The Planet's Core

When Liu Zhi activated the Nether Palace's warp, he hadn't given it much thought. He just wanted to get away from the Zerg hive. After all, he'd already sent the Empire the hive's location, and its forces would arrive before long.

The hive would become the main battlefield.

There was no point in Liu Zhi lingering there.

So he didn't care where he ended up, as long as he could get away.

But as soon as he activated the Nether Palace's warp, he sensed something was wrong.

The Leyline node he'd locked onto had suddenly developed a problem.

The moment the Yadaliate jumped, Liu Zhi felt the Leyline shift. It was as if a giant hand had grabbed his ship and dragged it in a different direction.

Liu Zhi tried to escape, but he seemed to have lost control of the Yadaliate. A mythic ship of that size was no longer responding to him. Instead, it was being dragged relentlessly downward.

All Liu Zhi could see were flashes of light and shadow passing before him.

At first, images of buildings appeared. They were built in the same style as the ruins around him: enormous temples supported by towering stone pillars.

But things soon changed. Workshops and ecological gardens appeared among the pillars.

At last, Liu Zhi saw the planet's core: an Unobtanium deposit so enormous he couldn't begin to describe it.

All he saw was pale blue, as if he'd entered a world of Unobtanium. Nothing else existed in his field of vision.

"No way."

Liu Zhi didn't consider himself especially lucky. There was no reason for one jump to take him straight to the core of planet E-96.

In the next instant, the Yadaliate was flung out of the void.

Before Liu Zhi could regain control of the Yadaliate,