Chapter 668: Deep Space Caller

January 20th, 2017. 1:29 AM.

Xiaonian, the Little New Year.

Even though the New Year was fast approaching, Su Zhou still had to work overtime for a business trip. He didn’t really mind. After all, his daily life was basically a vacation anyway, so it was no big deal for him to work a little harder while everyone else was taking time off.

He was now on a private jet, flying toward the United International Headquarters in the Genninglan Region.

As for his car, he had, of course, left it with Tang Yuan to drive home and spend the New Year with Leng Xiaxia and her family. Su Zhou wasn’t a Demon, after all; letting a subordinate borrow his luxury car to show off to the kids was perfectly normal. AI cars were still a rarity, and children were fascinated by them. Besides, Tang Yuan wasn’t the type to overstep his bounds.

The conflict of 1972 had enormous repercussions.

Since then, despite the “cyber war” that took place in the cyber world—later dubbed the “Fourth Global War” by the general public—the four major powers decided to establish a new platform to maintain international order: the United International, now headquartered in the Genninglan Region. Zhengguo, Ross Country, the American Federation, and the Former European Community (now the European Union) served as its permanent council members.

Generally speaking, for the United International to act with its full authority, it required the unanimous consent of the four major powers. Otherwise, it was merely for show. However, when three of the permanent council members wanted to question the fourth about a confidential matter, it served as an excellent platform.

“So, what exactly did the American Federation do?”

The supersonic private jet was now flying at an altitude of around twenty thousand meters. Su Zhou sat by the window, looking down at the Arctic Ocean slowly passing below, and muttered as if to himself, “They’ve been very low-key recently. I can’t even recall any news related to them.”

“Actually, this has nothing to do with the American Federation. However, the perpetrator was formerly one of their citizens.”

Soon, the Artifice Sage’s voice emerged from the TV speaker in front of Su Zhou. “The Europa Antarctic Research Station in Antarctica was attacked by an unknown creature. All fifty-seven research personnel were killed—this incident hasn’t hit the news yet, but it will likely be broadcast globally this morning.”

The moment the Artifice Sage spoke, the TV screen in front of Su Zhou, which had been playing commercials, instantly switched to a dimly lit video feed.

The video showed only the ruins of a research station, already covered in ice and snow. It looked as if it had been crushed flat by some colossal creature, the entire structure flattened into a thin sheet. Beyond the total structural collapse, numerous sections were twisted, as though someone had brutally stomped on it several times with the sole of a boot.

As the cold wind blew, snowy dust swirled through the air. The camera angle shifted, revealing the ruins to be completely empty, though large patches of frozen blood could be seen in some corners. Strangely, however, there were no bodies. All that remained at the scene was a large amount of clothing and identification cards belonging to the victims.

In other words, the clothes and ID cards were all there, but the bodies of the deceased—all of their organic matter—had vanished.

“As for the perpetrator, our current theory is that it was the leader and sole member of the New Dawn Association.”

After the video concluded, the Artifice Sage’s tone remained calm. “The Deep Space Caller.”

“Alright. He is from the American Federation, then.”

Although Su Zhou had already known this, he could only be completely certain after the Artifice Sage confirmed it.

The New Dawn Association: one of the world’s Three Great Mysterious Organizations, and the youngest of them. Its only member was, in theory, the most dangerous man on Earth, ranked number one on the “Global Dangerous Extraordinary Wanted List”: the Deep Space Caller.

Repeating the name to himself, Su Zhou, who had been looking out the window, turned to face the TV screen and its camera. “Have these mysterious organizations caught a scent of something? Why are they all popping up one after another?”

“As the Spiritual Energy Revival continues, prophecy magic and divination will become increasingly effective. And when it comes to expertise in this field, no Mysterious Organization can evade it—with the sole exception of the Spirit Summoning Association, which can counter it through certain special, bloodline-based Divine Techniques.”

The Artifice Sage explained, “The Dao Yi Celestial Secret Calculation Hub can predict the exact time a person will commit a crime before it happens. Of course, we don’t preemptively arrest the individuals in these prophecies, but we do monitor the targets to ensure their criminal intentions are foiled, and we educate them afterward. In time, all members of mysterious organizations hiding within Zhengguo will be found and apprehended. And they are well aware of this.”

“A prophecy system… preventing crimes before they happen…”

Shaking his head slightly, Su Zhou mused, “I’d say this is unscientific, but then again, none of this was ever scientific to begin with. If that’s the case, they really have nowhere left to hide. No wonder they’re all coming out of the woodwork now in a desperate, last-ditch struggle.”

Su Zhou didn’t dwell on it. The private jet was fast, and before long, he had arrived in Genninglan.

The entrance to the United International Headquarters was lined with the flags of over a hundred nations. After entering, an assigned liaison led Su Zhou to the conference room. In an outer lounge area, he could see representatives from smaller countries conversing privately on couches.

Su Zhou’s hearing was excellent. Thanks to the heightened intellect from his Transcendent Transformation and the Wisdom Fruit, he had also learned many languages. He easily overheard the representatives’ conversation, which consisted mostly of complaints and speculation. The only piece of valuable information was that the American Federation’s representative was still refusing to share any real intelligence.

And when Su Zhou arrived at the conference room, the scene before him confirmed what he had overheard.

The conference room was a high-tech, radiation-shielded metal hall. Its silver-white finish and sleek, minimalist chairs made one feel as though they had stepped into the future. A holographic projection of the European Union’s representative was currently criticizing the American Federation for concealing intelligence and refusing to disclose the truth of the incident.

“Antarctica does not belong to the American Federation. It belongs to the entire world.”

As the European Union’s representative for this incident, Manilan Olsen, a high-ranking member of the Harmony Bureau, spoke with an aggressive tone. The elderly man, his hair impeccably combed, was reviewing a document on the other end of the transmission, but the file itself was not displayed by the hologram.

As a high-ranking Harmony Bureau official whose renown rivaled Rafael’s, Olson’s tone was icy. “The American Federation unilaterally concealed specific intelligence on the ‘Deep Space Caller’s’ activities. Furthermore, you failed to issue any humanitarian warning to the Antarctic Research Station before the attack. Are we to assume that the American Federation, which has been tracking the Deep Space Caller with the support of nations worldwide, simply sat back and watched—or perhaps even observed—this tragedy unfold?”

“Dr. Mensele, Lady Elizabeth, and more than fifty other members of the research station were in Antarctica conducting research on ancient life within the ‘Prehistoric Ice Sheet.’ This was an official scientific expedition sanctioned by the United International. In the spirit of science without borders, the research data from this project was to be shared with all nations, the American Federation being no exception. But now, we have severe doubts about the American Federation’s cooperative sincerity. As such, we may be forced to terminate numerous joint projects with the Federation, cease sharing our intelligence sources, and withdraw from the ‘Sky Eye Plan’…”

Su Zhou didn’t listen to the rest of Olson’s accusations against the American Federation’s representative—an acquaintance of his, Rock Tower Aistena. At that moment, the young man noticed that almost everyone present was a Transcendent.

‘It seems an incident rooted in the Extraordinary World will ultimately be resolved by Extraordinary means.’ Realizing this, Su Zhou understood why he, specifically, had to be here: he was Zhengguo’s chosen Transcendent representative.

Su Zhou was well aware of Dr. Mensele and Lady Elizabeth. They were a husband-and-wife team of scientists, both world-renowned paleontologists with profound expertise in the ancient Extraordinary Divine Objects of the Spiritual Energy Era—in other words, “Divine Beasts” and “Mythical Creatures.”

The two scientists had actually been on-site during the Beast God Realm operation. However, that operation concluded quickly, and they had returned to the Antarctic to continue their “Prehistoric Ice Sheet” research.

The Prehistoric Ice Sheet referred to a massive crater formed two to three hundred million years ago when a meteorite struck the southeastern part of Primitive Gondwana Land—the region now known as Antarctica. The impact caused the deaths of a vast number of ancient creatures suffused with Spiritual Qi. Countless fossils and remains were buried there, perfectly preserved as they were later entombed by Antarctica’s incredibly thick layers of ice and snow.

Research on these ancient, Spiritual Qi-suffused creatures was critically important for understanding the Spirit Talent of present-day humanity, as well as for unraveling the mysteries surrounding the inheritance and evolution of Spirit Talent in ancient life. Although the research station was built by the European Union in name, it also housed researchers from Zhengguo. Su Zhou was here for the express purpose of backing the European Union’s representative in putting pressure on the American Federation.

So, even though he had just arrived, the moment Su Zhou took his designated seat, he wasted no time in speaking up. “The Deep Space Caller—real name, John Harrison. An unremarkable name. The head of an unremarkable astronomy society. Born in an unremarkable small town in the American Midwest. The town is called Twilight, named for the beautiful dusk one can see from there.”

“By our incomplete estimates, after becoming the Deep Space Caller, Harrison moved throughout the American Federation, killing over three thousand people. Of course, we don’t know the exact number, because the American Federation has never shared the complete intelligence. He has also traveled to other corners of the globe and committed numerous crimes, but those were ultimately attributed to some kind of anomalous monster, and it was never definitively proven that the Deep Space Caller was the perpetrator.”

“We are very interested in how John Harrison became the Deep Space Caller. But because his primary sphere of activity was within the borders of the American Federation, we considered it an internal affair. When you were unwilling to share intelligence, we did not press the issue. But now, he has moved into international territory and, with irrefutable evidence, has killed citizens of the European Union and my country. Therefore, it is both reasonable and justified for us to demand that you share your intelligence on the ‘Deep Space Caller’ so we can eliminate this threat to the world.”

Su Zhou had no idea if any of this was actually reasonable or justified. Regardless, all he had to do was say the words and then exert pressure with his aura.

As for why the American Federation was so dead set against revealing anything, Su Zhou could actually understand. After all, the Deep Space Caller was able to single-handedly withstand the Federation’s attempts to eliminate him; his power was clearly immense, and he had even forced them to play many of their Bottom Cards. The military had gone so far as to launch a strategic-grade thermonuclear weapon—a three-megaton hydrogen bomb that completely obliterated Twilight Town. To conceal the potential state secrets behind all this, they would certainly remain tight-lipped to the very end.

But understanding was one thing; it didn’t stop him from releasing his aura. ‘Using my Commander Tier power to intimidate people is a scoundrel’s move, but the four major powers present are all scoundrels themselves. It’s fair game.’