429: Strange time

“To listen to your words is better than to read books for ten years.”

“Indeed, Lin cannot possibly win this Arena match, because Chaos is a Cosmic Beast with the power to defy common sense.”

“I even heard that when he left this phantom image, he had already achieved Immortality, and his strength was terrifying to the extreme, even able to challenge the first-place holder of the Law Arena.”

“If he didn’t think that a lower ranking was more conducive to indulging his wicked tastes, he wouldn’t have his current ranking at all.”

“Even so, this phantom image was pushed to the seventh-place height after countless consecutive victories.”

“Comparing beasts truly infuriates people.”

“The Law Arena points, which are incredibly precious in our eyes, are something Chaos can casually abandon for his wicked tastes.”

“His participation in the Law Arena is merely playing a game.”

“Although the truth is cruel, it is indeed so.”

“It is said that Chaos is one of the six most mysterious Cosmic Beasts in the world, the Time Behemoth, capable of not only manipulating time but also possessing an incredibly rich background, no less than the Heavensea God-King.”

“The opportunities that are incredibly precious in our eyes are merely time that Chaos can wantonly play with.”

“Given this, there is no need to watch this Arena match at all.”

“It is foreseeable that this will be decades of garbage time.”

“There’s no need to make a decision so quickly; at least observe the situation. Perhaps things will take a turn.”

“Heh heh, you are still a bit too naive. Let us wait and see.”

And so, under the gaze of two gossip-loving Cosmic Beasts, this Arena match passed its waiting period and officially began.

However, under the gaze of all the Cosmic Beasts, this Arena match unfolded in an extremely bizarre manner.

They originally thought they would witness an incredibly fierce battle, but instead, they found that the two Cosmic Beasts in the Arena were like mime actors, performing a silent pantomime before them.

Although only a few minutes had passed, for these powerful Cosmic Beasts, a few minutes were enough to do too many things.

But in the Arena, the two Cosmic Beasts seemed oblivious to the passage of time, making no movements at all.

Only the Cosmic Beasts with the most terrifying observational skills could see that Lin Tianwei seemed to have moved a tiny bit.

Seeing such a strange scene, the two Cosmic Beasts who were discussing earlier showed no surprise at all.

One of the Cosmic Beasts even revealed an 'as expected' expression and said:

“See? The scenario I feared has appeared.”

“Although this Arena match seems incredibly bizarre, Lin, who is currently in the Arena, cannot perceive it.”

“This is Chaos’s extremely terrifying ability, Time Deceleration.”

“Under the effect of Time Deceleration, Lin is completely unaware that time is rapidly passing, thinking he is participating in a perfectly normal Arena match.”

“By the time he realizes this, perhaps a hundred years will have passed, and he will have no chance of turning the tables.”

“This is why I said that even if Lin’s strength is greater than Chaos’s, he will only waste a lot of time.”

“Trapped in Chaos’s time snare, he simply cannot detect that his own time flow is completely different from the outside world.”

“There is no need to continue watching this Arena match; continuing to watch is just a waste of time.”

“Let’s go, we have other things to do.”

“Although a hundred years is but a fleeting moment for us, not worth mentioning, we shouldn't waste it watching such a meaningless Arena match.”

This time, the other Cosmic Beast did not choose to refute but said with deep agreement:

“Indeed, that is the case.”

“Tragic, truly too tragic. Lin is being fooled too miserably.”

“When he comes to his senses, he might have already lost the qualification to continue accessing the Law Arena.”

“I just hope he can remain calm after waking up and not collapse due to this terrible truth.”

...In the Law Arena.

Things were indeed as the two Cosmic Beasts had predicted; Lin Tianwei did not perceive any abnormality in time.

Although as a powerful tiger, he actually possessed the Talent of the time-element and had experienced the power of time.

However, facing Chaos’s terrifying power of time, he was utterly helpless and instantly fell into Chaos’s time trap.

The most infuriating thing was that, to prevent Lin Tianwei from noticing anything, Chaos had no intention of ambushing Lin Tianwei while he was controlled by time.

Instead, he became an excellent mime actor, performing a silent play with Lin Tianwei.

It must be said that this behavior was extremely malicious.

Perhaps only a Cosmic Beast like Chaos, who was tired of time, could conceive of such a disgusting method to deal with an opponent.

Perhaps until an external force intervenes, Lin Tianwei will not realize the abnormality of time...In the Extremely Cold Universe, Nineteenth District.

Luo Ji had now embarked on the journey to meet Surik, an important client of the Lotus Slave Market.

Because this meeting was too important and he also had to guard against sneak attacks from Dov and Warner, Luo Ji was completely engrossed, oblivious to everything else.

It was precisely because of this that he was unaware of Lin Tianwei being held up by Chaos, completely mired in the quagmire of time.

Otherwise, he would never have appeared so calm and composed as he did now.

However, there are no 'ifs' in this world, and such a coincidental event just happened.

Luo Ji, like the most foolish prey, unknowingly fell into the trap meticulously woven for him by Dov and Warner.

Or perhaps he had already realized the existence of the trap, but simply felt no fear with Lin Tianwei standing behind him.

With Lin Tianwei's protection, Luo Ji felt he could even brave a mountain of swords and a sea of fire.

This could be seen from Ao Luo, who was restrained beside him.

In fact, Luo Ji had long since discovered Ao Luo's betrayal; if not to stabilize the enemy, Ao Luo would have died a billion times over.

The reason was simple: the intelligence Ao Luo had gathered was simply inconsistent with his abilities.

How could Dov and Warner possibly let Ao Luo know about something like mobilizing a World Lord Level powerhouse?

All indications pointed to the two beasts deliberately leaking information to Ao Luo, allowing him to gather intelligence from Luo Ji's reactions.

It was precisely because he knew the source of the intelligence was absolutely reliable that Ao Luo had been so certain in his words.

Although he knew Ao Luo had betrayed him, Luo Ji didn't care at all and directly let the other party know the real intelligence.

Only the weak worry about the covetousness of the strong; the strong never care about the covetousness of the weak.

Under Dov and Warner's intentional or unintentional guidance, Luo Ji soon arrived before a massive technological planet.

From afar, countless high-tech buildings could be seen.

This was Luo Ji's destination, the planet where Surik resided—Tewar Star.

However, just as Luo Ji was about to successfully reach Tewar Star, a seemingly ordinary yet bizarre black cube suddenly appeared in the previously calm universe before him.

This black cube was initially the size of a grain of rice, but it grew with the wind, expanding at an extremely terrifying speed.

Before long, it became a behemoth, standing squarely in front of the fleet led by Luo Ji.

Times had changed; Luo Ji was no longer a nobody, so naturally, he didn't need to take action himself in this situation.

Two escort ships quickly detached from the fleet and sailed towards the black cube.

They even issued an expulsion warning immediately:

“This is a fleet belonging to the Lotus Slave Market. Unrelated personnel, please avoid immediately, or bear the consequences.”

Facing the escort ship's warning, the black cube seemed to have not heard it at all, completely unconcerned.

This was already a premeditated ambush; how could the black cube choose to leave because of the escort ship's expulsion?

Since verbal communication was useless, then concentrated firepower was the best way to expel it.

As for whether the opponent could remain unharmed under the concentrated fire of countless energy cannons, that was not something the escort ship needed to worry about.

Mature Cosmic Beasts should be responsible for their own actions.

Since the opponent chose to continue blocking after they announced their identity, then life or death was irrelevant!

The alarm blared loudly.

Compared to those Cosmic Beasts who didn't recognize the black cube at all, Luo Ji was more knowledgeable, having learned a little about the black cube from Lin Tianwei.

Coupled with the intelligence obtained from Ao Luo, Luo Ji immediately recognized the identity of the black cube—Miguel’s vessel.

Unavoidable, inescapable, what was destined to come had finally arrived.

Almost without any hesitation, Luo Ji immediately sent a distress message to Lin Tianwei.

Hesitation would only lead to defeat; the powerful Miguel wouldn't even need a thought to destroy his fleet.

However, this time, Luo Ji’s message was like a stone sinking into the sea, with no response at all.

This situation left Luo Ji completely dumbfounded.

The promised trump card, why was it not working at the most crucial moment?

Luo Ji naturally didn't believe that Lin Tianwei would stand him up, so there was only one possible answer: Lin Tianwei was in an extremely special situation and simply couldn't respond to his plea for help.

Subconsciously checking the situation in the Law Arena, Luo Ji indeed found the news of Lin Tianwei currently competing.

His face instantly turned pale.

His backing seemed to be busy and unable to respond to his plea for help.

Was it still not too late for him to leave now?

Without hesitation, Luo Ji immediately bombarded Lin Tianwei with a barrage of messages.

He did all this, of course, not because he was afraid of death.

Compared to the important Arena match Lin Tianwei was currently engaged in, Luo Ji felt his own life was utterly insignificant.

It was precisely because of this that he hadn't informed Lin Tianwei in advance, asking him to await his plea for help in the coming time.

Compared to Lin Tianwei's time, his life was worthless.

The reason he was frantically bombarding Lin Tianwei with messages was simply because Luo Ji sensed that Lin Tianwei's state was not right and was trying to awaken Lin Tianwei through this simplest method.

This was also the only thing he could do for Lin Tianwei at the moment.

Unfortunately, Luo Ji was still a bit too naive.

If Lin Tianwei could be awakened so easily, then the solution to Chaos's wicked tastes would just be a matter of a friend.

If it were truly that simple, how could so many Cosmic Beasts be trapped in the quagmire of time, unable to extricate themselves?

As expected, Luo Ji's messages were like a stone sinking into the sea, completely unable to awaken Lin Tianwei's consciousness.

He could only watch helplessly as Lin Tianwei performed an incredible silent play before him.

Sighing deeply, Luo Ji inwardly thought that he was indeed unworthy of following Lord Lin.

Even a sure thing could encounter such an unexpected turn; perhaps this was fate, a yoke he could not break free from.

Since that was the case, why should he struggle? Being calm might be the best choice now.

He only hoped that after Lord Lin broke free from the shackles of time, in the endless future, he might still recall a little bit of his existence.

His insignificant existence.

Thinking this, Luo Ji unhesitatingly issued the attack order, saying, “Attack, launch an attack on the black cube.”

Even though he knew doing so was useless, he would not give up struggling. At least this way, he could die with more dignity.

However, things unfolded exactly as Luo Ji had predicted; the entire fleet's full-power bombardment caused not the slightest damage to the black cube.

All energy beams were intercepted by an invisible beam just as they were about to touch the black cube, unable to advance even an inch.

The black cube itself was not sturdy; in fact, it could even be considered fragile.

However, it possessed a very unique characteristic: it could absorb energy from its own space to erect a protective shield around itself.

Although the black cube was fragile, Miguel was strong enough that it was simply not something these energy cannons could penetrate.

The incredibly powerful energy shield, on the contrary, made these energy cannons seem like a welcoming ceremony for Miguel's appearance, powerless and comical.

Finally, the black cube seemed to reach a critical point, no longer expanding, but simply hovering quietly in the universe.

“Kill them!”

“Kill them while prioritizing our own protection.”

Dov issued the most ruthless order.

In fact, summoning Miguel through the black cube did not require such a complicated ritual or so much wasted time.

The reason for such procrastination was simply that Dov wanted to test Luo Ji's trump card.

He wanted to see what means Luo Ji would use to break out of such a desperate situation.

But he found that Luo Ji had no reaction to the black cube at all, as if he was completely unaware of the meaning it represented.

How could this be?

Luo Ji had appeared so calm; how could he not have a backup plan?

However, despite repeated calls, Luo Ji's backup plan simply did not emerge.

Dov could only helplessly issue the order to kill everything.

He didn't believe that Luo Ji would choose to remain indifferent in the face of such a life threat.

As for the additional command given later, it was naturally due to the precedent of Filiche’s accident.

Although killing Luo Ji was important, preserving their own lives was equally important.

Their lives were incredibly noble; how could they be exchanged for Luo Ji's lowly life? (End of Chapter)