[285] Shui Yuetian's Situation

Yu Xian pressed a hand against his chest, and a diamond-shaped gem slowly emerged from within. He tapped the Star Ring, and the singularity immediately sank into the gem. The originally blue-and-white stone swiftly turned pitch-black, and a skull insignia appeared on its surface. ————— Hacker Star Ring Durability: Sole User: Yu Xian Miraculous Attribute: [Hacker] The user may ignore space and distance to hack into any Star Ring. Note: Now... you are the highest authority in the Star Ring sequence. ————— After understanding the Star Ring's miraculous attribute, Yu Xian was slightly surprised, but he felt it wasn't a loss. Though it differed somewhat from what he had envisioned, the "Hacker" attribute was still quite good. At the very least, from now on, he would be the only one controlling other people's Star Rings; no one could ever hack into his. In truth, what he had really wanted was an ability akin to Zhang Shou's "System" or a "Virtual Reality Projection"—something that could materialize virtual information from the Star Ring, which would have drastically expanded his combat options. "Looks like my luck was pretty average." Yu Xian stored the Star Ring back into his body and spoke helplessly to the group. He shared the Star Ring's attributes with everyone. After hearing it, they all found it rather ordinary as well. The main reason was that Crescent Bay already had plenty of Star Ring hackers who could also breach others' devices. Naturally, everyone had their own methods of defense too. For instance, Yu Xian's superpower, Appliance Control, could fend off any hacker attempting to infiltrate his Star Ring. "Wait. If it ignores space and distance, doesn't that mean you can hack into Zhi'er's Star Ring right now?" Nora said, a sudden spark of inspiration striking her. Everyone turned to look at Yu Xian. If he could truly breach Zhi'er's Star Ring, it would be equivalent to tracking Zhi'er's every move. Even though they were far apart right now, once they caught up, they would be able to pinpoint the perfect moment to strike and rescue her. At the very least, Shui Yuetian's safety would be far better guaranteed. Yu Xian immediately opened the Star Ring's interface and found several new software applications on it, one of which was designed specifically for hacking into target Star Rings. He launched the application and typed in Zhi'er's name. A massive list of "Zhi'er"s appeared after the search. The name was simply too common. The software thoughtfully displayed the location of each "Zhi'er," and even included user profile pictures. Having no other choice, Yu Xian activated his Super Brain and rapidly inspected every single Zhi'er. A minute later, he reached the bottom of the list. Yu Xian opened his eyes and said helplessly to the others, "Zhi'er must be an alias. He probably registered his Star Ring under a different name." "Then Big Bro, what about Sister Shui Shui's Star Ring?" Little Nora asked at once. Yu Xian's eyes brightened, and he nodded. "Zhi'er might use another name, but Shui Shui shouldn't have. Let me check." With that, he closed his eyes again and searched for "Shui Yuetian." A vast list of Star Ring users still popped up. After skimming through them, he was somewhat surprised—Shui Yuetian hadn't used her real name either... He thought for a moment, then typed the two characters "Shui Shui" into the search bar, which produced another batch of people. This time, he finally found her. Shui Yuetian's profile picture showed her with her eyes closed. Yu Xian suspected it reflected the user's real-time state, because just moments ago, he had even seen a few avatars covered in blood. After all, no one would deliberately snap a photo while bleeding from the head. Having located Shui Yuetian's Star Ring, he decisively hacked into it. Rescuing her was of paramount urgency, leaving him no time for second thoughts. Shui Yuetian's Star Ring interface was filled with numerous water bubbles that drifted continuously from bottom to top, carrying various application icons inside them. Whenever a bubble popped, its icon would drift downward—icons for virtual reality games, chat applications, and Qixin. Once those icons sank to the bottom, new bubbles wrapped around them and carried them slowly back upward in an endless cycle. If Yu Xian wished, he could easily snoop through all of Shui Yuetian's secrets right now. Naturally, he had no intention of doing so; he simply opened the camera feed, and the interface instantly turned pitch-black. The Star Ring's camera function had two modes. One was the ocular capture mode, which recorded whatever the user's eyes were seeing. Because Shui Yuetian was currently unconscious, the feed was completely dark. However, the Star Ring had a second camera mode: photon capture mode. In this mode, the Star Ring manipulated the ambient photons and recorded everything in the surroundings through photon feedback. Many virtual reality films in Crescent Bay were produced using this very feature. After toggling on the second capture mode, Yu Xian saw Shui Yuetian's environment. It was an enclosed room without a single piece of furniture. Shui Yuetian was slumped against a corner, still deeply unconscious. Yu Xian carefully inspected every corner of the room, but failed to find any useful information. The room didn't even have a window, making it impossible to determine where they were. Just as Niman had previously suggested, there was a chance Zhi'er had used the custom warship he commissioned from Aska as a decoy to lure pursuers toward danger, while he himself took Shui Yuetian toward the genuine Helick's Great Trove. If they could confirm the warship's location through Shui Yuetian's Star Ring, they would be able to respond in time. Judging by the current situation, however, that plan was clearly unfeasible. Yu Xian withdrew from Shui Yuetian's Star Ring and said with a sigh, "I found Shui Shui's Star Ring, but there are no clues. Shui Shui is completely unconscious, and the room she's in is fully sealed off. There isn't any useful information." "That's already very good. At least we know Shui Shui is still alive," Niman said with a gentle smile. Even though Hai Liwei judged that Zhi'er likely wouldn't kill Shui Yuetian before she came of age, that was still just Zhi'er's one-sided claim. Being able to confirm Shui Yuetian's condition through the Star Ring brought genuine peace of mind. After all, the worst outcome in a rescue mission was discovering that the target had died long ago, leaving everyone running around blindly while taking enormous risks. Next, it was finally Niman's turn to use a singularity. After chatting a bit more about Zhi'er and Shui Yuetian, the conversation drew to a close. Niman handed the dragon girl Little Nia to Muse, then summoned her mushroom house. This mushroom house could expand or shrink at will and possessed remarkable defensive capabilities, serving as their makeshift shelter. Niman tapped her finger against the mushroom house, but the speck of light on her fingertip showed no response. She tried several more times with no success, then furrowed her brows and asked, "Xiao Sensen, why isn't it working? What's going on?" "Because it's a part of your ability. It isn't an inanimate object, so of course it can't be made into a miraculous item," Xiao Sensen explained listlessly, looking at Niman. To it, this was common sense; it simply hadn't known what the mushroom house Niman mentioned actually was. If Niman's mushroom house could be turned into a miraculous item, then couldn't Yu Xian's bubbles, Nora's World pistol, and Little Nora's Heavenly Golden Feathers all be turned into miraculous items as well? That was clearly out of the question.