Chapter 581 - 574: Opposition
"My God?!!"
"Tell me I’m hallucinating?!"
"Th-th-this..."
"..."
Seeing the satellite footage from the space station, everyone present froze on the spot. Their eyes shimmered with an incredulous disbelief, as if their entire understanding of reality had just been shattered.
On the screen, they could clearly see the source of the high-energy reading. It wasn’t a fighter jet, a missile, or any other modern weapon. It was a person, radiating a soft, gentle light!!
This person was treading on the very air, leaving circular ripples in the sky. Wherever he passed, the clouds parted and all things recoiled.
Although everyone present was a staunch materialist with a higher education, in this moment, they couldn’t help but feel they were witnessing a Divine Buddha from legend.
It was simply unbelievable. A person was actually running across the sky, and he was climbing higher and higher.
Just who was this person?!!
"Analyzing identity markers. Requesting highest-level database access..."
"Analysis complete. Subject’s identity has been confirmed. 90% accuracy..."
Then, accompanied by a mechanical tone, a photograph appeared in a corner of the screen. Beneath the photo was a dense wall of text data.
But no one present even looked at the tiny, tadpole-like text. The photograph alone was enough to explain everything. In all of Donghua—no, in the entire world now—there wasn’t a single person who wouldn’t recognize that face.
Zhou Yuanjue!!
"He’s one of us..."
The moment his identity was confirmed, everyone present let out a collective sigh of relief. The on-site commander’s taut muscles went slack, and cold sweat instantly gushed from his pores, leaving him feeling utterly drained.
’Thank God he’s not an enemy, or this would have been a catastrophe...’
However, after their brief moment of relief, they all looked at the figure on the screen, still climbing ever higher, and couldn’t help but exchange bewildered glances.
’What on earth is he... trying to do?!’
’No, that’s not right. The question is, how can he even do something like this?!’
’Is this really something a human is capable of?’
"What’s his current altitude?"
The commander took a deep breath and asked the staff.
"He’s already broken through the stratosphere. His altitude has surpassed the highest ever reached by a manned aircraft... and he’s still running. Don’t tell me... he’s trying to run straight into outer space?!!"
The staff member said in utter disbelief.
The commander opened his mouth, staring at the large screen. A man in his position, who had seen countless major incidents, was now utterly speechless.
"Should we report this and request instructions for a response?"
Someone reminded the commander at that moment.
"Report it immediately. This is beyond our authority."
The commander said in a grave voice. Then another thought surfaced in his mind.
’Then again, even the higher-ups probably can’t handle this. A person of his stature, with such terrifying power... no organization or country could possibly restrain him anymore, could they?’
Beneath the starry sky, within Human Society, he could now roam free and unfettered.
...
...
At this point, Zhou Yuanjue was nearly seventy kilometers above the ground, having entered the mesosphere.
Here, his ascent finally slowed to a crawl.
There was almost no air left to vibrate against or use for leverage. The consumption of Divine Soul Power within his body was too intense. Furthermore, the thin oxygen was beginning to make his body uncomfortable, and his Energy supply was becoming erratic.
Although he could continue to ascend, he feared he wouldn’t have enough Divine Soul Power left for the return trip to the ground.
’Is this my limit for now? I’m still so far from the boundless starry sky. In the grand scheme of this vast universe, what am I? ...’
BANG!!
He suddenly erupted with Divine Soul Power, pushing his body through the final leg of his ascent.
When his thrust peaked, inertia took over, and his body hung suspended in the sky for a brief moment.
At this moment, the full moon above seemed to be within arm’s reach.
With his vision, he could already clearly make out the uneven craters on the Moon’s surface. The intense moonlight shone down on his body.
It was a feeling that no one, from ancient times to the present, had ever experienced.
For the first time, a human being, relying on their own power, had come this close to the distant, starry sky.
However, how could this final distance be crossed? And could it truly be crossed at all?
Zhou Yuanjue’s eyes were profound. Then, his momentum vanished completely, and he felt the pull of Earth’s gravity.
WHOOSH!!
His body was recaptured by Earth’s gravity and began to plummet toward the ground.
The intense wind battered his body. Everything on the ground looked as minuscule as ants, a sight that would inspire overwhelming terror in anyone.
But for Zhou Yuanjue, this fall was not frightening.
BANG!!
Every so often, he would release his power to create a shockwave in the air, slowing his descent and keeping it within a relatively safe range.
Soon, he was getting closer and closer to the ground. The bustling nightscape of Shangjing Prefecture came back into clear view, and the towering Dongxin Building was now right below him.
He was back.
BANG!!
Just before he would have crashed into the Dongxin Building, he abruptly released his Energy, creating a ripple in the air to negate the force of his fall as much as possible.
TAP!
Then, his body landed lightly in the exact spot from which he had jumped, as if he had never left.
Looking at the sky, a faint sense of dissatisfaction spread through his heart, and a slight doubt began to surface in his mind.
’Is this all that humanity is capable of?’
’Can humanity truly conquer the vast sea of stars?’
Normally, such a doubt would have been instantly erased by his powerful Spirit and will. But this time, Zhou Yuanjue did not do so. Instead, he allowed this tiny crack in his resolve to fester and grow.
His gaze scanned the distance, as if he were waiting for something.
The crack in his heart was spreading. In the unseen world, he seemed to feel the gaze of some unknown existence.
’As expected. Some of the old marks still remain.’
’The Ancestral Power of the True Spirit System is bizarre and wondrous.’
He paid the gaze no mind. Finally, that gaze coalesced into something tangible.
SHHHHHH!!
From the void, out of some unknown place, an endless gray mist billowed out, completely engulfing Zhou Yuanjue’s body.
Everything around him became gray and dilapidated. An eerie, deathly silence descended, as if he had stepped into a nightmare.
TAP. TAP. TAP.
The sound of footsteps echoed as a figure slowly emerged from the gray mist.
"We meet again, Doctor Nightmare."
Zhou Yuanjue said calmly to the figure.