At Zhan Pingchuan’s age, he naturally wouldn’t arrogantly think he was the strongest S-level, but the little red fox’s support obviously pleased him greatly.
Zhan Pingchuan rubbed his earlobe earring: “Actually, I have another ability. To put it simply and crudely, I can send opponents away when they’re unprepared—physically send them away.”
Normally, as Ghost Eye Guild’s eldest young master, Zhan Pingchuan shouldn’t reveal his third-tier ability to these High Tower Guild people.
But given the circumstances, Adrian still acquiesced.
“Send away?” Lance’s doting expression gradually faded as he became serious.
He had never asked about Zhan Pingchuan’s ability attributes, mainly because he couldn’t be equally open himself. But if it was sending away, could it be a control-type similar to Mad Clown’s?
“Mm, I can open a gap in current space and make opponents fall through. But this ability has a flaw now—I can’t control where they land after the rift. In other words, they might land on Mars growing potatoes, encounter Ultraman on planet M78, or even wage star wars with Trisolarans. Of course, they might also appear behind us. Overall, it’s more thrilling than a blind box.” Zhan Pingchuan spread his hands helplessly after finishing.
He had used this ability in that S-level underground city that interfered with brain directional sense. They had been lost for days, on the verge of collapse, so he had no choice but to tear open a rift, hoping the other side was a way out.
However, the combat team members who went through just disappeared and never returned.
Fortunately, Zhan Qinghe arrived with people in time and brought out the remaining members.
Only after Zhan Pingchuan replenished food and water and his mind cleared did he realize how absurd his actions had been.
The universe had countless landing points, and Earth was just a drop in the ocean. The probability of them landing in oxygen-less outer space was much higher than landing on Earth.
However, he could sense that when this ability became strong enough, he could control the landing point on the other side of the rift.
When that time came, he could achieve free travel between different spaces on the same timeline.
This ability was somewhat similar to Lucas’s 【Shadow Anchor】, but didn’t require pre-setting anchor points with soul fragments, and had much higher teleportation freedom.
Lance quickly realized how significant this ability would be when perfected.
For instance, in the operation to save Oliver, if they had this ability, they wouldn’t need to risk infiltrating the restricted zone—they could bring Oliver away from thousands of miles away.
“What attribute is this ability?” Lance asked with keen interest, light flickering in his eyes.
“Spatial-type.” Zhan Pingchuan didn’t hide it.
Lance was suddenly stunned, a vague thought appearing in his mind. Since it was spatial-type, was there a possibility of traversing time?
For example, returning to…
But Lance quickly remembered what He Jing’en had said in class.
A butterfly flapping its wings could bring huge changes to the future, causing unpredictable destruction. So humans seemed to have genetic locks set, making it almost impossible to master high-tier spatial abilities.
In other words, third-tier ability might be Zhan Pingchuan’s peak.
That was also good. Otherwise, if an eighteen-year-old could have three abilities as an S-level, Lance would really worry about him reaching fifth-tier and completely losing human emotions.
The little wolf cub should remain lively, sunny, and energetically coveting him.
Dream Witch was amazed: “Damn, this is rarer than Sumatran orangutans!”
Since humans awakened abilities, spatial-type had been extremely rare. The few that appeared were frantically competed for at high prices by various guilds.
She remembered Night Walker Guild had a spatial-type whose ability was remote object retrieval—practically a walking storage space. Their president had a terrible temper and had changed wives eighty-eight times, but never said a harsh word to him.
Fulunla clenched her fists and silently complained: What Sumatran orangutans? White-flag dolphins would be much better, or giant pandas!
Dream Witch glanced meaningfully at Lance, then said cheerfully: “Not bad, our High Tower accidentally struck gold. How about this—after you graduate, you can marry in… bah, I mean join us.”
Adrian’s eyebrows rose slightly. On the surface he remained calm, but inwardly thought: I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed—this is our Ghost Eye Guild’s eldest young master.
Zhan Pingchuan raised an eyebrow and deflected: “Sister Qi thinks too highly of me. I haven’t thought that far ahead. I just want to earn money from this internship to buy my baby’s sister a smart harvester and get his dad a better wheelchair.”
Hearing this, Dream Witch smiled faintly: “Is that so? Good.”
Adrian said seriously: “Ghost Eye’s compensation for Lance isn’t low either—enough for him to buy several more.”
“……That many aren’t necessary.” Dream Witch’s smile carried a hint of fatigue.
Just then, Li Bang’s phone on the carpet suddenly rang, instantly interrupting all conversation.
Ten pairs of eyes simultaneously stared at the phone screen, which clearly displayed—Selarl.
It was Selarl!
Calculating the time, they had kidnapped Li Bang to their room and used his body to record the video—two hours had already passed.
Adrian’s expression was grave: “The bidding meeting is over, and Li Bang hasn’t had time to report to Selarl. We must send him back quickly.”
“You come out, I’ll clear his memory.” Dream Witch rolled up her sleeves.
Ring ring ring—
The phone kept ringing, like some urgent rhythm that made time itself feel rushed.
None of them wanted to answer this call, even though Adrian could use Li Bang’s body.
Because once they answered, when Li Bang woke up, he would easily discover he had lost part of his memory.
At this critical moment, they couldn’t make the slightest mistake.
So Adrian quickly withdrew from Li Bang’s body. Li Bang slowly awakened, his gaze gradually focusing. Seeing these people again, he broke down and cursed: “Damn bastards! I’ll fucking kill you all!”
As soon as he finished speaking, Dream Witch sneered coldly. She cleanly extracted the blood mist from Li Bang’s brain and mercilessly crushed it.
Li Bang fainted again.
The urgent ringing beside them, after a minute of waiting, finally stopped, and the screen went completely dark.
Lance stared intently at that call. He inexplicably had a premonition that they would miss something crucial by not answering at this moment.
But since he didn’t actually have precognitive abilities, the premonition wasn’t worth the risk. He heard Zhan Pingchuan say grimly: “We need to hurry. Selarl will definitely contact Li Bang’s people—they’ll soon discover Li Bang isn’t in his suite!”
As Li Bang fainted, Adrian possessed him again, leaped from the balcony, and quickly rushed toward Li Bang’s bedroom.
Just then, one of the guards answered Selarl’s call and respectfully greeted him.
Selarl rudely scolded: “Where’s Li Bang? Why isn’t he answering his phone!”
The guard paused: “Uh… Captain Li Bang seems a bit tired. I’ll go wake him right away!”
Hearing this, Selarl immediately narrowed his eyes, a flash of suspicion crossing his mind.
But he said nothing more, waiting in silence.
Hearing Selarl stop talking, with only increasingly heavy breathing, the guard became even more anxious.
He kept quickening his pace, finally breaking into a jog. His footsteps echoed in the narrow cruise corridor, with LED lights on both sides casting his moving shadow.
Sea wind blew Adrian’s clothes as distant lights from Peach Blossom Spring Village outlined his figure.
Li Bang’s frail body significantly hindered his movement. When possessing others, Adrian couldn’t use his own or others’ abilities—he could only climb with his hands.
Below was dozens of meters of height and churning black seawater, while Li Bang’s room was still five meters diagonally above.
Adrian was always a meticulous person. He carefully assessed Li Bang’s physical condition and chose a more stable approach, not panicking despite the time pressure.
The guard had now reached Li Bang’s door. He pressed the doorbell while calling outside: “Captain Li Bang, are you in your room? Prince Selarl can’t reach you! Captain Li Bang!”
No response.
Selarl slowly lifted his eyelids, his gaze cold as he looked toward the water above.
“Captain Li Bang! Captain Li Bang!” The guard, disregarding etiquette, pounded on the door.
Selarl suddenly ordered: “Kick the door down.”
“What… what?!” The guard was dumbfounded and momentarily stopped moving.
Selarl shouted sternly: “I said kick the door down!”
“Yes!” The guard snapped awake, responding repeatedly, then stepped back against the wall and raised his foot.
Bang!
A heavy sound as the wooden door shook violently, its surface dented with a footprint-sized mark.
Adrian’s back was soaked, sweat rolling down his face and falling into the boundless deep sea.
Bang!
Another fierce kick. The door swayed precariously, with sounds of metal lock components being compressed and breaking inside the wood.
The guard felt his calf go numb from the impact, his knee aching dully.
But he didn’t dare stop. Gathering his strength again, he shouted and kicked a third time.
The door lock finally couldn’t withstand such violent abuse and suddenly split. The wooden door crashed into the room with tremendous force, then bounced back from the nearby wall.
The suite was pitch black and silent.
“Your Highness, I’ve kicked it open. Captain Li Bang is—”
Halfway through his words, low groaning suddenly came from the room. Li Bang pressed his palms tightly against his temples, slowly awakening.
He felt his brain was like mush, his nerves stabbing with pain, as if his brain matter had been forcibly extracted.
“Fuck, who the hell is it!”
Li Bang angrily cursed at the voice by the door.
The guard was slightly stunned, panicked for a moment, then rushed in holding his phone: “Captain Li Bang, I’ve been calling you forever! Prince Selarl is urgently looking for you!”
Facing Li Bang’s gloomy, irritated expression, the guard felt weak inside, his legs going soft as he quickly indicated the phone showing an active call.
Li Bang still had some rationality. No matter how annoyed he felt inside, he didn’t dare defy Selarl.
He struggled to adjust his emotions and took the phone: “Your…”
“What were you doing in your room?” Selarl asked in a deep voice.
Li Bang looked around and found his phone had fallen to the floor while he lay on the bed. The balcony window was open a small crack for ventilation, making the curtains flutter constantly.
He couldn’t remember when he had fallen asleep, but obviously he had slept very deeply, unaware it had become so dark.
“I… I’ve been too tired these past few days. You know, I’ve been constantly using my ability to monitor them, consuming too much stamina.” Li Bang instinctively made excuses.
“You’re saying you fell asleep peacefully without reporting to me which guild you signed with.” Selarl’s voice was emotionless, flat and calm.
This made Li Bang even more terrified.
“It won’t happen again. This time it really was… You don’t know how bold these top guilds are. After they made their bids, those small guilds didn’t dare compete. In the end, I had no choice but to select them, since your marriage with the king is the top priority.”
Li Bang was never someone who could take responsibility. He didn’t investigate the strangeness of his drowsiness, instead becoming an accomplice to the cover-up. Coincidentally, this explanation sounded more like guilt after dereliction of duty.
Selarl’s suspicion gradually turned to anger: “You’re saying you still chose to cooperate with a top guild and bought the most expensive red parrot crystal ore for Sandro?”
Li Bang shook his head and waved his hands: “Not expensive, not expensive! We evaluated privately—High Tower Guild’s quote was very reasonable, definitely better than other small guilds.”
“High Tower Guild.” Selarl repeated.
This guild happened to be the least feared by the Federation government among the seven top guilds.
Because it was located in a prosperous region where underground city resources weren’t particularly abundant, its development over the years was entirely due to its president’s extraordinary economic mind.
The elders’ evaluation of Lan Wendao wasn’t high, calling him a thorough merchant. Such people were the most shrewd and cherished their lives—as long as you gave them soil to make money, they would obediently follow orders.
Moreover, Harbor Tan City wasn’t far from Capital City, within the restricted zone’s reach. If there were any unusual movements, Blue Pivot’s inspection team could arrive immediately and swiftly decapitate.
Thinking of this, Selarl’s expression cleared slightly. Since he was a merchant who would do anything for money, it wasn’t strange that he would try every means, even eliminating Gudeshao, to win this bid.
Although Lan Wendao’s conduct was still detestable, it was barely acceptable.
“But… but…” Li Bang hesitated, then steeled himself to continue, “High Tower Guild’s production capacity seems insufficient, so they also signed a purchase contract with Ghost Eye Guild, saying it’s to deliver goods to us quickly and not delay moving into the palace on the wedding day.”
“What did you say?” Selarl’s slightly improved expression darkened again.
Ghost Eye Guild was precisely the one the elders feared most.
Desert City was remote with abundant resources. After decades of keeping a low profile, Zhan Qinghe had become the local overlord.
Moreover, he had the renowned Chu Fu by his side.
Over the years, Chu Fu had established hospitals and research centers throughout the Federation, even openly declaring she would compete with Hong Suo Research Institute.
Li Bang had just been raging impotently about being played by these two top guilds, and now he instinctively made excuses for himself again.
“Your Highness, I don’t think this is a problem. They also want to quickly get the final payment. Actually, if you think about it, we bought high-quality red parrot stones. When the media publicizes it extensively, won’t it become evidence of your deep affection for the king? You value the wedding so much—if the king shows any neglect, it becomes his fault.”
Selarl’s teeth itched. He deeply despised Li Bang’s slippery, cunning attitude. If he didn’t urgently need people now, he would never have promoted Li Bang.
“Li Bang, I’m warning you—if you act without my permission again, you can stop being guard captain!”
The anglerfish took the opportunity to remind Selarl: “Your Highness, the messenger has arrived.”
The messenger’s arrival meant the Thornfish Cutting Net had also arrived. Everything was proceeding methodically. He would soon see Sandro’s expression upon receiving news of that monster’s death, and then he would forcibly mark him.
Selarl knew what was urgent and what could wait, so he temporarily set aside his anger: “We’ll discuss this later. Leave the ship immediately now and go welcome the messenger. Be careful to avoid attention and properly safeguard what the messenger brings.”
“Yes!” Li Bang responded.
Selarl hung up the phone.
Li Bang finally breathed a sigh of relief. His temples still ached, and his body didn’t feel quite right either.
He grimaced as he reached behind his neck to rub his cervical vertebrae, only to find his hand covered in sweat.
Li Bang frowned, looking at his palm in bewilderment.
How had he sweated so much during that nap?
Lights on the sea rose and fell with the waves. The last group of tourists also left Peach Blossom Spring Village and returned to the cruise ship.
A lead-gray small boat with a pale night light sailed distantly toward Tasman waters.
The bow cut through the calm sea surface, appearing and disappearing in the thin mist like a visitor from the underworld, inexplicably eerie.
A short figure stood on deck, wearing white robes with a veil covering the face, dark green eyes cold and fierce.
In his hands was a silver metal case a full meter long, with three locks—a combination lock, a fingerprint lock, and a dynamic command lock.
The unlocking methods for these three locks were kept by three people.
The fingerprint required the messenger to open, the password was given to Selarl, and the dynamic command was remotely controlled by the elders.
This ensured that this weapon blessed with divine miracles couldn’t be stolen and used by others.
The messenger’s fingers brushed the cold handrail as the metal case creaked in the gentle swaying.
This secret weapon had been created and had already killed one of God’s creations—the Golden Parasite Human-Faced Owl.
Now it would slay the second of God’s creations—the Sea Dragon.
“That land of exile actually fell into the depths of a sea trench,” the messenger murmured.
A splash of water interrupted the messenger’s thoughts.
He focused his gaze and slowly raised his forearm, making the flowing seawater show signs of crystallization.
Just then, the splash suddenly grew larger, creating ripples as Li Bang’s figure emerged from the water: “Messenger, you’ve come. His Highness asked me to guide you.”
The messenger recognized this sharp-faced, monkey-cheeked visage and lowered his arm.
Li Bang wiped the seawater from his face and led the way. The small boat followed his figure, avoiding the bustling Peach Blossom Spring Village and heading toward dense darkness.
A submarine was already waiting there. Li Bang carefully welcomed the messenger aboard the submarine. Soon, he disappeared into the sea with the submarine.
On the sea surface, only an empty small boat remained, drifting aimlessly.
Seagull cries could faintly be heard in the mist, as if mourning the coming downfall.
Five hundred meters below the sea surface, on the wide, flat seabed, huge kelp tree bubbles rose up.
Beside the shale steps, a fluorescent light column suddenly went out—the energy inside was depleted.
A servant hurriedly brought new yellow fluorescent stones to replenish it, but this awakened Sandro from his dream.
Sandro’s chest burned, his eyes were moist, and he was disoriented by the sudden scene change.
Purple hair dampened with sweat hung down from his face, covering his slightly gasping lips.
The servant finished changing the fluorescent stone and chuckled: “Your engagement ceremony with Prince Selarl is coming soon. Are you already getting nervous?”
The servant was new—the previous spy who had failed to stop Sandro had been replaced by Selarl.
But this servant was obviously also a naive civilian who firmly believed in the ‘love’ between the king and Selarl.
Sandro didn’t answer.
Seeing Sandro still looking melancholy, the servant couldn’t help but offer blessings: “You’ve supported Tasman alone for a hundred years, missing much personal time. Now that you’ve found someone to entrust your love to, everyone is happy for you.”
Hearing this, Sandro lowered his eyes and laughed softly.
“Really? Will they really be happy for me?” Even if his lover wasn’t human.
Actually, Sandro knew the answer to this question. They needed the king to have a perfect lover to enhance the country’s image and satisfy the people’s fantasies.
They didn’t need Sandro to be truly happy—otherwise, Selarl’s proposal scheme wouldn’t have succeeded.
But Sandro didn’t expect Tasman people to be grateful to him either. What he had gained over the years was enough. Time had taught him to let go of those grand, ethereal things like reputation, achievements, and great responsibilities.
He remembered once asking the person who had saved him from fire and water—
“If one day, the people you saved disappointed you, would you regret it?”
Who would have thought that person just casually ate double-skin milk and told him very calmly and leisurely: “Ah, they will definitely disappoint me.”
Sandro: “……”
“But it doesn’t matter. I’ve saved too many people—I don’t even know who he is. In life, there are only two choices: saving people or harming people. I just happened to choose one of them.”
Sandro: “I thought you were the type who wanted to leave a good name for posterity.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” That person laughed. Though aged, his peach blossom eyes were still bright and charming. “I just want to grow old together with Team Leader Cen.”
“Of course, your love is like a fairy tale—perfect and flawless.”
The servant said excitedly, hands clasped to his heart.
Fairy tale.
Sandro came back to his senses, pulled his clothes together to cover his delicate, smooth shoulders. Not wanting to waste energy acting, he waved for the servant to withdraw.
He had actually been dreaming of his first meeting with Ryan.
After the assassin stabbed him in a vital spot, he desperately fought back and called for help, but the guards seemed to have vanished into thin air—no one rushed in to rescue him.
He tried to use the 【Solidify】 ability to stop the wound from expanding, but he found that there was an invisible barrier in the air, and in this area, his ability actually failed.
The person who assassinated him seemed to have no interest in the palace’s wealth and was very clear about his abilities.
Sandro quickly sensed the smell of conspiracy; the opponent’s fighting techniques should have come from the land.
That person lunged again, each strike fierce and ruthless.
So Sandro planned to shrink his body into a jellyfish to make it difficult for the opponent to find him, but sure enough, this ability also failed.
He couldn’t help but feel fear—could it be that in this environment, his immortality ability also failed, and his life would ultimately perish?
Sandro was unwilling to accept this ending. He knew there was a high-level Awakened one in the darkness, using some ability to interfere with his powers.
However, the opponent seemed to have no intention of killing him completely in this way. When he was clearly losing too much blood and was about to regress to the juvenile stage, the barrier disappeared.
Sandro quickly understood that the opponent didn’t want his life, only wanted to make him lose his memory.
He pressed the continuously bleeding wound with a cloth, exerted effort to produce kelp tree bubbles, and swam into the seawater.
The pursuer had to stop because he was not a marine life form Awakened one and could not operate outside the kelp tree.
Once entering the seawater, Sandro found his ability had returned. He immediately solidified the wound to stop the bleeding.
However, soon another group of people chased after him, calling his name. These people were certainly not the familiar guards but enemies wanting to control him while he was amnesiac.
Sandro knew the opponent had prepared for today’s assassination for a long time. His confidants had all been sent out to sea for various reasons, and he was isolated and helpless.
Out of necessity, Sandro had to hold his breath and escape toward the distant Wonderland Trench.
At this time, his injuries were already severe. 【Solidify】 was insufficient to hold his life. He would soon experience the change from juvenile to mature again, losing a year’s memory.
At the last moment of blurred memory, he saw the underground city buried deep in the trench.
Without hesitation, Sandro used the crystal ore to open the iron door and swam inside.
The next second after entering, he indeed regressed to the juvenile stage of an immortal jellyfish.
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(advanced chapters available on kofi)
Sam Williams On TYMIMA Chapter 152