Chapter 887: Hong Tianqi's Messages

After Yang Ze consumed the newest restorative potions from the Yeluo chieftain, he immediately praised them. "I can feel my wounds healing already—no, I think I can even head to the battlefield at this point!"

Zhang Lie was suitably impressed. "I'm surprised the effects are so obvious and immediate, myself. Hold on and let the potion heal you fully. I'll have to contact the others."

Yang Ze obediently lay back down as Zhang Lie shattered space and vanished from sight. When he told them about what was going on in Mars, everyone in Team Zenith decided to go.

Once the members of Team Zenith returned to Earth, the plans for invasion would certainly have to be scrapped, and there might even be retaliation for what the draconians had done.

With another teleport, Zhang Lie headed toward the warlords who had accompanied him. He instructed them to hunker down, to stop any expansion, and to patrol the outer limits of the draconian territory.

After everything was settled, he and the other members of Team Zenith returned to Earth.

The first thing Zhang Lie did was to look at his transceiver and see who had contacted him. There were many such people, some from the limit fragment research society, some from the major clans of the Milky Way, and others who were all famous or renowned for one reason or another.

Who knew how they had obtained his private number? This was an old number that Zhang Lie had given out freely, though. Given these organizations' reach, he expected it would be rather trivial for them to contact him.

Most of the messages were sent via text—and among them, the most recent were all from Hong Tianqi. The messages had begun a few weeks ago and were sent once every couple of days. Over the last three days, however, Hong Tianqi had sent him a message once every hour, as though there were something truly urgent.

Zhang Lie called Hong Tianqi on his private number, but Hong Tianqi didn't respond immediately—likely he was busy in a meeting or other duties that took up his time. Zhang Lie had a bath, then contacted the members of Team Zenith.

All but Yang Ze had already left the third realm. Yang Ze had yet to recover fully, and he would make use of the time difference between the third realm and the Milky Way to recuperate before joining them.

Once they were ready to set off to Mars, they would inform Yang Ze.

Almost immediately after speaking with the members of Team Zenith, Hong Tianqi called him.

"Presiding Authority Hong, what may I do for you?"

Hong Tianqi was seated in front of an elegant redwood table, both his hands propping up his jaw. "King of Limit, there's a task with which I urgently need your help."

Zhang Lie and Hong Tianqi looked at each other for a moment, and then both parties began to laugh.

Zhang Lie asked, "And what may I, the king of Limit, do for the presiding authority of the world federation? If it's about disaster gene fragments, there's nothing I can do."

"Enough with the titles! Zhang Lie, to be honest, there's nothing I can do by myself. I need your help."

"It's very difficult for me to refuse you, Hong Tianqi." While he was weak, Zhang Lie had received quite a few favors from Hong Tianqi, and it seemed as though he would be calling them in now.

Hong Tianqi replied, "I don't think you have any reason to refuse. Are you aware of what's going on on Mars?"

Zhang Lie was a little nonplussed. He had just heard about the situation from Yang Ze; and now here was Hong Tianqi, reaching out.

"A little. Mars is being invaded by an unprecedented swarm of space bugs, isn't it?"

Such invasions were frequent as far as stellar and galactic disasters went. Other such disasters involved the formation of black holes, supernova explosions, solar flares, and so on.

Out in the void of space lived a particularly terrifying race of space bugs. When the swarm descended on a planet teeming with life, it would consume all that lifeforce, then lay eggs within the smoking ruins to give birth to even more of their kind. Subsequently, these bugs would fly to nearby worlds and extinguish all bugs there too.

These space bugs were vermin—only waste and desolation followed in their wake. They didn't know how to create, only to destroy.

Such bugs were relatively common in the galaxy, but the swarms varied in size. Earth had been struck by a smaller invasion of bugs, and Zhang Lie and the other members of Team Zenith had gained a bit of fame from participating in one of those battles.

If small-scale invasions were handled poorly, they could very well lead to the destruction of the entire planet. Large-scale invasions were far harder to quell. The outbreak of space bugs on Mars was undoubtedly an example of a large-scale invasion.

Hong Tianqi nodded. "It's good that you're aware. I'd like to employ the Zenith Dojo to provide aid to Mars, and the forces sent to Mars have to include you."

"If you don't mind my asking, why aren't you there helping out at the scene yourself? There are at least a billion people on Mars, and millions of people are getting hurt with every passing day."

Hong Tianqi sighed. "My position comes with its own frustrations."

"And yet the previous authority seemed to have plenty of time to spare to embroil me in his schemes..."

"The situation is different. The world federation has just been reconstructed anew, and I simply can't take time off at the moment. Furthermore, I suspect that this disaster has been orchestrated by a mastermind."

"On what grounds?"

"The invasion was simply too sudden. Large-scale invasions should have been detected well in advance, with sufficient time for the Martians to evacuate. However, the detection was five hours late."

Five hours might not seem like much, but every second mattered in the face of impending disaster.

Hong Tianqi continued with certainty, "Now isn't the time to try to push the blame around, but I believe that the invasion was caused by those who don't want to see humanity prosper."

"Who do you think is culpable?"

"I don't know. There are simply too many suspects," Hong Tianqi replied with some exasperation. "Now that humanity is thriving, its detractors have gone silent, and it's even harder to find any schemers concocting their plans in hiding."

Ever since Zhang Lie's appearance, the rate at which humanity was growing had risen dramatically. Half the galaxy's stock of ingredients for concocting limit-breaking potions was supplied by Earth, and Hong Tianqi, a human, had become the highest authority of the world federation.

In the second realm, Zhang Lie had founded the kingdom of Limit, and he looked to be doing the same in the third realm as well.

Humanity's achievements had shaken the galaxy, sparking envy and jealousy from the countless races of the Milky Way—and those who couldn't bear to see humanity succeed.

No one dared to set their sights on Earth, where the Zenith Dojo was situated, and whose protector was Hong Tianqi. On the other hand, Mars, likewise populated by humans, was relatively undefended...