106: Chapter 106 System Upgrade: Can I Now Travel Through Time in Physical Body?

The air in the underground chamber was heavy.

The half-meter-thick alloy door, capable of withstanding a small-scale nuclear explosion, slowly closed with the dull roar of hydraulic pistons.

"Click—hum."

Three electronic locks engaged simultaneously, turning the space into an isolated iron vault.

Jiang Chen stood in the center of the chamber, looking at the note he had casually left on the console. It was his "will"—no, rather, his leave request—for Academician Chen Shuyin and Zhao Gang.

"In seclusion to research core technology, do not disturb. In case of emergency, burn paper... pfft, wait for me to come out."

It was written nonchalantly enough, but deep down, he was feeling a bit nervous.

After all, this was his first time physically teleporting.

Although the system swore with absolute certainty that the success rate was 99.9%, even airplanes experienced turbulence. This was a brutal process of breaking a living person down into particles and reassembling them. What if that 0.1% occurred? Wouldn't he just turn into elementary particle fertilizer scattered across the universe?

"Thud! Thud! Thud!"

A dull pounding on the door suddenly rang out. Although it sounded like a mosquito buzzing through the thick blast door, the urgency of the person outside was still palpable.

Immediately after, Academician Chen Shuyin's roar came through the internal communicator, her voice distorted by electrical interference:

"Jiang Chen! What the hell are you up to again?"

"Zhao Gang just said you wanted to go into seclusion? What kind of seclusion? The ignition device for the nuclear fusion reactor hasn't even been calibrated yet! You're just going to wash your hands of everything at a time like this?"

"Open the door! I know you're in there! Don't hide in there and stay silent, I know you're not asleep!"

Jiang Chen walked over to the communicator and pressed the talk button.

He looked at the monitor, seeing the crazy female academician in her lab coat, currently trying to pry the door open with a wrench. A helpless yet warm smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

This woman really didn't care about anything other than scientific research.

But that was fine.

With her around, even if he was gone for ten days or half a month, the situation back home wouldn't fall into chaos.

"Old Chen, stop knocking. Doesn't your hand hurt?"

Jiang Chen's voice was lazy, yet laced with a rare, unusual seriousness:

"This really is a seclusion. I need to go... well, to the place where my 'inspiration' comes from, to find some key data."

"I'm leaving things here to you."

"Especially that 'Sun,' keep an eye on it for me. If anyone dares to cause trouble, just have that violent maniac Ikaros deal with them. Don't hold back."

Outside the door, Academician Chen Shuyin paused.

She was an extremely intelligent person.

Although Jiang Chen was being vague, she keenly caught the unusual sense of determination and... farewell in his tone.

"The place where your inspiration comes from?"

Academician Chen Shuyin put down the wrench, pushed up her glasses, and furrowed her brows:

"Are you talking about... the Wasteland?"

"Although I don't know how you got those technologies, is the place you're going... dangerous?"

Jiang Chen smiled, not answering directly.

Dangerous?

Perhaps.

But there, there was a silly girl willing to block a nuclear bomb for him, and a nation that revered him as a god. To him, that place might be even safer than Earth.

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."

Jiang Chen took a deep breath, his finger hovering over the red [Terminate Communication] button:

"Wait for me to come back."

"By then, I'll bring you the real... sea of stars."

"Beep—"

The communication cut off.

The world went completely silent.

Jiang Chen turned around, no longer hesitating. He pulled the scorching hot phone from his pocket; the golden countdown had reached zero.

[System Prompt:]

[Energy injection complete.]

[Spacetime anchor locked: Gaia Star System · Dawn City · Central Altar.]

[Bidirectional channel opening...]

"Hum—!!!"

In the center of the previously empty chamber, the air suddenly rippled violently like water.

A blinding golden light burst forth from the void without warning. The light wasn't harsh; instead, it carried a warm, enveloping sensation, like amniotic fluid.

Immediately after, Jiang Chen felt his feet lift off the ground.

The feeling was strange.

It was like standing on the edge of a cliff and suddenly taking a step forward.

Weightlessness.

Absolute weightlessness.

He looked down and, to his horror, saw his hand "melting."

It wasn't a bloody, mangled melting, but rather, it was turning into countless crystal-clear golden specks of light, drifting into the air like fireflies.

Arms, torso, legs...

His body was being disassembled!

"Holy crap! System, you're serious?!"

Jiang Chen tried to shout, but realized he could no longer make a sound.

Because his vocal cords had also turned into specks of light.

There was no excruciating pain as he had imagined; instead, there was a sense of lightness and tingling, as if his soul were leaving his body. It felt like being thrown into a giant tumble dryer, surrounded by swirling galaxies and twisted light.

Time lost all meaning here.

It could have been one second, or it could have been ten thousand years.

He saw countless bizarre and fantastic scenes flashing past his eyes: shattered planets, burning stars, and the deep, despairingly dark void.

Is this... teleportation?

Is this the starry sky that silly girl looks up at every day in the cold wind?

"Wanqiu..."

Jiang Chen's consciousness gradually became clear amidst the chaos.

He remembered that promise.

He remembered those fifty billion tons of gold.

And he remembered even more the girl who, in a holographic projection, had blushed and asked him if his "bed was cold."

"Wait for me."

"I'm... coming!"

...

"Boom—!!!"

A deafening roar, as if the world were being created, exploded in Jiang Chen's ears.

Immediately after, a biting, dry, cold wind mixed with the heavy scent of rust and gunpowder rushed into his nostrils.

That was the smell of the Wasteland.

It was the smell of war and survival.

"Cough, cough, cough!"

Jiang Chen coughed violently, feeling as if his lungs had been stuffed with sand.

Gravity returned.

The sensation of solid ground beneath his feet nearly made his legs give way, forcing him to his knees.

He instinctively wrapped his trench coat tighter around himself, then slowly opened his eyes.

His vision gradually cleared from a blur.

What met his eyes was a breathtaking, grandiose scene.

He was standing atop a towering platform.

Beneath his feet was an altar forged from some kind of black alloy, covered in intricate patterns, which were currently emitting a lingering golden afterglow.

And below the altar.

Was a sea of people, black and dense, stretching as far as the eye could see.

Tens of thousands of Wasteland soldiers in power armor, armed with high-energy weapons, stood in neat formations, like a Great Wall made of steel, standing silently in the cold wind.

Their armor was covered in scars—medals earned from fighting mutant beasts.

Their gazes were fanatical and devout, as if they were looking at their one and only faith.

At the very front of the formation.

The figure that Jiang Chen had been longing for, the Empress who had just been acting coquettishly and asking for a child in the holographic projection—Jiang Wanqiu.

She was wearing that visually striking black nano-combat suit, draped in a scarlet cape, holding a long blade, and kneeling on one knee.

When she saw the figure walk out of the golden light, completely unharmed.

Hot tears instantly welled up in Jiang Wanqiu's ruby-like eyes.

She suddenly raised her combat blade, using all her strength to let out a heart-wrenching yet joy-filled roar:

"Welcome—"

"The Father God's arrival!!!"

"Boom!"

Tens of thousands of people knelt simultaneously, the sound of armor colliding with the ground making the earth tremble.

The wave of sound swept over like a tsunami, piercing the sky:

"Welcome, Father God!!!"