The Blackfury Squad parked their yachts near the Giant Gorge, and Ren Kurogane led the group to meet with the leadership. In the briefing room, Elder Huang and Dukao were already waiting.
Seeing these super soldiers, a smile spread across Elder Huang's face. "Welcome back, our heroes!"
However, Ren and the others didn't respond. They each found a place to sit, closed their eyes, and began to rest. Seeing their cold attitude, Dukao felt a headache coming on.
"Alright, alright. We were in the wrong for that calculation. As compensation, you are all promoted to the rank of Major," Dukao said helplessly.
Having received the compensation they wanted, the group finally opened their eyes, smiles playing on their faces.
"What are you saying, General? Calculations? We don't mind at all!" Ren said with a chuckle. "We were just a bit exhausted, so we took a quick nap."
Elder Huang gave a bitter laugh but didn't dwell on the matter. Since the Blackfury Squad had wiped out a Bald Eagle fleet and flexed their muscles before the world, a promotion was only right. Besides, they were the future of Earth; it was normal for the higher-ups to have a higher level of tolerance for them.
After some meaningless formalities, Dukao said, "It's like this: the second team of the Blackfury Squad has mostly been assembled. However, because your first team consumed a massive amount of resources, it's becoming difficult to train the second team. I was thinking of having you guys guide them on how to become super soldiers."
Ge Xiaolun and the others' eyes immediately lit up!
"Report, General! I don't think it's necessary for the whole team to train the rookies. Everyone needs time to prepare for their upgrades. However, as the Power of the Galaxy and one of the future Great Gods of Earth, I am willing to sacrifice my personal time to lead the newcomers!"
Zhao Xin and Liu Chuang immediately grew anxious. They had been pummeled for a month; now that they finally had a chance to bully the rookies, how could they let it go? One by one, they volunteered, expressing their eagerness to lead the new team.
Dukao laughed. "Fine. I'll bring the recruits tomorrow. As for how you divide the labor, that's up to you."
Leaving the meeting room, Ge Xiaolun and the others began plotting how to "torment" the rookies.
"Ren, aren't you going to mess with the rookies tomorrow?" Leina asked.
"No, I'm not interested," Ren refused. "Qi Lin and the others' Dark Plane systems are almost finished. After that, I need to prepare the data for the God Bodies. I don't have time for rookies."
Leina raised an eyebrow. "Do you want this Goddess to provide some help?"
To be honest, Ren was tempted. "Is that really okay? This is God Body data. Are you sure Pan Zhen won't cause trouble for you?"
Leina's expression stiffened, and she laughed sheepishly. "Er... well, I guess you'll just have to rely on your own hard work~"
That night.
"Astral? Are you there?"
In the void of space, Ren repeatedly called his Dark Plane system, but there was no response for a long time.
"I'm going crazy! Why did the system crash again?!" Ren wanted to cry. This wasn't the first time his system had frozen. He already had a countermeasure. "Exit, then re-enter."
After a flicker, the system returned to normal. As expected, Ren ran a self-diagnostic, but found nothing. "How strange!"
Despite his irritation, he was powerless. "It's still a lack of technology. Improving myself is the top priority!"
After pumping himself up, Ren sent the debugged Dark Plane systems to Qi Lin and the others. After a quick chat, he finally began his own work.
"My Super Gene belongs to the Martial God series. In its core code, this gene is meant for the user to break past limits. However, with the Dark Plane system, my dream of building an interstellar fleet isn't impossible."
"It's a pity the top powers of this world all followed the path of developing Dark Planes. Otherwise, a low-level civilization like ours wouldn't even be able to play."
Ren thought about the terrifying technologies in The Three-Body Problem. Whether it was the Dual-Vector Foil or the mysterious civilization that stabilized the trisolaran system—that was true dimensionality reduction.
"Forget it, no use worrying about that! Upgrading my God Body comes first!"
Ren had already gained some leads regarding his God Body over the last two days. A Grandmaster at Arms! First was physical strength, plus a "tiny bit" of energy—that would be his First-Generation Martial God Body.
He had the energy part down; his body just wasn't "hard" enough yet.
At dawn, Ren found the eager Ge Xiaolun and took him to Leina's yacht.
Knock, knock, knock—Boom!
"Who is it?! Disturbing this Goddess's beauty sleep this early! Do you want to die?" Leina grumbled as she walked out. Seeing it was Ren and Xiaolun, her expression didn't change. Of course she knew it was them; she was just venting her morning grumpiness!
As the two climbed aboard from the sea, Ren said, "Sister Na! Calm down. I have an urgent matter!"
Leina, in her pink pajamas, glared at them. Ren laughed and said after some careful thought, "I want the data for Xiaolun's God Body!"
Leina looked at Xiaolun, thought for a moment, and then remembered. "Oh! You mean the Indestructible Body!"
"Yes, yes, yes! That's the one!" Ren nodded repeatedly.
"Yeah... no."
"Why?!"
Seeing Ren's rapidly shifting expression, a mischievous smile appeared on Leina's face. "Because that belongs to the Angel Civilization's secrets. Even as the Great God of Leiyang, I can't get my hands on classified documents like that!"
Just as Ren was about to give up and find Brother Monkey, Leina changed the subject. "However, even if I don't know it, Xiaolun himself can access it!"
"No, Xiaolun's Indestructible Body hasn't awakened yet. Right now, he's just 'harder' than usual. It's useless to me," Ren shook his head.
"It hasn't awakened now, but it won't be long before the Angels help him activate it. Then, you'll be able to directly access a Third-Generation God Body level Indestructible Body," Leina laughed.
Ren looked at the dazed Ge Xiaolun and decided he might be better off researching the Vajra Indestructible Body with Brother Monkey...
Today was the day the second team arrived. On the deck of the Giant Gorge, Ge Xiaolun and the others put on a profound act while addressing the rookies.
"You've joined the Blackfury Squad, which means you all have Super Genes. However, these genes aren't for committing crimes; they are for protecting our home."
While Xiaolun was lecturing, Leina's voice rang out in the Dark Plane.
"An evil god has been resurrected. He's currently in a weakened state. Let's go take him out!"
"An evil god?!" "Finally, we get to see some action?"
"Don't be careless. He's an evil god. Even in a weakened state, he's still a god! There is a fundamental difference between him and us super soldiers!" Ren warned.
The team boarded a transport and soon arrived in the city. The appearance of the evil god came into view: a crocodile.
"While we were on our way, this guy already ate quite a few people. However, he seems afraid of guns; the army has him temporarily pinned down," Leina said.
"He eats people?" Ge Xiaolun and the others felt a chill in their hearts.
"Yeah. He calls humans 'buns'."
Hearing Leina's words, the group was filled with killing intent. Liu Chuang asked, "Sister Na, where did this guy come from? Is he also from that Taotie civilization?"
"No. The Taotie are only slightly stronger than Earth; they don't have the strength to create a god," Leina said. "However, his origin is the same as the Taotie—this was orchestrated by the Great God of the Styx Galaxy, Death God Karl."
"Damn! That idiot god again!" Ren cursed. "If I get the chance, I'm going to raze the Styx Galaxy!"
"Alright, enough talk. Let's go kill that crocodile!"
The Blackfury Squad jumped from the plane, landing directly before the Crocodile God, Sobek.
"M-more... buns?" Sobek stammered.
But Ren and the others were furious. This crocodile had eaten people; they were in a fight to the death!
"Kill!"
With a roar, Ren thrust his light-blade, extending it instantly to pierce through Sobek's body. "Holy—! You brat!" Sobek cursed, but before he could finish, an axe fell. This strike, laced with God-Slaying Power, carved a deep wound into Sobek's back!
Zhao Xin and the others followed up with attacks. In an instant, the newly awakened evil god was riddled with wounds.
"Evil god? This is it?" Liu Chuang laughed wildly.
"Xiaolun, get ready to execute him!" Ren shouted to Ge Xiaolun, who had been preparing.
"Definition! Villain!" "Judgment!"
Xiaolun didn't hesitate. After defining Sobek as a villain, he raised his greatsword. Dark clouds gathered instantly, and a golden sword descended from the sky!
Rumble!
The earth shook as the golden blade cleaved the evil god in two!
"We did it!"
Excited, the group approached to check on Sobek. In the deep crater, although Sobek's body was split in half, he didn't die on the spot due to being a Third-Generation Beast Body. He stared up at the squad with wide, unwilling eyes. His mouth opened and closed as if trying to say something.
"Whoa! He's still alive?" Liu Chuang said in shock. "I thought he was in a weakened state? How is his life force still so strong?"
"No matter how weak, he's still a Third-Generation Beast Body. Strong life force is basic math," Leina explained. "If Xiaolun's attack didn't deal True Damage, we wouldn't have been able to do much to him today."
Ren rubbed his chin and asked, "How do we handle him now?"
Leina asked with a smile, "Why? Do you want to research his beast body?"
"No. My goal is only Brother Monkey's Vajra body or Xiaolun's Indestructible body. Nothing else is worth considering," Ren said. "However, since this guy could be resurrected once, he can be resurrected again. To avoid unnecessary trouble, I suggest we lock him up so no one with bad intentions can bring him back."
The group agreed with Ren's suggestion. Soon, Lian Feng and her team arrived to take Sobek's two halves into custody. As the ship flew away, Lian Feng gave the group a bitter smile. "I won't lie to you. Whether we kill Sobek or imprison him, the result is the same. As long as Death God Karl wants to save him, he can remove him from our control."
The group fell silent. The excitement from their victory vanished, replaced by a heavy weight in their hearts.
"Sigh, we're still too weak..." Ren sighed. At the same time, he muttered to himself: As a transmigrator, I don't even have a proper system or a decent artifact. Now that I have a Super Gene, the Dark Plane system still crashes all the time...
They boarded the transport and returned to the Giant Gorge.
Meanwhile, on the rooftop of the Angel Group building, Angel Yan watched the Blackfury Squad's actions. "These little guys are interesting. They actually managed to defeat a Third-Generation Beast Body."
Ren and the others were only Second-Generation Super Soldiers. Even if Sobek was weakened, they theoretically shouldn't have been able to hurt him.
"The Power of the Galaxy is truly strong. At the level of a Second-Generation, he can already execute a Third-Generation Beast Body!" Angel Zhui marveled.
"What? Is your heart fluttering, little girl?" Yan teased.
"No!" Zhui immediately retorted. "I'm just saying. And although the Power of the Galaxy is the future Great God, I feel that the one named Ren Kurogane is their backbone. In the future, these people might all be Ren's subordinates."
Yan agreed with Zhui's view. Grandmaster at Arms? I wonder where that gene came from. I'll ask the Queen next time, Yan thought. "Alright, enough fun. Go help the Power of the Galaxy activate his Angelic genes so his Indestructible Body can fully function."
The Angels placed great importance on Ge Xiaolun's Indestructible Body. If it functioned successfully, Angelic technology could also advance. Specifically, Angels loaded with the Indestructible Body could directly mount Void Engines, allowing them to face the Void.
That afternoon, while no one was looking, Angel Yan unlocked the Angelic gene code in Ge Xiaolun, causing him to grow a pair of black wings. This made Xiaolun happy for the rest of the day; he ignored the rookies and went off to practice flying. However, after a whole afternoon of trying, he achieved nothing, which frustrated him.
Finally, at dinner, he found Ren to ask for advice.
"You grew wings?"
Ren, having just returned from the Dark Plane, was shocked. He remembered Xiaolun's wings were supposed to activate when Kaisha arrived on Earth. We haven't even met the Angels yet—how did they activate so early?
Seeing Ren in a daze, Xiaolun shook him gently. "Brother Ren, don't space out! Give me some advice~"
Ren snapped out of it and laughed. "Those wings are just for show. Look for the anti-gravity system in your Dark Plane."
"Anti-gravity system?"
Xiaolun immediately did so. Sure enough, seconds later, his body slowly lifted off the ground. The black wings behind him flapped, making it look as though they were responsible for his flight!
"Holy crap! I'm really flying!"