It hurts! Every inch of her body was in pain!
It wasn't just physical; more importantly, there was an endless sense of loss and confusion in her spirit, as if her destiny and future had been torn apart. This indescribable emptiness seemed to coalesce into a bottomless abyss of despair. Immediately after, a crushing sorrow collapsed upon her like shattered stars, threatening to drown her very soul in this cosmic catastrophe.
Fortunately, she was not a delicate, ordinary girl. Though in pain, she could endure. Though sorrow threatened to strip her of her senses, it thankfully did not overwhelm her.
Thus, before the storm of sorrow could completely tear her apart and devour her, she gritted her teeth and stopped.
She knew that not only was she in intense pain, but her body also felt a severe tingling and itching. While uncomfortable, this was actually a very good sign in a way. At least it proved that her body was healing.
The Ten-Headed Demon Beast had escaped, and she still hadn't obtained the inheritance her father left her... But no matter what, she had managed to swallow a large section of its tentacle, and the nutrients within were at least enough to restore her body.
No matter what, I still have life, don't I? she told herself.
She felt her newly recovered limbs, experienced all the sensations of her body, and then slowly groped and climbed forward. In some places that were simply impassable, she simply opened her mouth and swallowed the rocks and dirt, literally “gnawing” her way through.
Her vision was completely gone now, but her hearing and perception, transmitted through the ground, still picked up a lot of information.
There were warships in the sky, and enemies outside... perhaps even multiple spiritual energy users.
This place is not suitable for a long stay! she thought, gritting her teeth and continuing forward.
Although she was crawling underground, her movements were quite fast and made almost no sound. Since she was the Bug Swarm, there was no reason for her underground stealth speed to be inferior to that of a lurker.
After a long while, she finally crawled out of Sero Ancient City. She knew she must have left the warship's bombing range and was now deep in the forest, and she let out a long sigh of relief.
She dug through the dirt and cautiously revealed a single feeler, like a submarine's periscope, carefully observing her surroundings. Once she confirmed there was no danger, she sprang out.
Indeed, there was no danger, because this was actually the nest of a wild Iron-Backed Dragon King. This Lumina's sky overlord was originally hiding in its cave, cautiously observing in secret—everything that happened today was beyond the comprehension of wild animals, and it probably thought its nest was the safest place, so it had been shrinking inside, not daring to move.
At this moment, this Phantom Beast, which dared to charge at armored airships, faced the “little girl” who suddenly appeared in front of it, only one-twentieth of its size. It let out a direct “wugah,” softly collapsed onto the ground, and couldn't even tremble, as if its soul had been directly shattered.
She walked over, tore open the giant beast's chest and abdomen, and greedily devoured the Iron-Backed Dragon King's internal organs, then its flesh and bones. As she ate, she didn't know if she thought of something sad, but tears suddenly streamed down her face. Yet, even as she cried, her mouth didn't stop for a moment, like a refugee little girl who had lost her home and family, wandered for three days, and finally encountered a full meal.
In just a minute or two, the “little girl” had completely swallowed the giant beast, which was dozens of times her size, leaving not even a single bone fragment.
This was truly unscientific, and even more unscientific was that despite having consumed so much food, her abdomen showed no discernible change.
She walked to the cave entrance, looked at the warship still hovering high in the sky, gritted her teeth, and her back, like heavy armor, twitched and twisted a few times, opening up gaps from which dragon wings emerged, carrying her entire body up into the high, suspended sky.
The girl gazed at the heavy clouds, biting her lip.
She was still in pain, as if every cell within her body was wailing, and the protozoa, even smaller than red blood cells, inside her were also trembling with stinging pain.
However, she endured everything, held her breath, and used the spiritual energy she had only just recovered a little to adjust her state, quickly entering stealth mode.
She spread her wings, soared from the ground with a barely audible whoosh, even quieter than a sparrow taking flight, and disappeared into the clouds.
The “girl” indeed had the ability to pass through the atmosphere with her physical body. Moreover, as an atypical creature, she naturally did not need to breathe air and could survive in outer space for extended periods.
However, merely crossing the atmosphere, such a “simple” task, exhausted her to the point of almost fainting.
By the time the “girl” finally drifted into outer space, she was so tired she didn't want to move at all. She quickly touched her forehead, felt the presence of the treasure, and then breathed a sigh of relief.
However, even a powerful treasure that could temporarily put her into a sub-light speed navigation state had limited energy. Now, it was in a semi-cooled state and would likely take at least one or two months to recover.
The “girl” used her spiritual energy to propel her body, trying to get closer to Lumina Planet—the light from the star could provide her with nutrients and allow the treasure on her forehead to be better nourished and recovered—while thinking about the current practical problems.
...Where should I go now?
Then, she saw flickering lights in the distant void and immediately realized they must be a fleet.
This star system is not suitable for a long stay! The “girl” made up her mind.
The safest place is in the adjacent Far Shore Nebula. That place is known as an impassable cosmic forbidden zone, a so-called no-man's-land. I can hide there for a while longer.
But how should I leave? He fell into deep thought again.
The “girl” could survive in the void with her physical body and could temporarily enter a sub-light speed cruising state, but a physical body cutting into a gravity well for superluminal jumps... that was a bit too much to ask of a human.
At least for now, she couldn't do that.
Otherwise, why would she need to hide her identity, disguise herself as a refugee, and hitch a ride on a smuggling ship?
She thought in place for nearly half an hour, which was the safest period she had experienced in a while. Anyway, as long as she remained motionless, no existing detectors could discover her.
Just then, she seemed to sense something and couldn't help but look down, seeing an almost imperceptible ripple that detached directly from Lumina Star's atmosphere and entered space.
The direction from which that thing left the atmosphere was almost identical to hers, meaning their current distance was very close. However, the other party should not have discovered her.
Soon, the unidentified flying object quickly dispersed the vague and murky ripples that enveloped it, finally revealing its true form: a spindle-shaped spacecraft.
The ship wasn't particularly large; it had an elegant, elongated spindle shape, with a total length of only thirty-four meters, a typical small passenger and cargo vessel. Its exterior was exceptionally smooth, like a polished mirror, even reflecting the light of the stars and the sun.
If it were any further away, with the “girl's” eyesight, she probably wouldn't even be able to see it.
The “girl” quickly realized, isn't this the best mode of transportation? She pressed her forehead, found that after the recent nourishment, the treasure had charged up some energy, and immediately twisted her waist, re-entering high-speed cruising mode, and flew towards the ship.
However, perhaps due to other considerations, she didn't rush into the ship to kill indiscriminately as she usually did. Instead, she carefully jumped onto the ship's back, pressing her entire body against the hull.
She quickly switched to mimicry mode, her body like melting wax, gradually merging with the entire hull, leaving no life fluctuations whatsoever.
The passengers inside the ship still hadn't noticed an uninvited guest outside their vessel. On one hand, once this “girl” entered a mimetic suspended animation state, she truly couldn't be detected by existing technological means or known mystical methods; on the other hand, the passengers were very busy right now.
Currently, there is one and a half passengers inside the ship: precisely, one normal and complete Minlanian, Ai Ru, and the other is the Flores Wanda, who only has one-third of his body remaining.
...That guy really set up a fleet here! Wanda, of course, also saw the distant fleet on the horizon, gritting his teeth.
“That’s why I told you, it took everything I had just to sneak onto Lumina Planet. If it weren’t for this ship having new technology specially provided by the organization, even sneaking in would be impossible,” Ai Ru replied casually, rapidly operating on the keyboard.
...But this is illogical!
“Where? Being played like a fiddle by someone less than half your age? Heheheh~~~” The Minlanian stretched out his voice, laughing, almost saying, “You really are a sore loser.”
Wanda snorted, saying nothing more.
“There’s also an automatic gene therapy pod on board; you can use it. After all, we’re colleagues, so I won’t charge you for this treatment,” the Minlanian comforted.
“…Even if you asked me, I wouldn’t have it! I’ve said it before, how could something grown by a machine compare to a naturally conceived limb?” Flores Wanda snorted coldly, then used his spiritual energy to push his broken torso onto a nearby hibernation bed and lay down. Less than a second after lying down, he immediately fell into a deep sleep. Immediately after, the necrotic wound on his torso seemed to writhe, and upon closer inspection, hundreds of thousands of tiny flesh buds actually grew directly from it.
The Minlanian glanced at the other party and couldn't help but shiver.
“What kind of natural is this?” Ai Ru spat, gritting his teeth, and returned to his intense work.
He didn't know how long the organization's new technology would keep his ship cloaked, but before that, he had to quickly calculate the parameters of the gravity well.
As mentioned before, the Far Shore Nebula is a large (almost) impassable forbidden zone. Because it is composed of a large number of giant stars, dwarf stars, variable stars, and so on that have entered their death stages, the stellar gravity is very unstable, and the state of the gravity well is also extremely unstable. Not only is the total mass that can be jumped in one go very limited, but the opening time is also unfixed.
All these unstable and unsafe factors are precisely one of the major reasons why the Far Shore Nebula can be regarded as a natural chasm in space.
The Minlanian originally thought he would need at least an hour to calculate the parameters, but before half an hour had passed, the jump engine had already automatically detected the presence of the gravity well.
But he couldn't be happy at all. The reason the jump engine could detect the gravity well wasn't because his calculations were completed early, but because ships were coming from the other side, and the spatial channel naturally opened.
From the direction of the Far Shore Nebula, several ships indeed jumped into the Lumina Star system.
This star system is already too lively! The Minlanian grabbed his smooth scalp in frustration.