1554 Just One Step too Slow!
“I’ve located Shaka. He’s hiding in an abandoned Waystation.”

The envoy of the Demonic Ants transmitted the news. Xia Fan and the others immediately set off, piloting the two warships equipped with shockwave engines to head for the coordinates the Demonic Ants had given them.

——

Two days later, Xia Fan saw a dilapidated but huge object floating in a sea of darkness. The metal on the outside was stained with rust, and the disgusting smell of decay was present the moment they entered through the sealed doors.

It looked like this Waystation had not seen anybody pass through its doors for many years. It was like an ancient fossil found on the Celestial Path, its circuit boards aging. The machinery and style of the station were all derived from ancient technology that had long been obsolete.

!!
Still, the lights on the walls lit up the moment Xia Fan pressed the old-styled switch by the entrance, and the air system began functioning automatically. The truth under the disguise of this run-down Waystation was that everything was still working in excellent condition. It could be deduced that someone must have been maintaining the machinery on a regular basis, and that someone did not want anyone else to know that it was still working, which was why he or she had chosen to preserve the ancient waystation’s distasteful exterior.

Xia Fan rubbed his nose and filled his lungs with the odor of decay that hung in the air. With his unique special ability, Xia Fan tried to search for any traces or clues in this complicated mix of odors.

“I can smell them!” Xia Fan exclaimed, opening his eyes abruptly. His sense of smell was even more sensitive than a dog’s, and Xia Fan had detected the unique perfume that the Dancer Couple wore. Similarly, he had also caught the fishy scent that hung on Fisherman Grandpa. The familiar smells caused Xia Fan’s eyes to widen, his heartbeat to quicken, and the muscles all over his body to tense up.

*Whoosh*

The Skywings acted, grouping up everyone in 1+2 teams, where one Skywing warrior would lead two comrades who were not speedsters to maximize their shocking Law of Speed. Like a series of black streaks, they entered the depths of the space station, breaking down door after door as they carried out a frantic search, not even letting the spiders hiding in the dark corners off.

Xia Fan was with Traveling Buddha, with Bright Pearl was on his shoulder. They dashed into the deeper parts of the Waystation, where the smell of the Disasters grew thicker. Xia Fan could feel his heart in his throat as he yelled out their names wildly.

The first to locate Shaka was Xia Di. He had been together with Star-in-Water and Flaming Swallow. Shaka was in the middle of organizing his laboratory, tossing lab equipment into the incinerator and breaking disks that contained the data from his experiments in two before tossing them into the flames.

Shaka was astonished and shocked when he saw a little boy suddenly burst into the room. Star-in-Water and Flaming Swallow had already changed forms at this time, with the former looking like a transparent water baby, and Flaming Swallow a small red dragon. Adding to the fact that Xia Di was only a short seven-year-old, Shaka could not help but mistakenly think that he was barely out of kindergarten.

However, this seven-year-old Xia Di demonstrated a combat sense that was unnatural for someone his age. He was like a little beast, wildly charging toward his target. Not only was Xia Di as swift as a flicker of light, no slower than any adult in the Skywing Clan. He also possessed the ferocity of a wild beast, unleashing an offensive that was as overwhelming as pouring mercury on the ground, leaving Shaka breathless from the pressure.

A shrill whistle rang through the station, and the Skywing Wolfpack rapidly converged on Xia Di’s location. Meanwhile, Xia Di was expressionless, standing together with Flaming Swallow and Star-in-Water, doing their utmost to contain the enemy. Xia Di’s left arm was injured during the course of the fight, and blood was flowing freely. However, the young lad did not even make a sound and was still speeding about, not taking a step back from start to finish!

*Rumble*

More and more warriors joined the battle. Speed was the most powerful and unreasonable power across the universes, and seven-year-old Xia Di had been able to contain Shaka with just his strength alone. A group of these speedsters attacking at the same time was an overwhelmingly powerful offensive, a crushing and destructive force that compounded with every passing second.

Shaka was dumbfounded. He saw a streak of lightning pass him by, feeling a dense attack akin to a hail of bullets strike his body. In the blink of an eye, his mind was in a fog, and when he snapped out of it in the next moment, he found himself apprehended, tied up and thrown to the ground gruffly, his eyes filled with stars.

The sensation of going up against these speedsters was simply too terrible. He was so suppressed to the point that he could hardly breathe, completely unable to mount any sort of counterattack. It was only a moment, but Shaka was captured with several of his bones broken. He did not even have the time to yell out as the series of tragedies compounded.

“What’s this?! I’m captured?!” Shaka lowered his head to find himself wearing a pair of Venerate Binding Handcuffs made by the Skywings. It consisted of strands of metal chains, which bound him from head to toe. His seventh brain region was completely suppressed; the shockingly fast Skywing Warriors had even had the time to tie him up in a neat bow.

Shaka looked around, discovering that his ribs were broken, and that the Skywing Wolves who had tied him up were already no longer around. All that remained was a pair of Water Elementals and a huge giant standing guard.

‘What happened? Have the Skywings left?’, Shaka thought to himself. His mind was still in a blur, and he felt like he was dreaming.

——

In the end, Xia Fan was met with disappointment. The Disasters were not on this abandoned Waystation, and after looking through every nook and cranny of the place, he still found no traces of them despite their familiar scents being everywhere.

Xia Fan was incensed. His eyes burning, he grabbed Shaka with one hand as he rained down a flurry of punches that left Shaka bloody all over.

Shaka licked the corner of his lips and flashed a teasing smile at Xia Fan. “You’ll never be able to find them for the rest of your life!”

Xia Fan got provoked and incensed. With a flick of his tongue, Shaka took out a black pill that he had hidden in his molar, and instantly crushed it. Black liquid slipped down his throat and flowed through his entire body in seconds.

Shaka collapsed to the ground with a blackened face. Xia Fan watched as his body rapidly decomposed, melting down and turning into a pool of gray scum.

“To think he would still have this move. He sure is stubborn, to take everything to the grave!” Xia Geng spat at what remained of Shaka.

Xia Fan disappointedly made his way to the nearby window and looked out. He knew very well that the Disasters had once been here on this Waystation, but at this point, the chances of him locating them were getting slimmer by the second.

Just as everyone was struggling with sadness, a group of black ants came crawling out from the pipes, combining to form a humanoid figure.

“All of you ought to believe me now, right? I am everywhere,” the Demonic Ant began. “As the first Demonic lifeform in the Great Chiliocosm, I am different from these recent immigrants. My goal is very simple: Conquer even more universes, until finally I can become the strongest existence in the world.

“But these people… Honestly, I have no idea what they are thinking. Before all of you arrived, a lot of them had genetic samples extracted. You should know that I’m not lying with that Scent ability of yours.”

Xia Fan shut his eyes and sniffed the air thrice. He reopened his eyes and confirmed, “Aside from the Disasters, there are also smells of many other people… At least ten thousand others.”

The Demonic Ant nodded, “On the Celestial Path, there are many similar locations. Those people that came from the Lower Realm and have made their way to the Mortal Realm are all madly gathering every sort of genetic samples, almost as if they are searching for someone. As for the mutations in biological creatures and the emergence of the Sapient Beasts, those are no more than side reactions.”

“The creatures from the Lower Realm are constantly shuttling between the realms, bringing along plenty of the power from below, which is causing the Middle Realm to become darker.”

“As for Shaka, all of you might see him as dead, but to me, he has merely just returned to the Lower Realm. After all, death is the quickest way for spirits to shuttle between the realms.”

What the Demonic Ant shared sounded like the ravings of a madman in the eyes of normal people, but every Skywing firmly believed his words after having witnessed so many strange happenings. A Lower Realm truly existed!

“We believe what you’ve said,” Xia Fan replied. “Right now, the only issue is how we will be able to get ourselves into the Lower Realm!”