The Sky Garden was merely a traveling flying ship, not designed for combat use. Even if it had offensive measures, they were mainly for guarding against external enemies—it could not withstand a madman like the Fifth Prince operating a mech from the inside.
Seeing that they could not hold out, after carrying out a final set of operations, Yan Qiongyu locked the control console, walked to Wang Luan’s side, and said, “I’m afraid we’ll have to withdraw first.”
Wang Luan: “Then withdraw. Retreat by airship?”
She thought of the small escape airships equipped inside the Sky Garden.
Yan Qiongyu said, “But right now there’s a problem. Outside the Sky Garden are all the Fifth Prince’s people. Even if we take an airship, we won’t be able to escape the encirclement.”
Wang Luan: “…………”
Wang Luan: “Although the situation is dire, you don’t look very anxious?”
On second thought, he really didn’t need to be that anxious. After all, the Fifth Prince only wanted to kill his romantic rival. There was no saying that when killing a romantic rival, he would also kill the person he wanted to pursue. So the only one in danger right now was herself.
What kind of karmic debt was this—she was just an ordinary person, had only undergone a brief period of training, and now she was being made to take her trash-tier aptitude and hard-clash with a top-tier genius. Did they think she was some point-house leveling-stream male protagonist?
Yan Qiongyu naturally saw at a glance what she was thinking. He bent down and said softly to her, “Don’t worry. Our Sky Garden will soon pass a spatial jump node. In a moment I’ll control the ship to enter the spatial jump. During that time, we’ll take a separate flying craft and jump to another star system, avoiding the Fifth Prince’s pursuit.”
Wang Luan was startled: “We?”
Yan Qiongyu: “We. The Fifth Prince came for us. Only we are the most dangerous.”
Of course Wang Luan didn’t think he was trying to gather the two of them to draw away the Fifth Prince’s aggro so the others could be temporarily safe, nor did she think he was worried about her and wanted to live and die together with her… so what was he trying to do?
The situation was urgent, and it wasn’t suitable to delve deeply into this question. Wang Luan almost immediately agreed to follow Yan Qiongyu’s plan.
The two hurried toward the lowest-level ship bay. On the way, Wang Luan suddenly remembered something and asked, “Did your gene comparison analysis result come out yet?”
She still had the mood to care about this at such a time. Yan Qiongyu paused, then smiled. “It did.”
Wang Luan gave an oh and didn’t ask further, as if she had just suddenly thought to mention it. She obediently followed Yan Qiongyu into the two-seater flying craft.
Instead, Yan Qiongyu studied her for a moment, then gently reassured her, “Miss Wang Luan, don’t worry. Once we avoid the Fifth Prince, we’ll soon be able to contact people to protect us.”
Wang Luan gave another oh. She couldn’t manage that much right now; she only felt her arm hurting more and more, hurting so much she just wanted to curse.
Yan Qiongyu used the little gadget he had previously left in the control console to monitor the situation. He saw that the Fifth Prince had already broken into the control room, and that the Sky Garden was about to approach the spatial jump node.
Before leaving, he had locked the control console, so whether the Fifth Prince destroyed the console or the external fleet of flying ships tried to stop the Sky Garden from heading toward the spatial jump node, it would all be useless—unless they dared to directly blow up the entire Sky Garden.
During the countdown to entering the spatial jump, Wang Luan saw on the screen the Fifth Prince’s mech wreaking havoc, and felt unable to understand it. “Are alphas all this irritable? At the drop of a hat they want to fight and kill.”
People of a civilized society really weren’t used to this.
Yan Qiongyu adjusted the landing coordinates of the flying craft and, in a tone like reciting from a textbook, said, “The hormones secreted in alpha bodies make them more aggressive. High-level alphas who don’t have a suitable omega to provide mental soothing will gradually become irritable. If, due to genetic issues or stimulation, their mental power collapses and their pheromones become disordered, they are even more likely to develop berserk syndrome, leading to impulsiveness, irritability, strong aggressiveness, and an easy loss of reason, entering a frenzied state.”
“The Fifth Prince developed berserk syndrome a few years ago. It seems his condition is getting more and more severe.”
Wang Luan understood. So he was a mental patient—no wonder he was so crazy.
In the span of a few sentences, half of the Sky Garden had already entered the constructed spatial jump node.
“He’s here,” Wang Luan reminded.
Yan Qiongyu also saw the Fifth Prince’s mech right above the flight bay, and his hand activated the flying craft.
The bottom of the Sky Garden opened wide. One flying craft after another was ejected under Yan Qiongyu’s control, and the craft carrying Wang Luan and the two of them was mixed in among them, falling into the twisted vortex.
The flying craft jolted violently. Wang Luan felt as if she had been thrown into a drum washing machine. Yan Qiongyu, who had looked calm just moments ago, was also shaken by the sudden turbulence until his brows were tightly furrowed.
Wang Luan saw him turn his face toward her, his Adam’s apple rolling as if he wanted to vomit. Without thinking, she reached out and covered his mouth.
No way—if he vomited now, he would definitely throw up all over her.
Yan Qiongyu: “…………” He leaned back a little, unable to break free from Wang Luan’s firm hand.
He really did not want to vomit.
Forget it. Yan Qiongyu did not bother to tangle with her over such a trivial matter.
He was calculating whether the flying craft’s fuel would be enough for them to reach their destination.
His destination was an artificial asteroid near the Imperial Capital star sector. It was the private planet of Lu Xin, Prince Qingjiangxi, the Emperor’s younger brother by birth.
It was said that this flirtatious prince had transformed the planet into a playground exclusively for himself, indulging recklessly within it, unwilling even to stay on the Imperial Capital Star.
He was taking Wang Luan to that prince’s territory to seek help because of the bloodline identification report he had just received.
With the Fifth Prince causing trouble at just the right time, he could conveniently go along with it and find an opportunity to meet Lu Xin, Prince Qingjiangxi, who was very likely his biological father. For this reason, he had even deliberately shaken off the other members of the Wang family. If those Wang family stewards and attendants were present, they would certainly be more inclined to flee toward the Imperial Capital Star—and that would not do.
With Wang Luan, the Wang family heir, present, the Prince Qingjiangxi, who had a good relationship with the Wang family, would definitely provide them temporary shelter. During the time they waited for the Wang family to come looking for them, it would be enough for him to make contact with Prince Qingjiangxi.
Yan Qiongyu had calculated everything perfectly. Unfortunately, the Fifth Prince, in the midst of an episode, appeared once again and disrupted his plan.
“He’s here again. Truly like a lingering ghost.”
Along with Wang Luan’s sigh, Yan Qiongyu saw the towering mech appear within the spatial jump node as well, firing energy cannons even within the twisted space, attempting to attack the two of their flying craft.
The flying craft originally did not require manual piloting; it only needed to follow the preset coordinates to reach the destination. But under attack, it could not not evade.
Yan Qiongyu looked at Wang Luan. He remembered that she had learned to pilot flying ships in the simulation room. Then she should also know how to pilot a flying craft?
Understanding his look, Wang Luan was forced to take the post, switching the flying craft to manual mode to dodge the mech’s energy cannon attacks.
Her piloting skills were unexpectedly good, but watching those energy cannons miss their mark and explode within the spatial node, Yan Qiongyu’s expression gradually darkened.
Within such a spatial node, a large number of energy impacts and resulting explosions could cause the node to collapse. Once it collapsed and twisted space itself, no one knew where they would be sent—there was even the possibility that both the flying craft and the mech would explode directly in space.
As if sharing his thoughts, Wang Luan suddenly said, “This spatial node won’t explode, right?”
Yan Qiongyu: “The possibility is very small.”
Wang Luan fell silent for a moment, cleared her throat. “In my hometown, there’s something called ‘Murphy’s Law.’ It says that if something has a possibility of going wrong, then it definitely will.”
That did not sound good.
Before Yan Qiongyu could comment on it, the light ahead suddenly flared brilliantly, dazzling radiance enveloping them. This was one of the most magnificent sights in the universe—the explosion of a spatial node.
Light was the first thing to appear. Yan Qiongyu’s eyes stung painfully as the world became nothing but light, swallowing them whole.
In the still, silent sensation, it seemed as if tens of millions of years passed before the roaring sound finally reached his ears.
He suddenly felt his own body again, his head splitting with pain, as if this terrifying explosion had occurred simultaneously inside his mind.
The immense impact almost instantly caused him to lose consciousness.
ততততততততততত
Two “meteors” trailing flames smashed into the ground one after the other, producing two thunderous booms. The ear-splitting sound echoed across the desolate land.
After a long while, movement finally came from one of the impact sites. From the shattered hatch, a head poked out.
Wang Luan held her head and looked outside, seeing a vast, azure sky, barren and desolate rock and sand.
Where is this?
Turning her head, Yan Qiongyu lay with his eyes closed on the seat, his complexion looking exceptionally pale and fragile.
Wang Luan clenched her fist. Damn it! I’m the girl here! Then she drooped her shoulders, resigned, and went to undo the restraints on Yan Qiongyu, freeing him.
By the time Yan Qiongyu woke up, the azure sky had already turned into pitch-black night, and countless stars fell into his newly opened eyes.
Beneath him was something soft, and something was draped over him.
After all, he was Yan Qiongyu. He quickly became fully awake, grabbed the blanket on him, and sat up. He discovered that he was lying on an inflatable mat, with various components piled around him, most of them damaged. Looking again at the desolate surroundings, he already had a guess in his mind.
“Clang clang clang.”
“Bang bang bang.”
“Ka, ka, ka.”
The sounds coming from nearby caught Yan Qiongyu’s attention. He forced himself up from the mat and walked to the edge of a nearby sinkhole.
This sinkhole had been formed by the impact, and the culprit was the flying craft still smoking within it.
A flying craft smashed into this state was definitely no longer usable. Fortunately, they themselves had not suffered too much damage.
Someone was climbing up and down the wreckage of the flying craft. The sounds Yan Qiongyu had heard earlier were made by her dismantling it. She looked exceptionally disheveled, her entire body blackened, with traces of oil smoke smeared on her hands, body, and face.
Wang Luan wiped the sweat from her face with her arm. Only after wiping did she realize that her arm was also smeared with black grime. Her face was probably even dirtier now. She paused for a moment, then continued dismantling the heat-absorbing plate expressionlessly. Whatever—she was already this dirty anyway.
After removing this heating plate, she unintentionally turned her head and saw Yan Qiongyu standing at the edge of the sinkhole. Her eyes lit up. She immediately tossed aside her tools and was about to run over, but after taking a few steps she turned back, dragged the part she had removed, and huffed and puffed as she climbed up out of the sinkhole.
“You’re awake, that’s great. I thought you might have been injured from the crash, and I didn’t know what to do.” Wang Luan was extremely relieved that he had woken up. The surroundings were completely deserted; the feeling of being the only living person was terrifying.
“I’m mostly fine. Probably just a mild concussion.” Yan Qiongyu knew his own body well. After waking up and checking himself, he roughly understood the situation.
Then he looked at one of Wang Luan’s arms hanging at her side and asked, “How are you?”
Following his gaze to her own arm, Wang Luan weakly waved it. “My arm hurts. I just tied it up casually myself.”
She was still dragging dismantled flying craft parts, covered in oil grime, one arm tightly wrapped, her expression exhausted and dispirited. Yan Qiongyu felt that the way she looked like this… was rather pitiful.
“Let me take a look at your arm.”
As soon as Yan Qiongyu spoke, Wang Luan immediately held her arm out in front of him. She felt that Yan Qiongyu could at most be considered half a doctor, but in this situation, even half a doctor was better than nothing.
The two went to the rest area Wang Luan had cleared out and sat down—one filthy, one clean. Looking at his fair, slender hands, Wang Luan consciously tugged open the dirty sleeve on her arm, revealing the arm beneath.
“Not bad. It shouldn’t be broken—probably just a bone fracture. The gene injections you take every day accelerate your cellular differentiation; it should heal quickly.”
“Alpha physical quality really is good. I thought it was broken… Did you bring any painkillers?”
Yan Qiongyu was used to carrying some simple medical equipment and commonly used medicines with him in a folding space. Wang Luan had guessed right—Yan Qiongyu indeed had analgesics. He directly took one out and injected it into Wang Luan’s arm.
“Have you confirmed this planet’s coordinates?” Lowering his gaze to Wang Luan’s limply hanging arm, Yan Qiongyu asked softly.
“My brain can’t connect to the star network. I used a locator and star charts to calculate it, and only roughly know that this is an unnamed planet in the North Third Star System.” Wang Luan looked blank with post-exertion fatigue. “It’s very likely an uninhabited wasteland planet.”
In this situation, Yan Qiongyu remained very calm, even able to comfort Wang Luan. “It’s fine. The Wang family will search for us.” After all, Wang Luan had a locatable chip on her; sooner or later the Wang family would find them. What they should be worrying about now was—
“Did you see the Fifth Prince? When the spatial node exploded, his mech was very close to our flying craft. There’s a strong possibility that it landed in the same place.”
