When the three men woke up, they found themselves lying in a strange large room. The walls, floor, and ceiling of the room all emitted a silver-white glow, as if made of some kind of alloy. The room had no furniture, only a few instruments of unknown purpose in the corners. Some red crystal-like objects were embedded in the walls, from which many vein-like red pipes extended, pulsing with a strange, life-like glow inside them.
"What is this place?" Lao Dao sat up, discovering he was uninjured. He looked around, feeling utterly confused about their current situation.
"Fuck if I know," the bald man spat forcefully, then struggled to support himself, stretching his stiff limbs. "This place looks just like something out of a movie..."
"Maybe we were captured by some crazy research organization?" the man previously referred to as Ciwei said uneasily.
"Scram, you coward!" The bald man slapped Ciwei aside. Although he said this, the tension in his heart was no less than his two subordinates. This slap was more to bolster his own courage than to scold his timid subordinate.
At this moment, a slight sliding sound was heard as they saw a gap appear in the seamless wall, then slide open to both sides, revealing a two-meter-wide entrance.
Accompanied by the dense sound of metal clashing, two squads of soldiers dressed in full alloy armor, wielding enormous weapon-like guns, quickly ran into the spacious room. They formed two neat rows. The alloy armor and peculiar weapons made the three think of future soldiers from sci-fi movies.
While they were still bewildered, another set of footsteps sounded. Three people entered under the protection of the soldiers.
Once they got closer, the three men could see clearly. Among the newcomers was their target, a young man named Chen Jun. The other two included Princess Liska Sandora, who had been in the spotlight lately, and an exceedingly cute girl of about twelve or thirteen years old, presumably Chen Jun's sister, Pan Lili.
The bald men never imagined meeting the other side under such circumstances. The powerfully strong, incredibly fast man who had knocked them out must have been sent by the other side; otherwise, their current detention and encounter here couldn't be explained.
But who exactly were these three people before them?
A plain young man, a little girl not yet fourteen, and a princess who suddenly appeared in China, with a team of mysterious heavily armed soldiers behind them.
Three men who had long been indifferent to life and death suddenly felt a chill. The many films, novels, and TV shows they had seen played in their minds. Despite their fierce appearances, as assassins, their lives were incredibly dull, leading them to watch a lot of movies and other odd things. Thus, these well-trained assassins were actually hidden sci-fi movie fans. The scene before them reactivated their imaginative minds, leading them to various associations, all pointing to a frightening possibility: that they were on the brink of a tremendous secret that, once revealed, would ensure they never left this place.
It's just like in Hollywood movies.
My expression remained calm, but my heart had yet to recover from the shock.
The technological prowess of the Xyrin Empire once again presented an incredible miracle before me.
We were currently in a military base established in Other Space.
Yes, Other Space, a projection space created using the powerful space technology of the Xyrin Empire!
This space exactly overlapped with the real-world K City and its surrounding areas, perfectly replicating it except for human residents. This was essentially another reality. Of course, there were some differences from the real K City, most notably the enormous Xyrin structures visible everywhere in Shadow City, which shouldn't exist in the real world.
Pandora wisely followed my command not to establish a Xyrin outpost base on Earth. She opted for a better method, creating the base in Earth's overlapping space.
I decided not to blame her since setting up the base in this overlapping space wouldn't impact human society. As long as the Pandora Army stayed within Shadow World without causing trouble, I wouldn't bother them. However, I was a bit worried about what would happen if a human accidentally stumbled into this copied shadow space. We couldn't just kill them to keep the secret, could we? That would be too discordant.
"Xyrin Empire's technology is absolutely reliable," Sandora assured me confidently at the time, "such incidents where people in human movies accidentally wander into a fake city will never occur here."
Alright, I decided to trust the Xyrin Empire's technology for now since it hadn't failed before.
I scrutinized the three men before me, who were trying their best to remain calm, and curiously asked, "Why did you try to hurt my sister?"
The bald man snorted disdainfully and turned his head away.
They weren't ordinary people!
That was my first conclusion. Any average thug would've been scared senseless by such a scene, but despite their anxiety, these men maintained their composure, ignoring their present peril to keep their secrets. This indicated they weren't a bunch of spur-of-the-moment thieves but had a specific mission.
"Don't want to talk?" I narrowed my eyes slightly. Since Eckmar had already implanted neural controllers in them, I wasn't worried about them leaking secrets. So I decided to play a little game.
"Take them!" I waved my hand and turned to leave the room. Soldiers stepped forward, pointing guns at the three men, forcing them to follow.
With each new sight more unimaginable than the last, the three men behind us fell deeper into shock.
They saw squads of heavy armor soldiers armed with bizarre weapons, incredible war chariots, robotic warriors straight out of sci-fi movies, and guard guns hovering in mid-air, emitting menacing buzzes.
None of these things could have been developed by human technology!
Eventually, as we reached a massive hall overlooking a vast area below filled with rows of humanoid and mechanical troops resembling a frozen black swamp, the bald man's spirit finally broke.
"Who the hell… who are you people?!" The bald man couldn't suppress his fear any longer. He extended a trembling finger towards me, his voice cracked.
"Oh? You don't know who I am?" I tried to mold my expression into that of a sinister conqueror, but Sandora's silent snickering thwarted my efforts. I gave up the attempt and said sternly, "Then who sent you?"
Despite my question, the three men's mental fortitude exceeded my expectations. They had maintained basic composure up until now, indicating they weren't ordinary ruffians but were here on someone's orders. But my sister and I had never offended anyone, leaving me curious about who'd sent these people after us.
"What… who are you really…?" The bald man still pointed at me, seemingly unhearing of my question.
At this moment, a hoarse, chillingly distorted female voice sounded, "Enough, these humans are utterly unamusing. I've tired of this dull game!"
With violent black flames rising skywards, Sandora had transformed into her half-human, half-demon Abyss Form.
"...M… monster…"
The three unlucky men instantly succumbed to the powerful corruptive spirit of the Abyss, collapsing powerlessly to the ground. The bald man, barely capable of speech, pointed at Sandora floating in the air, stuttering. The abrupt transformation of a beautiful, noble princess into a demon-like monster was more than their frayed nerves could withstand.
Sandora, you're overacting!