CH 180

"What you need to do is tell us who you are. To save you, our entire plan had gone haywire. We will only do more to help you after understanding your cause," said Master Crystal.

"Commander, we have lost contact with Spacetime. The underground defensive system seems to be able to block all wireless signals," said Dondon.

I understood that Dondon was speculating in a positive direction. The alternative to his speculation was that Spacetime had been destroyed by the enemy fleet. Li Yizhi maintained her silence, apparently unwilling to share any of her secrets.

"How can we help if you're unwilling to tell us your reasoning?" said Master Crystal.

"There are too many liars in the universe. Who are you? There is no way for me to determine the truth in your words," said Li Yizhi coldly.

We sank into an awkward silence. We really didn't know how we should prove our identity to her. It was obvious that she had been hurt deeply by deception before.

"Senior, we found a footprint in Lightning's cockpit. Was it yours?" I asked, trying to reduce the awkwardness.

Perhaps that question had evoked some of her memories as she raised her beautiful face and gazed at me silently, looking like she was immersing herself in her recollections.

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"I left the footprint behind, but it was someone else's footprint," replied Li Yizhi after a few minutes of silence.

"Someone else? Who?" I asked, suppressing the excitement bubbling within me.

"I don't know him. I encountered Lightning near the Horsehead Nebula. At the time, the ship I was on had already lost its power. Lightning took me into its containment cabin," replied Li Yizhi.

"Did you see his appearance?" I asked urgently.

"No. He was dressed in a black robe that covered his entire body," said Li Yizhi.

I shivered at the mention of black robes. In the recordings left by Nommo at Sirius, the Blueling I saw was also clad in a black robe. Were they the same person? After so long, I finally found some clues leading to the man in black.

"They might not be the same person. After all, that was an individual from 150,000 years ago. This senior has only been slumbering for 20 years," reminded Old Du, seeing through what I was thinking.

"No. We have proven that time tunnels exist in the universe. That man in black might be someone who had grasped the secret of the time tunnel and can freely traverse numerous different points in time," I disagreed.

"But why was the man in black in Lightning? If he was capable of traveling through a period of 100,000 years, he must have an extremely important mission. If it was really him, then there must have been something important he had to accomplish on that ship," said Zhang Bao'er.

"This young man is right. There is indeed an important secret hidden on Lightning," said Li Yizhi.

A smug look covered Zhang Bao'er's face, looking like a cat with his tail raised proudly.

"What secret? Can you tell us, senior?" I asked.

"When I first arrived on that ship, it was staffed by a bunch of individuals with pig heads. Subsequently, I learned that their leader was someone called Fangfang. However, her appearance was much more delicate than the others due to her more advanced evolution. At the time, the man in black had Fangfang rescue me. When I scanned the man in black, I discovered that he was a Blueling. I was surprised, but I did not expose him. I suspected that he carried the same mission as me. 

“He was well-versed in alien languages as he constantly gave Captain Fangfang one order after another. However, I did not understand any word they spoke. I also learned that Lightning was heading toward the Horsehead Nebula. By encountering an alien civilization alone, I had accomplished half my mission. Just when I was about to make my request to them, Lightning was ambushed by a group of battleships. Two of the attacking battleships were of the same model as Lightning.

"The attacks were fierce, but I discovered that Captain Fangfang did not put up any fight. She allowed them to attack as they wished. Shortly after, the man in black discovered it too. He quickly summoned several fully armed lion-faced beasts from the inner cabin. Upon entering the cockpit, the lion-faced beasts started a slaughter and took over the ship in no time.

"One of the lion-faced beasts was a skilled pilot. That was the one that was crushed under the door. At the time, he took control of Lightning and activated the defensive system to escape the attack zone before utilizing a leap to leave.

"The man in black gained full control over the ship with Captain Fangfang being seriously injured and the majority of the pig-headed crew members dead. The surviving crew members were all turned into the lion-faced beasts' captives. I witnessed everything in shock from the corner. I had thought of relying on them to help us, but the aliens that I wanted to rely on were decimated by a group of beasts.

"After the battle ended, the man in black approached me and spoke in the language of Blue. I told him my mission, and after a long thought, he told me that he could help. I was extremely excited because I had not expected the mission to progress so smoothly. The man in black told me that the lion-faced beasts on the ship could help me. I only needed to bring them and Lightning to Blue. They would help us defeat the Gliesens.

"Initially, I was happy that there was hope for Blue. Then, the man in black told me that he needed to save a planet called Eternal. Since he had to lend me his army, he could only leave with the captain called Fangfang to get a new army at the base. When I asked him who he was, he refused to answer.

"After that, the man in black left with Captain Fangfang and his captives on a shuttle. Before leaving, the man in black gave me a basic introduction of the ship. Only then did I notice that there were more undeveloped lion-faced beasts in the ship's numerous growth devices.

"I saw the man in black open the door of his room by scanning his foot. He then hastily took a backpack and left with Captain Fangfang and the captives. I happened to see a pair of boots he had left in the room. For reasons unknown to myself, I stole one of them," said Li Yizhi.

"You mean that you initially planned to return to Blue with this ship and the lion-faced beasts?" I asked in shock.

"Yes. I was filled with hope and believed that these powerful beasts would be able to save Blue. Also, their weapons are decades ahead of Blue at the time. When the man in black left, he also took the majority of the lion-faced beasts with him. Only three were actually left with me. Perhaps he had decided that he did not need much force to watch over a single person like me.

"The moment the man in black left, Lightning prepared for wormhole travel. I was interested in learning more about the culture of these aliens and in taking a look at their wormhole manufacturing technology. Thus, I stood near the control dashboard to observe. I have the ability to rapidly memorize everything I see, so I was able to memorize everything the pilot did on the dashboard as preparation for the future.

"I also learned how removing air could accelerate the growth of the lion-faced beasts when I saw a lot of white gas moving in the growth cabins. After setting up the procedures for growth, the lion-faced pilot started the wormhole production process. With the energy of the ship, he created a transparent ball of light. The ball of light covered the entire ship, and within the ball, transparent ripples appeared. On the control dashboard, the Solar System's star chart appeared. On the chart, the marker for Blue, our destination, was marked with a flickering red light. It was at that moment that I realized how wrong everything was," said Li Yizhi.

"What did you discover? What did you realize?" asked Baron Sisse.

"I had never given the lion-faced beasts Blue's coordinates. I had not seen the man in black give them the information before he left. Clearly, the coordinates of Blue had long been plugged into the ship before I had even told him of my mission. In fact, my mission was the reason he was in such a rush to leave," said Li Yizhi.

"I understand. The man in black wanted to use you to take these lion-faced beasts back to Blue. With your help, they can enter without being bothered by Blue's defensive system. How crafty," I said.

"Yes, that was the man in black's goal from the beginning. After discovering their scheme, in accordance with my mission, I would have to prevent them from reaching Blue at all costs. If not, more lives would be lost. Thus, I reached for the main power switch on the dashboard while the lion-faced pilot wasn't paying attention. With a flip of the switch, the wormhole production stopped. I then ran to the inner cabin," said Li Yizhi.

Listening to her brave story, I couldn't help but feel respect for this gorgeous woman. A simple Blueling astronaut like her had actually dared to challenge these lion-faced beasts. That was something worth our respect.

"The three lion-faced beasts gave chase. Since all the rooms in the inner cabin were locked, I had no place to hide. At that time, I passed by the man in black's room and recalled his footprint lock. I immediately used the stolen shoe to open his room and hid inside," said Li Yizhi.

Everyone was listening intently, feeling so nervous it was like we were the characters in the story.

"I learned later that they could only produce a wormhole every 24 hours. Therefore, the lion-faced beasts were unable to perform the wormhole travel and started searching the ship for me. Little did they know, I was hiding in the man in black's room," said Li Yizhi. As she spoke, her voice took a tone of urgency, as everything still felt extremely fresh for her.

"You managed to kill all three of them, right? I saw their corpses," said Old Du, who was obviously much calmer than the rest of us.

"In the room, I found some personal articles the man in black had left behind because he had to leave on short notice. One of the articles was a gun," said Li Yizhi.

"Raygun," I said.

"Yes. That's probably what it's called. With it, I felt slightly less nervous. I intended to take down the three beasts. I also tried searching the room for other useful clues," said Li Yizhi.

"Did you find anything helpful?" I asked hopefully.

"Nothing at all. The man in black must have placed everything important in his backpack. However, I did find a pair of socks. One of them had the letter C knitted on it."

"Letter C!" exclaimed Old Du, looking as shocked as a navigator who had discovered an alien land.