"The break is extremely smooth, without any trace of being cut." Lin Zhenyi pondered after looking at the image Firefly provided. "From what I can see, the ability to do this is most likely a very strong spatial cutting ability."
"Is it related to spatial abilities again?" Buck frowned upon hearing his words. "Since your spatial mark was shielded, it feels like all these clues have been linked to spatial abilities."
"Could all this be the work of a powerhouse from the spatial superpower department?"
"Talk is useless, and someone must have noticed the commotion just now. Let's go up and see first."
After saying that, Firefly flew directly up the elevator shaft.
Seeing this, Lin Zhenyi and Buck also hurriedly followed.
After ascending dozens of meters along the elevator shaft, the three of them arrived in front of the elevator doors on the 30th floor.
"This is it. There are two people at the door. Remember to take action and keep them alive."
"Let Buck handle it," Lin Zhenyi said after hearing Firefly's words. "My ability is more geared toward functionality and lethality."
"Fine, leave it to me!" Buck squeezed his fists, his knuckles making a sharp cracking sound. "I guarantee they will have a good sleep without a single bump or bruise."
Firefly nodded, her arms suddenly thrusting into the narrow gap between the doors. Then, she exerted force with her hands. With a tooth-aching sound of tearing metal, the heavy alloy elevator doors were forced open to both sides!
"What was that sound?!" The guards outside were alerted by the noise and immediately turned around, raising their guns.
However, what greeted them were fists the size of clay pots.
Bang! Bang!
Two muffled sounds rang out almost simultaneously. The two guards fell to the ground and entered a deep sleep without even a groan.
Seeing this, Buck pulled back his fists steadily and gave Firefly a gesture of completion.
"The interrogation is up to you; sync the results to my terminal." Firefly spoke rapidly, her gaze directed toward the depths of the passage. "I will go investigate the source of the spatial fluctuation."
"I am coming with you!" Lin Zhenyi immediately followed, his tone solemn. "After the distance closed, my perception of that spatial fluctuation has become much clearer. I should be able to distinguish more information."
Firefly did not object and signaled him to come along. The two quickly traversed the passage and soon arrived in front of a heavy isolation door.
Based on the scan, behind the door was a huge experimental space where numerous researchers in white coats were busily moving about.
At this moment, Firefly turned her head toward Lin Zhenyi and asked:
"How much does the spatial anomaly here interfere with your teleportation?"
"The interference is extremely strong." Lin Zhenyi closed his eyes to sense for a moment. "Short distances are fine, but the limit does not exceed ten meters. Beyond that distance, spatial coordinates become extremely chaotic, and forcing a teleportation carries great risk."
"Understood." Firefly immediately marked a spot inside her visor. "Listen to my command. Two o'clock direction, nine meters away in the independent equipment room, teleport!"
"Go!"
Lin Zhenyi let out a low shout, and then a black light flashed.
Instantly, the two appeared inside a cramped room filled with instruments.
A technician inside had just looked up in shock when Firefly's knife hand landed precisely on the side of his neck.
Then, the technician collapsed.
"Ten o'clock direction, five meters, power distribution room."
Firefly's command issued again.
The black light flashed again. The two workers in the power distribution room had just turned their heads when they were instantly knocked unconscious.
"Three o'clock direction, six meters, the corridor corner in the surveillance blind spot."
Bang! Bang!
Two more passing researchers fell silently.
Under the guidance of Firefly's almost X-ray-like scanning and the cooperation of Lin Zhenyi's precise short-range teleportation, the two were like formless ghosts, appearing and disappearing unpredictably within the heavily guarded core area.
Everywhere they passed, all personnel were swiftly subdued before they could react.
In just over ten seconds, they efficiently cleared a path to the core area.
The final teleportation landing point was the entrance to a massive circular laboratory.
Firefly raised her hand to signal a stop.
"This is it."
She pointed toward a small observation room deep in the laboratory that was strictly isolated by high-strength transparent materials and multi-layer alloy frames.
In the center of the observation room, a dim blue spatial rift about two meters high hung in the air, its edges constantly twisting and tearing. Violent blue-purple electric arcs leaped around the rift, emitting a piercing energy noise.
Scattered on the floor were metal fragments torn apart by powerful energy, twisted instrument remains, and charred cables.
And that tip of the Knight's Sword that Firefly had scanned earlier lay quietly amidst this field of wreckage.
"A spirit tide?!!" The moment Lin Zhenyi saw that rift, his pupils shrank violently. He cried out in shock, his face filled with unbelievable horror. "No wonder... no wonder the spatial fluctuation was so terrifying! A miniature spirit tide is actually hidden here!"
"Miniature spirit tide?" Firefly's voice betrayed a hint of confusion.
She had heard of the spirit tide, but what exactly was a miniature spirit tide?
"You know about the spirit tide event that swept the globe a hundred years ago, right?" Lin Zhenyi took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down, though his gaze remained locked onto that unstable rift.
"Of course I know," Firefly nodded.
"The spirit tide itself was a massive and extremely unstable giant spatial rift." Lin Zhenyi explained at a very fast pace. "Although it eventually vanished mysteriously, before it disappeared, its dissipating energy also tore through space, leaving behind a large number of fragments of the same origin all over the world—which are these miniature spatial rifts."
"And it is precisely because they share the same root and origin that they are called miniature spirit tides."
"After the spirit tide disappeared back then, every country tried to use the remaining miniature spirit tides to continue research. However, having lost the maintenance of the main rift, these miniature spirit tides were extremely unstable and their energy decayed rapidly. Just one year later, all recorded miniature spirit tides in the world completely annihilated due to energy exhaustion, leaving no trace..."
"Wait!" After listening to his words, Firefly keenly caught the key contradiction. She looked at Lin Zhenyi, her cold electronic voice carrying a hint of questioning. "Since you have confirmed that all miniature spirit tides completely disappeared ninety-eight years ago..."
As she spoke, she raised her hand and pointed toward that dim blue rift emitting spatial fluctuations inside the observation room.
"Then where did the thing in front of us come from?!"