"What just happened??"
Not long after Xi Tong left, the two brothers finally regained their senses.
Li Tai was stunned. Wasn't he just blocking the doorway? How had he ended up in a different position, and worse, with his arms around Fang Er's?
"Ah... hiss..."
Li Ke frowned immediately, squatting down and cradling his left arm.
His arm had just been dislocated by Fang Er.
Seeing their reactions, Fang Er knew instantly that Xi Tong must have been the one who'd done something to them.
"You two stay here. Don't go anywhere!"
He said coldly to Li Tai.
As he spoke, he turned and walked out of the command center.
"Dean! Is one woman really worth you risking so much?"
Li Tai asked, bewildered.
"Slap!"
Fang Er slapped the crown of his head, then stared into his eyes and said, word by word.
"Remember this! The reason the Great Tang has changed so much is not because of me, but because of her!"
Li Tai was confused. From the time this woman appeared to now, it had been barely a year. What did the changes in the Great Tang have to do with her?
However, seeing Fang Er's serious expression, he didn't dare to say anything else. He steelled himself and said with a calm demeanor.
"If you have to go, I'll go!"
"The Great Tang can do without Li Tai, but it cannot do without the Duke of Anguo!"
Without waiting for Fang Er to refuse, he immediately strode out.
"Get back here, you idiot!"
"It's not your place to be a hero here!"
Fang Er reached him first, kicking him back.
Then, he slammed the command center door shut and blocked it from the outside with a Caterpillar tractor.
Over at the electrical field matrix, tens of thousands of photon generators were running simultaneously, madly siphoning off all visible light.
An immeasurable darkness enveloped every generator, a darkness so profound that one couldn't see their hand in front of their face!
The edges of this darkness were expanding at a visible rate.
Gradually, the patches of darkness connected, and the entire electrical field matrix seemed to vanish from the world!
Neither by sight nor by divine sense could any evidence of their existence in this world be found!
Only the pyramid built from gold bricks remained!
Thick cables, as thick as bowls, converged from all directions, channeling terrifying amounts of electricity to the apex of the pyramid. Through a special device, it was connected to the energy block.
At this moment, the energy block was undergoing an astonishing transformation.
It rose into the air, detaching from the recess at the pyramid's apex, spinning madly amidst dense arcs of electricity.
Below, the golden pyramid was collapsing at a visible rate!
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
"..........."
With every few rotations, a chilling wave emanated from the energy block!
Even space itself trembled, exhibiting visible distortions!
Ripples of space, like waves on water, swept out in all directions!
"Rumble..........."
Further away, countless birds and beasts fled the area in a frenzy, as if some earth-shattering disaster was about to descend.
"Crack!"
In broad daylight, a bolt of lightning suddenly struck from the sky, heading directly for the energy block.
Fang Er, who had just rushed out of the command center, gazed at the scene from afar, utterly astonished!
This spectacle was just like a scene from a novel, where a master was undergoing tribulation!
But Xi Tong had no time to consider any of this. She was moving rapidly towards the golden pyramid without pause.
The energy block must not be harmed!
Today, they would either open the world barrier!
Or, she would fight to the death to protect the energy block!
Thunderbolts as thick as barrels continued to descend from the sky. The entire golden pyramid was enveloped in endless arcs of light!
Xi Tong gritted her teeth and charged directly into the dense arcs of electricity!
"Crack......... zap!"
The arcs struck her body, but were blocked by her Dragon Scale Armor.
Dragon scales, insulated!
However, the force behind the electric arcs caused her to stagger violently in mid-air, almost falling from her Dragon Scale Sword.
"Zap!"
"Zap!"
"Zap!"
"..........."
The electric arcs rained down like projectiles, showing no sign of stopping.
By the time Xi Tong stood on the golden pyramid, her face had become as pale as paper, with blood seeping from her lips, nostrils, and ears.
Yet, she seemed oblivious, standing there rigidly, her gaze fixed on the spinning energy block above the pyramid.
Time ticked by. Fang Er, who had rushed out of the command center, missed the moment Xi Tong charged in.
When he arrived near the matrix, Xi Tong's figure had already vanished.
Before his eyes, there was only the matrix, dark as the deepest night, and the boundless lightning!
The golden pyramid was completely shrouded in lightning, and he had no way of knowing anything within the electrical storm.
"Xi Tong!"
"You prodigal woman, get out here!"
The scene before him drove Fang Er to the brink of madness.
He could not accept the consequences of Xi Tong's departure!
In the years since arriving in the Great Tang, he had become accustomed to the system that always referred to itself as "Mom."
At this moment, he felt an boundless sense of dread!
He shouted internally, but received no response!
His ability to communicate mentally with the system within three hundred meters seemed to have vanished!
"Rumble!"
A deafening, earth-shattering sound suddenly erupted from within the lightning. Fang Er's heart lurched.
The next second, a massive shockwave erupted from the lightning-covered pyramid, crashing into everything around it like a tsunami!
"Hmph!"
Caught off guard, Fang Er was sent flying.
His body, like a small boat in a raging sea, tumbled rapidly through the air and was hurled into the distance.
"Bang!"
After flying for hundreds of meters, his body landed in the desert like a broken sack!
The moment he hit the ground, he saw Xi Tong's figure also being flung out!
"Sister Tong!"
With a weak cry of these two words, he lost all consciousness and collapsed, fainted.
In this situation, not dying outright was already a stroke of immense luck!
And Xi Tong's condition was ten thousand times worse than his!
The Dragon Scale Armor she wore was in tatters, and her Dragon Scale Sword had completely vanished!
"Bang!"
Her body landed not far from Fang Er. A large amount of blood flowed from her eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, staining the sand beneath her.
At the same time, within the lightning, the golden pyramid had disappeared, as had the energy block that had been spinning in the air.
In its place, a black dot was gradually expanding!
It seemed the channel was about to open.
But the people who were to pass through it were all in an uncertain state of life and death!