Volume One, Chapter 14: The First Victory

The newcomer Li Yan was a bit reckless, but his potential was undeniable. Just from that one collision, if it had been Yue Chengze or Wu Xu instead, even with their combat suits set to maximum, they would have been blasted flying outright—completely one-sided. Yet Li Yan had clashed head-on with the Devouring Void Beast, almost evenly matched, even holding a slight advantage.

Li Yan shook his arm, which was tingling from the impact, a flicker of madness flashing in his eyes.

“Alright, again!” he shouted.

Gripping his long blade, he charged forward first.

The Devouring Void Beast couldn’t stand being challenged by such a small creature. With a furious roar, it bolted full speed.

Yue Chengze shouted a warning, “Don’t go head-to-head with it—it drains too much energy from your combat suit. Its weak spot is its abdomen.”

“Got it!”

Li Yan’s momentum didn’t wane.

Just as they were about to collide again, Li Yan suddenly ducked low, swinging his blade backward and slashing across the beast’s belly.

Man and beast intertwined, using the force of the impact, Li Yan felt his long blade tear through the beast’s armored scales.

As they separated, the beast’s abdomen revealed a gash over two meters long, from which dark green fluid oozed out. When it dripped onto the ground, it hissed and corroded the surface.

The concrete quickly dissolved, the corrosion spreading outward.

The beast roared in fury, stunned that such a tiny being had pierced its scales.

Meanwhile, Yue Chengze plunged his blade deep into another hostile Devouring Void Beast.

He swiftly drew a Quantum Space Cannon and fired directly at the wound.

Boom!

Flesh and blood exploded everywhere, and the beast was torn apart.

“Li Yan, hold it down for a moment—we’re coming to help,” Yue Chengze called out.

Seeing Li Yan trading blows evenly with the beast, he didn’t rush to assist but instead charged alongside Wu Xu to deal with the ordinary lower-level Devouring Void Beast.

“Don’t worry, I feel I can get even stronger,” Li Yan said, tightening his grip on the blade, his eyes burning with fierce determination.

It was as if he wanted to vent all his past life’s frustrations on this beast.

“Big guy, come on,” Li Yan taunted relentlessly, regardless of whether the beast understood him.

The nearly mid-level Devouring Void Beast, nursing the wound from Li Yan’s blade, lowered its body slightly.

With a roar, it dashed across the ground, protecting its abdomen.

“Getting smart, huh? So what?” Li Yan pursued relentlessly.

Once again, man and beast collided.

Both were sent flying backward, but this time, Li Yan didn’t fly as far.

He was getting stronger, or perhaps the injured beast was weakening.

“Again!”

The sheer power of the clash filled Li Yan with an unprecedented exhilaration.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Man and beast crashed like two raging bulls, smashing the surrounding ruined buildings into fragments.

Yue Chengze and Wu Xu, having just finished off the other Devouring Void Beast, stood side by side watching Li Yan battle his.

They couldn’t help but feel both envious and surprised.

“As expected, the Quadruple Fusion isn’t just talk,” Wu Xu remarked.

Yue Chengze nodded, acknowledging that recruiting Li Yan had been a wise choice.

A rookie on his first mission, not frightened into a daze, but fighting fiercely with a beast nearly evolved to mid-level.

He recalled his own first combat, frozen in place for several seconds out of fear.

The Devouring Void Beast roared, frustrated at gaining no advantage after several clashes.

What surprised it most was that this tiny human seemed to grow stronger, fueling its growing agitation.

“Stop just watching—we’re going to help so it doesn’t hold a grudge later,” Yue Chengze said, glancing at Wu Xu, who was still spectating.

“Alright, you attack from the left, I’ll attack from the right.”

Both pushed their combat suits to maximum power.

“Li Yan, try to knock this big guy flying—we’ll fire at its belly,” Yue Chengze shouted.

Li Yan cracked his neck. “I’ll try!”

He transformed his long blade into an energy shield.

With the shield in hand, he sprinted at full speed, leaving afterimages behind.

The beast, seeing this small creature abandon its blade but still charging head-on, roared and collided with him.

Bang!

The energy shield flickered from the impact.

Li Yan pressed the shield down, then suddenly flipped it upward.

The massive beast was lifted and thrown into the air.

The force caused Li Yan’s lower body to sink into the ground.

Yue Chengze’s face lit up. “Good opportunity, fire!”

He and Wu Xu fired three consecutive shots from their Quantum Space Cannons at the beast’s wounded abdomen.

The cannons first caused the beast’s flesh to contract rapidly at the wound, then exploded violently once the contraction reached its limit.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The continuous explosions echoed.

The Devouring Void Beast collapsed onto the ground, roaring a few times before finally losing all life.

Its abdomen was shattered into rubble, leaving only an empty husk.

There was no denying that the near mid-level Devouring Void Beast’s outer defense was formidable. An ordinary lower-level beast would have been blown to pieces after three cannon blasts to its wound.

Li Yan popped out of the pit. “Finished? Want me to knock it flying again?”

Wu Xu shook his head with resignation. “Dead. No need.”

He preferred to fight beasts head-on—it was more exhilarating—but that was only feasible with ordinary lower-level beasts.

He had half-expected Li Yan to be overwhelmed by the near mid-level beast, but seeing him trade blows evenly, he grudgingly admitted it was impressive.

Quadruple Fusion really was powerful.

After dealing with the three beasts, Yue Chengze uploaded the battle log.

Then he activated the monitoring system to ensure no enemies remained.

The three then began cleaning the battlefield.

The presence of Devouring Void Beasts had to be kept secret from humans in Parallel World 129—otherwise, it would cause serious trouble.

On the flight back, Li Yan asked, “Team Leader Yue, do situations like this happen often?”

He referred to unexpected emergencies during missions.

Yue Chengze shook his head. “Rarely. We’ll have to report this properly to the captain. Such a major intelligence failure will definitely bring consequences.”

He continued, “Thanks to you today. Otherwise, we’d have had to call for reinforcements, which would have diluted our glory. That would’ve been a loss.”

Li Yan chuckled, “I think I can get even stronger. I like fighting like this—thrilling and intense.”

Wu Xu warned, “Take it easy. There will be many battles ahead. Your style consumes a lot of your combat suit’s energy. If it runs out, you’ll be in big trouble.”

“Yeah, I know.”

The first victory was a joyous occasion for Li Yan.

He had thought joining the Temporal Order Division had opened a new world for him, but after this fight with the beast, he felt that beyond that door lay an even vaster realm.

Stepping through the invisible portal, Li Yan returned to his parallel world.

He was once again a young man about to begin his college life after finishing his entrance exams.

At that moment, his stomach growled loudly.

After such a fight, he had expended a lot of energy and was hungry.

Rubbing his belly, he remembered he still had to work hard to earn money and start a business.

Suddenly, he recalled a joke he’d seen in his past life on Pipi Shrimp.

After fighting Batman, Joker and Harley Quinn returned home, where Batman’s butler and maid had already prepared a delicious meal. Meanwhile, Joker and Harley still had to go to the market to buy ingredients and cook—at the mall run by Batman, no less.

“Sigh, feels like I’m just like the Joker.”