A group of people left the black stone stele’s space, and suddenly, two small diamonds appeared in Chen Ke’s hand—they were godheart shards that had turned from green to white after being absorbed.
At the sa ti, his new abilities were unlocked, his ti-stopping domain expanded, and he gained the abilities to rewind ti and absorb ti.
He was still unclear about the uses of these two new abilities and planned to try them out after leaving the Illusion Dream Center.
Chen Ke took photos of the patterns on the stele with his phone, thinking he needed to find an expert to translate them. He first reached out to Wang Ailin, but she indicated she was helpless.
The way humans learned hadn’t changed over millions of years, from the era of ape-n, Homo sapiens, ancient tis to modern tis. The transmission of societal knowledge in human society was nothing but oral and written records. When the amount of knowledge beca increasingly complex, and a single individual couldn’t bear it, it was divided into categories with specialized focus.
Wang Ailin wasn’t an expert in language and history; she had never touched this area before. Even with a high IQ, she would have to start from scratch.
Suddenly, Chen Ke thought of Laura, the woman he had t on the Endurance. Because Chen Ke had gone back to the past and changed the tiline, the incidents at sea hadn’t occurred in Laura’s mory.
However, he still managed to contact Laura later and sent her the strange symbols discovered in Langdon in 1888 to help with the research... and just like that... more than half a year had passed...
"I don’t know if Laura still rembers , but I don’t have other options now," Chen Ke wasn’t sure.
Everyone returned to Opportunity City of 2010, where the sky was a blood-red expanse, with no differences between day and night. A red celestial body hung overhead, unclear whether it was the moon or the sun. The scene surprised Xu Jing; Lucina and Diana were also perplexed.
"What happened here? Tell you didn’t cause this," Lucina asked.
"Rember Ling Yuheng?" Chen Ke countered.
"You didn’t kill her?" Diana frowned.
"She escaped. This world has been infected by a , and the existence of her race is now acknowledged globally," Chen Ke explained.
"Sounds like a Zhang Heng Level apocalypse event... Chen Ke, what have you been doing all these days?" Xu Jing challenged.
"I didn’t do anything, and more than that, I’m more concerned about your safety. Thor might be looking for all over the world right now, which could involve you, so I think it would be better if you stayed within my domain," Chen Ke spread his hands.
"I once asked you to ensure my safety, but I never thought I’d be locked in a mysterious space. I can arrange rooms for everyone, and it’s better if we all stay together. That way, you wouldn’t be too late to react if sothing happens," Li Moyang patted Chen Ke’s shoulder.
"Sounds like he is quite rich?" Wang Ailin whispered to Diana.
"He is so poor that all he has is money," Diana whispered back.
"I think you’re being too optimistic... Thor is a deity, and when he appears, I can’t open doors. He has an electromagnetic field that can seal abilities like teleportation gates," Chen Ke shook his head.
Sleery added, "Srud used the sa tactic, she’s like a walking shielding device."
After saying that, Sleery looked at Xu Jing, who ignored her.
"I can’t give up my research, that’s the price I’m willing to pay. If I’m to die, then it’s my fate. I can’t just do nothing," Li Moyang said.
"Hiding in that small dormitory will be safe, but... there’s no water, no electricity, no wifi... Except for you, no one can open the door. Rather than protection, it’s more like imprisonnt," Diana didn’t want to stay in the Illusion Dream Center, and neither did Wang Ailin, who was actually more eager for Thor to find them imdiately...
"I want to be with you, even if Thor kills , I don’t want to hide in there alone," Lucina also didn’t want to.
"You told that world was fake, and now I want to see what’s real, so don’t think I’ll stay inside," Xu Jing also shook her head.
Sleery smiled without speaking, clearly not wanting to go back in, while Parker remained completely confused, looking bewildered at everyone.
Chen Ke massaged his forehead and said, "Aren’t you all afraid of dying?"
"Just like you said, Chen Ke, this destiny chose us," Li Moyang said with a smile.
"If collecting all six pieces of the divine heart can bring even the slightest difference to this world and the dood future, then what we need to do now is to act quickly, not hide," Diana said then.
Chen Ke nodded, unable to refute Diana’s sound logic, especially as this world had already undergone drastic changes. Thor’s focus should be on the year 2137, not here.
"Then do your best to hide yourselves and keep a low profile," Chen Ke instructed.
In the following days, Li Moyang arranged accommodations for everyone, while Chen Ke took the ti to send an email to Laura, waiting for a reply amid settling down.
Li Moyang had inexplicably invested in a factory on the outskirts of Opportunity City where, during the six-month hiatus and while the world’s attention was focused on the blood-red sky, he remained alert, taking the opportunity to break into the United Federation’s Spiritual Energy raw material processing industry.
This move was partly for business, but also to conceal his plan to build armor; he had moved his entire armor developnt workshop beneath this factory.
They all stayed in the worker’s dormitories on the outskirts of town, living in different areas and buildings. Chen Ke could use his Illusion Dream Center to instantly teleport to any of his companions’ rooms.
Although Li Moyang didn’t ntion it, Chen Ke could tell that his consortium was not doing as well as before. Following the world’s anomaly, an influx of cult organizations erged, forcing governnts worldwide to exhaustively combat these charlatans. So small countries couldn’t even cope with the anti-intellectual tide and the cults’ doctrines, sparking religious crises.
This indirectly impacted the global economy and business activities, with so dium-sized countries in South Asia and South Arica declaring bankruptcy, and so smaller nations collapsing into civil war altogether.
During this ti, Chen Ke tried to find Ling Yuheng, but there was no trace of her in Opportunity City; perhaps she had already left the United Federation to carve out territories for her Blood Clan elsewhere in the world.
anwhile, Laura hadn’t replied to his emails, which worried Chen Ke.
rely sitting and waiting wasn’t an option, so Chen Ke, using his email address and so less reputable thods, managed to find her IP address and ascertain her residence with the help of Li Moyang.
Laura was from Ingram, living in Langdon, which necessitated another international flight. Li Moyang arranged a private jet to quickly get Chen Ke there and back.
He went alone on this trip, landing in Langdon and then taking a day’s drive to reach Laura’s residence—an imposing, yet long-abandoned, manor...
This Laura, too, was a wealthy person.
However, the manor was empty. Chen Ke climbed over the front gate and entered the manor, wandering the hollow halls and passageways, where he sensed a putrid sll.
At last, in a third-floor study, Chen Ke found Laura. The walls of the room were covered in mysterious writings in blood. Laura was unclothed, her body carved with small knives in the sa symbols on the walls, having been dead for quite so ti...
Chen Ke squatted beside her body, where the stained blood on the floor had dried. An old notebook lay next to the body, and as Chen Ke picked it up and flipped through it, a photograph slid out.
It was a photo taken by Chen Ke in 1888 for Laura; the mysterious symbols drawn underground by little Jack.
The notebook contained records of Laura’s recent research. She had tried to deduce the origins and significance of these symbols from her previous experiences and ancient scripts. Chen Ke was astonished by the extent and marvel of Laura’s adventures—almost rivaling the events he had encountered since his travels through ti.
At the end of the notebook, Laura left a blurry note:
"The Spirit Bell shall toll... it’s the rhythm transiting between reality and unreality, allowing the lingering echoes of dreams to descend upon the real world..."
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