Chapter 54: Chapter 54 Trouble Always Comes with Bigger Trouble
Editor: Atlas Studios
This was a small contact point established by the Superpower Organization in the Sahara Desert. From the outside, it looked like an inconspicuous desert inn, meant to provide a rest stop for those slightly crazy individuals who ventured into this barren land for adventure or tourism, only to quickly reconsider their trip back. Clearly, the featureless ruins nearby had not been developed, making this area sparsely populated and difficult to supply, making it highly unlikely for many tourists to visit. Any unlucky convoy traversing the desert highway, heavily extorted by this little inn, would definitely not be interested in coming back to be fleeced again — in fact, that was exactly what the Superpower Organization wanted. They needed a contact point disguised as a desert inn but did not actually need it to become a bustling international hotel.
Only someone as extremely naive as Sister Chen Qian wouldn’t question why a desert inn that saw no guests for years could still be in business — and not just surviving, but seemingly doing quite well.
I suddenly thought that this Superpower Team was naturally adept at conspiracies; they were far better at setting traps than I was.
In a small secluded room, several special individuals were holding a critique and education meeting. The attendees included me, Sandora, Pandora, Sicaro, and Lin Xue. Of course, I was the initiator and educator of this gathering, while Lin Xue was the one being educated. Among the rest, Sandora was here to join the fun because she had nothing else to do, Pandora was the type to follow me wherever I went, and Sicaro was special; this guy had been too rampant in selling pirated discs in K City, resulting in being jointly wanted by the entire city’s urban management. Having no other options, he joined us in the Sahara Desert, hoping to find a market with us to exploit. To prevent him from spreading his market tactics to the Superpower Team members, I dragged him along as well.
In response to my criticism, Lin Xue protested, “What trap? We just wanted to arrange a unique vacation for you. Since you asked our organization to do these boring things, you must accept our confidentiality measures. Besides, Sister Qian seems quite satisfied with the arrangement.”
Since there were no outsiders here, and Lin Xue, the only normal human, was an insider, Sandora saw no need to hide her identity. With a slight hum, revealing her queenly demeanor, she said, “Hmph, little girl, don’t forget that you are sitting with the leader of the most powerful empire in the universe. Your little thoughts cannot escape my eyes.”
After saying that, Sandora’s imposing manner disappeared, and she continued to devour roasted flatbread and fruit pies at an astonishing speed.
Forget it, I was used to it…
Finally, Lin Xue gave up on beating around the bush and honestly said, “Alright, I admit, we need your help this time — of course, aside from that, a desert holiday trip isn’t a bad diversion. Personally, I think someone as boring as Chen Jun needs something novel…”
Could this girl who was always at odds with me never say one thing that would make me happy?!
“Fine, speak directly, my commanders are idle anyway.”
I pulled out the fork Sandora had swallowed and looked at Lin Xue.
Lin Xue took out a pitch-black item from her pocket and threw it in front of us.
“Huh?” Sandora and I both expressed our doubts.
It was a regular oval shape, with a smooth surface, completely black with an oily sheen. If you concentrated hard enough, you could smell a faint fragrance…
If my human memory wasn’t wrong, this thing was the legendary — chocolate bean!
“Ah — sorry! I grabbed the wrong thing…”
Lin Xue quickly realized her major mistake, embarrassingly putting the chocolate beans back into her pocket, and then took out another pitch-black item from another pocket.
I suddenly became very interested in how this seemingly elegant girl usually took care of herself. Lin Xue, who seemed so dignified and lady-like, could throw food around , and it’s a wonder she hadn’t poisoned herself yet.
But Sandora’s attention was not on Lin Xue. She was completely captivated by the diamond-shaped, black crystal-like object on the table.
“This is… this is a Ghost Energy Core!”
Never seeing Sandora so discomposed, I immediately tensed up, “A Ghost Energy Core? What is that?”
Sandora carefully picked up the so-called Ghost Energy Core from the table, swallowed the spoon in her mouth (I wasn’t mistaken, it was a spoon. As I mentioned before, Xyrin Apostles can swallow anything. With no outsiders here, Sandora dared to put anything into her mouth…), and then said, “It’s a type of energy source, one of the most common sources of energy in the Xyrin Empire, like batteries are to humans.”
“Energy?” Lin Xue’s voice trembled as she looked at the black diamond crystal in Sandora’s hand with a strange gaze, “This thing must contain a tremendous amount of energy, right?”
Energy! What’s the biggest headache for humans now? Energy!
Don’t mention the ultimate warship of the Xyrin Empire. Even a single Ghost Energy Bombardment from Pandora consumed an astonishing amount of energy. But such outrageous energy consumption was trivial to the Xyrin Empire, allowing Sandora’s troops to continue fighting in the Otherworld for thousands of years without hitting a supply crisis. All thanks to Xyrin Empire’s energy usage method that had fused with the World Law.
Void Energy, Ghost Energy System, Pan-Energy Annihilation System, Dark Energy Recharge Technology, even creating a singularity and destroying it to harness the catastrophic energy from the universe’s demise — to the Xyrin Empire, energy was the least valuable thing. If necessary, they could ignite the entire world to obtain energy!
Although the Empire had fallen, and most of these god-like technologies had become incomplete materials, the Xyrin Empire still held energy technology capable of igniting a constant star!
But I knew, Sandora would never let humans grasp this technology, not just for the Empire’s benefit but for humanity’s sake.
Sure enough, Sandora immediately knew what Lin Xue was thinking. Tossing the black crystal in her hand lightly, she said, “Don’t get any ideas about this energy. At your current development speed, it will take at least another thousand years for humans to harness Ghost Energy safely and stably. If you qualify then, the Empire would be delighted to lend human civilization a hand. But for now — trust me, I’m doing this for your good. Stay away from these dangerous things, or you’ll end up destroying yourselves with them. Honestly, I think your access to nuclear energy is premature… Right, where did you find this? Somewhere in the ruin?”
Lin Xue, a very smart girl with far-sighted vision, wouldn’t have reached her high organizational rank without them, even as a Superpower User. Sandora’s words immediately cleared her head clouded by the allure of this tremendously tempting object. She nodded and said, “Thanks for the reminder, I’ll keep this secret. As for this thing, we found it in a peculiar tomb chamber beneath the ruins. It seemed to be the Pyramid of an Egyptian Pharaoh buried underground for unknown reasons. In a tomb chamber next to the main burial chamber, we found this object. I suspect it was revered as a divine item from a fallen Xyrin Warrior who accidentally arrived on Earth. An analysis of the Pyramid’s hieroglyphs showed that Egyptians called this stone ‘Star Stone,’ believing it to grant souls the power of resurrection. The tomb chamber walls bore symbols similar to those we saw in the Taklamakan ruins, so I thought of inviting you over. But don’t worry, no one in the organization knows your true identities; they only know you as some free-spirited Superpower Users willing to help the organization.”
“You should count yourselves lucky,” Sandora crushed the black crystal in her hand, “although this thing’s common to us as a power source like a No. 5 battery, it’s deadlier than a ton of Uranium-235 to humans. If you activated it by chance, the crystal without an energy control device could trigger a calamity greater than a nuclear explosion. But this crystal is obviously depleted of energy and just looks like a nice stone now.”
Hearing Sandora’s explanation, Lin Xue’s voice grew tense, “Wait, then if the crystal wasn’t depleted, what would it look like?”
Pandora, who had been quietly listening, raised her right hand, and a deep blue semi-transparent crystal, surrounded by faint purple flashes, emerged from her palm.
“Ah!” Lin Xue exclaimed, “There is one! There’s one embedded atop the Pharaoh’s sarcophagus! Oh no, they’re about to start researching it today!”