The hum of the transport vehicle's hovering engine suddenly became sharp and piercing at the edge of the atmosphere.
Inside the cockpit, Long Wu slammed his hand heavily on the control panel, causing his tactical helmet to slide down to his nose: "Damn it! The spatial anchor point has shifted again!" On the holographic map, the transport route, which should have been extending steadily, suddenly twisted into a mess. The three transport vehicles at the forefront were being pulled into deep space by some invisible force. The "Heart of Titan" sealed in the cargo hold glowed with a ghostly blue light and emitted a dangerous hum under the gravitational pull.
The alarm in the command center was almost piercing our eardrums.
Lin Yi stood in front of the central control console, his knuckles turning white from the force—he had just received real-time data from Chu Yao: the "dimensional lock" set up by the advanced civilization was blocking the transportation channels at a rate of 17% per second. At this rate, all supplies would be compressed into an atomic state within twenty minutes.
"Chu Yao, confirm the source of the interference!" His voice was two octaves lower than usual, and his Adam's apple bobbed as he spoke, revealing a barely perceptible tension.
“Located.” The mechanical female voice was unusually tinged with electrical noise. Chu Yao’s virtual projection flickered on the data screen, the blue light at the tips of her hair flashing. “They are seven high-dimensional energy nodes, distributed at the gravitational equilibrium points of the transport route. They are… using our physical rules as weapons.”
The communication channel erupted with gasps of surprise.
The squad leader in charge of the escort said in a trembling voice, "Boss, the protective shield on the third vehicle is about to give way! Those things are like living things, gnawing at the alloy armor!"
Lin Yi's pupils contracted slightly.
He recalled what Xuanmingzi had said three days ago—advanced civilizations would not give them a chance to breathe.
His fingers unconsciously rubbed the Time and Space Badge on his wrist, the core mark of the [Time and Space Master] profession, which was now slightly warm with his heartbeat.
"Activate the faith link." He suddenly spoke, his voice not loud, but it struck everyone's eardrums like a heavy hammer.
The command center fell silent instantly.
Long Wu turned his head sharply, his goggles slipping down to the tip of his nose without him even bothering to push them back up: "Are you serious? We've only tried that thing three times, and last time we almost burned through the teleportation array in the newbie village!"
Whitebeard was bending over to inspect the unfinished equipment on the workbench, his calloused hands frozen in mid-air.
When he looked up, his eyes behind his reading glasses shone with an astonishing light: "Young friend, the faith link requires synchronized resonance from all those who have changed jobs; the slightest mishap..."
“I know the risks.” Lin Yi interrupted him, his gaze sweeping over the countdown timer flashing on the holographic screen—18 minutes and 32 seconds.
He recalled the scene he had seen three days earlier in the spacetime rift: on Mother Nest, countless transparent tentacles were piercing through the atmosphere, each one powerful enough to crush a city.
The supplies they possess are their only bargaining chip against those tentacles, "but we don't have time to wait. Advanced civilizations want complete annihilation; they won't give us a second chance."
The sound of breathing could be heard coming from the communication channel.
Some swallowed hard, some gripped their weapons tightly, and many more remained silent, their gazes fixed on the command center—where their leader was.
"Chu Yao, synchronize the link protocol." Lin Yi's finger pressed the red button on the console. "Send mental guidance waves to all job changers, tune the frequency to the 'Hope' resonance segment."
"Ready." Chu Yao's projection suddenly materialized, standing beside Lin Yi, a stream of pale blue data flowing from her fingertips into the control panel. "It should be noted that there are currently [number] job changers online across the entire alliance, of whom 38% are severely injured and 11% have mental strength below the critical threshold—"
"Execute." Lin Yi interrupted her and pressed the button.
The invisible fluctuations spread across the globe in an instant.
The medic bandaging his wounds, the sniper guarding the fortifications, and even the newbie player doing quests in the starting village all felt a heat rising between their brows.
They instinctively closed their eyes, and the same image appeared before them: a boy standing in front of a spacetime rift, holding a scythe that could tear dimensions in his left hand and a spacetime hourglass that shimmered with starlight in his right, with all the figures fighting side by side behind him.
"Faith Link Activated—" Chu Yao's voice echoed in everyone's consciousness, "Target: Transportation Route, Energy Requirement: 10^9 Joules/second."
Long Wu was the first to react.
He unbuttoned the tactical clasp at his collar, revealing a ferocious dragon tattoo on his chest—a mark left when his true dragon bloodline awakened, now glowing with a blood-red light.
He tilted his head back and let out a low growl, the sound so loud it made the cockpit windows rattle: "Brothers! Let those bastards see that we Earthlings aren't sieves!"
Whitebeard tucked the last, forged dagger into his belt and placed his wrinkled hand on the teleportation array on the workbench.
He closed his eyes, and memories of his time as an apprentice in the forging guild when he was young suddenly flooded back—back then he always thought that "faith" was a story made up by old craftsmen. But today, he could clearly feel countless streams of spiritual energy, some strong and some weak, flowing into his body along the patterns of the teleportation array, like streams flowing into rivers.
"They're here!" the team member in charge of observation suddenly shouted.
On the holographic screen in the command center, the originally dark transport route began to glow with golden light.
The light mist initially resembled scattered dandelion seeds, but quickly coalesced into a torrent, each wisp carrying a different color: the fiery red of warriors, the ghostly blue of mages, the dark purple of assassins, the warm orange of support classes… and finally merging into a dazzling golden light that made all advanced civilizations tremble.
The transport vehicle, being pulled into deep space, suddenly stopped.
Long Wu gripped the control lever tightly, and could clearly feel two invisible hands supporting the vehicle.
He stared at the wildly fluctuating energy levels on the dashboard, then suddenly burst out laughing: "Damn! Their dimensional locks are melting! Those rubbish are like candles meeting a flame!"
"The transport route has been restored to 87% clearness." Chu Yao's voice finally returned to normal, and the red alerts on the data screen began to disappear one by one. "It is expected to be fully cleared in three minutes."
The white-bearded man opened his eyes, and fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.
He looked out the window and saw countless points of light converging above the city skyline, like a meteor shower defying gravity.
The old craftsman wiped his eyes with his sleeve, his throat tightening: "My master once said that the best equipment is not metal or magic, but the human heart. Only today do I truly understand."
Cheers erupted in the command center.
Some patted their teammates on the back, some waved their weapons in the air, and Long Wu even threw his tactical helmet onto the ceiling. The sound of metal clashing mingled with laughter.
But Lin Yi did not laugh.
He stared in the direction of Xuanmingzi—the old man who always wore a dark green Taoist robe was standing with his back to everyone in front of the French windows, the hem of his robe moving without wind.
"Senior Xuanming?" Lin Yi walked over, lowering his voice.
Xuan Mingzi slowly turned around, his eyes swirling with complex emotions that Lin Yi had never seen before.
He raised his hand, his palm holding a tiny shard of light that was vibrating at an eerie frequency. "They... had a backup plan."
The cheers in the command center came to an abrupt halt.
“These are remnants of higher-dimensional energy.” Xuan Mingzi spread his hands, and the light fragments instantly dissipated into the air. “It wasn’t accidental damage, nor was it an oversight. They deliberately let us break through the first barrier so that we…” His gaze swept over the restarted transport convoy, “…would lower our guard.”
A chill ran down Lin Yi's neck.
He recalled the enormous shadow that had enveloped Mother Nest Star three days ago in the spacetime rift—at this moment, that shadow seemed to be giving him a cold laugh through Xuan Mingzi's eyes.
"Notify all transport teams to raise the alert level to the highest." Lin Yi turned and walked towards the control panel, his voice as steady as words carved in stone. "Chu Yao, add a layer of mental protection to the equipment of each team member. Long Wu, you personally escort the last trip—"
"Boss!" Long Wu interrupted him, his goggles already back on, his eyes shining brightly. "No matter what tricks they have up their sleeves, we'll take them! That wave of faith power just now, I feel like it could have cratered the moon!"
The white-bearded man walked over and shoved a newly forged longsword into Lin Yi's hand.
The blade hummed, as if echoing Long Wu's words: "Young friend, my master once said that when forging the most powerful weapon, you must throw three things into the furnace—sweat, blood, and an unyielding soul. Today, our souls are sharper than any weapon."
Lin Yi gripped the hilt of his sword tightly.
The heat of the sword traveled through his palm to his heart. He could feel the spiritual energy that had gathered in the bond of faith flowing into his body through the blade, like a fire that would never be extinguished.
Outside the window, the last batch of transport vehicles is cutting through the clouds and heading into deep space.
In the far reaches of the universe, a being shrouded in darkness slowly opened its eyes.
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