Chapter 1 The Beginning

The Demon King City floated in a peculiar space where up, down, left, and right were indistinguishable. This dark, chaotic space was reminiscent of the universe, yet not as dark: a faint light permeated everything, its source unknown but omnipresent.

When the city first arrived, it experienced less than a millisecond of weightlessness before the massive gravity matrix beneath the city rapidly activated, restoring gravity. These gravity matrices had been urgently added months prior, during the city's initial foray into the alternate dimension. Before that, the archmages' quick response had averted a potentially fatal disaster resulting from the sudden shift into a zero-gravity environment.

"So this is... the alternate dimension?" Izhaks stood atop a tower, curiously observing the surroundings. "The space is filled with some kind of energy and chaotic radiation... it's a bit like the universe, but it seems there's a lot more to it."

"The spatial storm threw us here," Elizabeth said, craning her neck to look up at her mountainous father. It wasn't easy for the girl to talk to her dad. "There's only a very thin atmosphere out here, so we almost lost all our air. Luckily, the city's warning matrix detected the abnormal airflow and assumed we were under attack by the forbidden spell 'Vacuum Hell,' so it immediately activated the great barrier. Otherwise, many would have died."

"Then the dark elves and elves worked together to cultivate a greenhouse, ensuring our air supply," Gadamo added, joining them on the terrace to recount the events. "We also temporarily solved part of the food problem—combined with the city's reserves, we didn't have to worry about resources, at least for a while. For the first three months, we were basically figuring out how to survive in this alternate dimension: taking care to prevent air leaks, monitoring radiation, ensuring material circulation, finding reference points to determine the city's position and drift speed, preventing collisions, and finally finding a way out. Thankfully, you've always studied the secrets of the universe, so we're quite adapted to this environment."

"Only the Demon King's army could survive in a place like this," Izhaks chuckled. "Who else in this world would even consider surviving in outer space?"

Hao Ren was still thinking about the demon legions on the plains. He looked up at Izhaks. "Do you think those groups we ditched are fighting yet?"

He found it amusing. He hadn't expected Izhaks, seemingly an honest and kind fellow, to have such a devious side. He'd even chatted with Banu Clark and Ceraton for quite a while to buy time, waiting for the Holy See's joint forces to arrive—waiting until the two sides could almost see each other before turning away with a flourish. A real man never looks back as others fight to the death.

No wonder Izhaks could take on so many opponents and remain arrogant for centuries. Sheer strength alone, even with extraterrestrial technology, would have led to defeat long ago. He must have used such tactics of borrowed knives, diverting trouble, and stirring up conflict quite often. How could one become a great ruler without knowing a few wicked tricks? Of course, we usually translate this as intellectual suppression.

But Izhaks shook his head with a smile. "No, Ceraton is a clever fellow. He can't gauge how much strength the Demon King's army has left, nor can he understand how the Demon King City appears and disappears so mysteriously. So he'll do everything he can to preserve his strength—he'll avoid conflict with the Holy See's joint forces. Conversely, the seven heroes of the Holy See... well, two of the six heroes present are also cunning and resourceful, so those two sides won't fight. Of course, there will be losses during their respective withdrawals, as each side will be wary of the other."

Hao Ren clicked his tongue. "Tsk, what a pity."

"Whether they fight or not is up to them," Izhaks shrugged. "I'm not that interested in those creatures crawling on the ground anymore."

With that, Izhaks slowly returned to his human form and left the terrace, tossing a remark over his shoulder as he went: "You guys wander around and take a look. I'm going back to check the power plant. I'm still worried about that sphere."

Hearing that they were free to move about, Lily cheered and jumped straight off the tower. "I'm going exploring, woof!"

Vivian covered her face. "I'll go keep an eye on that idiot."

Nangong Wuyue looked around. She was also eager to wander around this magical city, but she was a bit reluctant to leave the view from the tower. After hesitating for a long time, she finally waved at Hao Ren. "Landlord, can you get me another basin of water? Dou Dou and I will soak here and enjoy the scenery."

Hao Ren got a large basin of water for Nangong Wuyue to soak in, and then tossed Dou Dou in to splash around, muttering, "How did this really turn into raising fish? I have to change the aquarium every so often... Keep an eye on Dou Dou, don't let her bite a hole in the basin!"

As Hao Ren spoke, he felt a gaze fixed on him. Unable to bear it any longer, he turned his head and saw Elizabeth—the little girl hadn't left with her father, but had stayed behind to observe these strangers. The little demon girl stood a few meters away from Hao Ren, boldly and carefully scrutinizing him, her red eyes full of curiosity.

Although she was a delicate and adorable little girl, Hao Ren felt uncomfortable under that gaze and couldn't help but ask, "Do I have something dirty on me?"

Elizabeth raised her hand and fiddled with her ornamental little horns, her eyes still fixed on Hao Ren. "Should I call you uncle?"

Hao Ren was baffled. "Well... judging by age, I might not be older than you, but judging by seniority... Izhaks definitely wants you to call me that."

"Oh, then I'll call you uncle," the little demon said seriously, taking a couple of small steps towards Hao Ren. "My dad's been staying with you?"

Hao Ren nodded, sensing that the little girl seemed to have something she wanted to ask but was too embarrassed to say. "Just ask what you want to ask. I'm close to your dad, you don't need to treat me like an outsider."

"Dad seems to have changed a lot since he came back," Elizabeth said with a straight face. "He used to be more serious than he is now, rarely smiled, and was a bit... scary. But this time, he feels different. Is it because he's been with you?"

No one knew a father like his daughter. The little girl's intuition was indeed sharp. Looking at the serious-faced Elizabeth, Hao Ren wondered how to explain to this child what had happened to Izhaks: the collapse of his centuries-long career, the mental shock of experiencing the multiverse, the satisfaction of setting foot in the starry sky, and life on Earth—these things were hard to explain in a few words, so in the end, he could only sigh. "Your dad started a business but gave up halfway..."

Before he could finish, he felt someone pat him on the back. He turned his head and saw La Nina looking at him with dissatisfaction, her whip-like tail slapping his back. "What nonsense are you talking about! That's bad luck!"

The translation plug-in even translated classical Chinese!

Hao Ren coughed twice. "Okay, your dad started a business but ran out of budget... Anyway, he's had a major ups and downs in his life, so it's normal for him to change a bit. You don't need to worry, he's still your dad, and his biggest motivation for coming to this world is to find you."

"I know," the demon girl nodded seriously. "And I feel like Dad is better now. You said you're going to take everyone in this city away? To where Dad lives now? Can you do it?"

Hao Ren patted his chest and assured her with a smile, "Don't worry! I'm a professional mover. I've taken on jobs several thousand times larger than you guys without any problems!"

He made the promise sound easy, but he was already thinking about how to write the report. Although he had successfully transported hundreds of millions of Irem elves last time, the loophole he'd exploited made him embarrassed to talk about it. He had to find a different reason this time—otherwise, the goddess might get impatient and drag him off to transcend tribulation. Given that goddess's mental state, it wasn't impossible!

But Elizabeth was already stunned by Hao Ren. With her great father as a guarantor, she trusted this "strange human uncle" quite a bit. The little girl's favorability towards Hao Ren began to soar.

Unfortunately, Hao Ren didn't know anything yet—he was still struggling with how to write... no, how to phrase the report.

The Demon King City continued to drift through the empty, boundless space, not stationary but constantly drifting in a certain direction: the Demon King's technical experts had found some floating objects in this space that could serve as footholds and had left "marks" on them. Now they were driving the city towards those objects. During the boring wait, Elizabeth started dragging Hao Ren around, wanting him to tell her "stories from another world." Nangong Wuyue started creating exquisite sculptures out of water to amuse herself, while La Nina squatted by the water basin for the two fish, carefully extending her slender tail to the surface: she was fishing.

Dou Dou kept jumping out of the water to grab La Nina's tail—she was in charge of being fished.

Anyway, everyone seemed to have something to do.

Finally, something appeared in the endless, chaotic darkness.

Some fragments of various sizes appeared in the direction the city was traveling. Elizabeth, with her sharp eyes, immediately pointed to a shadow in the distance and shouted, "Ha! We're at the outpost!"