The Return of Stars to the Jianghu

"It's like searching high and low only to find it effortlessly," Han Yue exclaimed.

"It's going too smoothly, it's a bit abnormal," Shi Hao responded.

Luo Yifei and Shen Lixi exchanged a glance; their experiences over the past few days felt strangely familiar.

"I have something to say, but I don't know if I should," Shen Lixi said.

"Go ahead and tell me, what can't you say?" Shi Hao said.

"You all remember that day when we met the old man from the newbie village disguised as Wen Bin, and we went into the woods to avoid being followed, right?" Shen Lixi said.

“I remember,” Han Yue said.

"What's wrong?" Shi Hao asked, puzzled.

Luo Yifei nodded.

"Later, we encountered that man in black in the woods. None of your three swords could harm him, so I had to use magic. During the spell, I suddenly thought it was Wen Bin as well. But it was only for a moment," Shen Lixi said, revealing her thoughts.

None of them said anything.

After a while.

“It should be him,” Luo Yifei said, then sighed and continued, “Just like when he gave me the map of the Floating Life Continent, he was guiding us, but he may be restricted and cannot directly intervene, so he appears as an avatar, that is, possessing someone else. I don’t know what his purpose is.”

“There is a purpose, which is very obvious,” Shen Lixi said.

"What?" Shi Hao asked anxiously.

“He closes down the time tunnels. Every time he appears, a large number of time tunnels are closed. He’s preventing free travel between the continents,” Shen Lixi continued.

……

Solar System, Mars Outpost.

"Du Qi, there's fluctuation in the tunnel. Turn up the stabilizer power. I'm going out to check it out," Nie Qiuyue said before putting on her outdoor spacesuit.

As soon as Nie Qiuyue stepped out of the cabin, she heard a clear roar from a beast. The sound reached her ears clearly in the vacuum environment.

Then she saw a leopard suddenly appear from the cloud of light in the middle of the stabilizer.

"Tower, tower. Something's coming from the tunnel. A leopard. It can breathe, not very big, probably a low-level monster. Get the anti-aircraft machine guns ready."

The leopard charged towards Nie Qiuyue.

This time, the anti-aircraft machine gun bullets were fired at the leopard, but the bullets ricocheted off.

The leopard roared and charged toward Nie Qiuyue at an increased speed.

"Tower, tower, anti-aircraft guns!" Nie Qiuyue said as she activated the jet ignition on her spacesuit and flew into the air.

The leopard pounced on the spot where Nie Qiuyue had just been standing.

A second later, the anti-aircraft gun hit the leopard, and flames shot into the sky.

After the smoke cleared, the leopard was still standing, with several wounds on its body.

"Nie Qiuyue, that's a high-level demonic beast, get out of the way quickly." Du Qi's voice came through the earpiece.

For more than a month, they had been fighting monsters almost every day, but this was the first time they had encountered a high-level monster.

"The laser cannon is fully charged and is starting up," came the voice of the AI ​​Xiaoxing through the earpiece.

The leopard roared and pounced on Nie Qiuyue.

The laser beam struck the leopard, severing its body in half, which then healed back together.

"Damn it, it looks like an earthworm," Nie Qiuyue cursed.

The leopard gave Nie Qiuyue no chance and continued to pounce.

Nie Qiuyue activated her jet propulsion system in an attempt to dodge, but the leopard was faster and snapped its jaws onto Nie Qiuyue's spacesuit.

"Ah!" Nie Qiuyue screamed in agony.

With a forceful jerk, the leopard flung Nie Qiuyue away.

"Nie Qiuyue!" Du Qi called out.

Nie Qiuyue fell onto a distant sand dune, tumbling several times before coming to a stop.

"Du Qi, charge the laser cannon!" Nie Qiuyue shouted.

The leopard looked at Nie Qiuyue lying in the distance, roared, and charged over.

"Charging complete, starting up," Xiao Xing said.

The laser beam struck the leopard again, but this time the leopard's body did not heal.

The leopard's carcass lay on the ground.

Nie Qiuyue struggled to her feet. She was not injured, but her spacesuit was torn and oxygen was leaking out rapidly.

"Du Qi, save me!" Nie Qiuyue cried out.

Then an aircraft flew over and took Nie Qiuyue away.

"Xiao Xing, check the damage to the spacesuit," Du Qi said to the AI.

"There's a puncture wound on the chest, covering an area of ​​15 square centimeters. The oxygen leak rate is 0.1 cubic meters per second. The estimated remaining time is 3 minutes," Xiaoxing replied.

"Activate the backup oxygen tank and shut off the damaged part," Du Qi said.

"The backup oxygen tank has been activated, the breach has been closed, and the oxygen leak has stopped," Xiaoxing replied.

"Activate the backup spacesuit," Du Qi said again.

Then a spare spacesuit was ejected from the spacecraft and flew to Nie Qiuyue's side.

Nie Qiuyue took off her spacesuit and put on a new one.

“We don’t know when the nuclear power plant will be completed, and solar energy alone is simply not enough to power the laser cannons,” Nie Qiuyue said.

"It'll be finished soon, probably in about two weeks," Du Qi said.

"Any news from Captain Zhang?" Nie Qiuyue asked.

"No, they've searched over a dozen places and haven't found anything. It seems our tunnel is the only remaining spacetime tunnel in the solar system," Du Qi said.

“If that’s the case, this tunnel is Luo Yifei and the others’ only hope of returning to Earth,” Nie Qiuyue said.

“That’s right, but more importantly, this tunnel is the starting point for humanity’s exploration of extragalactic galaxies,” Duzi said.