Welcome to the Ability Shop!

Chapter 38 "How long can a person survive in space without protection?"

Once we get back to the store and close the roller shutter, we can cut off her connection to the world and get her out of danger!
Just as Chen Xuan pulled her and turned to run towards the shop, a loud buzzing sound suddenly came from behind them, and they knew something bad was about to happen. He turned his head and glanced at the six-legged robot out of the corner of his eye. He saw it turn around and point at him, the six-barreled machine gun in the center of the turret starting to spin rapidly.

"Quick, hide!" the girl shouted.

At the same moment, Chen Xuan activated the Divine Eye Technique.

The surrounding moving objects slowed down instantly. He saw the gun barrel, as thick as a fist, spewing out bursts of flame. The bullet pierced through layers of air and shot towards him, creating a clearly visible ring-shaped shockwave along the way.

If a physical education student were hit by a bullet like that, they probably wouldn't be able to withstand it.

But Chen Xuan knew he could react!

His upgraded Heavenly Cloud Skill, now at level three, made him more agile and stronger, and the ability to foresee the trajectories of all bullets allowed him to plan his evasion routes in advance. He had already devised a plan: first, he would crouch forward, then roll, and finally leap to the side, thus dodging all the bullets and slipping through the only opening into the shop, creating the impossible—

However, the girl's pull brought all his ideas to an abrupt halt.

Chen Xuan never expected that the opponent's pulling force would be so astonishing, actually matching his own! The two were exerting force in completely opposite directions, so neither could budge the other, resulting in a 0.05-second stalemate. This brief delay allowed subsequent bullets to block their escape route.

Seeing that she couldn't move Chen Xuan, she pulled him back and did something that left Chen Xuan dumbfounded! She actually pulled Chen Xuan behind her and stepped forward to block him!

This took another 0.05 seconds.

In a mere 0.1 seconds, the bullet struck the girl. Chen Xuan not only heard the dull thud of the bullet entering flesh but also felt a tremendous force. That was the effect of the kinetic energy transferred by the large-caliber bullet; even without actual contact, he could feel her slamming into him like a hammer, sending both of them tumbling through the air!

It's over.

Chen Xuan was shocked. That rotating Gatling gun was at least 30mm thick. If that caliber hit the customer, wouldn't it blast her to pieces?
As the Divine Eye Technique ended, the bullets that had been traveling through the air instantly transformed into an impenetrable jet of scorching heat, knocking the two people away before pouring into the shop's entrance, tearing the shelves and glass display cases to shreds.

Chen Xuan was immediately heartbroken. He had thought that this shop, being so magical, must have some kind of self-protection mechanism, but the reality was quite different. Furniture, decorations, and goods all shattered cleanly when hit by heavy fire, no different from pieces of paper. Even the brick walls were riddled with holes from a single shot. Within seconds, the shop was a complete mess.

The two landed and rolled into a blind corner of the hall.

The jet then caught up, but was blocked by the thick metal pillars.

"Cough!" The girl released Chen Xuan and suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.

To Chen Xuan's surprise, the other woman was still intact; she hadn't lost any limbs or her body hadn't been split in two. The bullet had only torn apart her bodysuit around her abdomen, revealing a patch of charred skin below.

"Were you... trying to die just now?"

She weakly rebuked.

It's better not to die.

Chen Xuan didn't have time to reply to her. The two of them had just been shot down by machine gun fire. Although they had temporarily escaped the area of ​​fire, they were now further away from the shop. It would take a second or two to run there, and there was no cover along the way. He might be able to do it alone, but carrying the customer on his back was unlikely.

"How did you teleport like that before? Can you do it again?" Chen Xuan pointed to the shop door. "As long as we can get there, we'll be safe."

"What's the use of safety? I have to get to the control room right away, or it'll be too late!"

She forced herself to get up, trying to find a way out of the hall.

The six-legged mech also changed its combat strategy at this moment. It lowered its body and unfolded the top plates one by one.

The next second, seven or eight cylinders were ejected from the bomb bay!

Chen Xuan used his Divine Eye Technique again, slowing down the movement of everything—he saw clearly that the flying cylinders were not missiles, but small drones. Judging from their size, they couldn't carry additional weaponry and were most likely suicide weapons. Once they joined the encirclement, this blind spot would become full of openings.

We absolutely cannot let these things get scattered!

Chen Xuan decisively summoned the Thousand Thoughts Sword, causing four qi swords to appear directly above the bomb bay!

The drone had just launched and hadn't even had time to unfold its rotors when it crashed straight into the blocking blade and was immediately cleaved into several pieces.

Before the Divine Eye Technique ended, he pointed his finger downwards, and the Thousand Thoughts Swords, as if understanding his intention, all turned their tips and stabbed towards the still-open launch chamber.

Sparks flew instantly.

These sparks triggered a violent secondary explosion! Two deafening roars were heard, and a crimson fireball erupted from the top of the armed mech, the shockwave even cracking the floor!
"Who...who are you?" The girl's eyes widened, bigger than eggs.

"I told you, I'm the store manager." Chen Xuan helped her up. "Where's the control room? What's going to be too late?"

"In the sinking area of ​​compartment N45, we have to get through here..."

Before she finished speaking, the mech, engulfed in flames and thick smoke, trembled and began to move again!

It took a step back, and the turret fired a blinding laser beam at its feet!
"What is it doing?" Chen Xuan asked, puzzled.

The girl realized something and cried out, "Oh no!"

But it was too late. The floor that had been blasted apart earlier was completely severed by the laser beam. Combined with the fact that the hall itself was shaking violently, the stress that had nowhere to go seemed to find a way out, and the crack instantly expanded into a fissure that spanned the entire hall!

The entire glass dome could not withstand the strain and collapsed completely under the pulling force. The entire hall seemed to be torn in two by an invisible hand.

"Warning! Severe structural damage has occurred in Block N43. Everyone, please proceed to the emergency escape facilities immediately!"

The piercing alarm blared again, its volume increasing.

But for Chen Xuan, this was all hindsight—the moment the hall cracked open, the air rapidly dissipated outwards, and the terrifying pressure difference was like a hurricane, sucking out everything that could move inside N43, including the burning mech.

For a second or two, Chen Xuan lost control of his body. When he came to his senses, he was thrown into the weightless space along with a large number of building debris.

At this moment, no matter how agile he was, he was helpless.

That six-legged machine even went so far as to sabotage the space station in an attempt to prevent the girl from reaching the control room.

How long can a person survive in space without protection? This classic question couldn't help but come to Chen Xuan's mind.

Previously, relying on his ability to escape unscathed, he dared to fight against armed mechs. Now, being thrown into space, the situation is completely different. The Golden Cicada Technique can only avoid death once, while the hypothermic and depressurized vacuum environment is enough to kill him countless times.

While he was still conscious, Chen Xuan quickly took out the barcode scanner he was carrying and planned to use the store manager recall function to return to the store.

Strangely, he did not feel any discomfort.

Even when he stopped breathing, he didn't hear the sizzling sound of saliva evaporating, or the stinging pain of his bulging eyeballs.

Chen Xuan carefully sensed it and realized that his whole body was enveloped by a kind of energy—not just on the surface of his body, but every blood vessel and every muscle was protected by this energy, which came from the accumulation of energy over time when the mental cultivation technique "Tianxia Gong" was automatically activated.

It can permanently evolve the body and take the first step towards ascension... He remembered that there was such a point in the introduction of the Heavenly Cloud Technique. Could going into space naked be a part of ascension?!

He was even able to breathe in small, shallow breaths, as if his body had activated an internal circulation mode. Judging by the rate at which he was consuming air, he could last at least another ten minutes or so.

This high-grade cultivation technique is amazing!

Suddenly, Chen Xuan saw his guest.

The girl was rolling around about twenty meters away from him. She was obviously not dead, but the weightless environment made it impossible for her to maintain her balance.

He also got a clear look at the entirety of the space megastructure beneath his feet—it might not be as exaggerated as a true megastructure, falling far short of being sky-covering, but it was still absolutely magnificent. There were hundreds of structures like N43, comparable to a pedestrian plaza. They presented exquisite hexagonal structures, arranged in rows like a honeycomb, suspended below the ring-shaped framework.

Theoretically, the disintegration of one N43 wouldn't pose a fatal threat to the main structure, but the "space city" was indeed on the verge of destruction. Explosions were occurring everywhere in the skeleton, connections were breaking one after another, and the scattered debris glittered like a blizzard sweeping through deep space.

Hundreds of connected hives also slowly fell under the pull of Earth's gravity, like a sandcastle whose base was washed away by the sea; it was only a matter of time before they collapsed completely.

Chen Xuan now understood what those "fireworks" shooting out from the earth were... They should be ballistic missiles carrying nuclear warheads, but they exploded in a vacuum and lost their shockwaves, so the flames did not rise upwards, making them look like an extremely dazzling round salute.

Are people on Earth attacking this space city?
But it looks completely undefended; it's clearly just a place for living and sightseeing.

Chen Xuan shook his head, putting a string of questions to the back of his mind. Since the vacuum couldn't harm him for the time being, and since there was still some time, he had to save his guest.

At least give it a try.

Because every guest is the most valuable asset.

(End of this chapter)