Chapter 41 Main Quest: Save the World, Again!

Ten minutes later, the young girl finally calmed down her emotions.

"Feeling better?" Chen Xuan rubbed his shoulder. He had to admit, though her arms were slender, her strength was surprisingly formidable. Had it not been for the reinforcement of his Skyglow Art, she probably would have cracked his ribs with that hug.

"Sorry, I was just too happy and couldn't control my strength," Lin Qing said with an embarrassed smile.

Chen Xuan believed her on this point.

Before the conversation, he had unequipped the Thousand-Thought Sword and replaced it with the Voice of Trust to probe his new guest's attitude. From the beginning until now, the feedback provided by the ability had consistently registered as benevolent or better, which indicated that her actions were not feigned.

"I want to ask what actually happened back then, on the space city."

Chen Xuan had been curious about this for a long time. Looking back, there were many suspicious details. For instance, the very first thing she said when she laid eyes on him was "survivor." Station N43 had indeed been completely empty, devoid of a single soul other than him. Yet, it hadn't suffered any massive destruction—at least, not until the armed mecha smashed through the partition wall and forced its way into the hall. Everything had been in pristine condition, with the floors polished to a mirror-like shine that reflected human faces.

"Our enemies attempted to destroy us, and the Crystal Palace was their weapon." Lin Qing swept her gaze across his neck for a moment. "It seems you haven't installed a personal interconnection protocol, so I can only explain it verbally. Store Manager, you saw that hexapod mecha hunting me down, didn't you?"

Chen Xuan nodded. The scene of the mecha bursting through the wall had been quite striking.

"It is the enemy, or rather, a part of the enemy."

He noted her choice of words—"a part of the enemy," rather than a mecha piloted by an enemy. "Did the AI rebel?"

"It’s not an AI. It is alive, possesses a degree of self-awareness, and is more akin to a life form composed of microscopic machinery. We call it living nanomachines," she explained.

"You mean it's actually pieced together from countless nano-units?"

Lin Qing shook her head. "That's not a completely accurate explanation, but it makes it easier for you to understand. It originates from nanobite technology. Nanobites are indeed minuscule, and these tiny individuals brought about many technological revolutions. However, when they gather together, they generate a certain level of self-awareness—much like how a multitude of nerve bundles can form a brain. This consciousness cannot be arbitrarily divided, so the consciousness of every large-scale living nanomachine entity is unique... Do you understand?"

"More or less. Go on."

"Back then, nanobite technology was ubiquitous because it could scale up or down and was extremely flexible. By the time we noticed that certain large living entities were developing intelligence and emotions, it was already too late. Riots broke out in some cities—for instance, a washing machine you used yesterday might swallow its owner whole today and grind them into pulp, or traffic lights might turn into monsters, guiding fleets of autonomous cars straight off cliffs." At this, Lin Qing couldn't help pressing a hand to her forehead. "And these so-called 'signs of rebellion' were all decoys. Their target was crystal clear from the very beginning: the Crystal Palace."

"Why?" Chen Xuan knew the main event was coming.

"Because the Crystal Palace's power source comes from a cold fusion core—or rather, an annihilation reaction core. If it were allowed to crash fully into Earth, it would become a super-meteor, with a destructive force ten times greater than the one that wiped out the dinosaurs. According to expert estimations, the biosphere across the entire Earth's crust would undergo a total reset, and the planet's surface would revert to a molten state."

An annihilation reaction core? Capable of directly destroying Earth's biosphere?

Chen Xuan doubted that his hometown could produce that level of technology even a century later.

Besides, wouldn't a stunt like that be a mutual destruction pact? But upon second thought, the current biosphere was dominated by carbon-based life. For an unclassifiable life form like nanobites, wiping the carbon-based slate clean wouldn't be digging their own graves; instead, it would instantly clear out all potential competitors.

"I see. The fall of the Crystal Palace was engineered by them, and you were trying to stop it all from happening."

"Not just me. There were twenty people aboard that spaceship at the time, but all my companions sacrificed themselves along the way..." Lin Qing said with deep grief. "The Crystal Palace was too massive and possessed its own defense systems. Missile strikes from the surface could hardly breach the defense perimeter. Our team was humanity's only hope. You already know how it turned out... We failed, with zero margin for success. If you hadn't appeared there, everything would have been over."

Now Chen Xuan understood why she had taken him for a survivor and why the shop had manifested in that location.

She herself might not have realized it, but when facing the failure of her mission and a dead-end despair, she must have issued the most desperate prayer from the depths of her heart.

However, this was entirely different from the problem Liu Shuyue faced.

The Crystal Palace had already fallen; even if Earth wasn't blown to pieces, it would have been hurled back to primeval times. Expecting him to turn the tide with the abilities in his inventory was giving him way too much credit.

Naturally, on the surface, he wouldn't brush off her gratitude. "Anyway, it's good that you survived. This world might be a bit boring, but at least it's safe—"

"No, the events of the future will definitely repeat themselves if we do nothing!" Lin Qing grabbed his hand again. "Our enemies still exist in this era!"

From the perspective of psychological suggestion, this was a manifestation of her fear that he would wash his hands of the matter and walk away.

Could this kid have suffered such severe trauma that she had become paranoid?

"Where's the proof?"

"I connected to your network here, and all the data I searched online matched the data in my memory banks point for point!" she insisted stubbornly. "You said you're the manager of an ability shop, right? While that isn't detailed in the records, there was indeed a period when abilities dominated, especially in battles fought against otherworldly invasions... You must have heard of the mighty Extradimensional Constraint Agency."

Otherworldly... invasion? This term caused a slight jolt in Chen Xuan's heart.

He couldn't help recalling the red sky cleaved open by Liu Shuyue's sword, and the gun-wielding witch who stubbornly forced Joan of Arc to her death.

"Unfortunately, no."

"Ah?" The girl froze for a moment, then slapped her forehead. "I jumped to conclusions. You certainly weren't captured by the Constraint Agency; otherwise, there would definitely be a record of it. Sorry, I didn't experience this era firsthand, so all my information relies on cross-referencing. Then have you ever been attacked or hunted down by any mysterious individuals?"

Chen Xuan frowned. Was she referring to people like those from Thursday Madness? "Why ask that?"

"The Extradimensional Constraint Agency—its full name is the Agency for Maintaining World Stability and Restricting the Spread of Abilities. From its inception, this organization vowed to secretly place individuals who acquire abilities under jurisdiction to prevent them from abusing their powers for personal gain." Lin Qing's answer took him completely by surprise. "If you aren't a member of the Agency, you'll sooner or later be targeted by them. According to declassified intelligence, in the year 2025, the Agency still operates hidden beneath the surface, with no public activities in society. Wild ability users are often placed under control without even realizing it."

She looked left and right. "Of course... those who are controlled leave traces behind, so I suspect you haven't been exposed yet, but that doesn't mean your situation is absolutely safe."

Seriously?

Should he complain about this matter first, or complain about such an unserious name?

Chen Xuan looked out the window. The residential compound remained as calm as ever; birds were chirping in the trees, and an elderly man sunbathing was occasionally visible on a bench by the tree-lined path. He had lived for over twenty years and had never felt that there was anything wrong with this world.

Or could it be that things had already gone wrong ever since he started having those dreams?

"I'm curious as to how you know all this," Chen Xuan said after a moment of silence. "Even if it's no secret in the future, I imagine this agency wouldn't broadcast the dirty work it's done to the whole world."

"Because I am a member of the Extradimensional Constraint Agency!" Lin Qing pressed a hand to her chest in self-introduction.

Chen Xuan's gaze toward her instantly turned peculiar.

The girl seemed to realize something and quickly corrected herself, "Don't get me wrong, I won't arrest you. Thirty years from now, unstable abilities were replaced by various types of prosthetic bodies anyway, and besides, I don't believe such arrests are right... No," she paused, her tone growing even more resolute, "this doctrine must be wrong, because history proved that the Constraint Agency ultimately failed to stop the disaster from arriving, and the entire world was razed to the ground as a result. Now it's different. Thanks to you, I've traveled back a century. This time, we have enough time to stop the Constraint Agency and thereby change the fate of humanity!"

Chen Xuan frowned. We?

She extended her hand. "With me holding all the intelligence, and you possessing formidable abilities, if we work closely together, we will never fail!"

Chen Xuan pushed her hand back. "Go get a job. The shop was damaged to this extent, and you bear half the responsibility. Once the expenses are cleared, you'll be free."

Lin Qing wore an incredulous expression. "This world is heading toward destruction!"

He shrugged dismissively. "So what? Setting aside how many similarities the two worlds share, I run an ability shop, not the Save-the-World Association. Events a century from now—who has the time to care about that?"