452: Qi Fang

The young man stood at the edge of the pit, his eyes wide, his hand unconsciously tightening around the baseball bat, his knuckles turning white.

“This… what is this?”

The scene just now completely overturned his understanding of the world over the past decade.

Such a large metal mass, just vanished? And conjured a glowing black sphere out of thin air?

Actually, from the moment he saw the oddly shaped escape pod, an absurd thought had flashed through his mind—could this be something from aliens?

But when he saw Li Yang emerge from it, he suppressed the idea. After all, the other person’s appearance, build, and even his pained expression when injured were no different from ordinary people. Who would believe that aliens could look exactly like humans?

But now, looking at the floating black sphere and feeling the lingering energy fluctuations in the air, which did not belong to this world, that suppressed thought began to grow wildly like weeds.

He knew very well that, with the current technological level of their country, let alone making a metal cabin disappear into thin air, even building such a thing was absolutely impossible.

The young man swallowed, his gaze darting between the unconscious Li Yang and the black sphere, his heart thumping against his chest.

“Could it be… there really are aliens in this world? And, I actually ran into them?”

While the young man was still stunned by the sight before him, his mind a chaotic mess of thoughts like “aliens” and “black technology,” the floating black sphere suddenly moved.

It flew straight towards him, as if pulled by an invisible string.

“Go away! What do you want to do?”

The young man was scared out of his wits and quickly swung the baseball bat in his hand, attempting to knock the black sphere away.

But just as his arm was halfway up, his entire body stiffened as if under a paralysis spell—his limbs felt like they were filled with lead, and he couldn't make a sound, only his eyes could dart around in terror, watching the black sphere get closer and closer.

The black sphere stopped half a meter in front of him, showing no aggression.

The faint blue glow on its surface flickered a few times, as if scanning its surroundings, finally settling its “gaze” on a corner of the phone peeking out of the young man’s pocket.

“Detected low-level technological product, meets information access conditions.”

The electronic voice sounded again.

As soon as the words fell, the young man's phone in his pocket suddenly vibrated, then floated up on its own, its screen glowing faintly, slowly drifting to the black sphere.

Immediately after, a metallic thread as thin as hair extended from the side of the black sphere. A small interface popped out from the end of the thread and precisely plugged into the phone's charging port. The shape and size of the interface perfectly matched his phone's port.

“Accessing local civilization network… Information retrieval in progress…”

The phone screen instantly turned completely black, with only the faint blue light on the black sphere's surface growing brighter.

In just a few seconds, the black sphere retracted the metal thread, and the phone dropped to the ground with a “clatter,” its screen returning to the normal lock screen interface, as if nothing had happened.

“Information synchronization complete.”

“Level one technological civilization… Human species… Information matching confirmed.”

The faint blue glow on the black sphere's surface flickered a few times, and the electronic voice, with mechanical precision, clearly reported the retrieval results.

After completing all of this, the black sphere slowly floated in front of the young man, its height perfectly level with his line of sight.

This time, it no longer emitted a stilted electronic synthetic voice, but fluent, natural local language, with an almost gentle tone.

“Qi Fang, 18 years old, from West City, Weinan Province, East Country, a freshman at West City University. Your parents died in an accident when you were 6. You have an older sister, Qi Yu, 24 years old, currently working as a resident physician at West City Hospital.”

Every word was incredibly clear, like a precise surgical knife, dissecting all of Qi Fang's past.

Qi Fang stiffened. Although his body was still restrained by an invisible force and unable to move, the terror in his eyes surged like a tide. His pupils contracted sharply, and his lips trembled slightly.

This suddenly appearing black sphere could not only float in mid-air, but also, in just a few seconds, had uncovered every detail about him from birth to the present—even his status as a new student, the privacy of his parents' early deaths, and his sister's workplace, all without a single error.

“Human, please do not panic.”

The black sphere seemed to sense his fear, its tone remaining steady.

“We are a civilization from the universe; from your perspective, we are an alien civilization.”

It turned slightly towards the unconscious Li Yang on the ground, the glow briefly lingering on him.

“The injured one is Comrade Li Yang, the Division Commander of the 19th Division of our Imperial Homeland Security Force. He encountered a spatial turbulence during a mission and accidentally crashed on this planet.”

The moment the words fell, Qi Fang felt his body lighten, and the force restraining him quietly dissipated.

He stumbled back a step, leaning against a tree trunk behind him to steady himself, then looked down at the phone by his feet, then up at the floating black sphere, and finally glanced at the unconscious Li Yang.

Alien civilization… Xili Empire… Homeland Security Force Division Commander… these terms, which only appeared in science fiction novels and movies, now hammered into Qi Fang's mind like heavy blows, making him dizzy.

Everything before him was so real that he couldn't doubt it.

He had really… encountered aliens.

And, the seemingly ordinary stranger lying on the ground was actually a Division Commander from an alien civilization.

Qi Fang took a deep breath, trying to calm his wildly beating heart, but the trembling in his fingertips wouldn't stop.

He looked at the black sphere, then at the unconscious “alien Division Commander,” and suddenly didn't know what to do.

Should he call the police? Or should he follow the black sphere's instructions?

Qi Fang composed himself, gripping the baseball bat in his palm—the cold touch made him slightly calmer.

He looked at the black sphere floating before him. Since it had taken the trouble to explain its origins and hadn't directly attacked him, it must have a request.

So he took a deep breath and asked,

“What do you need me to do?”

The black sphere's faint blue glow flickered twice, as if acknowledging his perceptiveness.

“A very wise question.”

The electronic voice remained steady, yet carried an undeniable power.

“Comrade Li Yang—that is, the unconscious person before you—his injuries are far more severe than you can imagine. Multiple internal organs are damaged. Currently, he needs an absolutely safe and stable environment to recover until we can contact the Xili Empire.”

Qi Fang looked in the direction indicated by the black sphere. The “alien Division Commander”’s face was still pale, and the bloodstains on his chest were particularly striking in the sunlight.

He subconsciously nodded, then heard the black sphere continue,

“In return, you can make any request. Wealth, power, or even… becoming the ruler of this planet, are not impossible.”