Along with the mission location ca the ti limit—once the task was accepted, one had to arrive at the designated spot within ten minutes.
Of course, just like the "operation manual" provided earlier, this also included a complintary micro-wormhole for instant travel to the mission site.
Though it was for the sake of the mission, this technology was worth at least 100 points in the marketplace, which further hinted at the special privileges held by the task issuer...
Ti was short, so Ye Bai quickly prepared for departure.
Her gaze swept over the only physical object in the Ether Lab—the compressed backpack. In the end, she decided against bringing it. It mainly contained nutrient solutions, which were no longer essential for her now.
Currently posing as Black Hole, Ye Bai knew that if she encountered anyone who had known him during this mission, the absence of spatial storage would raise suspicions. After all, as an A-rank, lacking such ans was unthinkable—sothing that had nearly exposed her when facing Luo Jin before.
In the end, she only carried a single "Potential Stimulant" she had purchased earlier—a ntal-body equivalent of adrenaline—tucked securely in a protective layer of her clothing, just in case.
...
On a desolate planet, a spatial fold materialized out of thin air, and a man whose features seed to shift constantly, making him impossible to rember, stepped out.
This was, naturally, Ye Bai, now disguised as Black Hole.
After activating the micro-wormhole via the Jade Terminal, Ye Bai watched cautiously as, within monts, a familiar micro-wormhole—one she had seen Black Hole use before—ford at her designated location.
Even though she had passively used it once already, witnessing it again left her in awe. This technology was even more convenient than the teleportation arrays in the Ten Thousand Realms.
Steeling herself, she leaped into the wormhole just before it vanished.
A strange sensation of traversal later, Ye Bai erged on the other side, where everything had shifted dramatically.
This was a space both silent and lively—silent because sound didn't carry in the vacuum of space, and lively because her ntal senses detected nurous powerful psychics nearby. In her psychic "vision," their ntal bodies shone like tiny stars scattered across this planetless void.
From the intensity of their presence, she could tell most were B-rank psychics, but over a dozen gave her the sa oppressive feeling as Black Hole had—likely A-ranks.
She wondered how many of the powerful individuals gathered here represented the total forces of the Chaotic Star Sea. Based on what she saw, their strength was formidable, almost giving her the impression that "A-ranks are as common as dirt, and B-ranks as plentiful as dogs."
But these thoughts lasted only a mont before Ye Bai's attention was seized by the colossal, surreal spectacle before her.
The space ahead held no planets. Instead, it was filled with undulating, aurora-like veils of light, stretching for thousands of miles. These translucent layers overlapped, forming a twisted, tubular structure resembling a multi-headed worm.
Stunned by the sight—sothing she had never seen before—Ye Bai found herself speechless, unable to tear her gaze away from the breathtaking phenonon.
Given the mission's objective, could this be... so form of wormhole?
At the sa ti, as the micro-wormhole dissipated, nearby observers in the void turned their attention toward Ye Bai. So glanced briefly and looked away, sensing no A-rank psychic pressure, while others narrowed their eyes, seemingly recognizing Black Hole's guise.
Lost in thought, Ye Bai suddenly felt a shiver down her spine—her [Danger Sense] talent was warning her!
In an instant, she vanished from her spot, reappearing hundreds of ters away.
A powerful red energy beam sliced through the space she had just occupied. Had she stayed, it would have struck her directly.
"Crack... crack..."
As Ye Bai reappeared, chains of psychic energy surged from behind her, lashing toward a half-chanical figure floating not far away—the one who had attacked her.
"Pity, Black Hole. I thought soone might have killed and replaced you," the assailant transmitted psychically, conjuring an energy shield to block the chains.
"But you seem weaker now."
Hearing this, Ye Bai deduced this was one of Black Hole's old enemies. Unfortunately, the Ether Lab only contained his research notes, not a list of grudges, so she could only respond coldly:
"Weak or not, killing you would still be effortless."
Though the attacker was also an A-rank, Ye Bai wasn't intimidated after their brief exchange. With her legendary magic and ti-based abilities, she now had sothing of a "protagonist's aura" for overcoming higher-level threats.
"Hmph. You think I'm the sa as before?" the assailant sneered, tension escalating toward full-blown combat.
But then, the Jade Terminal delivered another ssage—
[All task participants have arrived. Mission execution tir begins.]
[User #0000343242452, assigned task zone: (32.32.87-42.42.87)]
The attacker clearly received the sa notification and muttered with reluctant annoyance, "Just checking if you were dead. No need to get so worked up. The mission's started—let's drop it."
But Ye Bai wasn't one to back down just because the other side called for a truce. The psychic chains, emblematic of Black Hole's identity, tightened further instead of loosening. She hadn't even tapped into her real offensive capabilities yet.
Yet when the enemy saw her refusal to relent, their expression twisted in shock:
"Are you insane?! The wormhole mission is overseen by the Church of the Myriad Stars' arbiters. Call it off now—do you actually want us both dead?!"
Church of the Myriad Stars? Arbiters? Oversight?
Ye Bai's mind raced. This seed like crucial intel. Noticing how others nearby, though curious about their fight, were already dispersing toward the wormhole, she cautiously relaxed the chains and replied impassively:
"You should know better than to test during a mission. Consider this a warning—next ti won't end so easily."
The attacker scowled but, clearly more wary of the aforentioned "arbiters," didn't press further, retreating to their assigned zone.
Ye Bai exhaled quietly, though her mind buzzed with fresh questions.
However, now was not the ti to dwell on such thoughts. Ye Bai focused her psychic energy on her jade terminal, where the auxiliary vision provided projected the marked coordinates directly into her pupils.
The target was indeed the bizarre spectacle before her. Ye Bai saw the assigned area she had been allocated—a position along the edge of a curved, three-layered fold.
Other psychics who had arrived earlier had already begun their tasks. Seeing this, Ye Bai vanished from her spot, employing a point-skip leap to teleport to her designated zone.
As she approached the gauze-like outer layer of the region, her spatial senses imdiately detected sothing amiss.
This was a space that had been twisted and folded.
Yet, it was entirely different from the wormholes Ye Bai had encountered before. Normal wormholes appeared 'flat' in space—ships entered from one end and exited from the other, perfectly matching the models from her era.
But this 'wormhole' resembled the unseen, three-dinsional 'lateral' structure of a conceptual wormhole.
Was the space itself flawed, or was it the wormhole? And what exactly was the Church of the Stars?
Amidst the swirl of questions, Ye Bai wasted no ti in extending her psychic energy, following the 'operational manual' she had received earlier to manipulate the distorted space.
The sensation of influencing space was surreal. As she worked, Ye Bai felt she was beginning to grasp why A-rank psychics could perform spatial teleportation.
No wonder this mission had attracted so many B-rank psychics—there might even be additional benefits like this.
The instinct of intelligent beings was to seek knowledge, and Ye Bai, almost instinctively, imrsed herself in the act of manipulating the unknown space.
Her psychic energy moved like deft fingers 'threading a needle,' disturbing gravitational waves to achieve her goal. Her pupils reflected the unfolding and smoothing of the twisted structure before her.
What caused space to bend and fold wasn’t just gravitational waves—it was also ti...
This realization settled in Ye Bai’s mind, and she instinctively activated her temporal ability, accelerating the process.
By the ti she snapped out of her focus, the distorted space in her assigned area had completely unfolded and returned to normal.
That should count as completion, right?
Ye Bai then glanced at the nearby B-rank psychics and froze. Despite having started earlier, their progress was far slower—so hadn’t even reached the halfway mark.
This...
Ye Bai realized her speed far surpassed the others, likely due to her temporal ability. But since she was currently disguised as Black Hole, an A-rank psychic, and there were no other A-ranks nearby for comparison, it was only natural she’d be faster than the B-ranks.
Recalling that the mission rewards ranged from B-rank to A-rank... why not aim for the better prize?
After a brief hesitation, Ye Bai channeled her psychic energy into the jade terminal and submitted her task progress.
As soon as the submission went through, a new ssage arrived:
[Task progress submitted.]
[User #0000343242452, new task area assigned: (33.33.97-43.43.97)]
The rewards were indeed tied to the number of tasks completed within a set ti. The new location was nearby, so Ye Bai instantly teleported there to continue.
Three hours later, all participants received a notification:
[Overall task progress completed. All participants, proceed to coordinates 23.94.872 to claim rewards.]
Along with it ca each individual’s performance report. Ye Bai, of course, checked hers—
[User #0000343242452, reward tier: A; mission ranking: 1]
Oh no... She might have overdone it a little.
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