It was cold during winter, but a warm spot persisted on the top of a mountain in Heavenly Star City.

Xiang Ning was hugging Fang Rou there as they sat in a gazebo. Both of them were admiring the city skyline. Fang Rou looked like a dumpling in Xiang Ning’s embrace, her white hands cupping her mouth and her face red. She thought of what they had just done and her body turned to mush once again.

As for Xiang Ning, he was resting his chin on her head. While the winter wind was cold, it wasn’t an issue for a tier four martial artist like him.

“Xiang Ning, after we graduate, where do you want to go?” Fang Rou asked as she looked at the city.

“Hmm.…” Xiang Ning recalled the university located in the Magic City that Dong Qianyi had previously mentioned in the Chaos. It contained the world’s most sophisticated and advanced equipment, a bona fide city of technology. The Chaos, one of the world’s top ten battleships, sourced sixty percent of its e-crystal from Magic City. If he hadn’t encountered Fang Rou, he would have considered enrolling in that university. But now.…

“I don’t know. What about you?”

“Lingwu Academy. It’s a new academy, so its rank is still very low, but the requirement to enroll is very strict. That’s because they focus on the research of astronomy, space travel, and mechs,” Fang Rou sighed as she continued admiring the view of Heavenly Star City.

Xiang Ning was thinking about it when he suddenly remembered the exploration mode of the battle net. What was the true reason the special class had been introduced? While the evolution and mutation of the beasts was fast, it wasn’t so fast that they could endanger their lives in the city. Most of the weapons humanity had invented should be more than enough to repel the beasts.

He thought about the message he had heard when he was in exploration mode—it wasn’t in the voice of the system. Xiang Ning had the Language Proficiency skill, so he more or less understood what the message was even though it was garbled. Additionally, the Fury Points he received were real.

To be able to obtain Fury Points meant his opponents must be living beings. How could he obtain Fury Points from simulations? The thought of it plagued his heart as he more or less guessed what was going on, even though he didn’t want to come to a conclusion with so little evidence. If what he was thinking was correct, his perspective would be completely upended.

“Yeah,” Xiang Ning answered her. Their time was still long, and anything could happen. “Let’s go.” He took her hands as the wind grew stronger on the mountain. It wasn’t suitable to stay there any longer.

Fang Rou followed him back down the mountain.

......

Unbeknownst to them, their next destination, Hang City, was on high alert. The border fortresses raised the alarm as the commander was observing the screen. His gaze was hard. Shit, why aren’t these damned beasts resting during the winter? “How’s the situation?”

“Reporting in, commander! A large number of beasts are gathering ten kilometers away. Their density has reached a critical point. If this goes on, there’s a thirty percent chance of a stampede!”

“What if the situation persists for three days?”

“That means a Beast King is behind this,” his assistant answered.

“This is strange. It’s been years since the last stampede. How could the Beast King not know of their previous defeat?” The commander was puzzled.

“Commander, what should we do?”“Report this to the city lord and prepare for battle.”

......

As for Xiang Ning, he had just woken up with Fang Rou when he received a message from Marsh City.

“Xiang Ning, find someplace empty. We need to talk.”

He looked at his surroundings before quickly going up to the roof of the hotel and locking the door. “Master, go ahead.”

“While we were testing the strength of the dimension between Earth and space, we detected a dimensional ripple lasting for two seconds!”

“A dimensional ripple?”

“That’s right. A dimensional ripple appears after space is torn between two locations. While it was short, it was verified. There are many things you still don’t know. I’m afraid I can’t explain now. We will be contacting each other a lot for now. Hang City might be in danger,” Dong Qianyi explained.

Xiang Ning was confused. What was Dong Qianyi trying to say? A rift in space was formed when a large amount of energy collided with a single point in space and tore it apart, forming a short-term gate to the other side. How could something like that appear on Earth?

“Master, did something come out from the dimensional rift?” Xiang Ning needed to confirm it.

“If our reading is correct, then yes.”

Xiang Ning felt his world turned upside down. What entity would be capable of traveling through the dimensional rift? There were two possibilities—either a god or an advanced civilization.

The second answer was more plausible, but the method for the dimensional travel technology was still being researched on both Earth and Azura. Unless… Dong Qianyi had mentioned that there were still many things he didn’t know about. Maybe, just maybe, extraterrestrial beings existed?

Xiang Ning remembered what he suspected in the exploration mode. Wait, were we piloting real mechs to fight against real extraterrestrial beings?

“Don’t worry. All of the experts from China are gathering at Hang City, so it should be safe. Just try to adapt later on. I was originally thinking of not letting you learn so many things at once.”

“Master.…” The words were caught in his throat and the moment stretched on as he smiled. He felt that he was finally worthy. He’d never had the qualifications to know about these kinds of things before. “Master, just let me know what I need to do later on.”

“Sure.” Dong Qianyi was slightly taken aback.

Xiang Ning hung up as the wind caressed his face. He turned and looked toward the sky. “What kind of secrets are you holding?” It had been a simple conversation, but his heart was already racing. He wanted to explore what Dong Qianyi had said. Are there aliens? What was within the boundaries of space?

Xiang Ning was highly intrigued. His path had slowly deviated without him realizing it, becoming one that was filled with endless possibilities. He was mesmerized; what would his future hold?

Aliens confirmed!