The moment Yang Jie appeared, he annihilated all the low-level frogmen in an instant—avenging those who had fallen to them.
“What are you things, and why have you come here to wreak havoc?” Yang Jie’s voice was heavy with menace. The red frogman visibly faltered, then turned and fled.
Yang Jie snorted. Thousands of flying daggers erupted from his body, weaving into a net that shot toward the red frogman. At the same time, resilient vines burst from the ground, layering into prison-like barriers to block its escape.
“Croak!”
Cornered, it had no choice but to fight.
Its bulbous eyes turned blood-red—a sign it was preparing a lethal attack.
“Commander Yang, watch out!” Week Eight shouted.
Her cry drew the red frogman’s attention to the mark on her face. Its lips curled slightly.
Yang Jie dodged instinctively, but the laser wasn’t aimed at him—it targeted Su Mo, whom he’d just saved.
Too late!
Vines were no match for the speed of light. Before Su Mo could react, the laser struck his body.
Like Week Eight, he felt no pain—just a burning sensation on his face. When he touched it, his fingers met the same raised red welts now marring his skin.
Damn it.
How am I supposed to explain this to Qingyi?
Killing intent surged in Su Mo, but his strength fell short.
“You’ve outlived your usefulness.” The net of daggers abruptly contracted. With a final shriek, the red frogman was reduced to pulp.
From the direction of the array, enraged roars echoed—but no figures emerged from the spatial rift.
Whether out of fear for Yang Jie’s power or an inability to cross the rift as freely as the red frogman, they stayed hidden.
Already irritated by Su Mo’s injury, Yang Jie snapped at their incessant screeching: “Shut the hell up! Come out if you dare!”
His daggers surged toward the rift like a steel tide—but the moment they crossed through, their connection severed. No damage was dealt.
Yang Jie frowned. This was more complicated than he’d thought.
Just then, Wang Ye arrived with reinforcements. Their path here had been littered with carnage.
“Commander Yang, logistics teams are in position.”
“Wang Ye, secure this area.” Yang Jie turned to Su Mo and Week Eight. “You two, stay. The rest—fan out and sweep every inch of this place. Leave no corner unchecked!”
The team dispersed.
Without explanation, Yang Jie summoned thick vines to bind the two. “Bear with this. The spatial array takes priority.”
Su Mo and Week Eight understood.
If an attack caused no physical harm, what threat did it pose?
Only control. Or possession.
They remained still, offering no resistance.
“Ugh. I never even had a boyfriend, and now my face is ruined,” Week Eight muttered bitterly.
Su Mo nearly facepalmed.
Sis, that’s really not the concern right now.
He checked his meridians. Spiritual energy flowed normally; his Qi Core and Azure Core showed no abnormalities. Aside from the burning welts, there were no other symptoms.
What puzzled him was why the laser had struck his body, yet only his face was affected.
Was the frogman’s ultimate move really just… a disfiguration beam?
Then why target him instead of Yang Jie?
…Well. That might’ve been overkill.
Su Mo clicked his tongue, suddenly feeling a little guilty.
Fifteen Minutes Later
Yang Jie confirmed the creatures beyond the rift couldn’t cross—just as he couldn’t breach their side.
Once satisfied the array posed no immediate danger, he turned to Su Mo and Week Eight. “Status?”
“Being tied up isn’t exactly comfortable,” they said in unison.
Yang Jie adjusted his glasses, his gaze sharp. “The important part.”
Though his expression remained flat, the vines loosened, reshaping into a cage enclosing the trio.
Su Mo spoke first. “Just the burning on my face. Nothing else.”
Week Eight nodded.
“Strange.” Yang Jie studied their welts. “The real danger isn’t pain—it’s the absence of it.”
Excuse me?
Who said anything about feeling good?!
“Enough with the long faces. I know someone who specializes in arcane arts. She might have answers.” Gruff as he was, Yang Jie took care of his team.
Su Mo couldn’t help wondering: What kind of person befriends someone like him?
Meanwhile—Jing City
Within a day, unfamiliar figures flooded the city.
Deployed from Jiangcheng, they were North Star Division operatives tasked with guarding the spatial array.
A quarantine zone spanned dozens of kilometers around the ancient eastern gate. All areas linked to the moat were locked down under martial law.
Experts in arrays, ecology, and xenobiology swarmed the site. Their findings unanimously dismissed local origins for the frogmen—confirming they were invasive.
The creatures had arrived via the spatial array. Their motives remained unclear, but their hostility was undeniable.
Exploration teams discovered another unstable rift at the moat’s bottom, already collapsing. Specialists theorized it was forcibly torn open—hence its fragility.
Yet this still didn’t answer where they came from. Another region on Earth? Or beyond it?
Two dominant theories emerged:
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Extraterrestrial Intrusion: An alien species, while probing the cosmos, accidentally breached a spatial pathway to Earth. Finding the environment habitable, they sought to claim it.
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Ancient Relic Manifestation: The rift connects to a long-sealed ruin, its channels incomplete. The frogmen are its native inhabitants, possessing crude dimensional traversal methods.
Both theories agreed on one thing: the frogmen’s intelligence and array mastery surpassed any natural Earthly evolution.
For the first time, humanity faced a chilling truth—
Earth was no longer safe.