When exactly did it happen?
Clearly there was such a great distance—how did this person in front of them appear before them in just an instant?
As a Crown Clan member of the mythic immortal race, they were seemingly born to fight. Even the less combative individuals in their clan could, once grown, easily handle a whole beast horde.
Not only was their mental strength formidable, but their physique was even more powerful.
And even though Feeney had clearly not used mental power, that sudden, imminent sense of oppression still terrified this squad in an instant.
“Yu Ye!”
The team captain Xi Yi shouted in the comm channel.
“Don’t move.”
“Wait, this is too close to our territory, we’re just defending, we’re not really hostile—”
Xi Yi tried to negotiate with Feeney—because to his horror, he saw Feeney, standing atop Yu Ye’s mecha, already looking for the cockpit entrance, as if to tear it open and drag Yu Ye out.
“Third Uncle.”
Another light voice sounded, clear as a mountain spring, the tone a bit soft and sticky, sounding like a gentle young boy.
The voice was very pleasant, but—it was also very close, coming from behind them. At that instant, all the squad members in the mechas went wide-eyed in horror, cold sweat breaking out, none daring to turn their heads to look at the one approaching.
“No need to be this nervous. Besides, I’m about to have my coming of age ceremony—I’m not an infant anymore, right?”
Zao Zao has grown up!
Feeney paused his movement, glancing at Chu Zao who had lightly landed on a high spot, candy bag in hand, with Chao Huangmu shielding him as he walked over.
Feeney couldn’t help but mutter—grown up?
Even if you aged another hundred years, you’d still be a baby to us.
There had been a gap of far too long since the Crown Clan had a youngling, and no matter how they acted on the outside, deep down, every last one of them cherished the little one greatly.
Especially Amos, who probably wished this little Crown would stay five or six forever, just the right size to carry around—his second brother would happily spoil him for a lifetime.
All the more so—
The little Crown spoke, still a bit dusty, small curls atop his head bobbing in the wind, but his honey-colored eyes were bright. He lowered his lashes, and in the quiet that had fallen, there was a snap as he tore open a candy wrapper.
He still loved candy so much!
In truth, Chu Zao knew very well, especially after all these years of Hel’s teaching, not just about the Crown Clan, but about the Holy Cas Empire. He generally understood how he should govern, it just hadn’t happened yet.
Feeney could work wonders at times, but as someone temperamental and quick to resort to violence, he was clearly unsuited to negotiation.
As for Chao Huangmu—
Chu Zao glanced at Chao Huangmu walking behind him.
Chao Huangmu looked utterly serious, gaze and attention fixed on Chu Zao’s pocket—where the small Crown had just tucked away his “diary.”
Chao Huangmu clearly cared a lot, and now desperately wanted the lines belonging to him to be crossed out from the diary.
Evidently, it still fell to Zao Zao.
Chu Zao coughed lightly, raised his head, and put on a friendly smile. His eyes glimmered faintly.
Having grown ever more adept at guiding others’ emotions, the little Crown quietly started to lead these obviously frightened locals.
“No need to be nervous—”
Their anxiety gradually abated at his words.
The squad captain finally turned, looking at the two standing behind him.
Barely a minute had passed—using a mecha might have taken longer—but here they were, three in all, in less than a minute.
“We came here by accident, we mean no harm to your territory.”
The little Crown smiled, warm and polite.
Some of the squad relaxed a little, but still couldn’t help glancing at Yu Ye’s mecha, missing an arm.
Chu Zao clearly noticed this too. He turned, blinked twice, then turned back, speaking innocently.
“Of course, it wasn’t on purpose to break your weapon. Back home, pointing weapons means declaring war. And, well, your mechas are too fragile.”
Can you really blame Third Uncle for that?
The little Crown negotiated politely, looking harmless—heart-stoppingly so.
“Could you all step out of your mechas? It’s really hard to talk through these things.”
Besides—were these really mechas?
Chu Zao eyed them with a bit of wonder. In Holy Cas, only toys were made so variegated; on the battlefield, mechas were rarely used.
But yes, they were too fragile. Who knew how they’d fare against a beast.
“You—”
Yu Ye finally came to himself, his voice shaking, agitated as though wanting to say more.
“Yu Ye! Calm down.”
The captain swiftly cut in, telling Yu Ye not to do anything rash—Yu Ye was the youngest in their squad, once having suffered, pursued by a beast outside the hunting zone, his parents fatally injured, leaving only him and his younger brother.
After so many generations, with people from other countries and territories having long forgotten the name Holy Cas, a thousand years had turned them into people who felt little of the old homesickness.
Under survival’s heavy pressure, many, like Yu Ye, had to grow tough bit by bit.
But the beasts rarely gave them that kind of time.
Xi Yi watched Yu Ye, making sure he had his emotions in check before giving the order.
“Everyone out of the mechas. Yu Ye, stay inside, we’ll fix your mechanical arm later. Don’t speak recklessly.”
“Captain, is it safe for us to go out?”
“We don’t even know who these three are—”
“Open the hatches.”
Xi Yi didn’t answer. He opened his mecha’s hatch first and leaped out.
Xi Yi knew full well—with Feeney’s neat and clean moves earlier, staying inside would only have added a moment for him to open the hatch from outside, hardly an obstacle.
He hadn’t even seen Feeney use any weapon—he couldn’t have used only his hands, surely?
Unimaginable physical strength, Xi Yi thought, must have been because they were too fast, hiding their weapons after.
Chu Zao looked up—there were already five or six young men and women in their late teens or twenties standing beside him.
That was more like it—
Chu Zao observed them. The Crown Clan rarely cared about things not related to themselves, but this place was just too strange.
He smiled again.
The little Crown was still a bit dusty, but his face was now clean, features soft, and among the three he was the slimmest, giving an oddly comforting presence.
“We were brought here by spatial forces. Can you tell us where this is?”
“This is Uninhabitable Star No. 67. We’re a squad from the Holy Sanctuary, here for survival training.”
“You said you were brought here by a spatial anomaly—?”
Chu Zao blinked.
“Is that a problem?”
Feeney, now carelessly standing behind Chu Zao, also knew he wasn’t good at negotiating. With the kid needing to grow step by step, he matter-of-factly left the talking to Chu Zao.
“No… it’s just rare, spatial turbulence like that—and—”
Getting sucked in is nearly always a one-way trip. If by chance you return safely, you’re almost certain to have been crushed to pulp by the forces inside.
“A survival competition?”
Feeney, standing behind his youngling, crimson eyes full of doubt, stared at the child.
“What’s that?”
Is Third Uncle asking me? Zao Zao isn’t omniscient. How should Zao Zao know? Is it some concept the Crown Clan don’t understand?
The little Crown, sensing his uncle’s gaze, looked back at him, silent for a moment, then turned to Chao Huangmu.
—What is that?
Chao Huangmu, who’d offered countless candies and still waited for things to be crossed out in his diary: …
Wait a minute—if I say I don’t know, will Zao Zao mark me down again???
Chao Huangmu pondered for ages, still not understanding, so he looked up at the group: “What is a survival competition?”
“Wait, where did you all come from? How can you not know what the survival competition is?”
“Doesn’t your race send people to compete every year? If not, don’t you get sent straight to the beast hunting zone?”
“Is it because you have high status in your clan, so you’re protected from all this—huh, but that can’t be. Even the Gerson Empire’s little princess knows about the competition.”
The little Crown listened—
From their words, Zao Zao quickly figured some things out.
It seemed that beasts and the humans here had reached a balance, with the survival competition as a foundation. This must be the other side of the pollution barrier; after a thousand years, their star sector had evolved very differently, yet there were still many people and complex powers and relationships.
He didn’t really think this place posed any danger to him.
But Chu Zao remembered what Teacher had said—always be careful. If you aren’t, you might fall into the Hymn Organization’s trap, and his grandmother had always nagged them—after dealing with a beast, finish the job thoroughly.
They all basically meant the same thing.
So, with just the three of them here, and no way to contact Dad, Little Chu Zao finally decided not to draw too much attention, and wait until he could reach the Holy Cas Empire.
Even trouble-loving Feeney, leading the youngling truly solo for the first time, strangely felt the same.
Realizing their guests were utterly mystified,
And having Chu Zao calming them down with emotional guidance, even though they’d just lost Yu Ye’s mechanical arm, Xi Yi and the rest felt these three were quite approachable.
They soon explained the whole thing—the survival competition and all.
By the time Xi Yi was parched, drinking water and relaxed enough to let the vice-captain Mu Kang take a couple of people to reinstall Yu Ye’s mechanical arm, he suddenly realized—looking at the clear, harmless eyes of Chu Zao, who happened to be thinking with his head down—the cold sweat broke out once more.
What had they just been saying? What were they doing?
How had they so carelessly revealed everything, even the status of the Holy Sanctuary, and the fact that two teams had already lost contact in this preliminary round?
Xi Yi instinctively looked at the others, who were also relaxed as they worked on the mechanical arm. He tried to say something,
But before he could speak,
The boy with his head down seemed to see right through his mind, even glancing into the distance, before asking,
“Is there anything else you haven’t told?”
“No, it’s not—”
Xi Yi abruptly swallowed back what he was about to say.
His hand, hidden at his side, shook lightly—a primal fear at sensing danger he couldn’t resist.
Not to mention that brute who tore open a mecha—what about that supposedly sixteen- or seventeen-year-old boy, what was his deal?
“I just wanted to say, your mechas are really too fragile, and look nothing like ours.”
Xi Yi forcibly shifted the topic.
“Oh, mechas.”
Chu Zao looked up, glancing at their mechas.
Chao Huangmu had no interest in the mechas, merely sweeping an eye over them.
“They are quite fragile,” Chu Zao agreed.
“Casualties are awful—”
For them, pursuing ultimate single-soldier mecha potential, the casualty rate was high—especially with the beast threat.
As for the Crown Clan, their mental and physical strength made mechas unnecessary, so even their citizens didn’t need them. Their field was in starships—large fleets produced in batches under stable conditions, able to deal devastating blows to beasts, with much lower losses.
Chu Zao was still caught in that line of thought, momentarily not recovering.
Chao Huangmu, though, realized what Little Chu Zao meant.
This was a total disconnect in worldview.
To people of the Holy Sanctuary, Holy Cas’ mechas were like children’s toys, while to the Crown Clan, all mechas were like toys.
Don’t ask, just—they’re all too fragile, don’t fit national circumstances.
“So is this your training ground?”
Chu Zao asked again.
“There are beasts here too? In that direction?”
Chu Zao pointed toward where they’d heard the branch monster’s roar earlier.
He saw Xi Yi’s face suddenly change.
“Over there are the powerful vine beasts. Even if you’re strong, don’t mess with them lightly. Beasts fight among themselves, but they reproduce too quickly for that to matter. Over there the vine beast army isn’t complete with no real commander yet, and they often get beaten up, sometimes a few get chased here by other beasts and form a new force. They’re remnants, but not easy to deal with. The beasts on this planet are lower-level ones from other places.”
“…Oh.”
Vine beasts?
But that roar sounded like the branch monster.
Chu Zao thought—remnants driven here by others?
He had a strange feeling.
Could it be that those remnants had something to do with when they recently wiped out a bunch of branch monsters?
“Captain, isn’t that a bit much detail?”
Yu Ye, staying quietly in his mecha, finally couldn’t hold back.
He’d listened for ages, as his teammates blurted out everything, even giving kindly advice to these three oddballs not to provoke the vine beasts—
You tell them where the vine beasts are—what if they actually use that to lure them into our settlements?
Even if the beasts had no self-awareness, they couldn’t really control them.
Of course, Yu Ye knew deep down—if these three wanted to attack the Holy Sanctuary, even all current residents together couldn’t stop them.
Yu Ye’s mechanical arm had been fixed.
He muttered, “There are too few people out here who even know about us.”
Especially those with enough ability to survive the competition unscathed—they could never truly cooperate with or empathize with them. Centuries of experience had taught everyone in the Holy Sanctuary that.
Don’t indulge in such fantasies.
“So—”
Yu Ye, knowing he was rash, still spoke.
“Could you leave here soon? You’re a threat to our territory. As for the beasts, we’ll fight them ourselves. Even if you can’t understand, it doesn’t matter—”
Like those led by the Gerson Empire, trying all sorts of ways to “make peace” with the beasts.
Choosing to be lambs to slaughter, waiting to be served up, every little move just pushing that day back a bit.
But here, as the survival competition entertainment consumes everyone, too few share their resolve. The occasional national alliance only dares to contact them secretly.
Their last two teams disappeared like that.
Damn it, really damn it—
At that thought, Yu Ye couldn’t help slamming his mecha’s control panel.
At that moment, a howl echoed from the sky.
Chu Zao, Feeney, and Chao Huangmu all recognized this sound very well—
Wasn’t this the branch monster from the barrier defense line?
The howling drew nearer.
“Vine beasts?!”
Xi Yi had wanted to say something to cut Yu Ye off, but was jolted by the sound, and leapt up.
“No way, they rarely come to this planet—it’s too close to our territory. Mu Kang, go warn HQ. The rest, block the vine beasts!”
Meanwhile, a battered vine beast who had just evolved a hint of consciousness, now armless, didn’t dare pause for a moment. Drawing on the pollution and using its spatial power, it ran crazily to what it thought was safety, even encountering a herd.
As it regained composure from the horror of the recent arrow storm,
Its strength was fading…
Flesh. It needed more flesh.
As for beast-designated hunting zones?
The vine beast dismissed those. It sniffed human scent, an oddly fragrant, appetizing smell, just like it’d detected near the barrier—those things that scared all the beasts.
But how could that be?
This vine beast, now a bit sentient, thought—how could they be here?
And besides, its speed was the fastest. Even the tasty-smelling ones from the other side couldn’t possibly get here first.
So the resting vine beast army turned and moved toward the scent of fresh flesh it had found.
Flesh—flesh—
In moments, they spotted the humans on that planet—
Not many, not nearly enough.
But no matter—
The vine beast watched the mechas charge toward it, trying to block them.
It was proud—fresh snacks weren’t so bad.
And so, after dispatching several vine beasts together, the Holy Sanctuary squad watched in confusion as the beast horde surged toward them—especially—
“That vine beast looks off?!”
“It’s nearly humanoid—it’s about to evolve?! We can’t handle this. Fall back, now, evacuate!”
The vine beast, triumphant, reached Yu Ye’s mecha at the front. What could just barely dispatch ordinary vine beasts was, to this evolving beast, just a can to pry open. Its arm, made of vines, wrapped around Yu Ye’s mecha, about to rip open the hatch and taste the flesh inside.
Yu Ye could no longer control the mecha, only drawing a small gun and knife from inside. He could hear his teammates shouting on the comm, then the screen went black—
He stared up at the hatch, weapon gripped tight, but in the end—glanced once at the direction all who lived in the Holy Sanctuary longed for.
Homeland… homeland…
So many had died dreaming of going home. Was he to follow?
Why, after all this time, did home still call so strongly? Is someone out there? Can they save us? Why… why, homeland…
The scale of this beast operation also drew the attention of nearby beast commanders.
“Should we intervene?”
“Who cares, that’s just the Gerson Empire’s tribute for us.”
“Yeah, I can’t stand their resistance. Livestreams are more fun anyway.”
“They can die, whatever. We’ll see.”
But neither beast commanders nor Yu Ye and the others expected what came next.
Time seemed to stop at that moment.
Yu Ye stared wide-eyed at the last view on the monitor—in that instant, as if his soul trembled in resonance—
That slim, dusty little boy—no one knew when he’d landed atop Yu Ye’s mecha. With one hand, he caught a vine beast’s tentacle; slender fingers didn’t seem to use force, yet the vine beast was instantly frozen. Feeney looked on from afar, applauding his youngling.
Beside Chu Zao, Chao Huangmu had lifted his energy gun, ready to fire—when he noticed the missing arm of the foe, he was stunned, then grinned: “Oh? You look familiar—”
What is surprise? Let me show you what surprise is.
The proud vine beast froze: …???
Wait—while it didn’t recognize Chu Zao, it vaguely remembered Chao Huangmu—was that right?
Chu Zao looked down, his clear eyes searching before settling on the peephole, seeming to sigh lightly.
“Never yield? You’re right.”
In that moment, a tear inexplicably slid from Yu Ye’s wide eyes, as if—they’d once heard those very words, or as if they’d waited for them… for a very, very long time.