Chapter 161: It’s Not That Hard
Yu Xian hurriedly pressed him for the details. By the time the director finished explaining, Yu Xian was dumbfounded.
Doomsday Contingency Plan No. 402, also known as the "National Pocket Dimension Project," was created by a group of several hundred of the country's strongest experts. Li Zhangzong, one of the Three Pillars of the Nation, oversaw the project.
Li Zhangzong was the country's foremost pill refiner, formation master, artificer, and puppeteer. Zhang Daoqin had once said that in all four fields, Li Zhangzong's mastery was second to none. Under Li Zhangzong's direction, the National Pocket Dimension Project could only be described as wildly imaginative, breathtakingly romantic, and daring.
To prepare for the unknown event related to the number 5322, Li Zhangzong had initially intended to protect the entire country with a massive formation. Later, his idea became even more radical. He wanted to open an enormous pocket dimension and move the entire country inside it. That way, no matter what disaster struck the Blue Planet, it would have nothing to do with Huaxia. Over the following decades, this idea gradually evolved into the National Pocket Dimension Project.
Yu Xian took a long moment to process everything. "Director, is it really possible to move all of Huaxia into a pocket dimension? Can that truly protect us?"
Yu Lie smiled. "The implementation procedures for the National Pocket Dimension Project were fully designed two hundred years ago. Over the years, the country has continuously invested enormous sums into the preparations. After all, we don't know when the disaster will arrive. Being prepared is always better than being caught unprepared. However, there are still some issues with the project. Vermilion Bird was responsible for carrying it out, but more than forty cities have yet to complete the final arrangements.
"We don't know whether Edward has successfully broken through to the Star rank you mentioned, nor do we understand exactly how powerful that rank truly is. Still, out of responsibility toward every citizen of Huaxia, we decided after the meeting to activate the National Pocket Dimension Project. First, we'll ensure stability within the country. Then we'll deal with the external threat."
Yu Xian immediately asked, "So, my task is to reach those forty-odd cities as quickly as possible and complete the remaining preparations?"
Yu Lie nodded. "That's right, but you won't have to handle all forty cities. Azure Dragon has a spatial ability user, Vermilion Bird has one as well, and Black Turtle also has one. The four of you will each be responsible for ten cities."
The two of them continued walking for quite some time before arriving outside a room. Six people were waiting in the corridor. From their uniforms, Yu Xian could tell that they belonged to Azure Dragon, Vermilion Bird, and Black Turtle.
Qilin had a uniform as well, but most members of the Combat Division wore civilian clothes. Only personnel from the other departments were required to wear uniforms.
When Yu Lie and Yu Xian approached them, a middle-aged man in an Azure Dragon uniform said, "Old Yu, this must be Salted Fish. You two aren't related, are you?"
Yu Lie stepped in front of Yu Xian and impatiently said, "All right, enough nonsense. Stop thinking about poaching people all the time and hurry up and assign the tasks before anything else goes wrong."
Tang Longhui, the Director of Azure Dragon, did not know whether to laugh or cry. "We poached people from Qilin only once. That was fifty years ago! Do you really have to hold a grudge for this long?"
"Only once? Who poaches several hundred people in one go? That was an entire team!" Yu Lie retorted.
Yu Xian actually knew about the incident. Qilin once had an equipment crafting team of more than a hundred people, only for Azure Dragon to quietly poach the entire group. As a result, supernatural equipment had become extremely scarce within Qilin.
Of course, he also knew that Qilin had deliberately allowed Azure Dragon to take the team. After all, Azure Dragon guarded the national borders and had a greater need for high-quality weapons and equipment.
Zhu Ling, the Minister of Vermilion Bird, interjected. "Enough. Stop wasting time."
She walked over to the sealed glass chamber, took out her identification card, and pressed it against the glass. The director of Black Turtle stepped forward and did the same. Tang Longhui and Yu Lie glared at each other before walking over and placing their identification cards against it.
The next instant, lines of light formed within the glass and rapidly converged on the four identification cards. Once their identities were verified, the glass disintegrated.
Zhu Ling turned toward Yu Xian and the other three spatial ability users. "The four of you may go in."
Yu Xian glanced at Yu Lie. After seeing the director nod, Yu Xian immediately stepped into the glass chamber. The next moment, he felt the space around him shift, and he found himself inside an enormous white space. At the very center of the space, a balding, white-haired old man stood with his head lowered, working on something.
The old man did not turn around, yet his voice came from every direction. "Come over here."
The young man from Black Turtle respectfully looked at the old man. "Elder Li, is this our first test?"
Yu Xian stared at the old man in surprise. Elder Li? Li Zhangzong?
Li Zhangzong had not appeared in public for a very long time. Many people even speculated that he had passed away. Yet here he was, and he had most likely spent more than a century in this place. It was practically no different from imprisonment.
Looking at that aged figure from behind, Yu Xian could not help but feel a profound sense of respect. He immediately followed Li Zhangzong's instruction and walked straight toward him, drawing surprised looks from the other three.
He walked straight up behind Li Zhangzong as though it were the most natural thing in the world, then bowed respectfully. "I, Yu Xian, greet Elder Li."
Li Zhangzong was clearly pleased with his performance. He waved his right hand, and a meditation cushion slid behind Yu Xian. "Good, good, good. Sit."
While Yu Xian smoothly sat down, the other three spatial ability users were dumbfounded.
The girl from Vermilion Bird muttered, "He just... walked over there?"
The space around them was extremely chaotic, its characteristics changing almost every second. One would think they were moving forward when they were actually going backward or believe they were drawing closer when every step was taking them farther away.
Without seeing through the underlying patterns of the space, they would find it impossible to reach Li Zhangzong. That was why the young man from Black Turtle had asked whether this was a test.
The young man from Azure Dragon stepped forward. "Let me try."
He immediately followed the path Yu Xian had taken and stepped forward. However, the next second, he appeared in a corner to their right. The utterly bewildered expression on his face was enough to tell the others that he had no idea how he had ended up there.
The girl sighed. "Sure enough, it isn't that simple."
The young man from Black Turtle looked at Yu Xian in the distance. "Then there is only one explanation. He possesses an extraordinarily keen sensitivity to spatial changes and calculated every pattern of variation in the shortest possible time."
The girl exclaimed, "He's that monstrous?"
The young man from Black Turtle turned to her with a smile. "Codename Mystic Light. Care to work together?"
"Codename Scarlet Kite," the girl replied with a smile. "I don't mind cooperating, but if your performance is too poor, I'll dissolve our partnership at any time."
Mystic Light nodded. "All right. Then we'll each calculate the spatial changes on one side. You take the right, and I'll take the left?"
Scarlet Kite nodded. "Okay."
The two turned their attention to their respective sides, carefully calculating every change in spatial coordinates.
Seated on the meditation cushion, Yu Xian watched them concentrate with all their might, then glanced at the young man from Azure Dragon blindly charging around and constantly teleporting from one spot to another. A question mark practically appeared over his head.
Are these spatial coordinates really that difficult to calculate? Then, why did I figure them all out with Super Brain in only thirty seconds? It’s not that hard.