Chapter 213: The Strongest Super-Creature in History - Eternal Night! The Super-Web and the Privileg

Chapter 213: The Strongest Super-Creature in History - Eternal Night! The Super-Web and the Privileges of the Inner Ring (4K)



As Xue Jing returned to the plane, he casually dragged a Sky Bandit along, much like one would carry a basket of groceries or a pail of pork.

However, the people on the plane had just witnessed his top-tier battle prowess, and with his body still enveloped in lightning-feather bands, he resembled a deity. Even if he were carrying a basket of pork, it would be a deity carrying it, an extraordinary sight.

"Lord Jing!"

"You have our gratitude, Lord Jing!"

"Thank you for your efforts, Lord Jing!"

The crew members in the cabin expressed their respect.

"Brother Xue, you're amazing!" Ning Yuantai approached, his eyes shining with adoration, bordering on worship.

After a long time, he had witnessed those silver-white divine eyes again, and for some reason, he felt a thrilling excitement running through his body.

Xue Jing tossed the Sky Bandit, whose hands and feet had been broken, onto the ground. Since the bandit's right arm was a transplant and Xue Jing didn't understand it, he simply tore it off.

"He's all yours."

Xue Jing sat in a soft chair, stroking the cat that had jumped onto his lap, and said to Ning Yuantai, "Don't worry, I'll take care of him."

Ning Yuantai nodded respectfully. He then turned his attention to the bandit on the floor and squatted down, asking calmly, "Now, tell us, who sent you here?"

"You should understand the difference between handing you over to the Security Bureau and handing you over to 'Black Tide Security.' It all depends on whether your answers satisfy me...and more importantly, whether they satisfy this lord here."

Ning Yuantai pointed behind him at Xue Jing, who was playing with the cat.

The bandit, his limbs either torn off or crushed into a pulverized fracture, couldn't dare to scream in pain. He hurriedly nodded, his face pale as he said, "I understand. I'll tell you everything I know."

"But, I don't know much either..."

"Half a month ago, someone hired us through the 'Super-Web.' They gave us money and sent us weapons, instructing us to intercept any aircraft entering the Inner Ring..."

Ning Yuantai frowned. "The Super-Web...as expected."

He turned to Xue Jing and said, "Brother Xue, I don't think we'll get much more out of him."

Xue Jing gently stroked the cat's spine and said slowly, "What is this Super-Web?"

"An outsider?" The bandit realized something and stared at Xue Jing, his face filled with disbelief.

Such a formidable person, who had effortlessly destroyed them like cutting vegetables, was an outsider from the countryside? He wrapped in lightning and special effects—could he be an outsider, a hick from the outer ring?

No one paid attention to the bandit's reaction. Ning Yuantai explained, "The Super-Web, also known as the Super Network, is a separate network from the existing internet. You can think of it as a massive 'local area network.'

"No one knows how or when it came into existence. At one point, many people suddenly started using it.

"Logging in is simple. You just need to install a 'Super-Web connector' on your device. But these connectors are only sold in the Inner Ring, and the civilian-grade connectors will cease to function once you leave."

"The Super-Web has infinite transmission speed...at least, no one has been able to measure its upper limit yet. As long as your device can handle it, transmitting ten billion Tb in a second is a breeze, hence the name 'Super Network.'"

Xue Jing nodded, understanding the concept of this network.

"The Super-Web doesn't have IP addresses or any traceable identifiers," Ning Yuantai continued his explanation. "Any activity or browsing history is impossible to investigate. Hacking attempts are futile within the Super-Web, and any attempt to attack or investigate others will result in a counterattack from the Super-Web, overwhelming the offender with an infinite amount of data."

"So far, no computer equipment in the world can withstand even a second of the Super-Web's data onslaught. As a result, all personal information within the Super-Web is absolutely confidential."

Xue Jing tilted his head, "So, there's no way to find out who hired them? This Super-Web is indeed too convenient."

Ning Yuantai nodded, "That's right...Its existence is one of the reasons why many people desperately want to enter the Inner Ring."

Xue Jing sighed inwardly. No wonder the people of the Inner Ring looked down on outsiders...

Just this Super-Web alone opened up so many possibilities for convenient usage, especially for various underground and black-market transactions that would otherwise be impossible to conduct.

And who knows what those powerful internet giants could be up to within the Super-Web.

No wonder people from the Inner Ring rarely interact with outsiders online, leading to the outsiders' near-total ignorance about the Inner Ring. It turns out they even have their own special version of the internet!

Ning Yuantai slapped the Sky Bandit on his red cockscomb, scolding him, "If you're here, then be here. Don't be an idiot."

The Sky Bandit twitched his lips but didn't respond.

Ning Yuantai also understood that these Sky Bandits lived day-to-day and didn't think too far ahead. For money, as long as the job didn't obviously seem like a suicide mission, they'd dare to take it on. There was no point in explaining these things to them.

"Brother Xue, what do you want to do with him?"

Ning Yuantai asked.

Xue Jing thought for a moment, then asked curiously, "What would happen if we sent him to 'Black Tide Security'?"

Upon hearing this, the Sky Bandit's face turned pale, and the cockscomb on his head wilted. "Then you might as well kill me now. Please."

Ning Yuantai smiled and explained, "Among the major security giants, Black Tide Security has a particularly bad reputation... Besides the commission they charge for their services, they also sell the 'criminals' they catch to pharmaceutical and breeding companies with similarly bad reputations... and those who are sold have no human rights. They are treated no better than lab rats, so you can imagine what they'll go through."

"Of course, these are all just 'rumors.' There's no concrete evidence," Ning Yuantai shrugged.

"I see," Xue Jing nodded.

Without specifying further, he waved his hand and said, "Take him away and lock him up."

The White Crow member next to them immediately responded respectfully, "Yes."

Then, grabbing the limp hair of the Sky Bandit lying on the ground, they dragged him towards the rear of the cabin.

"Give me your word, brother!" the Sky Bandit pleaded.

"Kill me, kill me!"

"Please, I beg you!"

As his voice gradually faded, Xue Jing turned to Ning Yuantai and asked, "How much longer until we reach Yuan City?"

Ning Yuantai thought for a moment and said, "We lost some time dealing with the Sky Bandits, but we should arrive in about three more hours."

"Mhm." Xue Jing nodded and, holding the cat that was starting to doze off, stood up and walked towards the small compartment at the front of the cabin.

"Let me know when we're close."

"Yes, of course," Ning Yuantai replied respectfully.

The others in the room looked at Xue Jing's back with admiring eyes. Only when he entered the small compartment did they start whispering excitedly among themselves, discussing the battle they had just witnessed.

...

In the following hours, they did not encounter any more battles, and the rest of the journey was peaceful.

Not that they didn't come across other Sky Bandits, in fact, they encountered several groups.

But the deeper they ventured into the Inner Ring, the more discerning the Sky Bandits became. Upon recognizing the 'Dragon Core Fighter' from a distance, they wisely left.

Xue Jing was glad for the peace and quiet. Now that most of his primary skills had reached the Lv10 limit and were awaiting sublimation, he wasn't as desperate for skill experience and didn't need frequent real-world practice.

Three hours later.

"Brother Xue, look."

Xue Jing was in the midst of conducting some martial arts experiments in his consciousness space when he heard Ning Yuantai's call.

He exited his consciousness space and opened his eyes, following Ning Yuantai's finger to the window.

In the distance, a city of immense size came into view—but very quickly, his gaze was drawn to something even further away.

It was a... or perhaps it should be called a pillar? A true pillar that reached into the clouds, like the mythical 'World Tree' connecting the human realm to the heavens. Even with Xue Jing's eyesight, he couldn't see its top. It was a massive black cylindrical building.

Xue Jing gazed at the 'pillar' in awe and said, "So this is... the Skycenter?"

Skycenter, built at the very center of the urban circle—or rather, the so-called urban circle was delineated around the Skycenter.

And its predecessor was named—the Sun Pillar!

"It's awe-inspiring, isn't it?" Ning Yuantai said proudly for some unknown reason.

"I was born in the outer ring, but I lived in the inner ring for a long time when I was a child. Even now, seeing the Skycenter still gives me goosebumps."

"This is the miracle of Xia... no, of human architectural history. To this day, we still don't know how they did it over two hundred years ago."

Xue Jing didn't respond, his eyes fixed on the pillar that seemed to touch the heavens. Ever since his rebirth and the acquisition of the skill panel, he felt, for the first time, a sense of his own insignificance, like an ant in the face of this monumental structure.

Approximately two hundred years ago, in the aftermath of the death of a being known as 'God' and the subsequent chaos, the world's new regimes gradually stabilized, and people worldwide adapted to the new era, ushering in a period of peace and development.

During this time, for reasons unknown, all nations employed a method never disclosed to predict a future catastrophe that would bring about the extinction of humanity.

To counter this existential threat, nations united in a way never seen before, pooling their resources to construct a structure called the 'Sun Pillar' on their respective territories.

This was an enormous heat-emitting device akin to the sun, capable of warming vast areas and providing a chance for survival.

In addition to the Sun Pillars, administrative divisions worldwide were re-planned, creating 'urban circles' centered around these pillars.

As humanity braced for the impending disaster, the apocalypse arrived.

It was the first-ever creature with a danger level exceeding 10, earning it the title of 'Super-Creature.'

To date, it remains the most powerful being ever known to humanity.

The first and strongest Super-Creature was named—Eternal Night!

Its true form was a massive, flesh-like black canopy that enveloped the entire Earth, plunging the planet into perpetual darkness.

In its first appearance, true to its name, Eternal Night shrouded the Earth in darkness, blocking all sunlight. The planet's temperature began to drop at a terrifying rate.

Eternal Night took no further action; its mere presence was the apocalypse. It did nothing but exist, and yet, it threatened the very existence of humanity.

Sun Pillars around the world were activated, providing warmth and a glimmer of hope to the surviving humans.

However, this effort was akin to a drop in the bucket... The closer one was to the Sun Pillars, the warmer it was, but those in the outer rings still endured harsh, freezing conditions, barely scraping by.

The race against time, the Eternal Night War, had officially begun, with nations desperately seeking a solution.

But that massive, flesh-like black canopy was terrifying beyond measure. Merely reaching it with their weapons was a challenge, let alone causing any significant damage. Furthermore, even when humans managed to tear off chunks of its flesh, they were met with despair as it regenerated at an even faster rate.

How humanity ultimately defeated Eternal Night remains shrouded in historical obscurity.

All that is known today is that the Eternal Night War raged on for three years, claiming the lives of two-fifths of Earth's population and causing irreparable damage to the environment. The majority of the planet was transformed into 'wastelands,' and the extinction of countless plant and animal species remains unquantified to this day.

It took humanity over a hundred and fifty years to recover, slowly rebuilding prosperity.

Currently, despite ongoing greening efforts, most areas outside the urban circles are still 'wastelands.' It is estimated that it will take nearly three hundred years to restore the Earth to its pre-Eternal Night state.

Following the war, the Sun Pillars, those symbols of humanity's resilience, were transformed into 'Skycenters.'

Currently, in the nine major urban circles of the Xia Empire, each Skycenter serves a unique purpose.

For instance, the Skycenter in the fifth urban circle, which Xue Jing is approaching, is the most versatile. Many of its floors are rented out for various purposes, housing the headquarters of numerous super-giant companies.

Contrary to expectations, real estate prices here are surprisingly reasonable... due to the sheer number of floors; they are practically endless.

Of course, when compared to its historical significance, the prices are relatively affordable, comparable to those in first-tier cities.

Xue Jing averted his gaze from the Skycenter, turning towards the neon-lit city that was drawing closer.

"Yuan City..." he murmured.

...

(With this chapter, the story has officially left the prologue and my comfort zone. I hope I can continue to deliver a captivating tale. There's a bit of apprehension as I venture into uncharted territory.)

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end