This was a way station that the special-abilities organization had established in the Sahara Desert. From the outside, this place looked like an inconspicuous desert hotel that catered to those who had something wrong with their brains and had come to this god-forsaken place to rest for a while or perhaps even reconsider their plans and turn back home. As the normal-looking ruins here had not been excavated, this place did not have many people while it was hard to bring supplies here; not many tourists would come here.
Those unlucky cars that had passed through the desert and reached this place had been ripped off by this tiny hotel once; they weren’t going to come back again. In fact, that was exactly what the special-abilities organization wanted. They needed a way station that could pretend to be a desert hotel; they didn’t need it to become an international hotel having lots of human traffic.
Big Sister actually was so innocent and had not been suspicious as to why a desert hotel that didn’t have visitors for the most part of the year could have survived for so long. From the looks of it, this hotel actually looked pretty decent.
I suddenly felt that the special-abilities organization and the people in it were born schemers; they were better than anyone at scamming people or setting up traps.
In a secluded small room, the few of us special people were holding a critique session. This meeting included me, Sandora, Pandora, Sicaro, and Lin Xue. Naturally, I had called the gathering, and I was going to criticize Lin Xue. As for the others, Sandora had nothing to do and had tagged along to see a show while Pandora followed me wherever I went. Sicaro was more unique. He had been too brazen in selling pirated CDs in District K, and an arrest warrant had been issued for him by the district.
As such, he had been desperate and had followed us along, thinking that he could set up shop in the Sahara Desert to sell his wares. To prevent him from selling his CDs to the people from the special-abilities organization, I could only drag him along as well.
In response to my criticism, Lin Xue protested, “What do you mean by a trap? We just wanted to arrange a holiday for you guys to experience a fresh, new adventure. Since you had asked the organization to do something so mundane for you, you have to accept our secret measures. Also, I think that Chen Qing is actually quite satisfied with the arrangements.”
As there were no outsiders here—the only normal human was Lin Xue, and she was in the know; Sandora also didn’t hide her identity. She snorted slightly as she acted like an Emperor and said, “Hmph, little girl. I hope you won’t forget that the leaders of the most powerful Empire in the universe are seated here. Your little schemes and ploys cannot be hidden from me.”
After speaking, Sandora kept her airs again and continued to stuff pancakes and fruit pies into her mouth at an astonishing rate.
Forget it; I am already used to this.
Lin Xue finally gave up trying to talk her way out of this. She said honestly, “Alright, I admit that we need all of your help this time. Of course, besides that, a desert holiday is also not a bad way to relax. I personally think that such a stubborn and old-fashioned person like Chen Jun actually really needs something new and fresh in his life.”
Can’t this lass that has never been on good terms with me say something that would make me happy?!
“Forget it; speak frankly. In any case, my Commanders are very free every day.”
I took out the fork that Sandora had poked into her mouth as I said to Lin Xue.
Lin Xue produced a black object from her pocket and tossed it in front of us.
“Ah?” Sandora and I said at the same time.
This object was oval and had a smooth surface. It was completely dark and could reflect a little light. If one really tried their best, they could smell a faint fragrance emanating from it.
If my human memory had served me well, this thing was the legendary… cacao bean!
“Ah—apologies! I took out the wrong thing…”
Lin Xue finally realized her big mistake as she immediately stuffed the cacao bean back into her pocket, embarrassed. She then took out another black object from another pocket.
I immediately became interested in how this lass took care of herself normally; for someone that looked so dainty and elegant on the outside, Lin Xue actually placed her food in random places. It was a miracle she had not poisoned herself to death yet.
However, Sandora’s attention had obviously not been on Lin Xue; she had been completely captivated by that rhombus-shaped black crystal-like object.
“This… this is a ghost energy core!” Sandora cried out.
I had never seen Sandora acting out like this as I hurriedly asked, “A ghost energy core? What is that?”
Sandora gingerly picked up the so-called ghost energy core as she swallowed the spoon in her mouth forcefully. (That’s right, it was a spoon. As I had said before, Xyrin Apostles ate anything. Now that there weren’t any outsiders, Sandora really stuffed everything into her mouth.) She then said, “This is an energy source; it is one of the most commonly used in the Xyrin Empire. It is like a battery to you humans.”
“Energy source?” Lin Xue’s voice started to tremble as she used a strange look to observe the rhombus crystal in Sandora’s hands, “This thing contains quite a lot of energy, right?”
Energy source! What were humans most concerned about now? Energy!
Putting the Xyrin Empire’s ultimate battleships aside, even Pandora’s Phantom Warship Cannon attack already used an astonishing amount of energy. Furthermore, this amount of energy used seemed to be insignificant to the Xyrin Empire. Sandora had brought her forces and maintained a battle for tens of thousands of years in the Alternate World without having any supply issues. This was all because the Xyrin Empire had managed to find a way to channel the universe’s energy.
Void energy, ghost energy system, fused annihilation energy system, dark energy recharging technology, as well as creating a gravitational singularity and destroying it to harness the energy from cosmos destruction; to the Xyrin Empire, energy was not worth much to them. If they needed some, they could even light up an entire planet to get their hands on energy!
Although the Xyrin Empire had now gone dormant and information on these heaven-defying systems were lacking, the Xyrin Empire still possessed the energy technology necessary to burn a whole star!
However, I knew that Sandora would definitely not allow humans to get their hands on such technology. It wasn’t only for the sake of the Empire but also for the human race’s sake.
Indeed, Sandora immediately knew what Lin Xue was thinking of. She tossed the black crystal into the air a couple of times as she said, “Do not have any ideas regarding this energy source. Based on the human race’s current speed of development, it would take at least a thousand years before you guys can safely and stably use the ghost energy. If you guys finally have the right to gain access to such a powerful energy source, the Empire would be very happy to assist the human civilization.
As for now—trust me, this is for your own good. Stay far away from these dangerous things. If not, you guys will use this thing to destroy yourselves sooner or later. To be honest, I actually think you guys have gotten in contact with nuclear energy a little too early. Also, where did you guys find this? Somewhere in these ruins?”
Lin Xue was a very smart girl and was very farsighted. If not, even if she had special abilities, she would not have been able to climb so high within the organization. Sandora’s words had made Lin Xue realize immediately that she had lost herself momentarily, fixating on this powerful object. She nodded and said, “Thanks for the reminder. I will keep this secret. As for this object, it was within a strange grave underneath the ruins here. It seems to be some Egyptian Pharaoh post-death pyramid. However, for some reason, that pyramid had sunk underground. In one of the graves near the main coffin chamber, we had found this.
“After that Xyrin Warrior had perished after accidentally coming to Earth, I think his belongings had become sacred objects. We had analyzed the hieroglyphic wordings inside the pyramid and realized the Egyptians had named this rock object ‘Star Stone’. They believe that this could grant them the power to revive spirits. Within the coffin chamber, the walls have many characters and words that fit what we had found in the Taklimakan Desert ruins that time.
“Hence, I thought of calling you guys here. However, rest assured that no one within the organization knows about your true identities. They only know that you guys are independent persons with special abilities that are willing to assist us.”
“I must have seen you guys are very lucky.” Sandora broke the black crystal in her hands. “This might be a very common energy source for us, and it’s as common as an AA battery; however, for the human race, this is even more terrifying than a ton of U-235. If you guys managed to trigger it accidentally—without an energy controlling mechanism, that crystal could have triggered a disaster even worse than a nuclear explosion. However, this crystal had obviously exhausted its energy; it looks like a rather decent piece of rock only.”
Hearing Sandora’s explanation, Lin Xue suddenly asked anxiously, “Wait; if this crystal had not exhausted all its energy, what does it look like?”
Pandora—who had been quietly listening to us talk—raised her right hand as a dark blue half-transparent crystal encircled with faint wisps of faint purple electricity floated in her hand.
“Ah!” Lin Xue cried out, “There’s one! At the top of the Pharaoh’s coffin, one such crystal is mounted! Oh no, they are preparing to study that thing today!”