I'm Home, Grandma!

The Taotie soldiers led by Cole moved quickly. It was obvious that every one of them was an absolute elite within Taotie's combat ranks.

If all the Taotie who had spent the past several centuries searching for suitable candidates were like this, then it was no wonder the loss of a dozen or so squads had pained Cole so deeply.

The warship was more than 60% damaged, and many of its components could not be repaired under the current conditions. Or rather, the ship had already lost its value as something worth repairing.

But they could not abandon it entirely. It was their only shelter now. Without the warship, they would be unable to proceed with the next stage of their plan.

Cole stepped over the damaged corridors, his tactical visor constantly refreshing the damage reports. This warship, which had once carried the glory of the Styx Galaxy, now resembled a mechanical wreck gnawed apart by some ancient beast.

The spherical compartments that had once been fitted with high-purity light-energy lenses now retained only twisted neutron-degenerate alloy frames. Of the thirty-two groups of faster-than-light particle receivers, twenty-seven had been permanently taken offline by quantum decoherence.

The repair soldiers were trying to patch the cracks with molecular welding guns, but the cracks were too large, and the ship's stockpiled supplies could barely sustain the effort.

With injuries of this severity, the ship should have been destroyed long ago according to their past wartime experience. There would never have been a chance to repair it slowly, which was why they had not carried so many reserve supplies.

"Report, Officer Cole. The warship's damage has exceeded expectations. The central system is nearly offline. The weapons system is paralyzed, the detection system is seventy percent damaged, and only one engine in the propulsion system is still operational."

Cole irritably rubbed his brow, but as an elite commander, he issued his orders moments later.

"Write this down. I am making the following arrangements:

Take out all supplies from the storage bay. Prioritize the life-support and communications systems. Energy is to be supplied first to the engines and the central system.

We must ensure that the warship can still maintain flight. Send out a final transmission, ordering the teams still searching outside to abandon their missions and come meet us immediately. Do not waste any more soldiers' lives.

Tell them that we have found hope!"

"Yes! I will send the message immediately." The Science Officer seemed to have been stirred by the word "hope" in Cole's speech, and his expression became especially fervent.

"Go. Even one minute faster might reduce the sacrifice of another warship."

Once they became busy, time always passed quickly. It was even more so for Yuan and the others. With the star hanging in the distance and no sunrise or sunset, their sense of time had already blurred.

"The central system is rebooting. System diagnostics in progress."

"Weapons system failure. Life-support system damaged. Flight system damaged. Monitoring system damaged. Remaining warship energy: 27%."

"Destination set: Barren Star System Planet No. 3. All personnel, prepare yourselves. The engines are about to engage. Departure commencing."

Yuan, who had been sitting nearby, was awakened by the central system's voice. Though he had no point of reference, he seemed able to sense the warship's speed through some of the curvature outside the vessel.

"Your Excellency, I think you may wish to see this. Please come with me."

Cole's voice came from beside Yuan. When Yuan looked up, he saw Cole extending a hand to signal that he could come over.

With the assistance of the battle armor, Yuan still had not fully mastered his own power. However, with careful control, walking a short distance was not much of a problem.

"What is this?"

"This is your homeland?"

"So I have been living on a sphere all this time?"

When Yuan saw the planet's full appearance through the observation window, his fingers unconsciously rubbed against the glass.

This pale blue planet, shrouded in starlight, looked so beautiful through the Taotie warship's wide-angle lens.

The Science Officer beside him operated the central system and displayed a three-dimensional holographic projection of Planet No. 3. With a casual wave, the image, initially no larger than an apple, instantly expanded.

The light from the projection drew Yuan's attention. Cole tapped the projection a few times before introducing it to him.

"37.2 degrees north latitude, 121 degrees east longitude. This was the location we calculated before the warship's systems were damaged. Judging from the scanned movement trajectory, you should have been living there before.

I'm sorry. We do not have the ability to detect dark information, so we cannot determine whether the location is accurate. But you should be able to."

"That's right. This is my home."

Within the holographic projection, Yuan saw that his familiar village was so tiny, like an ant nest embedded in a mountain hollow.

The stream where he fetched water every day turned out, from the projection's perspective, to be a river that ran across the continent. The mountain he had once believed rose into the clouds was merely a faint wrinkle on the planet's surface.

Yuan suddenly remembered the meteor shower he had watched with his grandmother while lying on a haystack in her arms when he was seven. "Every star is a spark scattered by the Creator God,"

the old woman's rough finger pointed at the night sky. "Just like the sparks that leap from our stove, one day, every one of them will find its own home."

Only now did he understand that every one of those stars was a truly enormous "spark."

However, Yuan's brow tightened slightly. Judging from the real-time projection, there were no longer any signs of life here. Even the banyan tree at the village entrance, which had lived for centuries, was now nothing but dry branches.

At once, a bad premonition rose in his heart.

"Speed up. I want to see her sooner." For the first time aboard the warship, Yuan voiced his own will.

"Of course, as you wish, Your Excellency!"

Before the words had even faded, the warship accelerated and soon arrived at its destination.

Hiss!

Bang!

As white vapor billowed up, the warship's hatch fell open. The enormous hatch creaked before crashing to the ground with a bang, drawing an angry glare from Cole.

The Science Officer awkwardly explained from the side, "Sorry, sir. The warship is too badly damaged, and we do not have enough supplies. It endured 3,000°C plasma scorching while passing through the atmosphere's ionosphere, so the temporary parts could not hold up."

"Forget it. It is not your fault."

"Sir, should we follow him?" As he spoke, he gestured toward Yuan, who was slowly walking along the familiar path.

"No. Let Your Excellency calm down alone for a while. All of you, get back up there and bring the detection systems online as quickly as possible. There is something strange about this planet."

"Yes, sir!"

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The silent village was empty. The battle armor on Yuan's feet struck the stone path with crisp sounds that seemed especially piercing here.

The village was not large. In the blink of an eye, Yuan arrived at his home. Looking at the tightly shut wooden door and the white papers scattered around it, his heart felt especially heavy.

Yuan slowly let out a breath, then pushed open the half-broken wooden door with both hands.

Creak!

There was no one inside. Even the traces of life were gone.

"Hm?"

Suddenly, Yuan seemed to notice something and walked over to the pile of firewood nearby.

"It looks like the same amount I stacked before I left. Could it be?" A thought entered his mind, and he immediately headed toward the mountainside behind the house.

That was the village graveyard. Everyone who died in the village was buried there. His grandmother had once told him that it was the best place in the village.

Nestled against the mountains and beside the water, it could also see the earliest sunrise.

"Zorya! Died at 82!"

The moment Yuan saw the gravestone, a glistening tear slid from his eye. He opened his mouth and tasted a trace of salt flowing across it.

Then he slowly sat beside the gravestone, looking at the sunrise rising nearby, his face filled with an ugly smile.

"I'm home, Grandma!"

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