Chapter 215: Xu Kai’s Departure
Xu Kai stood silently at the edge of Liora’s base, his tall figure almost blending with the fading hues of twilight. The sky was slowly being swallowed by darkness, and the cool breeze stirred the edges of his coat, but he remained motionless, like a statue carved out of shadow. From a distance, he appeared calm, composed, even peaceful. But within him, a storm was quietly brewing.
His hand slipped into the inner lining of his coat, fingers brushing against the smooth surface of something small and round. Slowly, he pulled it out—a silver-blue sphere, no larger than a plum, crisscrossed with glowing lines that glowed faintly like living veins of light. A teleportation ball. A rare and luxurious item that only those with deep connections to the Spire could ever hope to possess.
Xu Kai stared at it for a moment, his expression unreadable. If Liora had seen it, she would have been stunned. She had received a similar device from Atlas, a gift that marked her bond to the mysterious Spire. For her, it had been a miracle, a mystery she barely understood. But in Xu Kai’s hand, the ball didn’t look extraordinary. It looked familiar. Natural. As though he’d used one a thousand times before.
Without hesitation, he pressed his thumb to the center. The glowing lines brightened, and in a heartbeat, a circle of blue light expanded around his boots. The wind stirred once more, then the air cracked softly, and he vanished.
Above the planet, hidden in the endless folds of space, a ripple spread through the darkness. A faint shimmer pulsed and then cleared, revealing a sleek spacecraft nestled inside a space crack—a dimensional fold invisible to the naked eye. It was perfectly cloaked, undetectable from the outside.
A spark of light marked Xu Kai’s arrival.
He stepped onto the main deck of the ship as if returning home. The interior lights flickered to life, scanning him briefly before settling back into a soft glow. Everything about the ship responded to him without question.
He walked to the pilot’s seat, his boots echoing faintly against the polished metal floor. His face was calm, his posture as straight and composed as ever. With practiced ease, he sat down and began entering a set of precise coordinates into the navigation console. The ship responded instantly. Its engines hummed softly as energy surged through its core, and the vessel once again began to fade, retreating into the safety of the space crack.
Moments later, the stars around him turned into glowing trails, and the ship soared forward into the infinite dark.
Xu Kai remained silent. His eyes stayed fixed on the screen, but he wasn’t really seeing it. His body was calm, but inside him, something stirred.
Liora.