After speaking, Lin Xian turned and left the cabin, immediately heading quickly toward the second ship body.

Walking through the internal passage of the Sky Dome Starship, the surroundings were silent. Lin Xian’s ears kept replaying the words Ding Junyi had just said. The more he thought about it, the more startled he became. He recalled that when he was still on the Infinity, he remembered asking KIKI why superpower users’ abilities suddenly disappeared. Yet, as he continued forward, Lin Xian never really saw any superpower users experience such a situation, or perhaps he simply never paid attention.

His original intention was to utilize the scenes he saw from the Gray Mist to investigate Star Abyss 13 in the Pacific, aiming to observe the actions of the Foundation. The Phoenix Society was extensively propagating the Age of Deterrence, the Starfire Plan, to boost the confidence of human survivors. Ye Lan likely had the same thought, which is why they chose to act separately with Chu Yan.

But now, looking at it from another perspective, Chu Yan was targeted by the Descent Party, and this might not be entirely because they were Sword Holders or because of the South Heavenly Gate.

Thinking of this, Lin Xian’s thoughts were complicated. He planned to directly contact Chu Yan through the Black Star Forge. Initially, he wanted to rest for a few days, but now it seemed the journey to South America to face the scarlet firmament had to be expedited.

Creak~

The automatic door of the hibernation pod opened, and cold air rushed out. Lin Xian quickly stepped inside and first checked Monica’s condition.

At this moment, Monica lying in the hibernation pod showed good vital signs, her face no longer bearing a painful expression. On her chest, the scarlet veins on the Crystal Grid Cultivation Device cycled continuously, a small yet intense fluctuation of dark energy throbbing like a heartbeat. Watching Monica in her slumber, Lin Xian had a complex expression, his mind racing with a thousand possibilities.

He immediately sat down next to Monica’s hibernation pod, his consciousness sinking into the space of the Black Star Forge, beginning to call for Chu Yan.

"Chu Yan, can you hear my voice?"

After a long while, a low voice finally echoed from the depths of the Black Star Forge.

"I can hear you..."

His consciousness sank, quickly linking to a certain place across the ocean. Lin Xian opened his eyes to see a dilapidated apartment room, the window sealed with a rusted iron gate, the room long decayed and foul, half-hanging curtains emitting a moldy smell. A cold light lamp sat on the ground, barely serving as a light source. Chu Yan, clad in advanced power armor and wearing a full-face mask, was standing by the window, looking out through the cracks.

Over here, it’s night!

Chu Yan, realizing Lin Xian’s arrival, spoke without turning back: "You really know how to pick a time."

Lin Xian cleared his throat: "When I last saw you on a mission, I originally planned to wait for you to return to headquarters before contacting you."

"You want to contact Professor Ye?" Chu Yan said, "I’m on my way back. The Star Gazing Laboratory is still testing other communication methods to connect with the South Heavenly Gate, but there’s been no breakthrough yet."

"What happened?" Lin Xian immediately frowned.

Chu Yan glanced at him sideways: "The Star Abyss has started another disturbance."

"Accelerating its spread?" Lin Xian asked.

"No." Chu Yan stepped aside: "The scarlet accompanied by the Dark Tide descended, and in the area it shrouds, there will be no more dawn!"

Lin Xian furrowed his brows, moved over, and in the moment he saw outside through the crack, his pupils narrowed sharply.

Outside was no longer the night known to humans; the sky and earth torn into scarlet and ink-black patches, thick storms carrying the scent of burning asphalt sweeping the wasteland like Hell’s tongue licking the earth. Steel-framed power towers twisted into skyward wailing skeletons within the scarlet storm, the surface constantly fracturing, and the whole world seemed shrouded in a corrosive tropical storm.

Human cities had completely turned into a rubble-strewn wasteland, far on the horizon, an indescribable shadow stood between heaven and earth, like some giant demonic god figure twisted out of scarlet, its shape burning. Watching for just a few seconds made one’s brain start to feel dizzy; one pillar of shadow splitting into thousands of hexagonal holes at the top, another stretching branches infinitely like a fractal tree, all structures pulsating slowly against the laws of physics. Lin Xian rubbed his eyes, unsure if he was seeing illusions or if the outside world was already distorted.

At this moment, his gaze went upward towards the sky dome, where the eye of the storm appeared like an eye from a galaxy beyond, a chaotic eye, or like some interstellar life lurking in a dark matter cloud, now gazing upon the world.

Seeing this scene, he instinctively thought of the night sky outside Hengshan Pass he had seen before, which looked like an eye, and simultaneously recalled what was recorded in the Phoenix Society’s Fire Book.

Number 02, class-Iris Star Ring.

"Don’t stare too long."

Chu Yan’s cold voice called him back, and Lin Xian turned around, meeting her gaze.

"Do you see it? Our world is being devoured!"