There had simply been too many reports like this these past few days.

As the little highness remained missing for longer and longer, worry, anxiety, and unease spread through the heart of every Saint Clan member.

They were desperate to find the little highness and bring him back.

But every report that came in ended in nothing, and the entire Saint Clan seemed to be going through wave after wave of disappointment.

Under these circumstances, the atmosphere from top to bottom within the Saint Clan was especially oppressive.

The races that had recently come into contact with the Saint Clan felt it the most. To them, the Saint Clan now looked like a powder keg that would explode at the slightest touch.

The lower-ranking Saint Clan soldiers were restless, while the upper-ranking Hemo all wore cold expressions.

Even Alvin, who had always been calm and steady, had lost the gentle smile he usually wore these past few days because there had still been no trace of the little highness.

And among this mass of nearly frantic Saint Clan members, Mansendis alone still looked calm and detached, as though he had not been affected in the slightest.

Yet only Mond, who had witnessed with his own eyes these past days how the silver-haired sovereign had run himself ragged searching for the cub, knew that every hope that came to nothing was a crushing blow to Mansendis.

He did not show those emotions outwardly. It was only that, as time passed, Mansendis grew more and more silent and cold, as though he had returned to the version Mond remembered best from before.

Before the little highness had come to the Saint Clan, this was exactly what Mansendis had been like—so lonely that he shut out everything in the world, burying all emotion deep inside.

The silver-haired sovereign was cold and powerful, yet like a sculpture without feeling.

Mond had not seen Mansendis like that in a very long time.

Now that this latest report had come in, the silver-haired sovereign, who had been staring at the route map the whole time, finally moved.

Mansendis lifted his eyes slightly. There was not the slightest ripple of emotion in those indifferent golden vertical pupils.

Under Mansendis’s gaze, Alvin did not dare hide anything. He quickly reported everything he knew, point by point.

“The warship had no identifying markings. When it was discovered, it was in a wasteland region outside the flight lanes.”

The universe was vast, and the star sectors were far apart. To prevent starships from losing their way or running into danger, ships traveling through space generally followed the officially established and widely recognized flight lanes.

Outside those lanes, the unmarked regions were called wastelands, like deserts in space, places that might contain all kinds of dangers.

Under normal circumstances, very few starships would leave the flight lanes and travel through wasteland regions. For a warship to appear in a place like that already made it highly suspicious.

And the warship’s location was also very close to the Ninth Star Sector.

That string of suspicious details quickly drew Squad Fifteen’s attention.

“It’s just...” Alvin suddenly hesitated at that point.

Mansendis frowned. “Just what?”

After a pause, Alvin still pushed up his glasses and said in a low voice, “According to Squad Fifteen’s report... the warship is severely damaged. Aside from the main hull, the structure in the other sections has basically come apart.”

In truth, when Squad Fifteen found the warship, it had been floating alone in the depths of the star sea. From the images captured by the surveillance system, it was obvious that the ship had been wrecked beyond recognition.

It seemed to have suffered some unimaginably violent impact, one that had smashed a perfectly intact warship into a heap of scrap metal. The entire hull had broken apart, with shattered metal fragments floating all around it.

The reason Alvin had not said it outright at first was because if the warship had been damaged to this extent, the people inside had very likely already lost all signs of life.

If the little highness was really on board, then...

Alvin pressed his lips together.

Mansendis’s expression did not change.

He insisted on going personally to the place where the warship had been found.

Looking at the warship’s mangled state, Mansendis said nothing.

And since he did not speak, none of the surrounding Saint Clan members dared make a sound either.

At that moment, the heavy, stifling atmosphere seemed to settle over every Saint Clan member present.

They remained silent, heads bowed, waiting for Mansendis’s orders.

Mansendis only kept looking at the broken warship. Then, suddenly as though something had occurred to him, he gave an order. “Send a few soldiers up there and check the status of the escape pods.”

Alvin froze for a second.

Then he reacted immediately.

That was right. The escape pods.

Every warship was equipped with escape pods. If anyone had left in one, the ship’s remaining data would definitely show it.

If the number of escape pods on that warship was ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ short by one, then that meant there had definitely been survivors.

After the Saint Clan soldiers retrieved the data from the warship, Alvin restored it, found the escape pod records, and discovered that the warship was indeed missing one escape pod.

Judging by the time stamp left in the data, that escape pod—

That had to be Wen Yuzhi.

Mansendis immediately gave the order that every star sector was to be searched.

And then he stressed one point in particular. “Focus on checking all port records of escape pod arrivals and departures.”

Once that order was issued, the search spread rapidly through every—

The Saint Clan, who normally stayed only within the Ninth Star Sector, now seemed to have gone completely mad, searching everywhere for a single escape pod.

...

Meanwhile, on Blackrock Star, Wen Yuzhi had no idea that the Saint Clan were already on the verge of going mad searching for him.

After a whole night of battle, the base finally saw the tide turn before dawn, as the stray beasts attacking it began to show signs of collapse.

Seeing that they still could not chew through this hard bone no matter what, they decisively gave up the attack, regrouped the remaining stray beasts, and withdrew back into the wasteland to wait for another chance.

The people at the base knew full well that letting those stray beasts go was the same as letting a tiger return to the mountain, but they had no other choice.

Although the base had successfully held out during this attack, the losses had been severe.

The hunting team members were all exhausted, utterly unable to chase after a beast pack that was still considerable in size.

And after driving the stray beasts back, there was still a great deal of cleanup work left to do inside the base.

The first task was to count the casualties. Even though Wen Yuzhi had been helping with treatment the whole time, more than ten people had still died that night.

Most of them had been killed outright in the jaws of the stray beasts.

In a sense, anyone who made it in time for treatment was undeniably lucky.

Uncle Chong arranged a collective funeral for them.

Wen Yuzhi attended as well.

This was the third funeral he had attended.

At the previous two, he had personally seen off Wen Che, Madam Jilanya, and Old Master Wen—his three closest family members. At that time, Wen Yuzhi’s understanding of death had still been vague and hazy.

But now, he already had a clear understanding of life and death.

He watched as the people of the base buried their fallen companions.

Uncle Chong stood at the very front after taking off his cloak. His head was lowered, and his full head of white hair could not hide the age in his face.

But the old man’s back was still straight, and there was grief in his eyes, along with an unshakable conviction.

Chong Fengxue and Chong Fengshuang stood behind him, and behind them stood every survivor left in the base.

All of them stood there, silently watching as Uncle Chong stroked the gravestone and slowly wiped away the snow that had settled on it.

The entire funeral was silent from beginning to end.

No one spoke, and no one recited a eulogy.

Only after it was over, just before leaving, did Wen Yuzhi turn back and look once at the gravestone.

Written on it were the words—

Evil still lingers, but souls of light shall endure forever.

—

Wen Yuzhi had only gone a few steps when he noticed Chong Fengxue and Chong Fengshuang waiting for him up ahead.

Chong Fengshuang’s eyes were still a little red, as though he had only just been crying in secret. By contrast, his older sister, Chong Fengxue, was much calmer.

Compared with her younger brother, who spent most of his time inside the base, she had clearly seen far more death and parting.

And more than grief and sorrow, the people still alive had more important things to face.

“Are you tired?”

she asked Wen Yuzhi.

Wen Yuzhi had been busy all night and had even fought stray beasts head-on. There was no way he could say he was not tired. Yet at the same time, his mind was strangely alert, as though it did not know fatigue.

So Wen Yuzhi shook his head.

“I’m fine.”

Chong Fengxue raised a brow. “That’s good. Let’s go, then.”

“Go?”

Wen Yuzhi was still a little dazed.

Chong Fengxue gave a quiet sound of confirmation. “The hunting team is about to head out. Didn’t you want to see where the escape pod crashed? We’re leaving now.”

...Now?

...That fast?

Wen Yuzhi had assumed that after what happened last night, with the base suffering such serious casualties, the hunting team would not be heading out today.

But Chong Fengxue said, “There isn’t much food left in the base. We don’t have time to rest.”

That was how brutally cruel a harsh environment could be.

Even if one moment they were still facing the death of their companions, the next they had to risk their lives again just to keep living.

The hunting team wanted to rest too, but there was not much food left in the base.

If they did not go out and find more soon, then before long, the ones buried here might be them.

At that thought, Chong Fengxue’s expression turned serious. “The sun’s already up. We have to get back before dark.”

Which meant their time was actually very tight.

And after what had happened the night before, Wen Yuzhi also understood just how dangerous it would be to remain outside after nightfall.

He stopped delaying and followed Chong Fengxue and Chong Fengshuang to the gate of the fortress.

There were still bloodstains left over from the night before.

By the time Wen Yuzhi and the others arrived, the hunting team had already assembled.

The ones going out this time were all people who had either not been injured the night before or had only suffered minor wounds.

What surprised Wen Yuzhi, however, was that Uncle Chong was not among them.

Chong Fengshuang told him, “Uncle Chong usually leads us out, but there are wounded all over the base right now. He’s worried those stray beasts might come back, so he isn’t going with us this time.”

As he spoke, Chong Fengshuang pointed at the girl who had stepped to the front.

“My sister’s leading this one.”

Wen Yuzhi had already seen Chong Fengxue’s strength the night before.

Armed with a dagger, the girl had moved through the beast pack and killed quite a few stray beasts.

So none of the hunting team members had any objection to her leading them.

Chong Fengxue gave a sharp whistle.

The wolf pack tamed by the base immediately rushed over in excitement.

With Chong Fengxue at the front, the hunting team members all swung themselves onto the wolves’ backs.

Chong Fengshuang mounted a black wolf as well and reached out, intending to help pull Wen Yuzhi up so they could ride together.

But before Wen Yuzhi could even get close, that wolf reacted as though it had seen something terrifying.

It scraped nervously at the ground with its paws, and just as Wen Yuzhi started to approach, the black wolf quickly backed away.

And it was not just Chong Fengshuang’s wolf. The other wolves were much the same.

When they saw the frail-looking young boy, it was as though they had run into a natural enemy.

Not only did they shrink away in fear, some even dropped flat to the ground with their ears drooping.

Chong Fengxue and the others had never expected that...

the wolf pack would actually be afraid of Wen Yuzhi.

Watching the wolves keep as far away from him as they could, Wen Yuzhi could not help suspecting that it was the Saint Clan aura on him that made them afraid.

Wolves had keen senses. They might not know what the Saint Clan was, but they could still sense a frightening, powerful presence from Wen Yuzhi.

Driven by the instinctive fear that came with terror, the wolves rejected Wen Yuzhi’s approach on reflex.

At the sight of that, Chong Fengxue developed a headache too.

The wasteland outside the fortress was vast. Trying to cross it on foot would be difficult.

They had always relied on the wolves for transportation in order to move quickly.

But now, with the wolves trembling the moment they saw Wen Yuzhi, it was obvious there was no way to simply have him ride one.

Wen Yuzhi had wings. He could have flown there himself.

But in an unfamiliar place where he knew neither the people nor the terrain, and with the Saint Clan’s reputation outside, Wen Yuzhi did not want to expose his identity.

And just as the situation was about to become a deadlock, a huge, imposing white wolf walked over.

It approached Wen Yuzhi carefully.

Then—

right in front of everyone, it rubbed its fluffy head against Wen Yuzhi’s leg.