The Almighty Ring

Jiang Fei profusely manned the excavator, powering it to the maximum to dig through the dirt.

“Bella, just relax. I’ll definitely get that Core to save your life!” Jiang Fei said to himself.

“Captain, please slow down. We are close to the target,” said 0542, trying to calm Jiang Fei down, seeing that he was pushing the excavator to its limits.

“Right… Sorry,” said Jiang Fei. He quickly turned the machine down a notch. A few minutes later, Jiang Fei stopped the machine entirely and dug through the dirt by himself. Following 0542’s instructions and guidance, he dug through the right spot and found the entrance to the fragment.

“Accessing security system…”

A few short moments later, the door opened with a loud metallic grinding sound.

“Where is the Core?” Jiang Fei hummed, not caring about anything else but the only thing that could save Isabella’s life.

“Captain, I have bad news. The laboratory has been infiltrated. All alarms and defensive systems had been destroyed,” 0542 reported after accessing the security footage.

“What?!” Jiang Fei roared, not believing what he was hearing. All of the alien artifacts that he had collected so far had never been accessed before, what more, infiltrated.

First of all, the metal that was used to construct these alien facilities were not as rare as Valim but they were extremely strong. They could very well be the strongest metal on Earth. Not even a Level 4 Metahuman could leave a dent if they punched it with all their power. The only means to infiltrate the artifacts was to break the security codes and access the facility via the door. This method was used by China and the American government, allowing them to access the ship without compromising anything on the inside. Other nations had tried brute forcing their way in via explosion or physical damage. Unfortunately for them, that just meant that they would never be able to access the facility no matter how hard they tried.

That was why Jiang Fei was shocked to the core when 0542 reported that the laboratory had been infiltrated via brute force.

“Leave that aside, take me to the Core of Life!” Jiang Fei disgruntledly roared.

“Yes, captain,” 0542 replied whilst projecting a 3D diagram of the facility’s structure.

Without wasting time, Jiang Fei followed 0542’s guidance and moved along the inside of the structure. Only while he was walking did he realize how severe the damage inflicted on the facility was. Broken ceilings, damaged walls, and exposed wiring were the only scenes he could see as he made his way to where the Core of Life was supposed to be.

“What on Earth happened here,” Jiang Fei asked.

“As informed, the defensive weaponry that was triggered to take out all intruders were destroyed.”

Along the way, Jiang Fei found pools of blood on the floor. Jiang Fei was no detective but even he knew that the blood belonged to the intruders.

“Captain, we have arrived at the Core Storage facility. This is where the defenses were at the highest. Unfortunately, they were destroyed,” 0542 reported.

“What the hell? Just how strong are the intruders?”

“Report: The weapon systems that were installed were strong enough to take out a Level 5 Metahuman.”

“Weapon systems that could take out a Level 5 Metahuman were destroyed nonetheless. That means there were more than one of them!” Jiang Fei exclaimed.

At the moment, Jiang Fei did not have to worry about triggering the system defensive protocol since 0542 had taken over the facility’s control. There was no need for him to be careful. Without any worry, Jiang Fei zoomed pass many corridors that were riddled with destroyed cannons and wall-mounted guns.

“Shit! Where are we? Isn’t this the Core storage center?!” Jiang Fei roared when he had arrived at the destination highlighted by 3D hologram.

“Captain, we are at the Core storage center…”

Horrified, Jiang Fei stared blankly at the storage room that had been utterly destroyed. The room was dark but most importantly, it was empty. The decks and cabinets that were supposed to be filled with Cores were empty. There was even a huge metal box that clearly looked like it was meant to store something important that had been destroyed as if it were made of plastic.

“F*ck!”

To vent his anger, Jiang Fei unconsciously charged his fist with Origin Force and punched the metal box with all his might, leaving no damage.

“Who the f*ck dares to steal from me!” Jiang Fei roared as he continuously vent his rage against the metal box. Isabella’s life was at stake and the Core of Life was gone.

“Captain, I have taken a sample of the intruder’s blood and will begin to analyse its properties. Give me enough time and I will be able to track him down via the radar system. He could hide for now but his energy signature will be the beacon that will allow us to track him down.”

“Good! Find him! Notify me as soon as you can. We will hunt him down and get the Core of Life back!”

“Begin analysis… I will be able to lock his energy signature after four days, captain.”

Jiang Fei calmed down. Right now, there was nothing he could do but wait until 0542 locked his position with the radar system.

“Are there any other valuable items here?” Jiang Fei asked. He paced around the empty Core Storage facility.

“All of these apparatus are important and useful but none of them could be of immediate use,” said 0542.

Sighing disappointingly, Jiang Fei made his way out of the facility.

“Put it away and let’s go back…”

From then on, Jiang Fei realized he had been too slow. Someone else had been doing the same thing he did, tracking down the alien artifacts. Since he could not and did not announce his claim to the alien artifacts, all of them were of first-come, first-served basis. Whoever got their hands on the alien artifacts could practically own everything it has to offer. Knowing that, he realized he had to pick up the pace.

When a silvery light beamed out of the ring, the entire Core Storage facility was absorbed into the ring. Once Jiang Fei leaped out to ground level, he put away the excavator and had Ariel teleport everyone back to his house in the Winter Islands. There were still other places to investigate but it seemed that Isabella was not in a condition suitable for travel.

They were currently rather far away from the Winter Islands and Ariel was not able to instantly teleport all of them there. Instead, she teleported a few times, each time appearing in a safe place before “jumping” to the next.

Three hours after Jiang Fei and the others left the site, several white pillars of light flashed downward. Several humanoid figures walked out of them and toward the now empty desert. All of them looked no different from the locals of the Sahara Desert yet their speech pattern was unique.

“Commander, based on the prisoner’s direction. This is where they had found the Core of Life.”

“Affirmative. Let’s proceed with the mission.”

The man that was addressed as commander looked different from the other Unknowns. Any other human would immediately acknowledge him as a Chinese man.

“Understood, commander,” said the other Unknowns in unison. A flash of light came downward before materializing a large contraption that looked like a cannon. One of the Unknowns started operating it when the commander gave the order to start.

When the machine was turned on, all the sand particles nearby started to vibrate. The machine then produce a powerful sound wave that made a small region of sand in front of the machine “boil”. The Unknown that was operating the machine turned the power up and the sand was split apart as if there were an invisible knife splitting the desert apart. When the sand was pushed away, a large bubble emerged out of the sand, empty.

“Hmm? Nothing?”

The commander frowned.

“The prisoner lied to us! He will be punished!” The Unknown that was operating the machine roared angrily. This operation had cost them a large amount of energy yet they were greeted with an empty haul.