Dual Worlds: I Have a Doomsday World

This meant the prying hadn’t occurred. For now, no entity was staring at him.

What worried Lin Qi now was the thin membrane—the state of his buff.

The tremors continued, indicating that the mental assault was still active.

Where was the attack coming from?

Lin Qi didn’t even have to think about it.

When he was dazed just now, Lin Qi might not have realized what that long, scarlet streak was.

But now that he was fully awake, how could he not know?

He had seen that long streak before!

And when he had seen it, the streak hadn’t been a closed slit.

That was the Blood Moon—the same one that had once faced this planet directly, revealing a massive scarlet pupil!

Lin Qi was absolutely certain this spiritual attack originated from the Blood Moon.

’This buff is a real lifesaver. Without it, I probably would have had to directly endure the spiritual attack from the Blood Moon—an entity of some unknown, terrifying tier.’

’My Tier Two Spiritual Power would have been no match for it. My only hope would have been that the protection provided by the Door was strong enough.’

’But even if the Door held, I might have been targeted by the Blood Moon’s gaze. This buff didn’t just block the spiritual attack; it also blocked the stare that was spreading through Ning Xin’s Extraordinary Power.’

Lin Qi grew worried and focused his attention on the state of the membrane.

Fortunately, though the tremors continued, their frequency was decreasing, which meant the spiritual impact was weakening.

For the moment, Lin Qi couldn’t afford to be distracted and could only keep a constant watch on the membrane’s condition.

At the same time, he began to ponder.

’I can’t believe something still went wrong, even after I came to the Doomsday World using Mimicry. This incident is even more terrifying than what happened in the Cyber World.’

’But this incident has confirmed one thing for me: Ning Xin is definitely from the Cyber World’s moon. In fact, her main body is very likely the Cyber World’s Moon. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for her to contact the Blood Moon after I came to the Doomsday World.’

’The moons of the two worlds must be parallel universe counterparts. But the state of the Cyber World’s Moon is rather strange—it’s very weak. It didn’t even manage to lock onto me during my last attempt.’

’And I don’t have a protective buff back in the Cyber World.’

Two risky ventures—though Lin Qi hadn’t considered either use of Mimicry to be a risk beforehand. In the end, however, he had obtained the intelligence he was after.

He had roughly figured out Ning Xin’s true nature.

’It seems that Ninghang Technology and the European Big Business Alliance are playing with fire. They’ve set their sights on that terrifying entity. Even if its parallel-world counterpart in the Cyber World is in a weakened state, it’s not something an ordinary company—not even a continental megacorporation—can hope to contend with.’

’If the Cyber World’s Moon truly mutates, the apocalypse will follow in a heartbeat.’

Lin Qi felt a headache coming on. It seemed that everyone in the Cyber World, from the top echelons to the bottom feeders, had a death wish.

Lin Qi started considering how he would disclose the intelligence on Ning Xin to the Mercenary Corps.

After all, the source of his intel was rather horrifying.

It was also mixed with his experiences in the Doomsday World.

After much deliberation, Lin Qi decided to shelve it for the time being. He would wait for Guang Ling, Capitalist, or Master Ma to make their next move before discussing it.

For now, this matter was definitely not something a mere Tier Two Wizard like him could participate in.

Even Tier Three wouldn’t be enough. He would need to be at least Tier Four to have the power to survive getting swept up in all this.

’There’s one more thing... What role do Wizards play in all this? What’s the connection between the Round Table Conference’s Witch Hunting and the activities of the European Big Business Alliance and Ninghang Technology on the Moon?’

’The only thing I can confirm for now is that Wizards are deeply connected to the Blood Moon—one might even say they descend from the same lineage.’

’But I still can’t determine the exact nature of the relationship. Perhaps when I return to the Cyber World, I’ll need to investigate the history of the Wizard Extraordinary Profession.’

’Ask the Mercenary Corps? No, I have another option, but I’ll need Guang Ling to help with information shielding.’

The person Lin Qi thought of wasn’t someone like Capitalist or King Arthur, but his own younger sister, Lin Xin.

According to Baili Xueyuan, who had taken Lin Xin away, Wizards and the Assassin Alliance’s Blood Robes had the exact same Talent; they had simply chosen two different paths of development.

Through Lin Xin—or rather, through the Assassin Alliance—Lin Qi might be able to obtain the information he needed.

’I’ll think more on this after I return to the Cyber World.’

While Lin Qi was lost in thought, the vibrations of the membrane had already begun to subside.

But Lin Qi continued to wait, afraid that any movement on his part might trigger a new anomaly.

After all, both the Blood Moon and whatever was behind the buff were existences he could not afford to provoke at his current level.

After waiting for about twenty minutes, the vibrations ceased completely, and the membrane slowly faded away.

Lin Qi activated his Spiritual Vision and confirmed several times that the danger had, in all likelihood, passed.

Only then did he relax and begin his daily Meditation.

Overthinking was pointless; the only thing that truly mattered was getting stronger as quickly as possible.

The full-potency activity of the Spiritual Particles made Lin Qi’s Meditation incredibly fast. His Spiritual Power grew at a rate that Wizards in the Cyber World could only dream of.

After a solid twelve hours, he felt the growth of his Spiritual Power stagnate.

Only then did Lin Qi stop his Meditation.

’Just five more days, and my Spiritual Power will reach the next stage. I’m getting closer and closer to Tier Three.’

Sitting in the conference room, Lin Qi stabilized his Spiritual Power and calculated the time until his next promotion.

After a brief rest, Lin Qi stood up, picked up the chip from the table, and walked out of the conference room to find Wang Ziru.

As soon as Wang Ziru saw Lin Qi, he began his report.

"Boss, I’ve had a preliminary discussion with some of the squads. For the most part, the members aren’t too against installing a Prosthetic Body."

"They’re still held back by old ways of thinking, but everyone understands that in the apocalypse, there’s no room for sentimentality about keeping the body whole. Staying alive is what matters most."

"However, the final announcement of this decision has to come from you, Boss."

The news Wang Ziru brought wasn’t bad.

Most people were actually able to accept it.

Compared to the camp falling and everyone perishing, swapping out an arm or a leg for a Prosthetic Body was not a difficult choice to accept.

In fact, Wang Ziru could have arranged everything on Lin Qi’s behalf and made all the squad members accept this reality.

But Wang Ziru had thought it over and concluded it would be better for Lin Qi to make the announcement himself.

As the true leader of the camp, Lin Qi needed to appear at the appropriate time to make his own stance clear to everyone.

Lin Qi nodded. "You arrange it. I’m going to the lab first."

The lab Lin Qi was referring to was the very same one where he had jury-rigged the Mecha.

It had now become the research center for the Mo University Camp. A large amount of equipment had been moved there, and even the wall that had been smashed open when the Mecha came downstairs had been fully repaired by the civil engineering students.

Inside the lab, Lin Qi connected the chip he had prepared to a computer.

He edited the data and interface protocols, using the Doomsday World’s engineering software to ensure compatibility, and then exported all the design files for the Prosthetic Body.

Just then, a few science and engineering students came to stand beside Lin Qi.

"Boss, are these the Prosthetic Body designs Wang Ziru was talking about? This is incredible! I never thought something straight out of science fiction could actually be made real."

"Boss, this stuff is so cool! Once they’re manufactured, we have to be the first to get them installed."

"That’s right, Boss! Our research team might not do fieldwork, but a Prosthetic Body would be a huge help to us, too. We can’t let that gang of meatheads who only know how to fight get first dibs."

Lin Qi turned to look at them. The faces were all quite familiar. The one leading them was from the first group Lin Qi had rescued with the M-Class Mecha—it was Yu Wen, a.k.a. Brother Dian, the one who had shouted from the transport, "Boss, give us a couple more jolts!"

Every time Lin Qi came to the lab to teach, they were there. Besides Lin Qi himself, they were the backbone of the Mo University Camp’s research team.

"I appreciate the thought."

Through his Spiritual Vision, Lin Qi could tell they weren’t being entirely truthful.

Nervousness, fear—those emotions were there.

Unlike an Exoskeleton, a Prosthetic Body had to be implanted inside a person.

Furthermore, Lin Qi hadn’t hidden the risks from Wang Ziru, and Wang Ziru, in turn, hadn’t hidden them from the others.

Installing a Prosthetic Body could have side effects, including the possibility of inducing cyber psychosis.

Even under these circumstances, they had taken the initiative to find Lin Qi and request to be in the first group to receive the implants.

Their reasoning was simple.

They trusted Lin Qi and wanted to support him through their actions.

The research team will be the first to be equipped with implantable Prosthetic Bodies!

What could be more reassuring than that?

We’re willing to use what we ourselves produce!

This would leave those simple-minded idiots on the fieldwork teams with nothing to complain about.