Aside from the Star-Link combatants, quite a few other local superhumans had joined the fray, though compared to Chubbs and Redoy, their combat power was laughably weak.
After a short while, Hyuk lost interest.
...
Star-Link Team Base.
"She's left."
On the surveillance monitors, Hyuk had been observing the battle from a high vantage point. Even though she hadn't shown any inclination to interfere, the Star-Link team had remained on high alert the entire time.
Shenan caught onto Hyuk's intent.
"Was she watching Chubbs and Redoy?"
The bespectacled young man nodded. "Probably sizing up our Star-Link team's combat capabilities. She doesn't know much about our intel, so this kind of scouting behavior isn't surprising."
The Jpscan City Star-Link team was exceptionally powerful; Shenan's energy-infusion ability granted her field operatives combat prowess far exceeding normal limits.
Nationwide, their squad stood at the absolute peak of the standard. Jpscan City was unlike other places, the monsters and freaks lurking here were far from gentle folk, and without serious muscle, keeping them suppressed was impossible.
Yet, they could only maintain a fragile semblance of order and balance; they still lacked the leverage to restore the government's pre-crisis level of absolute control over Jpscan City.
Soon enough,
Chubbs' voice crackled over the comms channel.
"Hostiles cleared out!"
...
Late at night.
HUM!
An ethereal resonance vibrated in the air. Hyuk's gaze pierced through the night, fixing in the direction of the Jpscan City Superhuman Academy, another door had manifested.
Type Zero picked up on the door's call as well.
"That's likely a two-way door."
Moments later,
Hyuk's figure materialized out of the shadows. She arrived at the Jpscan City Superhuman Academy and, following the resonant call, tracked down the location of the door, it was the bedroom door of a certain student dormitory.
Upon locating the door,
The system interface updated with fresh information.
[Serial No. 167954383: A two-way passage leading to Quadrant 666. This is a Quadrant obsessed with balance, where all unbalanced phenomena and entities must be forcefully corrected.]
[Closure Countdown: 364 days, 23 hours, 50 minutes]
By the time Hyuk arrived, a crowd of students and faculty had already gathered, standing on high alert. The academy administration had secured the door immediately, strictly prohibiting any students from casually wandering in.
"Get the boundary-monitoring analyzer over here!"
"Prepare for combat, intruders could pour out at any second!"
Drawing from years of accumulated experience, Earth's response protocol for dealing with doors was remarkably polished, especially coming from the Superhuman Academy.
Their reaction speed was naturally lightning-fast.
With the door's active duration spanning a full year, Hyuk wasn't in any rush to step through. However, the feeling of being "chosen" by the door was overwhelmingly intense. She could practically confirm that anyone within the resonant zone of a two-way door would inevitably be designated by it.
It felt like being a heavily conscripted employee, Client A had explicitly called her out by name to handle the job, and there was no skipping out on it. Although Hyuk wasn't in a hurry, the very next second, her figure vanished into thin air.
Someone had crossed the threshold, dragging Hyuk, who had been marked by the door, in along with them, mirroring her very first experience entering a door.
A professor nearby asked, "Whose dorm room is this?"
"Seems to belong to Ryuu Kimei."
...
Meanwhile.
The moment Hyuk sensed her surroundings shifting, she knew she had been dragged through the door, likely triggered by someone from the dorm wandering inside.
Shortly after,
Hyuk materialized inside a dilapidated orphanage. Behind her was the room's doorway. She scanned the area, spotting no one else around, though fresh footprints disturbed the thick layer of dust on the floor.
She turned her attention back to verify the door's specifications.
[Serial No. 167954383: A two-way passage leading to Quadrant 042. This is a Quadrant of infinite possibilities, where all potential realities converge.]
[Closure Countdown: 19 years, 364 days, 21 hours, 30 minutes]
The time-dilation ratio meant time here moved about 20 times faster than on the other side; this door would remain stable for roughly twenty years, providing more than enough time to complete the mission.
Unlike the door in Talius, which had only lasted a meager ten days.
The system interface updated with the mission details.
——
[Main Mission · Phase One: This is a Quadrant obsessed with balance. The equilibrium of the Kenila Empire is on the verge of fracturing. Please protect the Son of Balance at all costs; his World Computation Device is a crucial instrument for maintaining the Quadrant's equilibrium.]
[Mission Reward: Evolution Rate · 10%]
——
The Son of Balance?
A World Computation Device?
The mission briefing didn't specify who the Son of Balance was, nor where he could be found. However, the World Computation Device served as a tangible lead. Hyuk wasn't yet certain if she could track down this so-called Son of Balance using that clue.
She reached into her spatial pocket and pulled out her phone.
"Type Zero?"
"I'm here."
The pixel-art sailor-suited girl appeared on the screen. Type Zero had already integrated herself into this world's network, rapidly filtering and compiling the intel Hyuk required.
Hyuk walked out of the abandoned orphanage, spotting towering skyscrapers in the distance. Sunlight glinted off the glass facades, reflecting a dazzling glare.
Type Zero's voice chimed in: "This is a nation called the Kenila Empire..."
This planet was named Lithos. Compared to its oceans, its landmasses made up the vast majority of the planet's surface, leading to a high concentration of nations. The Kenila Empire was one of the dominant superpowers among them.
Though styled as an empire, the Kenila Empire's politics and regulations were remarkably progressive and liberal, having entered the ranks of modernized nations decades ago.
It stood as one of the most advanced and prosperous countries in the world.
Things began to change twenty years ago.
For reasons unknown, the Kenila Empire, long a bastion of liberty and hedonism, suddenly experienced a surge of extreme ideological currents. These radical beliefs exhibited intense, violent, and even destructive tendencies.
This caused a rapid shift in the social psyche of the Kenila Empire, which soon manifested as fanatical social violence and militaristic inclinations. The societal atmosphere grew heavily oppressive.
In a mere span of twenty years, the empire's ideological alignment had undergone a seismic, world-turning transformation. Driven by these extremist doctrines, the populace was now loudly demanding foreign wars of expansion.
As a result, the international geopolitical situation had grown dangerously tense.
Hyuk understood.
"The Kenila Empire's politics and ideology have lost their equilibrium."
"Correct."
There were no irreconcilable internal conflicts within the empire, nor was there any pressing need to launch foreign wars to plunder resources or redirect domestic pressure. There was simply no logical necessity for initiating a war.
The situation was deeply bizarre.
Hyuk asked, "Have you found any information related to the World Computation Device?"
Type Zero indicated she hadn't yet.
"I need more time."
Just as she prepared to search for clues regarding the Son of Balance, a sudden and violent wave of energy swept over the area. A intense surge of secondary particle currents instantly washed across Hyuk.
In a split second,
A massive influx of memories and imagery flooded into Hyuk's mind.
A darkened sky.
A modern metropolis reduced to ruins.
Countless corpses buried beneath the rubble. Hyuk's hands were stained crimson with blood as she descended slowly from the sky, her expression utterly ruthless and cold.
Her gaze locked onto a terrified young man standing amid the ruins, her voice freezing as she spoke: "You wanted to save this country, didn't you? Look, I've killed them all. How are you going to stop me now?"
...
West District.
"??!"
A black-uniformed youth with blonde hair and dark eyes suddenly turned pale. The despairing, crushing pressure of a future simulated through sheer calculation flooded his body.
He couldn't stop trembling.
"Million, are you alright?"
His colleague noticed Million's distress and cast a curious, concerned glance his way.
"I'm fine."
Million hurriedly stepped out into the washroom, splashing cold water over his face. It took him a while to drag himself out of the suffocating, soul-crushing weight of that vision.
The destruction of the West District.
Countless corpses buried beneath the rubble.
And...
That figure descending from the sky!
Million had initially thought this was just another routine calculation. Ever since acquiring the World Computation Device, he had run simulations like this countless times, but he had never witnessed such a terrifying future before.
Evidently,
He was the so-called Son of Balance.
The World Computation Device was, at its core, a quantum computer, a world-class predictive calculation machine. Anyone who obtained it could use it to run simulations of the future and catch glimpses of events yet to unfold.
Million had come into possession of the World Computation Device five years ago. From then on, he used it to make one correct choice and judgment after another, successfully climbing out of the slums and into the Empire's United Front Bureau.
He was now a captain within the United Front Bureau.
The name "United Front Bureau" didn't sound particularly threatening, but within the current Kenila Empire, where militaristic fanaticism was skyrocketing, their authority was at the height of its power.
They held the jurisdiction to purge any dissenting voices, entities, or individuals deemed detrimental to the United Front. In certain extraordinary circumstances, they could even bypass higher-level approval to exercise emergency measures.
It was a violent apparatus and special-ops organization that struck terror into the hearts of anyone who heard its name.
Within the bureau's hierarchical structure, captains were the absolute backbone, wielding authority and status second only to the director and deputy director. Relying on his ability to calculate the future, Million had clawed his way up to this position with grueling effort.
However, despite being the Son of Balance and holding the World Computation Device, Million was firmly a hardline hawk of the pro-war faction; otherwise, he never would have made it into the United Front Bureau.
After pulling himself together, he hurried back to the United Front office.
"Have the intelligence division run a background check on someone for me!"
From the future simulation, Million had confirmed that the individual was an enemy of the Empire. And if they were an enemy of the Empire, they could not simply be left to act with impunity.
None of it had happened yet.
"There's still time!"
Million knew full well that he alone was no match for that person, but by mobilizing the full might of the empire, she could surely be eliminated.
The Kenila Empire wasn't just any ordinary technologically advanced nation; they possessed power far surpassing ordinary humans, and the United Front Bureau was a gathering ground for absolute monsters.
However,
Before Million could even draw breath, a shockwave blasted him airborne. An overwhelming, absolute force, like a meteor falling from the heavens, annihilated the entire office building in an instant.
Million dragged himself out of the rubble, looking up as his pupils violently contracted. A figure descended from the sky, looking down at him with an icy tone:
"Found you."
"!!"
The simulated data flooded back into his mind, memory after memory flashing past. Million snapped back to reality; the faucet in the washroom was still running steadily.
That horrifying scene had only been a simulation.
A second later.
He bolted out of the United Front Bureau office building. His heart pounded wildly against his ribs, his face pale with sheer terror. He couldn't understand how that person had managed to track him down so quickly.
They shouldn't even know each other yet!
All that mattered now was running. He had to flee, to hide somewhere utterly untraceable, or else his life was as good as over.
...
Outside the dilapidated orphanage.
Hyuk experienced another flash of her future perspective. She saw herself assaulting the Kenila Empire's United Front Bureau skyscraper and tracking down that specific youth.
She spoke a single name.
"Million."
Type Zero asked in confusion, "What was that?"
Hyuk explained, "The Son of Balance."
"What just happened?"
Type Zero asked, bewildered.
A massive flood of simulated data rushed into Hyuk's memory. She had experienced the future through her own eyes, it felt no different from real life, as though those events had truly transpired.
She knew everything: she knew Million was the Son of Balance, that he wielded the World Computation Device, and that the device's function was to calculate and simulate the future.
Type Zero was puzzled. "Since when could you foresee the future?"
"This isn't my power."
Hyuk recalled the surge of secondary particle currents that had just washed over her. While ordinary people couldn't see or sense them, her sensory perspective had easily captured that anomaly.
"A particle current?" Type Zero quickly formulated a logical hypothesis. "It's likely that the data spilling out during Million's simulation was intercepted by your quantum consciousness. The erupting secondary particle currents contained residual, overflow data from his calculations."
It had to be said,
This explanation was remarkably accurate.
The World Computation Device was a quantum computer; during its operation, it coupled with vacuum zero-point energy, thereby triggering a type of chronometric radiation known as secondary particle currents.
The secondary particle currents carried the quantum wave functions of future worlds within their retrocausal collapse process, essentially acting as discarded, redundant data scrap.
Once this chronometric radiation current made contact with Hyuk's quantum consciousness, a quantum entanglement effect occurred, allowing Hyuk's mind to synchronize with the discarded, overflow data carried within the current.
That was why she had been able to catch a glimpse of the future Million had simulated. This data synchronization came with certain limitations; she couldn't capture all the chaotic runoff data, only the future events directly tied to her own perspective.
Even so, that was more than enough.
At the very least, it kept Hyuk from operating entirely in the dark.
However,
An absurdly ironic situation had just unfolded: Hyuk's mission was to protect the Son of Balance, yet Million viewed her as an enemy of the Empire and was actively hostile toward her.
There was nothing to hesitate or agonize over. Since Million treated her as an enemy and intended to mobilize the full might of the Kenila Empire to eliminate her, she would naturally treat Million as an enemy in return.
Find him.
Then take care of him!
Hyuk didn't care about the mission reward or lack thereof; she wasn't that desperate for an evolution boost, and she certainly wasn't going to trample on her own dignity or compromise herself just to protect an enemy.
Besides, she was deeply intrigued by the World Computation Device. She wondered if she could get her hands on it, as it seemed to be an item of vital importance to this Quadrant.
Type Zero wasted no time hacking into the United Front Bureau's surveillance network, routing a snippet of security footage to Hyuk's phone screen. "Million has gone on the run. His current whereabouts are unknown."
As an operative of the United Front Bureau, he naturally knew all the tricks to mask his movements. Even Type Zero couldn't pinpoint his exact hiding spot right away.
Hyuk remained entirely unbothered.
"The moment he runs another simulation, I'll be able to trace his location using the trajectory of the secondary particle currents. And he will run another simulation."
The World Computation Device was Million's greatest trump card. At this point, he only knew that Hyuk had locked onto his identity; he had no idea that she could intercept the redundant data byproduct of his simulations.
Whether it was to save his own skin or to marshal the empire's forces against Hyuk, he had no choice but to rely on simulations to guarantee his outcomes.
Meanwhile, Type Zero had dug up some historical context on this world.
Starting twenty years ago, a faction of individuals boasting physical capabilities and strength far surpassing ordinary humans had quietly emerged within the Kenila Empire. These people possessed formidable physiques and terrifying raw power, making them exceptionally dangerous combatants.
They lacked any flashy, esoteric abilities; their sole defining trait was an extraordinary physical constitution and freakish raw strength, allowing them to effortlessly exert hundreds of kilograms of force from the start.
The Empire referred to these individuals as "New Kanelans."
Among the New Kanelans, an extremely small fraction could grow even stronger through the sheer force of their willpower, ultimately scaling up their raw lifting power to dozens or even hundreds of tons.
Their existence was an open secret. While the Kenila Empire initially tried to sweep the phenomenon under the rug, as time passed and the population of New Kanelans swelled, covering it up became impossible.
It was now practically an accepted reality.
Hyuk mused, "Are the members of the United Front Bureau all New Kanelans?"
"Correct. The entire United Front Bureau is composed exclusively of New Kanelans. Every single one of them is the elite of the elite, and their captains possess truly formidable combat power."
With that,
Type Zero brought up the classified personnel files of the United Front Bureau, highlighting Million. His max output capacity was rated at an astonishing 500 tons, making him one of the strongest captains on active duty.
Given that their body weight didn't undergo any absurd, disproportionate changes despite their rising strength, Type Zero theorized that the sheer might of their physiques didn't stem from an increase in body density.
The underlying principle remained unclear for now.
Hyuk skimmed through the United Front Bureau files.
"Where are the files on the deputy director and director?"
"Likely classified under top-secret clearance, absent from the standard database."
"Can they fly?"
"No."
Every single one of them, down to the last man, was strictly ground-bound. They could run fast and leap high, but they genuinely lacked the ability to sustain true flight.
No wonder the Kenila Empire's nationalist fervor was so fanatical. With a cadre of superhumans like this backing them up, how could ordinary citizens from other nations hope to stand against them? Conventional firearms posed virtually zero threat to such physiques.
Hyuk wondered aloud, "Did this mutation only occur among the Kenila populace? Have other nations on Lithos experienced anything similar?"
"They have, but the occurrence rate is so negligible it's practically statistically zero. It's nothing compared to the mass, population-wide mutation or evolutionary wave seen in the Kenila Empire."
Hyuk recalled the primordial parasite gene virus she had engineered back in Gulan; the situation in the Kenila Empire bore a striking resemblance. It was highly likely that the genetic makeup of the Kenila people had been targeted and artificially manipulated.
Something major must have happened twenty years ago.
That year marked the crucial turning point when the Kenila Empire began to change.
...
West District.
Skyscrapers pierced the sky, a bustling river of traffic flowing through the concrete canyons.
Hyuk walked amidst the crowds. Among a sea of blonde-haired, dark-eyed Kenilans, her dark hair stood out quite starkly, drawing curious and critical glances from passersby.
Type Zero's voice hummed through the Bluetooth earpiece.
"Forgot to mention, due to decades of militaristic indoctrination and radical brainwashing, Kenilans aren't just prone to violence; they're fiercely xenophobic. In their eyes, you clearly stick out as a foreigner."
Hyuk couldn't care less.
She completely ignored the looks of disgust and hostility radiating from the surrounding Kenilans. She had never cared about the opinions or gazes of others, so long as they didn't bother her.
As she strolled along,
The roar of modified motorcycle engines tore through the air. Hyuk glanced over at the noise, watching a pack of bikers tear down the street. One of them, riding pillion, brandished a baseball bat and blindly bludgeoned an unlucky pedestrian, sending him crashing hard to the pavement.
Blood began to pool on the asphalt.
"Woo-hoo!"
The bikers whooped and hollered as they tore around the corner, vanishing down the avenue.
Similar scenes were practically everywhere in the modern Kenila Empire. People could no longer suppress the violence boiling in their chests, opting to vent it frantically upon the outside world.
Type Zero offered her assessment: "This country has lost its mind."
It wasn't just a systemic issue among the political elites; the populace of the Kenila Empire was far too enamored with violence, displaying an unmistakable self-destructive drive.
A nation like this had no future.
Madness, taken to its absolute extreme, could only end in ruin.
Though no one on the street directly approached or attacked Hyuk, that didn't mean she was entirely free of trouble. The trouble simply found her through a different avenue.
"That's her!"
"I suspect she's a foreign spy!"
An old man leading a squad of black-uniformed public security officers pointed directly at Hyuk and shouted the accusation. Even though Hyuk hadn't exhibited any suspicious behavior, she was immediately slapped with a baseless, trumped-up charge.
"Ma'am, please come with us."
Upon seeing Hyuk's face, the security officers pulled out handcuffs, preparing to haul her away. Since she was a foreigner, guilty or not, they had to haul her in for questioning.
Hyuk didn't say a word.
She merely cast an icy, detached gaze toward the men.
A second later.
BANG!
The security officer reaching out to handcuff Hyuk suddenly burst into a mist of blood. The old man who had pointed her out was splattered across the face with warm gore, and he instantly let out a shriek of absolute terror.
He locked eyes with Hyuk's freezing glare, collapsing paralyzed to the pavement. Even in that moment of terror, his voice cracked as he pointed a trembling finger right at her.
"You... you really are a foreign agent!"
Then,
BANG!
Blood sprayed across the street.
His voice cut off abruptly.
[Infinite Overload · Potential Unleashed]
[Strength: 11.21425 billion tons ⬆]
As Hyuk walked away through the spreading puddles of gore, the scene was left littered with corpses. Bystanders quickly alerted the security forces, claiming that a foreign agent had murdered public security officers right out in the open.
Hearing this,
The authorities took immediate action. Within no time, police sirens wailed across the entire West District. Public security officers, alongside lynch mobs of rioting civilians spontaneously taking the law into their own hands, swarmed the streets in search of the so-called foreign agent.
Anyone suspected was liable to be swarmed and beaten to death right in the middle of the road. The situation escalated rapidly, plunging the entire West District into absolute chaos.
Hyuk looked down at the rioting carnage below. A massive banner hanging across the street caught her eye, emblazoned with militant, militaristic slogans: "United Front: Unite Ideology, Unite the World."
Type Zero was right.
This country was truly out of its mind.
...
Late at night.
Police sirens wailed through the darkness as violence and madness continued to tear through the city. Hyuk began to ponder whether a city and a nation like this even deserved to exist.
"Should I just wipe it off the map?"
Type Zero replied casually, "As you like."
Given that the current mission was likely doomed to fail anyway, picking up a few extra billion tons of strength instead of an evolution boost wasn't a bad trade. Destroying a nation like this came with zero moral burden whatsoever.
Just as she was entertaining the thought,
A young boy tracked her down.
"Hey, over here!"
Hyuk turned around to see a teenager dressed in casual clothes. The boy looked to be around sixteen or seventeen, panting heavily after climbing a massive flight of stairs.
The building was simply too tall, and lacking a security pass, he'd had to sneak his way in and hoof it all the way up the stairwell without taking the elevator.
"Huff..."
The boy drew a deep breath, lowering his voice as he gestured to Hyuk. "Finally found you. If I haven't got the wrong person, you're the one who wiped out those public security officers, right?"
Hyuk sized the teenager up.
"And if I am?"
"Relax, I'm not one of those fanatical militarist freaks. If you trust me, I know a safe place where you can lay low."