Yang Ying watched for a while, devised a plan, picked up a book, swept the cover with his psychic power, bundled the dust into a small pellet, and then seized the moment to flip the book open, photographing each page with the camera he carried.

When the last page was photographed, he returned the book to its exact original position, ensuring the edges of the book were perfectly aligned with the layer of dust. He then used his psychic power to roll up the dust cluster, scatter it, and evenly reapply it across the cover. Stepping back to observe, it looked precisely as it had before.

The success of the first attempt emboldened him. Yang Ying photographed the books one by one, following the pattern of the first, and restored each to its original state. Half an hour later, every book on the shelf had been copied.

These tomes were ancient texts, millennia-old treasures of the Tai Chi Temple, recording cultivation secrets and techniques for utilizing psychic power across various tiers. For Yang Ying, whose foundation was already solid, this was the most invaluable knowledge available at this stage.

He then turned his attention to the computer. He carefully removed the casing of the main computer unit. Leveraging his skills as a mechanical repair technician, he quickly discerned the hardware structure, removed the hard drive, and carried it into the Floating Continent.

Within the Human Command Center, Yang Ying copied all the data from the hard drive, then returned the drive completely intact to its original location, reassembled the casing, and spent another half an hour finalizing everything.

The hard drive contained internal documents, hundreds of classic combat recordings, and confidential intelligence regarding events unfolding in the world of the Awakened.

Next, Yang Ying dedicated five minutes to confirming that the Scripture Depository was exactly as he found it before his entry, and then departed. The return journey was uneventful. He arrived at the rendezvous point for his Spectre fighter jet and, following his usual procedure, took the fighter back to the hotel.

Only upon returning to his room did Yang Ying finally exhale a sigh of relief. This infiltration mission had been a complete success. He knew that without his optical camouflage suit and breath-hiding technique, entering the heavily fortified Tai Chi Temple would have been nearly impossible.

Many crucial junctions within the Tai Chi Temple were guarded by the most advanced sensors, leaving no blind spots. Furthermore, the temple’s masters could detect intruders via their sixth sense. Had it been anyone else, they likely wouldn't have even gotten close to the main gate.

The photographs from the camera and the data from the hard drive were stored on the computers in the Human Command Center, accessible for easy review. Moreover, Yang Ying had decided that for absolute security, he would not bring this material into the current world; all study would be conducted within the Human Command Center.

For the following week, Yang Ying delved deeply into the myriad methods of the Tai Chi Temple's cultivation system. This knowledge was truly vast and profound, forming an effective complement to the psychic power texts. Although the immediate increase in power was not apparent, his rate of progress accelerated significantly, a benefit that would gradually reveal itself over time.

During this period, Kalia contacted him once, reporting on the current situation in Saturn's orbit. The forces stationed on the Twin King Star defense line had withdrawn to regroup. However, Saturn's orbit lacked the dense radar surveillance found along the defense line, allowing numerous small detachments of the Ancient Legion to slip through and penetrate deeper into the Solar System.

The colonies orbiting Jupiter had been harassed by small units of the Ancient Legion, but thanks to the efforts of the ground forces, no significant casualties had occurred.

As for the Asteroid Belt, its military strength was substantial. A few harassing forces could not shake the major powers there. Nevertheless, the mercenary guilds and pirate fleets had no obligation to aid the government in blocking the Ancient Legion. They were unwilling to engage the Ancient Legion in costly, drawn-out battles, resulting in some harassment units successfully bypassing the Asteroid Belt, sowing panic among the colonies in the Inner Solar System. (The region within the Asteroid Belt was referred to as the Inner Solar System; the area from beyond the Belt up to Pluto's orbit was the Outer Solar System.)

Kalia had concluded all his business on Titan and had since relocated to a pre-selected asteroid within the Asteroid Belt to oversee the construction of the future Asteroid Belt headquarters.

That asteroid had been renamed Tran Star, and from this point forward, it belonged to the Tran Corporation. This included a full light-second (300,000 kilometers) of surrounding space. While the Asteroid Belt had no formal laws, territorial concepts were extremely rigid.

The owner of any territory was free to destroy trespassers; this right was recognized by the major powers of the Belt, and the attacked party could not launch a reprisal on those grounds. Of course, this restraint generally only applied to mercenary guilds who needed to maintain a semblance of propriety; pirates, however, rarely bothered with rules, acting purely on impulse.

Not long ago, an unidentified fleet entered the territory of Tran Star, seemingly eyeing the Tran Corporation. However, Yang Ying had already dispatched a squadron of Spectre fighters to guard Tran Star. Under the assault of these stealthy killers, neither pirates nor mercenaries could approach; without even creating a ripple, they were reduced to cosmic dust.

Kalia was prudent yet imaginative in his execution, and the Spectre agents under his command were highly intelligent assets, handling such matters with ease, requiring no worry from Yang Ying whatsoever.

Furthermore, Kalia predicted that as the Ancient Legion’s harassment of the rear lines grew more frequent, and with the military’s large fleets being an inefficient use of force—like using a sledgehammer to swat a fly—while small fleets risked being overwhelmed in return, the military would soon issue a contract to the mercenary world. This would involve massive bounties to entice mercenary guilds into dealing with the invading smaller units.

Kalia sought instruction from Yang Ying on whether the Tran Mercenary Group should participate.

Yang Ying gave an affirmative answer. However, since he had not yet fully integrated the sword techniques and psychic cultivation methods from the Tai Chi Temple, he needed to devote time to further research. He planned to wait until after the Sword Arts Competition in mid-February before he could travel to Tran Star to take charge of all operations. Moreover, with the Lunar New Year approaching, Yang Ying wished to spend his first Spring Festival after his transmigration back on Earth.

Besides Kalia’s communication, one other major event occurred during those seven days: the emergence of the first Protoss Zealot, Tarot.

In the StarCraft backdrop, Protoss structures and units are warped in from the main Protoss homeworld. Protoss barracks are called 'Gateways' precisely for this reason.

However, in the Pocket Galaxy, there is no Protoss homeworld, so all structures must be built, the process similar to that of the Terrans. As for the souls and bodies of the Protoss people, they are generated from the void through a mysterious rule, and then they walk out from the other side of the Gateway.

The Zealot Tarot was clad in armor, surrounded by an invisible plasma shield that only manifested as a layer of blue-white energy when struck. Two energy blades extended from his forearms, possessing power comparable to ordinary light sabers. His innate fervor for combat drove him to maximize his combat skills, making him a terrifying warrior.