From Abyssal Invasion to Bursting Stars with a Single Sword

Yeliana Sikes, as one of the leaders of the three major factions of the Sikes Civilization, had a natural attraction to human Superpower Users.

Human Superpower Users summoned to the Sikes Civilization certainly hoped to make contact with high-ranking individuals and use their Strength to complete their missions.

Every time Lu Heng was summoned to another world, he did precisely that.

In the world of the Black Iron Dwarves, the first thing he did was meet with Dakville III, the leader of the Black Iron Tribe.

When in the Quel'dorei World, he visited the Elf Royal City to see the Great Arcanist, Augustus.

No matter which world he was in, making contact with the ruling class of that world always helped him to leverage power to his advantage.

Yeliana Sikes, as one of the faction leaders of the Sikes Civilization, belonged to the ruling class.

Therefore, Superpower Users who were summoned would not refuse to meet with her.

As a result, after Yeliana Sikes extended an invitation, she found two lone wolf-type Superpower Users the following day.

Lu Heng wanted to gather information from these Superpower Users, and it wasn't very convenient to find teams, so the lone wolf-type Superpower Users were more suitable.

The two lone wolf-type Superpower Users entered the private villa on Mitchell Street, displaying extreme caution.

This was characteristic of lone wolf-type Superpower Users, who were always very cautious in everything they did as a way to survive.

The two Superpower Users came from different countries, one from Da Xia and one from South Korea.

Yeliana Sikes first had a meeting with the two individuals.

After introducing themselves, it was learned that the Superpower User from Da Xia was named Pan Zhiyue, while the Superpower User from South Korea was Jin Chengxian.

Both were lone wolves, usually acting alone.

Meeting each other in the private villa of the faction leader, they exchanged glances without saying a word.

The reason for having them meet was simple, to make them aware of the competition's existence.

Afterward, Yeliana Sikes had the robot butler take Pan Zhiyue to another room to meet Lu Heng.

Lu Heng, wearing his robotic faceplate, sat in a chair and waved at the Superpower User from Da Xia, then pointed to the chair opposite the table and said, "Please sit."

Pan Zhiyue cautiously scanned the room, pressed his hand down on the chair to make sure there were no traps, then sat down.

"You don't need to be so cautious," Lu Heng said in the language of Da Xia.

This remark caused Pan Zhiyue to pause for a moment before asking, "Are you also human?"

Since the Sikes Civilization had gone through its Renaissance period, the noble class began using biomimetic skin, and the higher the nobility, the less apparent the signs of mechanical transformation were on their bodies.

Therefore, if one didn't look at facial features, it was sometimes hard to distinguish them from any member of the Sikes nobility.

"Sit down. I called you here to exchange some intelligence," Lu Heng continued speaking in the language of Da Xia.

Hearing one's native language in a foreign land was a very joyous thing.

After Pan Zhiyue sat down, he also spoke in the language of Da Xia, "What intelligence do you wish to exchange?"

Lu Heng revealed a smile and said, "Why don't you share the contents of your Main Quest first?"

Pan Zhiyue picked up on the implication and asked, "Do you suspect I am a Traitor?"

Normally, Summoners exchanged the contents of their Main Quests to confirm whether their missions were consistent and to identify any Traitors.

However, this method of verification wasn't very useful, but it had become a habit.

After Pan Zhiyue realized that Lu Heng was human, he subconsciously thought that Lu Heng was another summoned Superpower User.

In other words, in his perception, Lu Heng also had a Main Quest.

But Lu Heng was not summoned, so he had no quests at all.

Pan Zhiyue glanced at the door and said with a smile, "If the content of my Main Quest differs from yours, what do you plan to do?"

He had already met the Superpower User from South Korea named Jin Chengxian, so he knew that at this time, he could not lie, as any falsehood would be discovered.

But he was worried that his Main Quest would be different from Lu Heng's.

Because in the same summoning, it was indeed possible for different teams of Superpower Users to receive different Main Quests.

Lu Heng smiled and said, "Don't worry, I won't make a judgment just because our Main Quests are different. Just submit the mission information."

Pan Zhiyue took a deep breath, pondered for a moment, and then asked, "What is your relationship with the leader of the Escape Faction? What progress is your current mission at?"

He asked this, of course, wanting to know how much faction power Lu Heng currently wielded.

Lu Heng laughed and answered, "The relationship is firmer than you imagine."

Compared to this batch of summoned Superpower Users, Lu Heng indeed held considerable faction power within the Sikes Civilization.

Not only Yeliana Sikes, but more importantly, the scientist known as the Xavier Matrix.

Because of Yuan Yaoyao, as long as it wasn't against Xavier Matrix's principles, he would not refuse to help.

Pan Zhiyue continued to ask, "If I am willing to cooperate with you, will you take me to complete the mission?"

Lu Heng thought for a moment, then answered, "That will depend on what your mission is. If our goals align, I can take you along."

Only after receiving this response did Pan Zhiyue state the content of his Main Quest:

"My first Main Quest is to investigate the mad scientist behind the Mechanical Demon.

"The second Main Quest is to destroy a Mechanical Demon."

"The third Main Quest is to survive for fifteen days."

Lu Heng looked at the time and asked, "How many days do you have left until you return?"

Pan Zhiyue's face showed a hint of surprise as he asked, "Can the return time also vary?"

Lu Heng hooked his lips upward and offered no explanation.

Before this, Pan Zhiyue hadn't encountered a situation where the return time differed among Summoners within the same batch, but since the tasks could differ, it wasn't entirely impossible for the return times to differ as well.

He exhaled and replied, "I have eight days left."

Lu Heng then asked, "How far have you progressed with your current tasks?"

Pan Zhiyue felt a bit helpless: "The investigation is going rather slowly. That mad scientist known as the Xavier Matrix is too difficult to find."

Lu Heng had already learned from him that his first Main Quest was: Investigate the crazy scientist who researches Mechanical Demons.

And the most notorious mad scientist within the Sikes Civilization was Xavier Matrix.

Hearing him say the name Xavier Matrix, Lu Heng asked curiously, "Have you confirmed that the mad scientist studying Mechanical Demons is Xavier Matrix?"

Upon hearing this, Pan Zhiyue raised his eyebrows and responded, "Not entirely confirmed, but Xavier Matrix, nicknamed the mad scientist within Sikes Civilization, seems very likely."

Lu Heng smiled and asked, "Do you know what level of strength Xavier Matrix is?"

Pan Zhiyue shook his head: "Not quite sure, but the difficulty of the Main Quest shouldn't be that extreme. At least investigating him shouldn't pose a threat to one's life."

Main Quests in the Abyss Battlefield usually aren't too difficult; being cautious usually meant avoiding too much danger.

However, his first Main Quest required him to investigate the mad scientist, but didn't require him to necessarily uncover anything.

That is to say, as long as he finds a clue, it would fulfill the requirements of the Main Quest.

Among the three Main Quests, it was basically only the second one that was dangerous, which was to destroy a Mechanical Demon.

The danger level of this task correlated with the Level of the Mechanical Demon.

Lu Heng thought for a moment and then said, "Since you've provided information, I'll give you some in return. Stop looking for Xavier Matrix. Whether or not you can find him aside, you're already headed in the wrong direction."

Pan Zhiyue's eyebrows shot up as he pressed, "Have you already found a lead to the mad scientist?"

Lu Heng shook his head and replied, "Not yet, but I can rule out the incorrect option of Xavier Matrix."

Pan Zhiyue pondered for a moment and then asked, "How can you be so sure?"

Lu Heng spread his hands and said, "You can choose not to believe me."

Pan Zhiyue furrowed his brow in thought. He couldn't see a motive for Lu Heng to lie about this matter, and finally nodded, "Alright. I'll trust you."

Lu Heng continued, "Next, I need you to provide all the information you have on all the Summoners you know."

Upon hearing this request, Pan Zhiyue frowned again: "What do you want information on the Summoners for?"

Lu Heng replied with an unemotional tone, "Don't ask about everything."

Pan Zhiyue thought of many possibilities, and asked, "Are you looking for a Traitor? There is a Traitor among the Summoners this time!"

Thinking of this possibility, everything suddenly made sense to him.

From the beginning, Lu Heng had been asking about the content of his Main Quests; it was a clear indication of searching for a Traitor.

Also, the South Korean Superpower User who had been brought along and separated for questioning after their encounter.

This South Korean Superpower User was clearly used as a control group, to verify the truth of the information he provided.

Now, Lu Heng was asking for information about other Superpower Users, which was a clear sign he was looking for a Traitor.

As Pan Zhiyue thought of the possibility, he believed he understood Lu Heng's motives.

Seeing him think this way, Lu Heng did not correct him; although he wasn't looking for a Traitor, he was indeed looking for someone. In fact, it was almost the same.

While recalling, Pan Zhiyue began, "In this transmission, I saw about twenty Superpower Users, but I didn't recognize most of them. I can only describe what I've seen."

"That's fine, describing appearances and skills should be enough," Lu Heng certainly didn't expect him to provide detailed information.

Pan Zhiyue started recounting the Superpower Users he had encountered: "I've seen three teams, two from abroad and one domestic.

"The domestic team seemed to be led by a woman, which is quite rare, and I also know the name of this female captain; you might have heard of her too."

Lu Heng was a bit surprised and inquired, "What's her name?"

With a smile, Pan Zhiyue answered, "Jian Qing, known as 'Empress of Wind'."

Upon hearing Jian Qing's name, Lu Heng was momentarily taken aback.

Before coming here, he had never considered that Jian Qing had also been Summoned.

Lu Heng had seen her just half a month ago while apprehending Zhuo Hongjun.

The name Jian Qing was already famous in his previous life, and her moniker 'Empress of Wind' was widespread among Superpower Users.

However, Jian Qing is of a military sequence and holds the rank of Captain, so she rarely interacts with external Superpower Users.

Information about her in the Superpower User community is mostly hearsay.

"Did you talk to Jian Qing?" Lu Heng followed up.

"I did speak with her. We met once on the second day after arrival and exchanged some information, but at that time, the information acquired was rather limited. Jian Qing agreed to form an alliance but wouldn't act together with others; she hoped everyone would gather information separately and maintain contact. We would cooperate only in the final battle," Pan Zhiyue outlined the contents of his conversation with Jian Qing.

"Are you able to contact her?" Lu Heng's eyes gradually revealed a smile.

If Jian Qing was also here, things would be much simpler.