As Blade Warrior had predicted, 'Bizarre' is indeed the best catalyst for driving humanity toward the era of Middle Martial Arts and even High Martial Arts. Faced with its emergence, when Mechas fail to meet the demands of combat, humans will seek other breakthroughs, with the enhancement of their own strength being the best opportunity.

Perhaps in the near future, humans will once again value their own strength, fundamentally changing their direction of development through genetic engineering, a process that every civilized species may go through.

So far, the combat powers of the two have soared from 700,000 to 900,000, with no signs of dwindling.

Boom...

Another exchange of punches, this one causing even the whole space around them to vibrate.

Ripples emanated through the space around them, with energy swirling through the void. Disciples hundreds of meters away, as if struck by an unseen force, were sent flying helter-skelter. Even the most powerful among them, the Protector Elders, were forced back several meters by the oppressive force, resisting the impact as if they were forcibly pushed without making a move.

Only Mengdie could swiftly dodge and leap away, her movements as light as a dragonfly skimming over the water, watching the intense battle from a distance...

Boom!

Sky Shadow was sent flying.

The two in the Blank Paper Realm were originally suspended in midair, but as the ground shook with a thunderous impact, rubble scattered and dust rose. Sky Shadow, however, was slammed into the ground from above, creating a shallow crater half a meter deep that spread outwards.

"Hmph, not too shabby," he muttered.

As a warrior, while such an attack did hurt, it wasn't enough to cause serious injury to Sky Shadow. Wiping his mouth, Sky Shadow erupted with energy, soaring from below to above, his combat power climbing another tier to 1.3 million. The punch he threw seemed to blaze with fire from the friction with the air, its heat unusually intense.

Even Kexiao hadn't expected Sky Shadow to emerge unscathed from such an attack. This meant he had not yet used his full strength, meaning such an attack was within his tolerance.

Caught off-guard, Kexiao hastily countered with punches, crackling sounds echoing. But because Sky Shadow was in a burst phase, outperforming Kexiao by two tiers, after merely blocking dozens of strikes, Kexiao was hit by a lightning-fast kick to the back from Sky Shadow and sent spinning towards the crowd like a top.

However, Kexiao clearly had superior balance, for even though his landing created a violent tremor and a rush of air, it lacked the crashing impact of Sky Shadow's fall, as he landed on all fours and cushioned his landing with his limbs.

With a sudden burst of force on all fours, Kexiao rocketed upward almost like he was catapulted, shooting forward like a sharp sword. A Destruction Shock instantly collided harshly with Sky Shadow.

This collision was as intense as lightning. Sky Shadow, unprepared, kicked at empty air, but he had miscalculated the distance and the opponent's speed, his recovery incomplete. They clashed hard with a splash, and unable to maintain the Blank Paper Realm, both plummeted from the sky...

Both got up but did not launch another attack, instead sizing up each other's strength.

The current situation suggested their powers were evenly matched. Sky Shadow's misjudgment of Kexiao's speed and distance meant that his reactions were too fast for his brain and body to follow, unable to fully anticipate his opponent's moves.

Of course, since Kexiao was hit by Sky Shadow, it was quite apparent that he couldn't accurately predict Sky Shadow's strikes either. This kind of fight could undoubtedly be described with one word—exchange.

A sly smile flashed across Sky Shadow's face as he murmured, "Rumors are just rumors after all. General Kexiao isn't all that impressive."

"You look even more wretched than I do."

The two of them refused to give in, their escalating auras more intense than before...

"Stop fighting, both of you. We should not turn on each other right now," Blade Warrior quietly approached from not far away.

"Are you ordering me around?" Sky Shadow's voice was indescribably cold.

"No, not at all, we need to consider the bigger picture."

Sky Shadow also understood the bigger picture. He did not want to be buried along with humanity. He was faced with two choices: to continue fighting or to withdraw.

He was not afraid to fight Kexiao, but he could not guarantee he wouldn't get hurt. Seeing that action was imminent, getting injured would be very disadvantageous for him. With a cold glance at Kexiao standing nearby, he turned and walked away...

Blade Warrior finally heaved a sigh of relief. Both of them were so aloof it was unbearable, and he couldn't help but wonder if the upcoming plan was going to work.

Outside of Satellite No.8's domain, the battle had been ongoing for three days. Secret military forces from around the world have been engaged in a fierce struggle with the Bizarre for three days and nights. Damn it, they are running out of bullets, and that damned thing is still unharmed. The soldiers are now utterly exhausted, and their morale could not possibly get any lower.

Every day, the news broadcasts from different countries focus on only two things, and without exception, the newspaper headlines all delve into the experiences on the other side. Secrets all have an expiry date, and the truth about the 'Bizarre' stopped being a secret when the military forces of various countries found out the real situation.

However, people weren't too concerned about it. Even though the news broadcasts reported the latest developments about Satellite No.8 every day, with government support, this matter was still too far removed from their daily lives. What everyone cared about was how to get more food and not starve during the pandemic.

It wasn't until a picture of a star renovation project's construction site leaked on a forum that the media exploded with discussions about the Bizarre. In less than half a day, the topic became hotter than all other news, overshadowing Athena's charity concert, the virus spread, Revenge Shadow Rider, and all other topics. Issues related to the Bizarre became the hottest focal point of the century.

What exactly is it? No one understands its life form. In any case, the Bizarre is an alien entity, a special existence born with physical features unknown to any current scientific knowledge, combined with the viral storm, the news quickly became a super-hot topic spreading across the world.

Humanity has never lacked adventurers. Shortly after the news broke, numerous private explorers grouped and set off in mecha shuttles toward Satellite No.8. Of course, part of the reason was for exposure and fame, and many private media outlets also rushed there to get the news firsthand.

Caught on camera, the number of viewers in a particularly popular super livestream room started breaking into the hundreds of millions, surpassing even the Revenge Shadow Rider, turning what was once a poorly attended livestream into a gathering spot for netizens across the world.

Watching the flickering images in the livestream room, Blade Warrior really didn't know if these people were brave or just ignorant, daring to sneak past the military's forbidden zone. He guessed that the courageous souls aboard that small mecha shuttle were doomed.

As the livestream room was from Satellite No.8 by one astronomical unit, the signal began to flicker on and off, with countless snowflakes appearing across the screen. However, the explorers were oblivious, holding an unparalleled confidence in their own experience. At such a distance, even beam weapons would have a hard time hitting them, to say nothing of the 'Bizarre.'

The explorers quickly changed their minds. At first, they took the official news as a smokescreen, a ploy to fool the ordinary people and divert public opinion during the epidemic.

After all, capital permeates everything, and even politics is no exception. For the sake of hypocritical interests, they would go to any length in orchestrating disaster relief hype, steering public opinion, and setting the stage for a deeper exploitation of the lower class's value. This influence may need to be maintained for a long time, possibly for generations, because it's essential to start 'harvesting' young.

It's a story of the boy who cried wolf, but this exploration team got it wrong from the beginning. The capital's information channels are naturally more informed than those of ordinary people. When they realized that humanity's winter was approaching, they finally remembered the proletarian values they had long cast aside.

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