A hazy, pure moonlight-like glow suddenly enveloped Wang Lan. Then, the light morphed into a beam, connecting to the wounded Tianjian Bureau agent like a lifeline. Almost instantly, the agent felt a change in his body. He stared at Wang Lan with a shocked expression, "You... you’re a Medical Attribute Star Martial Warrior?" SWOOSH, SWOOSH, SWOOSH— Several figures flashed and landed beside Wang Lan and Cai Jianjun. "Old Cai, are you okay?" "Director Ming, quickly, get to Dock Seventeen! Someone is smuggling a large number of Space Stones." "How are you?" Cai Jianjun asked. "I’m fine. This brother’s medical skill is very strong; my injuries are no longer serious." Ming Baiye turned his head to look at Wang Lan as the light around Wang Lan dissipated. Seeing Ming Baiye’s colonel rank, Wang Lan immediately stood at attention and saluted, "Wang Lan, Senior Special Agent of the Suzhou City Tianjian Bureau Intelligence Department, reporting to the commanding officer!" "Oh? So you’re that mascot from Suzhou City, huh? I’ve heard of you," Ming Baiye said. "There’s no time to delay. We’re heading to Dock Seventeen immediately. Young man, you come with us." The group sped towards their destination. Since they had arrived in a hurry, few had vehicles, so most were running on foot. But one shouldn’t underestimate the legs of a Star Martial Warrior; at full speed, they were no slower than a car. In less than ten minutes, they arrived at the silent Dock Seventeen. Dock Seventeen was still under construction. Construction began in 2016 and was expected to be completed in 2026. Temporary warehouses were available for rent outside the dock. Dock Seventeen was enormous. Without Cai Jianjun’s guidance, finding the Space Stone smugglers would have been quite difficult. Dozens of Tianjian Bureau agents cautiously approached the target warehouse. The black warehouse subtly distorted in the moonlit night, its silence pierced only by the noise from a distant construction site. Cai Jianjun explained, "I had just investigated this place when they discovered me. Then, I was chased by four squads of experts. I killed three along the way but was also seriously injured. If Brother Wang Lan hadn’t arrived and scared them off, I might have been done for. But I’ve been exposed. They might be alert by now and could have already moved the goods." "No!" Ming Baiye suddenly halted and shouted, "The distortion of the warehouse ahead is a bit too severe." The moment Ming Baiye spoke, Wang Lan also realized it. The warehouse, shrouded in the moonlit mist, seemed unnaturally twisted, like chopsticks refracted on the water’s surface. Just as Ming Baiye finished speaking, the space before them suddenly rippled. The warehouse contorted as though violently twisted by someone into a bizarre shape. "Damn it!" Ming Baiye cursed. "Those bastards! They’ve activated the Space Stone and opened a Different Dimensional Space!" A savage beast with a head like a Winged Dragon protruded from the shimmering ripples and let out a piercing roar at Wang Lan and the others. Ming Baiye extended a finger, and a bolt of lightning instantly exploded the beast’s head. "Roar at your mother! Go! Close this Different Dimensional Space!" Wang Lan had never seen a Different Dimensional Space opened so abruptly. When Ming Baiye gave the order, he charged towards the Different Dimensional Space along with dozens of others. It felt like passing through a curtain of water or jumping into water itself. One moment they were in the outside world, and the next, they had entered the Different Dimensional Space. Inside was a mountainous spatial world. The sky was gray-white, without a sun, yet it was illuminated. In the distance, dense swarms of Exotic Beasts were converging towards the entrance. "Good, they’re all Star Shine Stage Exotic Beasts," Ming Baiye said, sighing with relief when he saw these beasts with leopard-like bodies and Winged Dragon-like heads. "Engage in team combat! Close the Different Dimensional Space as quickly as possible!" The Modu City Tianjian Bureau agents were all battle-hardened warriors. They needed only the command for team combat to coordinate flawlessly. But Wang Lan, a newcomer, suddenly found himself awkwardly alone. "Wang Lan, I’ve heard about your medical abilities. You take care of support and healing," Ming Baiye said, immediately noticing Wang Lan’s predicament. The battle began. Instantly, the Modu City Tianjian Bureau agents unleashed their powerful offensive capabilities. In five areas, terrifying area-of-effect Star Martial Skills wreaked havoc, engulfing thousands of densely packed Exotic Beasts in a moment. Such magnificent scenes of combat, rarely seen in one-on-one battles, roused Wang Lan’s fighting spirit. After thirty seconds of continuous damage output, the distant Exotic Beasts halted their charge, roaring as they gathered just beyond the range of the Tianjian Bureau’s Star Martial Skills. As the dust from the Tianjian Bureau’s Star Martial Skills began to settle, the Exotic Beasts suddenly opened their mouths. Countless, densely packed wind blades rained down on the Tianjian Bureau agents like a storm of bullets. Individual wind blades wouldn’t have been very powerful, nor would the spectacle be as striking. But thousands of wind blades descending like a deluge was terrifying to witness firsthand. "Extreme Wall of Water!" Ming Baiye roared. Instantly, five Star Martial Warriors lined up with him and summoned a water wall before them, blocking the dense onslaught of wind blades. With another roar, some of the Exotic Beasts in front charged at them again, while those behind provided cover with wind blade attacks. This classic human-devised tactic was being executed instinctively by the beasts. "Kill—!" Facing the Exotic Beasts, the Tianjian Bureau agents fearlessly charged forward. "Everyone, spread out—!" Wang Lan roared. After finding a solid position, he instantly squatted and slapped the ground with one palm. "Earth Surge Fire Sea!" Even on the ground that had just been doused with water, intense flames burst forth in an instant. This time, Wang Lan held nothing back, unleashing his ultimate move. The surging fire was not like a wildfire spreading across a prairie but like a roiling sea of flames. Before their eyes, a ten-meter-high wave of fire rolled forward. The rapidly charging Exotic Beasts crashed headlong into the sea of fire, their flesh visibly disintegrating into charred remains within the flames. The Tianjian Bureau agents cried out in unison. With this single move, Wang Lan had directly annihilated hundreds of the charging Exotic Beasts. The results were so substantial that even Ming Baiye wore an incredulous expression. "Who would’ve thought Brother Wang Lan wasn’t just a Medical Attribute Star Martial Warrior?" Cai Jianjun exclaimed, his face a mask of astonishment. "Damn it, when did medical types start hitting harder than us?" "Impressive! An S-class Star Martial Skill, just like that?" another agent remarked. "With this kind of skill, we have nothing to worry about. Brother Wang Lan, you lead the way! Let’s head straight to the space node!" In a Different Dimensional Space, mana was probably the one thing they wouldn’t run out of. An S-class Star Martial Skill had emptied Wang Lan’s mana bar, but killing several hundred Exotic Beasts yielded enough Soul Beads to refill his mana seven or eight times over. With everyone’s help, Wang Lan quickly collected the Soul Beads. As his mana bar refilled, he also gained several hundred skill points. How delightful! The Exotic Beasts in this space were all wind-attributed, which Wang Lan perfectly countered. Coupled with his own considerable strength, Wang Lan, frankly, felt no danger in this Different Dimensional Space. With Wang Lan clearing the path, Ming Baiye slaying the more powerful individual Exotic Beasts, and dozens of people forming a spearhead formation to charge forward, it took less than an hour for the group to reach the space node. It was Wang Lan’s first time seeing a space node. It looked like a cluster of crystal vines emitting a blue glow. Starlight-like dust occasionally drifted down from the vines. "Director Ming, is this the space node? What exactly is it?" Wang Lan asked. Nᴇw ɴovel chaptᴇrs are published on 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵⁂𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮⁂𝓷𝓮𝓽 "I don’t know what it actually is either. All we need to know is that it’s a space node," Ming Baiye replied. "Many scientists are researching what space nodes really are, but we just need to know that shattering the space node will cause the Different Dimensional Space to collapse." As he spoke, his Star Power flared, and he struck the space node with a thunderous punch. With a crisp sound, the blue gemstone at the center of the space node instantly fractured like shattered glass. "Why not use a Star Martial Skill?" Wang Lan asked. "Space nodes are very peculiar. No Star Martial Skill can destroy them, yet they are inherently fragile. A force of over five tons is enough to shatter it." Saying this, Ming Baiye threw another punch. With this punch, the entire space seemed to tremble violently. The space node before them suddenly spiderwebbed with cracks. Fragments broke off, only to dissipate in mid-air. A hazy white light spilled out from the space node, instantly sweeping over Wang Lan’s body. "System Alert: Compulsory loadable energy detected. Load now?" Huh? Wang Lan’s heart skipped a beat. What was that compulsory load last time? Phoenix Form, right? "System: Scanning compulsory load container. Loadable energy: Phoenix Form. Expend skill points to load?" What a pointless question! Instantly, the skill points on his system interface began to decrease rapidly, as if being devoured, at a rate of ten per second. Wang Lan couldn’t have stopped it even if he’d wanted to. "System: Load complete—" In less than three seconds, over forty skill points were gone. But... wasn’t that a bit too fast? As the loading finished, the space node before them completely vanished. Then, the entire space began to distort, gradually becoming hazy. "Retreat, quickly! The space is about to collapse!" Ming Baiye shouted. The Tianjian Bureau agents instantly rushed towards the exit. At the exit, they met up with the agents who had been guarding the entrance to the Different Dimensional Space. The group streamed out of the Different Dimensional Space in single file. Looking back at the warehouse, they saw it gradually wink out like a twisting flame as it distorted. In this battle, they had killed nearly five thousand Exotic Beasts. Wang Lan had received 20,000 experience points and 700 skill points. These experience points were only a tenth of the 200,000 needed to level up. However, the rewards were proportional to the effort. The Star Power he had consumed was replenished by the Soul Beads, and the fight hadn’t taken much time. "Allow me to formally introduce myself again," Ming Baiye said. "I am Ming Baiye, Director of the Action Department of the Modu City Tianjian Bureau. Wang Lan, you’re affiliated with the Suzhou City Tianjian Bureau, right? Now that you’re here in Modu City and will be studying here for four years, why not affiliate with the Modu City Tianjian Bureau?" "So... am I switching sides?" Wang Lan asked. "Not exactly. It’s just a temporary affiliation. Your official post will remain with the Suzhou City Bureau." I don’t even have an official post in Suzhou City yet, Wang Lan grumbled inwardly. Then, showing a polite expression to Ming Baiye, he said, "Director Ming, perhaps you shouldn’t call me ’young brother’ anymore. Ming Guodong and I are roommates." "Oh? What a coincidence!" Ming Baiye exclaimed. "Then just call me Mr. Ming, or Uncle Ye if you like. Come on, let’s head back to the Bureau."