Mu Yao piloted his mecha out of the protective shield of the Second War Zone, instantly disappearing into the dark, unknown universe.
Xie Ji frowned, the star chart in his hand trembling slightly. "We need to hurry. There will definitely be a large number of monsters guarding the black hole. The flight path map that Lu Xunji gave me before we set off should ensure that we suffer less losses."
Zhuang Huan leaned closer to look at the flight path map in Xie Ji's hand and said, "It seems that Lu Xunji's position as commander-in-chief wasn't for nothing. If it weren't for this uncontrollable black hole, he might have really been able to lead the empire to victory."
Xie Ji put away the flight map. Hearing Zhuang Huan praise Lu Xunji, he felt a surge of pride and affirmed, " Lu Xunji is truly amazing."
Mu Yao leaned back in the driver's seat and said, "I wonder how Ji Shi is doing now."
Xie Ji clenched his fist. "I can feel his life force. As long as I successfully enter the black hole, I can find his location."
Following the predetermined flight path, and aided by Xie Ji's astronomical calculations, the mechs almost completely avoided all possible encounters with monsters, preserving maximum resources as they reached the edge of the ever-expanding black hole.
"There's a monster horde ahead, and there's no way to avoid it this time." Mu Yao took his hand off the joystick and rubbed it against his waist. "I'm not sure if we can get through the monster horde, but let's give it a try."
"Don't even try. If we die here, Ji Shi will have no hope left." Zhuang Huan chuckled, feigning ease, and looked out the mecha window at the dark mass of monsters. "Besides, I haven't seen the strange tree or the place that Ji Shi mentioned, the place that will end everything. Even if I'm going to die, shouldn't I at least have a look before I die?"
Xie Ji frowned, his usual playful demeanor vanishing, and he gripped the astrolabe with a serious expression.
His computing power had only recovered to less than 50%, all the Divine Sense Fruit in the system space had been used up, and his points were almost gone.
Due to the favorable relationship with Lu Xunji, Mu Yaoji, Mu Yao Ji Shi Shang Yan, and others, his points were really running out.
At this moment, within the system space, Mu Yao and Ji Shi's favorability ratings are at their maximum, Zhou Heyu's favorability rating is at 80%, Shang Yan's favorability rating has never been activated, and Lu Xunji's is still at the familiar 20%.
Xie Ji sighed.
Lu Xunji's self-destructive tendencies are too severe, and it's impossible to raise his favorability rating to the maximum in a short period of time.
If he had known Princess Jiji would be so difficult, he shouldn't have studied fortune telling in the first place; he should have gotten a psychology counselor certificate instead.
The mech lingered outside the monster horde for a while. Mu Yao took a deep breath, activated the mech's outer protective shield, and then charged rapidly into the depths!
The overwhelming monsters spotted them and charged towards them, roaring. The particle cannons fired by the mechs barely managed to repel the monsters, but there were simply too many of them. They seemed completely unafraid of death, crashing into the protective netting one after another, only to be blasted into dust by the particle cannons.
Xie Ji's astrolabe spun rapidly, and Mu Yao held the control stick with complete concentration.
"Switch to the left second side!" Xie Ji shouted.
Without thinking, Mu Yao instinctively followed Xie Ji's instructions and slashed to the left at the two o'clock position.
The mech just barely grazed past the two monsters, who instantly collided with several monsters chasing after them. Mu Yao swiftly fired a particle cannon, and more than a dozen monsters vanished into the monster horde.
"Holy crap." Mu Yao felt all the blood rush to his head, and his face turned bright red with excitement. "So cool, Xie Little Ji, when did you learn this move?!"
Xie Ji stared at the astrolabe in his hand. "Thank you, I'm learning now, focus."
The mecha flipped rapidly. Zhuang Huan, gripping the armrest of his seat and pressing down on his glasses which nearly flew off, muttered, "This mecha's gravity system... if I could go back, I would definitely... ugh..."
Xie Ji: "Three strokes to the left, turn around!"
Mu Yao: "Okay--"
Xie Ji's commands became increasingly rapid, but fortunately, Mu Yao was familiar enough with the mecha to always react to Xie Ji's commands immediately.
Several times, due to slow reaction time, the mech grazed past the monster's sharp teeth, leaving a trail of sparks and lightning, breaking off its side wing, and shaking twice.
"Your reaction time is too slow," Zhuang Huan said disdainfully. "If the mech keeps getting damaged, we won't be able to go back!"
"Stop making sarcastic remarks." Mu Yao gritted his teeth. "Try it if you dare."
The monster horde kept surging forward, and Xie Ji's golden hair was already soaked with sweat and stuck to his cheeks. He pursed his lips and didn't say anything.
The mecha suddenly shuddered, and then plummeted downwards at an unparalleled speed!
Zhuang Huan's glasses, which he had been protecting all the way, were still thrown off. The gravity system inside the mecha went completely out of control. Xie Ji's shoulder slammed into the control panel, the star chart slipped from his hand, collided with the debris in the air, and cracked in two.
"What's going on?!" Zhuang Huan gripped the armrest tightly. " Mu Yao, do you even know how to pilot a mecha?!"
Amid the chaos, Mu Yao's voice rang out. "What does this have to do with whether I can fly or not? The mech has entered the black hole's magnetic field range. Now it's not the mech flying, it's the black hole sucking us in."
Xie Ji quickly retrieved the star chart fragments. "At this speed, we'll be turned into mincemeat if we crash into anything. Think of something!"
Mu Yao struggled to stay upright on the control panel: "I'll try restarting the mech's gravity system!"
No sooner had they finished speaking than the mecha crashed into something, instantly turning its internal parts into wrecked pieces. Without the control of the gravity system, these objects flew around inside the cabin, and the crew members were quickly injured.
A piercing alarm blared rapidly through the chaotic space.
"Mech gravity system restarting..."
"The mech is severely damaged; gravity system activation failed!"
"The mech core is being repaired."
"Core energy repair complete."
"Gravity system rebooting!"
"Gravity system reboot failed!"
"The mech is 80% damaged! Severely damaged! Severely damaged!"
"Energy crisis! Energy crisis!"
"Force activation of the gravity system?!"
"Gravity system is being forcibly activated."
"Forced startup successful! Low energy! Low energy!"
Energy-saving mode activated!
The entire mecha shook, and the lighting in front of it went out instantly, engulfed by darkness, but at least it stabilized.
Zhuang Huan muttered a curse under his breath, "My glasses... never mind, it doesn't matter whether I wear them or not now. Are you all alright?"
Mu Yao's weak voice came through. "Survived. Where is Xie Ji?"
A small flame suddenly flickered at Xie Ji's fingertips, barely illuminating the scene before him. "I'm here."
Zhuang Huan squinted at him and said, "Friend, this fire of yours doesn't seem very scientific."
"You think this thing is scientifically accurate?" Xie Ji stood up, wiped the blood from his head, and raised his chin. "We think we've arrived."
Zhuang Huan and Mu Yao looked in the direction Xie Ji pointed.
In the midst of utter darkness, a giant tree emitting a white glow appeared.
The roots of the giant tree stretched into the endless darkness, making the whole tree seem to be rooted in the universe. There were no leaves on the tree, and under the withered branches were fruits that looked like human brains.
Zhuang Huan pulled out a new pair of glasses from somewhere, put them on, and stared blankly at the tree.
Monsters are rare here, almost non-existent. The brain-shaped thing on that ancient tree wobbled and fell down, becoming the monster they encountered outside.
"No wonder Ji Shi said this is the place where everything ends," Zhuang Huan murmured. "Those monsters, were they all born from this big tree? Does that mean that as long as we can destroy this strange tree, the number of those monsters will stop?"
After he finished speaking, he turned to look at Xie Ji and Mu Yao, only to find that the two of them had already put on their flight suits, kicked open the deformed cabin door, and walked out.
"Can you sense him? Where is Ji Shi?" Mu Yao asked as they walked. "This place is so big, how are we supposed to find him?"
Xie Ji clenched his fist, and Ji Shi's faint heartbeat rang in his ears.
"Ahead, behind the tree," Xie Ji said. "The mech is damaged like this, how are we going to get back?"
Mu Yao didn't answer the question, "Let's find the person first."
The giant tree was enormous, and the adult monsters seemed afraid to approach it, only hovering high in the sky. Xie Ji and Mu Yao walked unsteadily for a long time before finally reaching the back of the white giant tree, where they found Ji Shi Ji Shi alive and wrapped in a safety pod, in a tree hollow.
Xie Ji walked over and opened the safety chamber. The green repair fluid inside gradually faded, revealing Ji Shi's face.
"Thank goodness." Mu Yao breathed a sigh of relief, "Thankfully, it wasn't a waste of time. This safety pod saved his life and put him into hibernation."
Xie Ji sat exhausted beside the safety pod. "No wonder I haven't heard this kid speak for so many days. If it weren't for that faint heartbeat, I would have thought..."
After the repair fluid was completely removed, the wires connecting Ji Shi to the safety chamber came loose, and Ji Shi slowly opened his eyes.
A mask was pulled down over his head, Mu Yao whispered, "You brat."
Ji Shi blinked, opened his mouth to speak, but found that he could only make "ah ah" sounds.
Having not spoken for so long, he momentarily forgot how to make a sound.
Zhuang Huan got down and stood in front of the big tree, seemingly studying something. Xie Ji and Mu Yao didn't understand, so they could only take Ji Shi back to the mecha's inner cabin to rest.
The mecha was severely damaged, Mu Yao took a repair kit and went out to repair it.
Ji Shi rested for quite a while before he could speak normally again, and he was deeply moved when he saw Xie Ji.
"Are you stupid? It's so dangerous, what are you doing here?" Ji Shi, her eyes red, covered her eyes and whispered, "Everyone is dead, how dare you come? Lu Xunji is a good-for-nothing, why didn't he stop you?"
Xie Ji patted his head and said nothing else, only two words.
Don't be afraid.
Ji Shi gritted his teeth.
How could he not be afraid? He was only twenty-one years old this year. He had witnessed so many people die before his eyes, watched Shen Ting's courageous act of protecting him, seen monsters filling the sky, and witnessed indescribable things far beyond his comprehension.
He was terrified, but before falling into a deep sleep, he was still busy telling Xie Ji everything he had experienced, not hoping that Xie Ji would come to save him, but hoping that the information he provided could help the empire survive this catastrophe.
For the first time, the once arrogant and unruly Ji Shi master Ji Shi understood the immense price that came with "surviving."
"You rest for a bit, I'll go check on Zhuang Huan outside," Xie Ji said. "Once Mu Yao has repaired the mecha, we'll take you home."
"Go home." Ji Shi gave a bitter smile. "She can never go home."
Xie Ji knew who Ji Shi was referring to, but things had already come to this point, and now was not the time for grief.
Xie Ji got up and walked out.
Zhuang Huan remained standing in front of the large tree. Xie Ji walked over and asked, "Have you thought of a solution?"
Do you know Norse mythology?
Xie Ji stroked his chin. " Chang'e?"
"..." Zhuang Huan glanced at him. "In Norse mythology, there is also a giant tree like this, called the Tree of Life. Odin, the king of Norse mythology, once sacrificed himself on this tree to gain wisdom."
Xie Ji: "Oh."
" The World Tree in Norse mythology reflects the complexity, interconnectedness, and impermanence of the universe, and is a core element of Norse mythology."
Xie Ji: "And then?"
"Before coming here, I kept thinking about how to destroy this tree, but now it seems that this tree cannot be destroyed..." Zhuang Huan said calmly, "Its appearance means the end of the entire world. This is a battle that cannot be lost, because what needs to eliminate us is not alien monsters, but the world itself."
Xie Ji paused for a moment, then said, "There's always a way."
Zhuang Huan fell silent again, saying nothing. Xie Ji stood beside him, gazing up at the strange giant tree.
The scent of this tree...
Suddenly, Little Black, who had been dormant for a long time, emerged from his sleeve, coiled around his arm, and flicked its tongue at the big tree. "This thing feels familiar to me, I'll go up and take a look."
After saying that, he flicked his tail and swam up the tree trunk.
Before Xie Ji could call out to Little Black, he heard Ji Shi's shout from not far away.
Zhuang Huan stared silently at the tree. Xie Ji could only rush back, bursting into the cabin to ask, "What happened?"
" Mu Yao!" Ji Shi's panicked voice came through the phone. " Mu Yao is injured!"
Xie Ji's fingertips lit up with fire, and only then could he see the scene inside the cabin. Ji Shi was half-squatting on the ground, with his hand on Mu Yao's lower back. Mu Yao was sitting in his seat, his head slightly lowered.
"How did you get hurt?" Xie Ji quickly squatted down to examine you. "Let me see."
"No, no!" Ji Shi's voice trembled. "The bleeding won't stop! Xie Ji, what do we do? The bleeding won't stop!"
By the dim light of the fire, Xie Ji suddenly saw the wound clearly.
A shard almost half the length of a forearm was embedded in Mu Yao's lower back, and blood almost stained his military trousers black, dripping thickly.
"What... what happened?!" Xie Ji felt as if he had been punched in the head. "Why didn't you say so earlier?"
Such a deep wound could only have been inflicted when the gravity inside the mech went out of control... and he didn't even notice!
"I'm just worried," Mu Yao sighed, "Because the mechs are badly damaged, and we don't have much usable core energy left. What we have is barely enough for you to get out of here... The black hole's magnetic field is hard to escape, so you'll probably have to find another way. Hmm, actually, being a hero can be pretty cool sometimes, like right now."
He paused for a long time before he seemed to have the strength to say the next sentence.
"If it weren't for this, Xie Ji, you would never have looked at me with such worry."
Xie Ji suddenly looked up, gritting his teeth and cursing, "What's wrong with you?! Is there anything more important than life?"
"Yes, we will." Mu Yao tilted his head back, leaning gently against the cushion behind him, looking at the large tree outside that emitted a fluorescent glow. " Xie Ji, take Ji Shi back."
Xie Ji gripped Mu Yao's wrist. " Mu Yao, don't sleep, I have a way to save you, I really have a way to save you, don't sleep."
He frantically searched through the system space and finally found the ointment he had previously given to Lu Xunji.
However, the shard remained lodged in Mu Yao's lower back, and the ointment was unable to heal the wound.
But in this situation, if the bleeding isn't stopped immediately after removing the fragments, it's death.
Xie Ji gritted his teeth, a sob choking in his throat, his hands trembling as he poured box after box of ointment onto the wound.
"Heal! Save him! Why can't the bleeding be stopped!" Xie Ji roared, throwing away the empty medicine box in his hand and replacing it with a new one, but the wound that had just healed kept bursting open, and the bleeding just wouldn't stop.
For the first time, Xie Ji wanted to drag Little Black out and give him a good beating, and he wanted to slap himself a few times. Why were all these useless things around? Why were they always powerless when he was needed most?
Ji Shi pressed the cloth tightly against the wound, gasped, and said, "Are you stupid? Who told you to come? Mu Yao, if you die here, how am I supposed to live?!"
Mu Yao sighed, reaching out to grasp Ji Shi and Xie Ji's wrists, which were slightly slippery from the blood. "Save your energy. I've repaired fifty percent of the mecha. If we're lucky, maybe you can get out. Xie Ji so powerful, he definitely, definitely can..."
"It was actually quite worth it... Xie Ji, next time, could we be more than just friends?"
Xie Ji gritted his teeth and roared, "Shut up!"
Mu Yao smiled.
May my empire prosper forever, and may all that I love be fulfilled and perfect.
The sounds inside the cabin subsided until they completely disappeared.
Only one remains.
A lump formed in Ji Shi's throat.
The system's cold, mechanical sound.
[System notification: Target [ Mu Yao ]'s favorability towards you has decreased by 100, currently at 0. Congratulations, host.]