Chapter 1 The Unexpected Situation

It was fortunate that Hao Ren and the others arrived when they did, as the problem with the "Firstborn's Remains," the power core of the Devil City, had only occurred an hour earlier. However, the personnel managing the power core didn't think the situation was serious: it was merely emitting some signals that were weak and harmless to humans and animals. Moreover, these signals hadn't caused any magical fluctuations within a hundred miles. Therefore, after detecting the signals, the power core technicians only reported them to their technical supervisor, without raising any higher-level alarm.

If Hao Ren and the others hadn't seen the phantom of the Devil City floating in the atmosphere when they descended from the sky, probably no one would have suspected anything was wrong deep within the city, let alone associate the anomaly with the energy core.

The circular hall where the energy furnace was installed was as brightly lit as ever, and the power core was rumbling. In the center of the energy extractor, which consisted of multiple concentric circles, the blood-red "seed" was emitting rhythmic light, pulsating slightly as the energy extractor rotated. The technicians stood in a circle around the circular platform, cautiously observing this large piece of equipment that even its creators didn't dare claim to fully understand, recording its latest strange readings.

Elizabeth produced a square alchemical device from who-knows-where and was shining it around the energy core. The device emitted noises like radio static. The little girl said professionally, "There's interference, oh, there's really interference."

Hao Ren nudged the data terminal on his shoulder, "Can you detect anything?"

"This thing is emitting electromagnetic waves, somewhat similar to brainwave activity," the data terminal projected a blue light, pointing to the red sphere in the center of the reactor. "Environmental restrictions, can't be sure if it's related to the aerial projection, but it definitely has a problem, and the electromagnetic waves are getting stronger."

Seeing Izhaks' serious expression, the spirit technicians became nervous. "Your Majesty, is the core's problem very serious?"

"Can't guarantee it yet, but using this thing as a power core is definitely not safe..." Izhaks turned his head. "Does the city still have to use this power core to provide energy? Don't we have other energy sources?"

"The city doesn't need to fly at the moment, and the biggest energy-consuming unit is shut down, so the magic reactor we used before is enough," a spirit technician replied. "It's just that this power core has more power, and it hasn't had any problems before, so we've been using it until today."

Izhaks weighed it for a moment and consulted other technicians about some details, then turned to Lanina. "Go connect the original reactor. We'll temporarily cut off this core and see what happens."

Hao Ren also patted the data terminal's shell. "You fly above the atmosphere and keep an eye on that phantom Devil City."

The data terminal said "okay" and disappeared into the air as a blue light. The power core technicians immediately busied themselves under Lanina's command.

The Devil City had two power systems. The one Hao Ren and the others were looking at was actually newly built. It was only activated after the city was swallowed by a space storm and fell into another dimension. Its main purpose was to collect energy from the "seed" left by the Firstborn. Above this hall, there was an old power furnace, built during Izhaks' reign, which could also provide energy for the entire city. However, it had been temporarily sealed because its power was not enough to activate the city's flight function. Now that the Devil City had landed on the planet's surface, there was actually no difference in using either of the two power furnaces.

Hao Ren couldn't understand what those technicians were doing. He only saw the neat lines of runes on the hall floor shifting, rearranging into a closed array, while the energy extractor in the center of the hall slowly quieted down. Several concentric rings stopped rotating in a certain order, eventually settling steadily into the recesses directly below.

The red "seed" was suspended in place by anti-gravity magic. After losing the catalysis of the energy extractor, the red light on its surface gradually dimmed, and the strange humming sound finally stopped.

A few seconds later, the data terminal sent a message: the Devil City projection above the atmosphere had disappeared.

"It seems this thing really caused it," Izhaks looked at the sphere in disbelief. "What exactly... is it doing?"

"Before we answer that question, we must first understand what it is," Nangong Wuyue twisted her body and came to the sphere. After carefully approaching, she observed the patterns on it, trying to see the movements inside through its translucent skin. "We guessed this was the seed left after the Firstborn died, right... but do things like the Firstborn really have seeds?"

As the siren girl spoke, Hao Ren also muttered to himself: that's right, although the Firstborn thing has a bit of plant meaning, does it really have seeds?

Lily thought hard for a long time, then suddenly remembered something: "Hey, that's right, Landlord, we've already seen the tentacle monster of Tanagoth, it was also withered, and we didn't find any seeds on that planet, did we?"

Hao Ren shrugged. "But we didn't look carefully back then, who knows if there might be a seed buried in some corner."

At this moment, a blue light flashed beside Hao Ren, and the data terminal teleported back from the edge of the atmosphere. It lay on Hao Ren's shoulder and said in an expert's tone, "In short, this thing is very suspicious. We only scanned the structure inside the sphere back then, and didn't study it in depth. Now, this unit recommends immediately stopping this reactor and transporting the existing two big red balls back for further study..."

Hao Ren: "What the heck are big red balls?"

"Just get the spirit," the data terminal bumped Hao Ren's head. "With your own naming abilities, you should just listen honestly in this situation."

Hao Ren was speechless.

The "Firstborn's Seed" used as the power core obviously had a problem, so no one intended to continue using this reactor. Lanina immediately ordered that another spare core—the "big red ball" in the data terminal's words—be checked as well, preparing to hand it over to Hao Ren. Hao Ren was quite moved: sure enough, nothing related to the Firstborn was easy to deal with. He originally thought it was a dead seed, but it was actually trying to scare people. Fortunately, it was discovered early, otherwise who knows how much trouble this thing could cause.

Izhaks also nervously asked if the reactor had had any problems in the past. He was relieved to hear that everything was normal, and decided that he should never use miscellaneous brand batteries of unknown origin again.

After a busy period, Hao Ren stared blankly at the two red balls placed side by side in front of him. "Are you sure you want me to put this thing in my personal space?"

The data terminal flew around Hao Ren's head. "Just put it in, what are you worried about going wrong in such a safe place as your personal space? And it's not like you're just throwing it in, there's a storage box outside."

Hao Ren felt a chill in his heart when he looked at these two spheres. "... To be honest, I have a psychological shadow about the Firstborn, and I don't want to touch anything related to them at all!"

The data terminal hummed. "Why are you tangled up in this? It's just two balls that emit radio waves, are you afraid of balls?"

Hao Ren thought about it and reluctantly took out two large storage boxes, directing the autonomous machinery to put the two "Firstborn's Seeds" (suspected) into his personal space, preparing for future research.

After finishing these things, he also asked Lanina, who was standing next to him, with concern, "Will your city have power outages after leaving these two energy cores?"

Lanina was stunned for a moment before realizing what a power outage meant. The succubus showed a charming smile (unconsciously). "It's okay, as long as we don't activate the flight function, the city has enough energy to use."

Hao Ren nodded and added, "In the future, unless necessary, don't pick up batteries of unknown origin and use them randomly."

Lanina: "..."

Izhaks scratched his head. "I was just about to say that."

After temporarily resolving this unexpected situation, Izhaks and Elizabeth had time to catch up with Lanina and exchange news about their old home. Nangong Wuyue didn't waste this precious time. Seeing that there was nothing else to do, she immediately ran excitedly to the south wall of the Devil City and plunged down—she could finally enjoy swimming this time, because she would have to swim at least half a circle around the city to find a place to go ashore...

And "Roll" took this opportunity to wander the unfamiliar city streets again. This cat wasn't shy like other cats. Having been a stray, her ability to adapt to unfamiliar environments was simply mindless.

Hao Ren originally planned to take Lily around the city for a few laps, but at this moment, Raven 12345 suddenly sent a message:

"The construction module you wanted has been delivered. Take some time to come to the Heavenly Realm post office to pick it up."