Chapter 109: The Firmament

“If everything goes smoothly, I will teleport away from here with the fragments,” Yuki said as she looked at Soya Homare. “Senior Homare, let’s just meet directly on Earth.”

Soya believed he understood and nodded.

Time was tight, so he couldn’t ask Yuki for more details about her plan. But from what she said, it seemed she would use her extraordinary teleportation ability to take the demon fragments back to Earth first, and then they would rendezvous there.

“Anyway, prepare for both possibilities. If I manage to take the demon fragments away, everyone might regain their original strength, and any suppressed supernatural abilities could be unlocked.”

At this, Yuki glanced at Peiga, who nodded in understanding. Once his abilities were restored, Peiga would immediately hide in Homare’s shadow, just as they had agreed before, and return to Earth together.

“If our guess is wrong, and after I leave with the demon fragments the suppression remains, the plan stays the same. You all head to the rooftop of Starport Tower to board the ship. All the access controls along the way have been disabled now. There won’t be interference from Sandrius or the Armory—they should be tied up with other matters at this time.”

Yuki then revealed that when she had infiltrated Starport Tower earlier, she had taken control of Governor Rebeje. The poor governor was bound and hidden in the monitoring room at the top floor of the tower.

“If possible, take her along too. If not, just leave her.”

Soya asked, “We’re bringing her back to Earth?”

Yuki nodded. “Yes. Just hand her over to the captain.”

She emphasized again that the prisoner was insignificant; if the situation became urgent, they should prioritize the mission and leave her behind.

“Once everyone is in position, I will begin the operation. That will be our signal,” Yuki said, pointing to the pitch-black “sky.”

“That is when the dome will open.”

Originally, Yuki had planned to go to the top floor of Starport Tower to find the control console located on the northern side that governed the underground city’s dome. She would have to take down the four guards protecting the console, then consult the manual she had looted from the tower’s administrator—a Martian named Ma Qingduo—to open the dome.

But now, that was unnecessary. She could operate remotely, sending a false “open” command directly to the dome’s sliding mechanism.

Whooo—!

Whooo—!

Whooo—!

Before long, the eerie silence within the Hive was shattered by shrill alarms echoing across the sky.

The heavy rumbling mingled with the sirens. For most of the Hive’s residents, this was their first time hearing such noises. Bewildered, they poked their heads out from their hiding places.

Eventually, someone discovered the source of the commotion.

A silver beam of light descended from the pitch-black dome above, like a sword’s slash cleaving the Hive city in two.

The first person lifted their head, staring blankly at the sky. Then two more looked up, then three, then four... Soon, everyone was gazing upward at the strange sight in the “sky.”

“Oh my god, it’s the starry sky!”

“I haven’t seen the stars in such a long, long time...”

“I almost forgot what the stars look like.”

Amidst the roaring sound, the “slash” widened. Meanwhile, the Armory erupted into chaos. They urgently contacted Starport Tower, demanding to know why the dome had been opened without authorization.

Starport Tower was jolted awake as well. They verified the dome control console’s status. Their first thought was to shut the dome immediately, whatever the cause. But they found both the stationed governor and the overall commander missing.

To be precise, they had been attacked.

When the tower’s guards forced open the commander’s office door, which was locked from the inside, they found a crime scene of murder and robbery.

The room had been ransacked; piles of important and insignificant documents cluttered the desk. A large pool of fresh blood stained the floor. Following the dragging marks, they found the folded Martian Ma Qingduo stuffed into a closet.

The blood was fresh, the murder having happened less than an hour ago. They rashly assumed the culprit was still inside Starport Tower. In response, several blast doors were sealed, trapping both the imagined assailant and the tower’s defense forces inside.

Soon after, they realized the governor was missing as well.

Such a major incident would normally have the governor furiously ordering search operations, but she had yet to appear. All commands were being issued by the tower’s security chief.

The security chief was sweating profusely. The dome was under his management, yet it inexplicably opened. The guards stood dumbfounded before the control console, unable to explain what was happening. The console showed everything as normal—was the dome’s opening an illusion? What were these guards even doing? How could he possibly explain this?!

Meanwhile, Yuki had already reached the rooftop of Starport Tower, where the demon fragments floated above the marble pedestal at the center.

Just a wall away below, the guards hurried nervously. Having seen Ma Qingduo’s fate, they speculated the governor had likely met a terrible end as well, possibly folded and hidden somewhere like the Martian. Thus, they began searching every nook and cranny.

Yuki checked the status of the “Door” skill on the Taiga Light Key panel—it was at 8/10. Leaving Starport Tower counted as one teleportation, arriving at the rooftop was another. How did these two differ from her previous teleports to Governor Rebeje and Martian Ma Qingduo?

The difference was this place was empty.

The prior two times, people were startled by her sudden appearances.

As Starport Tower descended into chaos, the Armory began to act.

Since someone had opened the dome, their intent was clear—they wanted to escape through it.

The Armory captain immediately issued orders to deploy the Sandrius army to seal off the airspace. Compared to the turmoil inside Starport Tower, they were more concerned about the dome slowly opening. This time, they planned to activate five Sandrius beasts. With such firepower, blocking the twenty-square-kilometer sky was easy; no flying craft would take off without permission.

However, the next moment, the communicator on the captain’s desk blared loudly. A slight twitch appeared on his temple as he answered. What came through the speaker was the desperate voice of a subordinate.

They had only released five Sandrius beasts, yet over fifty were awakening from hibernation one after another. The warehouse alarms blared uncontrollably. The staff on site were helpless because according to their control panel, these Sandrius should have remained dormant, making any operations impossible.

These were unplanned awakenings. Though their minds were alert, their bodies were still chained to racks, the restraining cuffs unopened. The Sandrius screamed, using their immense innate strength to break free from the metal collars binding their necks, wreaking havoc on the warehouse.

“They... they have broken out!”

This was the last scream from the deputy officer on site before the deafening sound of collapse erupted from the other side, cutting off all communication—just like a scene from a disaster film.