Chapter Eighty-Four: The Alien Barracks

A dull thud rang out as the weapon-master girl was struck in the face by a heavy object. Then came three more blows in rapid succession. Launched backward by four consecutive heavy hits, she flew through the air, drawing two bright red streams from her nose.

So it really could make juice.

Heh heh heh. “You naive flat-chested little thing. I may be support-type, but I’m still level five, one rank above you. And to deal with those perverts, I even begged one of the older sisters in the upper district to design a martial art for me that fights with the chest.”

“Wave Style!”

Chen Beixue leaped and stomped the ground like Bruce Lee, her ample bosom bouncing rhythmically up and down. “How did that Wave Style combo feel just now? That was only an ordinary chain attack: face smash, upper-breast lift, double-breast ear bash, and breast nodding.”

“Try that again and I’ll show you the Wave Style secret technique: Tornado Cyclone Swing, and the Jet Pile Driver!”

The weapon-master girl hauled herself up from the ground, wiping away the blood from her nose as she roared in fury, “What Wave Style? It’s nothing but breast-fighting arts! You shameless body-based heretic!”

“Don’t slander me. I’m very proper, you know. At school, I’m a very, very good girl, and lots of people admire me, this gentle and lovely beauty. Ohohoho…”

Chen Beixue burst into another triumphant laugh. Watching her cover her mouth while her chest shook with laughter, looking so absurd, Yan Luo deeply suspected this woman’s IQ was really 170. She didn’t seem very bright at all. Was the school’s test inaccurate, were the rumors wrong, or had this girl simply let herself go and inflated her ego?

Crackle, crackle...

Arcs of electricity began crackling over the weapon-master girl’s body again, and a flame-like flow of energy rose around her as well. Clearly, that was battle aura.

The scarred young man and the fat middle-aged man stood off to the side, too frightened to breathe, too afraid even to glance their way. Matters between big shots were not for level-three people like them to meddle in. One had to know that level four already meant breaking through not only the outermost boundary of talent, but also the boundary of life.

The boundary of talent was something every modulator possessed. The boundary of life had to be broken at level four, and besides the dramatic increase in physical ability, it would also grant a bodily talent.

A prompt from the system cut off the weapon-master girl before she could erupt.

“The temporal membrane has been eroded. No one may enter or leave the contamination zone. Every modulator who enters gains one gene point. One hour later, the eroded temporal membrane will collapse, and this area will be fully exposed to the surface world. Please clear the contamination zone within this time.”

“Upon completing the mission, each modulator will receive one gene point, along with a biological energy reward according to their contribution to the clearing of the contamination zone.”

“Ladies, please. This is a contamination zone... let’s focus on the mission!”

“And besides, people in the real world are all watching. I’m sure plenty of them are filming on their phones.”

The voice came from within the blue crystal. Yan Luo leaned in and saw that the crystal was hollow, and that there was another modulator inside it.

The modulator was young, seated before a crystal console. He looked to be twelve or thirteen, wearing a pair of oversized glasses that nearly covered half his small face, Conan-like, and the lenses were so thick they might as well have been the bottom of a wine bottle. Could his prescription be in the thousands?

The boy was level two, with the title “Trickery and Logic,” which sounded a bit odd.

“Looks like everyone here is all the world modulators within about ten kilometers of this place. Since we’re all nearby, it’s fate of a sort,” said a middle-aged man in his late forties or early fifties, stepping in to smooth things over. “The recommended level for this contamination zone is level three, and we’ve got a level four and a level five among us, so this should be a safe run... though we still can’t afford to be careless.”

“We’ve got two newcomers, so I’ll explain things.”

The middle-aged man swept his gaze over the group. “I’m the commentator who has broken through the boundary of humanity. I used to be a television host, but during one livestream I got so excited while narrating that the production team despised me and I lost my job... but my passion for commentary never changed. Even after becoming a modulator, I still absolutely love commentary!”

His eyes glittered with bright, lively light.

“Right, my name is Huang Jiang. These two are—”

He pointed at the fat middle-aged man and the scarred young man. “The fat brother is Du Rong, a butcher who has broken through the boundary of humanity. He’s the biggest pork wholesaler in this city, nicknamed Pork Rong. Scarface over here is Liu Xin, a chef who has broken through the boundary of humanity, head chef at this city’s Golden Emperor Grand Restaurant, nicknamed Liu Three Blades. The level-four one is named Dong Qing, but she didn’t mention her talent just now, so I don’t know what it is.”

“Flat-chested,” Chen Beixue cut in.

“A flat chest that has broken through the boundary of humanity.”

Once again, flames of battle aura rose over Dong Qing’s body. “As expected, you and I are truly fated enemies, aren’t we? Heh... heh heh...” With her head bowed, her chestnut hair hiding her eyes, she gave a sinister laugh, like Iori Yagami.

“Of course. I’m the giant—”

Chen Beixue’s words stopped abruptly. She saw Dong Qing reaching for the huge executioner’s blade behind her back and immediately shut her mouth. A weapon master armed and unarmed were two entirely different fighters. If that Wave Style were used against her, her chest might really be sliced right off...

She was only support-type, not a combat specialist in hand-to-hand fighting.

Seeing danger, Huang Jiang hurried on with the introductions, trying to draw everyone’s attention elsewhere. “The child inside the crystal is named Zhao Yulong. Don’t let his age fool you; he’s actually a very formidable hacker who has broken through the boundary of humanity. And you two?”

“My name is... Chen Beixue. I’m a student.”

Riding astride the horse, Yan Luo naturally wore the disguise he had prepared. “I’m the calm one who has broken through the boundary of humanity... Yan Luo.”

“All right, let me continue explaining the situation.”

“First, the theme of this contamination zone is extraterrestrial life. This region of the surface world originally had coordinates leading into the inner world—the world of extraterrestrial life—but the coordinates have spread, and at the junction between the inner and surface worlds, the temporal structures of both sides have overlapped and interfered with one another.”

“And then the creatures of the two worlds met.”

Huang Jiang gave a brief explanation. “In short, this area of the surface world has suffered fantasy contamination, and an extraterrestrial squad from the inner world happened to invade the surface.”

“Before Chen Beixue and Yan Luo arrived, the three of us—myself, Dong Qing, and Zhao Yulong—entered first. You see that crystal structure here and the one farther away? They’re buildings similar to an alien barracks. When we came in, there weren’t many extraterrestrial creatures guarding this area, so thanks to the weapon master, we managed to seize it.”

“Zhao Yulong went into the crystal to decipher the password controlling the alien barracks... did you succeed?” he asked, turning to him.

“Success!”

The bespectacled boy’s face shone with excitement. “I’ve fully taken control of this alien structure, and I’ve also uncovered some information. Those clusters of crystals scattered across the grass are crystals containing powerful energy, called Pandora Crystals. This barracks can directly absorb the energy from Pandora Crystals and produce cloned soldiers! It’s amazing!”