Encounter

Ten days later, Reke had covered nearly ten thousand li, with less than a day's journey left to exit the grasslands.

In those same ten days, the Budaso Adventure Team had advanced less than two hundred li since entering the Wild Grasslands.

The group was constantly teetering on the edge of disaster, every step fraught with peril. Their clothes were tattered and torn, and even the pristine wings of Eighth had sustained damage.

This was their first time venturing into the Wild Grasslands. Their energy detectors had revealed that the beasts here were formidable, with almost no creature possessing a power level below 500.

As it turned out, they had still underestimated this forbidden zone.

Individually, the beasts were nothing special, but they always appeared in swarms.

No sooner had they struggled to shake off one pack than they ran into another not far away.

Even when they finally found a place to rest at night, they lived in constant fear, terrified of a beast ambush.

Leader looked at his younger brothers and sisters, seeing their haggard and exhausted faces, and said apologetically, "I have failed you all!"

"I was too arrogant. After lording over that small city, I lost sight of my own limitations. I dragged you all into this; let's turn back now!"

As he spoke, the burly man's face was filled with desolation. His spirit and vitality withered rapidly, making him look ten years older in an instant.

"Leader, it's not a matter of whether we want to leave anymore," Fourth said, looking around with a grave expression.

Fourth was a stout man with a pointed head. Despite his appearance, his clan was famous for their mental prowess; every member possessed psychic abilities and could sense biological energy within a thousand-meter radius.

Energy detectors were modeled after their clan's innate abilities, though the detectors had a wider range while their natural senses were more convenient.

In his mind, he could already see that their group was surrounded; energy signatures were closing in from every direction.

"Fourth, find the direction with the weakest resistance so we can break through."

Leader's group had no intention of staying to fight to the death. He had realized during this time that the beasts here were endless; fighting them head-on would only mean their demise.

The group gripped their respective weapons, waiting for Fourth's response and preparing to break out.

Coincidentally, Reke was moving toward their position, and the distance between the two parties was less than fifty li.

As mentioned before, Reke kept his qi sensing range limited to a thousand-meter radius, so he was unaware that a group of sentient beings was ahead.

He hopped forward, carrying the ten-ton boulder on his back.

As the distance between the two sides closed, Reke saw a cluster of black dots in the distance during one of his leaps.

He was unfazed, knowing this was just beasts hunting.

He had no intention of changing course and hopped straight toward the black dots, intending to make that pack of beasts his lunch.

"Leader, I can't go on. You all go ahead."

Thirteenth was a slightly plump woman about 1.6 meters tall.

Because she hadn't dodged in time, her left leg had been injured by a beast, leaving her limping.

Knowing full well she couldn't escape, she urged the others to break through while she gripped her twin blades, prepared to make a final stand and trade her life to create an opening for her companions.

"Thirteenth, we will not abandon you. Eighth, take Thirteenth into the air."

Leader rejected her proposal and began issuing orders.

Eighth didn't hesitate; she rushed over, grabbed Thirteenth, and flew into the sky.

Thirteenth was just about to struggle and ask her eighth sister to put her down when she saw a giant boulder in the distance moving toward their position.

It was hopping along, as if the rock had grown a pair of legs.

This bizarre sight choked the words in her throat; she stared wide-eyed, mouth agape, watching the scene in a daze.

As it drew closer, she shivered, snapping back to reality.

She shouted, "Over there... look over there!"

Her voice, cracking with intensity, drew the attention of every creature present. They all looked in the direction she pointed.

The beasts were the first to react, scattering in terror at the sight.

They abandoned their prey, ignoring even the distant roars of their alpha.

The Budaso Adventure Team was dumbfounded, their expressions identical to Thirteenth's, save for their leader.

He rubbed his eyes in disbelief, as if seeing a hallucination, then looked again.

Good heavens, his eyes nearly popped out of his head.

Reke, meanwhile, had discovered the situation two li away.

He dropped the boulder, vanished, and reappeared right in front of the burly man with the wide eyes.

Leader saw Reke vanish and looked left and right, completely failing to notice the figure at his waist.

Reke looked at them and greeted them helplessly, "Hello there."

The group jumped in fright and scrambled backward. Only after putting some distance between them did they see Reke.

Standing there was a boy about 1.2 meters tall with a tail, looking at them with a smile on his face.

The air froze instantly. The group stared at him with wide eyes, neither side speaking another word.

Reke realized this wouldn't do; he had finally encountered intelligent life, and he couldn't afford to scare them senseless, so he plastered a friendly smile across his chubby, baby-faced features.

He raised his right hand to wave at them, and assuming their languages were incompatible, he spoke again: "Hello there. Can you understand what I'm saying?"

"Oh! Oh! We can understand you."

Leader was the first to snap out of his daze and provide a response.

Reke let out a sigh of relief, thinking to himself with satisfaction: What great luck. Not only does this planet have intelligent life, but there's no barrier to communication either.

Looking at their attire, it also appeared that they had developed a civilization.

Aside from Leader, who had witnessed Reke training with the boulder on his back and clearly understood the immense power contained within that small body, the others remained oblivious.

Fourth asked, "Kid, why are you out here all by yourself? And how did you just appear?"

Based on the readings from his superpower, the energy signature of the child in front of him was no different from that of an ordinary human child, so he felt no tension at all and instead asked his questions quite casually.

He placed too much faith in his own ability, unaware that the gap between him and Reke was as vast as the distance between the heavens and the earth.

He was fundamentally incapable of detecting Reke's true energy, only able to perceive the 10 points of combat power Reke chose to reveal.

Reke, finding him easy to talk to, replied, "I've always been alone; I came from another planet." He paused, pointed toward the boulder two miles away, and continued, "As for how I appeared, I just ran over from there."

As for the issue of concealing his origins, it had never once crossed Reke's mind.

He still hoped to leverage the technological power of this planet to build a gravity chamber and a new spacecraft, using his own ship as a template.

"Stop joking around. Lying isn't a good habit for a kid, you know." Fourth didn't believe him at all; instead, he found Reke amusing and chuckled at the remark.

Reke was left speechless by the man, looking at him as if he were an idiot before letting out a deep sigh.

"Sigh!"