At the power-supply highlands, after pushing through the power station's internal mechanisms, the trio finally met the person who had been sending the contact signal.
"…Before the hyperdomain rift appeared, our Guild carried out a professional purge against the Riftlanders. If it weren't for that, we probably wouldn't even have been able to reach you this time."
The speaker was a middle-aged man in sunglasses, his face severe and his tone restrained. But the moment he truly saw the Little Penguin at Perica's side, he froze for a beat—then quickly recovered.
"I remember the reason for that sweep. It was because when Eyldera and Bai Ling landed, they ran into a stealthy Riftlander vanguard squad."
Perica remembered that incident. Back on the Dijiang, she had seen Qin Jiangchi's message—but her attention was immediately dragged away by the later hyperdomain energy anomaly.
Looking at things now, the current state of No. 4 Valley had likely been arranged long in advance.
The Riftlanders—or rather, Nephis—had been setting up what she wanted to do with the hyperdomain rift in No. 4 Valley from early on: destroying roads at the valley fortress, then opening the hyperdomain rift at the hyperdomain proving ground.
Everything happened too fast.
So fast it barely gave anyone time to react.
Fortunately, even though it was sudden, a certain Operator—along with some unknown person she'd picked up from who-knew-where—had done an absurd amount of work.
What should have been an endlessly dire situation had been softened… at least a little.
"Let's keep it brief. We don't have much time. Since Endfield's people can get in, then please take the survivors and leave. I'm an old man—my legs don't work anymore—so I'll do what I can."
At that, Krau finally smiled. He tilted his head, looking up through the factory's vent opening toward the unbelievably murky sky outside.
"Like taking that thing with you."
"…Taking it?" Chen Qianyu blurted, instinctively thinking she'd misheard.
But she immediately realized—he wasn't joking. He was truly considering it.
"The explosion from a power-station self-destruct is enough to flatten the entire power-supply highlands. Naturally, that includes the hyperdomain test site where the rift was born."
"…What?"
Perica's expression tightened. "As for the hyperdomain rift… we may have other ways to solve it."
She stepped aside slightly. Behind her, Tata sat quietly to one side.
The moment Krau saw it, a trace of relief surfaced on his face.
"If it's that… then maybe you really can solve this. Try first. But if anything changes, leave immediately with everyone you have and get out of the power-supply highlands."
"The road to the hyperdomain proving ground is crawling with Riftlanders—and there's also a nest-sculptor. There used to be several, but because of that earlier purge, this one was only built in a hurry."
With that, Krau turned away and threw himself back into organizing the current work.
The trio nodded, then headed outside.
Elsewhere, Bai Ling finally arrived at the power-supply highlands as well.
The massive hyperdomain rift flickered in the sky, almost filling his entire field of view. Ominous pressure spread freely across the whole region.
Yet now that he was truly close, the Command Seal on the back of his left hand no longer carried that "summoning" pull.
Instead, it felt like a faint, indistinct connection.
As if… something had already been born beyond the hyperdomain.
It was subtle.
And strange.
But this time he hadn't touched anything, had he?
If he hadn't… then why was this happening at all?
At this point, if he really did summon a Heroic Spirit…
What kind of Spirit did he need?
Strong? Clever?
He didn't know.
But since he'd already come to this disaster-ridden land—so much like Terra—he wanted to do more. Make the world look a little less ugly.
Because this world…
was genuinely a mess.
Hyperdomain. Angels. Corrosion…
Damn it—how did a perfectly good planet end up like this?!
Sensing the change in Bai Ling's mood, Eyldera looked at him with concern.
"Senior Bai Ling?"
"…Sorry. Just—my emotions spiked a bit."
Maybe it was because the little lamb had returned. Bai Ling really did feel… off.
But he already had the catalyst. If there was a chance later, they would definitely meet again—so there was no need to dwell on it.
The real problem now was solving this heavenly rift, and finding out what exactly was drawing him in.
Walking through the power-supply highlands, both Bai Ling and Eyldera felt only one thing:
Alienation.
When they had descended from the Dijiang into No. 4 Valley, their landing point had been here. Back then, it wasn't great—but at least the roads were intact. It wasn't cratered to hell, and it certainly wasn't "angels running around everywhere."
"It's much worse than I imagined," Bai Ling said.
All the corrosion they'd seen along the way didn't compare to what they were seeing now, even just a slice of it.
The power-supply highlands, as the name implied, were built on the mountains. The hyperdomain test site sat at the summit.
And now, with a massive corrosion event underway, a terrifying blood-colored fluid poured down from the peak like a waterfall—forming a river of crimson that filled everything and twisted reality itself.
"…In such a short time, it changed this much…" Eyldera stared at that distant blood-red flow, shock nearly spilling out of her eyes. "Hyperdomain corrosion is this severe…"
Bai Ling fixed his gaze on the rift again—and that thin sense of connection returned.
It was calling him.
Calling him toward the area around the hyperdomain rift.
"Eyldera. What I'm about to do might be dangerous. Are you sure you still want to come with me?"
"…If you don't mind me, Senior, then why wouldn't I?"
Smiling, Eyldera took his arm, and the two of them moved forward together.
Last time, they'd had Eyjafjalla clearing the road.
This time, the other trio had cleared the road themselves.
Whatever preparations those three had made to deal with the crisis—before it was resolved, Bai Ling had to find the source of that connection.
And—
why that connection existed at all.
....
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