[Cosmic Star Gods]

The sky was clear and cloudless.

The scorching sun beat down on the earth, sending waves of heat shimmering up from the barren yellow soil.

Even the wind carried waves of unbearable heat.

Ye Yun walked across the wasteland of yellow earth, looking up at the enormous, barely visible interstellar fortress in the sky.

This was Earth.

Yes, it had to be Earth. He couldn't be mistaken.

Only, this was probably Earth hundreds of years in the future, in the interstellar age.

He didn't know.

What kind of world was this?

"Vrrrrm."

Just then,

the sound of an aircraft engine rang out in the sky.

Ye Yun looked up and saw a craft that resembled a VTOL but wasn't a plane slowly descending onto an open stretch of ground in the distance.

The hatch opened, and the whirring of landing gear filled the air.

A beautiful woman with a student-like hairstyle stepped out. She had a curvy figure and a distinctive air about her. One hand rested on her hip; she had a delicate nose and cherry-red lips. She was stunning.

"Do you need help?" The beautiful pilot came over to Ye Yun, studying him. She wasn't at all afraid he might try anything, despite being alone with a woman.

His sharply defined features and deep, starry eyes only added to his good looks.

"If you could give me a ride for free, I'd be very grateful."

Ye Yun smiled politely. Unlike other men, he didn't leer at her and look her up and down.

His eyes were as clear as spring water, without a trace of impurity.

There was none of the usual frivolity in his voice, either.

"All right, but my ship's a little dirty. Don't let that bother you."

The beautiful pilot nodded, satisfied. He was decent—not like the others who looked at her in ways that made her uncomfortable.

There was something about his bearing, too. He seemed almost like a member of the royal family.

Refined and courteous.

"I don't mind. Thank you for helping me, miss."

Ye Yun smiled and thanked her politely.

"Did your ship lose contact?"

Lily wasn't bothered by the way Ye Yun addressed her, nor was she angry.

This wasn't the twenty-first century. Calling a woman "miss" wouldn't get you beaten up.

Not now.

"Something like that."

Ye Yun paused, then nodded.

He'd been piloting a spaceship when he was sucked into a Black Hole and ended up in that other world.

"Come with me."

Lily nodded and led Ye Yun toward her ship. "My name's Lily. I'm the closest employee to this area, and I do rescue work on the side when I'm not busy."

"My name's Ye Yun."

After she introduced herself, Ye Yun gave her his name as well.

He could tell that the beautiful pilot posed no threat to him.

So,

he followed her without hesitation.

"Good, now I know."

After closing the ship's hatch, Lily said, "You can sit in the copilot's seat for now. I've got cargo in the other seats. I found you on my way back from buying supplies."

"That's fine. Thanks for helping me."

Ye Yun didn't mind Lily's arrangement.

There was nothing wrong with sitting in the copilot's seat.

Besides,

she was doing him a good deed.

"You're welcome."

Once Ye Yun was settled, Lily started the engine. Driven by its Anti-gravity Engine, the ship lifted into the air.

Through the windshield, Ye Yun could see nothing but barren yellow earth below, without a single patch of green.

"This area's an aircraft graveyard. There's a lot of pollution, and humans have overexploited the land. Earth's continental resources are nearly depleted."

Lily glanced at the landscape below and muttered to herself. Then she caught herself and said, "Sorry about that."

"It's fine."

Ye Yun shook his head slightly. He could more or less guess what she meant.

She probably thought he was from the city and wanted people from there to see how barren the continent had become.

After flying for nearly ten minutes, the ship reached a place littered with ruins and slowly landed on an open stretch of ground.

"This is where I work. I hope you don't mind."

Lily stood up from the pilot's seat and led him off the ship, which was only capable of flying within a planet.

A wave of heat washed over them.

An aircraft graveyard wasn't a junkyard; it wasn't nearly as filthy or disorderly.

"I don't mind."

Ye Yun shook his head, curiously surveying the aircraft graveyard. It looked like an Interstellar Battlefield.

Now this was what the interstellar age of the future really looked like.

Look at all those wrecks, with secondhand spaceships just lying around everywhere.

Only a civilization that had reached the stars could afford to disregard its old weapons and equipment.

"What's that?"

Suddenly,

Ye Yun spotted a ship parked on an open patch of ground in the distance. Nearly a hundred meters long, it looked like a coffin: narrow at the front and wide at the rear. Apart from the main cannon beneath it, he couldn't see any weapons systems. He asked uncertainly, "Is that...?"

"That's a spaceship, not an interstellar battleship."

Lily followed his gaze and explained.

It wasn't an interstellar battleship, just an ordinary spaceship.

"Is that so?"

Ye Yun gave Lily a strange look. There was no need to fool him. Ordinary spaceships didn't have main cannons; they only had simple defensive systems and couldn't launch attacks.

"Yes." Lily nodded solemnly. "The Lingdong was left to me by my father. He flew it for over twenty years, but now it's mine. It's already an old ship."

"The Lingdong?"

Ye Yun suddenly froze. He felt like he'd heard the name Lingdong somewhere before.

Perhaps in a children's animated series called Cosmic Star Gods.

The beautiful pilot's name matched, the ship's name matched, and even her workplace matched.

Could that mean anything else?

But he'd only watched a dozen or so episodes of this children's cartoon and didn't know what happened later. Once he was alone, he'd retrieve the computer stored in front of the entrance to the Bronze Tower and look it up.

The computer held thousands of movies, TV shows, anime series, novels, and more.

It even had cartoons like Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf, The Adventures of Lolo, and Blade Rider King: Iron Armored Mighty Insect—childish shows that had nevertheless been part of countless people's childhoods.

"What is it? Have you heard of it?" Lily asked uncertainly when she saw Ye Yun's expression.

"Sort of." Ye Yun nodded with a smile.

If this really was that world, things would get interesting.

Among the Cosmic Star Gods in this world, apart from Venus's Space-Time Spiral, the others weren't all that impressive.

The main plot revolved around the Star of the Galaxy.

And Lily here was one of the four humans chosen by Autan.

Autan had created the Cosmic Star Gods, as well as the universe and all life. The Star of the Galaxy, in turn, was something Autan had created to preserve peace.

"Make yourself at home. If you want to go back, contact your family or call a rescue team to take you. I can't take you back myself, because I'd have to charge you for the trip."

Lily led him into the Lingdong's cockpit and explained.

"You live aboard the Lingdong?"

Ye Yun ran his fingers lightly over the nearby equipment. It was a pretty good spaceship.

"Yes."

Lily handed him a bottle of water. "Here, have some. You've been walking through the desert for so long. You must be thirsty."

"Thanks."

Ye Yun wasn't thirsty, actually, but he still accepted the water Lily handed him.

She was showing him courtesy. He couldn't just refuse.

"The pollution outside is too bad, so I can only live in this ship. When I have free time, I work here and salvage parts from the aircraft to keep in reserve, or sell the ones I don't need for a little money."

Lily sat in the pilot's seat and leaned back against the comfortable chair, explaining why she lived aboard the ship.

"Are you the only one who works here?" Ye Yun asked curiously, puzzled.

The aircraft graveyard was bigger than an airport, yet only one person worked there. That was impressive.

"Yes, I'm the only one who works here." Lily nodded. "I'm the one who leased this place, so of course I work here myself."

"You're rich." Ye Yun clicked his tongue in surprise. So the beautiful pilot in front of him was a super-rich woman.

"Rich? Hardly." Lily waved a hand and laughed helplessly.

If she were rich, she would've had the Lingdong repaired long ago.

"Actually, I might have to stay here for a while."

Ye Yun suddenly remembered something: he wasn't from this world, had nowhere to live, and had no identity, so—

"Stay?" Lily looked him up and down. "Fine, but I'll charge you."

"I don't have any money."

Ye Yun spread his hands, looking helpless.

He was an undocumented person.

"That's easy. Work for me to pay for your stay. How does that sound?"

Lily thought about it. She really was rather tired.

It would be nice to have some free help.

Most importantly, he was handsome.

Just looking at him lifted her spirits.

"No problem."

Ye Yun nodded, agreeing to Lily's request.

He couldn't expect to stay for free.

He could sustain himself with energy now, but that would look suspicious.

Wouldn't people wonder why he never ate or drank, yet never died?

They'd definitely grow suspicious.

"You're not undocumented, are you?" Seeing how readily Ye Yun had agreed, Lily looked at him with a puzzled expression and asked tentatively.

If he was undocumented, that would explain everything.

"Yeah."

Ye Yun gave a bitter smile. He hadn't expected her to figure it out.

This woman wasn't just a pretty face after all.

"Oh, I see. All right, I have no objections. You can start work tomorrow. If you don't know how, I'll teach you."

Lily said, then stopped asking questions.

Being undocumented wasn't scary. What was scary was being an undocumented freeloader—that would be bad news for her.

"No need. I know how."

Ye Yun shook his head.

He couldn't help feeling as if he were taking advantage of her.

But there was nothing he could do.

In an age of technology, you needed identification everywhere you went.

Without it, you could barely take a single step.

Someone was willing to take him in. That was already very good of her.

"All right. If you know what you're doing, that's fine. I was afraid you wouldn't."