Chapter Ninety: The Tenth Level, the Hell of Ice and Frost

The voice of the artificial intelligence urged Liu Shaoyu onward.

Ahead, several gates vanished. Guide lines on the floor lit up, and Liu Shaoyu followed them into the elevator.

Through the transparent glass, he looked out at the scenery. In this place, each level was an absolutely sealed environment. Only upon each advancement could one glimpse the world outside.

The ventilation system inside the elevator drew in fresh air from beyond. Liu Shaoyu took a deep breath.

It was wonderfully refreshing. After Earth’s resources had been depleted, the planet’s natural environment had endured severe trials. Soil erosion and atmospheric pollution had left this blue world scarred and broken.

Back then, Earth’s inhabitants would have gladly worn gas masks every time they stepped outside. Later, the planet’s environment had sunk to the brink of collapse. Then, as humanity’s spacefaring technology improved, and for many other reasons, there finally came a glimmer of hope.

The first wave of interstellar migrants left the world that had birthed and nourished them without a second thought.

They would rather breathe the fresh artificial air of alien worlds than remain on Earth for another day.

Little by little, more and more people joined the exodus. Earth’s permanent population plummeted.

Later still, industry began to relocate en masse, shifting to worlds more suitable for production and closer to sources of raw materials.

And so Earth became, for a time, a forgotten corner. Those who had labored to bring about this outcome were delighted.

At last, Earth began to be refurbished. Without industry and manufacturing, without row upon row of factories, and with fewer people, all of it had been carefully planned.

Once again, Earth was becoming the blue, clean world people remembered, though the process had taken far too long.

Yet now, as the cradle of humanity, Earth was the place with the purest air of all.

At the very least, Liu Shaoyu quite liked this air, carrying the scent of Earth.

By day, sunlight streamed through the elevator and warmed his face.

Lost in thought for a brief moment, he found the elevator had already reached the tenth level.

Liu Shaoyu had already learned that in this place, the tenth level represented a dividing line. Reaching it meant his task had essentially come to an end.

The elevator doors opened, and Liu Shaoyu stepped out.

At the entrance to the transfer area, a staff member was already waiting.

Gravity in the transfer zone matched that of Earth. On the way from the training zone to the transfer zone, gravity would gradually weaken, giving trainees time to adjust. Aside from the trainees, there were no ordinary people in the work area; otherwise, that gravity would turn a normal person into a lump of lifeless flesh. Only robots and trainees were present there.

But the base could not function normally on robots and trainees alone. So staff members were stationed in the transfer zone.

“Hello, Mr. Liu. Welcome to the tenth level, the Frozen Hell. I will now explain the rules to you...”

As on every level, the staff member was a lovely young woman in her early twenties.

Liu Shaoyu listened quietly as she explained things, nodding from time to time to show he understood. He was already used to this.

As for why such an apparently ordinary briefing was not handled by robots... Liu Shaoyu simply took it as the human touch of the Long family. Look at them. So considerate. After grueling training and exhausting advancement, the moment you step out, a lovely girl greets you with a beautiful voice and explains everything. Wasn’t that far more pleasing to the eye than a cold, dry robot?

And why did Liu Shaoyu think that way? There was an old saying: a dragon bears nine sons, and each is different. Look at it this way: the Long family’s ancestor had nine sons... and not one of them was the same kind of creature.

That made it clear enough.

The young woman spoke for about a quarter of an hour. Liu Shaoyu accepted a dark metal badge from her, then removed the one he was wearing and returned it.

Upon closer inspection, the new badge in his hand was identical to the one Long Ruyuan had worn before.

So... Long Ruyuan had already reached the tenth level.

Aside from a few additional reminders that were the same as before, the most important thing in the briefing was this: from the tenth level onward, training would no longer be conducted in a closed environment. Also, starting from this level, all training would no longer be provided free of charge.

Among the personnel here, those sent by the military would, upon reaching the tenth level, either continue training after the military negotiated further arrangements for the particularly outstanding ones, or else be returned to military service.

Another category would go directly into Pangu’s departments to begin missions. The internal missions of Pangu had a point system. These points could be exchanged not only for daily necessities, but also used to purchase training time here.

Then there was a small portion of people who were neither sent by the military nor selected by the civilian martial arts alliance. People like Liu Shaoyu, who had come in through powerful connections, had to pay fees. Liu Shaoyu’s expenses for the previous ten levels had been fully covered by the Long family.

Liu Shaoyu had no idea how Wang Weifu had negotiated with them.

And as for what would happen after the tenth level, he still did not know. Nor had he decided whether he would continue staying here.

Beyond the tenth level, training time was entirely under one’s own control. You could leave, or return at any time, as long as you kept the badge.

The training above the tenth level was in fact very appealing to Liu Shaoyu, because the training below the tenth level was entirely focused on physical conditioning. Only after the tenth level did the true essence of training begin.

S-gene ability training.

The Long family, as the first family to possess S-gene bearers, had, through thousands of years of inheritance, long since developed the most complete and optimal training method for S-gene abilities.

So when it came to S-gene abilities, if the Long family claimed second place, no one would dare claim first.

But... awkwardly enough, Liu Shaoyu still did not know whether he actually possessed an S-gene. And if he did, what kind was it?

“Maybe I should go get tested first,” Liu Shaoyu muttered to himself.

He made up his mind to go for a test later.

He opened his personal communicator and checked the messages from this past stretch of time. Because the signal had been cut off before, there had been no communication inside.

And before coming here, things between him and Shen Qingyi had just become a little closer, and then he had vanished for more than ten days... saying he did not miss her would be a lie.

Sure enough, the message log showed that, besides the fleet handover report sent by Xu Meng, there was a message from the Monkey, and then Shen Qingyi’s texts.

One each in the morning and evening, every day from the very first day.

Liu Shaoyu opened the messages and felt that strange, mysterious sensation, warmth rising in his heart. He had never possessed such a feeling before.

This kind of concern. This kind of bond.

The Monkey must have been informed of his condition by Long Ruyuan, so the message only said that things had been taken care of and asked him to reply after reading it.

That could wait. Liu Shaoyu hurriedly sent a communication request to Shen Qingyi.

After a brief wait, a familiar image appeared on the screen.

Shen Qingyi’s figure suddenly appeared.

Without external equipment, the components of one’s personal computer would construct a lifelike simulated image. The display angle could be chosen according to personal preference.

Liu Shaoyu’s communication image was only a half-body shot.

On the screen, Shen Qingyi was wearing nothing more than a white tube top. Smiling faintly, she was wiping her long hair, which seemed a little damp, with a towel.

...So this is what happens when the relationship gets closer... even the atmosphere changes.

“Huh? You’ve already reached the tenth level?”

A note to readers:

Something came up today, so I’m a bit late.