Soaring Through the Skies — A Flying Unit Escort

The Sky Elevator touched down swiftly on the rooftop terrace of the thousand-meter tower.

Lu Yuan and the others stepped out.

When Lin Xixi's group saw Lu Yuan and Amy emerge, they straightened up at once.

"Miss. Mr. Lei."

"Xixi," Amy said, "Lei Feng and I have talked it over — we need to take care of something. You all head back to the Floating City for now. Move around freely."

Lin Xixi blinked, thrown off. A beat of hesitation passed through the group.

"Miss, we don't get to come with you?"

Lin Xixi's gaze slid toward Lu Yuan, a thread of suspicion in it. *Last time, Miss said Mr. Lei had done something improper to her. I can't lower my guard.*

"Mr. Lei," she said evenly, "is there something you couldn't say in front of everyone? Why pull Miss aside?"

Amy stepped in before the staring contest could go any further. "Xixi, don't overthink it. Lei Feng, you had something to tell me? Let's head downstairs."

She turned and looked at Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan nodded. The two of them left the terrace and headed below.

The moment they disappeared through the door, the girls left behind erupted.

"What do you think Mr. Lei is saying to Miss?"

Zhu Yu's eyes were practically alight with gossip. She lowered her voice after a moment: "A confession?"

*Are they all already spinning some grand love story between Mr. Lei and Miss?!*

Lin Xixi pressed a hand to her forehead.

"Zhu Yu! Can you be serious for one second?! What confession?!"

"Well — I mean, Mr. Lei is so handsome, he's strong, his personality is great. If he really did confess, who could hold out? Honestly? Not me."

Silence fell, complete and heavy.

A beat passed.

"Moving in as a live-in son-in-law? Looking for a sugar mama? Miss is the heir to the Algaibi Family, after all — top-tier loaded."

More silence.

"...Having children with Miss?"

The air went dead.

Lin Xixi grabbed Zhu Yu by the head and yanked her cheek hard.

"Ow ow ow — I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Forgive me!!"

*Am I really the only one in this group who cares about Miss's dignity?!*

Alice, dressed in white robes, was mouthing the words *this doesn't seem right* — but her eyes were blazing with excitement that said something completely different.

"Why don't we sneak down and listen in?" Zhu Yu offered eagerly, rubbing her sore cheek.

Several girls perked up at the suggestion.

Lin Xixi crossed her arms and said flatly: "At your cultivation level, you'd be caught the moment you got close. Go ahead and try. And when Miss notices, don't come crying to me."

The excitement deflated. Reluctant looks settled across the group.

"To think we'll never hear what sweet nothings Mr. Lei is whispering to Miss..." Zhu Yu sighed dramatically. "What's the point of life anymore? I'm done. Just end it all."

"......"

*Can she give me five minutes of peace?*

Lin Xixi rubbed her temples.

Downstairs, in the room beneath the terrace, Lu Yuan and Amy had already settled in.

Amy's wide violet eyes fixed on Lu Yuan with open curiosity.

"Lei Feng, what did you want to talk to me about?"

Lu Yuan looked at her. "Here's the thing — I have a way to stop the flying units in the sky from attacking us. We also have Black Bear No. 1. That means we can fly directly between Floating Cities through the air — faster, and with far more to gain. What do you think?"

Amy stared at him. Then her eyes went wide.

"If you really can stop all the flying units from attacking us... we could approach the Floating Cities straight from the air. That's so much more efficient than clearing plazas on foot." The excitement was building in her voice. "We'd gain enormous rewards."

"Is that so?" Lu Yuan smiled.

Amy thought back — to that Transcendent Gene from before.

"Is this... is this the Mechanical Disruption gene? Did you engrave it?"

*Hmm. Mechanical Control is hardly the same thing as Mechanical Disruption.*

"It's not Mechanical Disruption," Lu Yuan said. "Mechanical Disruption couldn't do this."

Amy blinked, curiosity sharpening. "It's not Mechanical Disruption? Then how?"

"Didn't I mention? Extraordinary talent."

"...Fine. If you won't say, you won't say."

She could feel that there had been an unusual Spirit Power fluctuation from Lu Yuan when the flying units departed earlier. Whatever his secret was, she didn't push. He clearly had his own things he kept private.

"As for the plan itself," Lu Yuan continued, "I was thinking just the two of us. We're both Second-rank now — strong enough. Xixi and the others are still First-rank. Bringing them along would only hold us back. As for them, let them return to the Floating City. We cleared the core zone already, but the outer areas are massive. They can keep exploring out there."

Amy nodded. "That works. Besides, Xixi got an Aier Core Fragment and hasn't had the chance to break through yet. Might as well let her go back and do it."

"No problem. Should we go tell them now?"

"Let's go." Amy was already heading for the stairs, barely containing her eagerness. "This is a secret, mind you — but we're about to do something *big.*"

Back up on the rooftop, Lin Xixi and Zhu Yu's group were still trading barbs when Lu Yuan and Amy reappeared. They straightened up immediately.

"Miss. Mr. Lei."

Amy looked at Lin Xixi. "Xixi, we've made up our minds. You all head back to the Floating City — free time, no obligations."

Lin Xixi and the others exchanged glances, visibly caught off guard.

"Miss, you're sure we don't need to come along?"

"That's right," Amy said firmly. "Take care of yourselves in the outer zone."

Lin Xixi shot a last guarded look at Lu Yuan. He caught her eye and felt the corner of his mouth twitch.

"I have legitimate business with Amy. You're not imagining things, are you?"

"What do you mean imagining things? I'm not imagining anything!"

Despite their reluctance, none of them could argue against Amy's decided expression. They gave in, one after another, with resigned nods.

Lu Yuan glanced over at the guilty looks on Lin Xixi's faces. He understood. They were Amy's people, and being told they couldn't help their own mistress weighed on them. But some battles weren't ones they could contribute to — and dragging weaker fighters into a fight only made things harder.

"Mr. Lei, please take care of Miss," Lin Xixi said quietly.

"Don't worry, Xixi. I'll be fine." Amy gave an easy smile. "Let's go."

She and Lu Yuan boarded Black Bear No. 1.

With a flash of black light, the combat shuttle materialized above the terrace — and in the next moment, it launched skyward, tearing away from the Floating City with a **shriek** that split the sky.

On the Floating City plaza below, Lin Xixi's group stared after the retreating shuttle, eyes wide.

"...They flew away? Just like that?!"

Dense clouds of flying units were swarming in from every direction, blotting the air like a locust storm closing in on a single point. The girls' faces went pale.

Then — each approaching unit halted sharply, freezing in place roughly a hundred meters from the shuttle.

A moment of eerie stillness.

Then, over a hundred flying units assembled into tight formation and fell into escort, flanking Black Bear No. 1 on all sides like an honor guard in steel.

Every last one of them was Boss Grade. The five at the front were Chief Grade.

The group came back to their senses — stunned, then electric with excitement.

"Those flying units — are you *seeing* this?! They're surrounding the shuttle like an escort!"

"How are they flying away through all of that?!"

"The other units completely ignored them!"

"How did Miss and Mr. Lei even do that?!"

Everyone was on their feet.

"This has to be that Mechanical Disruption gene, right? Did Miss engrave it?"

Alice's eyes snapped wide — something clicked. She turned to the group, voice hushed.

"I just figured out what Miss and Mr. Lei are planning to do."

Silence.

"...I think I just figured it out too," someone else murmured.

"They're going to fly directly to the other Floating Cities," Alice said. "Beat everyone else there — and take everything before anyone else even gets close."

The words hung in the air. Ice shot down more than one spine.

*Tens of thousands of flying units. All Boss Grade, with Chief Grade at the head. A combined assault from that many — even a Third-rank Battle General would be reduced to ash.*

"The Aier Mechanical Ruins has only been open for five and a half days," Yang Ping breathed, his voice almost reverent. "Not even six. There are still Floating Cities out there no one has touched. And those are going to be their targets."

"This time," Lin Wei said softly, "Miss and Mr. Lei are going to shock everyone."

Inside the Black Bear No. 1 cockpit, Lu Yuan and Amy sat side by side, watching the world outside through the translucent virtual display.

Over a hundred flying units held formation around them, a moving wall of steel shepherding the shuttle forward.

Lu Yuan pushed the throttle. Black Bear No. 1 surged to three times the speed of sound.

The air **screamed** around them, the sound rolling across the iron city far below like a thunderclap.

At the same time, he kept a thread of Spirit Power extended outward — diverting units that tried to intercept along the route, sweeping the path clear before they arrived.

This was the absolute limit of what his Spirit Power could sustain right now.

Black Bear No. 1 pressed on through a sea of flying units, the shuttle and its escort carving a path through the sky, disappearing into the distance.

Somewhere else in the iron city — the plaza of a five-hundred-meter tower.

Yang Ping, Lin Wei, Min'er, and a handful of other young men and women were resting atop the wreckage of fallen Mechanical Guardians, faces pale but eyes bright.

"Three perfect Boss Grade Mechanical Guardians," Yang Ping said, voice still carrying a trace of disbelief. "I can't believe we actually killed all of them. And this is a five-hundred-meter tower — there have to be massive resources inside."

"We owe this to Min'er," someone added. "Without her, we'd never have broken through that Crystal Shield."

Min'er said nothing. She gave a quiet nod.

A handsome blond young man — Zha Bo — sat nearby, his gaze lingering on Min'er as she recovered. Admiration was written plainly across his face.

Lin Wei caught it and smiled. "Zha Bo, Min'er's heart is set on surpassing Lu Yuan. You're wasting your time."

Min'er's brow creased slightly. "Wei Wei, what are you talking about? I just want to beat him."

Zha Bo looked away, saying nothing.

Yang Ping sighed.

"Speaking of which — Yang Ping, who is Lu Yuan teaming up with? He didn't join our group."

Yang Ping smiled ruefully. "Honestly, I have no idea. He didn't say specifically — just that it was a friend he'd made in the Land of Origin."

"If he'd stayed with us," Lin Wei muttered, "clearing towers like this would have been a lot easier."

No one disagreed.

Just then, a piercing shriek split the sky overhead.

Everyone looked up.

Through the gaps between the towers, a diamond-shaped shuttle was streaking past — and surrounding it in every direction, a massive river of flying units flowed alongside, keeping formation, keeping pace.

The group lurched to their feet. Jaws dropped.

*Tens of thousands of them.*

Every face went white, then flushed with staggered excitement.

"That's — is that Miss?!"

Alice stood very still for a moment. Then she said:

"Normally, this would be impossible. The sky is packed with flying units, and almost no one at this stage can fly. But the two of them..." Her voice was quiet, almost awed. "They actually did it."

"The Ruins have only been open five and a half days," Yang Ping said, eyes blazing. "There are still Floating Cities out there no one has touched. And those are all their targets."

"This time," Lin Wei said softly, "Miss and Mr. Lei are going to shake the entire Land of Origin."