Chapter Sixty-Two: Acquiring Advanced Equipment! (First Update!)

As the moon was swallowed whole by the giant serpent, both the serpent’s massive body and all the stars in the sky flickered for an instant, then vanished abruptly, as though they had never existed at all.

With the Fourth Moon gone, the gaping hole in the sky quickly lost its support and was swiftly filled in by the surrounding clouds. In no time, the sky returned to its usual stratocumulus formation. Accompanied by howling winds, great feathery snowflakes began to whirl down in a thick, swirling storm.

The surreal spectacle just witnessed had left Catherine utterly speechless. Everyone in the live broadcast room was likewise struck dumb. A monster straight out of ancient legends, whispered from generation to generation, had actually appeared! It had truly descended upon the mortal world!

A thousand tangled thoughts crowded her mind, countless questions she didn’t even know how to voice. Catherine opened her mouth, but after a long pause, only managed a helpless sigh and lowered her head in silence.

She hadn’t asked, but Lin Mo spoke up of his own accord. “Well? This time the Fourth Moon appeared even closer to the ground than before, so you saw it more clearly. Wasn’t that last scene beautiful?”

“Beautiful? Master, you call that beautiful?” Catherine looked up at him in disbelief. “That terrifying serpent—what was beautiful about it?”

“Ah, you were only focusing on the serpent. Didn’t you see the rainbow halo that burst forth the instant the Fourth Moon was swallowed? That’s the legendary 'Wubo Ring,' said to contain all the colors of the world. According to the legends of the Rainbow Weave Tribe, a couple who kisses beneath the Wubo Ring will be blessed by the gods and never betray one another for all their lives. It’s very romantic.”

“Master, how could you even think about romance after seeing that serpent? That thing devoured the moon! If it ever loses its mind and swallows the whole continent in one bite, we’re all done for…” Catherine muttered, but then suddenly realized something, grabbed Lin Mo’s arm, and asked urgently, “Master, do you mean this scene has happened before? That it recurs at intervals?”

“To be precise, every time the Fourth Moon appears, it is eventually eaten by that snake.”

“Why? Is this some kind of natural phenomenon?”

“Perhaps.”

“But—but the moon was already eaten by the serpent! How could it reappear? Will the serpent spit it back out? That doesn’t sound magical at all!”

“According to the legends of the Chana Empire, even the Sky Dog tore the moon into pieces and swallowed it, but didn’t the moon still come back just fine?”

“But that’s just legend! This—this is…”

“This is legend, too!” Lin Mo interrupted her brusquely. “Look, I know right now you’re feeling small and insignificant, as if humanity itself is insignificant, but this really doesn’t concern you. Just treat it as something extraordinary to see. Even if the sky falls, it’s not your job to hold it up. Focus on your own problems first.”

“Are we heading out now?” Catherine stood up, then hesitated. “But with a blizzard like this, it’ll be difficult for Skynet to deliver my new Magic Eye Sprite, won’t it? Master, maybe we should wait a bit longer?”

Before Lin Mo could reply, a floating window appeared at the center of her vision: “Department of Public Security, Skynet Management Association.”

“A little blizzard like this won’t affect Skynet’s pinpoint teleportation. Catherine, we are about to deploy the latest Magic Eye Sprite to your location. The drop point will be centered on you, with a margin of error no greater than ten meters. Please be ready to receive it.”

No sooner had this message appeared than Catherine saw a star above her flare brightly. Even in this blizzard, through the thick cloud cover, the star shone clearly. A slender beam of light shot down from it, landing five meters in front of her. A mysterious magic circle flashed briefly and vanished, leaving behind a pitch-black Magic Eye Sprite on the ground, its design sleek and strikingly advanced.

“Transmission complete. Please confirm receipt.” The Skynet Management Association’s security department added meaningfully, “So far, martial arts have their merits, but don’t be misled into thinking they are superior to magic. You simply haven’t reached a level where you can appreciate magic’s true power.”

“Mhm!” Catherine responded absent-mindedly, her attention wholly captured by the new Magic Eye Sprite. She darted forward and scooped it up, exclaiming to her viewers, “See, everyone? Can you believe I, Catherine, am actually using such a cutting-edge model? I wouldn’t have even dared to dream of this before!”

She couldn’t stop caressing the new device, even rubbing her cheek against it in delight. Lin Mo, watching her antics, was rather put off. “It’s just a bit higher resolution. Do you really have to act so disgusting?”

“You don’t get it, Master!” Catherine replied without looking up, tapping and tweaking settings on the Magic Eye Sprite. “It’s not just a ‘bit’ higher resolution—it’s at least twice as sharp! The upload speed and processing power are way up too. Even if a million people send messages at once, it won’t lag. But that’s not the best part. What really counts is that it’s equipped with the latest spell array!”

“Spell array?”

“Yes! First of all, this thing can remain permanently phased, which means it avoids over ninety percent of all damage. It also has ‘Concealment’ and ‘Invisibility’ spells pre-installed, so basically no magical beast will ever notice it. Most importantly, it comes with an intelligent analysis system that automatically selects the best shooting angles, so I don’t have to worry about it anymore!”

As she spoke, Catherine launched the new Magic Eye Sprite into the air. It emitted a faint humming, then vanished entirely from sight; even Lin Mo could only barely make out its outline. At the same time, their vision filled with incredibly crisp images, and even the constantly scrolling chat messages appeared more vivid than ever.

“User ‘Romance is the Highest Pursuit’ just gifted the streamer a Chaos Meteorite! Comment: Wow, this picture quality is insane! Feels as sharp as a cinema screen!”

“User ‘Three Thousand Silver Hairs’ just gifted two Explosive Flames! Comment: Seriously, you can see every snowflake in the air!”

“When you zoom out, you can even make out each snowflake's unique shape!”

“Damn, Skynet Association really went all out this time!”

“Hey, the big serpent wasn’t captured clearly just now—are we sure it was actually a serpent?”

“I don’t really care, to be honest. Whether it’s a serpent or not has nothing to do with me!”

“Guys, I just looked it up—that serpent might be a legendary tier-nine magical beast…”

“Stop spreading rumors, that’s illegal!”

“A tier-nine magical beast is just a myth! The strongest known are tier-eight magical beasts!”

“Even tier-eight magical beasts have rarely been seen, come on!”

“I don’t believe that thing was a magical beast! If it was, humankind would’ve gone extinct long ago!”

“If it wasn’t a magical beast, then what was it? It was clearly a serpent!”

“Maybe it’s just a natural phenomenon that looks like a serpent? Didn’t Teacher Lin say it appears regularly?”

“Good point! If it really were a magical beast, would it really eat the moon and then spit it back out?”

“Spit it out? That’s disgusting…”

Catherine finished adjusting the camera, then turned to Lin Mo to show off. “Well, Master? This left-eye view is only available with premium data access. Not bad, right?”

“The camera angle is excellent. How much is the transmission delay?”

“Ten milliseconds on our end. For the viewers in the stream, it’s just over a second, I think?”

“That’s quite good,” Lin Mo nodded. “For a martial artist at your stage, it’s like having an extra set of eyes to observe your surroundings. Once you get used to it, it’ll be very useful. Now stop playing around and get ready to leave.”

“Hee-hee, okay!” Catherine replied, brushing snow off her clothes as she stood. Suddenly, dizziness overtook her; golden stars danced before her eyes, and she sank back down involuntarily.

“Careful,” Lin Mo’s voice came, tinged with a rare note of concern. “Your body is weak right now. If you use as much force as before, you’ll easily become oxygen deprived.”

“Alright.” Catherine shook her head, trying to clear her mind. When that failed, she scooped up a handful of snow and pressed it to her face. The cold revived her instantly. “Ah—so refreshing! Let’s go, Master. How much farther?”

“Not far. Head southwest. When the snowflakes in the sky turn black, we’ll be there.”