Occupying Another Patch?

In the darkness, everything fell silent.

But Yu Sheng lay on the bed, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep for a long time.

He thought about many things: about the Dim Angel, about the large group of people he now knew, about the future construction plans for the valley, and even about his old home—the place bathed in bloody sunlight. He realized it had been a long time since he'd felt homesick, and the image in his memory had even faded a little.

He turned over again and saw the Ominous Star sitting quietly on the nightstand alongside Aileen's frame. The moonlight streaming through the window carried a silvery sheen. In the sky of this alien world, three full moons hung high, and the orbital mobile immortal palace "Changmi Hall" drifted slowly past the night sky between "Taiyou" and "Chang'an," like a silver star.

Yu Sheng realized something: even though he complained every day about Aileen's restless sleeping—how she rolled around, ground her teeth, and talked in her sleep—now that the doll who usually crawled all over the bed was missing from his side… he actually couldn't fall asleep.

A faint click sounded in the darkness. One of the boxes in the corner opened, and a pair of crimson eyes peeked out furtively from under the lid.

Those eyes met Yu Sheng's, who was lying on his side with his eyes wide open.

"—Ha!"

A puff of air came from the box.

Yu Sheng clicked his tongue and shifted over a bit.

A small shadow shot out from the box like a rocket, then began rolling all over the bed, wriggling horizontally, spinning in place, and using its head to bulldoze through the sheets...

Yu Sheng thought for a moment, watching the little doll tumbling around, and asked, "Is the box still uncomfortable?"

"No, it's super comfortable inside. Lying in it feels like coming home!" Aileen lifted her head, casually grabbed a corner of Yu Sheng's blanket, and wrapped it around herself. "It's just that I'm not used to it. So I decided I have to leave one body to sleep on the bed, or else you'll get way too cocky..."

Yu Sheng didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He had no idea how she'd pinned the word "cocky" on him, but before he could ask, he noticed the little doll had already started snoring.

A few minutes later, Aileen suddenly kicked off the blanket, turned her body sideways, and sent a foot flying his way.

Yu Sheng's heart finally settled. With practiced ease, he used the blanket to build a "wall" between himself and the little doll, then rolled over and went to sleep.

He drifted in a daze, not sure how long he slept. He felt himself sinking and floating through a series of disconnected, bizarre dreams, occasionally greeting Aileen in them, but mostly just floating in a calm, warm darkness.

His consciousness drifted far and long in such a relaxed state, and then suddenly, it sank downward—

He didn't wake up from the sinking. Instead, he felt as if he had suddenly "connected" to something. A moment later, the connection began to rapidly expand, and a torrent of information flooded his mind. In the boundless darkness, he began to "see" things—a curtain of rain, the earth, cities, crystals...

His "sense of touch" gradually returned. Yu Sheng moved his "body" slightly, then startled fully awake and dared not move again.

Xu Ji.

…This thing is still connected!?

Yu Sheng lay quietly in the darkness. Only after a long while did he dare extend his perception again. He cautiously confirmed the link between himself and that distant planet, bit by bit—just like when he had first taken over the "valley."

Even more carefully than that.

…

The drizzle fell ceaselessly. The sky was dull and overcast, and the misty rain reflected the distant lights.

Compared to the violent storm before, this continuous drizzle was already a mild, pleasant day.

Mo Ran, dressed in a black skirt, walked among the ruins on the outskirts of the city.

The falling rain was deflected by her protective spiritual energy, flowing to either side several meters away from her.

She looked up at the massive ruins ahead, like a broken mountain.

That was the former Sixth Refining Tower—a giant tower that once reached the clouds, destroyed by a terrifying force from deep within the planet. It had broken into three sections and fallen to the earth. Most of its structure now lay quietly among the hills outside the city, surrounded by a forest of dead crystals. The broken base still stood lopsidedly at the edge of the city, merging with the surrounding ruins.

In the rain, the ancient, massive pipes and support structures rose like jagged giant bones, bent chaotically in the direction where the tower had collapsed. A huge crack, only visible from above, ran through the base, surrounded by clusters of crystals. Beneath the crack was a shaft that went straight down to the earth veins.

That shaft had originally been part of the mining platform, but now the veins below were exhausted, replaced by endless gray-white crystals. At the deepest part of the crystals, the dim red glow of underground magma could be seen, and faint veins of earthly light flowed through the crystal walls, disappearing into the magma.

Farther from the collapse site, many busy figures could be seen—workers from the City Repair Bureau and nearby residents were clearing the gray-white crystals from the streets. Some of those crystals had been left behind when the Star-Devourer's minions attacked the city, but most were the result of centuries of gradual erosion and accumulation.

Similar "clearing" scenes could be seen everywhere—in every corner of Mo City, everyone who had the strength was voluntarily cleaning up the strange crystals that had appeared everywhere. Those with more strength were busy in various government offices and artifact workshops, or repairing the city walls and the grand protective array.

People were doing everything they could to restore the city to the stable state they remembered—even though, for everyone, that memory of the city was a lie.

No one knew how much of the city could ultimately be restored, but Mo Ran was well aware that given Mo City's current condition, it was absolutely impossible to repair the fallen refining towers within ten years. It would be a miracle just to fill the cracks at the edge of the mining platform.

Yet Mo City was still the best-conditioned city on the entire planet, without exception.

Mo Ran let out a soft breath, then straightened her posture even more, walking through the streets with a steady, reliable demeanor.

No one knew what the future of the city held, but if she could walk through it with calm composure, at least the people would have a bit more hope.

"City Lord," a personal guard emerged from the rain, appearing silently beside Mo Ran. "Three cargo ships from Yao Men Star just landed at the Fairy Ship Platform on the outskirts. They brought a large batch of pills, food, and also the arcane crystals and spiritual essence urgently needed for repairing the spiritual vein network."

"Good," Mo Ran's expression finally relaxed slightly. She nodded gently. "Keep one ship's worth of cargo. For the rest… notify Tan Yuan and Bai Cheng to come pick them up. We don't have extra hands to deliver."

"Understood."

The guard hesitated.

Mo Ran stopped and looked at the guard. "Anything else?"

"This morning, many people gathered at the Fairy Ship Platform again," the guard said, his expression dark, his voice low enough that only the two could hear. "Several wealthy families wanted to 'seek refuge' at the Ten Courts. Things from the city treasury were found on their fairy ships..."

"Execute them."

"Execute… directly?"

"Public trial, then execute. Hang the bodies on the city wall, list the crimes clearly alongside the corpses, and display for ten days. Although those laws are from the Pioneering Period, they haven't been abolished yet, so this is the right time to use them. Anything else?"

"No."

"Mm. Dismissed."

The guard retreated two steps and vanished silently into the rain.

Mo Ran let out a light sigh, her expression unchanged as she continued walking through the rain.

Some were thinking about rebuilding, some about fleeing disaster, some helped their neighbors, some took advantage of the chaos to loot, some still dared not wake, and some fell into Qi deviation the moment they opened their eyes.

Everything that should happen would happen, everything that should come would come, and everything that should pass would pass. Being the lord of a city meant dealing with all these troubles.

That was what her father had taught her.

…But at this moment, these "troubles" were truly hard to bear.

Mo Ran kept her face taut, sighing inwardly.

The city was in ruins, the entire planet was severely contaminated by the Dim Angel, order was barely maintained but teetering on the brink of collapse every day, underground mineral resources had long been exhausted, and there was no source of materials for reconstruction. The planet itself had little value left, and after the devastating blow, Xu Ji would visibly decline further—and it would be a swift, thorough decline.

Of course, Taixu Lingzhu would never abandon this planet—but how far that "never abandon" would go was uncertain. After all, this was just a remote border planet with exhausted resources.

And it had been contaminated by the Dim Angel.

Mo Ran sighed inwardly again. Her gaze unconsciously swept across the nearby ruins.

Everywhere were those eerie, unsettling gray-white crystals, along with the now-dead crystalline tendrils that had spread from underground.

These lifeless "shells" were all that the Star-Devourer had left for the people of Xu Ji after consuming the planet's resources.

A cluster of crystals growing from a crack in the ground flashed in the rain.

Mo Ran froze. The exhaustion of the past days had dulled her reactions, so she didn't realize what had happened at first.

Then the cluster of crystals flashed again.

The guards around her reacted.

"Protect the City Lord!"

One guard shouted a frantic warning, and in the next instant, several figures blocked Mo Ran, while two others had already drawn their flying swords, ready to pounce on the suddenly "activated" "shell."

But Mo Ran suddenly noticed some "marks" appearing on the crystals. After a moment of shock, she immediately halted her subordinates: "Stop!"

The guards didn't understand but instinctively obeyed. Mo Ran steadied herself, hesitated briefly, then bravely approached the cluster of crystals.

A shimmer of light rippled across the surface of the crystals, and images emerged in the illusory glow.

First, a meaningless triangular logo, then a smiling face, followed by a line of text—

"In trouble? Go to the Traveler's Inn. Contact number: XXXXXXXXX..."

A tendril slowly drilled out of a nearby crack in the ground, swaying in front of everyone.

Mo Ran almost let out another scream.