"Haoyun! Haoyun?!" Haoyun, who had been in a deep sleep for an unknown duration, gradually regained consciousness under the call of two familiar voices. At the same time, he felt a warm current flowing into his body from his forehead.
"Haoyun? Are you alright? Wake up!" Haoyun felt the warm call that touched his heart becoming clearer and clearer. Simultaneously, waves of burning pain began assaulting his cheeks.
"Ouch! It hurts! Stop hitting me!" Haoyun yelled, wide-eyed, as he shot up abruptly.
"Shh! I only gave you a few light slaps. Why are you overreacting like this? Quiet down! Look at you, what a mess! You'll drive me crazy sooner or later!" Dream Jia, upon seeing Haoyun awake, immediately covered his mouth and reprimanded him in a low voice.
Haoyun couldn't help but feel innocent. Hadn't he just taken a short nap? Why was this girl suddenly scolding him again? However, Dream Jia's tiger-like eyes were intimidating, so Haoyun wisely chose not to resist. He nodded repeatedly in apology, even though he had no idea what he had done wrong.
"Where are we now?" Seeing Dream Jia's anger subsiding, Haoyun quickly turned to Dao Lao, who was sitting cross-legged nearby, watching the commotion.
Dao Lao withdrew his lingering expression and whispered, "I don't know. Our Mold Spirit Energy Tracking System malfunctioned again, so I have no idea where we are."
"What? Malfunctioned again! Does that mean we're in a black hole again? Or is this another trick of the Countess? That stubborn bastard!" Haoyun asked in frustration, recalling scenes from their journey through the black hole.
"Shh! Can't you keep your voice down?! Are you afraid no one will find us?" Seeing Haoyun becoming somewhat hysterical, Dream Jia slapped the back of his head hard and cursed under her breath.
However, Dream Jia wasn't surprised by Haoyun's thoughts about the black hole or the Countess. When she and Dao Lao discovered their system malfunctioning again, they both immediately thought of the black hole and the Countess. After all, whether it was the journey through the Fragrant Nebula or the later journey to Eternal Longing Star, both had left them with indelible memories of pain and suffering.
Under Dream Jia's slap and reprimand, Haoyun's mind finally cleared, and after quickly adjusting his mindset, he carefully examined the surrounding environment. Haoyun found that the three of them were in a large building similar in architectural style to those from the 1960s or 1970s in Huaguo. However, most of the building had collapsed, with only the part where they were still intact. Nevertheless, cracks on the surrounding load-bearing walls and pillars seemed to indicate that this part of the building was also not far from collapsing.
Approaching a wall split in two by a terrifying crack, Haoyun cautiously wiped away the thick dust to reveal two weathered red characters: "Production." Since many cities in Huaguo preserved similar buildings, after quickly surveying the architectural style of the building, Haoyun was somewhat surprised and asked in a low voice, "Is this Huaguo? Are we still on Earth? Are we still on the Earth timeline where I am?"
However, as soon as Haoyun spoke, he realized something was amiss. From the bullet marks left on the building, it was certain that the collapse of this building was not due to long-term disrepair but rather from the destruction caused by large-scale weapons of mass destruction. This building had clearly undergone the ravages of war!
But how could his country suddenly be embroiled in a war? When he left, nothing like this had happened! Moreover, judging from the destruction of this building, it was evident that the scale of the war here was considerable. But in Haoyun's memory, while there were disagreements between the various countries in his world, they wouldn't suddenly erupt into such a large-scale war, right? Could it be that another world war had really broken out? Thinking of this, Haoyun frowned and quickly walked towards a large window with shattered glass, intending to check the situation outside the building.
"Get down! Can't you stop thinking one thing after another?! Can't you be more careful?!" Seeing this, Dao Lao hurriedly followed and forcefully pressed Haoyun's body down, signaling him to lie down beside him and crawl carefully towards the broken floor-to-ceiling window. Haoyun, upon hearing this, quickly stuck out his tongue and indicated that his behavior just now was indeed too careless. He then quickly lowered his body beside Dao Lao and, at Dao Lao's signal, cautiously looked outside through the cracked glass.
Haoyun saw that the architectural style of the entire neighborhood outside the building resembled the cities of Huaguo from the 1960s and 1970s. However, skyscrapers built further away reminded him that this was actually a highly modernized city. The area where Haoyun and his two companions were located seemed to be just the old city district of this bustling metropolis.
After quickly surveying the modern skyscrapers in the distance, Haoyun soon noticed a cylindrical building constructed with red bricks. Resembling an old chimney from factories in the 1970s, this cylindrical structure stood out awkwardly amidst the modern buildings. Despite lacking any aesthetic design, its massive size and towering presence seemed to overshadow the surrounding skyscrapers, making it the most dominant presence in the entire city.
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Moreover, what made Haoyun describe this building as resembling a chimney were the rows of neatly arranged black rectangular holes on its surface. These holes looked like windows but lacked frames and glass, giving them the appearance of shooting ports. Thus, Haoyun abandoned his initial notion of the building being a strange chimney and instead defined it as a large strategic fortress reaching into the clouds. Surrounded by modern buildings extensively damaged or destroyed by war, this cylindrical structure, resembling a giant fortress, appeared threatening and oppressive.
"No, this doesn't seem to be Huaguo," Haoyun said with certainty as he gazed at the colossal cylindrical building in the distance. As far as he knew, his country's construction capabilities would never produce such a large cylindrical structure using materials like red bricks. Moreover, even the most powerful countries in his world didn't possess such extraordinary construction capabilities.
Therefore, after calmly considering the situation, Haoyun believed that although he might have spent a long time in the teleportation array made by the "Dog Hole" technology and a world war of unprecedented scale had occurred during that time in his world, he was more inclined to think that this wasn't his world. It was highly likely that he had been transported to another timeline of Earth, coincidentally with an environment almost identical to his own world.
However, Dream Jia disagreed. Since those two mysterious individuals were clearly planning something in Haoyun's world, she believed that this could possibly be Haoyun's Earth. Thus, Dream Jia speculated, "Could it be that while we were chasing those two mysterious people, their colleagues took advantage to launch an attack on Earth's N38 timeline? Could it be that those two mysterious people intentionally led us away so we wouldn't interfere with their plans here?"
Haoyun opposed this view, "That's unlikely. If we had returned to Earth after wandering around, and found that this place had been attacked by abnormal energy, our system would have at least sent us a warning message, right?"
"Regardless of which timeline we've arrived in, if there was a large-scale attack with abnormal energy, our system should have alerted us," corrected Dao Lao.
Dao Lao further emphasized, "The reason we didn't receive any warning messages is because our Mold Spirit Energy Tracking System malfunctioned again, just like it did in the black hole."
Haoyun slapped his head hard to clear his mind further, then speculated, "Could it be that we've entered another world that survived in a black hole again? Could this be causing our system to malfunction again? Or is it because those two mysterious individuals caused our system to malfunction?"
Upon hearing this, both Dao Lao and Dream Jia frowned in contemplation. Although neither of them wanted to believe they had entered another black hole, they were even less willing to accept the conclusion that those two mysterious individuals could cause their system to fail. In their view, compared to the first speculation, they were even more unwilling to accept the second possibility.
However, while the three couldn't determine the reason for the malfunction of the Mold Spirit Energy Tracking System this time, they had tested it and found that many functions of the system were indeed not working properly. Even if some functions could be used, the system indicated that these functions were severely compromised. In short, the current situation of the system was very similar to what happened in the black hole. Therefore, after conducting multiple tests, Haoyun and the others were more inclined to believe that they had entered another black hole this time.
Just as Haoyun and Dao Lao continued discussing this matter, Dream Jia suddenly gestured with her hand, "Shh! It seems someone is coming! Everyone quickly hide!"
As soon as they concealed themselves by the window, the hurried and close footsteps gradually approached their ears from afar. Shortly after, Haoyun and the others saw a squad of soldiers swiftly turning from a nearby street corner. There were eight soldiers in total, all seemingly cut from the same cloth, with identical height and appearance. They marched in four columns, holding silver-white submachine guns, and after turning the corner, they headed straight towards the building where Haoyun and his companions were hiding.
At this moment, Haoyun and his two companions finally saw the true appearance of the soldiers from the front. Despite all eight soldiers wearing the same sunglasses and upper body blue uniforms, they clearly weren't human or any other earthly creature. Not only did these soldiers have red metal nozzle-like objects at their mouth positions, their lower bodies were equipped with three thick metallic legs each. While the middle legs walked in a manner similar to humans, the two legs on either side swung forward in a crab-like manner, making the soldiers move like humanoid spiders, which appeared incredibly eerie.
"These soldiers... seem to belong to a category beyond earthly beings. They appear designed in the likeness of humans, yet they possess features of both organic lifeforms and mechanical bodies," Dao Lao remarked.
"Whatever they are, they give me a very bad feeling. Their appearance suggests hostility! Let's hide ourselves as much as possible and be ready to fight at any moment!" Dream Jia said, disregarding Haoyun and Dao Lao's speculation. She noticed the soldiers accelerating towards the building, gripping their submachine guns vigilantly as they advanced.
The team quickly arrived beneath the building, forming a semicircular attack formation directly below the front of the building, all aiming their guns at a specific floor above. Subsequently, four soldiers emerged, their submachine guns in hand, using their spider-like mechanical legs to swiftly climb up the exterior walls.
"Uh oh! They've spotted us! Everyone, prepare for battle!" Dream Jia exclaimed upon seeing this, and the three of them retreated from the window to take cover further away.
To Haoyun's group's surprise, these four soldiers, upon reaching their floor, didn't immediately break through the window but instead continued past their level, climbing further up before ceasing their ascent. Soon after, Haoyun and his companions heard the mechanical legs smashing through glass and entering the floor above. They breathed a sigh of relief; it seemed these soldiers hadn't detected them but rather focused on their target on the upper floor. Of course, Haoyun and his team weren't afraid of these strange mechanical soldiers; they were simply cautious, having just arrived and uncertain about the situation here. Thus, rather than engage in conflict immediately, they preferred to stay concealed, gather more intelligence about their surroundings, and plan their next move accordingly.