I will eventually become a god through sheer hard work.

"...Give me a straight answer, brother!"

The sky pirate shouted immediately.

"Kill me, kill me!"

"Hurry up, please!"

As the sound faded into the distance, Xue Jing looked at Ning Yuantai and asked:

"How much longer until we reach Yuancheng?"

Ning Yuantai thought for a moment and said, "Dealing with the Sky Pirates took some time, and it should take about three more hours."

"Hmm." Xue Jing nodded, picked up the somewhat drowsy cat, stood up, and walked towards the small compartment at the front of the cabin.

"Let me know when you're almost there."

Ning Yuantai replied respectfully, "Yes."

The others present looked at Xue Jing's back with reverence. Only after he entered the small cubicle did they begin to whisper excitedly, discussing the battle they had just fought.

……

The rest of the time passed peacefully without any further battles.

It wasn't that we didn't encounter other air pirates; in fact, we did encounter several waves of them.

However, it seems that the deeper the air pirates went into the inner ring, the more discerning they became. After recognizing the aircraft as the 'Dragon Core Fighter' from afar, they wisely left.

Xue Jing was happy to have some peace and quiet. Now, almost all of his main regular skills had reached the Lv10 limit and were waiting to be upgraded. He was no longer as eager for skill experience as before and did not need to engage in frequent actual combat.

Three hours later.

"Brother Xue, look."

Xue Jing was conducting some martial arts experiments in his consciousness space when he suddenly heard Ning Yuantai calling out to him.

He exited his consciousness space, opened his eyes, and looked out the porthole following Ning Yuantai's finger.

In the distance, a city of enormous size came into view—but soon his gaze was drawn to something even further away.

That was a building... or should it be called a tree?

It truly reached the heavens and the earth, penetrating deep into the clouds, like the mythical 'Jianmu' connecting the human world and the heavens. Even Xue Jing's eyesight couldn't see the huge black cylindrical building at the top.

Xue Jing stared at the 'pillar' in shock and said, "This is... the Sky Center?"

Skyscraper centers are buildings constructed at the very center of a metropolitan area—or rather, the so-called metropolitan area is defined around a skyscraper center.

Its predecessor was called the Sun Pillar!

"Isn't it amazing?" Ning Yuantai said with inexplicable pride.

“I was born in the outer ring, but I lived in the inner ring for a long time when I was a child. Even now, I am still amazed when I see skyscrapers.”

"This is a miracle of Chinese architecture... no, it is a miracle of human architectural history. To this day, we still do not know how people did it more than two hundred years ago."

Xue Jing did not reply, but stared at the towering skyscraper. For the first time since he transmigrated and obtained the skill panel, he felt as insignificant as an ant.

About two hundred years ago, after the death of 'God' and the beginning of the new era, the country had just emerged from turmoil and was gradually stabilizing. The new regimes in various countries were gradually becoming stable, and people all over the world were working hard to adapt to the new era, entering a period of peace and development.

At that time, for some unknown reason, all the countries in the world foresaw, through some undisclosed method, a massive catastrophe that would wipe out humanity.

In response to this cataclysmic disaster, countries around the world united and helped each other like never before, pooling the resources of the entire world and spending a full twenty years building structures called 'Sun Pillars' on their respective territories.

This is an extremely large heating device, like the sun, capable of illuminating a vast area and bringing warmth to that area.

In addition to building the sun pillars, all the administrative districts of the countries were also replanned, forming 'metropolitan areas' centered around the sun pillars.

After humanity had made preparations, disaster struck.

That was the first being in history to be classified as a 'super creature' with a danger level exceeding 10.

At the same time, it is the strongest creature known to humankind to date, without exception.

The first and strongest super-creature was named Eternal Night.

Its true form is a vast, dark, fleshy canopy that envelops the entire planet Earth.

Upon its arrival, just as its code name suggests, it brought eternal night to the entire planet Earth.

With sunlight completely blocked, humanity could no longer receive even a sliver of light, and the temperature of the entire planet began to plummet at an alarming rate.

The Eternal Night did nothing else; it simply existed—it merely stayed there, doing nothing. Its very existence was a catastrophe capable of annihilating humanity.

Solar pillars around the world were activated, shining their light on the last remaining land on Earth and bringing warmth to humanity, offering a glimmer of hope.

But this is just a drop in the ocean... The closer you are to the sun pillar, the higher the temperature you can enjoy. Humans in the outer ring are still in a harsh environment with extremely low temperatures, barely surviving.

The war against time, the eternal night, has officially begun, and countries around the world are desperately seeking a solution to the 'eternal night'.

But that dark, fleshy canopy was terrifying beyond measure. Human weapons struggled to even touch it, let alone inflict any damage. In fact, after humans tried every possible way to cut away large chunks of its flesh, they were devastated to find that it regenerated its flesh even faster than it had been injured.

How humanity ultimately solved the eternal night remains unclear in historical records.

All people know now is that the 'Eternal Night War' lasted for three years, killed about three-fifths of the Earth's population, and caused incalculable damage to the Earth's environment. Most areas were turned into uninhabitable 'badlands', and the number of extinct plants and animals is incalculable. There is still no statistical result.

Thanks to the gains made from various border regions, it took more than 150 years for humanity to recover and regain prosperity.

Although greening efforts are ongoing, most areas outside the metropolitan area remain 'badlands'. According to rough estimates, it will take at least three hundred years to restore Earth to its state before the Eternal Night War.

After the War of Eternal Night ended, these sun pillars, which had been built with the utmost human effort, were transformed into 'skyscraper centers'.

Currently, among the nine major urban clusters in China, each of the nine skyscraper centers plays a different role.

The Fifth Metropolitan Area Skyscraper Center that Xue Jing is seeing now is the most comprehensive of all the Skyscraper Centers. Many floors have been leased or sold for various purposes, and the headquarters of many super giant companies are located on some of its floors.

The housing prices here are surprisingly not very expensive... because there are just too many floors, they can't be sold out, they simply can't be sold out.

Of course, saying it's not expensive is only relative to its historical significance; it's still very expensive for ordinary people, about the same as the average housing price in first-tier cities.

Xue Jing withdrew his gaze and turned to the neon-lit city that was getting closer and closer to him.

"Source City..."

He whispered to himself.

……

(This book has now officially left the beginner's village, and also stepped out of my personal comfort zone. I hope I can write well from now on, though I'm a little nervous.)

Chapter 214 Ning Fengwan's defenses were breached by the "Proof of Love," and the Black Tide Security's surprise inspection (4K)

As the plane drew closer to Yuancheng, Xue Jing suddenly noticed a transparent, pale blue light membrane above the massive city, enveloping the entire city.

The color of this light film was extremely faint; even with Xue Jing's eyesight, he only noticed it after getting close and observing it intently.

"what is that?"

Xue Jing described the layer of light he had seen and then asked Ning Yuantai for details.

Ning Yuantai was taken aback at first, then thought about it carefully and said uncertainly:

"What you're talking about... I'm not quite sure either. Could it be a large-scale image generated by some kind of holographic technology?"

"I didn't see any light membrane..."

Upon hearing Ning Yuantai's answer, Xue Jing nodded and did not ask any further questions. He simply kept the existence of this layer of light membrane in mind.

Although we can already see Yuancheng, it's only because the city is so large; in reality, it's still quite far away.

After a long while, the plane finally arrived over Yuancheng.

"Although Yuancheng is not considered a large city among the inner-ring cities, its total area is about twenty times that of Qingcheng."

Ning Yuantai explained.

“里面一共有五十五个区，分为D1到D23区，C1到C19区，B1到B10区，以及最后的A1-A3区。”

"The U19 finals you're going to play in will be held in the 'Super Arena' in Zone B9."

Xue Jing laughed and said, "Are the residents of this district divided from D to A, with those who are more prestigious and wealthier being closer to A?"

Ning Yuantai said, "Brother Xue is smart, that's pretty much it. But the differences between the dozens of districts from D to B are not that big. It's just that the people living in the three A-level districts are indeed very rich and powerful. You'd be embarrassed to go in if you didn't have some status."

"I remember there's an urban legend in Yuancheng that says besides these fifty-five districts, there's another area that only chosen people can enter, called the 'Imaginary Special Zone'..."

As we chatted, the plane slowly descended.

Just as the plane came into contact with the pale blue light membrane that only Xue Jing could see, a flash of red light suddenly appeared ahead.

Accompanied by an alarm sound like a siren, a bright red holographic image of "Stop! Stop! Stop!" appeared in the void, with countless "Stop!" messages surrounding the entire aircraft, completely enveloping it.

The plane obediently remained suspended in the air, floating without moving.

Soon, several small flying vehicles, resembling motorcycles without wheels, flew over. The pilots on board were all dressed in black uniforms and wore a silver badge resembling a trident on their chests.

"Hmm? It's not the sheriff; judging by their clothes, they should be from Kuroshio Security." Ning Yuantai was somewhat puzzled, but then said to Xue Jing:

"Don't worry, Brother Xue, leave it to me."

After saying that, he walked out of the small cubicle.

The door to the small compartment was not closed. Xue Jing looked out and saw that the cabin door was open. Ning Yuantai was standing at the door, talking to the Black Tide security personnel floating outside.

"...This place feels weird," the kitten in Xue Jing's arms said, her childish voice clear and melodious.

She looked down at her two forepaws, which had automatically extended into snake-slaying spears.

It shook its tail again and moved the tail ring in front of itself.

"The cat tail ring is a little hot, and my blood is flowing faster..."

Upon hearing this, Xue Jing thought for a moment and said, "This place is the headquarters of the Dragon Cult. I guess 'Bastet's' power sensed the presence of the 'Dragon'."

Cat looked out at the city through the porthole and said absentmindedly, "I wonder how Yunqin is doing."

Xue Jing patted her head, about to speak, when Ning Yuantai's voice suddenly rose from outside:

"Since you recognized this document, you should know which agency this plane belongs to, and who gave you the audacity..."

His voice was filled with anger.

Xue Jing stood up, placed the cat on the chair, and then walked out of the cubicle.