The dimensional veil split open above the ruins of No. 003 City—what this world once called Shanghai—like fabric being peeled apart by invisible hands. The Black Behemoth emerged from the tear without a sound, its dark hull drifting over a skeleton of moss-infested skyscrapers that leaned like exhausted giants.
The air carried a strange pressure. Heavy. Dense. Almost metallic.
Saya's display flickered alive beside Su Chen's throne.
Su Chen frowned. "Standard gravity? That's it? I expected this world to feel heavier."
Saya shook her head, lines of alien code streaming across her holographic keyboard. "It's not the gravity. It's the biology. Everything down there is compressed. Even the small creatures have cell structures denser than steel. A rat weighs like a sledgehammer."
"So the RR Virus pushed the entire food chain past the human limit," Su Chen murmured. "A world where everything either evolved… or died."
He rose from his throne and glanced at his team.
"Esdeath, Saeko, with me. But stay alert. The 'Lords' of this world move at Mach speeds."
"Mera, don't step out. The humidity here will tear your skin."
"Lin Xiya—full psychic sweep. This world has Spirit Readers that can kill without lifting a finger."
They nodded sharply. Even for them, the atmosphere felt hostile.
---
The Iron Armored Dragon
They touched down on the cracked rooftop of a collapsed mall.
The first warning came as a shadow—vast, oppressive—blotted out the sun.
ROARRRR!
A monstrosity thundered into view.
A lizard the size of a ferry, plated in black steel scales so dense they reflected no light. Red eyes burned in its skull, and each whip of its tail cracked the air like artillery.
"A dragon?" Esdeath whispered, a grin pulling at her lips as she shaped an ice rapier. "Cute."
Su Chen narrowed his eyes. "Lord Class. That means this thing would own a city."
The dragon spotted them—three small silhouettes—and lunged.
The ground didn't shake.
It detonated.
The mall roof disintegrated under the shockwave. Su Chen and the girls split in different directions as the monster blurred into motion, its acceleration so violent the air screamed.
Saeko barely brought her Bone Blade up in time.
CLANG.
The impact launched her through three buildings like a ragdoll.
"Saeko!" Su Chen's eyes sharpened. "Alright, lizard. Let's see how thick that hide is."
He vanished—Shadow Step—and reappeared above the beast's skull.
Gold Body. Hulk Rage. Gravity Assist.
His fist came down with all of them layered.
CRACK.
The steel scales didn't shatter. They dented—slightly.
The dragon screamed, but it didn't fall.
"Tougher than a Void Leviathan," Su Chen muttered. "Not magic. Dense matter."
The dragon snapped its jaws up toward him, jaws like a guillotine.
Su Chen didn't move.
He simply closed his hand.
Telekinesis—S-Rank.
An invisible pressure slammed its jaws shut mid-snap.
"You rely on that armor," Su Chen said calmly. "Which means your weakness is obvious."
He pointed at the ear canal.
Lich Bloodline: Soul Spike.
Mind Authority: Brain Scramble.
The monster convulsed violently, its roar turning into a choking screech. Its immense body thrashed, leveling the entire mall beneath it. Then—silence.
The body slumped, brain shut off like a switch.
Su Chen landed on the carcass and ran his fingers along the steel plates.
He ripped off a scale with a single tug.
"This is better than titanium. Saya can plate the engine room with this."
With a gesture: "Store corpse."
Saeko emerged from the rubble coughing dust. Blood trickled from her lip but was already healing.
"That thing hits like a truck," she said, smiling through the bruises. "I like this world."
---
Arrival of the Wargod
"Movement," Lin Xiya reported through their psychic link. "Three humans. Combat suits—high grade. They watched the entire fight."
Three figures landed on a nearby rooftop.
Their armor was sleek, alloy-based, and built for survival in this hostile environment. One stepped forward—a middle-aged man with a scar and a shield-axe combo that looked custom-forged.
"I am Dong Nan of the HR Alliance," he said carefully. "Your power surpasses Spirit Readers. Are you one?"
Su Chen didn't reply.
He activated Spirit Sight.
What he saw wasn't Mana.
Not Qi.
Not Magic.
It was genetic energy—life force reforging itself at the cellular level.
"I need that," Su Chen said plainly.
He dashed forward.
"Wait—!"
Weapons came up. Too late.
Space Authority: Lock.
Space froze. They were statues.
Su Chen pressed a hand to Dong Nan's chest.
Information flooded him—how to breathe cosmic radiation through the palms, feet, and skull; how to refine it into pure power; how this world broke their genetic limit.
Su Chen stepped back and released the lock.
Dong Nan collapsed, gasping. "What… what did you do to me?"
"I learned something." Su Chen tossed him a Spirit Stone. "Payment."
Dong Nan almost dropped it. The purity stunned him.
"This… this is stronger than a Mu Ya crystal! Who are you?"
"Just a traveler looking for a ship."
---
The Discovery
Back inside the Black Behemoth, Su Chen sat in the dojo and assumed the Five Hearts posture.
Then he activated the technique.
Air rushed toward him in a spiraling vortex. Cosmic energy poured into him like a waterfall. His Gold Body and Asgardian physiology didn't just absorb it—they devoured it.
His DNA twisted, broke, and reforged.
The limiter of the human species shattered.
When he opened his eyes, he could feel the Earth's magnetic field in his blood.
"Planetary Rank 1," he whispered. He flexed his fingers. "Finally usable."
He stood.
"Saya, scan for Archaeological Ruin #12. It should be in the Pacific."
"Ruin 12?" she blinked. "That contains—"
"A Black Dragon Mountain X81 spaceship," he said with a smile. "Light speed capable."
Saya's jaw dropped. "On it!"
---
Ruin No. 12
The Black Behemoth descended into the ocean. Su Chen sighed.
"I've been underwater too much lately."
Esdeath formed an air bubble around them as they swam toward a massive metal gate covered in alien warning inscriptions.
A laser grid activated.
Su Chen chuckled. "Well. They're not wrong."
Red beams shot out—capable of slicing Wargods in half.
Su Chen raised his hand.
Not to block.
To hack.
Telekinesis + Mind Authority + Magitek Interface.
"Hello, little AI," he said, voice calm. "Sleep."
The alien code bent under him.
The lasers shut down.
The gates slid open.
Inside the enormous hangar rested a sleek black triangular ship—silent, cold, deadly.
Esdeath stepped closer, awe slipping into her voice. "It's… beautiful."
Su Chen placed a hand on the hull.
"System, too large to store normally. Initiate Fusion."
"Do it."
Light exploded.
The alien ship liquefied, swirling around the Black Behemoth like living metal. The old truck dissolved into something sleek, armored, and predatory.
Su Chen walked into the new bridge, taking the captain's chair—now fully futuristic.
"Jiang Rou," he said casually, "you don't need your truck license anymore."
He leaned back.
"We've got the ship. Now we need a weapon."
He tapped the radar.
"Locate Luo Feng. He's carrying the Soaring Shuttle blueprint.
I intend to borrow it."