A desolate, abandoned planet.
A group of people were drinking nutrient solution and grumbling.
"How long do we have to stay in this godforsaken place? The radiation here is too severe. Several pieces have fallen off my leg, and it itches."
"It's no use even with the protective suit. If we stay any longer, we'll die before we get what we came for."
"Didn't the people from Sector Four say they'd be back soon? It's been two days. Go and urge them again, contact Jiang, and have him prepare to pick us up."
"My skin is peeling too, it hurts."
"..."
"Someone's coming in!"
The group immediately stood up, grabbed their weapons, and rushed out. In the dilapidated building, two women stood out, utterly out of place.
They were dressed in dazzling, luxurious clothes, and apart from their opulent attire, they wore no protective gear. Moreover, they had appeared out of nowhere.
"Who are you people!"
A woman raised a finger and pointed to the nutrient pods in the corner: "Over there!"
The man in the lead didn't hesitate and fired. Concentrated energy flew towards the two women. The woman used her ability, but it couldn't stop the energy. Someone beside her pulled her a few steps away, narrowly dodging the attack.
The energy blast hit the dilapidated wall, blasting a large hole in it.
Her expression changed. She glared fiercely at the man who had fired at her. The energy couldn't revert to its original form, but a person could.
Before everyone's eyes, the man visibly aged, died, decomposed, turning into a skeleton, and finally dissipated into smoke, scattering in the air.
"Ah!"
"Monster!"
Someone fired several shots. Because they weren't laser weapons, the "bullets" were decomposed in mid-air, failing to harm the two women at all.
After another person turned to dust before them, the remaining individuals finally gave up resisting, dropped their weapons, and turned to flee.
One of them jumped out of a window, thinking he had escaped. However, the remaining glass shards on the window suddenly transformed into sharp blades, stabbing down at him fiercely.
"Ah!"
The man cried out in pain, his body pierced by sharp glass, and he fell heavily to the ground. Bright red blood flowed out, barely leaving a trace on the dark soil, only deepening its hue.
In the end, no one escaped. They quietly vanished from this abandoned planet.
—
"How much longer until we arrive?"
"Six hours. Miss Zhu Lin, you don't need to worry. We have already located those people."
Zhu Lin was clearly not worried about that. The closer she got to him, the more an indescribable emotion welled up within her. It wasn't the so-called apprehension of approaching home, but a kind of panic, an uneasy feeling.
Perhaps it was because she had made him wait here for too long, causing her excessive worry.
The woman from before had said three days, and now there was more than half a day left.
If she were the one who had taken Zhong Yan away, she would definitely wait for her to arrive and use him as a threat.
Then what?
Make her commit suicide.
She glanced at Luan Yu, who was not far away, unsure if that person would be as foolish as her.
Gods are immortal.
These six hours felt incredibly long. After staying on the ship for more than two days, Dongling Sui went from being enthusiastic to lying down, unable to get up.
Warp jumps had a detrimental effect on the human body, especially for those unaccustomed to them. It could cause mild nausea and discomfort, or severe dizziness and vomiting. Although he hadn't vomited, after three warp jumps, he was completely drained of strength.
He heard there would be a fourth warp jump. Dongling Sui looked at Luan Yu with a bitter expression.
"Niangzi."
Luan Yu was alone, admiring the universe through the small window. After he called out for the third time, she finally turned to look at him.
"What is it?"
"Can you hit me?"
Luan Yu looked at him as if he were an idiot.
She had never encountered such a strange request before.
"I feel so sick. Knock me out."
Luan Yu stood for a while, then walked to his side and gently hugged him: "This is the last one. Hold on a bit longer, it will be over soon."
"But I'm afraid I can't help but vomit."
Luan Yu: "...I remember when you traveled from Nan Ao to Jin Yong by carriage for over a month. You can't handle just two days."
"Back then, I was eager to return home. Now, I don't know where I'm going, so it's naturally incomparable. Moreover, I've already died once. With an aging heart, I'm not as strong as I was when I was young. Niangzi, please help me."
Luan Yu chatted with him a few more times before, without him noticing, she struck him on the neck. Dongling Sui rolled his eyes and fell into a peaceful sleep.
He slept until they reached the main star of SF.
The main star of SF is one of the few planets with an official name besides the Emperor Star. It is called Hai Xing (Sea Star). Over 90% of this planet is water, and the remaining 10% was originally sea. Due to a special energy source beneath the sea, humans built "land" on it.
While the starship was still in space, they saw the vast expanse of ocean below. At that time, no land was visible. Only when they approached could they see a few small islands dotting the surface of the sea.
These were human dwellings.
The starship slowly descended and finally landed on a piece of land. Although it was invisible from tens of thousands of meters in the sky, it was not small from below. At least, it was no longer just sea at a glance.
"This place is truly magical, all water. No wonder that woman chose to duel with you here."
Su Yanyun asked in confusion: "What do you mean?"
Luan Yu pointed to the distance: "Do you see? It's all seawater around here, where the sea meets the sky. Opening a spatial rift from the sea surface is the easiest. Moreover, there shouldn't be many people here. If she released aliens in such a place, not many people would die, and it wouldn't easily touch the bottom line of the rules."
Su Yanyun understood a little, but Zhu Lin understood perfectly.
Even with their innate divine power, they were surely bound by certain rules, otherwise, if they acted as they pleased, everything would fall into chaos.
The rule that granted them immense power might be that they couldn't kill too many people.
Zhu Lin turned to Su Yanyun and said: "Tell the people here to leave as soon as possible. Those who can't leave should hide."
"...Alright."
Su Yanyun went to organize the evacuation of the local populace. Zhu Lin quietly watched the calm water surface, without a single ripple, everything was eerily still.
Beneath the calm sea surface, the waves raged.
She stood against the wind, quietly waiting for that woman to appear.
—
"Sir, the main network just issued a notice. There's an emergency on Hai Xing, and everyone is to evacuate. At the same time, starships and mechs are forbidden to approach Hai Xing."
The man sneered: "It seems they've all arrived."
"We didn't find anything on that planet. However, there was a struggle, and there's a corpse. It belongs to someone from the Mono family."
"Someone got here before us and took the item."
"Shall we go to Hai Xing now?"
"Yes."
"But the main network..."
"If all the information we've intercepted is true, the main network promised S to give A to him. But he lost the item, so their cooperation is surely invalid. Perhaps Su Yanyun is fighting with him right now, and we can go there and reap the benefits."
"Sir has excellent foresight."
"Don't relax too much, though. Regardless of who wins or loses, we are enemies of the victor. We must not be careless."
"Yes."
"Full speed ahead, prepare EB weapons. However, we must not harm them."
He was naturally referring to S and A in the codenames.
"Yes."