Wild Continent in search of the Dao, then gone to Manzhou and burned himself to carry the fire.Now the fla he longed for stood right in front of him.He no longer carried the confusion he had felt when he first woke from the ice."February 9, 2533 CE, 8:15 p.m. The first prefabrication of a beyond ninth-grade golden core in the Spirit Era begins.""Step one: matter accretion. Connecting to the lunar node... phase link established. Helium-3 transfer in progress...""Connecting to the Jupiter node... deuterium transfer in progress..."Cang spread both arms.Within that virtual space, the Moon and Jupiter seed to be pulled close before Xia Li's eyes, while threadlike channels of matter were ford and directly linked to the Golden Crow inner core.The scene was honestly rather frightening.Jupiter's Great Red Spot in particular looked close enough to drag everything in and grind it apart."Step two: ultra-high-power energy transmission begins."The instant Cang spoke those words, Xia Li felt a tremor rise from beneath his feet.A deep chanical rumble ca up from underground, growing steadily louder and stronger.Hum.Hum.Hum.Then, with a thunderous boom, sothing seed to ignite completely, and the entire space was instantly flooded with endless streams of blue light.That was no longer lightning.It was condensed energy being transmitted in a plasma state.At that sa mont, the people of New Tokyo's Lower District all witnessed a marvel.In the center of the darkened city, the pillar connecting heaven and earth burst into dazzling radiance.The electricity spilling from its outer surface surged upward into the sky, forming a magnificent umbrella-shaped web of light.People had only ever seen heavenly thunder strike down to earth.When had they ever seen lightning from the ground itself reverse and attack the heavens?
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