An Ancient Star Desert, desolate planet.
The moon hung in the sky with a bluish-green light. The cracked black earth remained silent for ages, barren of any vegetation, devoid of any vibrant greenery. Occasionally, fragments of broken buildings could be seen leaning against the ground, their exposed parts bearing mottled traces of wind erosion. Exquisite carvings had become blurred and indistinct. There were also shattered statues of people planted in the ground, some with only half a head remaining, others with only half a body.
This area resembles the ruins of a city buried by time.
A small spaceship hovered one meter above the ground, emitting a pale blue field covering tens of kilometers, providing long-range energy transfer and life support functions. The spaceship's exterior was narrow at the front and wide at the back, with a triangular streamlined shape, alternating between silver and bright gold. The outer armor was also engraved with the emblems of the Super Sanctuary, the Black Star Army, and the Floating Dragon Island. This was a specially made, high-tech spaceship that the Legion's Logistics Department had not yet mass-produced. It was equipped with various cutting-edge technologies, capable of breaking through the fifth warp speed limit to reach level 17.7, and was very expensive to build.
At this very moment, about 500 meters below the spaceship's life support area, two figures are slowly trekking through an underground labyrinthine ruin.
"This is the ruins of the capital of the Fifth Teslande Dynasty, the last vestiges of the Teslande People. Their civilization perished at the end of the Exploration Era, and it was only after scavengers unearthed some ancient artifacts that the ruins of this civilization saw the light of day again. They were truly unlucky; they never imagined that their home planet, on which they depended for survival, was once the resting place of Stars behemoths. The awakening of these ancient beasts brought annihilation to their civilization..."
Harrison stroked the faded reliefs on the underground palace wall as he spoke eloquently, while Jenny, holding her child, listened with great interest, her eyes sparkling with delight.
Jenny had already given birth and recuperated in Dragon Calm for several months. Harrison's adventurous spirit grew stronger, and Jenny, equally restless, joined forces. They used their connections to obtain a cutting-edge spaceship from the Legion's Logistics Department free of charge, and began to travel and explore everywhere.
Because they were traveling with a child, it wasn't suitable to go to overly dangerous places. So Harrison decided to take Jenny on an archaeological trip. To prepare, he joined the Space-Time Research Society, read extensively on lost civilizations, and resolved to become a "good tour guide."
All three were wearing the Legion's new generation of interstellar exploration mechs, capable of withstanding various extreme environments. The child's mech was a specially made model, equipped with features such as mental stabilization, sleep aids, and automatic diaper changing...
Harrison stopped in front of a row of broken statues, pointed, and laughed:
"This is the underground palace that the last King of Tersland built for the kings during his youth. To most people, it's believed he did it to commemorate the kings, but according to some historical records, he actually built this palace to conceal a natural passage deep underground, where a juvenile ancient beast lived. He wanted to secretly tame it and use this extraordinary power to break the Regent's control over his power... Sounds boring, right? Just another tedious court politics struggle, but you'd never guess what happened next."
"Did he accidentally awaken more ancient beasts, leading to the destruction of civilization?" Jenny wondered.
"Haha, you guessed wrong. He awakened this ancient beast, but fell in love with it. Due to the beast's special genes, the closer the last King of Tesland became to the beast, the more his bloodline would gradually mutate. In the end, he transformed into the new ancient beast at the court assembly and personally led the beast to destroy the royal city..."
Is this a love that transcends species? Or a spiritual suggestion from an ancient beast?
Jenny's eyes widened. Although interspecies romances are common, the idea was still quite shocking at first glance.
"That's unclear; only the parties involved know," Harrison shook his head.
"And what happened next?"
"Later, the slumbering ancient beasts awoke and vanished into the starry sky. The last King of Tesland disappeared without a trace. Some say he vanished into space with his beast horde, while others say he remained on the ruins of his home planet with his mate, forever roaming freely across this desolate land..."
"That sounds kind of romantic," Jenny said, still wanting more.
"Haha, maybe we can even find their remains here. That's what we've been working on this time, isn't it?"
Harrison laughed.
The two chatted casually as they ventured deeper into the underground palace. Harrison did most of the talking while Jenny listened. Before long, they finally arrived at the end of the underground palace, where there was a passage blocked by rubble.
Harrison casually smashed the obstacle with a punch, revealing a broken staircase sloping downwards. He led Jenny inside, and after walking for a long time, they finally reached the end. There, they found a cave-like space with the skeletons of two beasts embracing each other, as if they had died in each other's arms.
"Could this be the last King of Tersland and his partner?" Jenny wondered.
"I think... it seems they've decided to stay here and keep each other company, to sleep together forever."
Harrison's eyes lit up as he filmed a series of videos, then picked up a few bones and put them away, intending to take them back for research.
But just then, the ground suddenly shook, and the two felt the cave tremble. The vibration gradually increased, and soon the earth shook violently.
Rumble rumble--
The sounds of the earth's veins pulsating could be faintly heard, growing louder and louder, like the earth roaring, deafeningly loud.
Is a landslide imminent?
Harrison tensed up and immediately Luffy they came with Jenny at an extremely fast speed.
But halfway there, the entire underground palace collapsed with a roar.
Rumble rumble--
Countless stones and rocks fell, filling all the gaps.
From above, the ground collapsed instantly, turning into a huge crater.
But at that moment, a force field with a faint green glow suddenly descended from the starry sky, tearing apart the ground and shoveling away the soil and rocks.
Pulled by the force field, a perfectly round ball of earth burst from the ground, flew a distance in mid-air, and finally landed next to the spaceship.
The earthen ball trembled, and the dirt and rock fragments clinging to it fell away, revealing a perfectly round blue shield. Harrison and his two companions sensed the impact and automatically deployed their shields. This minor incident posed no threat to them, and all three remained unharmed.
At this moment, Ames, dressed in a black dress, descended from the sky and floated in front of the three of them. Her brows furrowed with helplessness, and she said with dissatisfaction:
"How could you be so careless? I saw you buried alive as soon as I arrived. If you have a child with you, don't go to such dangerous places."
"Ahem, just a surprise."
Harrison felt embarrassed. Although they wouldn't be injured in the landslide, it would still take some time to climb out, and he was quite ashamed that Ames had seen them.
Jenny, standing to the side, didn't react much. She had been running around with Harrison for over a year and had been buried alive with him seven or eight times. Since she wouldn't get hurt anyway, she was used to it.
Possessing extraordinary strength, her definition of danger must also be different from ordinary people. Jenny wasn't afraid to take a small risk with her child, and asked curiously, "Sister, how did you find us?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Phillip suddenly appeared, sat on Ames's shoulders, and gave her a thumbs up.
"Of course it's all thanks to me, buzz! I can locate every single spaceship that the legion manufactures!"
"Okay, I almost forgot that Black Star gave you permission to access the Legion's AI... So why did you contact us personally? Couldn't you have just said it over the radio? Why are you interrupting our time together?"
Jenny pouted.
Ames turned to look at the sleeping child in Jenny's arms, a gentle smile on her face. "I missed my nephew. Can't I come see him? Come on, let me play with the child."
"Don't even think about it! Don't you know how heavy your hands are? Every time I give it to you, you don't cherish it at all. You don't care if it's not your child, do you?"
Jenny immediately objected firmly, turning to the side to protect the child in her arms.
However, Ames ignored all objections and manipulated the force field to snatch the child from her arms. Then, she activated her mecha, pinched the baby's chubby cheeks with her fingers, and woke the child up, making it cry loudly.
"Hey! Keep your hands off me!" Jenny grabbed Ames's arm tightly, her face full of resentment, and turned to Harrison, shouting, "What are you still standing there for? Come and help!"
Harrison stood to the side, a wry smile on his face.
The sisters were just playfully bickering; how could he dare to step in and take their side?
"What do you know? I'm using my strength to clear his blockages and build a strong physical foundation for him."
Ames ignored Jenny and kept rubbing the baby's face, unable to put it down. However, although she controlled her strength, she had no parenting knowledge and still made the baby cry incessantly.
Jenny, unable to overcome Ames's strength, stood panting beside her and had no choice but to join in to soothe the child. Finally, she managed to calm the baby down before saying helplessly:
"Don't you dislike children? Why do you keep bothering me?"
Just because I didn't like it before doesn't mean I don't like it now.
Without turning her head, Ames continued to amuse the child, finally managing to make him giggle.
Jenny retorted irritably, "If you like it, then have your own child. Why do you always play with my kids?"
"Why bother with all that effort? Don't you have it ready-made here?" Ames blinked.
Jenny's lips twitched; sometimes she really couldn't stand Ames's capricious and willful style.
She was speechless for a moment, then suddenly asked curiously:
"Speaking of which, have you made up your mind about whether you want to have children with Black Star? He's brought it up more than once, but you haven't responded to him."
"... I haven't decided yet, I'll think about it some more." Ames hesitated.
"My dear sister, how long have you been thinking about this?" Jenny said speechlessly, "Although you have long lifespans, you still need to come to a conclusion. It's only because Black Star spoils you that you're like this; otherwise, anyone else at this age would probably have already established their own clan."
Hearing this, Ames glanced at her sideways and clicked her tongue in amazement. "Weren't you always unhappy about me accepting Black Star? Why are you now urging me to have children with him?"
Jenny pursed her lips and remained silent.
She was indeed unhappy about Han Xiao being with Ames before, but now that she has a child, she can't wait for Han Xiao to torment Ames so much that she can't get out of bed and give birth quickly, so that she and her child won't be bothered by Ames.
Buzz--
Just then, the space rippled slightly, and Han Xiao stepped out of the void, teleporting there.
"Huh? What brings you here?" Ames looked over, somewhat surprised.
"You used Phillip's access privileges, of course I'd receive the message." Han Xiao shrugged.
"Then what are you doing here?" Ames narrowed her eyes, her tone enigmatic. She still remembered what happened last time and harbored some resentment.
"I've finished my business for now, so I came to keep you company," Han Xiao said with a smile.
"Do I need you to be with me now?" Ames raised Jenny's child in her arms and gave a soft hum.
Han Xiao glanced down at the child, then saw Jenny wink at him. He immediately strode forward, grabbed the child's clothes, placed him in Jenny's arms, and said with a smile, "You like children so much now, let's have one too."
"You're here again?" Ames's eyes darted around. "Didn't I already reject you?"
Han Xiao, seemingly oblivious to everyone else, put his arm around Ames's waist and chuckled, "No matter how many times you refuse, I'll make you ask that many times until you agree."
"Hmph, shameless... I thought someone as important as you wouldn't care much about having descendants, but I didn't expect you to be just as vulgar as I am."
Ames did not break free from Han Xiao's embrace; instead, she braced her hands against Han Xiao chest and leaned back slightly to prevent him from getting closer.
Han Xiao hesitated for a few seconds before speaking in a low voice, from the bottom of his heart. "The world is ever-changing. No matter who we are, we all need something to anchor our existence, whether it's an ideal, a belief, or an emotion... I have made my choice to usher in a new era, to make us unique beings, with no more repeating versions. So I don't know what the future holds. I just hope that I have one more thing to hold onto in this world, something that will ensure I never forget you."
"Oh, that's rare, you actually know how to coax me... Don't you remember me well enough by now?"
"Wouldn't it be better to go deeper?"
"Are you flirting with me?"
"Otherwise, what do you think my hands are doing?"
The two had been intimate countless times and were not shy at all. Their exchanges of glances and words became increasingly explicit.
Harrison and Jenny, sensing the danger, had already quietly boarded the spaceship, quickly started the engines, and propelled it into the air to escape.
Soon, the spaceship departed from outer space, and the planets receded further and further from view.
But before Harrison could catch his breath, the planet behind him suddenly trembled violently, its surface shattering and creating a massive crater visible even from outer space. The shockwave swept outwards, sending countless grains of sand and gravel flying, as if it had been struck by an unbearable impact.
Immediately afterwards, the planet seemed to suffer a series of invisible blows. The surface sank in patches, the entire crust shattered like an eggshell, all the matter collapsed towards the center, the surface became riddled with holes, and fiery red molten flow gushed out.
"Those two scoundrels, they act like we don't exist..."
Jenny was both angry and excited, with a kind of excitement that seemed to thrive on chaos. Her face was flushed as she mentally cheered them on, wishing they could push themselves even harder.
The next moment, a blinding burst of light erupted, and the planet shattered instantly!
Boom!
A violent surge of energy spread out, catching up with the spaceship's tail, blasting out its protective shields, and sending the spaceship flying, spinning through space.
After a while, the spaceship stabilized itself.
Harrison wiped away a cold sweat, looked back at the apocalyptic scene of the exploding planet, swallowed hard, and had a very complicated expression.
"Luckily we ran fast enough... What a pity about these ruins..."