Chapter 486

On the SkyQiong Train, Chen Sixuan suddenly woke from a light sleep after a few hours, gazing at the newly spacious living cabin. She slowly sat up, her eyes sweeping the room. This room was now hers alone—not shared with Lin Xian—and her personal space had greatly expanded. Chen Sixuan rubbed her face, inexplicably feeling uneasy.

She rose and reached into the nano-charging case; silver nano-armor swiftly covered her fingers, then climbed upward, fully enveloping her body and perfectly accentuating her curves. Bright lines emerged across the nano-fabric, resembling a full-body compression undersuit.

In reality, these nano-components could reconfigure at any moment into an Executor X0 armor equipped with high-energy combat systems and flight capability. Though its protective capacity fell short of the building’s Black Dragon armor or Ningjing’s Executor X1, it excelled in lightness and high agility, offering more than adequate daily defense. Aside from showering and sleeping, Chen Sixuan had grown accustomed to wearing this nano-armor like clothing—fitting her increasingly cautious nature.

Stepping out of her cabin, Chen Sixuan saw that Lin Xian’s living cabin was dark. She ascended to the bridge, where only Viola’s figure remained.

“Where’s Lin Xian?”

Chen Sixuan asked.

…

In the Las Vegas amusement park, night wind howled through the cracks of decaying rides. The once-colorful dolls and murals now radiated an eerie chill in the dark—just as Hua Xiaoling’s sudden appearance here had made Lin Xian feel.

Lin Xian’s first thought was that some item on his person might have triggered tracking. A bolder suspicion: Hua Xiaoling had come here under the Dark Civilization’s “mandate.”

He took a step forward, calmly stepping onto a precisely aimed drone before landing gently, his gaze studying this woman who radiated profound mystery.

This was the second time he’d seen Hua Xiaoling. She now gave him an unmistakable sense of unfamiliarity—hard to articulate. Her face was unremarkable, neither beautiful nor ugly; apart from her deep eyes, shimmering faintly with inner light, she possessed no striking features. Yet Lin Xian knew: this woman, and the foundation behind her, was an enigma capable of profoundly influencing humanity’s survival.

Tap.

Lin Xian landed. The two stood facing each other across the dark amusement ground. The night sky’s light was faint, casting a silvery veil over them.

“I know you’re curious.”

Hua Xiaoling broke the silence first, offering him the same warm smile as their first meeting: “Curious why I’m here, whether I planted a tracker on you, whether I intend to attack you or your team and spark a firefight. If you’re still worried, let me tell you—nothing will happen tonight. I have no hostility toward you.”

“Is this your Master’s order?” Lin Xian countered.

Hua Xiaoling’s gaze swept over his face, then she smiled faintly: “Do you remember what I told you about the SIID Foundation’s purpose the first time we met?”

Lin Xian looked at her: “What are you getting at?”

“I’m saying you needn’t be wary of me. Our purpose is to save humanity,” Hua Xiaoling added. “By human means.”

With that, she gave a slight nod toward him, then turned and walked off in one direction, speaking as she went.

“The Crimson World was indeed founded and nurtured by us. So too were the current Holy City organization and Sacred Revelation. But human thought is diverse—each person interprets the End and Apocalypse differently. This intellectual arrogance is one of society’s crippling flaws. Yet the instinct to survive death is universal. That’s why the Phoenix Society could swiftly rally hearts and lead humanity’s last survivors in a global exodus.”

Lin Xian followed behind, speaking up: “So you’re saying the Crimson World and Holy City’s actions weren’t your foundation’s original intent—or are you trying to distance yourselves?”

“You may think so,” Hua Xiaoling said calmly, walking ahead. “I’m only laying groundwork for our conversation.”

“And then?”

“Aren’t you curious about the secrets of the Dark Civilization?” Hua Xiaoling stopped, glanced back at him, then continued walking.

Lin Xian’s expression darkened. He had already sent a silent alert to Viola and the SkyQiong Train. Now, watching her back, he exhaled and followed.

Hua Xiaoling said nothing further, walking steadily through the pitch-black amusement park. Her footsteps crushed dead leaves. No zombies or aberrations appeared. They walked like this—her ahead, him behind—for two minutes, then turned into an open area.

Lin Xian’s eyes narrowed. The open space appeared to be the park’s former performance zone. But what startled him was the sudden, incongruous presence of a brand-new tactical tent—brightly lit, utterly silent, unoccupied.

Hua Xiaoling reached the tent, pulled back the flap, and gestured toward him with a sidelong motion.

“Come in, sit.”

Lin Xian’s Mechanical Heart scanned the tent. It detected only holographic devices and lighting/power systems—plus a simple table and chairs. No weapons, nothing else.

“You traveled all this way just to invite me for tea?”

Hua Xiaoling said: “Chen Yanxiu’s team was ordered to eliminate you in the last round. They failed. Some within our organization do regard you as an enemy of civilizational evolution. But I warned them—these methods pose no real threat to you.”

She looked at him: “Or rather—killing you was never your Master’s true intention.”

Hua Xiaoling continued: “You must wonder about the logic behind the Deep Red Geothermal Base. Is it surveillance? Guidance? Research? Your escape from it was nothing short of a miracle. At least from a human perspective, it was a small victory in a biological species-level Boyi . I can tell you now: the base’s true purpose was to use Uni-1 on Haiyan Island to annihilate aberrations transmitted from Star Abyss 13 and 8 toward the continental shelf, reducing their impact on China’s coastal regions.”

“Huh?” Lin Xian frowned.

Hua Xiaoling’s words stunned him. He thought he’d misheard.

“Have you never wondered why, despite massive high-level aberrations spreading outward from star abysses, modeled after marine life, Yongcheng Port never suffered severe attacks?” Hua Xiaoling smiled. “During the Dawn City battle, you faced assaults from three sides—but the eastern flank, Yongcheng Port, remained silent. Doesn’t that tell you something?”

Lin Xian fell silent. He and the Phoenix Society had pondered this before. Ye Lan had even prepared contingency plans. Hearing Hua Xiaoling now, he felt a jolt. His instincts warned him not to trust her—but her words carried a strange logic.

The large aberrations—Class A and Special Class—had been hunted and destroyed by the Great Ocean God near Haiyan Island. Naturally, their impact on the coastline was minimal. Lin Xian had seen with his own eyes the terrifying scale of those monsters marching across the seabed like an army on land.

“I can also tell you this: the black gear you obtained is a Super-A-class taboo object. Its containment level is two tiers higher than your 1542 radio or Flash Bullets. It’s one of Chen Yanxiu’s most prized possessions. Containment requires death. Its property allows the bearer to perform dimensional walking within star abysses—meaning you can perceive the higher-dimensional world without being affected by the abyss’s distortions. But taboo objects are anchor points where the four-dimensional dark world fixes itself into the three-dimensional realm, thus releasing higher-dimensional forces. This object mirrors the time of your traversal, then, upon countdown’s end, collapses and re-manifests the original dimensional timeline you traversed. In simple terms: time from the four-dimensional world is released into the three-dimensional world, appearing as if the inner world of the star abyss is erupting. Do you understand?”