The electronic screen in the conference room had just turned off when Lin Yi's combat boots slammed heavily onto the ground.
As he stood up, supporting himself on the edge of the table with one hand, the red light on his tactical wristwatch lit up—seventeen minutes before the scheduled start time of the exercise.
"Long Wu, take your Dragon Guard squad to Sector B to warm up the crowd." His voice was like metal tempered by ice, his knuckles tapping lightly on the table as he swept over everyone. "Chu Yao, synchronize the cooperative combat template updated last night to all terminals."
Long Wu slapped his genuine leather tactical glove against his chest with a dull thud: "Alright!"
My lads have been itching for a fight for ages. They'll get their revenge for being tricked by the Shadow-Eating Insects last time in the training ground! As he turned around, the dragon scale armor shimmered with golden patterns under the lights, creating a gust of wind that made the holographic tablet of the technician next to him sway.
Chu Yao's hair brushed against the terminal console, and her fingertips flew across the virtual keyboard at a speed almost imperceptible to the naked eye.
When she looked up, a warm golden data stream appeared in her originally deep blue pupils: "The template has been synchronized. The Ancient Martial Arts Group of the Reality Alliance and the Space Sorcerer of the Resistance Army are connecting to the neural interface."
"Commander, the 'Dynamic Coordination Monitoring System' you requested..." She paused, her ears slightly reddening, "has been loaded."
Lin Yi's gaze swept across the holographic sand table, where the flashing red dots were converging at a visible speed.
He could hear the sound of orderly footsteps coming from outside the corridor. It was the elite of the Time Legion running and assembling from the dormitory area—their combat uniforms still carried a faint ozone smell, as if they had just been taken out of a nano-washing machine.
"Let's go." He walked towards the door first, his tactical cloak billowing sharply behind him.
The training ground is an abandoned military base in the suburbs, with rust-covered metal walls, but the energy barrier in the center glows with a faint blue light in the morning.
When Lin Yi climbed the observation tower, the open space below was already boiling like a lake surface after a stone was thrown in.
Long Wu's roar was the first to explode: "Dragon Guard Team One, form the Scale Armor Formation!"
Second team, get the 'Sky-Splitting Cannon' on the roof of Building 3! "A ferocious dragon-shaped pattern bulged on his back, and fine golden scales began to seep from his skin. His original height of 1.9 meters instantly increased by 30 centimeters, and even his combat boots pressed into the ground with spider web-like cracks.
"Dragon's Breath, prepare—" With his shout, all five team members raised their hands simultaneously.
The flames that gathered in their palms originally had different attributes: crimson, dark blue, black green, silver, and dark gold, but under the dragon's might, they began to slowly merge.
When the fireball, imbued with the power of the five elements, slammed into the simulated target, the glass of the observation tower vibrated and hummed.
"Good lad!" The ancient martial arts elder of the Reality Alliance slapped the railing and laughed, "Last time you were fighting separately, but today you actually managed to combine flames with conflicting attributes into one!"
"This level of cooperation..." He turned to look at the monitoring screen that Chu Yao had brought up, his pupils suddenly contracting, "92%?"
It's a full twenty points higher than last week!
Chu Yao's fingers traced afterimages on the control panel: "The neural synchronization rate of the Dragon Guard Squad has been increased to 87%, and the skill amplification of Long Wu's bloodline pressure on teammates has jumped from 30% to 55%."
"Commander, look at this—" She pulled up a slow-motion video. The instant Long Wu threw his punch, three spatial sorcerers simultaneously opened portals, precisely guiding his punch to the bullseye's weak point. "This was a tactical coordination they spontaneously adjusted, not following a pre-set template."
Lin Yi's thumb unconsciously rubbed the edge of the tactical watch.
He could see the beads of sweat on Long Wu's forehead reflecting golden light in the sunlight, and he could hear the short commands mixed in with the heavy breathing of his teammates: "Left three! Cover! I'll tank the damage!" These voices were like dancing musical notes, weaving an increasingly tight battle net.
"Mr. Ying, how are things on your end?" He turned to look at the dark figure in the shadows.
The law enforcers of the advanced civilization maintained their human form, but the tips of their hair still shimmered with tiny starlight, traces of leaked energy from another dimension.
The shadowy figure closed its eyes, its fingertips lightly touching the air in front of it, as if it were touching some invisible pattern.
Suddenly, his silver pupils snapped open: "Southeast, 17.3 kilometers from the main battlefield, 120 meters underground." He raised his hand and drew a light trail, immediately marking a dark red area on the holographic sand table. "There are traces of spatial folds there. The Night Owl's Shadow Erosion swarm is adept at using this kind of terrain for ambushes—they started setting up three days ago, and should be 70% complete by now."
A sudden hissing sound filled the observation tower.
The old martial arts elder's beard trembled: "120 meters?"
"Our ground-penetrating radar couldn't detect it!" The resistance leader gripped his extradimensional weapon at his waist, the runes on the barrel pulsating with excitement. "Mr. Shadow, can you determine the size of the swarm?"
"A conservative estimate is 30,000." The shadowy voice was like a glacier shattering. "But they can multiply rapidly through the Shadow Corrosion Network. If they are allowed to hatch..." He didn't finish, but everyone remembered the armored vehicle that had been devoured to the bone by the swarm of insects last time—those metals were more fragile than paper under the insects' jaws.
"Chu Yao, immediately mark this area as Level 1 alert." Lin Yi's voice was as steady as a mountain rock. "The Reality Alliance will send three groups of sound-based sounders to pinpoint the location of the insect hive; the Resistance will prepare shadow energy jammers to disrupt their network connections; the Dragon Guard squad..." He glanced at Long Wu, who was still throwing punches on the training field, high-fiving his teammates. The golden scales shimmered in the sunlight, almost blinding. "Keep him as a mobile force, ready to breach the insect hive at any time."
The orders exploded like water droplets thrown into a pot of oil.
But just as everyone was accepting their orders, a soft panting sound suddenly came from the corner of the observation tower.
Su Qing's fingers gripped the jade necklace tightly against her chest; it was an antique that Lin Yi had found for her in the other-dimensional ruins.
Her face was as white as snow, fine beads of sweat appeared on her forehead, and a misty light appeared in her usually clear eyes: "Someone... is watching us."
Everyone froze in their tracks.
"The exact location?" Lin Yi took a step in front of her, his hand lightly protecting her back, the spacetime power gathered in his palm ready to be activated at any moment.
Su Qing's eyelashes trembled violently, and the jade on her necklace suddenly emitted a ghostly green light.
When she raised her head, a faint starlight flashed in her eyes, a phenomenon that only appeared when she used her special abilities: "Not human... or rather, not an 'existence' as we know it."
"It..." Her Adam's apple bobbed. "It exists in the cracks of time, like watching a play that has already been performed."
The temperature inside the observation tower seemed to have dropped by ten degrees.
The black figure's star-like hair suddenly snapped into spikes, a sign of his intense emotional turmoil: "Is he an observer from an advanced civilization?"
But their access had long been taken over by the mastermind...
"No." Su Qing shook her head, the green light of the jade climbing up her arm from her fingertips, "Older than the Observer."
Like...like time itself is gazing upon us.
Lin Yi's pupils contracted slightly.
He recalled the phantom he had seen in the spacetime rift three days ago, and the part of Su Qing's background that had always been vague.
He grasped her icy hand, slowly channeling his power into it: "Can you pinpoint its location?"
Su Qing closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, the jade suddenly emitted a dazzling light.
Everyone instinctively raised their hands to shield their eyes, and when their vision returned, a fine crack had appeared in the jade pendant around her neck.
"It's gone." Her voice was as soft as a sigh, "But it left behind..." She touched behind her ear, where a pale gold mark had appeared unnoticed, "A warning."
The atmosphere inside the observation tower instantly froze.
Long Wu's dragon scale battle suit made a soft rustling sound. He strode over and placed his hand on Su Qing's other shoulder: "Xiao Qing, don't be afraid."
With me here, I'll hold the sky up for you even if it falls.
Chu Yao's terminal suddenly beeped. She quickly scanned the data stream, and when she looked up, worry flashed in her eyes: "Commander, all monitoring devices experienced a 0.3-second time malfunction just now—which perfectly matches the time when Su Qing sensed the mysterious power."
Lin Yi gently stroked Su Qing's hand with his thumb.
He could feel the trembling in her fingertips subsiding, but the pale golden mark was like red-hot iron, leaving a mark on his retina.
He looked up at the training ground. The team members were still working together with full concentration, but there was a tension in the air, like a fully drawn bowstring.
"Continue the drill." His voice remained calm, but those present could sense the underlying sharpness. "Raise the coordination level by another five points." He turned to the shadowy figure, "Mr. Shadow, could you and Su Qing analyze that mark together?" He then looked at Chu Yao, "Strengthen time monitoring across the entire area; any abnormal fluctuations must be reported immediately."
The group accepted the order and left.
Before leaving, Long Wu patted Lin Yi on the shoulder, the golden scales rustling against his tactical cloak: "Don't worry, our brothers are the toughest to handle."
When Lin Yi was the only one left in the observation tower, he leaned on the railing and looked out at the training ground.
Sunlight shines through the energy barrier, casting dappled shadows on the ground.
The shouts of the team members, the roar of weapons, and the explosions of energy collisions intertwined to form a stirring battle song.
But amidst the hustle and bustle, he could clearly feel the gaze from the crack in time, like a thin needle pricking the back of his neck.
"Su Qing's senses..." he murmured softly, his fingers unconsciously tracing the tactical wristwatch engraved with the exclusive emblem of the Time-Space Dominator. "Could it be related to Xuan Mingzi's disappearance?"
Just as he was lost in thought, a faint breeze blew from behind him.
The wind carried a familiar sandalwood scent, the kind of incense Xuanmingzi often used.
Lin Yi turned around abruptly, only to see the shadow in the corner of the observation tower swaying slightly, as if someone had just left there.
He narrowed his eyes, and the power of spacetime condensed into a pale purple ball of light in his palm.
But the shadow quickly returned to calm, as if it had never moved at all.
"It seems..." he murmured, his gaze drifting to the distant sky where several dark clouds were gathering. "The rain before the decisive battle is coming."
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