The appearance of the Aska remained a secret to ordinary people.
To the powerhouses of this world, however, it was no secret at all. This world was of a higher grade, and its ceiling of power was naturally higher as well.
In fact, the power here did not originate from the Abyss; instead, myriad supernatural elements had inherently existed throughout this world all along. It was a true world of the extraordinary.
At the Blood Clan's headquarters, Durgant.
Marcus, the Blood Clan Progenitor of this world, assembled all his scions. Once everyone had arrived, he addressed them: "Everyone, our opportunity has finally arrived. Through the Bloody Art, I have confirmed that an ark lies beyond our skies. As long as we seize this ark, we can escape this hopeless world!"
Every vampire present showed looks of pleasant surprise, their eyes burning with fervor as they looked at Marcus, waiting for his command.
In truth, this world was far more unfortunate than Yu Xian's. Although many fractures had opened up due to the Abyss's invasion, allowing its power to seep inside, the space here was far more stable and solid. As a result, no Abyss rifts like the ones in Yu Xian's world had ever formed.
Simply put, this world was locked in a direct, one-to-one junction with the Abyss. If any living creature drew near the world's fractures, they would be corroded by the power of the Abyss, leaving them with only death.
They were like turtles trapped in a jar—no matter how much they struggled, it was a dead end.
Naturally, this secret was known only to those in the supernatural world. Ordinary people had no idea their world was hurtling toward ruin, carrying on with their work and daily lives as usual. Perhaps only when the great edifice came crashing down would they realize the apocalypse had arrived.
"We now require a vessel capable of swiftly reaching the ark. Edward, mobilize all our funds! Mobilize all the power of the supernatural world! I want a ship capable of reaching the ark built within three days!" Marcus looked at his blood scion, Edward, and commanded.
Edward bowed his head. "Father, three days is far too short."
"Hm?"
Marcus's brow furrowed slightly. Edward immediately dropped to his knees in agony, his heart feeling as though it were being crushed in an iron grip.
"I give you two days. If you fail... then you shall become part of my Bloody Art," Marcus said coldly.
Edward bowed his head in torment and complied. At that moment, every vampire realized Marcus was deadly serious. After all, Edward had followed him since tens of thousands of years ago and was his most faithful blood scion of all.
Marcus continued issuing orders. Every vampire called upon dared not question his commands, terrified of following in Edward's footsteps.
...
People in Huaxia had likewise discovered the presence of the Aska.
Unlike Marcus, however, Huaxia had no plans of building a spaceship to reach the ship. Instead, they transmitted a wide variety of signals across numerous frequencies and wavelengths toward the Aska, hoping to receive a response.
The night passed without incident.
Yu Xian and Nora woke up together in bed. After looking at each other, Nora nudged Little Nora, who lay squeezed between them.
The little girl had pestered them endlessly, insisting on naming the dragon girl. But she harbored no good intentions—she was dead set on saddling the baby with a hideous name.
After all, she held a deep grudge against the dragon clan. Refraining from eating the dragon girl was already merciful enough; what was wrong with giving her an ugly name?
"Big Brother, let's call the baby Big Sweet Potato. Sounds so nice! Isn't there a custom that says the uglier a name is, the less likely a baby is to get sick? Heh heh..." With her rear sticking high in the air and drool dripping from her lips, Little Nora mumbled in her sleep after Nora nudged her, ending with a smug chuckle.
Speechless, Yu Xian got out of bed. Nora rose as well, and the two quietly slipped out of the room.
"We'd better name the dragon baby soon. Once she has a name, Little Nora will probably give up," Nora suggested to Yu Xian.
Yu Xian nodded. "Yeah. I'll discuss it with Niman. Why don't you join in too? We can pick a nice name for the dragon girl together."
"It can't be nice! A nice name isn't good for a baby's growth! Big Brother, you have to believe me, I'm really doing this for the baby's sake!" The automatic door slid open, revealing Little Nora standing inside with bleary eyes, stammering her objections.
Yu Xian said with a smile, "If you can convince Big Sister Niman, we'll go with whatever you say."
"..."
Little Nora's ahoge instantly drooped.
In reality, the only person on this warship who truly cared about the dragon girl was Niman. Yu Xian and Nora acted purely out of humanitarian concern; once they returned to Crescent Bay, they would hand the infant over to the dragon clan. There was no way the two of them would raise her.
Little Huangquan cared even less about a female infant who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
Only Niman overflowed with maternal affection. She had been taking care of the dragon girl over the past few days and had already formed a bond with her.
So no matter what mischievous scheme Little Nora concocted, she would never get past Niman. Even Yu Xian intervening probably wouldn't work—and Yu Xian had enough self-awareness to know that.
Yu Xian led Nora and Little Nora onto the bridge. Sure enough, Niman was already there bright and early. Cradling the infant, she was observing various data readouts while surrounding light screens displayed the situation outside.
"Good morning!" Yu Xian walked over and greeted Niman.
"Sister Niman, let me hold her," Nora said, stepping forward with a smile.
Niman handed the dragon girl to Nora and smiled. "This world is quite interesting. Many nations on Earth have sent messages to us. Want to take a look?"
"We've been exposed?" Yu Xian had just accepted a piece of bread handed to him by Little Nora, and asked in surprise.
Niman looked at the messages on the light screen and nodded. "This world is of a higher tier, so the ceiling of extraordinary power is naturally higher as well. I estimate there are likely ten or more Star-rank powerhouses on this world's Earth. Factoring in all sorts of bizarre abilities, discovering the Aska isn't surprising at all."
The Aska was originally designed only to guard against detection from beings below Star Rank; it couldn't shield against those at or above Star Rank. Its primary function was resisting Abyss erosion—that was its true strength.
Every craft had its specialty; in terms of defensive shielding against high-level detection, the King of the Abyss Battle Armor blew the Aska out of the water.
Curious, Yu Xian leaned in closer, chewing on his bread as he browsed the messages sent from Earth. In any case, he was merely looking; he had no intention of replying to any of Earth's questions.
"..."
...
"Honored alien excellencies, welcome to Earth."
...
"Come save us, we are ready to surrender to you, come to Earth."
...
Yu Xian rubbed his chin as he read through the lines of text. "Niman, that Earth seems a little strange. They appear very eager to welcome us as guests."
"I think they look more like a crowd of people waving their hands and crying for help," Niman said with a chuckle.
Yu Xian nodded. "Now that you mention it, it does seem that way. But isn't their world higher-grade than ours?"
He had harbored the preconceived notion that because this world was stronger than his own, it ought to be safer as well. That was why he had initially gotten the mistaken impression of a warm invitation.
Fortunately, Niman's comment made him realize his mistake.
Taking another bite of his bread, he continued reading the signals sent from Earth. It didn't really matter if he had guessed wrong; after all, he was just an onlooker enjoying the spectacle. Even if this world blew up, what did it have to do with him?
Yet when he spotted the messages in Chinese, he blurted out in astonishment, "Wait, this world has a Qilin too?"
Having an Earth and a Huaxia was normal enough, but having a Qilin was truly bizarre. Could this world be astonishingly similar to his own?
In that case, could there be another version of him here?
And if there was another him, could there be another Nora?
Eating his bread, Yu Xian stared at the Chinese characters on the screen, his curiosity suddenly piqued.
Chapter 272