CR CH56

Chapter 56: Unexplainable Emotions

Beep… beep…

Inside the battleship’s main lounge, machinery hummed with faint, quiet sounds.

Indulgence and laxity had been left in the previous night—within that time stretched many times slower, filled with countless precious moments.

In the early morning, tier-assignment notifications were sent to everyone’s devices. Upon waking up, they drank potions to ease their negative statuses.

Groups A and B were assigned to collective missions. No longer taking individual contracts from the base mission station, they were now stepping into real emergency rescue operations.

The Ability User Group held higher priority than the Standard Group. Rescue sectors were distributed based on combat power rankings, with the central high-risk energy zones falling under the responsibility of the Ability User members.

Ji Yandong was in Group A as well. Feng Huo had originally intended to join Group C for a quiet life, but accidentally miscalculated his placement and got sorted into Group B. During formation, they merely exchanged brief greetings in the crowd before heading off to their respective squads.

At this moment, the lounge was deathly quiet. Near the front rows, the atmosphere verged on suffocating.

Jiang Tianji’s suppression collar had been removed. Having just been injected with a stabilizer that morning, he sat in his seat with his eyes closed, resting his mind.

A two-person-wide aisle separated the Ability User Group from the Standard Group. He happened to be seated at the very end of Standard Group A1, right next to the number one rank in the adjacent Ability User Group.

Jiang Tianji counted himself lucky that Jia Yun was seated some distance away; otherwise, this journey would have been an even bigger headache.

Unobtrusively, he twitched his fingertips. The faint current surging across the back of his hand dissolved back into his skin. Energy instability was normal during the early stages of ability awakening, and slight leakages were inconsequential.

“Assemble.”

You Li’s voice echoed over the broadcast system. Everyone quickly lined up and marched outside.

Target: Grade-A Planet. Their destination this time was a famous amusement park.

Mission Hazard Level: C. Domain Level: B+. A textbook combined-type mission: a sudden attack by a new mutated entity had caused building collapses, and its spiritual form had spread across the entire southeastern region, forming a domain.

While crowds had sheltered in the underground emergency safety zones, a small portion had failed to evacuate in time. The Special Ops were tasked with emergency rescue in the unpolluted zones, while Z01 was responsible for destroying the domain space itself.

The detection team precisely located energy weak points while Z01’s squad made final preparations nearby. This collective mission did not require fixed team play; members could adapt flexibly according to the situation on the ground.

Beside a hazy grey mist stood a massive Ferris wheel, continuously being gnawed away by the foggy domain.

Not far away, a group of senior officers stood conversing. Among them, a familiar figure began walking in his direction, with You Li following closely behind, whispering something in a low tone.

Jiang Tianji looked up and caught his gaze. Subconsciously, he began to speak: “Com—” mander.

The remaining syllable died in his throat.

Ling Kongmiao’s gaze swept over him with complete coldness—devoid of any ripple or emotion. He brushed right past Jiang Tianji’s shoulder, continuing toward the rear line.

“Commander.”

From behind came Liang Chong’s voice.

This was immediately followed by Ling Kongmiao’s instructions: “Mm. Your overall score is currently the highest, so assigning you to the central high-risk zone shouldn’t pose much of a problem for you. Refrain from using your beast form for now; your energy control…”

Jiang Tianji couldn’t make out the rest of the conversation. He stood frozen in place for a brief moment.

In an instant, an overwhelmingly explosive wave of emotion swept through him like a crossing hurricane. His fists clenched abruptly.

Before Jiang Tianji could even comprehend what was happening, this intense, surging emotion had completely consumed him.

“…Um, are you alright?”

A stranger on his team quietly asked from his side.

Jiang Tianji lowered his eyes, his voice significantly deeper than usual.

“I’m fine.”

Behind him, Ling Kongmiao, who was still briefing Liang Chong, seemed to sense something. His brows knitted slightly as he subtly turned his head back.

At that exact moment, virtual interfaces popped up on everyone’s devices, displaying mission details and coordinates.

After confirming their mission parameters, the teams lined up and stepped into the energy vortex.

Ding-dong… ding-dong-ding-dong…

Cheerful music shifted from muffled to crystal clear.

The frigid mental pressure came rushing in aggressively—far from the gentle force he had encountered before, this energy was sharp and hostile.

With his physical attributes heightened after awakening his ability, the moment his mental domain was invaded, a dangerous glow flickered within his dark-green energy, devouring the foreign mental force like lightning.

Jiang Tianji opened his eyes. Floating around him were gossamer-like threads resembling a spiderweb.

Once snapped in mid-air, they wriggled like elongated worms. The source of these unknown substances was a four-story-tall giant carousel not far away; its central pillar, formed from condensed black mist, continuously spewed out sticky, nauseating threads.

He took a step back. Dark-green energy wrapped in electric currents condensed into a localized storm, dispersing outward. A grid of white lightning flashed across the terrain, instantly clearing his line of sight.

Shadows fell from above as several centipede-like creatures scrambled up the surrounding structures. Their crimson eyes locked onto the intruder. Based on their orientation, Jiang Tianji calculated that roughly four other squad members were in the vicinity.

His device popped up with information on the mutated entities:

Entity Name: New Unknown Entity

Class: C+

Points per Kill: 20

Jiang Tianji gave it a quick glance. Without drawing the specialized energy-hunter weapon mounted on his back, he moved directly toward the nearest centipede-like creature.

Awakening an ability felt far more mundane than he had imagined. There was no novel sensation of being “reborn” like in comic books; instead, it felt like a homecoming.

This power belonged to him. Mastering it was pure instinct.

However, a rookie’s control over the output intensity of their energy remained somewhat unrefined.

Just like right now: halfway through his charge, electrical currents condensed from his own energy spiraled around him.

He instinctively channeled his power toward the target. In an instant, the whipped-up lightning storm pulverized the low-grade mutated entity. The dark-green shockwave carried over, blasting the giant carousel into a collapsing explosion.

Debris grazed his cheek as it flew past. Jiang Tianji froze for a fraction of a second.

A tear ripped open in the grey fog ahead, and a violent, rushing airflow blasted forth, swallowing him whole.

The sudden sensation of weightlessness brought him back to his senses. A black shadow flashed mid-air before he tumbled onto the ground with somewhat hasty footing.

“Roar—!”

Before he could clearly take in his surroundings, an earth-shattering roar reached his ears, followed by a rapid succession of explosions.

Catching sight of a massive shadow dangerously close in his peripheral vision, Jiang Tianji’s heart hammered against his ribs. In a flash of arc-light, he dodged sideways to evade the impact, leveraging the momentum to flip onto the mutated entity’s back.

However, he was immediately swept high into the air. Only then did Jiang Tianji get a clear look at the creature.

It was massive, its body covered in black fuzz… No, what looked like fuzz at first glance was identical to the unknown substance he had seen earlier—the “black fuzz” beneath his feet was wriggling like living worms, creeping toward him.

The material seemed corrosive; the soles of his boots emitted a sharp sizzle.

Capable of flight, the mutated entity thrashed wildly through the air, carrying him along.

Dense electrical currents radiated from the soles of his feet. The highly aggressive, instantaneous burst of energy vaporized the black substance into ash. The mutated entity let out a piercing screech, diving straight toward a nearby building with him on its back.

Suddenly, a foreign aura surged toward his face.

Dark, corrosive energy struck mercilessly at the mutated entity… as well as at Jiang Tianji standing on its back.

His pupils contracted sharply. Before the powerful wave of corrosive energy could hit him, his body flickered, leaving several residual images in mid-air before landing smoothly on the ground.

Having sustained consecutive heavy blows, the core in the entity’s abdomen—originally wrapped in black threads—was now exposed. The frantically flickering light of its energy signaled its impending death.

A familiar figure darted toward the creature, a tail condensed from corrosive stone raised high, clearly determined to claim the kill and its points.

He was fast, but another figure was faster.

A second ago, Liang Chong had been certain Jiang Tianji was still some distance away. Yet in the blink of an eye, a shadow materialized directly in front of him.

Rumble—!

The sky and earth changed color as a massive storm whirled with powerful currents and dark-green energy. Compared to his own deadly ambush just moments ago, this energy felt intent on tearing everyone into microscopic pieces.

It felt like the very source of malice—thick as a swamp, radiating suffocating, crushing pressure.

Through the chaos, Liang Chong glimpsed the mutated entity being shredded into black mist by spinning blades of lightning, and at the far end of his vision, a pair of eyes.

Dark green, flickering with a ominous glint—the eyes of a wild beast.

For a split second, the rounded pupils narrowed into thin, dark vertical slits, locking tightly onto Liang Chong’s figure.