Zhu Ziwen's words echoed in Su Pengfei's and Xia Zhou's ears.
Su Pengfei instinctively turned toward the porthole.
The entirely green planet shimmered in the light of the black hole's accretion disk.
Like a drop of water at the edge of a desert, it radiated endless beauty.
Yet there was no joy in Su Pengfei's eyes. Even the smile on his face gradually faded.
"Sigh..."
"Nine hundred years ago, without Professor Lü and the Academy of Sciences, we humans probably wouldn't have been much different from the creatures on this planet, would we?"
"We wouldn't even have known how we died," he murmured.
Beside him, Xia Zhou shuddered and said in an exceptionally somber voice, "Perhaps."
Zhu Ziwen's gaze shifted slightly.
He sensed the unusual atmosphere in the communications channel.
Since he did not know the exact reason, he felt it would be inappropriate to interrupt. He could only wait quietly for the two to continue their conversation.
"Esteemed Planetary Explorers, the starship is about to enter Lost Star's atmosphere. Please prepare for landing..."
Zero's electronic synthesized voice sounded at just the right moment, breaking the somewhat subdued atmosphere in the team's voice channel.
"Whew..."
Xia Zhou took a deep breath to steady his unsettled emotions, then said gravely, "Everyone, get ready. We're landing!"
[Earth].
"Professor, an anomaly has been detected."
As Zero spoke, a holographic image appeared beside him.
In the image, a bare circular patch stood out starkly amid the lush forest.
Overhead, carrier-based drones carried out the final cleanup under Zero's control-they needed to move the larger chunks of trees farther away to clear enough flat landing space for Black Lady Two.
Looking at the perfectly normal scene in the holographic projection, Lü Yongchang frowned and asked quietly, "What is it?"
"The probes placed on the