Underground space.
The center of the entire area looked as if it had been plowed by cannonballs, leaving the entire place in a mess.
And the original lobster, or rather, the quantum creature named Tlaloc, had fallen silent again after venting its frustration on the surrounding area after losing its target.
This was the scene Luo Li saw when he returned to this space.
The originally huge Tlaloc had disappeared again, and the entire area was quiet.
But Luo Li knew that the magical creature seemed to be hiding between reality and illusion with some strange ability. If it weren't for the fact that he now possessed the power of the Herrscher of the Void and was extremely sensitive to the state of the surrounding space, he would have been silently killed the moment he arrived here.
Because just as he could detect the other party's hiding in space, this monster could also perceive the fluctuations in the surrounding space to a certain extent.
Therefore, after arriving, he soon felt the surrounding space ripple like a pond with a stone thrown into it.
A strong sense of crisis came over him. Luo Li didn't hesitate at all and instantly activated his spatial authority.
The next moment.
Boom!!!
With splashing earth and stone and rising dust, the deep blue monster, resembling a four-clawed lobster, appeared at Luo Li's original position, one claw smashing into the ground.
After missing its target, its figure instantly disappeared.
The next moment, a huge impact sound rang out again in another direction.
Then, a series of roars continued to sound in this enclosed underground space, like the rolling thunder before a storm.
Luo Li knew that he was definitely no match for this lobster, so his goal was very clear from the beginning: to run and stall.
His strength was inferior to the other party's, and his speed was inferior. The only advantage he could have in a short time was the high mobility from his spatial ability.
To survive under the bombardment of the other party's four lobster claws, he could only rely on continuous teleportation.
And coincidentally, this lobster could also teleport in a completely different way.
But fortunately, in terms of teleportation ability, the Herrscher of the Void, who specialized in spatial abilities, had the advantage.
Luo Li certainly knew that with this monster's power, it was very likely to have some kind of large-scale attack ability.
But he wasn't too worried about it.
This lobster was confined here, most likely as a watchdog raised by World Serpent.
As a dog, the job World Serpent gave it was naturally to guard the door.
Otherwise, if the door wasn't destroyed by the enemy but by their own dog, wouldn't that be too hellish?
And as it turned out, Luo Li's speculation was correct.
This lobster was only relying on its super-high mobility and two pairs of unstoppable shrimp claws to attack Luo Li.
It was like chasing an annoying mosquito.
And so, the situation on the field became Luo Li using his spatial authority to drive his spatial ability, leading the lobster around the field.
And as time passed, the lobster became more and more frantic.
Its attention was finally completely attracted by Luo Li, and it began to shrink its perception, focusing all its efforts on killing Luo Li.
In an instant, Luo Li's situation took a turn for the worse.
But at the same time, this also meant... the time had come.
While Luo Li was playing hide-and-seek under Tlaloc's two pairs of shrimp claws, Kiana was doing her best to suppress her presence in the spatial domain, slowly approaching the rift in the sky.
Fortunately, the waves Luo Li and the lobster were making in the spatial domain were so large that the ripples Kiana was making in space were insignificant.
And so, she quietly approached the spatial rift.
Closer.
Even closer.
Finally, at the rift, her figure appeared.
Next, as long as the bomb and the person were sent into this rift, everything could be ended.
But just as she was about to throw the bomb in, she was stunned for a moment.
Because she saw that behind the rift was not the darkness and silence she had imagined.
On the contrary, there was a city in the rift!
In the churning, colorful mist, a city loomed.
In the night surrounded by colorful mist, tall buildings rose and fell, and the forest of steel and concrete was brightly lit, like a sky full of stars dotted on a nebula.
And what surprised her even more was that she was very familiar with the layout of the city inside.
It was the city under their feet—ARK City!
But Kiana's surprise was only for a moment. This was not the time to hesitate.
She could feel the roars behind her becoming chaotic, and it was clear that Luo Li couldn't last much longer.
Without any hesitation, Kiana opened a spatial door and directly threw the Collapse Bomb, along with the life support pod containing the clone of the First Herrscher, inside.
At the same time, the moment Kiana opened the spatial door, the roars in the distance instantly stopped.
Tlaloc had discovered it.
But unfortunately, it was too late.
"Run!"
With Kiana's reminder, Luo Li and Kiana instantly disappeared from the underground.
The entire space fell into silence in an instant.
Tlaloc lifted its lobster claws, but didn't know where to drop them.
Finally, it vented its anger on this land.
And inside the gate of the Stigmata Space, the clone of the Sovereign of Anti-Entropy also woke up in the pre-set revival mode.
A liquid that neutralized the Honkai energy inhibitor was injected, and the suppressed power in his body revived again.
And so, he woke up.
Feeling the long-lost, churning power in his body...
He couldn't help but groan.
"Ah... power!"
"The power is back!!!"
Half asleep, the clone's lips curled into a grin.
"Damn scum, feel the wrath of the First Herrscher!"
But just as his power began to revive, the suppression module was also activated simultaneously.
In an instant, a terrifying electric current once again ran through his body.
Bzzzt!!!
"Ahhh!!!"
Along with a violent wail, the sanity of this clone of the First Herrscher was also instantly burned away!
The fear of losing power, the anger of being watched like a dog, and all the humiliation he had suffered during this time all had a strange reaction at this moment.
Then, it erupted.
Dozens of times the force of gravity erupted from him as the center, and the life support pod naturally couldn't bear it, and it exploded.
"I! Am finally free!"
The clone's face had a grin that looked as if it wanted to devour someone.
The restraints on his body were completely gone, and his power was quickly returning. Soon he would be able to get back his power and crush all the trash that had defied him.
But when he saw the city surrounded by colorful mist in the distance, he couldn't help but be stunned.
"What the hell is this!"
And what answered his question was a series of urgent alarms from beside him.
The clone subconsciously looked over and saw a huge metal box.
In an instant, the memories from not long ago returned.
His face instantly became terrified.
"No!!!"
---||---
When Luo Li and Kiana returned to the hall where the life support pods were originally stored, they felt the earth shake.
The two of them, far from showing any panic, breathed a sigh of relief.
Luo Li looked at Kiana and said with relief, "We succeeded."
"Yeah," Kiana also smiled lightly.
Luo Li was about to say something, but suddenly felt a familiar killing intent come over him.
He instantly pounced on Kiana.
The next moment, a deep blue giant claw smashed into this space, and then the entire room collapsed.
And outside the room, Luo Li supported Kiana, his figure appearing.
The two of them exchanged a look, and both saw the solemnity in each other's eyes.
A guess appeared in Luo Li's mind.
"That door was destroyed, and this monster is no longer restricted by range?"
Luo Li instantly realized the seriousness of the problem.
"We can't let this thing out, or it'll be a big problem."
"What do we do?" Kiana asked.
Luo Li looked around and found that because of the commotion just now, various armed forces stationed in Shicksal Pharmaceuticals were rushing here.
Riot control mechs, Death Weavers, modified Deadwalkers,异体 Honkai Beasts...
To be honest, Luo Li had never found these things so pleasing to the eye.
"Draw its fire over!"
"World Serpent created this mess, so they naturally have to contribute to solving the problem."
Then, for the armed forces of World Serpent that were rushing over, the two of them, instead of avoiding them, used spatial jumps to draw Tlaloc's attention to them.
But to Luo Li and Kiana's disappointment, although these World Serpent creations were numerous, it was clear that their numbers had not yet reached the standard of causing a qualitative change.
And so, the following situation was a one-sided slaughter.
Mechs, Deadwalkers, Honkai Beasts, modified creatures, any unit had no resistance in front of Tlaloc and was easily crushed.
And as the forces of World Serpent decreased, the faces of Luo Li and Kiana also became ugly.
Once these World Serpent armed forces were dealt with, if they didn't want to let this lobster out to turn ARK City upside down, it would still be up to the two of them to solve the problem.
Just as Luo Li was thinking about how to deal with this thing...
Suddenly, a crimson arrow smashed into Tlaloc's body.
The originally unstoppable Tlaloc was actually sent flying by a small arrow.
Then, arrows rained down like a curtain, a series of arrows falling on its body like raindrops.
Along with the continuous explosions, Tlaloc's originally crystal-like body began to crack.
The unstoppable monster was contained, but Luo Li and Kiana didn't feel happy at all.
Because the person who could force Tlaloc into a corner was obviously even more terrifying.
It was a woman in a cloak, with a slender figure.
One eye under the hood glowed with a scarlet light, like a crow's glance at midnight, bringing a message from the dead.
It was Raven!
Compared to Tlaloc, which mostly relied on its physical instincts to kill, Raven, with her intelligence and extraordinary combat experience, was obviously more dangerous.
But unexpectedly, Raven didn't pay any attention to Luo Li and Kiana.
Holding a dark red longbow, she walked through the wreckage of the World Serpent armed forces towards Tlaloc.
It was as if she hadn't seen the two of them at all.
But this was obviously impossible.
Even Tlaloc could easily lock onto the two of them. With Raven's power, it was impossible for her not to find them.
But this woman really didn't intend to bother with the two of them.
In this situation, either the other party was focused on dealing with Tlaloc and had no energy to deal with the two of them...
But this situation obviously didn't make sense. After all, anyone could see that Raven was completely suppressing Tlaloc right now.
So, there was only one possibility.
This woman... might be holding back.
Luo Li didn't know what she wanted to do, but for now, it was a good thing.
After such a long battle...
He and Kiana had almost exhausted their power. If they really had to fight Raven, the outcome would probably not be good.
Since Raven was here to solve the problem, there was no need for them to stay.
So, silently, Luo Li and Kiana disappeared from the spot.
---||---
The other stronghold provided by Ghost was a bit remote.
Because they needed to save power and didn't use spatial teleportation, and also needed to avoid the ubiquitous surveillance, it took Luo Li and Kiana a lot of time to get there.
And unexpectedly, Ghost's other stronghold was also a bar.
"How much does she like bars?"
Pushing the door open, he found the atmosphere inside the bar was exceptionally lively.
The children rescued from Shicksal Pharmaceuticals were drinking juice and milk while discussing their rather dangerous and miraculous experience.
But after seeing the person wiping glasses at the bar, Luo Li and Kiana beside him instantly became vigilant.
Because that person was wearing a pitch-black cloak, a pair of scarlet eyes sizing up the playful children with great interest.
It was Raven!
"Yo! You two are back. What would you like to drink?"
Raven held a glass in her hand covered with an armored gauntlet, and wiped it gently with a cloth in the other hand, like a dedicated bartender.
"Why are you here?" Luo Li was first vigilant, but then relaxed.
After all, he was no match for Raven, and with these children here, he couldn't just run away.
Besides, Luo Li didn't feel any malice from her.
But he still didn't understand what this officer of World Serpent wanted to do.
"Where's Ghost?"
Raven put down the glass in her hand and said in a relaxed tone:
"Don't be nervous. Miss Ghost went to the cellar to move things, so she asked me to be the bartender for a while."
"Since you've already blown up the door connecting the Stigmata Space to reality, that means our plan has failed."
She didn't seem to care at all whether World Serpent's plan succeeded or not, and shrugged.
"Since the plan has failed, that means I'm off duty."
"Work is work, life is life."
"At work, we're enemies, but in life, we can be friends!"
As she spoke, Raven pulled out a card from somewhere and handed it to Luo Li.
"Assassination, theft, protection, training, teaching... you can come to me for any commission. Of course, my price might be a bit expensive, but it's definitely worth it."
Luo Li looked at it. It was actually Raven's business card.
But...
"So Miss Raven's real name is 'Natasha Ciora'?"
"You can just call me Natasha in private," Raven continued to wipe the glass. "Of course, if you have a commission, please still call me Raven."
"Miss Natasha, you still haven't answered my question." Raven's private personality seemed quite good, at least it didn't annoy Luo Li, but he still had to ask the question.
"What are you doing here?"
"To express my gratitude."
Luo Li was confused by Raven's words.
And Raven's gaze turned to the playful children, and she said solemnly, "Thank you for saving them."
Luo Li was a little surprised by this. He had thought Raven's pity for these children was just a sudden whim, but he didn't expect that these children were quite important in her heart.
To be honest, his impression of Raven had changed a little.
"Anyway, you've foiled the organization's plan. This should be the end of it."
Raven's tone had no trace of worry.
"The plan didn't succeed. These exposed tentacles of Shicksal Pharmaceuticals will soon be abandoned by the organization."
"Next, the organization's forces will withdraw from ARK City in the shortest possible time. The forces of Schicksal and Anti-Entropy should be here soon, plus the local forces of Shenzhou. There will be a lot of wrangling."
"But, that has nothing to do with me for now," Raven picked up the glass in her hand, mixed two drinks, and pushed them in front of Luo Li and Kiana.
Then she mixed another one for herself.
She raised her glass and gently clinked it with the two on the bar.
"To a beautiful tomorrow."
Luo Li looked at Kiana's drink. He could finally be sure that this woman really had no malice.
So he picked up the drink on the table and took a light sip.
A spicy sensation rushed from the tip of his tongue to his brain, and the world became drowsy.
Luo Li looked at the drink in his hand and asked Raven, "What is this?"
"The Water of Life!"
After speaking, Raven raised her glass and drank it all in one gulp.
Luo Li suddenly realized that the name Natasha seemed to be Russian.
He looked at the glass in his hand, which contained a clear liquid. He didn't know if it was because of the alcohol, but he felt as if the liquid in his hand was burning.
But after a closer look, he found that it wasn't the liquid that was burning, but a crimson feather that had fallen into the cup at some point.
Finally, the liquid became a chaotic mess, brewing two fiery red characters.
[Wake up]
---||---
Cold!
Shaking!
His chaotic consciousness began to return, but his head was still drowsy.
"Wake up!"
A steady female voice sounded in his ear, and Luo Li slowly opened his eyes.
He saw a sky full of stars that only existed in his childhood memories.
Under the starlight was a huge complex of buildings reflected in a colorful cloud, like a celestial palace in the clouds.
But Luo Li recognized it at a glance. It was ARK City.
Or rather, ARK City reflected in the sky.
Luo Li was a little confused about the current situation. He could only subconsciously prop himself up and found that he was actually lying on the street.
And on the street, people were lying all over the place, and wisps of colorful mist were flowing out of their bodies and gathering towards the sky.
He noticed that he seemed to be holding something in his hand.
He looked down and found that it was actually a few take-out orders.
And on one of the take-out orders, a name caught his eye.
Sue?
Luo Li's eyes widened.
Suddenly, a voice sounded beside him.
"You're awake?"
Luo Li suddenly looked back and saw a gray-haired girl with glasses standing quietly behind him.
He hadn't even realized there was someone beside him!
But soon, Luo Li was attracted by the thing in her hand.
The girl was holding a ball of colorful mist wrapped in a few crimson feathers in her palm. And in that mist, he saw a bar.
Raven wiping a glass.
Ghost carrying bottles of wine with her short legs.
The playful children.
And Kiana, with one hand propping up her chin, quietly watching all this.