Chapter 499: Day 27 into the Alien War Story

Chapter 499: Day 27 in the Alien War Story

The giant beast raised its head, its eyes turning toward the lake. When it recognized An Yi, its pupils narrowed slightly, and a low, almost guttural rumble came from its throat.

Then it slowly hauled itself upright and swam over.

An Yi didn't start his research right away.

He walked to a flat black rock by the lake and sat down, pulling his knees up and resting his arms on them, gazing at the water before him.

He sat there for a while, thinking of nothing, just staring.

He'd noticed An Cheng earlier today, too.

When Lin Yiduo was dragging him around for photos, he'd caught a glimpse of that familiar figure in the shadows.

An Yi sighed softly.

This world was savage, chaotic, and hostile.

The energy here was violent, actively corroding any foreign creature that entered. The creatures here were ferocious, following the most primal law of survival of the fittest. The landscape here was bleak and oppressive.

But at the same time... it was simple, too.

No complicated interpersonal relationships, no messy emotional entanglements, no hidden thoughts or desires that couldn't be put into words.

Only the most primitive power, the most direct rules, and the purest survival instinct.

Kill or be killed. Adapt or die.

An Yi sat there a few more seconds, watching, then got to his feet.

He took out the Riftborn he had been studying from his dimensional storage.

When it was released, it huddled on the ground, its four arms bent at unnatural angles, its upside-down triangular head drooping, its compound eyes wide with terror and confusion.

It wanted to struggle, to use its space-manipulation abilities to escape, but the restraints An Yi had placed around it prevented it from so much as twitching a finger.

An Yi set it on the rock and sat down cross-legged.

He closed his eyes, and his spiritual perception extended outward, precisely penetrating the Riftborn's physical structure.

He'd done this many times before—it was second nature now.

He could see the energy flows related to spatial perception woven into its very genes—not something learned, but an inborn instinct, like birds flying or fish swimming. The Riftborn were born able to perceive the pulse of parallel worlds.

A unique structure in their neural networks allowed them to pick up faint resonances from multidimensional space and translate those resonances into coordinates they could comprehend.

An Yi tried to figure out how that structure worked.

He simulated the energy flow paths, recorded the neural signal frequencies, analyzed the spatial resonance waveforms...

Then he felt something brush against his leg.

It was gentle, tentative, careful.

An Yi opened his eyes.

He saw the giant beast lying by the lake, less than two meters away. Its massive, scale-covered head reached out and gently nudged his calf.

Its movements were light, and its liquid vertical pupils held obvious curiosity—it stared at the Riftborn on the rock, letting out low, confused sounds.

It thought this thing looked absolutely disgusting!

That grayish color. That skinny, stretched-out body. That aura that felt so out of place in this world... everything about it disgusted the beast on instinct.

It wanted to swallow the thing whole, or smash it with one swipe of its claws.

But it didn't dare. Not with An Yi right there.

An Yi smiled and reached out, gently stroking the rough scales on the beast's huge head.

The scales were hard, sharp-edged as blades, but under his palm they felt docile, even trembling slightly at his touch, as if responding.

Nothing special—it had just been beaten into submission.

This king that once ruled the region had, after countless one-sided beatdowns from An Yi, fully accepted reality—this small, scrawny creature was stronger than anything it had ever met.

Better to obey than to fight and get beaten.

"You curious too?" An Yi said softly, still running his fingers over the hard scales.

The beast snorted cold air from its nostrils, nudged his hand again, then raised its huge head to glare at the Riftborn, growling threateningly.

An Yi smiled again, pulled his hand back, and refocused on the Riftborn.

He still had research to do.

Seeing An Yi ignore it again, the beast shook its head in annoyance, stared at the Riftborn a few more seconds, then slunk back into the lake.

It wanted to eat that thing, but it didn't dare fight An Yi for it.

All it could do was fume in helpless fury.

Its massive tail slapped against the water with loud splashes, kicking up spray, then it turned and slowly crawled back to the rock on the far shore, lay down, closed its eyes, and pretended to sleep.

But every now and then, it would crack an eye open, sneaking a glance at the figure on the rock by the lake.

An Yi didn't pay any of it any mind.

He'd already closed his eyes again, his spiritual perception diving back into the Riftborn's body, continuing the long, complex analysis.

An Yi's research with the Riftborn was progressing in full swing.

Back on Earth, An Cheng lay awake all night.

He lay in bed, the room dark, city lights filtering through the sheer curtains and casting shifting shadows on the ceiling.

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Those shadows swayed gently with the night breeze, like ripples on water, like restless thoughts.

He stared at the shifting patterns of light and shadow, utterly still.

His body was worn out—days of sleeplessness had left his eyes hollow, dark circles underneath, and a dull ache throbbing at his temples.

But his mind was eerily clear—so clear that every detail, every image, every sound replayed in his head over and over, so vivid it was painful.

The scene he had witnessed that day.

An Yi and Lin Yiduo walking side by side, sunlight filtering through the leaves and casting dappled shadows around them.

Lin Yiduo was laughing so happily, her dimples deepening in her cheeks, while An Yi...

An Yi walked beside her, his head slightly tilted as he listened to her speak, his eyes so soft, the corners of his lips curving upward—that fond, slightly helpless smile was a smile An Cheng knew all too well. Over the past ten years, whenever he had done something foolish or said something silly, An Yi would give him that exact look.

But this time, that smile wasn't for him.

It was for Lin Yiduo.

The sight of them together was absolutely unbearable!

And then there was his own shadow.

Hiding in the darkness, like a pathetic peeping Tom, like a clown afraid of the light, only daring to watch from a distance, too scared to even go up and say hi.

Hadn't he been the one living with An Yi for ten years? Hadn't he been the one who'd cared for An Yi since they were kids, protected him, treasured him above everything?

But why couldn't it be him standing by An Yi's side?

Why couldn't it be him?

Why the hell couldn't it be him?!

Why could he only hide in the shadows, watching helplessly as his Xiao Yi laughed and chatted with someone else, watching his Xiao Yi show that gentle smile to another, watching his Xiao Yi... slowly slip further and further away from him?

No.