Volume 1, Chapter 31: The Vanished Third Team

When they arrived at the Space-Time Order Division, Yue Chengze and Wu Xu had already been waiting for a long time. It wasn’t that Li Yan was always late; it was just that he happened to be at an internet cafe, and since the hotel was some distance away, he had been forced to activate his space-time locator inside a restroom.

"You're ten minutes late. Don't let this happen again," Yue Chengze said. His tone was flat, yet carried a hint of a warning. Li Yan nodded to show he understood. He often wondered what kind of roles these two played in their respective worlds to be able to respond so promptly. He figured they must be quite idle, otherwise, they couldn't have arrived so quickly.

"Are we going to deal with Space-Eater Beasts again this time?" Li Yan felt a sense of anticipation at the thought of his last battle with one. He truly wanted to experience that kind of exhilarating combat once more.

Yue Chengze shook his head. "No. Members of our Third Squad lost contact while on a mission in Parallel World 87. The Captain has ordered our squad and others to head to World 87 to provide support."

"Lost contact?" Li Yan frowned. He recalled the incident in World 129 and wondered if the Third Squad had encountered a powerful Space-Eater Beast and met a grim fate.

"Let’s go. The other squads have already departed. We need to catch up and rendezvous with them quickly; if we’re late, it won’t look good to the Captain."

As their space-time shuttle tore through the dimensional barrier, they arrived in Parallel World 87. The moment they stepped out, both Yue Chengze and Wu Xu’s expressions shifted.

"What’s wrong?" Li Yan asked, puzzled.

Yue Chengze tapped his locator and said, "See for yourself."

Li Yan checked his own locator and was stunned by the data feedback from World 87. "Where are the people in this world?" The scan showed that the human population of Parallel World 87 was zero. "How is this possible?" Li Yan was deeply shocked.

"I don't know, but we’d better be careful." Yue Chengze activated his combat suit in preparation for the unexpected. The three of them then powered up their suits and began to dash forward at high speed, heading toward the rendezvous point ten kilometers away where the other squads were waiting.

Upon arrival, they found six members of the Order Division already waiting in their combat suits.

"Old Yue, you’re late," a middle-aged man said, sounding slightly displeased.

Yue Chengze offered no explanation for their tardiness, choosing instead to ask, "What happened in World 87? Where are the people?"

The six who had arrived earlier all shook their heads. The middle-aged man looked equally perplexed. "We don't know. It seems the Third Squad must have run into something. We’ve already reported this to the Captain; if there’s no word within three hours, she will arrive herself."

"Is this your new team member?" the middle-aged man asked, eyeing Li Yan from head to toe.

Yue Chengze nodded. "I forgot to introduce him. This is Li Yan; he just joined us recently." He then turned to Li Yan. "Li Yan, this is Xu Tianhao, the leader of the Fifth Squad."

As a newcomer, Li Yan greeted him politely, "Hello, Squad Leader Xu. I look forward to working with you."

Xu Tianhao nodded. "Remember, newcomer: stay safe."

Yue Chengze then introduced a woman who appeared to be in her late twenties, sporting long, wine-red hair. "This is Squad Leader Aliyah of the Seventh Squad."

Li Yan looked at her with curiosity. She was a foreigner, quite stunning, and possessed an impressive physique that rivaled any Hollywood star he had seen. "Hello, Squad Leader Aliyah."

Aliyah carried the air of a veteran looking down on a rookie; she merely gave a slight nod without speaking.

"Alright, now that everyone is here, let’s discuss the plan," Xu Tianhao said. Clearly, he held the most authority among them, and neither Yue Chengze nor Aliyah contradicted him.

Their primary objective was to find the missing Third Squad members, followed by determining why the entire population of World 87 had vanished, and then reporting back to the Division. They had only three hours before they would have to notify the Captain. The situation was mysterious, and the faces of the three squad leaders were grim. As a newcomer, Li Yan stood by quietly, ready to follow orders.

The three leaders quickly settled on a strategy: each squad would take a different direction to search for the missing Third Squad as quickly as possible. They were required to communicate every ten minutes and provide immediate support if any special situation arose.

"Li Yan, remember to keep in contact. We cannot exceed a distance of ten kilometers from each other. If you find anything, report it immediately—do not take any risks on your own," Yue Chengze emphasized. Since this was Li Yan's second mission, he felt responsible for looking after him.

"Understood, Captain. I’ll be careful," Li Yan replied. Despite his calm appearance, he was actually quite worried. Not only had a whole squad gone missing, but the entire world’s population had vanished. It was obvious something major had occurred. Having his two teammates nearby kept him grounded, but the thought of searching alone filled him with a certain dread. Invisible threats were the most terrifying; he would have felt much more at ease if they were simply facing a Space-Eater Beast like last time.

The three squads soon split up. With their combat suits set to triple-intensity, they were moving at speeds of nearly a thousand kilometers per hour. They dashed along their respective paths, using their locators to perform high-precision, short-range scans. If anyone from the Third Squad was in their path, the locators would detect them.

"Li Yan, keep your speed consistent with ours. Don't run too fast," Yue Chengze urged as he noticed Li Yan pulling ahead.

"Oh, sorry, I'll adjust."

With his four-fold space-time mark, Li Yan’s base strength was four times that of Yue Chengze and Wu Xu. Even with the same triple-intensity setting, he was significantly faster. He had forgotten this, and in a few seconds, he had already left them far behind. He had no choice but to slow down to match their pace, leaving Yue Chengze and Wu Xu feeling both envious and helpless. After all, Li Yan was a "four-in-one" anomaly.

"No abnormalities on my side!"
"Nothing here, either."

They had already covered over eight hundred kilometers, but the locators yielded nothing.

Yue Chengze asked, "Old Xu, did you find anything?"
Xu Tianhao replied, "Nothing on our end. Keep your guard up."
"Aliyah, what about you?"
Squad Leader Aliyah replied with a single word: "No!"

They continued their search along their designated routes. Li Yan had reached a street in a residential area of World 87 and realized the timeline here was several years behind their own. Based on the years in his world, it appeared to be around 2001. He saw a billboard for a local mall advertising: "Celebrating the successful Olympic bid, everything is 20% off."

He would have been in elementary school in 2001. It was fascinating to see the evolution of different worlds along different timelines; it gave him the feeling of truly traversing time. He wondered if there were worlds still in the ancient era. If he brought antiques from such a world back to his own, would they be worth a fortune?

As his mind wandered, a message came through from Aliyah: "Yue, Xu, I’ve found something."

The three of them stopped immediately to check the location transmitted by Aliyah’s group. To their surprise, they found that they had reached the vicinity of the Himalayas.