Chapter 181 Phantom City

Everyone crowded around the nearest porthole, looking out in astonishment. Less than a few dozen kilometers from the flying formation, a gigantic shadow was floating – the Demon King City. The black city, which should have been docked near the southern coastline of the continent, was now floating at the edge of the atmosphere. No one knew when it had flown here.

Elizabeth squinted at the city, then suddenly exclaimed, "The dome shield isn't open!"

Hao Ren was immediately alarmed. At this altitude, the atmosphere was extremely thin, only one step away from space. If the Demon King City didn't open its shield, it would be the same as floating in outer space, and very few of the city's residents could survive in a vacuum. A lightning-fast thought flashed through everyone's mind: Had something happened to the Demon King City?!

"Quick, call the airship control room," Izhaks said immediately. But even before he finished speaking, the door to the VIP cabin slid open silently, and several elven magisters rushed in with hurried expressions. "Sun King, the Demon King City is floating near the flight path…"

Hao Ren was stunned for a moment before realizing that "Sun King" referred to him, but this wasn't the time to dwell on titles. He quickly asked, "How did the Demon King City get here? Did you receive any notification?"

"No, we contacted the Demon King City's air traffic control tower before the airship took off, and everything seemed normal there," the lead elven magister said nervously. "Should we change course and go check things out?"

Hao Ren almost jumped up. "Is that even a question? Of course, we should go take a look!"

The escorting elven cruisers immediately changed course and approached the Demon King City. The massive airship also switched to low-speed mode a few seconds later, slowly approaching the black, eerie floating city. The cruisers flying in the lead circled the Demon King City a few times from a distance of a few kilometers, sending out a series of communication signals, but there was no response.

"I feel like something's weird about that city," Hao Ren suddenly said, feeling that the outline of the Demon King City was oddly out of place. After a moment's thought, he realized what it was. The sun was rising from the other side of the horizon, and the Demon King City was being illuminated, but the reflections on the city were blurry, and the edges of the city had a strange, semi-transparent appearance. Soon, news from the vanguard cruisers confirmed his feeling. An observer reported, "We have entered the outer perimeter of the city. It's a phantom."

"A phantom?" Nangong Sanba was surprised to hear this. "Are mirages on alien planets this advanced?"

"Don't be ridiculous. Mirages don't look like this," May, the snake, who occupied three seats all by herself, coiled on the seat and hissed at her brother. "Maybe the Demon King City is researching high-tech stuff again. It's a projection technique."

Elizabeth stood on the seat, looking at the phantom city outside. "I don't remember the city having this kind of projection technology."

The elven cruisers carefully entered the "city" floating at the top of the atmosphere and circled among the looming spires and towers. After actual contact, they were completely certain that the entire city was a highly realistic image of some kind. But this phantom was far more realistic than a mirage. Except for the strange feeling it gave off in the sunlight, it was almost identical to a real city—they even saw figures of residents on the city streets.

If this was a natural phenomenon, then it could only be said that Raven 12345 was definitely drunk when she created this planet.

Hao Ren told the airship and escort squadron to return to their original route. Whatever the situation, he could ask Lanina about it when he saw her, and that would clear everything up.

The rest of the journey was at full speed. The airship quickly arrived at the southern coastline of the continent. Everyone saw that the real Demon King City was indeed docked as usual in the offshore area. The black giant city had been fixed to the coastal continental shelf. The magisters had raised a huge stone beam from the seabed to connect the city and the coastline, and at the coastline end of the long bridge, they could see a small town under construction—some of the residents of the Demon King City were transferring to the mainland, and they planned to build their first native city at the other end of the cross-sea bridge.

Everything seemed normal, and there was no sign that the city had encountered any unrest.

Not far from the Long Bridge New Town was the Aerym elves' air traffic control tower. Hao Ren saw a few golden characters on the huge square: Demon King City North Station. He immediately felt that the style of the entire city had been lowered…

Izhaks' old subordinates had heard that their boss was visiting, and a group of "people" were waiting in the square, looking like a welcoming party. As soon as Hao Ren and the others stepped off the gangway, Lanina came up to greet them. "Your Majesty, it's been a long time. I'm very glad you could come."

Elizabeth rushed up, grabbing Lanina's demon horns and shaking them vigorously. "Me too, me too!"

"Yes, yes, and Princess Elizabeth, whom I haven't seen in a long time…" Lanina smiled, picking up Elizabeth and stroking the little girl's decorative little horns. "You're almost a full-fledged demon. You won't be able to act so spoiled after the seventh ring grows on your horns."

Izhaks pulled his daughter back and asked directly, "Anything unusual in the city recently?"

"Everything is as usual," Lanina nodded, but she noticed that Izhaks and Hao Ren both looked very serious. "What's wrong?"

"We found a phantom of the Demon King City at the top of the atmosphere," Hao Ren simply told her about the strange phenomenon he had seen earlier. "Have you been researching anything similar recently? Like a mirage system or something…"

Lanina didn't expect him to mention this as soon as they met. She was stunned for a moment before realizing what he meant. "No… We've been busy building the new city and developing the wasteland recently. Almost all of our manpower has been used in those areas."

"Could it really be a natural phenomenon?" Izhaks frowned and looked at Hao Ren. "Should we ask the Goddess?"

Hao Ren hesitated. He really didn't want to bother that crazy woman with these messy things, especially since she seemed to have a bad habit of "giving people blessings" recently. But after hesitating, he had no choice but to connect to the Heavenly Hotline. After all, only Raven 12345 knew the situation on this planet.

The Goddess's voice was as strong as ever, and she seemed to be in a bad mood. "Which one is it? What do you want? Those seeking immortality, don't bother. Those seeking wealth, get lost. Those seeking children, go see a doctor. Those seeking world peace, go back and read the Bible again…"

Hao Ren coughed a few times. "Cough cough, it's me… Are you being bothered by prayers again?"

"Oh, Hao Ren," Raven 12345's tone improved. "It's nothing. It's just that the Pope held a 'Celebrating God's 3000th Anniversary on the Job Prayer Extravaganza' a few days ago, and I was annoyed by those wild and imaginative guys. Never mind about my problems. What's wrong with you?"

Hao Ren carefully told her about the strange phenomenon in New Aerym and then asked, "Is this a natural phenomenon? Or is it an Easter egg you left on this planet back then?"

Raven 12345 immediately shouted back, "Easter egg my ass! Do you think Genesis is a joke? The natural laws of the entire universe are the same. There are no Easter eggs in this area. Go check the Demon King City for any messy stuff, like an extra-large holographic projector or something. That's all. I'm hanging up."

The communication was cut off. Hao Ren turned to look at his companions, who were all looking at him expectantly, and shrugged. "It's not a natural phenomenon. The Goddess suggests we check the city."

Izhaks frowned and thought for a long time, then suddenly remembered something. He took the lead and walked forward. "Let's go to the power core."

The others quickly followed. Hao Ren asked, "Do you suspect there's a problem with the power core?"

"I'm familiar with everything in the city except for one thing," Izhaks said quickly. "The core of the power furnace is part of the First Born's remains. Only it is unknown."

Izhaks strode forward, one step covering the distance of two of someone else's. The little girl, Elizabeth, was hurrying behind him, her short legs barely keeping up. The little girl was getting anxious. "Dad, wait… Slow down…"

In the end, the little girl had no choice but to pull out a grappling hook from her pocket and throw it at Izhaks. Then, she expertly grabbed the rope and climbed onto her father's shoulder. "Phew… Dad, you walk too fast."

This father and daughter's way of getting along was always so unexpected.

Soon, the group arrived at the power core deep beneath the Demon King City and met the Spiritual technicians who were in charge of operating the equipment. Izhaks waved to interrupt their salute. "Don't bother with the formalities. Is there a problem with the power core?"

"The power core is normal, but starting an hour ago, its core has been emitting some kind of signal."

Everyone looked at each other: This was definitely a problem!

Izhaks took a breath. "I knew it wasn't safe to use that thing."