Inside the stone house, James Lone opened his eyes.

"Junior possesses an ability that increases speed, likely another ability to detect over a wide area; as for the third ability, I'm still in the dark."

"Isn't it strange how fortunate he is to have three lightning-related powers?"

James Lone looked over at Linkon and the others in the substation.

Many were lying down, likely planning to spend the night there.

With that confirmed, James Lone maneuvered through the stone structure, activating his Will Armor and gravitational distortion, setting off toward the direction of the unnamed cave.

Just an hour later, he returned to the area beside the unnamed cave.

James Lone stretched out his hands toward the entrance.

Earth and stone manipulation!

The soil surged and quickly blocked the entire cave, leaving only five to six meters of space above the red liquid inside.

He then stored all the excavation tools away in his personal space.

Finally, he planted a mutated peach pit on the ground where the cave entrance had been.

With his palm hovering above the pit, he initiated plant gestation!

A surge of vitality flowed through him, causing a mutated peach seedling to sprout rapidly.

"If this peanut can mutate so significantly and produce a perfect variant, surely the same can be said for this peach tree."

James Lone felt a thrill of anticipation.

Once everything was set, he sank himself underground, returning to the side of the red liquid.

"Time to begin my training!"

He placed the bloodstone down and activated his breathing technique, allowing the Tree of All Laws to grow steadily.

"Director Taylor, the members of the 910 Brigade have arrived!"

Teresa Taylor turned at the sound to see Elen Hawkins racing out from the purple mist.

Trailing behind him were a dozen men of various dispositions, some of whom looked anything but soldiers.

Particularly notable was the lead boy, who stood at most 160 centimeters tall. His face bore an air of rebellious attitude, making him seem much more like a dancing middle schooler, perhaps only 15 or 16 years old.

Despite his age, everyone followed him, indicating he was the highest-ranking among them.

Elen Hawkins introduced, "Director Teresa Taylor, she is currently the head of our base and our strongest esper."

"Director Taylor, this is Major Junior from the 910 Brigade, vice captain of the esper unit, and one of the illustrious Three Kings!"

Upon hearing this, Junior's eyes lit up as he fixated on Teresa Taylor.

Holy shit! An actual beauty!

His excitement mingled with the shyness of a boy confronting an attractive woman for the first time, causing his cheeks to flush slightly.

Teresa Taylor frowned.

The radiance around Junior, previously a blend of yellow and red, shifted to a pure green in an instant.

Noticing that he couldn't peel his eyes away from her, Teresa Taylor, being a woman with experience, could easily discern his thoughts.

She had encountered many similar males, and it filled her with disdain.

However, as he was there representing the 910 Brigade, she felt obligated to extend him a modicum of respect and reached out her hand from a distance.

When Junior saw this, he trembled with exhilaration and quickly extended his own hand.

"Hello, Junior!" Teresa said in a serious tone.

"Just call me Junior," he replied, nursing his embarrassment.

Teresa shook her head. "That won't do. I'll refer to you as Major Junior instead."

She wasn't keen on addressing his military rank, as he clearly seemed more like your average high school student than a true soldier.

Could it be that the 910 Brigade began randomly handing out ranks?

Teresa was not impressed by such conduct.

The handshake was limp.

Teresa could feel Junior's face warming, which caused her brows to arch.

Kids these days were maturing too quickly, and their minds wandered too freely.

Junior, realizing Teresa's gaze upon him, looked away, his imagination spiraling out of control:

"Only a woman as powerful as her deserves to bear my children! I want one son and one daughter—my son will be named Moon, and my daughter will be named Ada..."

Teresa Taylor then asked, "Major Junior? Where should we head next? As the representative of all survivors from the TV station base, I assure you we fully comply with the arrangements of the 910 Brigade... Major Junior? Major Junior? Major Junior!!!"

"Ah!" Junior snapped awake. "What? What's the matter?"

Teresa Taylor rolled her eyes, already feeling exasperated.

Junior's lie had just fallen apart in front of him, leaving him sheepishly stammering, "Uh... I still have a couple things to do!"

He turned and stumbled off, retreating in a hurry.

The mature officer accompanying him didn't dare to stop him.

In that moment, Teresa Taylor felt disheartened by the 910 Brigade.

This single incident revealed to her that the 910 Brigade's management seemed even more chaotic than that of the TV station base.

James Lone felt he had gleaned enough and decided to halt his exploration.

This training had yielded significant benefits.

His internal energy reserves increased by about 15%.

The Tree of All Laws had also grown taller.

The bloodstone appeared more vibrant and clearer than before.

He had accumulated around 200 energy-purged steel beads.

This had been enough to flatten the entire 910 Outpost!

However, only a few of those beads had been accelerated using blood burst; most still needed their turn.

The source energy could recover rapidly.

However, physical stamina could not.

Furthermore, James Lone couldn't exhaust himself tossing steel beads—what if an unexpected event occurred?

"Guess I'll have to take it slow..." he reflected quietly.

He tucked the bloodstone away and glanced down at the crimson liquid.

The surface hadn't dropped even a fraction.

No matter how much he converted, the red liquid seemed inexhaustible, continuously filling the void created by the bloodstone while not overflowing.

"How interesting..."

Just how deep was this cave?

After giving it some thought, James Lone retrieved a GoPro camera from his storage space, affixed it to a rope, and lowered it into the depths.

He lowered it for more than 100 meters until he had used up all the rope, and yet there was no sign of a bottom!

"How is it this deep?" James Lone had no choice but to pull the camera back up.

He looked at the recorded playback.

The screen was filled with red, revealing nothing.

Other than confirming the cave's depth, he gained no further intel.

Should he go down and investigate?

After a while of contemplation, he decided against it.

The red liquid suppressed his perception, which felt extremely dangerous.

If it could suppress one type of esper ability, could it also suppress others?

Being without abilities in the impenetrable darkness of the red liquid would be quite hazardous.

However, there was another method.

Phasing!

James Lone sank into the earth.

The red liquid filled the cave.

He could simply lower himself down through the soil beside the cave.

Last time, time had been short, but tonight had plenty to spare, giving him plenty of time to explore.

Slowly, James Lone began to descend.

As his perception merged with the red liquid, darkness enveloped him.

Utilizing this trait, he could discern the form of the red liquid cavern, ensuring he wouldn't mistakenly stray deeper into it.

James Lone quickly discovered that the cavern descended nearly straight down.

Even the walls were remarkably smooth!

The top portion seemed somewhat standard; however, the farther he went down, the smoother it became.

Below 100 meters, the walls were so slick they resembled glass.

James Lone's caution heightened.

He continued to descend!

100 meters!

200 meters!

300 meters!

With each level, James Lone felt his vigilance increase.

"Why is it so deep?!"

Normally, underground temperatures rise higher than surface temperatures—approximately 2 degrees Celsius for every 100 meters.

The temperature here had already climbed significantly.

Additionally, James Lone noticed numerous massive mutated earthworms.

Once small, these worms now resembled snakes, wriggling through the earth, but none dared to approach the unnamed cave.

These earthworms were surprisingly docile, exhibiting no aggressiveness and seeming somewhat foolish.

Even when James Lone passed by, they didn't react.

500 meters!

600 meters!

James Lone realized at this depth the resistance of the soil increased, making breathing more difficult.

700 meters!

800 meters!

The temperature of the earth had risen to over 50 degrees Celsius, and James Lone felt as if he were in a steamer, drenched in sweat.

This was the deepest James Lone had descended, panting heavily.

Huff!

Huff!

The red liquid cavern seemed endless.

Holy shit!

"There's no way I can't reach the bottom!"

James Lone gritted his teeth and pressed on.

1000 meters!

1100 meters!

At last, a change came!

James Lone halted.

Beneath him, the vertical red liquid cavern transformed into an immense underground hollow.

Within this space, there was no red liquid, allowing his perception to penetrate directly.

James Lone saw a terrifying object!

It was a strangely shaped, irregular rectangle, about the size of a smartphone, the edges lined with a row of short, quivering tendrils that appeared eerily alive.

Most frightening of all was the intensity of its glow—so blinding it was unimaginable.

If the light emanating from James Lone was akin to a candle, this object radiated like the center of a nuclear explosion!

He could hardly face it directly; just directing his perception at it sent sharp pains through his skull.

"What in the world is that?"

Horrified, James Lone hesitated and then approached the underground hollow at the slowest possible speed.

At one edge of the hollow, James Lone slowly peeked out.

The walls appeared as if they had been baked at extreme temperatures, smooth and crystalline like molten rock that had solidified.

Suspended in mid-air was a blue ice block, the size of a smartphone, emitting a faint blue light, slowly rotating.

Intricate and mysterious patterns adorned the surface of this blue block.

James Lone immediately recalled the tattoos he had seen on the alien!

Both seemed to share the same design style, but the designs on the blue ice block were undoubtedly more sophisticated.

Inside the blue ice block, it appeared that a blood-red, peculiar creature was frozen—resembling a flattened octopus.

Tentacles of the vermilion-colored creature extended from the edges of the ice, gently wriggling in the air.

As the tentacles writhed, nearly invisible red threads escaped, slowly drifting away, ultimately merging into the surrounding red liquid.

"Could it be... that this creature is the source of the purple fog?!" James Lone's eyes sparkled with insight.

If I could destroy it, might I end the era of the purple fog?

James Lone felt an intense urgency but remained cautious.

Would touching this ice block trigger a counterattack?

Would it alert the alien?

Would it lead to even more severe changes?

After pondering for a moment, James Lone retreated from the hollow and back into the soil.

He ascended to 200 or 300 meters and captured a few mutated earthworms before returning to the underground hollow.

Taking a deep breath, he gently tossed one of the mutated earthworms toward the blue ice block, then quickly burrowed back into the soil, retreating at high speed!

James Lone had barely made it a few meters when the earthworm landed within a one-meter radius of the blue ice block.

Suddenly, the blue ice block ceased rotating.

In the air, a swarm of red energy beams manifested.

Each beam emitted an unimaginable heat.

In an instant, the temperature of the entire underground hollow skyrocketed to several thousand degrees!