Traveler of the River of Time and Space

Chapter 627 3: Thousand-Faced Man

The information Aunt Zoe sent was even more detailed than Su Ying expected.

It is said that she was once a comrade who fought alongside her father and mother in the Southern Cross. Much of the bionic technology being promoted and popularized today was brought out from the Southern Cross by them. Another part of the data detailed the relationship between the Soviet Union and the United States before the catastrophe, as well as the 'Star Wars' program that affected the fate of humanity at the time. Amidst the full-scale confrontation between the two superpowers, the Star Gate project was merely a less noticeable sub-project. During the Cold War, both the Soviet Union and the United States embarked on some even crazier projects. (Note: The Star Gate project was a real-life psionics program.)

As for what happened later, there's not much to say.

At the end of the Cold War, relations between the Soviet Union and the United States had become increasingly tense. Especially the cloning technology developed by the Soviet Union in its later stages made the United States quite apprehensive. Although both sides were increasingly competitive at the time, they restrained from crossing the ultimate line, until the sudden arrival of the great catastrophe. It is unclear which side pressed the fatal nuclear button first; it might even have been both sides simultaneously.

Thus, a terrifying disaster that almost ended human civilization descended like this!

What exactly happened before the great catastrophe has always been a mystery. Various signs at the time indicated that the Soviet Union was at a disadvantage in the Cold War, with its economic strength lagging behind the United States.

Yet nuclear war broke out suddenly and almost overnight, the Soviet Union and the United States launched nearly all their nuclear stockpiles at locations across the Earth. For nearly a hundred years, the Brotherhood has been secretly investigating the true cause of the great catastrophe, but they have yet to find a key clue.

However, Pasha mentioned once before being infected by the mechanical worm virus that the rising Beidou in the East had found some real clues about what triggered the nuclear war back then.

This clue came from the distant Far East Region, discovered by Beidou after contacting the surviving forces of the Soviet Union. If not for the large-scale outbreak of the mechanical worm virus in the North American Region, Polaris was supposed to cooperate with the Brotherhood to assist Beidou in a secret investigation mission according to plan.

"Star Gate plan..." Su Ying rested her white chin on her hand, murmuring, "Could there really be spiritualists from before the great catastrophe who have survived until now?"

Phil.

The name of that soldier.

All these years, apart from her father, Su Ying had only felt such a powerful spiritual pressure on another woman. That woman was Mother Yisodel, now the highest leader of the Mechanical Atomist Pantheon. Su Ying had only met her once, just brushing past each other on the battlefield.

Currently, the most powerful spiritualist recognized openly in the wasteland world is the mysterious 'Lord Zeus', who allegedly wields spiritual lightning storms capable of destroying a city. The second in rank is Mother Yisodel, possessing extremely strong telekinesis, disguise abilities, and rumored to control the power of radiation and heal the followers of the Mechanical Atomist Pantheon. When Su Ying encountered her back then, she was shocked by the other's spiritual pressure, but Mother Yisodel seemed similarly shocked by Su Ying, especially upon seeing Su Ying wield a sliver of lightning power.

Besides Mother Yisodel, the third is the thin man named Phil.

As an innate spiritualist, Su Ying naturally possessed a special mind sensing ability since childhood. The spiritual pressure Phil exuded was not significantly different from Mother Yisodel's, probably a sixty-forty split.

But what is the status of Mother Yisodel?

The highest leader of the Mechanical Atomist Pantheon, a giant so powerful that her mere presence would cause the entire North America to tremble.

And Phil, who possessed such mighty spiritual power, what was his status? Superficially, he was Jack's personal bodyguard!

Thinking of Jack, Su Ying couldn't help but slightly furrow her lovely eyebrows.

Being naturally gifted with some mind sensing ability, upon meeting Su Ziyu, she further gained the system enhancement from the Space-Time Apostle, strengthening and mastering the ability of Spiritual Vision. Thus, Jack's near-perfect handsome appearance looked completely different to her, seeing a distorted and sinister face covered in countless surgical scars.

Spiritual Vision mostly allows seeing the soul directly.

So Jack's soul looked completely contrary to his handsome appearance, especially when the projection seen through Spiritual Vision overlapped with Jack's handsome reality, Su Ying felt a nauseating urge every time she saw it.

Nobody knows how many surgeries the Antarctic Group performed on Jack's face, causing even the soul projection to be riddled with innumerable surgical scars.

Additionally, Jack's epithet is quite interesting.

—"Jack [Thousand-Faced Man]!"

Su Ying could be very certain of one thing, that Jack was definitely not a spiritualist. However, those adorned with such system-recognized epithets were usually not ordinary, generally boss-level entities. The more cryptic an epithet, harder to decipher literally, the stronger the ability it implies.

"Father."

"What would you do in such a situation?" Su Ying cautiously took out an exquisite, somewhat old heart-shaped locket from her chest, opening it to reveal a family photo of three, taken at the Brotherhood's secret base shooting range. Her father was on the left, her mother on the right, and in the middle was a smiling little girl.

Phil was extremely powerful.

He was at least much stronger than Su Ying. If it came to a direct confrontation, she felt she had almost no chance of winning, and even with the Brotherhood members tasked with protecting her, the outcome was uncertain.

The mother is currently infected with the mechanical worm virus, and acting rashly, Su Ying was worried that the people from the Antarctic Group would threaten her mother's safety.

Especially since they were still unclear about what the Antarctic Group intended to do.

"Uncle Leon hasn't returned yet."

"The other members of the Brotherhood likely are not his match." Su Ying carefully closed the locket in her hand, after pondering for a moment, she murmured, "Perhaps I can secretly contact the people of Beidou."

"Maybe they could help."

The LN fleet sent by Beidou should arrive at the sea near Polaris within the next few days. All the intelligence Su Ying currently knew indicated that Beidou possessed extremely strong strength; being able to send a fleet from the distant East to break through the blockade of numerous marine mutated creatures and reach the North American Region demonstrated a power that can't be underestimated.

But the crucial point now was, would the people of Beidou be willing to help her?

Su Ying vaguely felt that a vast conspiracy had enveloped Polaris, her, and her mother. She could not sit idly by, and to break this situation, she needed external help.

"Father."

"I miss you so much..." The girl lay wearily on the table.

.........