Chapter 477

The black seawater and sea fog in Lin Xian’s eyes became a stretched line; he activated [Energy Leap] again, bursting straight out of the train.

This time, his mental focus was razor-sharp—he precisely sensed himself instantly surging kilometers in the direction of his will; whoosh, in an instant, Lin Xian appeared above a stretch of ocean, engulfed by thick sea fog, total darkness, zero visibility, no trace of the Infinite visible.

At the moment the leap ended, Lin Xian felt howling winds and damp fog slamming into him, while gravity immediately dragged him toward the sea; his nanodynamic armor instantly enveloped his body, and one second before crashing into the waves, all thrusters fired, suspending him just above the surface.

At this moment, Lin Xian pulled the black gear from the Black Star Forge, his brow darkening as his thoughts raced.

“If I’m not mistaken, something that can sever dark energy shielding—and even mask containment of forbidden objects—is practically a divine artifact…”

The one detail Lin Xian had never understood was small: the countdown appeared first, while the black gear was seized from Chen Yanxiu via gravitational lensing only after Lin Xian regained consciousness; he never considered the two were linked, let alone that this object might have been deliberately left by Chen Yanxiu.

This misled Lin Xian profoundly—he had always assumed that although he possessed the black gear, he still needed to study how to complete its containment, never once considering that the gear had already been contained by him, and that Chen Yanxiu had done it on purpose.

If so, everything made sense: the gear’s inherent property affected his control over Flash Bullets and Nantian Gate, the countdown emerged because of the gear, and thus, upon touching or accidentally triggering something, the countdown accelerated—or his own time flow sped up; though absurd, Lin Xian, weighing all clues, had eliminated every other impossibility; this seemingly outlandish conclusion was now the most likely truth.

Moreover, he had no other choice now.

4, 3, …

The countdown had only three seconds left; Lin Xian stared at the sprinting numbers in his vision, his heart sinking.

“This countdown is the link between the black gear and me. The Descenders want to sever my control over Nantian Gate—I must either destroy it or sever the containment!”

In that instant, Lin Xian made his decision; his rear thrusters ignited fully, blasting him past the sound barrier as he shot away at high speed!

3, 2, 1!

The three-second mark arrived in an instant; Lin Xian felt an icy, violent force surging toward him; his eyes flashed with lightning, and in the final second of the countdown, he activated [Energy Leap], instantly flashing two kilometers through the fog, then used a drone to seize the black gear before launching another leap in the opposite direction; within milliseconds, using the drone as a remote anchor, he pointed his finger into the air, locking onto the black gear.

Gravitational Lens!

Hum!

The black fog enveloped the drone; though two kilometers away, Lin Xian couldn’t see it—but a spatial ripple surged, and a black wave twisted violently at the drone’s center, instantly swallowing both drone and gear, forming a distorted black bubble suspended in midair.

Simultaneously, the once-calm sea began churning; a violent dark energy gathered furiously at the gear’s location; Lin Xian pointed into the void, and the next moment, he sensed an unnatural vibration rising from the sea ahead.

Rustle!

His armor fired multiple flares, piercing the pitch-black night sky; thick sea fog hung like a gray curtain over the ocean; Lin Xian stared—and suddenly, an absolutely smooth black wall tore through the fog without warning, its edges devouring water vapor and daylight, twisting into a colossal, sky-obscuring ring; in an instant, it blotted out the heavens—it was a solidified black star abyss, releasing a tidal wave!

Lin Xian’s pupils contracted; without hesitation, despite his energy drain, he leaped backward again; ahead, the sea surface collapsed into a kilometer-wide vortex, pure darkness within its walls solidified like congealed matter, waves crushed silently into powdered crystal shards, swallowed before they could even fall.

Low-frequency hum seeped from the black hole’s depths, like a slumbering stellar beast yawning in its skull; when it expanded to blot out half the sky, all floating debris and pale tentacles protruding from the fog vanished; in their place, countless grotesque entities erupted from the black hole like bursting sacks of rice, cascading wildly across the seas.

Watching this, Lin Xian’s face paled—it looked exactly like a miniature star abyss materializing, spewing forth countless dark creatures, long-stored, bursting forth in a torrent.

Boom!

The massive vortex and dark tide resonated in unison; waves surged in all directions; countless grotesque entities vanished into the fog, plunging into the water with a rushing sound.

“Lin Team Leader!”

Through his headset, his team’s voices came in; Kiki and others arrived from the direction of the Infinite; Lin Xian immediately turned, releasing dozens of flares, calling out to them:

“Watch out—don’t get close!”

Behind them, streaks of light arrived one after another—all teammates in dynamic armor, even North Wind 09 and Ryan now rushing to assist; upon seeing the black sphere in the sea, like a star abyss swallowing and releasing, everyone’s faces filled with shock.

“What is this?!”

“Be careful—there are too many grotesque entities!”

“Lin Xian, are you… okay?” Chen Sixuan and Kiki arrived one after the other; seeing Lin Xian hovering safely in midair, they both exhaled in relief.

“Did the countdown end?” Kiki asked urgently.

Lin Xian shook his head, staring grimly at the black “star abyss” now releasing: “Not clear yet—but it seems Chen Yanxiu’s black gear is a troublesome artifact.”

“Was this caused by that forbidden object?” Xiang Ningjing, who had witnessed Lin Xian seize the gear from Chen Yanxiu, couldn’t help blurting out.

“What a spectacle—like a star abyss tidal surge!” Ryan flew out from the crowd, staring at the scene: “Prepare to act!”

“Don’t move yet.”

Chen Sixuan spoke now, her eyes glinting faintly, as if piercing through the fog: “The tide is receding—all ejected grotesque entities have sunk into the sea; we’re not marked. Let’s wait and observe.”

Dawn was imminent, and the Infinite still hadn’t found a landing point; a battle now would be disastrous for them.

Lin Xian glanced curiously at Chen Sixuan, then turned back to the black star abyss; sure enough, the towering black wall in the fog had now retracted like a deflating bubble; the grotesque entities spewing like geysers were dwindling rapidly; soon, all commotion vanished into the fog, leaving only the thunderous roar of dissolving vortices far away.

“Gone?” Shu Qin called out.

Qian Dele crossed his arms, solemn: “Came fast, left faster—what kind of phenomenon is this?”

At this moment, Lin Xian stared at the thick sea fog and gave an order to Viola.

“Viola, deploy drones—use forbidden object detectors to search the vortex zone for the black gear.”

【Viola understands.】

No sooner had he spoken than thousands of drones behind them flickered to life, swarming like a million bees, surging toward the black fog ahead.

Then, a streak of divine light flashed along the horizon; bright rays began turning the black fog into grayish-white mist; simultaneously, everyone felt the air temperature rising.

Clearly, though visibility remained low, all knew—the dawn had come!

Seeing this, and noticing the countdown had vanished entirely from his vision, Lin Xian finally felt a heavy stone lift from his chest; though he still didn’t fully grasp the black gear’s properties, he had been right—the countdown was tied to the gear, and this artifact was indeed a bomb Chen Yanxiu had planted for him.

Since Shuguang City, Lin Xian hadn’t appeared in Chu Yan’s mental world in a long time; seeing Chu Yan emerge from a nest of human-ghost zombies atop an abandoned high-rise, he suddenly felt an urge to hug her.

After all this time of isolation, and now out at sea, he’d felt a lonely detachment from the organization.