Chapter 143: Echoes Across the Threshold

Inside the quiet expanse of the Survival Space, soft ambient light washed over the dark soil, mirroring the gentle hum of pure biological energy. Above the wooden floorboards of the cabin, golden luminescence shimmered in rippling ribbons across Penny’s newly expanded Light Wings.

The radiant appendages stretched wide behind her slender back, translucent feathers catching the warm glow and scattering it into fine specks of amber brilliance. Delicate, thread-like patterns of pale gold flowed across every feather, pulsing with a rhythm reminiscent of tiny constellations scattered across a velvet evening sky.

Penny turned her head around, her dark eyes wide with unvarnished astonishment. She flexed her shoulder blades experimentally, and the intricate golden patterns surged with power, carrying a crystalline resonance that echoed from the roots of the wings all the way to their sharp tips.

She stared at her palms, then back toward her back, looking as though she could scarcely believe what her body had manifested.

Meanwhile, Ethan stood near the edge of the wooden bed, his eyes locked onto the translucent system interface suspended in midair before him.

As the final golden characters settled onto the screen, a slow, deeply satisfied smile curved his lips.

[ Ding! Gifted an A-Rank Evolved Flying Zombie Core to a female gift target with a Beauty Score of 89. Growth Potential detected. ]

[ Base Return: 70x. ]

[ Target’s emotional fluctuations detected: Shyness + Anticipation. ]

[ Super-High Bonus Drop triggered! ]

[ Ding! Energy Points +1,000. Current Energy Points: 12,050/100,000 (Quasi-S-Rank). ]

[ Return: Space Anchor Points have gained a Calling Function. Authorized individuals within two meters of a Space Anchor Point can communicate without limits with individuals near another connected anchor point! ]

[ Penny’s Flight Ability has been upgraded from S-Rank to SS-Rank! ]

[ New Skill Unlocked: Light Blade. Penny can launch Light Blades from her wings while flying or standing still. Maximum range: 100 meters. Maximum flight altitude: 500 meters. ]

[ Ding! Penny’s Flight Ability has reached SS-Rank. Your Time Stop Ability has simultaneously upgraded to SSS-Rank! ]

[ Time Stop: Freeze targets within a 50-meter radius for one second. Cooldown: One minute. ]

[ Cooldown: 6 days. ]

Ethan read through the lines of text a second time, the amusement in his dark eyes deepening with every word.

’Her Beauty Score and Base Return have spiked again after breaking through her bottleneck. And all it took was feeding her an aerial crystal.’

He gave an amused shake of his head, muttering softly under his breath, "What an absolute simp system."

Yet despite his lighthearted mockery, the practical benefits of the return drop were staggering. Penny had started as a fragile survivor clutching a rusted rod in the ruins, but this advancement vaulted her directly into the upper echelons of aerial combatants. She was no longer limited to clumsy close-quarters skirmishing with hand-formed blades; the upgrade gave her true ranged bombardment capabilities that functioned seamlessly whether she was soaring or grounded.

A one-hundred-meter lethal engagement radius, paired with a five-hundred-meter operational ceiling, transformed her into a high-altitude recon specialist. In a shattered cityscape where sightlines were choked by collapsed towers and mutant ambushes lurked on every corner, having a scout who could survey half a district from beyond the reach of ground beasts was invaluable.

Even more significant was the evolutionary resonance that rippled back into his own combat matrix.

Ethan’s gaze shifted to the golden description detailing his enhanced Time Stop.

"Fifty meters..."

He reached up, thoughtfully rubbing the rough stubble along his jawline.

During his desperate duel with the Blackscale Drake, his innate Time Stop had been restricted to an agonizingly tight five-meter sphere. While that pocket had been sufficient to break Daisy’s psychic needle through the beast’s depleted guard, getting within five meters of a Quasi-King Rank monstrosity was a lethal gamble in itself. It required putting his flesh inches away from sulfurous breath and crushing talons.

Now, the radius had ballooned tenfold.

A fifty-meter radius meant he could impose absolute temporal arrest over an entire intersection or command center with a single pulse of thought. Against swift, evasive enemies like that elusive Red-Haired Monkey, or brutal behemoths charging at full velocity, one full second of total immobility across an entire block was an eternity.

He could freeze an ambush in its tracks, close the distance without taking return fire, and drive a spatial rupture straight into an exposed windpipe before the target’s neural pathways could fire a defensive reflex.

Furthermore, reducing the recovery window to a single minute eliminated its status as a one-time desperation move. In a protracted battle of attrition, he could cycle the skill repeatedly, disrupting enemy rhythm and dictating the tempo of combat at will.

A cold, confident spark ignited in his dark eyes.

’This changes the math completely.’

Then, his focus drifted downward to the tertiary reward listed in the log:

Space Anchor Points have gained a Calling Function.

Ethan blinked, his brow arching in surprise.

"A real-time communication channel across spatial coordinates?"

He carefully reread every word of the system prompt to ensure he had not misinterpreted the mechanics.

The longer he turned the feature over in his mind, the more profound its strategic utility became. Over the past five days, as he lay recovering on this wooden bed while Debbie and Tessa purified the draconic venom from his flesh, a persistent thread of anxiety had tugged at him regarding the survivors in the air-raid shelter. Penny had been missing from the bunker since dawn five days prior, and without word from him, Aria, Elena, and the others would inevitably assume the worst.

Yet returning to the shelter had been completely out of the question. With the Blackscale Drake prowling the surrounding districts and tracking raw spatial fluctuations, taking a physical jump back to that cramped underground bunker risked bringing an apex catastrophe down upon their heads.

Now, the system had handed him the exact logistical bridge he needed.

He could establish contact, verify their status, and issue instructions across the void without revealing a single physical coordinate to the predators outside.

Ethan let out a low, appreciative chuckle. "Talk about impeccable timing."

"Ethan? What’s going on?"

Penny’s soft, tentative voice broke into his contemplation.

She had already folded her Light Wings against her back, the golden plumage tucking neatly between her shoulder blades until only faint traces of light lingered along her shirt. She was standing beside the bed, rising onto her tiptoes with her head tilted, peering with bright, curious eyes at the empty air where he had been scanning the invisible system screen.

"You’ve been staring at the wall and grinning to yourself for five straight minutes," she murmured, a playful tilt to her head. "Did you find something good?"

Ethan turned his head, his dark eyes meeting her inquisitive gaze.

"You could say that."

He reached out with a steady hand, gently cupping her chin and pressing a warm, affectionate kiss against the smooth skin of her forehead.

"I just confirmed that I picked up an absolute treasure."

Penny froze on the spot.

A brilliant crimson blush erupted across her cheeks with breathtaking speed, traveling up to the tips of her ears and down the slender slope of her throat within seconds.

"Ethan!"

Before he could offer another word of teasing, Penny suddenly rose high onto her tiptoes, pulled her hands back, and planted a swift, impulsive kiss squarely against his lips.

The brief press of her soft mouth was accompanied by a tiny, flustered squeak.

Instantly pulling back, she clutched her burning cheeks with both hands, spun on her heels, and bolted through the cabin doorway as fast as her legs could carry her, her embarrassed giggles echoing across the open soil of the domain.

Ethan leaned back against the headboard, watching her retreating silhouette with a warm, genuine laugh rumbling in his chest.

"What an incorrigible little brat."

Shaking his head with fond amusement, he turned his full attention back to the practical application of his new power.

A tactical tool was only as reliable as a soldier’s mastery over it.

Sliding his legs off the mattress, Ethan stood up, rolling his shoulders to test the freshly healed muscle tissue over his ribs. Walking to the center of the wooden room, he channeled a strand of spatial authority toward the floorboards beside the doorway.

Establish Anchor.

A faint, velvet distortion rippled through the air, leaving behind an invisible, stable tear in the dimensional fabric that hummed with a quiet frequency.

Ethan stepped forward and laid his left hand against the shimmering coordinate.

Instantly, a pale blue interface materialized directly before his vision, presenting three distinct, numbered nodes:

1. Underground Air-Raid Shelter

2. Victoria’s Villa (Century Skyline)

3. Current Location (Survival Space)

The first two represented the static spatial anchors he had planted during his previous operations; the third glowed with an active, steady luminescence indicating his current physical presence.

Ethan lifted his index finger and selected the first option.

Hum.

A needle-thin filament of pale azure light lanced out from the coordinate beside him, reaching across the dimensional barrier and locking into the far-off frequency of the shelter’s anchor. The beam wavered for a split second, oscillating against atmospheric static, before snapping into a firm, unbroken resonance.

Ethan cleared his throat and leaned toward the shimmering node.

"Testing. Can anyone on the other end hear me?"

Absolute silence hung in the room.

Ethan waited patiently, his senses tuned to the connection.

Ten seconds passed without a murmur.

A slight frown creased his forehead as he examined the interface. ’Did the spatial shielding around the Survival Space dampen the transmission? Or is the terminal on their end unmonitored?’

Just as he prepared to disconnect and calibrate the frequency, a faint, rhythmic crackle whispered through the spatial node.

Then, from the far side of the void, a distant, muffled rustle stirred, sounding like someone gasping for breath beneath heavy water.

Ethan leaned closer, his eyes sharpening.

The link was live.

And three miles away, beneath the cracked asphalt of Silvermont City, his voice had just shattered five long days of suffocating silence.