Absolute Choice
chapter-571-30041322

China. In the country's most secretive Dragon team base, Leopard Li tore through the base in a fluster. He was the younger brother of the incumbent premier, Tyger Li, and also the assistant to the leader of the Dragon team. He always looked stoic, but now, he appeared unusually nervous. He ignored all the greetings he received as he rushed to the command tower of Dragon team base.

Inside the command tower, there was an old man seated at the seat of command.

The old man was obviously extraordinary. He was more than two meters tall and had an imposing build. He wore a white short-sleeved t-shirt and a blue colorful beach pants. He wore flowery slippers at his feet, pretending to look 'fashionable'. It did not seem to match his age that filled his head with white hair.

His facial features were cut sharp. One could still see signs of an extraordinary handsomeness in his youth. However, on the left side of his face, there was an ugly blade scar that went from his eyes down to his mouth, making him look rather threatening. However, the most noticeable feature was that he had a scarlet-red goatee!

"Greetings, Chief!"

Leopard Li gave a standard military salute. Although he was gripped by anxiety, he did not abandon military etiquette.

The red-goateed old man had once led troops to fight the calamity fiends for eight years at the dimensional juncture. He had sent the calamity fiends retreating and was thus, conferred the military rank of marshal. He was the most revered soldier in China. Now, he was the supreme leader of Dragon team and his strength was similarly ranked among the best in China. Even S Class heroes deferred to him. People called him Marshal Red Goatee.

"Oh, Little Li, you came just in time."

Marshal Red Goatee stroked his goatee as he said with a smile. "I just saw the particulars of the ten rookies from the organizations. That little guy named Shi Xiaobai is quite interesting. Not only did he kill eight Level Lords, he even cleared the Nine Revolutions Transcendental Tower. You might not know, but back when I was at the Psionic Mortal Realm, I could only flee when I encountered the few Level Lords. I failed when I reached the seventh level. This punk is actually more excellent than I was at his age. Haha, I really need to meet the punk. Speaking of which, this year sure is a bumper harvest. There's Bunny Cao, Chen Lingcun, and Mù Yaotian from the academic faction. From the organization faction, there's Shi Xiaobai, Speechless Li, and Sunless Ye. They are all geniuses not seen in a hundred years. To think that all of them appeared in the same generation. Interesting. Truly interesting."

"It's truly a bumper harvest that doesn't happen in a hundred years. In the past three decades, the only generation that can compare to them is the one with One-Pun, Hisith, Groundless Cao, and Wei Ta."

Leopard Li suppressed his anxious emotions for he knew the marshal hated gomers who messed things up. As such, he patiently listened to Marshal Red Goatee finish his musings before forcing himself to say calmly, "Chief, the investigation on the two ancient trees you ordered have been completed."

Yesterday, the Li family's Crown Prince Manor had suddenly produced a strange tree that could not be chopped or burned. Not even a single leaf could be plucked off. The tree grew at incredulous speeds, and later, another inverted tree appeared that had the sky as its soil. The two trees were growing at speeds noticeable to the naked eye. One towered towards the sky while the other drooped down towards the earth. Only when both crowns met in midair did they stop growing.

This strange phenomena was unprecedented. The special ops organization, Dragon team, was established to investigate and resolve mysterious matters, so they were naturally responsible for this case. After a day, they finally had a result.

Marshal Red Goatee's smiling expression instantly turned stern. "Brief me."

Leopard Li took a deep breath and said in a deep voice, "We haven't made any headway with the towering tree, but for the other tree, according to the analysis of the shape of its leaves, the color of its bark, and the splitting of the branches, we are 90% certain that this strange inverted tree is… the Transcendence Holy Tree!"

"Transcendence Holy Tree?"

Marshal Red Goatee was slightly taken aback. Following that, he recalled something as he muttered, "Are you referring to the Transcendence Holy Tree from the Nine Revolutions Transcendental Tower's seventh level?"

Leopard Li nodded. "That's right. We have already done cross-references between the two ancient trees. Apart from the size, everything else matches. Furthermore, a Dragon team operative flew a Psionic flying craft to the top of the ancient tree and ended up transmigrating through a spatial wall into another dimension. There, he saw a barren, desolate world filled with the smell of death. The residents of that world are extremely short and resembles dwarves. However, they have green skin and looked extremely ugly. They are 80–90% identical to the Transcendents in the Nine Revolutions Transcendental Tower!"

Marshal Red Goatee fell silent for a moment before saying in a deep voice, "Are you telling me that the Nine Revolutions Transcendental Tower is not a virtual world fabricated by a program? That it is a real historical relic that once existed? The Transcendence Holy Tree and the Transcendents were real existences?"

Leopard Li took a deep breath and said, "As known by all, the Nine Revolutions Transcendental Tower's first sixth levels are randomly generated. Only the seventh level remains constant. Furthermore, it contains a complete and logical civilization. The three races—Celestials, Infernals, and Transcendents—apparently once existed. A gene expert once shared his research indicating that the Infernals in the Nine Revolutions Transcendental Tower and the calamity fiends in our real world possess a small segment of genes that are similar. Both of them could have shared the same ancestor after evolution and mutation. Likewise, the Celestials in the Nine Revolutions Transcendental Tower and the aliens from seven light years away share similar traits. However, this hypothesis lacked sufficient scientific evidence to prove it; hence, nothing definite came out of it. But now, the Transcendence Holy Tree and the Transcendents have appeared. I believe that the gene expert's research is believable. The civilization on the Nine Revolutions Transcendental Tower's seventh level might once be this world's civilization and history. The Celestials, Infernals, and Transcendents once existed, and have never disappeared."

Marshal Red Goatee grunted coldly. "Even so, that's history. Humans are the ones ruling this world while forming this world's civilization. What can the Transcendents or the Transcendence Holy Tree do if they appear now? An invasion? Heh heh. Does humanity not have enough enemies? There are the calamity fiends, aliens, astral calamity beasts, evil abyssal spirits… countless other-dimensional races who covet the human world. However, they have been suppressed and sent retreating by the Hero Alliance and the military from different nations. Why fear an additional race of Transcendents?"

Leopard Li said with his head lowered, "But it's different this time. Ever since the Transcendence Holy Tree and the other Holy Tree appeared, large numbers of calamity fiends have suddenly gathered at the dimensional borders. The satellite images indicate that large numbers of extraterrestrial spaceships are enroute towards us. Yesterday, the number of meteors that fell increased drastically. Apart from that, Abyss, Heaven, Sea King Ream, and Beast King Mountain… are beginning to stir despite having minded their own business all this while. The Transcendence Holy Tree seems to have become a signal…"

Marshal Red Goatee pricked up his brows. "A signal to assemble and invade?"

Leopard Li nodded and said with a rueful smile, "That's probably the case."

Marshal Red Goatee fell silent and after a long time, he said, "This is the calm before the storm. It looks like that plan has to be brought forward."

Leopard Li's breathing stagnated. "Are you referring to… that plan?"

Marshal Red Goatee said, "Tomorrow, gather the twenty rookies from the organization and academic factions together."

Leopard Li wore an ugly expression. "Aren't we being too hasty? They are just rookies who are still wet behind the ears."

Marshal Red Goatee said in a deep voice, "I was planning on letting them train a few more years before implementing that plan. But from the looks of it, we do not have the luxury of time. That plan was conceived to deal with the invasion of other races. Now that the invasion has been brought forward, the plan naturally has to be brought forward. If they are really the super generation that's doesn't come by in a hundred years, I hope they do not disappoint me."