"Damn it!!!"

Lin Xian watched the frantic countdown in his vision and immediately realized he must have guessed correctly—this countdown was indeed related to the black gear. But he didn't understand why there hadn't been such a reaction earlier when he had taken it from Chen Yanxiu and studied it for a while.

48, 47, 46....

The countdown raced backward like a bomb before Lin Xian's eyes, his heartbeat and blood pressure simultaneously skyrocketing!

What to do? It was about to end soon.

What would happen when the countdown reached zero?

Definitely nothing good. If this countdown was connected to the black gear, that meant Chen Yanxiu had likely imposed it on him—and that absolutely couldn't be good news!

Lin Xian's mind raced frantically, his breathing becoming rapid.

44, 43, 42.....

"Why is time accelerating? This doesn't make sense. If it could be accelerated, why didn't Chen Yanxiu use this from the beginning?"

"Did I trigger something?"

Lin Xian's mouth felt parched. He picked up the black gear and brought it close to his eyes, forcing himself to stay calm as he examined the black gear with extreme care.

The black gear wasn't pure black;

it looked more like the color left by long-term fire quenching in some car or device. It had 68 teeth, and the black hue seemed to flow in a peculiar way when stared at, creating a strange sensation.

Lin Xian's mind raced frantically, his breathing becoming rapid.

39, 38, 37....

Time passed second by second, and Lin Xian's tension grew.

"What exactly is it? What did I do?"

"Calm down. There must be something you've overlooked."

Lin Xian took a deep breath, created a stool with his power, sat down, and fell into deep thought while looking at the black gear in his hand.

"If it's Chen Yanxiu's doing, what's his purpose? He said killing me was the Master's mission, but that order was recalled. So his goal isn't to kill me?"

"As the leader of Sacred Revelation, he should have considerable understanding of Forbidden Artifacts. But how did he know about my Flickering Bullet? Or does he have something else on him? Logically, the Flickering Bullet isn't with me, so Sacred Revelation's Forbidden Artifact detector shouldn't be able to find it.."

30, 29, 28

Lin Xian closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, quickly organizing his thoughts.

"Forbidden Artifacts, the Master's power, related to the Oceanic Titan? No."

"The Flickering Bullet—I stored it with Grace using the brain-machine interface. Is it related to Grace?"

"Wait...."

Lin Xian looked up, his gaze shifting as he pondered: "The gamma ray burst!"

"Grace mentioned encountering a gamma ray burst. Is it related to Forbidden Artifacts or some other energy?"

"Why did you suddenly lose connection with Hao Li.."

"Lost connection..."

Lin Xian chewed on these words, his brow slowly furrowing as he suddenly remembered something Chen Yanxiu had said.

【It seems... you're also quite obsessed with the power of Forbidden Artifacts. You should know, these are all... gifts from the Master.】

【We'll meet again, Sword Bearer】

Boom!

Lightning seemed to flash through Lin Xian's mind as a terrifying thought occurred to him.

Chen Yanxiu's goal wasn't to kill him—compared to Lin Xian, he had a higher target.

The Southern Celestial Gate!

"Grace!"

No response.

The Southern Celestial Gate had lost contact!

Lin Xian's heart shuddered, and a chill ran through him.

20, 19, 18......

The Southern Celestial Gate losing contact, him losing contact with Chu Yan—this meant Phoenix Society had also lost connection with the Southern Celestial Gate.

"This is bad...."

Lin Xian had had such concerns before. After all, the power he used to restrain the darkness and become the Sword Bearer essentially relied on the Flickering Bullet Forbidden Artifact from the darkness to break through the Sky Veil Barrier and contact the Southern Celestial Gate. If this power was discovered, this trump card could completely lose its deterrent effect because Lin Xian knew clearly that the power of Forbidden Artifacts didn't belong to humanity.

From last night until now, he hadn't had time to contact Grace. He never expected that after just one night, he would completely lose contact with her.

"No, I can't just wait for death."

Gritting his teeth, Lin Xian focused his mental energy between his eyebrows, attempting to sense the Flickering Bullet.

Complete void.

15, 14, 13......

Lin Xian continued sensing, and gradually, he finally regained a faint connection with the Flickering Bullet. The feeling was extremely subtle, as if separated by a layer of gauze, but Lin Xian knew he still maintained containment of the Flickering Bullet.

"Found it!"

The next moment, Lin Xian's mind raced with countless thoughts. He knew that once transported to the Southern Celestial Gate, his situation would be extremely dangerous. First, he wasn't sure if the Southern Celestial Gate still existed, or what space the Flickering Bullet was in. Even if everything was normal, he would face the impenetrable Sky Veil Barrier. If he couldn't return to the ground, he could only hope there were supplies on the Southern Celestial Gate to prevent him from starving in near-Earth orbit.

But the countdown before him was about to reach zero. Perhaps transporting himself elsewhere was also a way to protect his other teammates?

Thinking this, Lin Xian took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and focused his mental energy between his eyebrows, preparing to complete a near-Earth orbit crossing.

But just two seconds after closing his eyes, Lin Xian slowly opened them again, remaining still in place, his eyes flickering constantly.

"Strange, I'm still containing the Flickering Bullet, so why can't I contact Grace?"

Lin Xian looked down at the black gear in his hand, slightly frowning.

"Grace, can you hear me?"

No response.

10, 9, 8....

Only 10 seconds remaining.

Lin Xian didn't give up, continuing to concentrate and call out.

"Grace."

This time, he raised his voice.

【I'm here.】

A faint voice, as if wrapped in ten layers of cotton cloth, sounded deep in Lin Xian's mind. It wasn't a matter of Grace's tone—rather, this voice, or this connection, was obscured by a thick layer of fog.

Hearing Grace's voice, Lin Xian's heart shook, but he felt no joy at this moment. Instead, he immediately asked:

"Can you contact Chu Yan?"

【Miss Chu Yan sent me a signal through mental link 13 minutes ago trying to contact you. Phoenix Society has important information to convey to you.】

"What information?"

【Phoenix Society's Stellar Center has suffered multiple infiltration attacks recently. Night Stalkers Organization and the North American Joint Front sent reconnaissance teams and discovered that Sanctum Organization is targeting Chu Yan for assassination attempts to stop Phoenix Society's control over the Southern Celestial Gate. However, Phoenix Society's defenses are tight and haven't been significantly affected. Miss Chu Yan asked me to urgently convey Phoenix Society Commander Ye Lan's message: the Southern Celestial Gate's deterrent power has practical significance, not just in terms of ground firepower deterrence, but because it contains some factor that poses a greater threat to the dark civilization.】

"I guessed that, but now I'm also facing trouble and may not have much time...."

【Another piece of information: Phoenix Society has infiltrators within Sanctum who report that Sanctum received some order to eliminate you and Miss Chu Yan. The latest news is that this order has been secretly recalled, but different factions within Sanctum seem not to have executed this new order, so attacks against you may still exist.】

Hearing this, Lin Xian's gaze sharpened as he looked at the black gear in his hand, inexplicably wondering:

"Was this Forbidden Artifact really captured by me?"

.....

Somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, on a large island, a massive metal base complex stood amidst semi-bedrock mountainous terrain, as if some device embedded into the entire island.

Outside this metal complex, countless drones hovered like submerged swarms, automatic machine gun barrels gleaming with cold metal light in their lowered positions, coexisting with holographic screens on the walls displaying flowing genetic chain models. Inside and outside the base, numerous guards in power armor formed strict formations—both men and women—all patrolling in an orderly manner.

A patrol team entered one of the metal-walled buildings, and the interior scenery abruptly changed. Unlike the steel rock walls outside, inside resembled a vast natural forest with moss emerging from metal seams, covering moss potted plants maintained by automatic irrigation systems;

numerous landscaped vegetation and trees interwove, making this place seem like a paradise.

The bright circular room had no desks, no windows, with honeycomb-shaped soundproof materials densely covering the walls. In such an environment, there was no ambient noise—even one's own heartbeat and blood flow could be clearly heard.

The room door opened silently as Chen Yanxiu in casual outerwear slowly entered. After the door closed behind him, even his footsteps disappeared. He looked at the woman standing in the center of the room under the lights, stopping at a distance. Only when the woman slowly opened her eyes from her listening state did he speak.

"Time is almost up."

His voice carried some urgency, but his words produced no echo in this room, appearing extremely flat and eerie.

The woman turned around—short hair, trench coat, stern expression, her gaze carrying a calm yet unfathomable quality.

Hua Xiaoling.

"I've said it before—your methods violate the Master's will. It's completely foolish behavior with no benefits."

Lin Xian had had such concerns before. After all, the power he used to restrain the darkness and become the Sword Bearer essentially relied on the Flickering Bullet Forbidden Artifact from the darkness to break through the Sky Veil Barrier and contact the Southern Celestial Gate. If this power was discovered, this trump card could completely lose its deterrent effect because Lin Xian knew clearly that the power of Forbidden Artifacts didn't belong to humanity.

Chen Yanxiu's gaze darkened: "Only we humans understand human cunning best. The best way to deal with threats to the Master is complete elimination. You'll understand soon how loyal I am to the Master's descent."

Hearing this, Hua Xiaoling smiled slightly and said calmly: "Only humans understand human cunning, but only the Master knows the Master's will. What you perceive as threats might not exist for the Master, but your foolishness will be tangibly real. You want to use a black gear to sever all of Lin Xian's Forbidden Artifacts? Do you think that solves the problem? Or do you think the Southern Celestial Gate is the real threat?"

Chen Yanxiu's eyes flickered as he said coldly: "I understand the Master's will better than you do, and I have my own interpretation. Lin Xian, Sword Bearer, Southern Celestial Gate—the disappearance of any one of these three would have positive effects for the Master's descent. I don't care about your experiments or philosophical approaches. Our Sacred Revelation only focuses on the realm of power."

Hearing this, Hua Xiaoling turned around indifferently: "You underestimate Lin Xian too much, or perhaps you also underestimate Phoenix Society. Chen Yanxiu, the silver pocket watch and black gear are your two major life-saving trump cards, the foundation upon which you built Sacred Revelation. Giving them to Lin Xian like this—aren't you afraid they might not return?"

"Don't worry."

Chen Yanxiu snorted: "The black gear travels through the Star Abyss dimension, but it has one major side effect—without my silver pocket watch coordination, it's practically certain death. I just need to recalibrate the coordinates for containment. In a few minutes, I'll send people to help you retrieve this Sword Bearer's body... oh, or we might not even find it."

"Is that so?"

Hua Xiaoling glanced sideways with a hint of smile: "Then I'll await the good news."

Seeing Hua Xiaoling's reaction, Chen Yanxiu's eyes flashed with anger. He immediately turned and left quickly. After exiting, he took out a strange instrument, his ability fluctuations flickering as the device calibrated a direction. Then he pressed his communicator:

"Team 3, Team 4, depart immediately at dawn!"

After giving instructions, Chen Yanxiu looked back toward the room direction, his gaze gradually turning cold.

"Facing threats without decisiveness—whether human civilization or other civilizations—this kind of foolish behavior ultimately leads to destruction!"

...

This was an unknown sea area where waves were calm and quiet, enveloped in thick sea fog. The Infinite floated half-submerged on the water surface, with the front and rear carriages invisible to each other through the fog. Visibility was extremely low, with only the sound of splashing water audible—quiet yet eerie.

Aboard the Infinite, many people had begun waking up due to vibrations caused by surfacing pressure changes. Under the baptism of incredibly surging evolution dark energy transformed from the regional black chrysanthemum, everyone who had experienced the night's dangers underwent unprecedented evolution. The intense mental impact was so powerful that even Evolvers with extremely strong willpower like Ning Jing, Shu Qin, and Xiao Qing couldn't resist and fell into deep sleep.

Those waking up now variously felt the suddenly enhanced evolutionary power—some were shocked, some hesitant, others unaccustomed.

"Captain Lin."

Ning Jing emerged from her resting room, alert, immediately trying to contact Lin Xian but receiving no response. She happened to encounter Qian Dele, Shu Qin and others coming from the forward carriages.

"Was there no one on watch last night?" Ning Jing immediately asked.

Qian Dele stopped, looking like he'd just woken from a hangover: "That power was too strong, really couldn't resist it. But it seems we were relatively lucky." He checked the time: "Dawn is coming soon, everything's normal."

"Me too—I wanted to tough it out but simply couldn't." Shu Qin also looked self-blaming, then said to Qian Dele: "I feel my spirit value must have increased significantly now."

"My eyes have changed—feel like I can gather greater energy." Luo Yang also expressed surprise.

"What exactly happened? Did we absorb a lot of black energy? Doesn't seem like we eliminated any monsters."

"Related to the Oceanic Titan's hunting." At this moment, Monica and Vanessa approached from behind.

"I just asked—the Falcon Sea Group situation is similar to ours."

She looked at Vanessa: "Your dark energy copper balls seem to have collected quite a bit this time."

Vanessa shrugged, taking out a spirit value detector with a half-smiling expression: "But your train seems to have something more powerful than our dark energy copper balls. Thanks to you, I now have nearly 8000 peak value, though the crystal lattice still needs some adaptation time. At least I'll be able to achieve over 15000 point fluctuations."

"Adaptation?" Qian Dele looked puzzled: "Sounds strange."

Monica however said: "Easy to understand—energy level growth requires evolution of internal crystal density too. Like electrical capacity expansion, right?"

After she finished speaking while looking at Vanessa, Vanessa immediately nodded and looked at her: "Exactly. Seems you already have preparations and plans for the crystal lattice?"

Monica smiled slightly, raising an index finger. After an ability fluctuation, nearly substantial ripples appeared at her fingertip, with faint low humming sounds audible upon careful listening.

Vanessa's gaze sharpened upon seeing this, saying in surprise: "Ability materialization—already touching the Transcendent-class realm."

"Does Phoenix Society set standards this way?" Shu Qin asked.

"Not hard to guess."

Vanessa said directly: "Night Stalkers Organization wouldn't simply use numbers for division either. Definitely when reaching this realm, abilities or ability users undergo some substantial changes. For convenient distinction and grading, such standards are established. Anyway, when our crystal lattice evolution peak approaches around 20,000, we noticed abilities tend in this direction. Phoenix Society using 30,000 as watershed likely has this assessment included."

"You're clearly a gene evolver but can use dark energy slashes for area destruction—does that refer to this materialization?" Ning Jing also asked.

After saying this, Xiao Qing emerged from the rear room, seemingly interested in this topic.

Vanessa nodded: "Pretty much. You should be able to sense something."

Hearing this, Shu Qin looked down and clenched her fist. As she concentrated her mental energy, a vibrating force oscillated around her fist, visibly dissipating. She immediately frowned, feeling incredibly surging power. She had no doubt her current punch could rival artillery power.

Xiao Qing had already realized this, while Vanessa said directly: "Still needs some breakthrough. Usually around 12,000-13,000, control over dark energy becomes very clear. Of course, this varies by individual."

"What about Captain Lin?" Lü Chang now spoke with some regret: "I had many dreams last night, don't know what happened. Seems like dawn is coming—should we.."

"Captain Lin." Ning Jing immediately pressed her communicator.

After a while, no response. Shu Qin frowned and contacted Chen Sixuan: "Captain Chen?"

Everyone exchanged glances, immediately understanding each other tacitly, all quickly heading toward the forward carriages.

In Carriage 5, Daluo and Takahashi Ryunosuke had just woken up. Seeing the group approaching hurriedly, they immediately sensed something wrong.

"What's happening?"

"Did Captain Lin leave the cabin?"

"I don't know." Daluo responded.

Ning Jing immediately said: "Wake up Fire Bro and the others. Dawn is coming soon—we need to prepare for dispersed deployment."

"Okay!"

Everyone immediately acted. When they reached the Tianxing 5C nuclear power carriage before the cockpit, they found KIKI standing at the cockpit door, her expression somewhat strange.

"KIKI."

"Wait, everyone stay back!" KIKI shouted, raising her hand to stop the approaching group.

【Phoenix Society's Stellar Center has suffered multiple infiltration attacks recently. Night Stalkers Organization and the North American Joint Front sent reconnaissance teams and discovered that Sanctum Organization is targeting Chu Yan for assassination attempts to stop Phoenix Society's control over the Southern Celestial Gate. However, Phoenix Society's defenses are tight and haven't been significantly affected. Miss Chu Yan asked me to urgently convey Phoenix Society Commander Ye Lan's message: the Southern Celestial Gate's deterrent power has practical significance, not just in terms of ground firepower deterrence, but because it contains some factor that poses a greater threat to the dark civilization.】

"What happened?!" Ning Jing immediately asked.

KIKI looked at this scene with extreme anxiety, not turning her head as she said: "Don't know, might be dangerous. Everyone be careful."

Then she remembered something, turning back to shout:

【Another piece of information: Phoenix Society has infiltrators within Sanctum who report that Sanctum received some order to eliminate you and Miss Chu Yan. The latest news is that this order has been secretly recalled, but different factions within Sanctum seem not to have executed this new order, so attacks against you may still exist.】

"Wasn't she taking care of Captain Lin here last night?" Monica said.

"She's here."

Click. The door to rear Carriage 1 opened as Chen Sixuan and Shiori emerged from the bedroom one after another. Both had just woken up, ignoring their physical changes, rushing out upon hearing the commotion outside.

"Shiori." KIKI immediately called to Shiori: "Quick, help Lin Xian! See what he's encountered!"

Shiori looked somewhat flustered. Hearing this, she walked forward without hesitation, but was grabbed by the shoulder by KIKI.

"Don't get close—stay at this distance."

Shiori nodded, immediately flusteredly using her ability. But the pale green healing energy instantly faded and dissipated within half a meter of Lin Xian, as if rapidly devoured by something.

"Ah!"

Shiori jumped in fright: "Doesn't seem to work."

"What did Captain Lin encounter?" Shu Qin urgently asked.

KIKI shook her head: "Don't know. He might be locked by some kind of force."

A patrol team entered one of the metal-walled buildings, and the interior scenery abruptly changed. Unlike the steel rock walls outside, inside resembled a vast natural forest with moss emerging from metal seams, covering moss potted plants maintained by automatic irrigation systems;

numerous landscaped vegetation and trees interwove, making this place seem like a paradise.

KIKI felt burning with anxiety, only able to watch helplessly.

Just as everyone felt both bewildered and eerie, a faint energy burst occurred, and Lin Xian suddenly recovered from his stasis.

"Lin Xian!" KIKI suddenly turned around.

The room door opened silently as Chen Yanxiu in casual outerwear slowly entered. After the door closed behind him, even his footsteps disappeared. He looked at the woman standing in the center of the room under the lights, stopping at a distance. Only when the woman slowly opened her eyes from her listening state did he speak.

"Captain Lin."

"Lin Xian!"

Lin Xian didn't speak. His lips moved slightly—the numbers before his eyes showed only final seconds remaining.

He immediately took out that black gear, then looked through the porthole at the black sea outside. The next moment, accompanied by jump energy fluctuations and airwave flickering, his entire person directly disappeared from the cockpit!