Zenith made a light-speed getaway.
The collective debut of the Ultraman Legion left behind a massive mess for the SPW to clean up, but Zenith trusted they would handle everything perfectly.
However, Zenith didn't leave completely empty-handed. He took along the two squads led by Levi and Hannes, as well as some elite soldiers from the Cadet Corps.
And Serie.
After weighing his options, Zenith chose a world where he felt he could definitely score some good loot. The people he brought with him would serve as his core team in this new world.
He didn't plan on letting other SPW members intervene there for the time being. After all, it was already a modernized world with a fairly high level of technology.
The overall goal was leisure and entertainment. Dealing with a bunch of old fogies stuck in a medieval mindset and dragging them along to develop was exhausting, after all.
"Look at this, I knew there would definitely be good stuff. The moment I saw this world on the list, I immediately thought of the Book of Ages."
Zenith didn't hesitate to set the world difficulty to Peaceful for all populated areas.
Being able to configure it chunk by chunk was much more convenient than a normal game where you could only change the entire world at once.
On Peaceful difficulty, hostile mobs wouldn't naturally spawn in the world.
The monsters from the Ultraman Craft mod were already starting to show up, and later on, the number of monsters from various other mods would be countless. If he couldn't turn on Peaceful mode, the other people in the Overworld—especially stubborn blockheads like Gilgamesh—might as well just give up on living.
The portal frame for this world required Stone Bricks, giving it an antique charm. And the world behind the door was just as classic.
Jackie Chan Adventures!
An absolute classic of a world. From the Talisman saga to the Demon saga, and the subsequent Animal and Mask sagas, almost every season was filled with Zenith's childhood memories.
Play! He had to play it to the fullest!
"It doesn't look any different from the world at SPW headquarters."
Serie looked around but didn't notice anything unusual. When she tried to spread out her perception, she seemed to encounter some kind of resistance.
She furrowed her brows, rapidly calculating in her mind. But the more she calculated, the more confused she became. "I don't get it. The power system here seems completely different from my current understanding. I take back what I just said. This place is very interesting. I like it."
Zenith reached out and patted Serie on the head. "I like it too. This place is incredibly interesting. The balance of Yin and Yang, the intertwining of Dark Chi and Good Chi. Evil cannot defeat good, and good cannot suppress evil. If the power becomes unbalanced, it will trigger an apocalyptic disaster."
The first appearance of a portal would never be too far from the world's protagonist. This time, it opened in an empty alleyway. After Zenith led the group out, he immediately spotted a yellow building across the street with traditional flying eaves and brackets.
Above it hung a red sign that read "ANTIQUES."
"The stronghold of Good Chi, Uncle's antique shop. Excellent, we hit the bullseye."
Zenith punched his palm, leading the large crowd as he pushed open the door to the antique shop.
His gaze swept past the exquisite antiques one by one, finally landing on the man in the blue shirt behind the cash register, and the girl in the orange shirt not far from him.
It was the superhuman Jackie Chan and the conceptual god Jade Chan.
In this world, Jackie Chan could kick Shendu, punch evil dragons, run fast enough to catch a moving train, and jump from a height of ten thousand meters completely unscathed.
Yet, according to the setting, this guy was just an archaeologist who knew a little martial arts.
Jade Chan was even more incredible. She could use the divine skill of "taking the stairs" to reach absolutely anywhere. Aside from Valmont, no matter who tried to keep an eye on her, she would always manage to slip away silently.
"Hello, this is Uncle's antique shop. Is there anything you need?"
After making eye contact with the deadpan Levi for a few seconds, Jackie Chan quickly looked at the others.
From that brief interaction, he could determine one thing: aside from the man and woman leading the group, everyone else was extremely dangerous. Were they soldiers, or bodyguards?
The kind of killing intent forged only in life-and-death crises was far too conspicuous in a peaceful era. Even Jackie Chan couldn't help but subconsciously shield Jade Chan behind him.
Zenith didn't care about Jackie Chan's reaction. Instead, he reached out and pointed at a few items in the shop.
Naturally, not everything here was an antique; many items could only be considered handicrafts.
This was normal. After all, there weren't many people in America who actually knew their stuff.
"This, this, and this. Aside from the few pieces of junk I just pointed out, pack up everything else for me."
The power of money—this was Zenith's old trick for breaking the ice. Once the gleaming gold ingots were placed on the cash register, Jackie Chan's attitude immediately softened.
The items in the shop were naturally meant to be sold. Aside from a few antiquities with research value, everything else had a clear price tag.
In this situation, Jackie Chan had to call Uncle out personally. But before he could turn around to get him, a commotion broke out at the shop's entrance.
"Excuse me, sir. It looks like some customers are having a dispute at the door."
The Jackie Chan of this world was a very traditional protagonist—noble, glorious, and righteous. Not only was he busy with his day job in archaeology and teaching at the university, but he also had to find time to moonlight as a secret agent and save the world.
Seeing a conflict at the entrance of his own shop, he naturally wouldn't just stand by and do nothing.
At this point in the timeline, it was a no-brainer that it was the Dark Hand syndicate's boss, Valmont's goofy henchmen.
Finn, Ratso, and Chow.
Speaking of which, despite the Dark Hand being a global transnational crime syndicate, practically the entire series only featured these three, plus Tohru and Hak Fu, acting as Jackie Chan's opponents.
If you said these three were incompetent, that wasn't necessarily true. At the very least, they could barely hold their own against Jackie Chan for a few rounds. In terms of combat power, they were definitely a tier above ordinary people.
Zenith followed Jackie Chan outside the shop.
These three were very interesting. From the perspective of magical perception, all three of them were wreathed in dense Dark Chi. This echoed the green Good Chi representing justice that surrounded Jackie Chan.
Thanks to Zenith's earlier explanation, Serie had also roughly grasped some of the operating logic of this world.
Seeing these three now deepened her understanding even further.
"So these are the fated villains. They occupy an important ecological niche in this world, serving as a link that pushes fate—or rather, the plot—forward."
Serie's eyes shone brighter the more she spoke. These three were clearly just ordinary humans, but she could feel that even if she used killing magic, she wouldn't be able to kill them.
The "Chi" of this world was protecting them. It was as if the Heavenly Way only cared about balance and not about good or evil, equally protecting every protagonist it recognized.
"This world really is fun!"
Zenith gave Serie a weird look. What this old fossil meant by "fun" was definitely not the same thing he meant by "fun."
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