152 The Shadow of War (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

Somewhere in the universe, a spaceship was moving in an elliptical orbit around a star, pulled by the invisible force of gravity within a stellar system.

This was the very vessel that had carried Zhong Yun and Yu Daoqing. Now, however, only two people remained aboard: the captain and the doctor, both of whom had been forgotten by Zhong Yun and were currently in critical condition.

Left completely alone, the poor doctor wanted to weep as he contemplated his tragic fate. He had no understanding of how to operate a spaceship whatsoever. Fortunately, although the explosion had destroyed more than half of the stores in the cargo hold, the remaining provisions were more than enough to sustain a single person for decades.

His quarters had escaped destruction, and the facilities inside were still fully operational.

Although Zhong Yun had shut down the ship's propulsion system at the time, the vessel had drifted through space, tugged along by various gravitational pulls, without colliding with a single meteorite. It was an extraordinary stroke of luck.

A month later, just as the doctor was on the verge of madness, unable to bear the overwhelming and driving isolation any longer, his rescuers finally arrived.

A massive starship approached the drifting, derelict vessel and came to a halt a thousand kilometers away. Moments later, hundreds of landing craft swarmed out from its belly.

Once boarded, the landing craft scoured the abandoned ship from top to bottom, discovering the frantic, half-mad doctor and the captain, who was on the brink of death inside a medical pod.

The two men were taken aboard, and the colossal vessel departed. Not a single person on the ship noticed a tiny drone firmly attached to its outer hull.

Zhong Yun awoke from a deep sleep, feeling vibrant energy surging through his entire body. His condition was better than it had ever been before.

He opened his eyes and gazed at a somewhat familiar expanse of white metal, feeling a brief wave of confusion. Isn't this my residence on Qiyun Star? Why am I here?

I remember being ambushed.

Recalling the events leading up to his unconsciousness, he wondered, Zero must have healed me, right?

"Check my current appearance," Zhong Yun murmured softly. A panoramic image materialized before him. It was still the exact same face. He sighed in frustration. Couldn't it change to something a bit more handsome?

Although he felt his face lacked sufficient handsomeness, the thought of undergoing cosmetic surgery never crossed his mind. He simply lacked the shamelessness for it.

At the same time, a wave of relief washed over him. If his face had changed, he had no idea whether his girlfriend would still accept him. He had spent so much effort chasing such a gorgeous girlfriend; if she broke up with him over it, he would literally cry his eyes out.

After letting his imagination run wild for a while, Zhong Yun hopped out of bed, washed up, and stepped out of his room.

His breakfast was prepared by a dedicated robotic chef. While the dishes were not entirely authentic, getting to eat such food on this primitive planet was already remarkable. He mentally praised the user-friendly service of the Omy National Management Corporation. A company capable of operating across the entire interstellar sphere certainly lived up to its reputation, demonstrating true excellence in the smallest details.

His dwelling was located at the very heart of the base. The super-intelligent quantum computer that controlled the entire facility's operations was right next door. After finishing breakfast, he headed over to find Zero.

"Zero," Zhong Yun called out.

Zero's projection materialized in the room. A faint blue light flashed from its eyes, enveloping Zhong Yun's body. After a moment, the light vanished. "Your physical condition has completely returned to normal."

"I feel fantastic. I feel like I could take down a tiger with my bare hands." Zhong Yun struck a pose to display his muscles.

"Given your combat skills, you were capable of killing any large feline bare-handed half a year ago."

"That was just a metaphor." Zhong Yun felt utterly defeated by the AI. "Please, can you develop a sense of humor?"

"My system includes an emotional module, but it remains disabled to conserve energy." Zero's tone remained ice-cold.

In the past, Zero's literal responses would have left him speechless for ages, but he had grown accustomed to it. He sighed, feeling as though he were playing the lute to a cow.

"By the way, what about my companion who came with me?" Zhong Yun suddenly remembered Yu Daoqing. He had been awake for quite a while now without seeing her anywhere. "Did she go out?"

"Follow me." Without answering directly, Zero turned and headed out the door.

Filled with doubt, Zhong Yun followed closely behind. After navigating several turns, they stopped before a heavily sealed, reinforced door.

Gazing at Zero's dark silhouette against the corridor, a sudden question arose in his mind: how was Zero able to manifest here? Previously, the AI couldn't travel this far from its core mainframe. It was truly strange.

Stepping through the doorway, the sudden rush of biting cold air made the unprepared Zhong Yun shiver. "What kind of ghost place is this? Why did you bring me here?" he complained, rubbing his arms vigorously.

Zero offered no reply, floating steadily toward the center of the room.

It was a vast chamber. Zhong Yun estimated it spanned over a thousand square meters. In the exact center stood a raised platform about three meters high, atop which rested a massive metal crate. The piercing chill seemed to emanate directly from it.

Seeing Zero float all the way up to the platform, Zhong Yun followed with a suspicious heart. For some reason, an ominous premonition began to gnaw at him.

Upon reaching the top of the platform, he saw that the metal container was roughly the size of a double bed and about a meter and a half high. It glowed with a pale yellow, eerie luminescence.

Its lid was transparent, revealing the contents within.

Zhong Yun swallowed hard and stepped closer to the container. The moment he clearly saw what was inside, he drew a sharp, freezing breath. "This... this..."

He turned his head to look at Zero, who was hovering at the edge of the platform. His face was a mask of shock, disbelief, and terror. "What is going on here? What... what happened to her?"

He looked back into the container. Beneath the transparent lid, a woman lay as still as the world's most exquisite work of art. Her expression was serene and composed, resembling a noble princess deep in slumber.

She wore a moon-white long dress, and her complexion was startlingly white—a translucent, flawless white.

"Zero, this isn't funny." Zhong Yun pressed both hands against the edge of the metal container. The piercing cold seeped straight into his heart, making him tremble. "Wake her up. Stop playing jokes like this."

"Her vitality has been completely overdrawn." Zero's voice was barely a whisper.

"I told you to wake her up!" Zhong Yun slammed his fist against the transparent lid with all his might, letting out a roar. He whirled around to glare viciously at Zero, his eyes burning red like those of a wounded wolf.

"She performed a life-sacrifice for the World Tree..." Zero's voice drifted in from the ethereal distance, sounding as though it came from beyond the heavens. "Using her life force as the price to nurture the World Tree..."

"Stop talking." Zhong Yun buried his face in his hands in agony. Pressing his back against the metal container, his body slowly slid downward until he collapsed onto the floor.

"...She ultimately exhausted her vitality, pushed the World Tree into its juvenile state, successfully opened the spring, and used the spring water to cure your backlash..."

"I told you to shut up!" With a distorted expression, Zhong Yun lunged toward Zero, but his hands passed right through the projection. He tumbled off the edge of the platform and crashed heavily onto the floor below.

Zero floated down from the platform and hovered before him. "You are injured."

Zhong Yun lay flat on the ground, motionless. Bright red blood trickled down from his forehead, forming a growing puddle drop by drop on the dark greenish-brown floor.

A long, long time passed...

"Can she be saved?" Zhong Yun finally spoke. He raised his head; the wound on his forehead had stopped bleeding. "Can she be saved?"

Zero's voice remained mechanized. "Once your Yuan reaches the third tier, there is a fourteen percent chance she can be revived."

"So she can be saved." Zhong Yun wiped the sticky, blood-soaked grime from his face, stood up, and walked out the door. He did not look back, not even for a second, as the heavy door slammed shut behind him.

"I will come back to save you. Just like you saved me."

Upon returning to his room, Zhong Yun locked himself away. For ten full days, he did not step outside once.

On the eleventh day, he emerged. The optimistic and easygoing Zhong Yun seemed to have returned, his smile identical to the one he had always worn.

Only during moments of sudden contemplation did his heavy gaze reveal that he was no longer that carefree youth.

The first thing he did upon coming out was to meet with his people—an obedient and well-behaved group of children. Zhong Yun visited their classrooms. They spent half of every day studying here.

Their teachers were virtual projections, but the core entity behind them was the base's super-quantum computer. Education was the absolute top priority of the base; the future development of the planet would rely on them and their descendants. Only sound education could cultivate a greater number of talents.

Aside from imparting knowledge, one of the most crucial elements in the classroom was the inculcation of hero worship. Naturally, the object of worship was Zhong Yun himself. This was indispensable for fostering a sense of belonging and centripetal force among the children.

Leaving the classroom, Zhong Yun headed to the farm. Feeding a population of fifty thousand was no small feat. If possible, achieving self-sufficiency in food production as soon as possible was imperative. Furthermore, to cultivate the children's practical skills and self-reliant character, they were required to labor here for three to four hours every day.

Of course, with the aid of machinery, this labor was not overly exhausting.

In addition to study and production, there were plenty of extracurricular activities. Overall, the children's lives were quite colorful. The only regret was that they lacked parents, a fact that cast a slight shadow over their upbringing.

The base operated in an orderly fashion. The most dramatic change was that the once-beautiful, emerald-green lake had transformed into a towering giant tree a hundred meters high, its trunk so thick it required five people linking arms to encircle it.

And this was merely a World Tree in its juvenile stage; one could only imagine what it would look like once fully matured.

Looking at the World Tree, Zhong Yun experienced a complex mixture of emotions. Prior to yesterday, he had longed for it to grow rapidly. But now...

The one-year deadline was fast approaching. Zero had already repaid the one hundred billion owed to the Omy National Management Corporation. The amount due for the second year was two hundred billion—directly doubling.

It seemed that upon returning to Davao, he would have to search the entire world for the "Black Mandala." Hearing this astronomical figure, Zhong Yun could not stop scratching his head.

After staying at the base for two more days, Zhong Yun decided to return to Davao. Taking Yu Daoqing, who remained in her deep slumber, he boarded the Mars and set off.

A few days later, just as they were about to reach the borders of Davao, the Mars abruptly came to a halt.

"Two fleets are engaging in battle ahead." In the main control room, Zero's words came as a massive shock to Zhong Yun.

Weren't they already within Davao territory? How could fleets be fighting here? Zhong Yun's mind spun in confusion. "What on earth is going on?"

"Of the two warring factions, one belongs to the Republic of Davao, and the other is the Hongxian Federal Republic."