Chapter 7: Bringing Back Intelligence, Returning to Blue Star!
Kyoto, First Martial Research Center.
Everything seemed unchanged.
Time appeared to have hit the pause button, rewinding to the exact second before Lin Chen had crossed over.
Wang Xinyu widened her eyes, her pink lips slightly parted in shock.
"W-What just happened?"
She stared at Lin Chen before her in astonishment.
Lin Chen had stood in place the entire time, never vanishing.
Yet the Lin Chen who had just been wearing old robes and holding a pistol had changed his posture.
He was no longer standing upright, but crouching slightly.
In his left hand, he held a chair, and in his right, a wooden table that seemed to come from who knows where.
All of this happened in just an instant...
"I'm back..."
Realizing he had returned to Blue Star, Lin Chen instinctively glanced at the countdown on his left arm:
167 hours, 59 minutes, 59 seconds.
The timer had reset. He would now remain on Blue Star for the next seven days.
Lin Chen straightened his body and placed the wooden table and chair he was holding on the ground.
Turning to look behind him—yet the wooden bed was nowhere to be seen.
"Huh? That bed touched me too, but it didn't come with me through the crossover... Was it too large?"
Lin Chen quickly analyzed the situation, deepening his understanding of his ability to traverse between worlds.
"How... did you just do that?"
Wang Xinyu's voice was now trembling. What had just happened was far beyond her comprehension.
Was it an illusion?
But how could a 17-year-old boy have awakened a psychic-type martial spirit?
Looking at Wang Xinyu, Lin Chen calmly explained:
"I told you. I have the ability to travel between two worlds."
"For you, maybe it was just an instant… but for me, I've spent a full seven days in the cultivation realm."
To further convince her, Lin Chen handed over all the items he had brought back:
Nine vials of I-3 stamina potion, six of which were already empty.
A Y-3 type energy shield with a deep slash on it, and a new kinetic handgun with only two bullets left.
Seeing all this, Wang Xinyu was once again shocked.
At this moment, she was 99% convinced that everything Lin Chen had said before was true.
Because no one in this world could possibly do all that in such a short time!
Sure, the extra chair and table could be explained with a spatial ability, but how could you explain the emptied potions and fired bullets?
The only plausible explanation was exactly what Lin Chen had said—
He had spent seven days in another world, while time on this world stood still.
How to describe this?
It was as if a pair of scissors had cut Lin Chen out of the river of time, letting him live for seven days outside of it—
then seamlessly pasted him back into place without the slightest gap.
Wang Xinyu fell silent for a moment before looking up at a corner of the ceiling.
There, four full-view surveillance cameras were mounted...
If the human eye couldn't catch what happened, could the cameras?
She quickly walked over to a computer and pulled up the recent surveillance footage.
Even slowing it down to 0.01-second intervals, the footage still failed to show how it had all occurred.
Wang Xinyu took a deep breath and turned to Lin Chen.
"Lin Chen, do you mind if I make a phone call first?"
Lin Chen shook his head slightly.
"Go ahead. I always intended to report this ability to the state anyway."
Wang Xinyu's eyes lit up. She tapped a private number on the communication device on her wrist.
"Hello, Director Wang… I'm very serious about what I'm about to say. And no, I'm not joking..."
Lin Chen stood silently beside her, listening.
He knew who this "Director Wang" was. In fact, this was one of the main reasons he had sought Wang Xinyu out.
In his mind, information about Wang Xinyu surfaced:
The youngest deputy director of the First Martial Research Institute. She had published major papers in top academic journals.
She came from a prestigious military family—three generations of commanders in the Martial Army.
The person on the other end of the line was likely her father—Great Xia's Martial Venerable, Wang Lishan.
Moreover, Wang Xinyu's area of research was the Martial Realms.
What were Martial Realms?
They were spatial rifts that existed within Blue Star, where powerful beasts lived.
Beasts and alien races would emerge from these realms to attack humanity, while powerful warriors were stationed to guard each Martial Realm.
In a way, the cultivation world Lin Chen had traveled to bore similarities to these Martial Realms.
That was why he had chosen to come to Wang Xinyu—knowing her research background, he expected her to be more inclined to believe him.
A moment later, Wang Xinyu ended the call and turned to Lin Chen:
"Lin Chen, the government will send someone to question you within ten minutes."
"Before that, may I ask you a few questions?"
Lin Chen nodded, indicating she could go ahead.
Wang Xinyu's face lit up with a smile. As a top-level researcher of Martial Realms, she was extremely curious about Lin Chen's so-called 'cultivation world'.
To her, it was like a massive treasure trove waiting to be explored.
She activated the voice recording function on her wristband and asked:
"My first question is... besides you, do you think anyone else could travel to that cultivation world with you?"
Lin Chen shook his head slightly and replied:
"I don't think so. I can't even control the ability myself. Every time seven days pass, I automatically cross over."
"Of course, you're welcome to try. If someone else can cross over with me, I'd be thrilled."
Wang Xinyu nodded, then continued asking…
"Then, can you describe that cultivation world in more detail?"
"According to what you said, you've already spent fourteen days there… so you should have a basic understanding by now."
"Of course, what I care about most is… what do you think the resources of that world could mean for humanity?"
Wang Xinyu asked the key question. The resources and overall situation of the cultivation world were surely what the Great Xia government would be most concerned about.
Lin Chen had long anticipated this question, so he responded smoothly.
"The cultivation world is vast—much larger than Blue Star, I suspect..."
"Based on what I've seen so far, its technological level is very primitive, kind of like the ancient eras before the Old Epoch described in history books..."
"Currently, I'm part of a sect in that world called Changchun Sect. The strongest person there is likely at the 'Core Formation' stage, though I'm not yet sure what that would equate to in terms of martial realms."
After giving a general overview of the cultivation world, Lin Chen took a spirit stone from his pocket and handed it over.
"This is a spirit stone. It contains a special kind of energy called 'spiritual energy'—something you might be very interested in..."
"So far, I've discovered that this spiritual energy greatly benefits martial cultivation. Training within it could boost a martial artist's progress several times over—perhaps even tenfold."
"In addition, there are things called spirit foods..."
With every word Lin Chen spoke, Wang Xinyu's heartbeat quickened.
It was as if she were gazing at a colossal treasure trove.
Cultivators, magical artifacts, spiritual energy, spirit food...
She could already imagine the massive impact that this cultivation world could have on Great Xia—and on the entire Blue Star!
(End of Chapter)