Chapter 485: Day 13 into the Alien War Story

Chapter 485: Day Thirteen in the World of the Alien War

An Yi withdrew his gaze and looked at An Cheng beside him.

The boy was looking down at his own hands, lost in thought.

The car drove into the residential complex and stopped in the garage.

An Qionglan, as expected, hadn't returned yet. Aunt Wang opened the door for them.

"She just called—the meeting ran long, and she won't be back until at least nine o'clock," Aunt Wang said as she hung up their backpacks. "You two go ahead and eat dinner first, then do your homework. If you get tired, you can watch some TV."

Aunt Wang made them dinner. An Cheng first served a bowl of soup for An Yi, blew on it to cool it down, and pushed it in front of him. "Careful, it's hot."

Then he picked up the biggest pork rib and placed it in An Yi's bowl. "Eat up—you're still growing."

An Yi looked at the rib coated in shiny red sauce in his bowl, then looked at An Cheng.

An Yi picked up the rib and took a bite.

"It's good," he said.

Then he picked up a rib and placed it in An Cheng's bowl.

"You... brother, you eat too." He hesitated, then tacked on the title.

An Cheng stared at the rib in his bowl, stunned for a moment, then lowered his head and let out a quiet "Mm."

He picked up the rib and ate it, the tips of his ears turning red again.

An Cheng ate his meal in silence, but his heart felt like it had a little bird fluttering inside.

He thought, having a younger brother was wonderful.

He really loved his younger brother.

He would always take care of his younger brother.

Forever.

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Late at night, at eleven o'clock.

Xinglin City was wrapped in a fine drizzle, raindrops tracing silver lines through the streetlight halos.

The light in the second-floor master bedroom of the An house had been off for a while. The whole house had fallen asleep, with only the soft patter of rain against the windows.

An Yi opened his eyes.

He sat up in bed, moving quietly, without a sound.

The light blue blanket slipped off, revealing his simple cotton pajamas.

He padded barefoot to the window and pushed it open—the cool night wind rushed in, damp and stirring the loose strands of hair on his forehead.

Outside, the garden lights blurred into hazy pools through the rain.

The garden stood empty.

An Yi stepped out into the night.

The space under his feet rippled, and a few raindrops falling toward the windowsill oddly changed direction mid-air.

The next moment, he stood in another world.

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The dark red sky had no distinction between day and night.

Time here seemed frozen at the tail end of an eternal dusk. The deep crimson sky hung low, filled with dim light.

An Yi appeared near the lake where he'd fought before.

The lone peak he'd once stomped flat had been rebuilt, and on top of it crouched the familiar giant beast.

The moment An Yi's presence appeared, the beast raised its head warily.

Its vertical pupils, flowing with water, locked onto the figure hovering in mid-air, and a low, warning growl rumbled in its throat.

The roar echoed across the empty lake, sending ripples across the surface.

An Yi paid it no mind.

The beast got angrier.

It climbed down from the peak, its tail slapping the lake it had summoned back, churning up whirlpools.

An Yi hovered in mid-air, closing his eyes slowly.

His spiritual sense spread out like a tide, instantly covering the surrounding area.

Every dust particle in the air, every thread of energy, every tremor in the spatial structure—all appeared clearly in his mind.

He raised his hand, fingers curling as if to grab something.

A small patch of space in front of him was sealed off.

An Yi's mental force probed the sealed space, dissecting and analyzing it thread by thread, sensing the energy structure of this world.

On the surface, it was a highly active energy permeating the air.

Unlike the gentle, orderly spiritual energy of xuanhuan worlds, this one was violent, chaotic, and aggressive.

An Yi opened his eyes and looked at the giant beast watching him warily.

His figure flickered, and the next moment he stood atop the beast's head.

"ROAR—!!!"

The beast was furious. It entered battle mode.

The lake churned, and dozens of rock-and-water pillars shot into the sky!

The beast obediently submitted to An Yi's examination.

It lay back down on the ground, docile, letting An Yi crouch on its head, pressing his fingers into the gaps between the scales on its skull, sending a wisp of spiritual sense inside to carefully feel around.

An aggrieved gurgling sound came from its throat, and its tail slapped the lake water lazily, splashing cold spray.

An Yi perceived carefully as time passed slowly.

After a long period of study, An Yi confirmed that this world's energy was like a living virus—it actively penetrated any matter it touched, trying to alter its internal structure.

Over the past decade, he had brought back no fewer than a thousand species to test in this world—from mammals, birds, and insects of other worlds to fantastical creatures gathered from elsewhere.

The research conclusion was clear.

This energy could seep into living things, trigger mutations at the genetic level, and spark all kinds of extraordinary abilities.

But this process came with a brutal catch—the organism had to be able to withstand the erosion of the energy.

Those that could endure it, even if they had not yet awakened supernatural powers, would gradually get stronger, faster, and live longer.

Those that could not would have their genes fall apart during the energy's infiltration, dying after prolonged agony.

And most creatures from Earth... were in that second group.

An Yi thought back to the original novel.

In the story, the downsides of this energy erosion were barely mentioned.

Maybe the timeline just wasn't long enough.

But one thing was certain: this energy couldn't touch him.

The energy soaking into him left no trace at all.

But that did not stop him from using this energy to train and research new systems of magic.

Over the decade, he had compressed and purified vast amounts of this energy, storing it in the independent space he had carved out—his "hoarding habit" was more than satisfied in this world.

He could also collect some fun stuff in this world.

This world was truly amazing.

An Yi pulled his hand back and patted the great beast's head to calm it down.

The beast snorted out a breath of cold air but did not resist.

It had already figured out that this tiny creature was tough—it couldn't win, and it had lost count of how many beatings it had taken.

It had learned to be smart—wasn't this just a little pat?

Whatever!

An Yi turned and walked into another world.

He pulled out a wild boar from his space—a specimen he had brought back three years ago.

An Yi set it down in the forest. Startled by being dropped into a place that felt both familiar and strange, the boar squealed in panic and tried to run.

But An Yi's spiritual power gently wrapped around it, and it immediately calmed down.

An Yi reached out his hand, pressing his palm against the boar's forehead.

Gentle energy flowed in, while he drew out the wild energy that had already seeped into the boar's body, strand by strand, purifying and compressing it before storing it in his reserve space.

A minute later, the boar looked around in confusion, then at An Yi, and suddenly came over, gently nuzzling his hand with its snout—after the wild energy was drawn out, the gentle residue left inside made it feel comfortable, even a bit dependent.

An Yi smiled, healed it up, and gently pushed it away:

"Go."