The General’s eyebrows narrowed as a wrinkle emerged on his face, "They’re at least at the Revolving Core Stage..."
His right leg which was about to take the next step had been stopped in mid-air before he took it back and aligned with his other leg.
The two old foggies behind him simultaneously nodded their heads as their expressions turned stern, however, their eyes turned a little absent-minded.
Even the General’s face turned solemn as he saw the two figures approaching him in a carefree manner.
It was as if this was their home, and the artillery and the weapons placed here, even pointed at them possessed no threat to them.
Although the General did understand their lofty viewpoint, he was irked by the powerlessness of the situation he was placed in, feeling deeply helpless.
======
Davis casually floated towards the man who wore outstanding sci-fi clothes and seemed like the one who controlled everything here, not caring about the thousands of weapons pointed at him and Clara.
He floated towards and stopped in front of that man as he opened his mouth, "My name is Davis Loret, and you are?"
The general’s eyes flashed with understanding light and he clasped his hands as he slightly bowed, "I am called General Yuan Kong. I wonder if..."
"Get all your people away from here. I don’t care if you own this place or whatever but from here on out, this place belongs to me!" Davis interrupted as he spoke in a strong Chinese tone.
The general inwardly grunted but knew that he couldn’t adopt an aggressive stance in the face of absolute power. He also knew that the lives of numerous soldiers who were near, and citizens who were a few kilometers away were in his hands now.
He couldn’t afford to make mistakes. Just that thought had heavily weighed on him, even bothering him more than the cultivators he should be worried about currently.
"What about the people inside?" The general asked another question, one that was tinged with a faint hint of worry even though he knew he was being presumptuous.
"As long as you people withdraw, they will sooner or later come back, make your choice."
Saying so, Davis flew towards the skies while Clara followed behind the next second.
The general’s eyes widened in astonishment, ’That’s it?’
He couldn’t believe that he was brushed off like some roadside ant.
He, General Yuan Kong, also a member and the leader of the HLC’s that was formed 17 years ago and became an elite group within the country about 5 years later was reduced to a state such as this?
Just brushed off like that? The HLC’s who was said to be the world’s greatest elite force capable of tackling most dangerous situations?
With the information and resources given by Senior Viktor in exchange for the freedom of Meng Ying, he knew that he had achieved the High-Level Meridian Refinement Stage.
The two behind him were also at that stage, and the three of them were the only ones to arrive at this point through the help of Senior Viktor. Of course, most of them here also had made improvements but they had only bordered on the first step to cultivation, trying to reach Low-Level First Stage while some of them, like the commander, before had reached Mid-Level First Stage.
He opened his mouth, tried to speak something to stop those two from leaving, but then closed. He opened his mouth again and unknowingly exhaled a breath of relief as he ordered, "Retreat!!"
He then heaved a sigh of relief again on purpose, glad that a tragedy didn’t take place. He turned around and saw the expressions of the soldiers and even the two old men.
They looked as if they were in a... dreamworld?
Some of the soldiers’ gaze remained on the place where Clara stayed. It was as if they were incredibly curious about her veiled appearance. Her beautiful eyes caused them to fall into a state of trance for some time.
The general had only cast a glance at Clara before his attention was grabbed by Davis, so he really wasn’t pulled in by her transcendent eyes.
He wasn’t also fazed by the other party speaking Chinese because he guessed that Senior Viktor could have imparted the knowledge of this world.
"HLC!! I said retreat!!"
Only then did the soldiers awake from their stupor and shouted "Yes!" as their instincts kicked in from the training they had received. They retreated in order and the AI automated tanks, drones, and helicopters also withdrew from the area.
The two old men were also jolted awake as they looked at each other, their eyes probing each other to exactly what had happened.
It was like they had been shaken from seeing a celestial beauty for the first time in their life.
How was that possible!? They were freaking old and should’ve got past the need to appreciate beauties on a passionate level! However, they got to experience a new sight in terms of trivial for the first time in the latter part of their lives!
The general gave off another sigh of depression and squeezed his eyes as he did not get much sleep these days, all thanks to the rising tension around the world for this ancient site.
But now it looks he had no need to worry about this anymore as a new powerful and undefeatable adversary had arrived and undisputedly claimed the place for himself.
But then, he instantly experienced a headache on how he should report this to his superiors, especially the top brass.
If they didn’t accept his determination, and the decision he took backfired, he really would be executed for performing a disgraceful task.
Nevertheless, he wasn’t worried about that. He glanced up and saw their silhouettes turning into nothing but two dots.
======
In the absolute moonlight of the full moon, Davis and Clara floated around 5,000 meters high in the sky.
Davis looked at the stars with a longing expression on his face.
He had once considered exploring the universe to complete his life, but the technological advancement was limited and he had no way to make that dream come true.
Even now, he still could guess that humanity of Earth still hadn’t entered the Space Era.
Taking a deep breath, he let out a sigh.
’Ah, the familiar yet polluted atmosphere..’
He had returned! He had finally returned!
He glanced at the direction where his home was and found it dilapidated to an extent. His eyesight was so powerful that he could even see the insects in his garden.
However, his eyes narrowed as he frowned. Seems like there were incidents of break-ins as the doorknobs and even the windows were damaged and destroyed.
Only a slight amount of dissatisfaction remained in his heart before it he couldn’t feel anything about it.
He extended his Soul Sense, and it started to cover the entirety of China in an instant, and extended beyond, covering all other countries as it made its way around the corner of the globe until it finally relinked with his Soul Sense that joined from the other side.
People, animals, insects, every little creature entered his senses, except the beings that were at the microscopic level.
’Around 14 billion humans, 35 billion animals, oops most of them are livestock...’ He took a slight pause and added in his mind, ’Maybe more than a hundred quintillion insects.’
That exact moment, he felt all of them were in his control, making them submit to his whims. He felt as if he were a god!
Chuckling lightly, he laughed at himself inwardly, ’A God? With my puny cultivation that haven’t even reached the Ninth Stage yet?’
However, a thought really did tempt his mind. Using his Soul Sense while sending Soul Transmission to everyone on Earth simultaneously, if he were to say that he was the God or the messiah, then he would really be turned into a deity by maybe more than half the total population.
Instant status upgrade to God? Such a title seemed really tempting, however, his expression turned solemn.
He located twelve places that had given weird reactions to his Soul Sense.
’The Vile Vortices... Of course....’ Davis inwardly mused and laughed. His doubts were on point.
In this world, these twelve places were the only mysterious places on Earth and it is said that they were dangerous because of the Earth’s Magnetic Field.
But was it only because of the magnetic field present there? The answer to it was already seen by Davis as his Soul Sense couldn’t penetrate these twelve spots.
He cast a glance at Clara and saw her looking at him before she turned her gaze away to the world in curiosity.
High-rise buildings which were really taller than the ones which existed when he left, rail tracks passing through buildings, flying cars traveling like in a fixed-line as if they were pre-programmed, traffic and modern lights colored the entire city.
He followed her gaze and saw a flying car buzzing in the altitude of 300 meters above the ground. The flying car propelled forwards and left the high-rise building from the platform that was built at the side of the building.
Davis extended his hand and the side glass of the flying car broke as an object shot past towards the skies.
The object that shot that broke the window of the flying car while making it sound alert tones, landed in Davis’s hand.
He flipped it towards his wrist and touched a few places that were indicated but then furrowed his brows in an annoyed manner.
"Kid... What’s the password?" Davis sent a Soul Transmission to the passenger who was in the flying car but received no answer.
The passenger was a teen who wore glasses, and there was no driver because the one who drove the flying car was nothing but an AI.
Davis knew that the other party in the flying car was terrified of the voice that echoed in his mind. He asked again but received a reply asking him that if he were a system.
Davis turned speechless. His eyes twitched and a wide grin lit up his face, "Yes, I can only give you access to the system if I know your password..."
Davis instantly got the password from the delusional brat and he even felt somewhat sorry for deceiving that poor soul.
In any case, the teen looked rich and he got the password from him to access the holo-phone, and with it, he could check the ongoing events on Earth by connecting to the internet.
Once he inputted the password, the bracelet like holo-phone lit up and projected an image in the air. He doubted if he could even connect to the internet at this altitude but his worries were unfounded.
Yes, using the internet was the fastest way to get general information about the world and it didn’t seem like it would change any time soon.
Davis touched a few points on the empty air, to be precise, the options on the holo screen that was constantly changing with his touches.
’This was still not in the commercial market when I left Earth, but now it looks like these are pretty normal...’ Davis thought as he looked up searches for major events from 2030.
He skimmed through and one such event caught his eyes.
[2036: Era of Air Transport! Flying Cars produced en masse!]
While looking at this news, he wasn’t surprised since flying cars were already present in the 2020s, used for experimental tests but were discontinued due to various reasons.
Such as, ramming the car into buildings, the engines shutting down for various reasons, leading to the loss of life both in the flying car and the lives that were directly below.
Such cases were rampant and led to the fall of flying cars until AI was introduced into flying cars in 2036.
They had designated routes in the sky and followed rigid protocol to maneuver, so the number of accidents took place were considerably lessened.
Even so, it seemed that only the rich could afford these flying pieces of junk, and they mostly do to strut around their statuses.
Coming back to the pieces of news, he searched for other sections of important events and found it!