Chapter 256
In the time that followed, Ye Bai transformed in the eyes of the Tai Da people from a "madman who appeared out of nowhere," to a "madman with some power," and finally to someone who seemed... "not mad at all."
Through the manipulation of her mental power, Ye Bai extracted metals, electronic components, and sensing devices from within the building, crafting them into a swarm of nano-sized drones—each completely under her control. This was merely the most basic technology in the "Black Hole" Ether laboratory.
Once she released her mental energy, these tiny drones became her outstretched hands, working in concert with strong forces of attraction, gravity, and magnetism to rapidly transform the landmark building that was only used for joint meetings of the three major conglomerates.
“Have you found anything?”
In the armed department, the head, Lans, inquired of the intelligence personnel.
“Nothing,” the intelligence officer replied, scratching his head. “This person’s appearance resembles many others, but there hasn’t been a single matching face in any surveillance footage. It’s possible they’ve undergone biological modification, had plastic surgery, or even changed their gender.”
“Can’t we cross-reference the records of the Rola agents purchased?” Lans frowned, pressing further.
To maintain the most basic stability in Tai Da society, every citizen could receive a free, low-grade Rola agent upon registering their household at adulthood. However, the chances of awakening as a superhuman through that special agent were minuscule, and the lucky few who did were essentially under the control of the agent company.
To gain enhancements, one had to purchase higher-grade agents, leading to massive debts for most Tai Da people. Newborns from the lower class might even inherit genetic agent debts from previous generations at birth.
Thus, even with such slim odds, hardly any Tai Da person would miss out on their first free Rola agent.
The intelligence officer shook his head at Lans’s words. “That’s exactly what I wanted to say. We first compared the Rola purchase records, but the result is no match. I suspect... the individual has never used a Rola agent at all.”
“Never used a Rola agent…” Lans’s expression darkened. “Are you saying that madman is a natural superhuman? And at the Celestial level?”
“Most likely,” the intelligence officer nodded.
Even though the vast majority of Tai Da people require Rola’s assistance to break through their mental limits, individual differences within each group mean that some geniuses inevitably emerge. There are indeed natural superhumans (those with innate mental power) among the Tai Da, such as the original ancestors of the conglomerates and, at present, Lans himself.
Because of this, Lans, born as an ordinary person, was exempted from all debts after awakening his Earth-level talent. He was carefully nurtured by the group and, over twenty years, became the area head of the armed department, with a partner who belonged to a conglomerate family.
“A natural Celestial-level being not recorded anywhere…” Just as Lans was pondering various conspiracy theories about Ye Bai’s true identity, an urgent message came through: “Minister, the advance team has been completely wiped out.”
Lans took a deep breath. “What happened?! That person never cut the live broadcast signal. Aside from the initial 887 and 932, no one has approached the Tai Da Tower!”
“Yes, the advance team didn’t get close to the Tai Da Tower before being wiped out. It seems to be E4 weaponry—no, it looks more advanced than that… or perhaps it’s E5, which I’m not aware of? They’ve all been taken over by the enemy and are now attacking us.”
“How is that possible?!”
Regarding the E-series weaponry, Lans had some insider knowledge due to his current position. These were the top-tier assault mechs manufactured by the "Tai Da Armed Group," responsible for all weapons on Tai Da Star, including nuclear arms. They were secret weapons used by the armed group to counter superhumans.
The activation key for E4 required an extremely complex program to initiate, while the fifth generation E-series weaponry was classified information; even Lans only knew of its existence but wasn’t sure if it had been produced.
But then, Lans saw the video feed from his subordinates, and disbelief quickly replaced his expression.
In the footage, E5 mechs, appearing even more powerful and advanced than E4, stood guard around the Tai Da Tower like a military formation. High-energy laser beams delineated the battlefield, and any enemy approaching that area faced indiscriminate attacks.
“How could this malfunction? The armed group would never allow these weapons to be controlled by anyone else!” If Lans had still had the energy to think about Ye Bai’s origins moments ago, he could no longer focus on that. He dialed a highly classified encrypted call to the true controllers of the armed group.
“Zzzz…”
The line was dead silent; the call didn’t connect.
A sense of foreboding washed over Lans, and then he received another communication—this time from his partner, born into a conglomerate family.
“Ahhh—!”
As soon as the call connected, a heart-wrenching scream pierced through, followed by a voice breaking down:
“They’re dead! Grandfather, Great-Uncle, Second Uncle, my dad, Thirteenth Uncle… they’re all dead! It was that madman, that harbinger of doom who killed them!”
Lans could hardly believe his ears. He stared blankly at the ceiling, momentarily feeling as if it might collapse on him. Only when the screams and questions continued from the other end did he snap back to reality and ask, “What about the substitutes? You have three substitutes I can’t even tell apart—what about theirs?”
There was a pause on the other end, then a bewildered voice replied, “I don’t know. I don’t know how they were found. I don’t even know their specific whereabouts…”
No conglomerate would neglect its own security. Even though every member of a conglomerate family would use the best Rola agents to become superhumans, they still each had several indistinguishable substitutes, enough to make Tai Da people treat every assassination report as fake news.
It could be said that even when members of conglomerate families met each other, they couldn’t be sure if they were speaking to the real person.
“There were many voices wanting them dead; I heard them.”
At the same time, the live broadcast displayed scenes of killings, those who had controlled the shadows of Tai Da Star now lying lifeless.
Lans confirmed that not only had the leaders of the Rola agent group, the energy group, and the armed group been assassinated, but it wasn’t by that mysterious person; rather, it was the E5 mechs, manipulated by that mysterious person, that had accurately located and remotely killed them.
How could such hacking technology exist! If that’s the case… what’s the status of the armed group’s nuclear weapons now?
At this thought, Lans suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. He sincerely hoped that the person who knew the button’s location was already dead; otherwise, if that button were pressed, where the nuclear bomb would ultimately land wouldn’t be up to the one who pressed it, but to the person currently broadcasting live.
Instinctively, Lans looked up at the internal surveillance of the command center, where two red lights flickered ominously. He suspected that his current panic and confusion were fully visible to the other side.
Meanwhile, the countdown clock behind the other party continued to tick steadily, with less than thirty minutes remaining until the countdown began.
…
Lans’s worries were unfounded, for the locations of all nuclear bombs on this planet had ceased to be a secret the moment Ye Bai arrived; they had already been sent to Lin En as the first batch of spaceship materials.
Nuclear weapons produced by Earth-level civilization, in Lin En’s hands, could be easily disassembled and modified.
Of course, unbeknownst to the Tai Da people, Ye Bai was doing much more.
The Tai Da people were still at the Earth-level civilization stage; in terms of technology and the application of mental power, they were woefully behind interstellar technology. The gap of this era was even greater than that between primitive people and the information age.
After returning from the divine realm, Ye Bai’s strength had seen a tremendous boost. Combined with advanced technology, the power an advanced mentalist could wield was overwhelming compared to the current technological level of Tai Da Star.
Ye Bai never left the Tai Da Tower; the resources accumulated by the armed, energy, and genetic conglomerates on this planet since before the information age were all remotely controlled by her.
A vast amount of resources and energy were sent to an area that didn’t exist in any information device—Lin En’s spaceship automation factory. A small portion was left behind by Ye Bai beneath the fully transformed Tai Da Tower.
The Tai Da Tower and the headquarters of the three major conglomerates had now become an absolute no-go zone on Tai Da Star.
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