Head... so painful...
I felt as if my head was a complete mess, with all sorts of chaotic stuff thrown together, making it impossible to find the information I wanted.
This situation lasted for over ten minutes before I finally began to regain control of my thoughts.
Ah! Right! I remember! The events before I lost consciousness—at that time, Qianqian and I were standing at the school gate, and a student from the opposing school was bullying one of our classmates. It looked like they were about to fight. Not wanting to cause trouble, Qianqian and I were prepared to leave quickly, and then?
I was about to find a brick... oh, scratch that plan. I tried to kill that rich kid with a glare instead, thinking how wonderful the world would be if I could just punch him.
Suddenly, everything came back to me clearly. The sound of the mysterious "Skytop Remote Strike System" countdown seemed to echo once more.
"Qianqian! Run!" I shouted, sitting up abruptly, only to find myself no longer at the school gate.
"Where is this... that dream?" I looked around, noticing those gray metal buildings from the dream. Without a doubt, after losing consciousness, I had returned to this strange place.
Rubbing my forehead, I surveyed the surroundings and suddenly realized that something seemed off. It was too dark.
The next second, I felt my heart skip a few beats!
The massive metal sphere in the sky was already so close to the ground, almost within reach. The giant sphere covered nearly half of the sky, pressing down like another land. I could clearly see the complex metal structure on its surface. Some parts resembled towers, others were missile silos, and still others looked like communication equipment protruding. It was mainly dense, black cannon muzzles like a forest. Among these metal facilities, there were also large circular depressions that seemed to be some kind of landing platform or energy gathering facility. This terrifying steel jungle moved slowly in the sky, silently instilling a sense of impending doom in me beneath it.
Squeak, squeak, creak, the deep sound echoed. I couldn't be certain if it was coming from the steel sky above or my own neck—most likely, it was my neck.
What on earth is this thing!? This scene is way too sci-fi!
No matter how I mocked it in my heart, it wouldn't change the fate of being crushed by this airborne fortress as large as a small asteroid—although it was descending too slowly to see any motion, my intuition told me that this gigantic celestial fortress was still·descending!
In this dream, my intuition was usually frighteningly accurate. Just as now, I sensed that even though this was a dream, whatever happened in this world would surely affect me in the real world.
So what now? Run? Just kidding, do you know how big this metal sphere is? I estimated its radius to be over a thousand kilometers! No matter how slowly it descended, it could squash me into dumpling filling before I could escape—pure meat filling, with a nylon bag directly on the outside, printed with the school emblem of City Second Middle School...
The priority now was to stay calm, calm! This metal sphere was descending very slowly, so it wouldn't crush me immediately. Before that, I had to find a shelter strong enough to withstand this gigantic asteroid of a fortress...
Finding such a strong place would be harder than running a thousand kilometers!
Wait a minute, I seemed to have forgotten something.
Right, the other two metal spheres! Originally, there were three metal spheres in the sky, but now I could only see one. Were the other two hiding behind this one that was almost touching the ground?
...At a time , how could I be thinking about such things? One celestial fortress was enough to turn me into dumpling filling. Adding two more would just spread the filling more evenly.
But in that flash, I had a moment of clarity amidst my confused thoughts. I recalled the voice that had echoed in my mind when that energy pillar appeared at the school gate.
Whatever it was, whether a supernatural phenomenon or superpower, it seemed I could influence that energy and its associated Skytop Remote Strike System to some extent. Or rather, it looked like I had activated the strike system in the first place. Now, it seemed there had to be some connection between this dream world and the strike system, which meant that I could influence the things in this dream world?
I knew my current situation was probably a desperate attempt to clutch at straws. Such a disconnected thought would never come together under normal circumstances, but there were no other possibilities now—I had to imagine myself as some hidden master, then come up with a big move to save the world. For instance, negotiating with that big metal ball in the sky to make it go back...
That's how it sounded, but whether I could succeed was another story. At this point, I no longer considered this world to be just an ordinary strange dream. This peculiar dream had already exceeded the scope of regular dreams, almost rising to the level of a paranormal event. Who knew if I was dreaming or had been swallowed into some illusion?
Trying my best to calm down, I began to focus my spirit, attempting to control the celestial fortress in the sky that was about to bring disaster upon me.
This was very difficult since I had no idea where to start. All I could do was repeatedly think about making this giant sphere move away from the ground.
Dozens of minutes passed, with no movement. In the silent world, I could only hear my increasingly heavy breathing. The massive fortress in the sky had clearly descended closer to the ground, and the previously blurry metal protrusions were now distinctly visible.
Just when I was about to give up, a sensation of something being connected came from deep within my spirit.
I felt a surge of joy in my heart and immediately focused my attention, trying to convey my thoughts as accurately as possible.
Finally, a mechanical voice echoed from deep within my mind: "External command set received... Permission confirmed... Fuzzy command analysis... Command will alter the operation mode of the World Arbitration Agency, please confirm you possess sufficient permissions... Confirm again, altering the orbit of World Arbitration Agency No. 2, Gaia..."
As the mechanical voice finished, the gigantic sphere in the sky began to emit a low rumbling sound, slowly rising upward. With the deep rumbling, the silent world suddenly underwent a dramatic transformation!
The voice that resonated every time I left this world resounded once more, but for the first time, it carried a sense of joy: "Found it..."
Then, the monotonous world regained its color!
The ashen sky lit up like a display screen, quickly donning a new bluish garment. The clearer-than-clear, pure blue hue, unlike anything this steel world should have, was more beautiful than any sky I had ever seen. In the distance, the blurred mountains were rapidly covered in green from top to base, releasing an intense life force felt even from a thousand kilometers away. Around me, the cold metal buildings regained their vitality, a pale blue glow emerging on their surfaces, flickering lights lighting up one by one, centered on me, resembling a blossoming firework from high above. The massive fortress in the sky also changed, with streams of blue and white light flowing through the metal grooves on its surface, adding a sense of mystique to the colossal airborne fortress.
In just a dozen seconds, this desolate world transformed into a vibrant, magical realm. The beautiful natural scenery and surreal futuristic landscape showcased a magnificent beauty. I stood dumbfounded in the transformed metal city, almost forgetting to breathe.
"What... is this..." I muttered.
A pleasant yet emotionless female voice suddenly spoke in my ear: "This is the Imperial Capital Planet, one of the Mother Stars of the Xyrin Empire."
The sudden voice startled me, and I immediately jumped to the side, finally seeing what the "person" who appeared next to me looked like.
A light blue, semi-transparent girl floated there, her inorganic eyes turning towards me.
Ghost? Or a holographic image?
Given the development of the plot, I guessed the latter.
"Hello," I said, putting on a strange expression (hoping she could interpret this severely distorted expression as a smile), "My name is Chen Jun. Um... what brings you here?"
"Hello," the girl opposite bowed slightly and said, "I am World Arbitration Agency No. 2, Gaia. It is a pleasure to meet you, Your Majesty."