Deep inside the canyon.
Two solid spheres flew through the canyon, with a spacecraft following behind them.
Hidden Wolf was no longer a Cosmic Star God, so Gaia had dealt with him easily.
"Thud. Thud."
Gaia and Tethys transformed back into their humanoid forms and landed on the ground.
Lily piloted the spacecraft down slowly, kicking up a cloud of dust.
"Wait!"
Tethys noticed something amiss in the area. The sniper rifle mounted on his back appeared in his hands, and he put on his Auxiliary Device before carefully scanning the surroundings.
"Tethys, what's wrong?"
Gaia saw how tense Tethys was and asked worriedly.
Could something have happened?
"Something's wrong."
Tethys continued to survey the area.
At that, Gaia also grew wary. He spoke into the communicator: "Lily, Dilu, don't come out for now. Something's going on."
The two naturally had no intention of coming out and getting in Gaia and Tethys's way.
"What exactly happened?"
Gaia was already prepared to fight. The Mysterious Iron Laser Gun in his hand transformed into its laser-gun form as he warily surveyed the surroundings.
"It looks like there was a battle here." Tethys shared what he had noticed. The thrusters on his back fired two dark-blue jets, and he flew into the sky to survey the area.
"A battle? Then Xiao An and the others might be in trouble. Hidden Wolf followed us to Mercury, which means Anubi must have come here too."
Gaia heard Tethys over the communicator and sounded certain.
If Hidden Wolf had come, that meant Anubi had been here as well.
"I can't tell yet."
Tethys spotted a crater in the distance and hurried over. He carefully scanned the hole in the ground.
But—
He found no sign of anything there.
"I can't find any trace of Anubi!"
Tethys returned to Gaia's side and shook his head.
"Good. At least we haven't found any sign of Anubi!" Gaia said, clearly relieved. "The Star of the Galaxy has reappeared in the universe, and it's already drawn the attention of Salong and his gang. Our top priority is to find Apollo as soon as possible and hand him the Star of the Galaxy. That's the only way to stop Salong and the others from carrying out their schemes and ambitions. Until we find Apollo, the Star of the Galaxy absolutely cannot fall into enemy hands."
"I understand. Our mission is to protect the Star of the Galaxy, and these humans as well."
Now that Tethys had made his choice, he would keep protecting them until they found Apollo.
"All right. Now that the danger's passed, let's get back to the Lingdong and check on Ye Yun and the others." Gaia turned toward the small spacecraft and spoke into the communicator.
"Wait, Gaia!"
Suddenly, Tethys called out to him.
"What is it, Tethys? Is something bothering you?"
Gaia looked at Tethys, unsure what was wrong.
"Come with me for a moment."
Tethys glanced toward the Lingdong in the distance, then beckoned Gaia to follow him.
Once they were far enough from the Lingdong, but still close enough to reach it quickly if needed, Gaia looked at Tethys in confusion. "What's wrong, Tethys? Is something up?"
"Gaia, you told me earlier that Autan asked you to protect four humans, right?"
Tethys looked at Gaia uncertainly and spoke with grave seriousness.
"Yeah. Why?" Gaia grew even more confused. He really didn't understand why Tethys was asking.
"But you never said one of them was named Ye Yun. That means this Ye Yun isn't one of the humans Autan asked us to protect. So why is he with you?"
Tethys said solemnly, "What if he has ulterior motives regarding the Star of the Galaxy? What then? Lily and Dilu are on our side. But what if Ye Yun belongs to Salong's faction and steals the Star of the Galaxy to hand it over to them? Who would take responsibility for the consequences?"
"Th-that can't be right, can it?"
Gaia was taken aback. He couldn't understand why Tethys would say that.
"Gaia, you're still too young. You don't understand the dangers of the universe or how ugly humans can be. Anyway, I have a feeling there's something wrong with this human named Ye Yun. He wasn't chosen by Autan, and I don't trust him." Tethys spoke with conviction.
He had a feeling that there was something suspicious about this human, who hadn't been chosen by Autan.
"Come on, Tethys. You haven't even met him, so don't jump to conclusions, okay? He went through all that trouble to come to Mercury to find you, and Anubi was chasing him the whole way..."
Gaia spread his hands. You couldn't just suspect someone like that.
"Fine."
Tethys finally spread his hands helplessly and put the sniper rifle back on his back. "Either way, I'll keep an eye on this human who gives me a bad feeling."
"Actually, Tethys, you don't need to go that far. It's easy to test whether he has evil intentions."
Hearing how seriously Tethys took the matter, Gaia couldn't help but laugh.
He really didn't know why Tethys felt such strong hostility toward someone he'd never even met.
"What method?"
Tethys looked at Gaia in confusion, completely unable to guess what he was getting at.
"Have you forgotten the Star of the Galaxy's properties? Autan once told us that the Star of the Galaxy contained his power, but also the power of darkness. Autan gave it to Apollo because Apollo had no ambitions, believed in justice, and could resist being corrupted by the Star of the Galaxy's dark power."
"Dilu and the others haven't been affected by the Star of the Galaxy's dark power, which means Autan chose them, and they have no evil intentions toward the Star of the Galaxy either. That's why its dark power hasn't affected them. We can casually have Dilu and the others hand the Star of the Galaxy to Ye Yun and see what happens."
"If he's corrupted by its power, we can kill him on the spot or drive him away?"
Tethys's yellow Electronic Eye blinked as he asked uncertainly.
"Exactly."
Gaia nodded solemnly. "That way, we can avoid suspecting each other."
"All right, but I'll keep an eye on this human in the meantime." Tethys was resolute.
"Fine. Let's go back first. I wonder which Star God we'll find on Venus."
Gaia didn't object to Tethys's words. It was true—Autan hadn't told him to help five humans. He had clearly said four.
So—
After Tethys pointed it out, Gaia had begun to suspect Ye Yun too.
"What are you two talking about?"
Dilu stood at the spacecraft's hatch and looked up at the two Steel Giants, each seven or eight meters tall.
"Nothing. Tethys was just telling me about his experiences over the years."
Gaia shook his head and kept the subject of their conversation from Dilu and the others.
He couldn't let them get suspicious.
They would handle it quietly.
"Let's go to Venus and find the Cosmic Star God Dilu saw inside the Star of the Galaxy!" Tethys said to the two of them.
"Sure. Let's get back to the Lingdong first!"
Lily frowned as she looked at the two Cosmic Star Gods. A woman's intuition told her they were hiding something from the others.
But she didn't press them. Instead, she agreed to go search for another Cosmic Star God.
She actually quite liked this sort of adventure.
When the spacecraft returned to the Lingdong, Yaoyao and Xiao An hurriedly exclaimed, "You're finally back! You scared us to death!"
"What happened, Yaoyao? Xiao An?"
Gaia heard the fear in their voices and asked curiously.
"Gaia, while you were searching for that Cosmic Star God, Anubi ambushed us!"
Xiao An spoke excitedly, his face tense.
"What? Anubi really attacked you? Why didn't you contact me?"
Gaia was startled by Xiao An's words.
Thank goodness Xiao An and the others were all right. Otherwise, the consequences would have been unthinkable.
"Big Brother Ye wouldn't let me contact you. He said it could be Anubi's diversionary tactic, meant to lure you away from Dilu and the others so someone could steal the Star of the Galaxy!"
Xiao An explained why he hadn't contacted Gaia.
At that—
Gaia and Tethys exchanged a look. Could Ye Yun really be an enemy spy?
Or had he simply figured out the enemy's plan?
"What happened to Anubi?"
Gaia asked anxiously.
The only thing he cared about was Anubi.
"Zhuoya drove him away," Yaoyao said.
"Zhuoya drove him away?"
Dilu looked at Yaoyao uncertainly. "Anubi's so fast. You expect me to believe the Lingdong drove him off with nothing but its particle cannons? Are you kidding me, Yaoyao?"
"I believe it."
Lily immediately believed that Zhuoya had driven Anubi away.
"Lily?"
Dilu looked at her in disbelief. Did she even know what she was saying?
She believed it was Zhuoya, the Intelligent Assistant, who had done it?
"Did Ye Yun have Zhuoya activate the automatic targeting weapons system?"
Lily gave Dilu an amused smile, then turned to Yaoyao.
"Um, I think he did."
Yaoyao thought it over, then nodded. "Yes. He told Zhuoya to activate the automatic targeting weapons system."
"Then there's no doubt about it. That system could definitely have driven Anubi away."
Lily spoke with confidence. "The automatic targeting weapons system is standard equipment on the Lingdong. The Lingdong is actually a starship, and its automatic targeting weapons system can automatically track targets. Once it locks on, the margin of error is within fifty centimeters. No matter how fast the target is, it can't dodge."
"Whoa, the Lingdong can do that?"
Dilu was astonished by Lily's explanation.
"Yes, but activating the system directs eighty percent of the Lingdong's energy to its weapons. That means the Radar System and communications system temporarily stop working."
Lily explained.
She was now even more certain that Ye Yun was a "spaceship engineer." She had never told anyone that the Lingdong had an automatic targeting weapons system, yet Ye Yun had told Zhuoya to activate a system that consumed a huge amount of energy. Either Ye Yun was a spaceship engineer, a spaceship pilot, or a spaceship mechanic.
Otherwise, there was no explaining how he knew the Lingdong had a hidden automatic targeting weapons system.
Besides, the Lingdong was a previous-generation warship. It had been decommissioned long ago.
And Gaia and the others had also seen it for themselves—
The humans' technology and engineering.
Before you continue