"A shadow? What shadow?" The person on the other end of the communication clearly didn't understand what Sun Hang was talking about.

"The giant anomaly in the sky, its shadow on the ground can cause effects similar to time-space distortion, accelerating the flow of time for everything within its range. According to our assessment, this thing is the culprit behind the recent series of events," Sun Hang said.

"But... according to our observations, that sphere in the sky might just be the shadow of the anomaly!" another voice interjected, "This is the Celestial City Mysterious Creature Research Institute. Right after the anomaly appeared, we've immediately deployed all available equipment to survey it. Apart from being observable under visible light, the sphere in the air has no mass or energy reaction; instead, right beneath the sphere, we've detected the memetic frequency of an unknown anomaly."

Sun Hang glanced at Ye Jiu, who was panting heavily and leaning on the Wolf-tooth Spear, and asked, "Can you unleash that ultimate attack again? At that thing in the sky?"

"You… you think I'm a character in a game? My ultimate attack only has a cooldown of a few minutes…" Ye Jiu could barely speak coherently.

"How much time do you need to recover?"

"In my current state, I can barely synchronize with the Deceitful Equipment… you might as well assume I've lost combat capability," Ye Jiu said softly, "It will take at least fifteen minutes to regain combat capability... as for another attack of that magnitude, it's impossible for me to perform it again today."

"Got it, I understand." Sun Hang switched back to the military communication channel, "Does Longquan Base have any available fighter jets right now?"

"Hawk Team has three 'Type-20' jets on standby at the base, ready for deployment at any time; additionally, Jiao Long Team's one 'Type-16' and two 'Type-10' jets just returned to the base and are refueling and rearming, expected to be ready for deployment in eight minutes."

"Immediately have Hawk Team take off and attack the giant anomaly in the sky," Sun Hang instructed, "My suggestion is to launch full-scale missile barrage after entering effective range, with saturation firepower strike, without any probing, one strike and retreat, do not linger in the airspace."

"Requesting approval from higher-ups—approval granted, remote missile strike will arrive in forty-five seconds, please avoid the blast area!"

"Apart from fighter jets, is there any other anti-air firepower around the Celestial City that can reach this thing?" Ye Jiu removed his helmet, pressed the communicator clipped to his ear, and asked.

"No… most of the Celestial City's anti-aircraft weapons are concentrated at the southern bridge, where a large number of anomalies with flying and hovering abilities have appeared. The anti-aircraft firepower is very tight, and cannot be spared!"

"What about the first batch of armored reinforcements? If I'm not mistaken, that convoy contains at least four vehicles equipped with anti-aircraft missiles and—cough, cough—cough!" Ye Jiu asked, but perhaps because he spoke too urgently, he started coughing violently before finishing his sentence.

"The reinforcing armored units were attacked by anomalies on their way into the city and have lost contact… the last message we received from them was nine minutes ago."

"Have the fighters perform a round of attack first." Sun Hang looked up, staring at the spherical anomaly in the sky, not knowing whether it was the shadow or the body... He vaguely thought of something, but the thought vanished quickly, disappearing from his mind.

As one of Xiazhou Federation's most advanced fighter jets, the Type-20 has the capability of beyond-visual-range attacks. Sun Hang didn't even see the shadow of the fighter jets when a dozen missiles with long fiery tails appeared in his vision, accurately hitting the spherical anomaly in the sky.

Nothing happened.

The dozen missiles penetrated the interior of the anomaly as if into an abyss, with no sounds of explosions or flashes of light, nor did they emerge from the other side of the anomaly's body. It was as if they disappeared from the world, leaving no trace behind.

"Missile signal lost! No explosion detected!" the base's communications officer exclaimed in a low voice, "The-the missiles… it's like they were eaten by it!"

"No significant changes in the anomaly's form detected, mass and energy still zero," the personnel at the Mysterious Creature Research Institute remained relatively calm, but even that calm lasted less than two seconds, "Wait a second! There's an energy reaction! But it's not in the sky! It's underground! Calculating… the results are out! The energy reaction is roughly equal to the number of missiles fired by the military!"

"You feel it too, right?" Sun Hang pointed to the shadow extending upward, "The fate of those missiles."

"Mm… cough, cough, cough…" Ye Jiu coughed again, wiping away the blood foam from the corner of his mouth, "After the missiles hit the spherical anomaly… cough, cough, cough… they were transferred into the shadow on the ground in an unknown manner."

"And this shadow is completely immune to physical attacks. Forget about a dozen missiles; even if you threw a Big Ivan at it, it would probably swallow it without issue," Sun Hang continued, "By the way, your coughing sounds like you're about to cough up your insides. Are you sure you're not about to die?"

"It's nothing… cough, cough, cough… I'm not going to die." Ye Jiu waved his hand, "It's just a backlash from overusing the Deceitful Equipment… cough, cough… doesn't need your concern."

"I'm not concerned about you; I'm just confirming with you," Sun Hang said, "If your answer was that you couldn't be saved, I would have kicked you off the rooftop without hesitation."

"Are you crazy?" Ye Jiu glared at Sun Hang.

"I need a test subject to confirm what happens when this deceitful shadow makes contact with a human," Sun Hang said, "You are a compatible user of the Deceitful Equipment and haven't been infected by the Deceit Virus; you're the most appropriate test subject."

"Then why don't you use yourself as the test subject?"

"Have you ever seen a lab rat operating on itself with a scalpel?" Sun Hang glanced at him, "I suddenly have an idea."

"What idea?" Ye Jiu eyed Sun Hang warily, subtly moving a bit away from the edge of the rooftop.

"When I mentioned dissecting a lab rat, it got me thinking about those shadowless lamps often used in operating rooms… I wonder if surrounding that thing in the sky with shadowless lamps in every direction would still leave it with a shadow?" Sun Hang murmured.

"It would require a huge setup… No, we can do it… Cough, cough, cough!" A trace of excitement flashed in Ye Jiu's eyes, "Hey! Hey! Can you hear me? This is Ye Jiu; I want to speak directly with the highest military authority at Longquan Base!"

A few seconds later, a slightly haggard voice appeared on the communication channel, "I'm the head of the Disaster Response Committee, now bypassing the Longquan Base's military chief to communicate with you directly. Whatever ideas you have, you can directly tell me."

"Mobilize every helicopter, rotorcraft, drone in the Celestial City… no, throughout the Shuzhou Region that has hovering capability. Requisition them all! And bring in trucks, cranes, and those special vehicles used for stage lighting effects. I need a lot of searchlights! High-intensity light sources! Cough, cough, cough… mount them on these vehicles!" Ye Jiu said incoherently, "We need a massive 360-degree shadowless light source setup to enclose that thing over the Celestial City! Do you understand what I mean? Shadowless lamps! Like the ones used in operating rooms! That's the effect I want!!"

[P.S. Tomorrow is the author's 29th birthday, planning to take a day off, so don't wait for an update tomorrow, will resume regular updates on April 21st.]

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