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"This is it? The so-called real world you were talking about?"

Incredibly smooth... Not even Tianji had anticipated that one day... he would return in such an effortless manner...

"Ah... This is it!" Tianji stared blankly around him, as if in another world.

He was born in the Engineering Institute; he, too, had once roamed freely in Digital City for some time.

Inside Huazong are divided into five districts, with Huaxi being the scientific research experimental base—where engineers like him frequented the most.

He remembered the early days following his crossing over, in that land filled with terrifying demons... Well... even though he himself was a terrifying demon, during that era, in that place where one always had to tread carefully, a moment of inattention could mean death.

He remembered dreaming every day of returning to Digital City, to this pure experimental base, and also of the Red Light District he occasionally visited.

Life in Digital City was dull and numbing, but... it was solid and reassuring...

"The destruction is severe, isn’t it..." Wang Ye remarked curiously as he looked around.

The architecture here was quite interesting, a bit like the style of Observing Stars Tower in Jiangnan, all soaring into the clouds, constructed from stone.

But at this moment, it had clearly suffered serious damage. As a magician, he sensed familiar traces of techniques lingering, the energy in the sky had not yet dissipated, and everywhere floated an unusual force of the wind, along with some remnants of runes.

"It’s a godly wind!" Wang Ye quickly surmised, "Who clashed with Chen Qing here?"

"Chen Qing?" Tianji chuckled while shaking his head, "It’s highly unlikely to be Chen Qing..."

Wang Ye was taken aback at those words, his expression instantly turning ice-cold, "Why?"

Tianji remained silent, surveying the surroundings. He had his suspicions; how could the King of Qin have hidden within Chen Qing’s body for so many years without some sort of arrangement?

To give the illusion of a complete separation after parting, but was that really the case?

Tianji had long harbored doubts, and now, it seemed his previous concerns had indeed materialized.

"This guy... really is quite something..."

Concerning Number One, Tianji to this day harbored complex feelings. He was supposed to be the leader chosen from above, the one mainly in charge of controlling that group of designers. However, due to certain reasons, he arrived many years later.

He was an exceptional person, possessing intelligence not inferior to the opponent’s, gifted unique talents like Mister Tianji, yet he could only manage to scrape by narrowly, watching helplessly as his kin struggled within the cycle of samsara.

And that person, in just a few decades, had almost overthrown everything!

In terms of cunning and craft, he was many times stronger than he was—what exactly was such a person plotting, by secretly returning to the Federation?

Tianji didn’t even dare to think about it. Now, looking at the situation around him, it was likely not aiming to employ a gentle approach!

"You mean, Chen Qing is under control?" Wang Ye asked.

"Highly likely..." Tianji nodded.

"Who? The King of Qin?"

Tianji gave him a surprised glance, "How did you guess?"

The other person shouldn’t know about cause and effect, so how could he be so accurate?

"Among the people I’ve met, the only ones I see as more formidable than Chen Qing are just two: the Emperor of Great Jin and the legendary King of Qin."

"Oh?" Tianji was taken aback, "You hold the Emperor of Great Jin in high regard."

"It seems like you all underestimate him a bit," Wang Ye said earnestly as he looked at Tianji, "Don’t look down on him. From the moment I met him, I could feel that he is infinitely more formidable than the strongest of us Ancient Worm brothers, and I still believe to this day, he’s much more terrifying than those so-called ancient powers now! "

"Is that so..." Tianji frowned, remembering the kid from the Siao Family. Back then, with the assistance of Dragon Mother, he had backstabbed the King of Qin, a man of ambition.

But it seemed he didn’t know enough about him.

"The King of Qin can fully control Chen Qing?" Wang Ye asked, frowning.

"Highly unlikely..." Tianji shook his head, "If he could, he would have taken possession as soon as Chen Qing got hold of the Divine Path Stream World. He is a man who likes to control everything. An unpredictable factor like Chen Qing is something he loathes the most."

"Really?" Wang Ye smiled upon hearing this, "Then it seems there might still be hope for Chen Qing."

"You care about him a lot?"

"I don’t have many friends..." Wang Ye shook his head, looking around at the many severed limbs and remains. The recent battle was obviously intense—yet overwhelmingly one-sided.

"Isn’t there any power here to stop the King of Qin?" Wang Ye wondered.

With such extensive destruction around, everything lay in ruins. Chen Qing had arrived only a half-hour before them. Could it be that in only such a short time, Chen Qing had dealt with all the resisting forces?

"Normally... there shouldn’t be..." Tianji looked around, activating his talent, calculating fortune and misfortune.

If the Federation hadn’t opened a more powerful Virtual Realm during his thousand-year absence, then the Demonic World... must have been the most intense world. He remembered experts assessing that any ancient player from that world entering Digital City would be like a natural disaster.

Chen Qing’s power now was infinitely close to the Dragon King level, making him almost invincible in this world.

But this did not mean that Digital City had no means of dealing with his power.

First, there was the disassembly program...

Tianji was somewhat curious; unit one should have had a disassembly program, as King of Qin had said that Chen Qing occupied his physical body. The disassembly program should have targeted the spirit, and in theory, the King of Qin should have been branded with it.

Why did he dare to act so rashly?

Wasn’t he afraid something might go wrong?

And then there was this wanton slaughter, using brute force. Didn’t he fear that Digital City would take extreme measures?

He knew well, the control center of Digital City could cut off the energy supply to an area. Without power, any formidable data life form would be nothing but a mirage...

Right, the cutoff!

Tianji’s heart gave a violent leap, as he just then recalled that the Federation had such a lethal thing!

"Let’s go, let’s get out of here first!"

"To where?" Wang Ye asked curiously.

"Anywhere will do, just not here," Tianji said as he looked at Wang Ye. "Can you still track Chen Qing’s traces?"

With eyes closed, Wang Ye sensed and then shook his head: "The Flying Star Seal can only be activated once every seven days. And when I triggered it just now, he must have sensed it. It’ll probably be difficult to track him again."

Tianji nodded slightly upon hearing this. When the Flying Star Seal was activated, it set a coordinate at the current location, which Chen Qing naturally could feel.

But the guy didn’t stay to wait for them, which clearly meant he either didn’t care much about them, or... he knew he couldn’t stay here!

Indeed, in the next instant, an extremely terrifying sense of crisis surged into his heart.

Tianji abruptly looked up at the sky, which was a beautiful and cloudless azure, like a canvas, with no signs of disturbances. Yet, Tianji still felt an unprecedented sense of crisis, more terrible than the most intense storm!

"What’s wrong?" Wang Ye looked around. He, too, felt an ominous premonition rising in his heart but could not detect any figures.

Destiny Hole: Open!

Without any hesitation, Mister Tianji activated his strongest life-saving ace.

Wang Ye who was watching from the side was stunned; he knew well that once Mister Tianji’s Destiny Hole was opened, like his own Flying Star, it couldn’t be used again for another seven days.

So he’s throwing away his trump card so casually?

"Hurry!" Mister Tianji said resolutely, pulling Wang Ye along: "Get in quickly!"

"Is it that serious?"

"Worse than you imagine..." Without hesitation, Tianji took the lead and dove in, and Wang Ye, not daring to neglect, followed suit.

"Aren’t we supposed to be looking for Chen Qing?" Wang Ye frowned. "Using the Destiny Hole, it might be even harder to find him now."

"We need to stay alive first!" Tianji gave him a look. "If we die here, there’s no one we can find. The higher-ups have gone mad, they actually dare to cut off the power here!"

"Cutoff?"

"I can’t explain it to you in detail, but in all likelihood, it’s like when there’s an epidemic in one place, and the Imperial Court decides to burn down that location!"

"Looks like the courts here are pretty ruthless," Wang Ye said with a laugh.

"Which court isn’t ruthless?"

Tianji frowned, activating Destiny Hole and moving rapidly. The direction of Destiny Hole’s transfer wasn’t fixed, he might even be unable to escape the range of the Huaxi District. If the power went out and he hadn’t left this area, he feared he would instantly become a puddle of dead data.

What puzzled him was what the King of Qin was planning to do.

Sensitive as he was, having successfully infiltrated, why resort to violence immediately? That didn’t align with his usually calm demeanor.

What could he get from dying alongside the Federation?