It only took a few days.
The Spry sailed successfully from Mercury to Venus.
During this time,
Ye Yun had always felt that Mercury God Tethys seemed to harbor some hostility toward him.
He could not figure out where he had offended the fellow.
But after thinking it over carefully,
he realized he had done nothing to offend this Mercury God named Tethys.
And so,
he ignored the Mercury God. If Tethys would not speak to him, he absolutely would not speak to Mercury God Tethys either.
You're full of hostility toward me, yet you expect me to feel favorably toward you?
Sorry, that was never going to happen.
"Lily, Venus is just ahead. It's our destination."
Dilu gazed at the planet outside the Spry's Window Armor and spoke excitedly.
"Zhuoya, activate the Window Armor."
Lily's expression turned solemn as she instructed the Intelligent Assistant Zhuoya.
"The Window Armor has been activated."
Zhuoya replied.
"Boom, boom, boom."
The Spry entered Venus's atmosphere, causing violent shaking.
But everyone had grown accustomed to this discomfort. They gripped the armrests tightly, not daring to move around.
One careless move could get them killed.
After the Spry stopped shaking, they had entered the interior of Venus from outside the planet.
"Yaoyao, check the location Dilu saw inside the Star of the Galaxy."
Lily sighed in relief. They had finally reached the interior of Venus. She turned to Yaoyao, who was sitting at the control console.
"Lily, the place Dilu saw is the Yishi Highlands."
Yaoyao quickly reported the location Dilu had seen.
"No way. The Yishi Highlands are so huge—how are we supposed to search them?"
Xiao An could not help frowning bitterly.
The Yishi Highlands were simply too vast. There was no way they could search the entire place.
"Even if the Yishi Highlands are enormous, we still have to find the Star God staying on Venus."
Gaia's firm and decisive voice rang out through the communicator.
Their mission was to protect the Star of the Galaxy and protect this group of humans.
Then, through the Star of the Galaxy, they would find their companions and hand it over to its guardian, Sun Star God Apollo.
"All right. You go search. I'll take a look at the nearby bases and see whether there's anything we can use to repair the ship."
Lily spoke through the communicator.
Their supplies were running short, and the ship also needed repairs.
If they could not repair the ship, the Spry would be unable to perform an Interstellar Jump.
Traveling to other places would take an enormous amount of time.
"I'll go with you."
Ye Yun stood up from an empty seat nearby and spoke to Lily.
"All right." When Lily saw that it was the usually taciturn Ye Yun, she gave a slight nod and went with him toward the landing platform.
"You seem to have something on your mind lately."
As they walked toward the landing platform, Lily asked him this while walking.
"Do I? I don't think so." Ye Yun shrugged noncommittally.
"How could you not? Don't tell me you're missing your girlfriend?"
Lily studied him curiously.
"No!" Ye Yun shook his head. "I'm just not used to it."
"Not used to what?"
Lily became even more puzzled.
What was there to be unaccustomed to?
"I can't believe I'm following you all to save the universe. Are you kidding me? This is just too unreal."
A bitter smile appeared at the corner of Ye Yun's mouth.
"Actually, I find it unreal too. With the Federation's strength, crushing these so-called Cosmic Star Gods would be no problem at all. I can believe them saving the universe, but this group, whose strength is less than one ten-thousandth of the Federation Government's, saving the universe is indeed hard to believe. Still, I chose to follow them because I think this will be a very interesting adventure."
Lily shrugged. She was a young girl full of an adventurous spirit.
"Beautiful looks are a dime a dozen, but an interesting soul is one in a million. You really do have both looks and soul." Ye Yun spread his hands.
This girl truly possessed an adventurous spirit.
"Haha!" Lily laughed and led Ye Yun onto the ship. "Do you mind telling me about your girlfriend?"
"She's my fiancée, not my girlfriend."
He sat in the copilot's seat, fastened his seat belt, and reminded her solemnly.
"All right, all right, your fiancée. Do you mind telling me about her?" Lily shrugged, piloting the ship out of the Spry and beginning to search for bases using the positioning system.
"Her name is Feiran. She's a beautiful woman who combines beauty and talent."
Memories surfaced in Ye Yun's eyes.
"And then?"
Lily was somewhat taken aback by his answer.
Was that all there was?
"There's no 'and then'!" Ye Yun said innocently. "As for her beauty, I'm not good with words. As for her talent, she's a top scientist in the field of intelligence, specializing in firewalls and artificial intelligence."
"Then can you tell me about your family?"
Seeing that he did not want to say more, Lily simply changed the subject and began asking about Ye Yun's family.
"I haven't seen my parents in a long time. I suppose they've probably already forgotten they have a son." Ye Yun's voice was filled with dejection.
"I'm sorry."
Hearing the sadness in his voice, Lily hurriedly apologized.
She had not expected to hit such a sore spot.
"Actually, it's nothing." He smiled. "Although I can only see them once after a long time, it's still pretty good."
"Vroom, vroom, vroom!"
The ship slowly landed on the ground amid a sea of yellow sand.
The wind howled without end.
"Who's there?"
Just after stepping off the ship, Ye Yun sensed someone watching them from behind. He reflexively turned around, but did not find anything suspicious, causing him to frown.
No way.
Could Carlos and his group really have come?
Anubi had been killed by him, while Hidden Wolf had been dealt with by Gaia.
How had Carlos and his group still managed to find this place?
"What's wrong?"
Lily was startled by his shout. She turned to look at him, not understanding what he was doing.
"Nothing. I just felt as if someone was spying on us."
Ye Yun shook his head slightly and told her what he had noticed.
"No way."
Lily turned around and looked, but did not see anything unusual.
"Maybe I was mistaken." Ye Yun smiled.
"You stay here and watch the ship. I'll go inside and see if there's anything we need."
Lily spoke to him.
"No. We'll go together. Letting a girl take risks alone isn't something a man should do." Ye Yun shook his head. If Carlos had truly come to Venus, he had to stay with Lily.
He owed her a favor.
"Are you a man?"
Lily looked at him curiously.
"I..."
Ye Yun was about to say, Of course I'm a man.
But after thinking about it carefully, he realized that he really was not a man. He was just a boy.
"Heh." The next moment, a playful smile appeared on Lily's beautiful face. "All right, all right, I was just joking. Let's go together."
"Do you have a boyfriend?"
Walking side by side with Lily, Ye Yun could not find anything to talk about, so he began asking her questions.
You've already asked about me.
Shouldn't you tell me about yourself too?
"We've been together for a month. Have you ever seen me send a message or anything to some other guy?!"
Lily rolled her eyes at him speechlessly, pushed open a door weathered by wind and sand, and called out, "Is anyone here? Excuse me, is anyone here?"
They called out for a long time.
No one answered, so the two simply pushed the door open and walked straight inside.
They began rummaging through everything.
"I didn't find anything useful."
In the end, Ye Yun spread his hands and spoke.
"I didn't find anything either. Sigh, the repairs to the Spry will have to be delayed again." Lily was frustrated. She had thought the Yishi Highlands might contain parts for repairing the Spry, or at least some useful resources.
But in the end,
the place was completely empty. Even if there was anything, it was nothing but a pile of useless junk.
"Don't worry. This place is so large. Let's keep looking. I'm sure we'll find something."
Seeing Lily's dejection, Ye Yun comforted her.
A place this huge could not possibly contain nothing at all.
"All right. Let's keep looking."
Meanwhile,
Carlos's ship was parked in an open area. Behind it was a dense, boundless black steel army.
The steel army nearly filled the entire valley.
"Lord Carlos, Crab has sent word. They've found Gaia and the others. Should we...?"
Seymour looked at Carlos beside him and asked tentatively.
"Don't rush. What I'm curious about now is who exactly killed Anubi."
Carlos raised a hand to stop Scorpion Warrior Seymour, his crimson Electronic Eye flashing incessantly.
Now that he had calmed down, he had noticed something suspicious.
Anubi had definitely not been killed by Gaia and Tethys. Then who could it have been?
If Anubi had attacked the enemy, the enemy would certainly have requested Gaia's help. That would have drawn Gaia away and allowed Hidden Wolf to successfully seize the Star of the Galaxy.
But Hidden Wolf had never received the order to act.
This meant Anubi had already been killed, which was why Hidden Wolf could not receive Anubi's orders.
Then who exactly had killed Anubi?
"Lord Carlos, wasn't Anubi killed by Gaia and the others?"
Scorpion Warrior Seymour did not understand why Lord Carlos was still investigating this matter.
Had they not already determined that Gaia and Tethys were the ones who killed Anubi?
"No. Gaia and Tethys absolutely weren't Anubi's killers. Also, did you notice the wound on Anubi's body? He must have been grievously injured while reverting to his crescent-moon form."
"Reverting to his crescent-moon form means Anubi couldn't defeat his opponent and tried to escape. But he wasn't fast enough, so he was forced back into human form, losing his combat power. During that time, the person forcibly tore open Anubi's chest and took his energy core."
"Can you catch up to Anubi's speed in his crescent-moon form?"
Carlos turned to Scorpion Warrior Seymour and asked.
"I... can't. I'm afraid only Lord Salong, Lord Alastor, Lord Carlos, and Sun Star God Apollo can surpass Anubi in speed!"
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