Gathering

Inside the passenger compartment of the Little Mobile Ant Car. Yu Xian lay sprawled on a sofa, feeling as if the bus had completely lost its appeal. This passenger space could expand or shrink at will, and a large number of humanoid attendants wearing ant masks were on hand to serve all the passengers. Zhang Buyao had fixed the space's dimensions to roughly a hundred meters across. Anyone standing near the edges could look outside, and Yu Xian's sofa was positioned right against the perimeter. From where he lay, he could see the Little Mobile Ant Car flying through the sky over the Death Calamity Sea. The bus? What was that? Never heard of it. Yu Xian felt he might as well throw away his bus pass. "Hey, Salty Fish, mind if I drop an anchor point here?" Zhang Buyao asked, walking over with a skewer of grilled meat and nudging his backside with her foot. Yu Xian had been lying on his side watching the sea below. He rolled over to face her and asked, "What kind of anchor point?" "This passenger space is generated by an item, so a lot of the old rules still apply. That means we don't have to go through the Everlasting Silence Prison Tower to return to the God Vault Space. I can use that token you gave me to place an anchor point here. As long as we're inside this space, we'll be able to travel back and forth to the God Vault Space freely," Zhang Buyao explained. Hearing that, Yu Xian cleanly pulled out a brand-new token. "Keep yours for your own use. Just use a new one. Otherwise, every time you want to come and go, you'd have to pass through this vehicle, which would be too much hassle." "Mm-hmm, works for me!" Zhang Buyao took the token with a grin. Curious about how she would establish the anchor, Yu Xian got up and followed her to the center of the space. Zhang Buyao drove the token into the floor, whipped out a hammer, and struck it with a heavy blow. "Fuse!" she commanded. The token truly sank into the floor, and countless golden patterns rippled outward from where it vanished. "Huh?" "We have internet!" Little Nora, who had previously been hosting a mukbang stream over the Death Calamity Sea, let out a cry of surprise. Her other livestreaming apps had been running in the background all along, but they had lost connection the moment she left the God Vault Space. Now they had automatically reconnected. The others quickly noticed the change in the space as well. Everyone could faintly sense the existence of the God Vault Space, feeling as though a single thought could carry them right back. "There we go! Now we can surf the web properly." Zhang Buyao stowed the hammer, dusted off her hands, and let out a sigh of pure contentment. Yu Xian understood. Zhang Buyao had done this entirely because being cut off from the internet was unbearable and her web addiction had flared up. "How does the God Vault Space's network signal reach this space? What's the principle behind it?" Yu Xian didn't tease her—after all, his own internet addiction was acting up too. He casually opened up his usual websites as he asked. Zhang Buyao replied, "That token acts as an anchor. Think of it as a pipe. Right now, that pipe connects both spaces, so certain intangible forces can travel back and forth through it. Network signals just happen to be one of them." "Oh, okay." Yu Xian blinked twice and nodded. Fair enough. He didn't actually understand, nor did he intend to ponder it any further. Knowing he could browse the web and return to the God Vault Space whenever he wanted was more than enough. As for the underlying theory, hearing it once was plenty. After sharing the news with everyone, Zhang Buyao went back to tinkering with the passenger compartment's other features. The functions of a mount's interior space were tied directly to the mount's own vitality, meaning that, in theory, any idea could be realized within this space. Of course, if two items both of the Infinite grade possessed conflicting attributes, they would either detonate together or annihilate each other; most likely, their effects would endlessly cancel out. *** Death Calamity Sea, Dianguang Island. This island was rich in thunderstone, constantly crackling with lightning and booming with thunder. Because it lay very close to the center of the Death Calamity Sea, few Transcendents aside from a handful of miners had ever stayed here for long in the past. Ever since Feng Laixian had pissed blood, however, the island had become bustling with activity. Many Transcendents descended upon it to observe the strange anomalies occurring in the heart of the Death Calamity Sea from close range. Peng Zuen mingled among the crowd, gazing down at the seawater as well. The once-golden sea had turned murky. A layer of golden water floated on the surface like an oil slick, while murky crimson water surged below. The two currents intertwined yet remained separate, the gold and the red distinctly divided. Rumble! A thunderous crash shook the air. Niu Kaitian dropped from the sky, prompting the surrounding Transcendents to clear a path. He strode to the edge of the island, glanced down at the water, and frowned. "Something isn't right. This power doesn't originate from the Death Calamity Sea. Someone dumped something into the water." He didn't dare let his divine sense touch the seawater itself, but merely sweeping it across the surface was enough to detect unusual traces and catch the anomalies lingering in the air. "Bull God, did you figure something out?" Just then, another System Rank powerhouse dropped down from above and addressed Niu Kaitian. "Dinggong Bang, you're better at investigating. Why don't you share what you've found first?" Niu Kaitian glanced at the newcomer and spoke in a flat voice. Dinggong Bang, despite having 'Dinggong' in his name, was neither from the Island Nation nor even human. He was a mechanical lifeform. Because his body was studded with numerous iron spikes and nails, people referred to him as the Nail God. "My nanobots have analyzed all scent molecules within a ten-light-year radius. I can confirm that a living entity came to the center of the Death Calamity Sea earlier and dropped a spherical payload into the water. What it was specifically, and what its exact purpose might be, remains unknown," Dinggong Bang said. Niu Kaitian nodded. "The information gathered by my divine sense matches that. One thing is certain, though: whatever they dropped is connected to the Abyss, yet it carries an indescribable oddness." "Old Bull, you're here too!" You Xinghun's voice echoed through the air before he even appeared. A second later, a black dragon swept in, taking on human form mid-flight as he landed. The Transcendents scrambled out of the way. Immediately following him, an imperial palanquin drawn by two white dragons glided gracefully through the air, carrying a reclining woman in white. "It seems everyone still cares deeply about this big family of ours in the Death Calamity Sea. Everyone has shown up," the woman in white said with a chuckle. Niu Kaitian couldn't help but laugh heartily. "East or west, home is best, even if it's just a dog's kennel. The Death Calamity Sea might be perilous, but I've lived here long enough to grow accustomed to it. I have no intention of packing up and moving anytime soon." "Well said. As long as there's a shred of hope, who would willingly live like a homeless dog?" A streak of light zipped in to reveal an infant with a sword strapped to its back. Though the baby didn't open its mouth, the voice of a young man resonated from all directions. In just a few short minutes, dozens of System Rank powerhouses arrived in unspoken coordination, as if they had agreed upon the meeting beforehand. After exchanging brief pleasantries, each deployed their own methods to examine the situation at the center of the Death Calamity Sea. The rest of the Transcendents discussed the developments in hushed voices, waiting for the System Rank experts to deliver their findings. Peng Zuen was accustomed to operating from the shadows. He had only come to the center of the Death Calamity Sea to see what the commotion was about and lay low for a while. He had never expected so many prominent figures to assemble here. These luminaries shone as bright as suns, making a creature of the dark like him feel physical discomfort. The urge to slip away grew intensely within him. However, since no one was leaving right now, making a move on his own would draw too much attention. Left with no choice, he could only retreat toward the less crowded edges of the island. And then, he caught sight of a pumpkin carriage flying in from the sky...