/*unedited*/

Captain James's team is swamped with hundreds of bloodthirsty ghouls as they tried to fend them off with all their might while escaping. Bearing the brunt of the attack for his team, Captain James receives grievous wounds on his body. Plus he exerted too much of his energy that he suddenly felt weak. Then he didn't remember what happened next, the only thing that he saw when waking up is the interior of the V05-Banshee and the figure of his teammates with wounds all over their bodies.

Then he saw the figure of Slick sitting on the side. When Captain James saw this he heaves a sigh of relief. He wanted to ask some questions but his exhaustion made him fell silent and just rested. He also noticed that the aircraft seem to be flying unstably and then he pa.s.sed out.

When he woke up he is already inside a white room with medical instruments monitoring his vitals.

He didn't know what happened back then and his mind is in confusion. But then he saw a woman sitting beside him with her head resting on the bed.

"Owl…" he muttered.

Captain James's eyes turned gentle upon seeing the young woman. He slowly lifted his seemingly heavy right hand and slowly caressed the woman's soft and silky hair.

His action woke Owl in her slumber as she immediately lifted her head. When she saw his eyes, the two had a tacit understanding as tears that had already stopped falling a while ago once again flowed non-stop. Then she immediately leans forward and gave him a soft kiss to his lips.

Their lips intertwined not wanting to separate. It was as if they have not seen each other for a long time.

After a while, the two separate as Owl pouted her cute little lips.

"Why were you so thoughtless… Do you know how worried I was? I could have lost you…" she suddenly said with her trembling voice.

"I know… I know… I'm sorry. It would never happen again."

"How many times did you tell me that? You… you…" Owl said while sulking helplessly at the man she loves.

"Hey, as long as you're here I know I won't be in danger… Hehe…" Captain James shamelessly grinned.

Seeing the man already able to joke around, Owl heaves a sigh of relief. What he said is true. As long as he has a sliver of breath on him she would be able to save him no matter what.

While the two are talking to each other, Slick and the others are giving their report to the commander in charge of their mission.

…

The next day

Mary Anderson and s.h.i.+n Jiao along with the chief of staff Bill Housely and the rest of the people in command are inside the meeting room.

"Mr. Jiao, we have already discussed the situation and we agreed to your proposal to close the gate. But… we have a condition. If you are to enter the portal, we want a few of our navy seals and some scientists to go with you." A general said.

s.h.i.+n Jiao sat there while thinking for a while and then turn his head towards the people on the long table.

"Okay, I agree… But if they became my burden, I will leave them behind. I will not be responsible for their well-being because, in this task, the fate of the world is at hand. I will not sacrifice the lives of the few for the lives of millions of people." s.h.i.+n Jiao said with a stern voice.

When the people in the room heard his words they all look at each other.

Then one of the men who look like a scientist raised his hand.

"Umm… sir… Mr. Jiao, sir… I will be a part of the team coming in with you. We just wanted to take some samples of the floras in that place."

"Sigh… if that is your goal, then I will give you a window of 30 minutes. After that, the portal will be closed. As I see it from the pictures, this portal has been forcefully opened on the other side. I don't know what their purpose is, but I'm guessing that this is just a trial gate to open a dimension." s.h.i.+n Jiao said in contemplation.

"What do you mean trial gate?" Mary on the side asked.

"You see as far as I can remember. Only mages can create dimensional gates… I'm not so sure why I know that, but that is how I was able to go to that world."

When Mary heard his words, her eyes lit up.

"You mean…"

"No, with your ability and amount of mana in your body, you cannot create such a gate. I remember the one who opened the gate where I pa.s.s through, dying." s.h.i.+n Jiao said while remembering Gubu.

In this task, he actually has two goals. The first is to close the portal, which is actually very easy for him to do. And the second is to fix the invisible ring on his hand, which is Gubu's ring.

He didn't know why he was able to carry it with him even though the rest of the things he had were all left behind. He learned that he was found naked on an alley and was thought to have been mugged. He was like a newborn infant at that time, weak and feeble with his memories missing.

But now that he recovered part of his memories, he would not waste this chance to go to the other world and try to recall the rest.

Plus he also recalled Cherry Lao, the woman who seems to have partially healed his heart but then broke it again. After that part, he could not remember anything anymore.

s.h.i.+n Jiao thought that if he could only fix the ring he can enter its hidden small world and from there cultivate his heart out and also learn the final parts of Gubu's crafting legacy.

While his mind is contemplating, Mary turned quiet. The people around them also look at the two as they are also thinking of their own plans.

30 minutes is already enough time to learn something from the other world. If they could get a grasp of it, then maybe, they can improve Earth's technology and civilization.

Then suddenly a person wearing a navy camouflage uniform raised her hand. She wore a captain's epaulet on her left chest and wore her hair in a bun. The navy captain looks gorgeous with her beautiful blue eyes and pink lips even though she is not wearing any makeup. She is Amanda Smith, one of the Aides of the navy general.

When she saw the chief of staff signaled her to talk, she immediately stood up.

"Sir, I have a question. If you were able to go to that place, as a normal man, how were you able to survive?" she asked while looking at s.h.i.+n Jiao who was a bit taken by surprise.

s.h.i.+n Jiao looks at Mary and smiled.

"That world is different from ours, right? If you played the game, you have some options to increase your strength. Here in the west, they call it mana." s.h.i.+n Jiao said while signaling for Mary to demonstrate.

When Mary opens her hand, she produces a floating fireball.

Everyone's eyes are glued to the thing floating on her palm. Although they are already aware of it, seeing it first hand, everyone was a bit taken aback.

"In the East, they have the Qi or spirit Qi to be exact."

"You mean the cultivators, right?" a scientist suddenly said with his eyes glowing.

s.h.i.+n Jiao nodded his head.

"So you mean you also have powers?" Captain Amanda Smith asked with a curious gaze.

s.h.i.+n Jiao just gave her a mysterious smile.

The people in the room are also interested in this fact, but with s.h.i.+n Jiao's silence, they are unable to probe further.

"Alright, we don't have any more questions… The operation will commence after 2 days of preparation. Please, be ready by then. Everyone dismissed." General McGrady said.

"Mr. Jiao may I have a word, please…" the chief of staff said.

After everyone went out of the conference room, the only one left inside were, s.h.i.+n Jiao, Mary, the chief of staff and the two people behind him, and General McGrady.

"I just want to know what your plans are after this." Bill Housely asked with a serious expression.

He was told by the president and the rest of the staff to offer s.h.i.+n Jiao whatever they could to make him stay in the US. They have already gathered the information about the young man and what they discovered surprised them.

The youngest head researcher under the Chinese government, the man who spearheaded the research on the now currently famous almost unlimited but safe energy source that would possibly replace nuclear power in a few years, the man who discovered the rune technology, and now the sole creator of the virtual world.

With his accomplishments, he would have been a famous and recognized man if he is in the US. However, he was hidden from the world for an unknown reason. Hence, if they can pouch him, then the country or even the world would truly benefit greatly.

"I will return to China and continue our business. Don't worry, sir. I will do all I can to keep this planet safe." s.h.i.+n Jiao said and left a promise.

When he was about to get up, the chief of staff said.

"Wait, my country is willing to offer you and your companion's citizens.h.i.+p. Plus the government will support your company and future endeavors. This includes your research, protection, safety, and living condition… What do you say?"

"Hmm… tempting… Let me think about it, sir. But I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart. As I said, no matter what happened, I will try to protect this world and you don't have to worry about anything else." s.h.i.+n Jiao said as he extended his hand to shake the chief of staff.

The two shook hands as the meeting concluded.

While walking on the hallway, Mary who showed a bit of reluctance in her eyes suddenly cleared her throat.

"Umm… s.h.i.+n… I know that you knew about mana and runes. Are you also able to fix them?" she asked shyly.

She didn't want to show that she is taking advantage of s.h.i.+n Jiao's kindness and friends.h.i.+p. But no matter how hard she thought about it there is no other way, if she needed s.h.i.+n Jiao's help, she would need to pull herself together and ask him straightforwardly.

Upon hearing her words, s.h.i.+n Jiao showed a smile on his handsome face.

Although Mary knew that s.h.i.+n Jiao already had two women beside him, she could not help but blush upon seeing his handsome face.

"I thought you would never ask… As our friend, you have been with us through many troublesome encounters. If you need my help, just ask, okay?" s.h.i.+n Jiao said while patting her shoulder gently.

This gentle action from s.h.i.+n Jiao sends Gooseb.u.mps on her skin. She didn't know why her heart is racing as a tinge of a blush crept on her face, but s.h.i.+n Jiao didn't notice this as the two walked out of the area.

In one of the rooms of the military base

A man lying on a bed with a headset on his head slowly had his mouth turned crescent into a smile. His expression had a sinister look as he slowly licks his lips with his long reptile-like tongue.

"Hihi… so that was your plan. I wonder what's on the other side." He muttered as a grin appears on his face.

The man is Slick, who seems to have installed a listening device to the room covertly. With his ability, he can come and go to any place and is a perfect spy.

n.o.body expected that a snake has already entered the base, right under their noses.