Time plunder

[The Spire’s Central‍‍‍‍‍​‍‌‍‍‍⁠⁠​‍‍​‍‌⁠‌‌​‍ Communications Hall.]

The Protectors packed the hall so tightly that not a drop of water could trickle through. All eyes were fixed on the enormous screen hanging in the air.

In the video footage, a soldier stared blankly at the camera.

“In the 274th minute after the mission began, the action recorder shows that I walked into the District 34 hospital. In the 336th minute, I came out of the hospital.”

“So you were in the hospital for 62 minutes. In those 62 minutes, what did you see? Who did you speak with?”

“I… I’m sorry, I only know that I went to the hospital and then came out completely fine. I have no impression of what happened in between.”

“You forgot.”

“It wasn’t forgetting. I’ve forgotten important things before; when someone reminds me, I get a sense of flashback. But this time it was like…” The soldier furrowed his brow in agony and lowered his head into his hands. “I’m sorry, but can I say that it feels as if those 62 minutes never existed in my life?”

The video ended.

Black Tower had sent a total of 12 video clips. A similar experience had befallen all 12 soldiers. It was as if a period of their time had been plundered out of thin air. The terrifying part was that they were completely unaware of it. After returning to the Main City, they had all written the same nonchalant line in their reports: “No abnormalities observed in District 34.”

The screen switched to a map of District 34.

High Peak’s steady voice resounded through the Spire’s Communications Hall.

“As you can all see, time plunder exists in District 34. It is not yet known whether this time plunder is an objective phenomenon or if it merely stems from the victim’s mental damage. The advance team was unable to provide any valid information. When subjected to time plunder, you may encounter anything beyond your imagination. After analysis by Black Tower, the following points are for your reference.

“First, the Super-aberrant in District 34 is a non-biological aberration. Its ability is oriented toward manipulating time or the mind, possibly both.

“Second, although we don’t know what happens during the plundered time, there is a high probability that it is not life-threatening. The Super-aberrant itself does not have strong offensive capabilities.

“Third, the Super-aberrant can invade the worldwide electronic time system. Molly issued a warning to Black Tower; she believes it is highly likely the entity does not have a physical form, which also means it has a high degree of information sensitivity and can be easily scared off.

“Fourth, the good news is that the time plundered from each person is not synchronized. District 34 has not formed a unified zone of space-time disorder. Communications and networks can be used normally. This mission will have the full command support of the Main City throughout.”

The Protectors began to whisper among themselves.

“It doesn’t sound that dangerous, but the problem is no one can complete this mission…”

“Yeah, will this body of muscle of mine even be of any use?”

“Time distortion? Does that mean we have to use our brains? Aren’t we screwed then…”

“Hiss… In these recent S-rank missions, it feels like we biological aberration types have suddenly become useless.”

“Do we have any non-biological aberration types among us?”

The hall suddenly fell silent. Codex, who had been spacing out in the crowd, jolted.

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The crowd sighed. One Protector muttered, “A mind-oriented ability would be one thing, but time control… Hiss, do we have any comrades with such a bizarre ability?”

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Qin Zhilu let out a soft “Mm.” “But I will be in constant communication with you.”

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A voice suddenly spoke up from the crowd. “Um, I don’t mean to doubt Corner, but so far, his only public abilities are absolute infection resistance and the mysterious Advent State. Does he have a way to fight a time-based ability user?”

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Outside of the high-level officers, Jiang Xiao, who had accompanied him on missions before, had gone to the Equality Zone, while Feng Jian and the others had seamlessly moved on to new missions and were not present.

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“He seems to be able to unconditionally win the hearts of healers, but can he harvest the loyalty of a Super-aberrant?”

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The crowd quieted down. Their gazes went past An Yu and up toward the screen. Realizing something, An Yu also turned back around.

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One Protector said in a daze, “Spatial folding? A wormhole?”

“What’s a wormhole?”

“What’s time acceleration? Can he heal my wounds in an instant?”

“Does it make you age ten years in one night? So the Super-aberrants under his control just died of old age?”

The crowd had been joking to mask their shock, but High Peak answered them seriously. “The previously undisclosed anomaly at the orphanage was a ten-year time stagnation. An Yu restarted the flow of time for the entire orphanage and used time acceleration to compensate for everyone’s ten years of stolen growth.”

His words echoed in the hall for a long time. It was a while before someone finally murmured, “Mastery over space and time… is he really a three-dimensional being?”

No one answered.

A moment later, An Yu turned back as his gaze easily found the familiar white hood in the crowd.

“An and Ning, can you come with me?”

An pulled a lollipop from his pocket and popped it into his mouth, casually tugging at the edge of his hood. “Oh.”

Ning smiled and nodded. “Alright.”

Qin Zhilu mused, “A team centered around An Yu needs an output-type that can handle both close-range offense/defense and group attacks. To suit this mission, we also need mind-oriented abilities.” He suddenly looked toward Lumen, who was standing in the crowd as if it had nothing to do with him. Flame gave a slight nod. “Lumen and I will go.”

Upon hearing this, Lumen only lifted his eyelids to glance at An Yu, saying nothing.

The metallic ornaments around his lips made him seem particularly aloof. These metal pieces allowed the sonic damage he had awakened from a blood finch to travel farther and over a wider area. Flame’s ability, awakened from a black rose, was a form of mental torment that could focus on a single target, plunging it into deep despair.

The two of them also possessed leopard and black tiger genes respectively, so their close-combat skills were not a concern.

An Yu nodded in agreement.

The map of District 34 appeared on the screen again, along with two photographs: one of a crowd of people in agony, and another of a large swarm of water ants.

“Please be aware, due to its unique terrain and climate, District 34 suffers from two waves of plagues and water ant swarms every year, showing clear seasonal characteristics. We are now very close to the next wave of plagues and ant swarms. Please complete the mission as quickly as possible to avoid increasing its complexity.”

“Understood.”