My head... it hurts so much... What happened? I feel like my brain is a mess of porridge, with all sorts of cluttered thoughts stirred together, making it impossible to find the information I want no matter how hard I try. This condition lasted for more than ten minutes before I finally began to regain control of my thoughts. Ah! That's right! I remember now! The events before I fainted—Shallow and I were standing at the school gate, and a student from the opposite school was bullying his classmate, on the verge of starting a fight. Then, Shallow and I, not wanting to get involved, were about to leave quickly, and then what? I started looking for a brick... Oh, that plan was scrapped. I tried to kill that rich kid with my glare, thinking at the time how wonderful the world would be if I could beat him up. And then... Suddenly, everything became clear in my mind again, and the countdown voice of that mysterious "Zenith Long-Range Strike System" seemed to echo in my ears once more. "Shallow! Run!" I shouted, suddenly sitting up, only to find that I was not at the school gate. "Where is this... that dream?"

I looked around and found that the gray metal buildings from my dreams surrounded me. Without a doubt, I had returned to this strange place after losing consciousness.

Rubbing my forehead, I surveyed my surroundings again and suddenly realized that something seemed off. It was too dark.

So I looked up...

In the next second, I felt my heart skip several beats!

The huge metallic sphere in the sky had approached the ground so closely that it was almost within reach. The massive sphere covered nearly half of the sky, pressing down heavily like another land. I could clearly see its complex metal structure. Some parts resembled towers, some were weapon launch silos, others seemed to be protrusions of communication devices, and there were many dense, dark gun barrels like a forest. Between these metal facilities, there were also large circular depressions, which seemed to be landing platforms or energy-gathering facilities. This terrifying steel jungle moved slowly across the sky, silently conveying an overwhelming sense of fear to me beneath it.

Screeching and creaking, the low sounds echoed. I couldn't be sure whether it was the steel firmament above or my own cervical spine making the noise—probably my cervical spine.

What on earth is this thing!?

This scene is a bit too sci-fi, isn't it? No matter how much I gripe in my heart, it won't change the fate that I'm about to be flattened by this asteroid-like aerial fortress—although it's descending so slowly that no movement is visible, my intuition tells me that this gigantic celestial fortress is still falling! In this dream, my intuition has always been eerily accurate, just as I now intuitively feel that although this is a dream, the events occurring in this world will definitely affect my real-world self. What should I do now? Run? Joke's on you, do you know how big this huge metal ball is? I estimate its radius has already exceeded a thousand kilometers! No matter how slowly this thing descends, it will be enough to turn me into a pile of dumpling filling—pure meat, no less, wrapped directly in a layer of nylon bag, with the school emblem of the Second Middle School of the city printed on it... The top priority now is to stay calm, calm! This metal ball is descending very slowly, and it won't crush me for a while, so before that, I must find a building to hide in, a building that must be sturdy enough to withstand the celestial fortress that is literally like a small asteroid... It would be better for me to run a thousand kilometers than to find such a sturdy place! Wait, I seem to have forgotten something. Right, where are the other two metal spheres? There were originally three metal spheres in the sky, but now why can I only see one?

Could it be hiding behind this metal sphere that's almost touching the ground? ...What time is it, and here I am still pondering such things. A celestial fortress is already enough to turn me into dumpling filling, and two more would at most just press the filling a bit smoother. But it was in that fleeting thought that my already somewhat chaotic mind experienced a moment of clarity. I remembered the voice that rang in my head when the energy column appeared at the school gate. Regardless of what it was, whether it was a supernatural phenomenon or superpower, it seemed that I could influence that energy and whatever celestial attack system it belonged to to some extent. Or rather, there was a great possibility that the attack system was activated by myself. Now it seems that there must be some connection between this dream world and that celestial attack system, which means, in fact, I can affect things in this dream world? I know that my current situation is most likely a desperate attempt at a solution, and such a leap of association would normally never come together, but there's no other possibility right now—I must strive to imagine myself as a hidden master, and then conjure up a big move that could save the world.

For instance, to strike a deal with that giant sphere in the sky, asking it to go back... That's what I say, but deep down I'm not entirely sure if it will work. At this point, I no longer regard this world as just an ordinary strange dream. This peculiar dream has surpassed the realm of typical dreams and even escalated to the level of a paranormal event. Heaven knows whether it's me dreaming or if I've been swallowed into some illusion. I try to calm myself down and begin to concentrate, attempting to control the celestial fortress that is about to bring about my downfall. This is difficult because I have no idea where to start. All I can do is keep repeating the thought in my mind to make this huge sphere move away from the ground. Dozens of minutes pass, and there's not a single movement. In the silent world, all I can hear is my increasingly heavy breathing. The giant fortress in the sky has clearly gotten closer to the ground, and the once blurred metal protrusions on it are now clearly visible. Just when I'm about to give up, a feeling of something being connected emerges from deep within my spirit. That's it! I'm overjoyed and immediately focus my attention, conveying my thoughts as accurately as possible. Finally, a mechanical voice echoes in the depths of my mind: "Receiving external instruction set... Permission confirmed... Analyzing vague instructions... The content of the instructions will change the operational mode of the World Arbitration Agency. Please confirm that you have sufficient permissions... Confirming again, World Arbitration Agency Gaia No. 2 changing orbit..." As this mechanical voice fades, the giant sphere in the sky emits a deep roar and begins to rise slowly. With the deep roar, this silent world suddenly undergoes a dramatic transformation! The voice that always echoes whenever I leave this world suddenly resounds between heaven and earth, for the first time carrying a sense of joy: "Found..." Then, this monotonous world regains its colors! The ashen sky, like a lit-up display screen, quickly dons a new coat of cerulean blue. This pure color, completely unlike what this steel world should have, is even more beautiful than the cleanest sky I've ever seen. The distant blurred mountains are rapidly covered with green from top to bottom, allowing one to feel the rich breath of life even from thousands of miles away. Beside me, the cold metal buildings also come back to life, with faint blue halos beginning to emerge on their exteriors. The twinkling lights turn on one by one centered around me. From high above, it looks like a burst of fireworks in full bloom. The giant fortress in the sky also changes, with a blue-white stream of light passing through the metal grooves on its surface, filling this huge aerial fortress with a sense of mystery. In just a dozen or so seconds, this dead silent world has turned into a vibrant and magical place. The beautiful natural scenery and surreal futuristic landscapes display a grand beauty. I stand there dumbfounded in the greatly transformed metal city, almost forgetting to breathe. "What... on earth is this..." I mutter to myself. A pleasant but emotionally flat female voice suddenly rings in my ear: "This is the capital planet of the Empire, one of the mother planets of the Xiling Empire."

A sudden noise startled me, and I immediately jumped to the other side before I saw what appeared to be a 'person' beside me at some point. A girl with pale blue, semi-transparent features was floating there, her lifeless eyes turning in my direction. A ghost? Or a holographic image? Based on the development of the plot, I think it's the latter. "Hello," I said with a quirky expression (hoping the other party could associate this severely distorted expression with a smile), "My name is Chen Jun, and... what can I do for you?" "Hello," the girl opposite me bowed and said, "I am World Arbitration Agency Unit Two, Gaia, nice to meet you, Your Majesty."