Chapter 3

"Ha?" Li Pu thought for a moment and casually replied, "Do you mean like picking up a colony unit and suddenly becoming a super-strong superhero?"

"Of course not. The colony unit in Kai Pu is a common fantasy of 'ordinary people gaining extraordinary powers.'" Chen Xian closed the book. "The superhuman transformation I'm talking about is related to a predictive theory called the 'technological singularity.'"

"Technological... singularity?" Li Pu was a bit at a loss for reference.

"Yes, it's an intelligence explosion," Chen Xian nodded. "You know, the progress in technology over the past hundred years has far surpassed the total progress of the previous ten thousand years, right?"

"Right, the progress has been very fast. I remember reading in the news a couple of years ago that they had created cloned animals abroad. Uh, it was called... Dolly, right?" Li Pu managed to keep up with the topic. "Is this what you mean by an intelligence explosion?"

"No, that's just a natural result of rapid technological development. Although it's impressive, it's still within the realm of predictability."

The girl shook her head. A strand of smooth hair fell onto her still youthful, delicate face, giving her a peculiar charm as she discussed this somewhat unusual topic for her age.

The girl continued, enthusiastically explaining to her childhood friend, "The superhuman transformation refers to a massive advancement in technology that will cause a catastrophic change in the foundations of contemporary society within a very short period. When this turning point arrives, old patterns, ethics, and even common sense will be quickly phased out, and new rules will dominate the world. The intelligence and technology that follow will be completely incomprehensible to people today, just as rabbits cannot understand human civilization."

"And the source of this 'transformation' is generally believed to be triggered by an AI with intelligence surpassing the limits of human brains. When a machine capable of advancing technology at a speed 'far beyond human understanding' is born, technology will grow rapidly, like a Big Bang, 'bang!' So this might be the last invention of humanity."

The girl opened her bright, clear eyes and exaggeratedly said, "No matter how hard ordinary humans try, they can't catch up with this 'new intelligence.' For example, chimpanzees are considered very smart among animals, but no matter how hard they try, they can't match a human with modern education."

"Wow! Isn't that even more powerful than the 'Skynet' in 'The Terminator'!" As usual, Li Pu's thoughts wandered a bit.

"Correct! 'The Terminator' is a movie based on the theme of superhuman transformation." Chen Xian shifted her small bottom, trying to get off the bamboo chair, but she was annoyed to find that her legs, which had been bent for a long time, were a bit numb—she had been too engrossed in reading!

"But does this 'singularity' have to be triggered by an AI?" Li Pu suddenly said, "I think you have a good chance."

"Me? No way, I'm just an ordinary human girl." Chen Xian lifted her delicate fingers and tapped her forehead. "This is the same as everyone else; there's no fundamental difference."

"But your brain is super sharp. You don't seem to have any weak subjects, right?" Li Pu shrugged. "Not to mention me and the other students, even Qin Xia'er, who is quite good at studying, is very jealous of you. The homeroom teacher has already said he wants to skip you a grade, but you've never agreed."

"That's not true..." The girl's face turned slightly red, and she turned her head. The reason she didn't want to skip a grade was too obvious.

The conversation between the girl and the boy had become a part of their daily routine since their first encounter. From "comic novels," "TV programs," "various ways to sneak into old cinemas," "bullying stray dogs in the neighborhood," to today's mind-wandering "superhuman transformation," their topics were as free and imaginative as a wild horse.

Li Pu glanced at the clock on the wall and decisively gave up on continuing his summer homework. "It's already this time. 'Discovery' is about to start. You like 'Animal Planet' too, right? Let's watch it together."

"Okay, wait a moment, I'll go collect the clothes my mom hung out to dry." Chen Xian happily replied, then put on her cheap, oversized flip-flops and ran to the balcony with bare feet.

The boy watched the girl's back, smiled, and then scratched his head. He had known Xiao Xian for almost five years and never thought he would become such close "best friends" with a girl. At first, he might have just seen her as a little sister who needed to be taken care of, but over time, Li Pu found that Xiao Xian was probably the most interesting person he had ever met. Even when she occasionally threw a tantrum, she was very cute.

Perhaps for her, he, who was naturally mischievous, would seriously consider getting into high school and even university. Well, in his mind, getting into a university—especially one that matched Xiao Xian's level—might be even more difficult than "starting to work hard to become an Olympic champion" now.

—Sigh, he could only take it one step at a time.

"Wow! Come quick! A Pu, come quick!"

Suddenly, Xiao Xian's voice came from the nearby balcony, clear and urgent.

"What's wrong?" Li Pu was startled, immediately flipped off the mat, and rushed over in two steps. When he reached the balcony, the usually fearless boy was also stunned.

In the distant sky, a massive object, resembling a fire dragon, was frictioning with the atmosphere, splashing flames, and streaking across the sky at an unimaginable speed, leaving a spectacular trail of gravitational rainbow in a curved path.

It wasn't a satellite, not an airplane, not a nuclear missile strike, and probably not even a small asteroid. Above the burning object, there was a deep, dark space that seemed to connect to an endless abyss.

No country on this planet possessed such technology.

Chen Xian stared at the fiery meteor falling from the unknown space without blinking. At this distance, the falling object, though just a burning dot, was likely to have a diameter of over ten thousand meters.

"This distance and angle..." She quickly calculated in her mind and came to a conclusion.

Fortunately, the position was high enough. The final impact point should be far from this coastal city, deep in the East China Sea, possibly even beyond the Ryukyu Islands. And with the intense heat from atmospheric friction, there was a high chance it would disintegrate mid-air, significantly reducing its size.

The disintegrated debris would be further reduced in size by the atmosphere, and the impact damage upon landing would not be as catastrophic as in the Hollywood movie "Deep Impact."

"...Huh?" The girl, holding the balcony railing to support her small body, suddenly exclaimed in surprise.

As she had predicted, the object in the high sky disintegrated with a loud explosion—but this was not the natural disintegration due to overheating that she had expected.

"What the...?" Li Pu also witnessed the disintegration explosion. Although he was not as knowledgeable as Xiao Xian, anyone who saw what happened would feel that what they saw seemed to deviate from basic common sense.

In the instant before the object disintegrated, an inexplicable energy flow surged from within, drawing a distant trajectory line in the vast sky, tearing the massive unknown object apart from the inside, and scattering it into several pieces.

The largest piece of debris, propelled by the unknown energy, flew in an arc toward the deeper Pacific Ocean, while the other pieces scattered in different directions due to the intense explosion.

One of them was heading straight for their coastal city!

---

In the Haizhou Bay, an inland sea.

A shock of epic proportions! The resulting tsunami and geological changes continued to spread, causing devastating effects in the surrounding areas. Billions of tons of seawater were instantly vaporized, and a peculiar, organic-looking spacecraft fragment, several dozen meters deep, was embedded in the continental shelf.

In this harsh and terrifying environment, a "figure" detached from the damaged spacecraft and floated to the surface of the sea, where countless turbulent currents raged.

This was a towering giant with a snake tail and four arms. Over four meters tall, his close-fitting armor made of unknown material was half-shattered, and his copper-colored skin was covered in wounds. His four eyes emitted an icy blue glow, filled with a mix of sorrow and determination as he gazed deeply at the sea below.

The snake-tailed, four-armed alien's "mouth" twitched slightly, making a gesture similar to a human sigh. He had not expected that this "mission" would encounter such a catastrophic accident during the subspace jump. His comrades had all perished... and the "thing" that had brought them to the brink of extinction, after withstanding the final blow from him and his comrades, had also fallen into the depths of this planet's ocean with the main body of the spacecraft.

The alien giant could feel his life rapidly fading away. Even he, an outstanding combat master of the "Covenant of the Extraordinary," could not withstand the dual collapse of matter and spirit. Without any backup, his demise was inevitable. His icy blue eyes looked behind him, and his powerful psychic vision, ignoring distance, angle, material, and any obstacle, saw the cities scattered across the continent.

—This was clearly a remote planet inhabited by intelligent beings with a certain level of civilization.

"The fall has brought 'it' to this planet. The civilization of this biosphere will face unprecedented... changes."

The snake-tailed giant struggled to raise his right arm, and a "symbol" on his broad chest, which appeared silver to human eyes, rose as a virtual proton and condensed into a small, exquisite silver emblem, landing in his palm.

The mere phenomenon of this "two-dimensional symbol" returning to a material structure was far beyond the imagination of Earth humans, and the snake-tailed giant was clearly not done yet.

"Master Star Hunter: Gekuguro. According to the traditions of the Asta Temple... I hereby open the basic permissions of this 'unit module' and grant them to any intelligent being who encounters it and aligns with its principles."

Extremely weak and exhausted, he could barely raise his arm, and with a single finger, he flicked the silver emblem called the "unit module," sending it as a thin, invisible beam of light in an arc toward Chinese territory.

—This was the last small compensation he could offer to the life forms on this planet.

After releasing the "unit module," the four-armed, snake-tailed alien could no longer suppress his internal collapse. First, the spiritual fire in his eyes dissipated, then his entire body seemed to dissolve, with the outer skin peeling off layer by layer, followed by the disintegration of his internal muscles and organs. Even his bones, once tougher than titanium, quickly became brittle and turned to dust.