After the conversation with the Mist Lord, Feng Qi returned to the Crimson Research Institute.
In the days that followed, he kept thinking about how to further flesh out the plan for the next timeline.
During this time, a new future concept started taking shape in his mind.
Now that the direction for the alliance of races had been settled...
Besides the alliance model of cooperation, Feng Qi believed that they could also draw inspiration from the cooperation models used by other strong races to generate profit for humanity.
For example, the Blood Soul Clan created additional resource revenue for their people by selling access to their Heart Refinement Platform and other projects.
The Lord of Shadow City profited by collecting transaction fees through providing a trading platform.
Even the Psionic Race had something similar—a miraculous item.
That was the Training Space.
He still vividly remembered the functions of this artifact.
Inside the Training Space, simple physical activities like moving stones or dodging could significantly enhance physical strength.
Feng Qi had coveted that miraculous item for a long time.
Unfortunately, the Training Space was in the hands of the Psionic Race, and trying to seize it at this stage was just wishful thinking.
The Psionic Race had a unique physiology and followed a body energy conversion growth system, so the Training Space, which only benefited physical development, was seen as redundant.
It was easy to imagine that the Psionic Race would eventually use that miraculous item to generate profit for their race.
The best way was to offer it to outsiders, just like the Blood Soul Clan, and collect a high fee.
That was almost a guaranteed move.
Clearly, cooperating with other races to profit was a very sound path.
So Feng Qi started thinking about what exclusive resources the human race could offer in exchange for benefits.
Following that line of thought, he suddenly remembered that he had a miraculous divine item too.
The True God Bracelet.
He could offer it to other races and let them borrow superpowers through faith-based connection.
If this method worked, not only could he earn compensation from other races, but he could also gather massive faith energy.
More importantly, since he controlled the spiritual sea, he could cut off the borrowed abilities at any time.
Devoted believers from other races might even become his loyal followers and, as such, off-book fighting power for the human race.
But that was just his ideal concept.
Unlike the Training Platform or Heart Refinement Platform, establishing a faith connection with the True God Bracelet required an extremely high threshold—a devout belief.
Just that one requirement made it almost impossible for domain beings to even try it.
Thinking it over carefully, Feng Qi couldn't help but sigh.
He figured this plan was too hard to pull off at this stage—almost unrealistic.
Besides the high threshold, it would attract external attention. Even if those forces couldn't take the bracelet, the moment they realized that the human race possessed a miracle, their intentions would become dangerous.
That would lead to escalating infiltration threats.
As the saying goes: "One is guilty by virtue of treasure." Right now, humanity didn't have the strength to deal with all those external dangers.
The same scenario might even repeat itself, like what he witnessed in the Thunder Domain Field...
Blood Soul Clan members carrying the Blood Soul Flag to pillage.
Sitting at his desk, Feng Qi twirled a pen in his hand, his mind weaving an intricate web of information, analyzing humanity's path forward.
Just then, his phone on the desk vibrated.
He picked it up and saw a call from Yin Ling.
When he answered, her sweet voice came through the line:
"I'm ready to open the spatial teleportation channel whenever you are. But opening a cross-domain teleportation array consumes massive amounts of energy, so you need to arrange for Star City to shut down power for a full day. You'll also need large energy reserves afterward to keep the portal open. When do you want to start?"
Feng Qi fell silent, deep in thought.
A few days ago, he had given Yin Ling a set of spatial coordinates, asking her to help with one task—opening a teleportation array to that location.
The destination was the domain field where Xiao You was.
Bringing Xiao You back into the main timeline was something he had wanted to do ever since the last timeline ended.
Following humanity's normal development trajectory, it would take decades to build a teleportation array. They'd also need to train their first generation of spatial tech experts before cross-domain travel would be possible.
But waiting decades just to retrieve Xiao You was far too long.
More importantly, time in the main timeline was not infinite.
Little Black might not have been interested in him in the sacrifice line, but he wouldn't hold back in the real world.
So the survival time in this timeline was always ticking down. The moment Little Black left the Institute of Technological Research and started his slaughter in Future City... that would mark the red line for reality.
Waiting decades meant draining away life itself, constantly narrowing their margin for error.
The only ones who could bring Xiao You back early were the Silver Moon Clan, who had the technology.
Now that Yin Ling had confirmed readiness, Feng Qi felt the time had come.
But before that, there were still many logistical issues to resolve.
A citywide blackout wasn't something to take lightly—preparation was essential.
Many agencies needed to be notified in advance so they could wrap up critical ongoing tasks, ensuring that the blackout wouldn't affect current operations—or at least minimize the impact.
Outside of the Military Department, Crimson Research Institute, and Tiger Soul Research Institute—the three major power centers—Star City had no backup power stations. A sudden full-city blackout would cause a massive disruption.
In the past, any maintenance or upgrade to Star City's energy pipelines was always carried out locally.
For example, if the East A District's energy pipeline needed replacement, it would be powered temporarily by the East B District's pipeline. Then when East B needed maintenance, East A would provide supplemental power in return.
The entire energy system of Star City was maintained this way—small-scale work expanded to localized areas to minimize overall disruption.
Full-city blackouts had happened before, but that was hundreds of years ago, during the chaotic early era of the Cataclysm.
As Star City's infrastructure became more refined, and its combat power was strong enough to stabilize internal and external threats, full blackouts became increasingly rare.
At least the past few generations had never experienced a complete blackout.
After telling Yin Ling over the phone that the operation would need to be delayed a few days, Feng Qi ended the call and immediately dialed Director Qi of the Tiger Soul Research Institute to explain the blackout situation.
Next, Feng Qi began preparing to convene Star City's highest-level conference.
Instead of passing down orders through different departments, it was more straightforward to hold a citywide meeting and directly announce the blackout plans.
He had considered a remote conference.
Online meetings were certainly more convenient than in-person ones.
But online conferences came with security risks.
The Institute of Technological Research—under the control of Black Shadow—had many surveillance setups, and much of Star City's equipment used their systems. Holding a virtual meeting could easily lead to information leaks.
The leak of the blackout plan itself wasn't the worst part. After all, a citywide blackout would be impossible to hide. The real risk was the possibility of classified topics being discussed and exposed.
That was why every time Feng Qi held a meeting, it was always done in person—and every attendee was subjected to Crimson Research Institute's physical inspection standards.
Between efficiency and security, security came first.
That evening, Feng Qi personally went to the Tiger Soul Research Institute and convened the highest-level conference.
At the meeting, he asked each department head if there were any projects that absolutely had to continue. After discussions, the citywide blackout was scheduled for ten days later.
When the meeting ended, Star City's media and institutional departments began issuing notices.
Within a short time, the news of the blackout spread across the city, and digital billboards in each district displayed the announcement that power would be shut off in ten days.
With everything arranged, the losses caused by the blackout could be minimized.
Even from the perspective of Star City's interests, Feng Qi believed that Xiao You's value far outweighed the temporary disruption the blackout would cause.
The inherited knowledge inside Xiao You's mind couldn't be replicated or learned by humans—mainly because it was tied to her racial ability: Energy Weaving.
But the spatial items she crafted were incredibly useful.
Before Xiao You, Feng Qi had to carry a custom backpack for each mission.
That backpack held items like Brain Activity Needles and other supplies, but its capacity was limited.
With spatial tools, that issue was resolved perfectly.
More importantly, such items could be widely applied across many fields—they were efficient and practical storage tools.
Other energy-based items Xiao You had created, though not suited for mass production, were also highly effective.
Flight masks, energy armor, spiritual balloons... the list went on.
And from a personal standpoint, Feng Qi just wanted her back as soon as possible.
…
Ten days later.
It was 8:00 p.m.
The moment the lights went out, the once-brilliantly lit Star City was swallowed in darkness. The entire city fell into an unprecedented silence.
In the western district of Star City, inside the core lab of the Energy Research Institute...
Feng Qi stood beside Yin Ling, his eyes fixed on the special spatial device at the center of the lab.
It was an oddly shaped circular disk floating in midair, with a silver-white base beneath it.
After Star City's energy supply was cut off, the energy from the western district began to surge into the base through a special pipeline built in advance by the Silver Moon Clan's vanguard warriors. The base then funneled energy into the floating disk.
Unlike opening a cross-world portal...
This time, they only needed to open a small-scale spatial teleportation array, so there was no need to do it outside the city.
Hovering in front of Yin Ling was a small, ancient compass inscribed with runes.
This was the control system for the teleportation device. By rotating the compass, they could align the spatial coordinates.
The situation in the current timeline was a bit unusual.
The coordinates Feng Qi had written down from the sacrifice line might no longer apply in reality.
This was due to the drastic changes in the human world.
Normally, world coordinates didn't shift. But as domain fields kept descending, the human world had become like a balloon continually pumped with air—its surface area kept expanding.
Fortunately, he hadn't been away from Xiao You for too long.
Even if the coordinates had shifted, they'd still be within a general area. It wouldn't be like searching for a needle in a haystack.
As energy kept pouring in, the gem at the center of the disk began to glow. From there, the engraved runes on the disk lit up one after another.
The process looked like painting a stunning piece of art.
Feng Qi had to admit—the Silver Moon Clan's spatial technology far outclassed that of humans.
On the compass floating in front of Yin Ling, even the spatial pressure values were clearly displayed.
It gave an intuitive readout of pressure, energy consumption, and other stats, and allowed real-time adjustments to the teleportation device.
In contrast, the human replication of spatial tech borrowed from the Silver Moon Clan and the Mist Clan was extremely rough.
They had to pre-input coordinates and then just inject energy and hit the start button.
It was like plugging in a machine and praying it worked.
Yin Ling's performance only solidified Feng Qi's resolve to form an alliance with the Silver Moon Clan.
Their engineering capabilities would play a vital role in helping humanity develop cultivation-system cities ahead of schedule.
As time passed, all the runes on the teleportation disk lit up.
They turned from solid engravings to glowing, floating runes that danced around the disk, eventually coming together to form an illusory teleportation array above it.
Brilliant light surged from the formation, and tiny cracks appeared before the disk.
Those black spatial fissures vanished instantly, repaired by the self-healing nature of space.
After a few minutes, the intensity of the spatial tearing increased.
It was like black lightning streaking through the air—flashing briefly before vanishing.
Several more minutes passed.
The spatial tearing stabilized. The black lightning stopped, and a small rotating black vortex appeared in front of the teleportation disk.
The vortex slowly grew as it absorbed more energy.
When it reached a height of three meters, Yin Ling suddenly rotated the compass in her hand, triggering the construction of a spatial tunnel within the fissure.
The tunnel was key to linking the spatial coordinates.
As she turned the compass, the spatial tunnel twisted, its path shifting and reversing direction through the currents of space.
After a long while, sweat beaded on Yin Ling's forehead.
Then, she suddenly slapped the compass and said, "Done!"
The compass shot forward and embedded itself into the center of the teleportation disk.
Buzz~ buzz~
After a brief hum, the twisting spatial rift suddenly stabilized, and the tunnel inside solidified.
"Go. Come back soon. Star City's resources are tight right now—every second this stays active is burning through our reserves. The sooner you return, the better," Yin Ling said, looking up at him.
Seeing the weariness in her eyes, Feng Qi nodded firmly.
"Thank you."
Without waiting for her response, he stepped toward the spatial tunnel.
As soon as he entered, he felt a strong pushing force from behind. Through the tunnel's translucent walls, he could see swirling, multicolored energy outside, fusing, twisting, spinning.
The transmission lasted only a few seconds. When the pressure vanished, he stepped out of the tunnel.
A feeling of weightlessness hit him. Wind howled past his ears.
He realized he was falling rapidly from the sky. Looking down, he saw a plain covered in white and crimson flowers, the petals rippling in the wind like waves across the land.
The familiar scene caught Feng Qi by surprise.
He'd thought he'd need time to search, but the teleportation had locked onto Xiao You's domain field with pinpoint accuracy.
As he plummeted, he scanned the area for the wooden hut from his memory.
He remembered Xiao You being treated as a sacrifice inside that hut, where several Wraith Warriors extracted the special energy in her body used for Energy Weaving.
But he didn't see any sign of the hut.
Just as confusion set in, the narrator's lazy voice echoed in his mind:
[Three o'clock. On the hill covered in white flowers. That silly Xiao You is squatting there. Hurry up and toss a capture ball.]
He turned in the direction the narrator pointed and zoomed in.
There, a small familiar figure stood among the flower-filled waves. Petals floated around her in the wind. She wore a dirty little dress, looked like a human child, had gray hair, and three small claw-mark tattoos on her forehead. Her eyes were a quiet shade of gray, with gentle ripples of light in them. She looked weak and pitiful.
A gust of wind blew by, and Xiao You crouched down skillfully, pressing her hands on her straw hat to keep it from flying away.
Once the wind passed, she slowly looked up. When she spotted Feng Qi falling from the sky, a big goofy grin spread across her face.
[She looks really dumb. That's the underdeveloped silly version of Xiao You. Urgently needs a patch update. Quick, send her to that old lady for a shot and a version upgrade!]