The Threshold Opens Wide

The next morning, at eight o'clock.

The Pioneer Team sent out a notice: all pioneers were to assemble outside the Threshold.

The Threshold had opened.

Tu Ran was brushing her teeth when she saw the message.

She froze.

The Threshold had opened this quickly?

She was going in today?

Into that unknown world?

She wasn't ready.

Spitting out the foam, Tu Ran splashed cold water on her face to snap herself awake.

She looked at herself in the mirror.

Water droplets slid down her cheeks and dripped onto the floor.

Her eyelashes were wet, but they couldn't hide the determination in her eyes.

She'd signed the contract. There was no running from it.

She had the original body's memories. She'd been trained by Xie Xu. She had the skills to stay alive.

She could make it back.

Tu Ran psyched herself up, threw on her clothes quickly, and headed for the Administrative Building.

A whole floor of the Administrative Building was dedicated to equipment rooms for the pioneers.

The gear pioneers took into the Threshold was different from what they used on routine patrols.

The Threshold gear was far more expensive and refined, custom-made for the Pioneer Team, and fully operational without a network connection.

Many people were already in the equipment room, each in their own clothes, not a single word spoken.

Everyone's mood was heavy.

Unknown dangers awaited them. No one had it in them to be cheerful.

Tu Ran first put on her basic combat suit, then stepped onto the assembly platform.

The assembly platform was an automated station that fitted pioneers with their exoskeleton armor.

In front of the platform was an electronic screen where pioneers could select the armor they wanted.

Tu Ran scanned the various exoskeletons and chose an exoskeletal arm and an exoskeletal leg.

Tapping the corresponding images, the screen before her disappeared.

Tu Ran spread her legs and arms, standing at the center of the platform.

A robotic arm retrieved the selected exoskeleton parts from the rack behind her and brought them to her front.

Tu Ran cooperated, putting them on.

Assembly complete.

For the first time, Tu Ran felt what it was like to wear exoskeleton armor.

It was light—much lighter than she'd imagined.

She tried making a fist with the mechanical arm, then leaped off the platform in one smooth motion.

Flexible. Her last worry vanished.

This exoskeleton boosted her destructive power without compromising her agility.

Tu Ran grabbed a machine gun from the weapon rack, along with plenty of ammunition, two pistols with matching rounds, a standard-issue knife, and a scattering of small odds and ends—a mirror, a laser pointer, and the like.

Finally, she picked out a sharp long blade.

Once all her gear was fully equipped, a small robot slid in from outside.

On its head was a tray of holographic recording rings.

Everyone stepped forward to retrieve their own ring.

Tu Ran found hers, snapped it open, and clasped it around her wrist.

In truth, hidden in the chest area of every combat suit was a camera.

But the odds of that camera coming back intact were slim.

So the Federal Government had invented the holographic recording ring.

This ring could only be removed while connected to the network.

And there was no network inside the Threshold.

So unless a pioneer left their hand behind in there too, the ring was guaranteed to come back.

Like last time—when that chicken demon had chewed most of her clothes off, her ring had still survived.

Once everyone was fully equipped, an army of steel and iron marched out of the Administrative Building.

They were so conspicuous that passersby kept turning to stare.

This army, at present, was the most expensive and most loss-prone branch of all Federation forces.

Because it couldn't be automated, it wasn't the most advanced either.

From the Administrative Building to the Threshold gate was a distance of twenty kilometers.

No need to take the maglev rail.

They had dedicated vehicles to shuttle them there.

Everyone got in, and the vehicles drove toward the Threshold.

Half an hour later, they arrived.

A wall so tall its top was lost in the clouds pierced the sky. Its black-red surface was like a bridge between life and death, its overbearing mass pressing down on everyone until they could barely breathe.

Tu Ran stepped out of the vehicle and saw a massive transparent glass dome.

People were streaming inside.

Those were the pioneers from the previous batch, trickling out of the Threshold one by one.

Every face wore the joy of having survived.

They stood at the front side of the wall.

Tu Ran and her group, about to enter the Threshold, stood at the back side.

The back side also had a glass dome, much smaller than the one at the front.

Inside the dome, staff were distributing food for the pioneers entering the Threshold.

Medical Department personnel were also handing out essential medications.

Tu Ran stood there, accepting a pack of compressed protein biscuits, a packet of syrup, and a bottle of high-concentration nutrient fluid.

For ease of carrying, these items had been reduced in volume as much as possible.

This was a single pioneer's nutritional requirement for twenty days.

Previously, some pioneers had picked fruits from inside the Threshold, but after Research Institute studies, those fruits were proven to contain too many toxins for human consumption.

To this day, the only fruit verified safe for humans inside the Threshold was a cherry-like berry.

But plenty of fruits inside the Threshold looked similar to cherries, and almost no one could tell them apart.

So pioneers never ate anything found inside the Threshold—only what they brought in from outside.

Fortunately, some mountain spring water inside the Threshold was drinkable.

Pioneers only needed to bring a large-capacity portable water canteen.

The Federal Government issued everyone a water mineral content detector. If mineral levels exceeded safe limits, it would alert them, and the pioneer could go find the next spring.

Finding water inside the Threshold wasn't hard.

Next came the medicine distribution.

This time, the meds were handed out by interns from the Medical Department.

Tu Ran spotted Meng Fanchen carrying a huge medicine chest with a companion.

He wore the Medical Department's white uniform, still with his yellow curly hair, though without his gold-rimmed glasses.

He worked his way down the line, handing out medical kits, until he reached Tu Ran.

Meng Fanchen didn't recognize her at first.

Her head was completely encased in her helmet, with only a pair of eyes visible from outside.

It wasn't until he passed her the medical kit that he caught sight of the name tag on her chest.

"Sister Tu Ran!" he called out excitedly.

Tu Ran gave a slight nod in acknowledgment.

"Be careful, alright."

He placed the medical kit into her hands.

Tu Ran nodded again.

There were more pioneers behind her waiting for their kits, so Meng Fanchen couldn't linger. He hurried off to the next person.

Tu Ran tossed the medical kit into her backpack and walked around to the front side of the wall.

She wanted to see if Xi Chunzhi had come out yet.

"Zero," she called.

"What do you need?"

"Has Pioneer Xi Chunzhi come out yet?"

Zero searched for a moment, then said, "Not yet."

The Threshold had only been open for two hours. It wasn't unusual that she hadn't come out.

Tu Ran told herself that, keeping her eyes fixed on the entrance to the glass dome.

Pioneers kept passing through the entrance—some unharmed, some badly injured and carried in on stretchers, some who looked fine but had lost all their gear, just like she had been. But there was no sign of Xi Chunzhi.

Zero's voice sounded in her ear.

"Pioneer Tu Ran, please set your return question and answer."

"What's my favorite food?" Tu Ran said offhandedly.

"Apologies, but it cannot be identical to the previous question," Zero said mechanically.

Tu Ran thought for a moment. "What's my wish?"

Zero: "Question set. Please state your answer."

"To live, and to get rich."

That was her life goal at the moment.

"Question and answer fully set."

"Pioneer Tu Ran, please return to the formation immediately. The Pioneer Team's 36th Threshold expedition has begun. Please line up to enter."

"Pioneer Tu Ran, please return to the formation immediately. The Pioneer Team's 36th Threshold expedition has begun. Please line up to enter."

Zero's voice repeated twice.

Xi Chunzhi's figure still hadn't appeared.

Tu Ran had no choice but to leave and head to the back of the line.

The long queue moved forward slowly, one person after another stepping into the wall and disappearing from sight.

Seeing her turn approaching, Tu Ran asked through the communicator again, "Zero, has Xi Chunzhi come back yet?"

"No."

Tu Ran's already gloomy mood grew even heavier.

The Threshold had been open for nearly three hours. Usually, Xi Chunzhi would be waiting near the gate early, and the moment it opened, she'd come right out.

But she still hadn't appeared, which meant she hadn't found the gate in time...

The line had reached its tail end. Finally, it was Tu Ran's turn.

Before her stood the wall that looked indestructible.

Tu Ran pushed her thoughts aside.

She couldn't afford to overthink. Xi Chunzhi would be fine. Right now, her priority should be her own path ahead.

She lifted her leg and stepped into the wall.

A familiar sensation—like entering the inside of a springy jelly.

All around her was blinding white light. After three seconds, the light retreated at breakneck speed, and a strange scene appeared before her eyes.