This is really not mechanical ascension
Chapter 265 - 147: Torch Assault, Headshot with a Single Bullet

Chapter 265: Chapter 147: Torch Assault, Headshot with a Single Bullet

"What exactly do you want with this thing?" Feder asked again.

"It’s a secret," Li Ming chuckled, and seeing Feder reluctant to leave, he shooed him into another room.

He rubbed his hands together and began to eagerly absorb the metal energy from the Star Core Fragment.

In the room, Feder paced back and forth, extremely curious about the secret that Li Ming carried with him.

Unable to resist, he walked to the door and tried to stealthily open it, but his face darkened as he found the door was locked from the outside.

With nothing to do, he could only wait, waiting all the way until night. To avoid any accidents, Sanger had even come by a few times.

Finally, Li Ming let out a long breath of relief as the last bit of the Star Core Fragment disappeared.

His eyes blazed with passion—each of the four fragments had provided him with nearly one and a half million units of metal energy.

The balance of his metal energy had now reached an astounding six million, with a little extra.

Such a satisfying feeling of fullness was truly addicting.

Immediately, he spent one million to gain control over the "Secret of Liberation."

After consuming it, a flood of information was imprinted into him, his body flickering with arcs of electricity and flames, as if something was being etched into his genes, and he even felt a vague pain.

This sensation did not last long, and soon vanished.

With five million left, the "Evolution Theory" at the temporary command center also needed to be controlled.

However, things had been quiet recently, and he hadn’t had much opportunity to slack off.

"What are you doing?" He let Feder out of the room, and the latter looked suspiciously at the four boxes,

"Just leaving the stuff here?"

"It’s fine..." Li Ming was in a good mood, "Let’s go."

...

Two days later, in a villa on the outskirts of Jiang City, a group of people gathered, all with exceptionally devout and expectant expressions.

On the floor, a sacrificial array was engraved, with plenty of Dark Magnetic Titanium scattered on top.

It was eerily quiet all around, full of pent-up energy, and the leader glanced at the time, becoming even more feverish, and shouted, "Begin!"

As his voice fell, the ritual started, and the chanting seemed to emanate from the playback device.

A thin red crack in space opened up from the center of the array, devouring the Dark Magnetic Titanium.

Then, following the chants, red arcs burst forth around them, causing everyone’s hair to fly wildly.

It was as if, upon reaching a certain limit, the red fissure suddenly contracted, and then exploded into a red thunderstorm ring with a diameter of dozens of meters from its center.

It enveloped everyone within, and then transformed into a thick red beam of light a dozen meters in diameter,

Dense Red Thunder wrapped around the beam as it ascended, striking directly at the Sky Space Shield, whose crystalline structure instantly became clearly visible.

Bang!!

The shockwave spread rapidly, energy ripples visible to the naked eye, and the honeycomb-like crystalline structure of the Sky Space Shield cracked, with red arcs spreading along the fissure, ultimately causing it to shatter!

Crack!

A small breach appeared in the Sky Space Shield, and then quickly expanded.

Under the night sky, many people stared in shock in that direction.

In another desolate region, a similar group of people tore a wormhole in space, and from it, several figures leaped out, all cloaked in white fiery capes, their solemn expressions and the aura of advanced predators on the food chain inducing profound trepidation.

And in the moment that the red pillar of light shot into the sky, the temporary command center on Wu Yanqing’s experimental island erupted into chaos.

"A super high-energy reaction detected; the Sky Space Shield has been breached. Space matrix reports unidentified fleet damage; they are approaching rapidly..."

"Notify the city guard, the ground rapid response units, the special operations units..."

All of the staff members wore faces of impatience and confusion, yet they all managed to maintain a semblance of order in their work.

Until—

"Zzt—zzt—"

All of the virtual screens went dark at the same time. Workers who were moving around and talking stopped in their tracks, looking bewilderedly around.

"The signal is being jammed, all the signal bands are being interfered with!"

"We’ve lost contact with the outside world..."

Ren Cangsong, with a grave expression, quickly rushed out of the command center, only to encounter Chen Jinglong head-on.

Before he could speak, he heard Chen Jinglong say in a grave voice, "Hurry and evacuate; this place is no longer safe. Find Li Ming and Feder; Torch’s first target will definitely be them."

Ren Cangsong nodded seriously, but then saw Sanger rushing toward him with Feder, followed by a large group of Yitelan guards.

"What’s the situation now?" he asked gravely.

"The signal’s been cut off; I suspect that Torch is already nearby." Ren Cangsong quickly outlined the current situation.

"No, it’s Weisandel," Sanger interjected, "Dimensional beings; it can interfere with most of the electromagnetic waves in an area. Torch might not be near, but they will be here soon."

Chen Jinglong then turned to Feder, frowning, "Where’s Li Ming? Isn’t he with you?"

"We were together, but then he disappeared after the signal was jammed," Feder shook his head.

"He couldn’t have run away, could he?" Chen Jinglong’s expression fluctuated.

"Run away?" Ren Cangsong hesitated, "That seems unlikely, under these circumstances, he’d be safer with us."

Chen Jinglong shook his head, "No, we don’t know how many people Torch has brought or what their strength is. We’re too big a target; we’re more likely to be found first."

"Quick, bring him back!" Sanger urged, "The Dimensional Creature Kutli can lock on to the informational state of life forms within a certain range; if he’s alone, it could be troublesome."

"You think I’d run away?" Li Ming emerged from around the corner, somewhat speechless.