The once azure sky suddenly turned dim, not from an approaching storm, but as if the very light had been siphoned from this patch of sky.
As the surroundings grew darker, from the outside, it appeared as if a massive semicircular black dome had enveloped the area for several kilometers.
The strangest thing was that the enemy aircraft's searchlights could not pierce this dark dome.
Within the semicircular black dome, the sounds of explosions could be heard incessantly.
After a few minutes, the black dome dissipated like thick smoke, and the azure sky reappeared.
Above the sky, the hundreds of enemy aircraft that should have been flying were all gone.
And on the red and yellow earth, countless wreckage of enemy aircraft appeared.
The Black Hell descended slowly from the sky, arriving beside the now unsightly Nightingale mecha.
Shen Jingming said in a low voice, "Ye Ying?"
Susan Lei awoke from her daze, struggling to support herself. She looked at the wreckage scattered everywhere and asked with surprise and caution, "Did you do this?"
"Yes. Come back with me." Shen Jingming said, controlling the Black Hell to embrace the Nightingale mecha and slowly fly towards the sky.
Susan Lei tried hard to recall the memory of this stranger's voice, but she couldn't. She whispered, "Your voice… you're not Gu Ya, are you?"
Shen Jingming pursed his lips and blinked, thinking for a long time. He couldn't figure out why Ye Ying would ask such a question, so he simply replied, "Yes, I am Shen Jingming. We are looking for Gu Ya's whereabouts."
"That's great!" Susan Lei laughed happily. "Without that Gu Ya, I'm liberated, hee hee hee. Young man, you sound quite young, don't you? Can you let me see what you look like? How about this, put down my mecha and let me into your cockpit."
"Are you injured?" Shen Jingming asked calmly. He remembered the scene of dozens of engineering mechas crashing down on the Nightingale just now, and perhaps Ye Ying was injured.
"Ah, yes, yes, yes! Sister is injured! It hurts so much! Come quickly and help sister heal." Susan Lei said joyfully, as if her scheme had succeeded.
"Alright."
The Black Hell lowered the Nightingale again and opened its cockpit door. Shen Jingming pulled Susan Lei out of the pilot's seat and supported her as she stumbled back to his cockpit.
But the moment the cockpit door closed, Susan Lei, who had appeared weak, suddenly became energetic. Her eyes were charming, and her lips curled into a frivolous smile. She directly sat on Shen Jingming's lap, wrapping her slender arms around his neck, and gazing affectionately at the young man in front of her.
"You're a bit ugly, but sister doesn't mind. Come keep sister company for some fun," Susan Lei said with a smile, as if she had found a treasure.
Shen Jingming knew about Ye Ying's relationship with Gu Ya. Seeing the usually cold and composed Ye Ying suddenly behaving so flirtatiously, and combined with her referring to herself as "Susan Lei," Shen Jingming became suddenly alert.
"I won't take advantage of you." Shen Jingming pushed Susan Lei away forcefully, took off his flight suit, and pressed his hands firmly onto Susan Lei, using the flight suit to securely bind her hands.
Looking at Susan Lei twisting on the ground, Shen Jingming was still uneasy. He simply took off his now dirty t-shirt and used it to tie her feet.
"You're mentally ill," Shen Jingming stated indifferently and piloted his mecha towards Xianxia City.
...
After sending Ye Ying back to Xianxia City and handing her over to the authorities, Shen Jingming rubbed his temples and looked out the window. The sky was already faintly brightening. After a day of travel and a night of activity, things were finally quiet.
Returning to his residence, he picked up a relatively clean piece of clothing from the pile of dirty clothes on the floor and put it on. Warmth returned to Shen Jingming.
Disregarding the messy luggage and clothes scattered everywhere, Shen Jingming took off his shoes and curled up on the single sofa with his knees bent. He then activated the holographic system.
Though the room was in disarray with things thrown about, there was no discarded food waste or empty cans.
Shen Jingming looked at the dozen or so new games already created in the holographic system, pursed his lips with satisfaction, and began to play.
It wasn't until the sun set that Shen Jingming stretched his body with a long sigh, moving his shoulders. He sighed and said dejectedly, "Ten perfect clears, eight of them were dead ends. This intelligent system is getting more and more idiotic. At this rate, I'll be able to wear it out in another two months."
"What should I do? This is already the most advanced self-made game intelligent system in the world. And it doesn't add any of its own ideas, letting it develop freely."
"Boring."
Shen Jingming sighed, walked to the battered old refrigerator, and pulled open the door. The upper shelf was filled with carbonated drinks, and the lower shelf held self-heating meal boxes. A mirror was attached to the refrigerator door.
Only when opening the refrigerator did he look in the mirror, calling it a way to save time.
He grabbed a can of soda with one hand, wiped away the condensation from its surface, and used his wet fingers to comb his oily hair, instantly styling it.
He recalled Susan Lei's words, "You're a bit ugly," and felt a pang of annoyance.
Looking at his face in the mirror, which hadn't been washed in over ten days, Shen Jingming murmured, "I'm not ugly... Who cares!"
He slammed the refrigerator door shut, pulled open the can, and was about to drink when the electronic label on the can suddenly changed.
Two scrolling blue characters replaced the original electronic fluorescent barcode: "Hei Yang".
Shen Jingming shook his head. "Just giving a name, how am I supposed to research it? That's ridiculous!"
After cursing angrily, Shen Jingming raised his right hand and snapped his fingers, walking towards a wall with the can.
As he walked, everything around him changed. The wall in front of him split vertically like a zipper and separated to the left and right, revealing a darkness so profound it was impossible to see.
He stepped into the darkness, and lights came on, revealing a neat, high-tech studio before him.
"Boom boom boom..." Ear-splitting heavy metal rock music suddenly exploded. Lights from an unknown source pulsed with seven colors, changing with the rhythm of the music. The countless small components on the large worktable seemed to come alive, busily moving and working.
"Master, it is now 18:41 in the evening. You have been away for five days and thirteen hours, and no one has trespassed during this time." A gentle and beautiful female system voice chimed in.
Shen Jingming, unfazed by the deafening music, casually moved his shoulders, walked around the large experimental table, and sat down.
Several ceiling panels above his head moved and retracted, extending eight mechanical arms, each composed of a main metal arm and numerous small cables.
The mechanical arms converged in front of Shen Jingming. Two arms picked up a lighter and a cigarette from the tabletop, lit it, and placed it into Shen Jingming's mouth.
The remaining arms began to massage his back and legs.
Shen Jingming stared blankly ahead. This state continued for about two hours before he muttered, "Judging by Black Star Technology's usual style, this should be something like it."
With that, Shen Jingming moved his chair forward, placed his hands on the holographic panel, and began to type. Simultaneously, the eight mechanical arms surrounding him moved to the experimental table, activated holographic keyboards, and began typing.
As the "clack-clack-clack" of typing on the table echoed, a nine-part harmony mixed with the jarring, intense heavy metal music.
Lines of profoundly logical code appeared in the large holographic projection in front of him.
Looking at his focused expression, it seemed he wouldn't stop for a while.
On the ceiling, another ceiling panel retracted, extending a slender silver mechanical arm. The colorful, brilliant light reflected on the arm, making it look exceptionally dreamlike.
At the end of the mechanical arm, three even thinner metal claws branched out. They held a small, blue-glowing cubic object less than a cubic centimeter in size and extended it towards Shen Jingming's back.
One of the metal claws gently cut open Shen Jingming's clothing on his back, revealing his skin, and then pierced the seventh vertebra of his thoracic spine. Immediately, the vertebra popped out, revealing not flesh and bone, but a miniature cubic metal container.
The metal claw extracted the lusterless cube from within, gently placed the glowing cube inside, and then pushed the vertebra back into his spine.
With that done, the mechanical arm silently retracted into the ceiling.
Accompanied by the incredibly loud heavy metal music, a gentle and beautiful female voice sounded from all directions, like a calm breath in a storm: "Record: 43 days and 11 hours have passed since the last sleep. No record broken. Please pay attention to rest, Master. I will enforce mandatory sleep if necessary. Goodnight, Master."