It was as though everyone’s hearts had been tightly squeezed by an invisible hand. They could only struggle to beat a bit when that hand released slightly. 

Most frightening of all, this frightening power incomprehensible to the average person was still constantly increasing. Perhaps the unimaginable power had no limit. 

It was as though a mountain was pressing down on everyone’s bodies and minds. It was hard to breathe. Their hearts beat weakly, their bodies trembled uncontrollably, and their hands were as cold as a corpse.  

Just the pressure of the power made them lose the ability to move. In front of such a fearful being, even assembling all the world’s Protectors’ power into the Source Project wouldn’t make up one thousandth of it. 

When everyone’s endurance came to a boundary point, the pressure on them lightened. It seemed as though the power ascended into the sky, letting everyone’s hearts relax. Director Xiao’s communications device instantly sounded. He pressed the call key and heard the anxious voice of the dispatcher on the other end: “Director, in all of Huaxia… No, in the whole world, all the special ability users simultaneously felt two powers whose value is impossible to estimate. Protection Organizations abroad have used their instruments to determined that one of these powers came from space, while the source of the other is in the Xuyang District!” 

Director Xiao had hung up the call when a soldier’s urgent report came from outside: “Reporting to the director—outside…there are unusual phenomena in the sky!” 

The young soldier couldn’t describe what was happening outside. Director Xiao and the others ignored their discomfort and immediately rushed out of the base. 

While going out the door, Yuan Luori was practically groping around to find his way forward. He and the parrot seemed to be blind. Next to him, Zhen Li’s legs had gone weak, and he was having trouble staying upright. He was being held up by Cen Xiao. Luckily, Luo Huai, who always seemed invisible, noticed Yuan Luori’s unusual state and came over to support him and pick up the parrot. 

When he touched Yuan Luori, Luo Huai’s expression changed slightly. Through his skin, he sensed the indescribable terror in the depths of Yuan Luori’s heart. 

“Don’t be scared,” Luo Huai comforted quietly. “The Protection Organization isn’t as weak as you think.” 

Luo Huai could only sense Yuan Luori’s deeply hidden terror. This was an emotion that Yuan Luori couldn’t control; it was transmitting outward. Luo Huai didn’t use his special ability to test his memories, and he didn’t understand what Yuan Luori was so afraid of. 

Yuan Luori, who could see nothing but darkness, leaned close to Luo Huai. At this moment, he wished desperately for what his eyes were seeing to be wrong. 

The location of the base had been revealed during the battle with the Destroyers. Such a large battle couldn’t be covered up, so Director Xiao no longer hid it from the studio’s staff. After the battle, Zhen Li and the others were no longer knocked out going to the base. They went there and back wide awake. 

Now there was also no need to restrict everyone to the base. Director Xiao raised his head slightly, and a path opened through the lake above the base. They took an elevator to the summit of the base and boarded a helicopter. 

The helicopter flew up into the sky, and the parted lake waters returned to their original position, covering the location of the base once more. 

Apart from Zhen Li, this was everyone’s first time seeing the full view of the base. Huan Zixu looked at the tall dikes on either side of the lake, which far surpassed those of ordinary lakes, and understood. 

These dikes weren’t for guarding against high tide. They were there so that in an emergency, Director Xiao could part the lake waters and turn the underwater base into a battle fortress that could provide fire support for the Protectors. 

If each district had a heavily armed base like this that was built to match the ability of its leader, as well as a master like Director Xiao, whose power could be compared to that of a leveler with over two hundred levels, and adding in the Source Project, which could assemble all the Protectors’ power, then it was no wonder that this world had held out so long against the System’s attacks. 

This world didn’t rely on individual strength to defeat invaders. It was a group. There were matching military bases built near crowded cities with armed forces to support the Protectors. At critical moments, ordinary soldiers could also raise their weapons to provide assistance. 

With such a standardized system of combat, even if natural law grade masters came to this world, they would still be sitting ducks. 

This was a world created for protection. 

Everyone sat in the helicopter looking at the sky outside. They saw a dense covering of black clouds. The atmospheric pressure was extremely low. Occasionally a bird flew a little too high, bumped an invisible barrier, and instantly went falling, then quickly roused when it hit the surface of the lake and went flying up again, as if it hadn’t just been electrocuted. 

It was past 6 PM. The sun hadn’t set yet, but it was shrouded in black clouds. Lightning flashed from time to time through the dark clouds hiding the sky, like silver dragons swimming through the clouds. 

All the special ability users could feel what terrifying thunder and lightning were hidden in the black clouds. 

“These aren’t naturally forming thunderclouds,” Director Xiao said into his communications device, his expression extremely grim. “Check all flight paths in the area and ground all planes about to take off. Find a safe place for those already in the air to land.” 

The answer came: “Director Xiao, the airport just sent word. Several planes that ought to have been within fifty kilometers of the airport landed there. The personnel on the places say that they weren’t controlling their planes. Some mysterious power wrapped the planes up and helped them escape the thunderclouds and land safely at the airport.” 

When this communication was cut off, another message came in: “Director Xiao, several of Huaxia’s port cities just experienced a tsunami, but there were no casualties. The cruise ships out at sea were taken to nearby ports by the waves. No one was killed. The personnel on the ships say that they were protected by the god of the sea.” 

“Director Xiao, several cities have experienced earthquakes. There were no human casualties and no property damage!” 

“Director Xiao…” 

The information came in ceaselessly. There were constant natural disaster—landslides, sinkholes, typhoons—but the areas tested by disaster experienced no casualties. 

Unlike the panicked humans, the animals were unflustered. The thrill-seeking bird that had narrowly escaped electrocution was once again flying among the clouds. It circled the electric currents like silver dragons as if it was a storm petrel meeting a tempest. 

Compared to that bird, the parrot Luo Huai was holding was an utter coward. It lay there half dead, its wings limp, whispering, “It’s here, It’s here…” 

“What’s here?” Director Xiao knew that this parrot was extremely intelligent. He looked at Yuan Luori, whose face was white. 

“The System.” Yuan Luori looked towards the sky. His eyes were hollow. No one knew what he was seeing. They heard him say, “I didn’t know before how powerful the System was. Now I’ve seen. It’s strong, very strong, even stronger than the great master.” 

Everyone knew that Yuan Luori worshipped the black-cloaked man to the point of believing that the air around him was sacred. If it could make him say such a thing, what he was seeing must be truly awful. 

“Stop looking at it.” Luo Huai covered Yuan Luori’s eyes with his hand. 

“Someone is protecting us,” Director Xiao said. “Who is doing it? Who has the power to precisely protect each person in the whole world? How can he consider each individual, even a bird?” 

This wasn’t a strange scene to those present. Before, when the Destroyers had launched a joint attack on the Xuyang District, everyone had experienced this feeling of being protected. 

“It’s a rule.” You Zhengping’s expression was extremely calm. There was a keen clarity in his eyes. “‘A good ruler bestows rewards and spares the people from disaster. He loves his people like children, protects them like the heavens, shelters them like the earth¹.’ It’s just a rule like that.” 

“A rule…" Lian Yufan looked at Huan Zixu. It was as though he had remembered something, but he also couldn’t quite remember it. 

“Since the Xuyang District battle, the Destroyers have disappeared all over the world. Not a single one has been found,” Director Xiao said. “The sudden peace made the World Protection Organization feel a sense of crisis. We thought the System was gathering its forces, and next time, it would certainly launch a fierce attack over the whole world. That was why we restarted the Source Project.” 

Director Xiao was right. The power everyone had just felt that rendered them unable to breathe was the System. 

The System didn’t invade the world slowly like the levelers, who hid their identities, observed the world’s surroundings, and sought the location of their targets, only attacking cautiously when they had secretly investigated the movements of Zhen Li and the others. 

The System didn’t move lightly. When It acted, It was like a grinding force. It didn’t aim against a single person; It used its terrible power to consume an entire world. 

The pressure of the System’s approach alone had been unbearable to everyone just now. If the power of the rule hadn’t protected everyone in time and kept the power of the System from entering their world, they would all have died silently under the pressure of that power. 

It wasn’t that the World Protection Organization wasn’t prepared for this. But even though they had made all kinds of preparations, they were still unable to directly meet this power that was hundreds or thousands of times more powerful than all of them. 

If not for the black-cloaked man stepping in, they would have…

“Who is the black-cloaked man?” Huan Zixu whispered. “How did he become powerful enough to match the System in battle as a leveler?” 

Huan Zixu had voiced everyone’s thoughts. Director Xiao and the others all involuntarily looked at You Zhengping. 

You Zhengping didn’t speak. The communications device on the helicopter sounded again: “Director Xiao, we’ve determined the source of the power protecting the world. It’s in the Xuyang District’s —— Estate.”

The —— Estate was where You Zhengping lived. Director Xiao glanced at You Zhengping and ordered the helicopter pilot to head towards the source of the power immediately. 

The pilot was a well-trained soldier. Despite being panicked, he strictly executed Director Xiao’s order. A helicopter was faster than a car. It only took them half an hour to reach the estate where You Zhengping lived. It was precisely 7 PM. 

The helicopter landed on the roof of the building. Director Xiao and the others took energy probes and climbed down from the roof in harnesses, constantly fixing the position of that power. 

Finally, Lian Yufan was the first to find the precise location of the power. He used his power, broke the window of a residence, and took everyone into the living room. 

Seeing the broken window, You Zhengping, Zhen Li, Yuan Luori, and Director Ha all twitched, looking pained as they followed the others through the window. 

Including Director Xiao, within three seconds, twenty people, one dog, and one parrot came rustling through the window to stand in the center of the living room. Too many people made the 180 square meter apartment seem crowded. 

It was dinner time. This residence had a round table with space for twenty people laid out in the living room. Huan Zixu thought that this table resembled the one in the studio’s conference room, but he couldn’t be completely sure. 

There were many dishes laid out on the table, all steaming. They had clearly just been made. 

Cen Xiao and the other members of You Zhengping’s squad sniffed, thinking that the food smelled familiar. No, the layout of this residence was also familiar! 

The energy probe they were using only showed a position in space. There were only coordinates. Cen Xiao looked at the coordinates. On the probe, he entered You Zhengping’s estate, building, unit, and precise apartment number into it. He got remarkably similar coordinates. 

The internet TV in the living room was turned on. The TV was playing the talent show “Idol’s Light,” which a certain channel had broadcast at 12 PM that day. When everyone entered the living room, Yuan Luori, the trainee sent over by the “ZL Studio,” was performing on stage. 

Outside the window, thunderclouds rolled. The cloud layers roiled like boiling water. But inside was full of aroma, and the home cooking laid out on the table, while not especially exquisite, was very appetizing, and made everyone thoughts turn from pre-battle nerves to the comfortable home. 

Yu Hua walked out of the kitchen, carrying a frying pan. He wasn’t surprised at all when he saw everyone. The frying pan was suspended above his hand. In the pan was a fragrant fish, fried golden on both sides. The oil in the pan was still sizzling. 

“Is everyone here?” Yu Hua smiled faintly. “Since you’re all here, you may as well stay for dinner. I only have one dish left to make.” 

“You…you…you…” Lian Yufan pointed to the fish Yu Hua was holding, looking like a sleepwalker. 

“This?” Yu Hua said indifferently. “I’m just saving on electricity. After all, I’ve always been stingy.” 

---

Author's Note

Yu Hua: What are you looking at? The table came from the office. The electricity is turned off. I used special abilities to cook this meal. After all, my unchanging persona from start to finish has been the virtuous wife. 

---

Translator's Note

¹Quote from Han dynasty scholar Liu Xiang’s New Prefaces (新序). Original: 良君将赏善而除民患，爱民如子，盖之如天，容之若地.