Chapter 112: Chapter 112: X-Rank Item: Sun in a Bottle, Unsealed
"What’s going on?"
Qi Suian suddenly felt as if someone had their eyes on him.
This feeling was more like a warning from his protagonist aura, rather than his own senses.
’Don’t tell me the protagonist of the Ancient Martial World is here,’ Qi Suian thought, a little uncertain.
"AI, has the reconnaissance network picked up anything?"
At this point, his only option was to ask the AI.
The reconnaissance network covered nineteen kilometers, an incredible range.
It would take even Qi Suian a considerable amount of time to search such an area, and while the network couldn’t exactly see the hairs on a mosquito’s leg, it should at least be able to spot anyone approaching.
[No abnormalities detected.]
The AI immediately ran a check but found no issues.
So, it could only report the truth to Qi Suian.
"Then why am I so uneasy? It must be the protagonist aura warning me of approaching danger."
"This has never happened before. I suspect it’s some kind of major crisis," Qi Suian said directly. "I have to come up with a solution."
Qi Suian had great faith in his luck, especially after clearing the subconscious influence from his Celestial Fate: Profound. Although he couldn’t control his luck, it was always helping him.
[If you are concerned, you can place explosives on the load-bearing structural nodes of the sanctuary.]
[Even if you can’t have it, no one else will.]
The implication was that if he truly lost, he should drag everyone else down with him.
[Alternatively, you could attempt to use Ghost Energy to decompose the body of the Sun in a Bottle, further agitating the sun and achieving a mutually assured destruction scenario.]
This was even more ruthless. Losing the sanctuary might mean a slow death, but if the sun were released from the bottle, that would be an instant game over for everyone.
The entire Horizon Realm would be toast.
As for Qi Suian? If things got to that point, he wouldn’t need to worry about anything anymore.
"Aren’t you being a bit extreme?" Qi Suian retorted. "I may be on edge, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to lose."
[According to model calculations, the Tai Sui God cannot help you resist Martial Dao-based willpower attacks from Ancient Martial Techniques. Your Spirit attribute is sufficient, but if you encounter an attack above the level of ’Gang Jin,’ the probability of your brain death reaches eighty percent.]
"Minor issue. I can be revived."
"The Floating Cannons are invincible!" Qi Suian declared in a deep voice.
Then he quickly realized, "Wait a minute. You’re supposed to be comforting me, not the other way around."
[A small psychological trick. Has your mental state improved now?]
Hearing this, Qi Suian actually nodded. "It has."
"Alright, let’s go on the offensive," Qi Suian said. He wasn’t the type to sit around and wait for death.
[You can actually rest assured. It is not necessarily the protagonist of the Ancient Martial World. After all, no markers have appeared on the Treasure Map of the Lost.]
"Obviously. It’s already in his hands. How could it be my lucky opportunity?"
"It doesn’t directly pinpoint protagonist auras; it just provides indirect guidance." Qi Suian didn’t have a high success rate with the Treasure Map of the Lost.
After all, he had already used it a few times.
It was useful, to be sure, but if you asked how useful, the answer was just "so-so."
"Let’s head out. Stop trying to comfort me," Qi Suian said bluntly.
His things were packed in no time, and he immediately left the Mantle Sanctuary.
The Mantle Sanctuary had now been repaired by Qi Suian.
The power, security, ventilation, and other systems were restored, and he had even concealed the surface entrance.
With the camouflage, it wouldn’t be so easy to find.
"It’s been a while since I’ve seen the sun." Qi Suian found it a bit blinding.
However, thanks to the relevant modules he had equipped, he didn’t feel much of the heat.
This was the first time he had left the Mantle Sanctuary in three months.
For Qi Suian, if it weren’t for the apocalypse, he could have been a shut-in who just lazed around at home.
But just as he stepped out, before the Tai Sui God could even take off, Qi Suian felt a burning sensation on his skin.
[Warning: Abnormal body temperature increase. Initiating forced cooling!]
The AI detected the problem at once and initiated forced cooling through the physical connection between Qi Suian and the Tai Sui God within the blood-virus bio-armor.
"This is... the Sun in a Bottle."
The burning sensation was quickly suppressed, but Qi Suian understood this was only temporary. His own temperature was still soaring.
The push and pull of the two forces caused his body temperature to begin a slow rise.
Clearly, even the AI couldn’t effectively suppress it.
"Find the cause immediately." Without hesitation, Qi Suian took out the item, the Ashes of the Sun in a Bottle.
What met his eyes was not the ash inside the bottle, but a shining radiance.
[Sun in a Bottle]
[Quality: X]
[Traits: Unknown]
These three short lines of data appeared just as extreme heat began to spread from the hand Qi Suian used to hold the item.
The Tai Sui God’s armor began to melt, clearly unable to withstand the high temperature.
Qi Suian tossed it away without a second thought.
With his 3.1 Physique stat, combined with the Tai Sui God’s assistance, the radiance of the Sun in a Bottle gradually vanished from Qi Suian’s sight.
Then, the Tai Sui God immediately retreated in the opposite direction.
He had no intention of sticking around to see what was up with this X-quality item.
Saving his own skin was what mattered.
Only after getting away did Qi Suian feel himself recovering.
[Abnormal body temperature increase has ceased. Restoring normal body temperature.]
[Cause identification failed. Unable to detect point of abnormality.]
"Stop the detection. An X-quality Sun in a Bottle isn’t something your SSS-class systems can comprehend." Qi Suian watched as nano-repair bots began to fix the melted parts of the Tai Sui God.
He didn’t understand why this sudden change had occurred.
He carefully went over his memories, finally focusing on the moment the Ashen Bandage Men had stopped pursuing him.
’Observation collapse. It caused the item to revert from its ash state back to the Sun in a Bottle state.’
’Furthermore, the rise in temperature and the proximity of the sun also caused a change due to observation collapse.’
Qi Suian didn’t feel confident at all. After all, X-quality was simply too high a level. He couldn’t even handle S-quality items, let alone an X-quality one defined as "Unknown."
The only thing he could be sure of was that the Sun in a Bottle was the source of the apocalypse in the Polar Day World.
He knew nothing beyond that.
The apocalypse in the Polar Day World was different from the one in the Profound World; it had been going on for a hundred years.
Therefore, even if one wanted to find the truth behind many things, it was no longer possible.
[Detecting the emergence of numerous high-temperature heat sources. The epicenter is suspected to be the Sun in a Bottle.]
After the alert, the AI projected a three-dimensional map for Qi Suian.
The map had large blank areas.
Apparently, the intense heat erupting from the Sun in a Bottle was interfering with the reconnaissance network’s sensors.
"You don’t have to tell me, I see it." With his own eyes, Qi Suian saw vast numbers of Ashen Bandage Men gushing forth like a fountain.
’So these are their true forms.’
’The ones we used for fuel before were just clones at best.’
Qi Suian didn’t know what the deal was with these Ashen Bandage Men, but if he had to find a comparison...
...it would be the Desolate Beasts.
Previously, humans hadn’t mastered the ability of high-temperature heat sources; the Power of the Limit was actually more like an incomplete evolution.
Now it seemed that humans had mastered it, but they were all inside the bottle, following the sun.
The Floating Cannons emerged from the Subspace Pocket and, without hesitation, fired a Ghost Energy Storm at the tide-like enemy.
The good news was that the Ghost Energy Storm could kill these Ashen Bandage Men.
The bad news was that it couldn’t completely disintegrate them.
Upon the death of an Ashen Bandage Man, the high-temperature heat source within its body would disperse.
"Stop shooting! Retreat!"
Qi Suian unhesitatingly ordered the AI to run for it.
As for the protagonist of the Ancient Martial World? Staying alive was more important.
He didn’t know how many Ashen Bandage Men there were, but the data fed back from the reconnaissance network showed a dense, endless mass of them still being squeezed out.
Given the Tai Sui God’s condition, killing them all was completely unrealistic.
So, running was the best option.
Qi Suian actually had another theory about this situation.
With the two protagonists of the Doomsday Game finally gathered in one place, it was the perfect opportunity for the Polar Day World to wipe out the game’s key players.
Qi Suian’s status in the Doomsday Game was indeed that of a violator. In the context of an invaded Doomsday World, he was an invader.
Back then, the Blood Moon had explicitly told Qi Suian he was a traitor.
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"Quick, turn back!!!" Qin Sheng had just successfully broken through to the ’Jie Jin’ realm and hadn’t even had a chance to celebrate before he felt a terrifying, scorching wave of killing intent wash over him.
The group froze for a moment, but they reacted quickly, starting up the behemoth vehicle and speeding back the way they came.
Before anyone could ask what was happening, they saw an extreme radiance and spreading high temperatures in the distance.
Then, a large number of black dots appeared within the radiance. Looking through binoculars, they could see what appeared to be some kind of living creature.
These black dots were approaching them at an incredible speed, making everyone’s hearts leap into their throats.
"Floor it, or we’re all going to die!" Qin Sheng didn’t know what the enemy was, but his Martial Dao intuition was going haywire.
With his ’Jie Jin’ level strength, he wouldn’t even be able to get close, let alone win. If he got too near, the intense heat radiating from them would steam him alive into a dried corpse.
A ’Jie Jin’ master was still made of flesh and blood.
Right now, his two attributes had only reached 5 points.
However, by breaking through to ’Jie Jin,’ he had gained many talents, passives, and other effects formed from Ancient Martial Techniques.
The real enhancement wasn’t in the attributes, but in the effects provided by the Ancient Martial Techniques and ’Jin’ power. That was the true strength of the ’Jie Jin’ realm.
"What... what is that..." Xue Pingjun swallowed hard. This was the first time she had ever seen such a terrifying spectacle.
Even the Desolate Beasts they had encountered on the way here hadn’t been this frightening.
Qin Sheng just shook his head. "I don’t know. But I’m sure it’s probably related to the sanctuary in the Extreme North State."
He didn’t finish his thought. The other half was that it was also undeniably connected to the violator.
But he couldn’t say that out loud right now; it would hurt morale.
