Chapter 24: Star Gate

Chapter 24: Star Gate

At 1:00 in the morning, Ji Xinghuo opened his eyes. He had gone to bed early at 10:00 p.m. and felt refreshed despite only three hours of sleep.

Without turning on the lights, he ate a late-night snack in the dark to fill his stomach.

Then, he changed into a casual outfit that doubled as training wear, slung a bow bag over his shoulder, and quietly left the apartment. Instead of taking the elevator, he opted to take the stairs down to the parking lot.

Along the way, Ji Xinghuo did his best to avoid the surveillance cameras.

Over the past few days, through magnetic field induction, he had familiarized himself with the locations of the Swordsmen that the Sword Bureau had stationed inside and outside the building. He also knew their shift change timings.

These Swordsmen were not there to monitor him; their purpose was to protect him and keep watch for suspicious individuals, an occurrence with an extremely low probability.

This kind of surveillance work was incredibly boring.

Even the Swordsmen of the Sword Bureau, with their high level of discipline and focus, could not avoid becoming lax after three to four days of intense monitoring.

As time went on, the Swordsmen's level of concentration decreased.

Especially during the early morning hours.

Ji Xinghuo got into a maglev car in the parking lot. The owner of the car also lived in the building, and Ji Xinghuo knew him. He had borrowed the car for a day at a price far beyond the market rate. As per his request, the car had been parked there the previous night, and he had been given the unlock password.

He entered his destination into the navigation system, and the maglev car soon left the parking lot.

Ji Xinghuo sat in the back seat, his figure concealed by the opaque windows. However, through his magnetic field induction, he locked onto a room on the third floor where two Swordsmen were located.

They were responsible for monitoring the incoming and outgoing vehicles in the building.

The car departed smoothly, and the two Swordsmen showed no reaction.

A slight smile appeared on Ji Xinghuo's face as he looked out the window. The maglev car had already joined the superconducting highway and was speeding southward.

Moments later.

Ji Xinghuo arrived at "Chang'an West Station" and got out of the car, letting it return automatically.

The infrastructure of the Asia-Pacific Community was highly advanced, offering convenient transportation options. Citizens typically had three choices for travel: for intra-city commuting and intercity travel within 1,000 kilometers, they could use maglev cars that ran on superconducting highways.

For distances exceeding 1,000 kilometers, they could opt for the "vacuum pipeline maglev trains," commonly known as vacuum trains.

And for international travel or distances over 5,000 kilometers, the fastest option was to take a hypersonic plane.

"Chang'an West Station" was a vacuum train station.

Starting from the 1980s, the Asia-Pacific Community had invested countless financial resources into building a vacuum pipeline transportation system with a total mileage of over one million kilometers.

Matching vacuum train stations could be found throughout the community, stretching from Hokkaido in the east to the Caspian Sea in the west, and from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the equatorial Java Island in the south. Every city with a population of over 500,000 had at least one vacuum train station, and larger cities often had more.

Ji Xinghuo entered the Chang'an West Station and bought a ticket on his phone.

Destination: Chakaxing Gate!

A few minutes later, he boarded the train without incident.

Even at this early hour, the occupancy rate in the carriage was over half, and most passengers shared the same destination as Ji Xinghuo.

The seat next to Ji Xinghuo was empty, and he quietly observed his surroundings.

The train had not started moving yet, so he could still see the situation in the station. He scanned each passenger coming through the ticket gate, trying to identify any possible Swordsmen in disguise.

However, he found none.

Finally, the carriage doors closed, and a broadcast sounded.

Ji Xinghuo breathed a sigh of relief, then felt a slight vibration beneath his seat as the train began to move.

The scenery outside the window quickly retreated, and the train's speed continued to increase. In an instant, the train entered a closed vacuum pipeline underground, and the window turned into a screen, obscuring the outside view.

The screen displayed the train's current speed.

The numbers jumped rapidly, climbing higher and higher. In the blink of an eye, they transitioned from two digits to three, and soon broke through to four!

Eventually, the speed stabilized at around 1,800 kilometers per hour!

Although the displayed speed still fluctuated slightly, the changes remained within a small range, not exceeding 30 kilometers.

The entire acceleration process was quiet and smooth, and while the passengers felt the thrust generated by the acceleration, it did not hinder their movement.

Ji Xinghuo was no stranger to vacuum trains, having taken them many times.

But this time, the experience was novel.

Through magnetic field induction, he perceived the track system beneath the train as a massive magnetic field. Its "magnetic induction intensity" was second only to the Earth's magnetic field, with a difference of about ten times. Even so, the intensity of the magnetic levitation system was five orders of magnitude stronger than the human magnetic field!

When mapped in his mind, the magnetic field of the magnetic levitation track system shone like the sun, even producing a sense of "glare."

Ji Xinghuo's spirits lifted, and as soon as the train came to a stop, he got up and exited the station, beholding a brightly lit metropolis.

Teak City! Located over 800 kilometers west of Chang'an, in the Teak Basin, this place was once a desolate Gobi desert with only a slightly famous salt lake scenic spot two centuries ago.

Just north of Teak City lies Qinghai Lake, while the southern boundary is marked by a northern branch of the Kunlun Mountains.

In 2033, one of the thirteen stargates that suddenly opened on Earth was situated in the Teak Basin, in a desolate area locally known as "Wolf Cave Pit." Over the next hundred years, this region endured countless wars and eventually turned into a wasteland ravaged by nuclear explosions.

It wasn't until 2147 that the Chakaxing Gate finally came under the complete control of the Asia-Pacific Community.

With significant investments of human and material resources, the APC cleared the nuclear contamination, constructed massive defensive structures around the stargate, stationed an entire army group there, and deployed a nuclear weapons array.

From then on, the Chakaxing Gate became one of the stable passageways for the APC to enter the Star Realm.

The APC possesses a total of three stargates; the other two are the "Lotus Gate" located in the heartland and the "Giant Port Gate" in Sumatra.

The Chakaxing Gate is the closest to Chang'an.

Hence, Ji Xinghuo chose to enter the Star Realm from here.

He hopped into a car and swiftly navigated through the city, heading straight for the stargate's location.

The entire Teak City is built around the stargate, forming a roughly trapezoidal shape with an area exceeding 3,000 square kilometers. With a permanent population of over 100 million, the density isn't high, but the lives and work of the residents revolve almost entirely around the stargate.

Right in the city's center lies the stargate, and from a distance, Ji Xinghuo could make out a massive structure towering under the night sky.

As he drew closer, the building loomed larger and larger.

When he stepped out of the car, he felt like he was standing beneath an enormous wall, over 300 meters in height and with sides measuring about 500 meters. It resembled an enormous box, magnified countless times, resting on the earth, colored in shades of gray and white, constructed from composite cement and alloy, exuding a sense of majesty and awe.

"Stargate Fortress!"

Ji Xinghuo had seen it in videos before, but only now, witnessing it in person, could he truly appreciate the fortress's solidity and grandeur.

True to its name, the Stargate Fortress is a veritable war fortress.

It can withstand nuclear attacks and houses an ultra-high-yield nuclear arsenal within, meant not only to counter enemies on Earth but also to face the terrifying foes that might emerge from the Star Realm.

The area within a five-kilometer radius of the Stargate Fortress is cleared, offering an unobstructed view.

Even in the darkness of night, Ji Xinghuo could make out the thousands of turrets built on this vacant land, along with hidden, more formidable firepower nestled within the military camps scattered in different directions.

The Stargate Fortress boasts numerous entrances and exits.

These openings vary in size, with the largest resembling towering gates, dozens of meters high, usually kept closed. Not all the smaller entrances are open either, as they are heavily guarded, and only three are accessible at the moment.

After identity verification and security checks, Ji Xinghuo passed through the fortress's main gate.

The interior of the fortress isn't entirely open; instead, it is layered, much like Russian nesting dolls, with one layer embedded within another. Each wall is over fifteen meters thick, and the space between them forms indoor walking streets wide enough for seven or eight tanks and armored vehicles to drive abreast.

Lining these streets are shops, bustling with pedestrian traffic, and as far as the eye can see, they are all Espers! Ji Xinghuo had never seen so many Espers in reality. Through his magnetic field induction, he sensed the movement of one humanoid magnetic field after another, each far more potent than an ordinary person's.

He paused on the street, taking in the sights for a moment.

It was an eye-opening experience.

"Super Giant!"

A towering figure over two meters tall, clad in hundreds of kilograms of heavy armor, with a massive axe slung across his back. With each step, the ground seemed to tremble beneath his feet.

By the giant's side was a blurry figure, a woman shrouded in what resembled a mosaic, obscuring her features.

"At least a high-level Sonic Sorceress," Ji Xinghuo marveled, turning his head to spot a majestic red warhorse.

Upon its back rode a man, with a green falcon perched on his shoulder. Two distinctively shaped beasts flanked the warhorse, one on each side, guarding the man on horseback, their presence commanding and majestic, like a menagerie master.

If there was one profession that was both powerful and awe-inspiring, with a relatively low barrier to entry, and offered a diverse range of abilities, it was the Beast Tamer.

Beast Tamers could communicate with Star Realm creatures, tame them as battle companions, and have them fight by their side.

The profession was highly sought-after, with 10% of people choosing it as their occupation.

Generally, the larger the number of people in a profession, the greater the influence of its association.

The two largest professional associations in the Asia-Pacific Community were the "Martial Arts Association" and the "Beast Tamer's Association."

The Beast Tamer's Association held an annual "Battle Companion Tournament," which attracted as many viewers as the Super League, sometimes even more.

Countless games, movies, and books were centered around Beast Tamers, and over the years, a global Beast Tamer culture had formed. Related industries, such as battle companion breeding, boarding, grooming, beast training specialists, veterinarians, breeding grounds, pet food, and beauty contests, formed a massive market worth tens of millions of billions.

Ji Xinghuo had once considered becoming a Beast Tamer himself, but as he wasn't particularly fond of keeping pets, he had given up on the idea.

As he ventured deeper into the fortress, he observed his surroundings.

Strange individuals passed by him.

Some looked battle-weary, their clothes bearing traces of recent combat. They had just returned from the Star Realm and were selling their spoils of war in the street-side shops.

Others appeared refreshed and rejuvenated, traveling in small groups as they prepared to enter the Star Realm.

Along the way, Ji Xinghuo encountered over ninety percent of the forty-plus known professions on Earth, with the exceptions being the rarest templates.

In fact, he even spotted a "Commoner!"

To be precise, it wasn't just one, but a "group" of them.

Four men with identical appearances walked down the street. Despite their different clothing, weapons, facial disguises, and hairstyles, and the distance they kept from each other, Ji Xinghuo's magnetic field perception revealed that their magnetic field characteristics were identical.

These four individuals were, in fact, the same person!

Ji Xinghuo's curiosity got the better of him, and he turned to glance at one of them.

Commoners were one of the rarest professions on Earth.

Currently, there were only 66 known Commoners globally, even fewer than Magnetic Maniacs, with only "Star Realm Travelers" and "Heaven's Mandate Prophets" being rarer.

The core ability of Commoners, "Clone Twin," allowed them to create a clone that was identical to their original body, but it came at the cost of halving their stellar power.

With each level of improvement in "Clone Twin," both the original body and the clone could create another clone, again halving their stellar power.

The new clones possessed all the abilities of the original and had synchronized thoughts, giving them a significant advantage in both single combat and group battles.

The fact that this Commoner had four bodies, including the original and three clones, indicated that his "Clone Twin" ability was at Level 2.

Ji Xinghuo averted his gaze before the Commoner could notice his stare.

"Super Commoner!"

His magnetic field perception identified the man's rank, but because the stellar power was divided into four parts, each clone's strength was slightly inferior to that of a Super Human of the same level.

The Commoner's greatest advantage still lay in group battles.

As a result, other Supers had given Commoners a humorous nickname - the Hooligan Gang!

Ji Xinghuo secretly memorized the Commoner's appearance and continued on his way. After passing through seven layers of walls, he finally reached the heart of the fortress.

Before him lay a spacious and brightly lit space.

"Star Gate!"

Ji Xinghuo's gaze immediately turned to the "gate" in the fortress's main hall, though it didn't resemble a traditional gate.

The Star Gate was a sphere!

Its diameter was approximately thirty meters, a perfect sphere with no deviations. Its surface was smooth, appearing black to the human eye, but in truth, it had no color, absorbing all light. It resembled a black hole devoid of gravitational pull.

Multiple circular platforms encircled the massive black sphere.

People entered and exited from these platforms, walking along the pathways to approach the Star Gate. As they reached out and touched its surface, they vanished instantly.

Similarly, individuals emerged from the Star Gate, appearing out of thin air on the platforms.

Whether entering or exiting, the process was instantaneous.

Ji Xinghuo watched curiously for about half a minute as one person after another disappeared or appeared, but those around him seemed accustomed to the sight. He didn't join the queue to enter the Star Gate just yet, as he had something else to do first.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end