: The Mask of Night

As morning approached, outside the Sunset Interstellar Spaceport, dense cirrus clouds displayed fish-scale-like patterns under the blazing summer sun. The wind howled, stirring up layers of cloud waves, creating a vast and magnificent scene.

Sunset District is located on the western fourth ring road of the third main city. Although there is a fifth ring road outside, the view from the airport is extremely open. Looking out, all you can see is snow-white clouds, stretching for several kilometers, like a magnificent starship harbor in a steel jungle.

In the distance, floating buildings appear and disappear amidst the fish-scale clouds, resembling a mirage.

It's probably going to rain soon.

I learned about it in high school astronomy class.

Qiao Yuan remembered that the sea of ​​clouds yesterday morning was still altocumulus, but now it was a fish-scale pattern.

He is now standing at the entrance of the airport cargo terminal, where there are few pedestrians but still some.

At that moment, Lina said solemnly, "You're Yan Baobao's younger brother? What are you doing here?"

so similar!

His height, physique, and handsome face were exactly like the confident young man Caesar had described...

She felt it extremely strongly.

Qiao Yuan smiled enigmatically: "Oh, am I that famous? But that box is indeed very heavy."

He appeared calm and collected, but his left hand was pressed against the demon ring, ready to manifest at any moment.

He didn't want to block Lina.

He wants Lina dead!

Memory transplantation comes at a price. These former third-tier ascendants experienced a significant drop in strength after changing their bodies, falling to the second tier.

He didn't know the specific reason, but as long as it was to his advantage, that was fine.

At this moment, Lina stared at Qiao Yuan in shock. The wind was strong outside the door, and she thought she had misheard, but the suitcase had indeed been taken away...

"impossible!"

Her eyelids twitched rapidly, then she let out a self-deprecating laugh: "Hahahaha, I knew those bastards, Yu Jin and his gang, would eavesdrop! They didn't believe me!"

"Very well, you've come at the right time! I'll kill you first, then your sister, and send you all down to be buried with my Lord Caesar."

Lina grinned menacingly, and a mechanical sound suddenly came from her ankle. In an instant, she shot towards Qiao Yuan like an arrow, creating a sharp gust of wind that made the floor-to-ceiling glass on both sides of the door rattle loudly.

Twenty meters apart, they were almost touching in an instant!

The anger in her eyes had reached its peak. At this moment, her five fingers were like hooks, and a hot, black, sharp knife pierced out from the palm of her prosthetic body, aiming straight for Qiao Yuan's heart.

call out!

Qiao Yuan dodged the attack with a sidestep, and while Lina was still in shock, a massive, skeletal undead demon materialized in front of him.

After half a month, I finally got to use the Demon Substitute Ring again, and it still had over 50% durability left.

With a swift, controlled motion, he swung the black longsword in the demon's left hand, which, wreathed in powerful, eerie green flames, slashed fiercely at Lina.

Boom!

Sparks flew as Lina, in her frenzy, caught the blade barehanded, gripping it tightly with her left hand. She sneered, "Not bad, but a mere first-tier relic dares to show off to me!"

In an instant, Lina's prosthetic fingers cracked open, spewing out five raging, enormous fire serpents!

The five fire serpents immediately merged into a vast sea of ​​fire, directly engulfing the demon substitute.

"Killing you is enough!"

A faint hint of mockery flickered in Qiao Yuan's eyes.

He watched as the Stand's durability rapidly dropped below 50%, but he wasn't worried at all.

Although Yan Baobao hasn't arrived yet, he and Baobao have a location-based chat, so it's not far off.

The goal was to stall Lina and prevent her from having any chance to escape.

Qiao Yuan, braving the sea of ​​fire, advanced instead of retreating, directly replacing the demon's will with that of the demon substitute, activating the full potential of the undead demon.

This method had surprised White Rose; it seemed that it required a certain amount of time and practice to master the artifacts.

However, under the influence of the Eternal Great Luo position, one can directly obtain all the power of the relics.

Instantly, the black longsword shone brightly with green light, and the eerie green flames multiplied, tearing apart the orange-red sea of ​​fire and creating a standoff.

Lina snorted again, instinctively wanting to pull her hand back, but Qiao Yuan pressed on relentlessly, his jetpack activated to its highest setting, relentlessly slashing at her.

At this point, Qiao Yuan finally realized the advantage of Lina using gasoline as a prosthetic medium.

It bursts into a huge flame in the blink of an eye, and the flames are continuous and have a strong aftereffect. At the same time, the volatility and flammability of gasoline itself will trigger a chain reaction.

Especially since the other party's prosthetic body is made of fire-resistant material.

Just like now, his demonic stand-in is covered in residual gasoline and is being burned by flames.

As the saying goes, one thing rises while another falls.

From this perspective, gasoline-powered thermal prosthetics appear to have certain advantages over prosthetics powered by electricity, nuclear energy, wind power, and other energy sources.

It is really strong.

Unfortunately, it couldn't stop his dark green flames, which were filled with coldness and the aura of death.

Lina quickly realized this as well, watching helplessly as Qiao Yuan's green flames burned her left hand until it went out!

It wasn't that Qiao Yuan extinguished the fire, but rather that her thermal prosthetic components suffered fatal freezing.

Her flames were scorching hot, but Qiao Yuan's green flames were icy cold!

"Fuck! You damned little bastard!"

Qiao Yuan seized the opportunity and chopped off Lina's left hand with his sword.

"You!" Lina felt increasingly passive.

Qiao Yuan sneered: "You're just as pathetic as Caesar was yesterday when he was captured, like a dog."

Lina's face twitched as she listened.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw an Ember hovercar with its police lights on in the distance, and her mind went into a panic. No, this is not right! Lord Caesar's orders have not been fulfilled yet, and she cannot die here!

She escaped death, fled far away, watched the two interstellar giants fight to the death, established a new order for Zero, became the new leader, and became the second Caesar—she didn't care about any of that.

Her eyes were only for Caesar from beginning to end!

This was Caesar's final order, and the person standing before him was the very culprit who had brought about Caesar's downfall!

Escape! We need to plan this carefully.

Next time, she'll use a sniper rifle to headshot someone from a distance!

After a brief moment of contemplation and cursing, Lina turned and rushed towards the sea of ​​clouds below.

But Qiao Yuan was faster, and through the future timeline, he foresaw all of the opponent's next actions. Upon returning to reality, he immediately swung his sword and threw it, directly hitting Lina's thigh.

"You dare?!" Lina staggered immediately, her fear growing, as if her actions had been predicted.

This feeling terrified her.

"Did I let you leave?"

Qiao Yuan snorted coldly and flew over quickly, using his demonic hands to tightly grip Lina. The two fought in the air, neither letting go no matter how much the other struggled.

At the same time, Yan Baobao swooped down from the hovercar and shouted at him, "Let go, she's in danger, let me handle this."

Lina was utterly despondent. She roared with hatred and madness, "Hahaha, let's die together! For Caesar's sake, go to hell!"

Her body suddenly became hot, the pungent smell of gasoline and the high temperature rose steadily, as if she wanted to explode.

"Qiao Yuan, let go!"

"It's alright, the Stand still has 26% durability left."

boom!

Lina's head was instantly blasted open, exploding into two pieces of scrap metal shaped like wood ear mushrooms.

The body that was about to explode completely went out of control, and its entire head was quickly frozen.

It's a frozen armor-piercing round!

Qiao Yuan looked up and saw Captain He on the hovercar, holding a black sniper rifle, who had extinguished Lina's attack from a distance.

He nodded and smiled at Captain He, which saved him from the consumption of the demon substitute.

He released Lina, and he and Yan Baobao landed on the ground one after the other. He smiled and spread his hands, saying, "Look how scared you are. I have a stand-in, okay?"

Yan Baobao's face fell. She put away the tactical holographic mask on her mecha suit and said irritably, "What if her self-destruction damage exceeds the durability? She's such a worry, always acting recklessly on her own."

"Please, I'm a college student already."

Qiao Yuan felt somewhat helpless; it seemed that in Bao Bao's eyes, he would always be the younger brother who needed to be taken care of.

Actually, he didn't want to be so direct, as it wasn't in line with his usual style, but Lina was too dangerous, and he had to kill her immediately to feel at ease.

"So what if I'm a college student? We'll talk about it when I surpass my rank," Baby snorted.

Qiao Yuan was speechless for a moment: "You cheat, how am I supposed to catch up with your talent?"

Yan Baobao said arrogantly, "Hmph, so what? Just be good and let your big sister protect you."

"Don't do that again, do you hear me? You just make me worry. What if something unexpected happens..."

"Shut up!" Qiao Yuan shook his head. "Don't keep thinking nonsense. I wouldn't do that."

Yan Baobao swallowed her words, but persisted, saying, "Then you promise."

"Okay, okay, I promise." Qiao Yuan shrugged helplessly: "From now on, older sister goes first."

"Okay!" Yan Baobao immediately smiled.

Captain He had already gotten out of the car, examined Lina's body, and then asked him, "What was she doing here? Did you see her just now?"

Qiao Yuan calmly said, "She probably wants to run away on a starship. She's not a lawyer, she's Lina."

"Lina?" Captain He's expression changed abruptly. "Is she the accomplice from Sunset Day?"

After arresting Caesar yesterday, their Tiandu branch obtained the relevant case files, which detailed the events of the "Final Day" incident, including information about the mastermind. Unexpectedly…

"Yes," Qiao Yuan nodded, "She mentioned it when she found me. Luckily, Captain He intervened, otherwise I'm afraid this keepsake of mine would be gone."

Captain He waved his hand dismissively: "It's nothing. Saving people is my responsibility. Since this accomplice is dead, let's take him back to Caesar. Maybe we can get some valuable clues out of him."

"Captain He, you have to keep this a secret for me." Qiao Yuan emphasized, "This guy just tried to kill me. I have a feeling it's related to Caesar. Captain He, do you remember yesterday in Director Fan's car, I was the only outsider not wearing the Ember uniform? Caesar was in the containment chamber at the time, so he must have seen me."

He hadn't originally planned to say these things, but since Captain He was here today, it was necessary.

But in reality, he had already covered up the fact that Lina went to the freight station by changing the topic of Lina's identity. Coincidentally, there were only the three of them at the scene, and no other Ember members.

His idea was simple: he would come here alone later and take the black suitcase home first.

Let's see if there's anything good inside.

If Captain He discovers anything about the freight station during the subsequent investigation, he will hand over the travel bag, but he will keep a few useful items in advance and hand over the rest.

At most, he'll get a verbal reprimand, since he did contribute to the whole affair.

The problem is not big.

He didn't tell Yan Baobao because it wasn't necessary yet. If it were discovered later, it might implicate Baobao.

After all, the baby is a law enforcement officer, but he is just a student; their identities are different, and so are their responsibilities.

If Captain He doesn't find anything later, that would be even better; Caesar's legacy will belong entirely to him.

At this moment, Captain He said thoughtfully, "That is indeed possible. Let's go back to the station first. You're still in military training, right? I've already told Galaxy University."

"Don't worry about the information. I'll go with your sister to interrogate Caesar later."

"Thank you, Captain He," Qiao Yuan said gratefully.

Captain He shook his head: "I should be thanking you. You've given me credit for nothing. Your sister and I will go over our statements and say that we started watching Lina after she left, followed her all the way, and that's how the conflict happened."

Qiao Yuan listened and laughed heartily.

That's settled.

The baby carried the body to the Ember Floating Vehicle, then took out a cleaning device similar to a vacuum cleaner and cleaned the scene.

A short while later, he returned to the Tiandu branch.

Yan Baobao straightened his shirt collar at the door and nagged like his mother, "Are you sure you can go back to Galaxy University by yourself? Do you want me to take you?"

"?" Qiao Yuan rolled her eyes. "You really treat me like a child, don't you? You brat!"

"Haha," Yan Baobao laughed, "Go back quickly, I'm very busy here. I'll let you know if there's any progress."

"OK".

Qiao Yuan waved his hand. It was already 11 a.m., almost noon when school would let out.

He took a taxi to Galaxy University, but changed his destination midway and returned to the airport cargo terminal.

That huge box of Caesar's legacy.

Let's take it home first.

Anyway, Captain He has already asked the school for leave.

He only feels truly at ease when he has this kind of thing at home, in his own bedroom.

He skillfully took the white magnetic card and went to container number 0340 in the sixth warehouse area.

He slowly descended via the suspended platform, carrying a black suitcase, and dragged it across the ground.

In the car, Qiao Yuan reached out and touched the surface of the suitcase, and found that, just like when he had a premonition of the future, there were many bottles and jars, a briefcase, as well as books and other items that he couldn't quite identify.

He's getting impatient now.

This is going to be a huge profit!

Qiao Yuan suppressed the restlessness in his heart, and for the first time he realized why this old taxi was so slow.

Ugh, it's so slow, it's practically crawling along.

Especially when the taxi started to slow down near Galaxy University...

Urgent! So urgent!

After getting off at Jiangnan Building, he slowly walked into Unit D, dragging his suitcase.

Don't rush, cough normally.

Although this place is called Unit D, it is actually a very large high-rise building. The entire Jiangnan Building has a total of five unit buildings, namely A, B, C, D, and E.

However, these five apartment buildings are all connected to each other in a row, and they contain a clinic, a supermarket, a kindergarten, and everything else you could need.

Qiao Yuan glanced at the text message Hu Tu had just sent while standing in the elevator, saying that there was only a little bit of white rice porridge left in the cafeteria, and lunch would be at 11:30.

He couldn't help but laugh out loud.

One can imagine Hutu's despair at that time.

Upon returning to his new home, apartment 0093 on the 150th floor, Qiao Yuan immediately closed the curtains in the living room and bedroom, covering everything completely.

He rubbed his hands together and fully unzipped the black suitcase on the bed in the bedroom.

A dazzling array of items came into view.

"Holy crap, these are... these are all kinds of gene enhancement fluids and physique potions!"

He was stunned at first glance. Although there were only a dozen or so bottles in total, each bottle contained a considerable amount of product, and they were all high-end products from the Flounder Company, which looked very expensive.

The Flounder Company, which started in the pharmaceutical industry, is one of the top ten interstellar giants in the Apocalypse Federation, alongside Legal Heavy Industry and Twilight Group, and is very well-known.

Prices have always been high, and more than half of the sublimation potions come from Halibut Company, which holds a complete monopoly in the pharmaceutical industry and has countless patents.

Qiao Yuan licked his dry lips and continued reading, discovering that in addition to the potion, there was also a black hardcover book with a starry sky pattern engraved on its surface.

The book was thick, but it was all empty blank pages, with nothing inside.

Qiao Yuan looked at it strangely: "This book, could it be one of those that requires special potions or scanning to see the words? Sigh, I'll ask Hu Tu about it later."

Although travel bags don't have passwords, there are still some restrictions.

Although she had just entered two future timelines, Lina was completely uninterested in them and learned nothing about them.

However, the starry sky pattern on the surface exudes a sense of depth and mystery, and the craftsmanship seems to be special, possessing a quality that attracts the eye.

There was also a quantum hard drive the size of an egg; I wonder what was inside it.

In addition, there are some advanced nano-repair fluids, chips, medicines, and other miscellaneous items that can be used in mechanical prosthetics.

Finally, he opened the suitcase and found only a black mask inside.

It looks ordinary, but it has a strong sense of ceremony, as if this mask is very special. It is covered with dark red star-studded silk, and below that is gray soft foam, like a fine work of art.

Moreover, the mask itself is quite unique; when touched, it feels neither like iron nor like leather.

He played with it back and forth, and finally picked it up and brought it close to his face to compare the size.

It seems a bit too big.

He didn't put it on immediately, but the view he saw through the eyes on the mask was a pitch-black deep space, like an endless night...

Qiao Yuan's expression immediately hardened.

"What exactly is this?"

He became increasingly hesitant to put it on rashly.

Since it belongs to Caesar, it's best to be cautious; better safe than sorry.

The house was brightly lit, but the view seen through the mask's angle was like another world!

"Tsk," Qiao Yuan frowned, "It's a pity I've used up all my chances to enter the timeline today..."