With Ke Ning

"Hehehe, call me mommy. Time to feed the baby~~" Lan Xiaoke, still half-asleep, giggled foolishly as she hugged the pillow next to Ye Chuan.

Ye Chuan sat up. Seeing Lan Xiaoke squirming around like a caterpillar, he gave her thigh a light smack. This girl's reflexes were incredibly sharp, and her combat prowess was equally astonishing.

Ye Chuan walked out of the bedroom, yawning, only to spot a familiar figure over by the kitchen. It was Ke Ning, dressed in her signature white lab coat, looking just as groggy and half-asleep.

"Morning," Ke Ning said softly the moment she saw him. "If you have time right now, could you come out with me to collect some data?"

Ke Ning rarely asked Ye Chuan for favors. She was a total homebody; unless she had a specific reason, she wouldn't even step foot outside the house.

Seeing that Ke Ning was actually taking the initiative to ask him out, Ye Chuan smiled faintly. "Sure. Where are we collecting the data, though? Are we heading to the rifts?"

Lately, the rifts appearing in the real world had been growing increasingly powerful. However, the Super Warriors had also been improving their strength rapidly, which managed to maintain a delicate balance.

Still, if a rift happened to spawn in a small town, it would result in a near-devastating blow.

Across the globe, numerous small countries had already been entirely wiped out by these rifts. The surviving nations had banded together, forming an Alliance to fight back against the monsters that poured out of them.

"Mhm, let's go to the rifts to gather data," Ke Ning nodded. She paused for a moment before adding, "Just the two of us."

Ye Chuan had no objections. He smiled faintly. "Alright."

Since it was just going to be him and Ke Ning, Ye Chuan left a quick message for the others before stepping out of the house with her.

"Should we call a car, or what's the plan?" Ye Chuan asked. If it was just the two of them heading out, there was no need to call Yanran over to act as their chauffeur; grabbing a taxi would do just fine.

"That is an extremely inefficient method. Don't you know how to fly? Just carry me and fly us there." Ke Ning pushed up the glasses on the bridge of her nose, then opened her arms. "Come on."

Ye Chuan hadn't expected Ke Ning to make such a proactive request. Instantly forgetting about standard modes of transportation, he simply scooped her up into his arms.

Ke Ning was incredibly light, likely due to her habit of skipping meals over long periods. Holding her didn't feel soft and fleshy like Lan Xiaoke, nor was it slender yet firm like Qian Shuang.

In the next second, Ye Chuan's figure blurred, and they appeared high up in the sky.

Ke Ning showed no signs of surprise at this. Instead, upon feeling the rush of the high-altitude wind, she simply steadied her glasses and held down her hair. "Let's go. See where the nearest rift is."

Ye Chuan gave a nod of acknowledgment and flew off in a certain direction with Ke Ning in his arms.

Ye Chuan actually had no idea where the nearest rift was located. However, his speed was incredibly fast, and he had enveloped Ke Ning in a protective layer of spiritual energy. Sweeping the area with his divine sense, it took him only a few short seconds to locate a rift and bring Ke Ning right to it.

"Over there," Ke Ning said, looking at the rift below. There were quite a few Super Warriors going in and out of it, clearly indicating that this was a well-established rift space.

"This one?"

"Mhm."

Ye Chuan brought Ke Ning down to the ground. Because he had concealed their auras during the descent, the people around them didn't even notice their arrival.

The ability to lower one's presence to such a degree was, in a sense, practically a god-level skill.

Ke Ning looked up. After gazing at the rift tearing through space in the distance, she fell silent for a few seconds before walking toward it, bringing her Cube V2 along.

Ye Chuan followed closely beside her.

Just as they were preparing to enter the rift, a man and a woman walked over and blocked Ye Chuan's path.

"Bro, are you a Super Warrior? What's your level? Wanna team up?" The man smiled and introduced himself. "My squad is short two people."

Hearing this, Ye Chuan was just about to decline, but Ke Ning chimed in from the side, "Alright, let's team up."

Ye Chuan paused, a little bewildered as to why Ke Ning would want to form a party. After all, they certainly didn't need to drag two deadweights along just to explore a rift.

"It just occurred to me that I should collect data on the spatial fluctuations that occur when multiple people enter a rift at the same time," Ke Ning explained.

"Is that so?" Since Ke Ning put it that way, Ye Chuan had no further objections.

"My name is Wu Gao, and this is my younger sister, Wu Tian."

The pair greeting them were a brother and sister duo. The man was a Super Warrior somewhere in the low teens, and the woman was right around level ten. Ever since the Super Warrior Alliance had overhauled the ranking system, levels in the low teens were considered fairly low-tier.

"I don't have a level," Ke Ning told the man.

"Huh?" Wu Gao looked taken aback, but then Ke Ning added, "However, his level is very high."

As Ke Ning pointed at him, Ye Chuan instantly felt the siblings' gazes shift toward him. He simply shrugged. "Yep, my level is very high. About as high as a building."

Wu Gao stared blankly for a few seconds, but ultimately chose to welcome Ye Chuan to the team. "Nice to meet you."

His intuition told him that Ye Chuan's level was absolutely higher than his own. Having a teammate like that on board would definitely increase their safety while exploring the rift.

"Mhm," Ye Chuan nodded. "Let's get going."

"Alright."

However, right before they could enter the rift, the Super Warrior standing guard at the entrance spoke up.

"Four people. The entrance fee is four thousand in total. How are you paying? Scanning a code or paying with cash?"

"They charge an entrance fee for rifts?" Ye Chuan chuckled.

That single question left Wu Gao and Wu Tian dumbfounded. All of a sudden, Ye Chuan seemed incredibly unreliable to them.

"Charging a fee is Alliance policy. Is this your first time going in?" The guard frowned, beginning to suspect that Ye Chuan was just there to cause trouble.

It was as basic as paying for goods at a store; it was absolute common sense.

"I wouldn't say it's my first time."

"Then pay up!"

Standing off to the side, Wu Gao pulled out his phone and quickly scanned the code to pay the four thousand. "Brother, it's paid."

"Go on in."

"Alright." After paying, Wu Gao turned to Ye Chuan. "Let's head in, bro."

"Alright," Ye Chuan smiled.

Beside him, Wu Tian tugged on her brother's sleeve. "Bro, what are you doing...? I feel like they're total newbies. They don't look like Super Warriors at all."

This was especially true considering Ye Chuan and Ke Ning hadn't even brought any weapons; they were completely bare-handed.

"Since we've already formed a party, we shouldn't doubt our teammates," Wu Gao whispered back. "Let's just go."

Naturally, their whispered conversation didn't escape Ye Chuan's ears. He paid it no mind, however, and instead turned to ask Ke Ning.

"How is it? Are you ready to start collecting data?"

"Mhm, it's good to go. Let's head in." Ke Ning tapped her glasses, a faint, fragmented blue light already flowing across the lenses.