Chapter 534: An Invasion of Her Space

Leng Pan felt as if something had struck the centre of her mind.

The pain came without warning and spread through her body, causing her knees to weaken.

Lu Zhen caught her before she could fall. His arm tightened around her waist as he looked at her pale face and asked, "What is happening inside the space?"

"The gate anchor is trying to connect to it," Leng Pan replied while pressing one hand against her temple. "The two beacons are acting as coordinates."

Lu Zhen looked up at the black ring hanging beneath the alien transport vessel. Blue energy continued gathering within its centre, and although there was nothing visible inside it yet, the air around Qinghe Base had begun twisting.

"Throw the beacons out," he said.

"I cannot." Leng Pan closed her eyes and attempted to reach the items in her space, but the foreign energy had formed a barrier around them. "They are interfering with my control. I can sense everything around them, but I cannot move either beacon."

Little Vine’s roots were still wrapped around the device near the infant’s heart. However, the plant could no longer pull it out because thin blue threads had extended from the beacon and spread through the child’s body.

The secondary core had floated above the spiritual spring and was releasing wave after wave of energy.

Several plants had uprooted themselves and moved away from it. The water in the spring trembled whenever the blue light passed over it, while the sky above the space gradually darkened.

A faint black circle appeared in the clouds.

Leng Pan had never seen weather inside the space before.

The unusual darkness made her understand how serious the situation had become.

Lu Zhen noticed the change in her expression and asked, "Can you enter?"

"Yes, but my body will disappear from here."

"Then go. I will handle things outside."

Leng Pan shook her head. "The transport vessel is still above us, the guardian units are attacking the base, and the zombie army will arrive soon. We might need my ability here."

"We will need your space more," Lu Zhen replied. "If the aliens gain access to it, they could take everything inside. They might also find a way to use it as a permanent path into our world."

Leng Pan looked at him for a moment before nodding. "I will come out as soon as I break the connection."

"Do not rush because of what is happening here. Protect yourself first."

She touched his arm and disappeared into the space.

The moment Leng Pan vanished, Lu Zhen turned toward the Dominion Squad. "Assistant Yao will continue attacking the transport vessel. Clear the guardian units away from his aircraft and protect the western gate."

Commander Han glanced at the place where Leng Pan had been standing but did not ask where she had gone. He had already witnessed enough impossible things to understand that questions could wait until the base survived.

He raised his radio and ordered, "Move the remaining civilians toward the eastern training grounds. Every earth and metal ability user should reinforce the western entrance. The first zombie group could arrive at any moment."

Lu Tao held the alien communicator closer to his face. "The gate anchor’s energy continues increasing even though Sister-in-law disappeared."

Lu Zhen looked toward him. "Can you see its connection?"

"Only part of it. The coordinates are changing too quickly for the communicator to follow."

Captain Wei, who remained seated on Shade’s back, lifted his head with difficulty. "The anchor is searching for the hidden space. If it completes the connection, the ship will not need the beacons anymore."

"Then we should damage it before that happens," Lu Zhen replied.

He raised both hands.

Fire gathered around his body before rising toward the transport vessel like a broad red river. Instead of attacking the ship’s armor, the flames wrapped around the metal cables holding the gate anchor.

The transport vessel adjusted its shields.

A silver barrier appeared beneath it and blocked the flames, but Lu Zhen continued increasing the temperature until the air around the barrier distorted.

Assistant Yao’s captured aircraft fired again.

The beam struck the same section of the shield from the opposite direction.

Cracks of light appeared across the silver surface.

Several guardian units rushed toward Assistant Yao, but Lu Hao entered the air in a flash of electricity and jumped between them. The wings on the first machine stopped moving when lightning passed through its metal body, causing it to crash into a second guardian unit.

Lu Hao used the falling machine as a platform before leaping toward another.

Lu Tao watched him move between the guardian units and muttered, "Second Brother looks as if he has been waiting for a chance to fight in the sky."

Ouyang Jin strengthened the barriers around the controlled survivors and asked, "Can he fly?"

"No."

"Then how will he come down?"

Lu Tao looked at the distance between Lu Hao and the ground before replying, "He might not have thought that far."

Shade seemed to agree as the wolf moved beneath Lu Hao’s position.

Inside the space, Leng Pan opened her eyes beside the spiritual spring.

The usually peaceful surroundings had changed.

The plants were restless, several storage shelves had fallen, and ripples continued spreading across the spring even though there was no wind.

The infant lay on a soft blanket near the water. His face had become pale, while the silver light beneath his skin moved closer to his heart.

Little Vine had divided its roots into hundreds of thin strands and inserted them into the child’s chest. It was attempting to surround the beacon without damaging the organs around it.

Leng Pan knelt beside the infant. "How much of it has merged with him?"

Little Vine lifted three leaves before lowering two of them.

Leng Pan did not know whether that meant one-third, three-fifths, or something else. However, she understood that the connection was incomplete.

"You need to separate the device from his heart. I will stop the other core from sending energy to it."

Little Vine rubbed one leaf against the child’s cheek before returning its attention to the beacon.

Leng Pan walked toward the secondary core.

The blue crystal floated a few metres above the spiritual spring, surrounded by a ring of black energy.

Unlike the objects she normally stored, it resisted her presence.

When Leng Pan tried to approach, the black energy struck her.

She formed a water barrier, but the attack passed through it and entered her body.

The pain caused her to stumble.

This was her space, yet the alien device had found a way to use the connection against her.

A cold anger appeared in Leng Pan’s eyes.

She had protected this place since the beginning of the apocalypse. It stored the food that kept her family alive, the supplies they had collected, their plants, their weapons, and everything they hoped to use while rebuilding their lives.

She would not allow an alien machine to claim it.

Leng Pan reached toward the spiritual spring.

Water rose behind her before dividing into several streams. They wrapped around the black energy and pulled it away from the core.

The device released another wave.

The space trembled as more cracks of darkness appeared in the sky.

Within the largest crack, a silver surface became visible.

It was part of the gate anchor.

The connection had begun forming.

Leng Pan compressed the spring water around the secondary core. Unlike the water she created with her ability, the spiritual spring resisted the alien energy instead of absorbing it.

The blue light around the core weakened.

Encouraged by the change, Leng Pan pulled more water from the spring and created a second layer around it.

The core began vibrating.

A mechanical voice spread through the space.

[UNAUTHORIZED INTERFERENCE DETECTED.]

[DEFENSIVE RESPONSE ACTIVATED.]

Several metal objects emerged from the blue crystal and unfolded into small insect-like machines.

They flew toward Leng Pan.

Before they could reach her, the surrounding mutant plants attacked.

Vines wrapped around the first machine and dragged it to the ground, while a plant with sharp leaves sliced through the wings of another.