He finished speaking and saw the other man still looked unconvinced. He snorted. "Are you also feeling your heart hammering in your chest, a little panicked even?"

The man stared at him, utterly shocked.

He rolled his eyes. "Hurry up and scram. Go to sleep, and all these problems will disappear."

The man who first complained about his eye twitching now thought he was just being too sensitive. It was probably just a side effect of staying up all night.

But this time, the feeling was particularly strong.

He walked a few more steps with his companion before stopping. After a moment’s thought, he said, "No, I have to go back and check. I feel like I forgot something. I won’t be able to sleep otherwise."

Seeing him acting so jumpy, the other man couldn’t be bothered with him anymore. They had both been awake for a long time, and he didn’t have the energy to care about much else.

"I’m heading back then. You go on and check." There couldn’t be any mistakes with the main tasks, because the next researcher would have signed off during the handover.

The only things that could possibly have been overlooked were his own minor tasks, like charts for small mecha cannons. He figured it wouldn’t matter even if there was a problem with them.

Yawning, he paid no more mind to the man who had turned back and left alone.

Nathan Lockwood and his group fixed their gazes on the Beta who was heading back. The three of them advanced slowly.

Betas have no spiritual power, so as long as they avoided the robots and surveillance equipment, no one would suspect that three Alphas had infiltrated the area.

Nathan Lockwood and the other two followed the Beta through a winding corridor. The spacious cavern became more cluttered with various metal equipment, and the number of mechanical surveillance eyes increased, raising the risk of exposure.

’They had to find a way to blend in.’

The problem was, all three of them were Alphas. In terms of build alone, they were half a head to a full head taller than a Beta. And that was before even mentioning Chase Shaw, whose size was the biggest issue.

Unless... they just fought their way in.

This group of Betas wouldn’t be able to stop them.

*

「Outside the cave, in the forest.」

The three of them finished their discussion and prepared to turn back and check out the hospital first.

Miles Sherman and Erin Xavier were about to leave when Zoe Pierce suddenly yanked them back by the arm.

Erin Xavier and Miles Sherman turned back in confusion, only to see Zoe Pierce’s face deathly pale. Having never seen her like this, both felt a flicker of panic.

"What’s wrong?" Miles Sherman’s fingers immediately went to the nape of Zoe Pierce’s neck. "Is it your glands?"

Zoe Pierce shook her head, her body trembling as if from a chill. "It’s not my glands that hurt."

Her spiritual power, which had given her strong premonitions during the joint exams, was now blaring frantic warnings.

An unprecedented tension and sense of crisis screamed from every inch of her skin.

It was more intense than ever before.

Her entire being was telling her to run.

Flee this place. Get away from here.

"Something’s wrong." Zoe Pierce couldn’t believe it. After coming this far, her spiritual power was screaming at her to this extent. Just a moment ago, she had been standing so resolutely behind Erin Xavier.

But now, it was forcing her to say the word ’stop.’

She was too unwilling to give up, standing rooted to the spot as she endured the pain from her spiritual power.

Sweat from her hairline dripped down her cheeks. She bit down hard on her lip, breaking the skin, before she could finally suppress the anxiety and stabbing pain.

Miles Sherman and Erin Xavier stood by helplessly as Zoe Pierce’s nails dug into their hands, leaving red marks. Still, she didn’t utter a single sound.

She took a deep breath, her beautiful almond eyes filled with unyielding resolve.

The warnings from her spiritual power were one thing, but on this matter alone, she couldn’t simply obey her body’s premonitions.

Yet she couldn’t ignore the feeling either. The last time she was nearly discovered by the people from the First Military Academy, she had felt a little uneasy, but it was nowhere near this level.

In this new environment, even if they were discovered, it shouldn’t provoke such a desperate desire to flee.

Her spiritual power spread outward, her senses pushed to their absolute limit.

Finally, she found something wrong.

Her eyes snapped open. She grabbed Miles’s hand and asked urgently, "Miles, you said the Xenobeast Tide breaks out through a Wormhole?"

Zoe Pierce’s grip was painful, but Miles only saw her rapidly constricting pupils. "That’s right," he said. "The Xenobeast Tides are irregular because of magnetic fields. The fields aren’t constant, and if the fluctuations become unstable, they can tear open a Wormhole capable of transporting a Xenobeast Tide."

And because the magnetic fields are variable, each Wormhole appears at a different time.

Some fluctuations stabilize quickly, and the Wormhole doesn’t even have time to open. But if they last longer and the fluctuations remain unstable, the mouth of the Wormhole will grow larger and larger, ultimately causing irreparable damage.

Zoe Pierce’s hand suddenly went slack. "Ahead of us, there’s a Wormhole about to open."

No more than 200 meters from them in a straight line.

In other words, if that Wormhole opened, they would be the first to face what came through. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Erin Xavier’s and Miles’s pupils constricted instantly. They stared in disbelief toward the spot Zoe Pierce indicated.

Miles made an almost instantaneous decision. "Go."

The Wormhole was opening too fast. In the blink of an eye, Zoe Pierce ’saw’ it stretch from the length of an arm to the length of a leg, and it was still expanding.

Suddenly, deafening sirens blared from the cave and the hospital.

The sound rang through the sky.

「Ten minutes earlier. Xenobeast Tide Monitoring and Research Center.」

The few people still staring at the monitors saw the fluctuating lines suddenly freeze. Their hearts leaped into their throats.

But then the single fluctuating line on the screen suddenly seemed to bounce, splitting into three lines, each one vibrating violently.

The research center fell silent. The sound of their own ragged breathing was startlingly clear.

The man who had just been on the phone gritted his teeth and made another call.

"This is the Xenobeast Tide Monitoring and Research Center. The scale of the Xenobeast Tide is escalating. We have an additional Wormhole wavelength."

"Local coordinates are 60°25’10" S; 45°45’15" N."

"45°45’15" N is the projected location of our research institute. Currently projected as a medium-scale Xenobeast Tide, but the data is still fluctuating. It could upgrade to a high-level Xenobeast Tide at any moment."

His eyes were glued to the wavelength. When he finally saw the curve spike to its absolute limit, he slammed his eyes shut, bracing himself on the desk with his arms to keep from falling. "Confirmed as a high-level Xenobeast Tide. We need rescue."

The person at the Emergency Response Center also froze for a second, but there was no time to be paralyzed by the news.

He asked quickly, "What’s the estimated time of arrival?"

"Based on the wavelength’s velocity, ETA is less than twenty minutes."

"Roger that. Keep the line open." The researchers could hear the dispatcher at the response center rapidly contacting others, but at that moment, their minds were completely fixed on the wavelength. The last time a Xenobeast Tide of this scale had hit Planet B36 was twelve years ago.

Twelve years ago, a Xenobeast Tide had nearly destroyed all of Planet B36.