Developing Superpowers in Another World

Chapter 285 – A Chance Encounter in Another World

 

“Before we set off, could I make a small request?”

“What is it?” Ye Hongci leaned in slightly.

“Could you lend me another 100,000 units of mental energy? I used up almost 9,000 of the 10,000 I borrowed before, and now I have just over 1,000 left. I don’t think it’s enough for me to even reach the battlefield,” Tu Ran said, distressed.

Piloting a mecha was too mentally exhausting. When she injected the initial 10,000 mental energy, the “counter” showed her mental energy at 2%, and the green progress bar still had some visible progress. Now, the green data bar representing her mental energy on the counter was completely empty.

To Ye Hongci, giving another 100,000 units of mental energy was nothing. She immediately injected the additional energy into Tu Ran and told her to rest for a day before departing tomorrow.

Tu Ran returned to the dorm. At that moment, she was the only one in the entire dormitory building; everyone else was in the simulation room practicing weapon handling.

Tu Ran took a shower, lay on her bed, and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

*

Meanwhile, several kilometers away, at the main star’s largest detention center…

“You told them about the inner core ability too?!”

“Yes.”

“Are you out of your mind, spilling everything?”

“If I didn’t say it, how would they know to be cautious of Tu Ran? Otherwise, they’d still think she’s just an ordinary person and fall for her deception.”

“You’re absolutely out of your mind!” Young Master Qi, glaring at Zhou Ming across the detention center bars, exclaimed, “Right now, we’re on the same side as Tu Ran! If they’re guarding against her, they’re also guarding against us! How do we get out? If we can’t get out, how do we find the gate and return to the Federation?!”

Qi Tongda angrily shook the bars; if they hadn’t been in his way, he would have wanted to rush over and kick that fool on the other side.

Zhou Ming, on the opposite side, leaned halfway on his bed, looking away, ignoring him.

The two of them were still arguing when another group of people came down the corridor between their cells.

Qi Tongda immediately recognized two of them wearing the combat uniforms of the Pioneer Team.

At first, he thought one of them was Tu Ran, but after a closer look, he realized it wasn’t her—just a man and a woman.

He’d seen these two before when the Pioneer Team and the Executive Department had joined forces to capture Tu Ran.

The woman was named Yao Bei. According to that fool across from him, she was incredibly strong, powerful enough to overpower Tu Ran.

The man’s name was something like Ding… something Qing, and he had a decent relationship with Tu Ran. During the mission to capture her, he’d always had a gloomy look on his face, showing no enthusiasm whatsoever.

Yao Bei was placed in the cell next to his, and Ding Naiqing was locked up in the cell beside the idiot across from him.

After the guards left, Qi Tongda leaned against the bars, pressing his forehead against them and sticking his mouth out. “Fancy seeing you here, Yao Bei, Ding… Qing,” he mumbled, glossing over the part of Ding Naiqing’s name he couldn’t remember.

Yao Bei and Ding Naiqing both moved closer to the bars, looking at him.

Zhou Ming, startled by hearing their names, jumped up from his bed and ran over to his own cell bars, grabbing them as he looked out. Seeing that it really was them, he blurted, “What are you two doing here?”

Ding Naiqing, who didn’t care for him, kept his eyes lowered and ignored him, saying nothing.

Yao Bei’s gaze moved over both of them before she frowned. “Shouldn’t I be the one asking why you’re here? Since when do Executive Department guards get to freely pass through the ‘Gate’?”

Qi Tongda, feeling slightly awkward, rubbed his nose. “We were just curious, wanted to take a look around. And besides”—thinking of the inner core gave him a sudden boost of confidence—“why should the inner core be something only you Pioneers get to handle? What makes us Executive Department guards any less qualified? No one up top said we’re banned from going through. If we want to go, we’ll go.”

Their luck was just incredibly bad. They had come in fully equipped, only to find no alien creatures at all. Instead, they encountered a crowd of humans who looked quite unsophisticated—clearly people who had never seen the outside world.

These people wore outdated clothing and pointed at them with curiosity. The surrounding buildings were strange, old and worn-down, without a hint of the Federation’s advanced technology.

Before Qi Tongda and Zhou Ming even had a chance to process what was happening, a group calling themselves the “Capture Squad” came to arrest them.

Fully equipped as they were, there was no way they could allow themselves to be captured so easily—it would’ve been an embarrassment to the Executive Department. They fought back and managed to escape, though they refrained from using lethal force due to the bizarre nature of the situation.

Now, he was just grateful for that one thing: that they hadn’t killed anyone.

They quickly lost the middle-aged Capture Squad members who struggled to keep up. But before they had a chance to celebrate, a helicopter appeared overhead.

A massive net was dropped from the helicopter, ensnaring both of them. They had no idea what material the net was made of, but no matter what they tried, they couldn’t break free.

Dangling from the helicopter, completely exposed, they were flown over a city at a low enough altitude for everyone below to see them clearly. They were eventually brought here and locked up, with all their weapons and equipment confiscated.

Young Master Qi had never experienced such humiliation in his life. Fortunately, there was no one in this world who knew him.

Ding Naiqing and Yao Bei had had a similar experience.

They had been in the Threshold for some time. This time, passing through the gate, they had expected to return to the Federation as usual. But instead of being greeted by familiar guards and checkpoints, they were met by a crowd of curious, examining eyes.

“Where are the other members of your squad? Only you two made it through?” Yao Bei asked. She remembered that they had come as a team.

Tu Ran had been transferred from the Pioneer Team to the Executive Department specifically to join them, an event that had left a strong impression on her.

“We all came through,” Qi Tongda replied, “but only Zhou Ming and I ended up staying together after we crossed over. No clue where the others are now.”

Yao Bei fell silent.

“What’s really going on here?” Qi Tongda finally asked her, unable to hold back. He’d been pondering it for two days with no answers. “Isn’t the Threshold supposed to be full of alien creatures? Why are there humans here? Were you Pioneers lying to us all along?”

Yao Bei was momentarily speechless before responding. “This place is likely another world.”

“What do you mean, another world?” Qi Tongda stretched his neck to get a better look at her. “Explain. The Executive Department doesn’t understand this stuff.”

Yao Bei, with patience, explained, “Our Federation is one world, the Threshold is another, and this place is yet another world. The ‘Gate’ that connects to the Threshold doesn’t only lead to the Threshold; it can also open into other worlds. We’re currently in a third world, separate from both the Federation and the Threshold.”

Qi Tongda asked, “Have you been here before?”

“No,” Yao Bei shook her head. “This is the first time this world has connected to the Federation. How long have you been here?”

“Two days,” Qi Tongda replied honestly. “After your Pioneer Team left, Tu Ran left as well. Twenty-some days later, the Gate opened again, and we entered at that time.”

“Tu Ran left?” Ding Naiqing perked up at hearing her name. “She left the Federation?”

Before he’d left, Tu Ran had been on the Federation’s most-wanted list, with an elaborate trap set for her right outside the Threshold, ready to ensnare her.

Zhou Ming let out a sarcastic snort. “Oh, she left alright. Left so well even bullets couldn’t catch up with her.”

Ding Naiqing visibly relaxed.

Qi Tongda eyed him with a frown. “You two just got here?”

Ding Naiqing nodded. “The Gate appeared in the Threshold today. I thought it would take us back to the Federation, so I went through… didn’t expect it to lead to another world entirely.”

Yao Bei nodded. “Same here. As soon as I got here, their so-called Capture Squad sent me straight to this place.”

Qi Tongda was about to say something when Zhou Ming cut in first. “Why didn’t you two put up a fight?”

“Why would we?” Yao Bei shot back.

“In a strange world, and people try to arrest you, so you just stand there and let them?” Zhou Ming asked incredulously.

Ding Naiqing couldn’t help but respond, “As you said, it’s a strange world. You didn’t know anything about the situation, yet you made such a scene, and the fact that you’re still standing here in one piece is a miracle.” He shot a look of disdain at Zhou Ming, although the view was partially blocked by the walls between them.

Yao Bei glanced suspiciously at Zhou Ming. “You didn’t kill anyone, did you?”

Zhou Ming looked off to the side. “No, we’re not that stupid.”

Finally, Qi Tongda found his chance to speak. “Did they ask you anything about Tu Ran?”

“Why would they ask about Tu Ran?” Yao Bei frowned.

“Guess you don’t know yet. Tu Ran is here in this world too, and it seems she’s gotten herself mixed up with some big shots. We’ve been here for two days, and people here keep asking us questions about her.”

Yao Bei’s eyes narrowed as she looked at them, sensing that something was off. “And what did you tell them?”

Zhou Ming instinctively shrank back, inching away without a word.

“I didn’t say a thing,” Qi Tongda answered.

Yao Bei’s relief was short-lived as Qi Tongda pointed at Zhou Ming and added, “But he told them everything.”

Yao Bei shot Zhou Ming a cold look. “What exactly did you tell them?”

“About the inner core, her abilities—he told them all of it,” Qi Tongda replied matter-of-factly.

“Idiot,” Ding Naiqing muttered angrily from the cell next door.

Zhou Ming tried to keep his composure. “Even if I hadn’t said anything, someone else would have. That guy two cells over, or the one three cells over from you”—he stretched his hand through the bars, pointing in various directions—”they spilled everything about the Federation long before I did, even about the alien creatures in the Threshold. I just happened to mention the inner core. They set me up to talk about it.”

Qi Tongda crossed his arms, chuckling coldly. “Weren’t you just saying earlier that you did it to make things harder for Tu Ran? Turns out you were just too dumb to realize they were tricking you into talking. Now you’re making excuses.”

“Shut up, Qi!” Zhou Ming growled, his face reddening.

Qi Tongda gave him a dismissive glance, not bothering to argue further, and turned to Yao Bei. “What should we do? Staying locked up here isn’t going to help us.”

Yao Bei leaned closer to the bars, looking around. “How many of our people are here?”

“Including you two, around seventeen or eighteen,” Qi Tongda replied. “That’s just the ones locked up here, though. No idea if others might be in different detention centers. Our other four teammates from Field Operations Group 9 are still missing—we don’t even know if they’re alive.” He sighed, sliding down the bars into a crouch.

“No need to worry too much,” Yao Bei said calmly. “The people here seem to be treating us fairly well. If your teammates ended up in this world too, they’re likely safe.”

“Let’s hope so.”