Developing Superpowers in Another World

Chapter 359 – Border Area

 

The Ruler species was one of absolute loyalty among its members, with iron-clad order, highly cohesive social relationships, and almost identical ways of thinking.

There was no concealment or deception between them.

After receiving a reminder from one of their own, they did not have a single doubt and immediately headed in the direction pointed out by Tu Ran.

Not a single one was willing to waste time on her, not even to check her injuries or help her up.

Tu Ran, still lying on the ground: “…” That was exactly what she wanted.

She quietly looked around; seeing no one, she crawled up, limping as she returned to the shop.

Tang Ying was still crouching in the corner, and she had witnessed the whole scene. It dawned on her that the liquid in those jars was the blood of the rulers.

She had crushed quite a few of these species while piloting her mecha, like green grapes—one stomp and the juice splattered everywhere.

Tu Ran and Tang Ying squatted side by side.

“You saw it too. If you go out looking like this, you’ll be caught. How about considering joining my space? When the gate opens next time, I’ll send you out,” Tu Ran kindly suggested.

Tang Ying glanced at her. “These green grapes are just one of the many species of the rulers. This is their territory. We should go to the border area between them and other species, where many worlds come and go. We can hide there.”

Tu Ran took a moment to understand what “green grapes” meant, then realized that Tang Ying had truly captured the essence of her nickname.

Hearing what Tang Ying said next, she turned to look at her and asked in confusion, “How do you know so much?” After a pause, an idea suddenly popped into her head. She squinted her eyes. “Did you accidentally come to this world, or was it on purpose?”

Tang Ying gazed ahead, and the reflection of her and Tu Ran appeared in the metal jar. “We’ve recaptured Rose Star.”

Tu Ran: …

Although the response was totally unrelated, she still sincerely said, “Congratulations.”

Recapturing Rose Star had always been the wish of all the people in the Haenden star system. Moreover, Rose Star was located at the farthest end, occupied by the alien beasts, and served as their base. The recapture of Rose Star surely spelled bad news for the alien beasts.

The Haenden star system was not far from being freed from the alien beasts.

“During the reconstruction of Rose Star, our researchers accidentally found a cosmic signal transmission device that had not been destroyed by the alien beasts in the ruins. To trace what happened during the twenty years since Rose Star was occupied, the researchers were tasked with restoring the contents of the transmission device.”

At this point, Tu Ran already had a rough idea of what the contents might be.

“It was a series of cosmic signals that had been deliberately damaged. Nearly seventy percent of the content was destroyed, and the damage was irregular, making it difficult to restore under normal circumstances.” Tang Ying turned her head to look at Tu Ran and added, “At least ninety percent of the worlds in the universe wouldn’t be able to achieve this.”

Tu Ran suspected that Tang Ying was implying something about her, since that ninety percent probably included Blue Star.

However, she couldn’t deny the advanced technology of the Haenden star system.

“You managed to restore it.”

A world that could develop a cross-space teleportation device, and, to adapt to traveling between worlds, had invented a way to shrink mechas to the size of a palm in a short period of time—its technological level was indeed impressive.

“Yes,” Tang Ying nodded slightly, with genuine confidence in her voice. “The signal was sent by a race called S•Erso. They detailed what they knew about the Ruler world, the many crimes the Ruler race had committed against other worlds, and called for all the other worlds in the universe to unite and eliminate the Ruler race.”

“From the stored records, these signals were received eighteen years ago, when Rose Star had just been occupied by the beast horde, and all the humans had evacuated. The information was buried under the ruins all this time.”

“The information you decoded is different from what I received,” Tu Ran recalled the materials Xie Xu had shown her and the memories she had read from Xie Xieao. “The S•Erso race had broadcasted content across the universe multiple times. The information you received was the united call sent out by the S•Erso race before they were invaded, but the Federation received a distress signal.”

Tang Ying’s fingers, which had been resting on her knees, tightened in shock. “The S•Erso race has already been invaded?”

“Yes,” Tu Ran nodded. “Their world was completely destroyed by the Ruler race. Once-glorious civilization was wiped out.”

Tang Ying’s expression darkened. “The general ordered me to contact the S•Erso race and join forces to deal with the Rulers. I never expected… they are already… gone.”

Tu Ran comfortingly patted her shoulder. “There’s still a way. Based on the information I have now, the Ruler race possesses seven pieces of the Order Cube. If we can find these seven fragments and put them together, we can restore the order of the universe.”

Tang Ying turned to look at Tu Ran. “What about the other fragment? S•Erso said there were eight pieces of the sacred relic.”

“I… don’t know,” Tu Ran barely stopped herself from saying “I hid it,” instead choosing a different explanation. The matter was too serious—fewer people knowing meant less risk. “What we do know is that the remaining seven pieces are in the hands of the Ruler race, but we don’t know who holds them or where they’re located. Trying to extract information from them would likely raise suspicion.”

And she still couldn’t access their memories.

Tu Ran felt deeply troubled.

She could only look for an opportunity to use the hallucinogenic mushrooms, but instinctively, she felt they might not work.

This green grape species seemed too much like robots.

After all, hallucinogenic mushrooms had no effect on Zero.

“Do you have any relevant information?” Tu Ran asked.

Just as Tang Ying was about to speak, the sound of footsteps filtered through the narrow crack in the window.

Tu Ran keenly noticed and immediately covered Tang Ying’s mouth. She bent down and stood up, peering through the crack in the window.

Other green-eyed beings were coming.

They likely planned to conduct another search.

This wasn’t a safe place to stay.

Tu Ran leaned close to Tang Ying and whispered, “We’ll talk about this later. I’ll take you into another space for now. Once we’re in a safe location, I’ll let you out.”

Tang Ying nodded in agreement.

Tu Ran muttered [Mirror Image] to herself, restoring her original appearance.

She could only use her abilities in her true form.

Before she put Tang Ying into the space, she reminded her, “There’s a chicken in the space. It’s quite big—it’s my pet.”

Tang Ying understood, and her expression subtly shifted, as if to say, ‘We’re in the middle of a cosmic apocalypse and you still have time to keep a pet?’

Tu Ran waved her arm, and a faint glow passed by. Tang Ying vanished from the corner.

Tu Ran quickly glanced inside the space. Pangpang was burying its head in the snack box, eating ravenously, completely unaware of the sudden appearance of another person behind it.

“Idiot.”

Tu Ran muttered with a smile, then refocused on the green-eyed beings outside.