This imposing white wolf was the only one that had approached on its own.

It rubbed itself against Wen Yuzhi’s calf, then turned and exposed the wound on its hind leg.

It had gotten hurt the night before while following the hunting team out to fend off the stray beasts.

The white wolf had seen Wen Yuzhi treating the hunting team members. It knew this “human,” whose scent filled them with fear, had the ability to heal wounds.

It had forced itself to come forward despite that fear because it wanted Wen Yuzhi to save it.

Otherwise, with one leg injured, its running speed would drop drastically. Dragging an injured leg, it would not be able to take part in the next hunt.

If it could not hunt, it would have no food. And without food, it would die.

The white wolf did not want to die. The instinct to survive made it choose to overcome its fear.

When it came up to Wen Yuzhi, it even lay down and exposed its soft belly in an effort to please him.

“Awro?”

The white wolf had even deliberately softened its voice into something meek and weak.

But paired with that huge body of its, the act of playing cute and pitiful looked rather out of place.

Chong Fengxue swore this was the first time in her life she had ever seen a wolf act spoiled.

She fell silent for a moment, then said to Wen Yuzhi, “It’s showing submission to you.”

The wolf pack and the base had always been in a relationship of mutual cooperation. If they wanted to ride the wolves, then by the rules, that person also had to earn the wolf’s approval.

It was a process of mutual respect and mutual choice.

And now that the white wolf had approached on its own, it was obvious that it had chosen Wen Yuzhi as the person it wanted to carry.

Wen Yuzhi looked at the white wolf lying at his feet, then crouched down and tentatively stroked its fur.

To be honest, the white wolf’s fur was not especially soft, but that fluffy texture still made Wen Yuzhi unable to resist petting it several more times.

As he stroked it, Wen Yuzhi thought to himself that no wonder his father always liked holding him whenever he was in beast form.

This kind of fluffy feeling really was nice to touch.

With that thought, Wen Yuzhi softly asked the white wolf, “Do you want to follow me?”

The white wolf nodded. Wagging its tail, it rubbed its head against Wen Yuzhi’s palm in an affectionate, eager way.

But Wen Yuzhi pushed its head aside. Just as the white wolf began to feel wronged, a soft sensation wrapped around its wound.

Under the healing of his mental energy, the wound on the white wolf’s hind leg gradually began to close.

No matter how many times she had seen it already, Chong Fengxue still found the sight miraculous.

And once the white wolf’s injury was healed, it immediately became full of energy again.

It abruptly rolled over, shook its ears, and lowered its body so Wen Yuzhi could climb onto its back.

Wen Yuzhi was not quite tall enough, but his body was agile. Grabbing hold of the fur at the white wolf’s neck, he landed neatly and lightly on its back.

The white wolf let out an excited howl.

The surrounding wolves all followed with long howls of their own.

Seeing that, Chong Fengxue gave a whistle, signaling everyone to prepare to set out.

To the sound of the low, heavy horn, the wolf pack carried the hunting team members out of the fortress.

The instant they stepped through the fortress gates, Wen Yuzhi seemed to sense something and turned back.

There, behind them, one figure had been watching them the whole time.

It was Uncle Chong, standing atop the wall and personally watching the hunting team depart.

The moment his gaze met Wen Yuzhi’s, he silently tossed a bundle down to him.

The bundle landed neatly in Wen Yuzhi’s arms. It was light, not heavy.

Curious, Wen Yuzhi opened it.

Inside was a cloak.

Wen Yuzhi froze for a moment.

He touched the cloak, thought about it, then draped it over himself.

Very quickly, Wen Yuzhi realized why Uncle Chong had given him that cloak.

The white wolf ran fast. Sitting on its back, Wen Yuzhi could only feel the wind roaring past his ears, whipping the cloak against his body with sharp flapping snaps.

If not for the cloak Uncle Chong had given him, his eyes would have been blinded by the sand blowing straight into his face by now.

And besides the fierce wind, there was also the blazing sun hanging overhead.

The farther they got from the fortress, the harsher the surrounding environment became.

The hunting team had long since grown used to this brutal climate, but Wen Yuzhi was different. Today was his first time leaving since arriving here.

Wen Yuzhi’s snowy white, delicate skin looked like it had never suffered a single hardship. It clearly could not withstand the battering of wind and sand or the scorching of the sun.

Of course, Chong Fengxue knew that the real reason Uncle Chong had given Wen Yuzhi the cloak was probably so he could cover up his hair and face a little.

After all...

She secretly glanced at the young boy beside her.

His looks were simply too conspicuous.

Whether it was Wen Yuzhi’s face itself, or that—

No matter how you looked at it, it was not a good thing.

The place where the escape pod had crashed was some distance from the fortress, but before noon, they still arrived near the giant crater it had made.

At the center lay that heap—

Now it was nothing but a pile of scrap metal. The stray beasts had no interest at all in gnawing on such things.

Wen Yuzhi jumped off the wolf’s back and went into the wreckage.

Looking at the ruined metal fragments scattered all around, Wen Yuzhi pressed his lips together. Returning here again brought back the images from before in his mind.

When every instrument in the escape pod had failed, Bai Yi had shielded him with his own body.

As for what happened afterward, Wen Yuzhi did not know.

But he did remember the escape pod they were in being swept into the heart of the storm.

The reason the pod had crashed onto this planet was probably that interstellar storm.

An interstellar storm like that unleashed extremely powerful energy. Within the range of that energy’s radiation, the systems on any warship, no matter its class, would fail in an instant.

So in a way, what happened to Wen Yuzhi and the others had been both unlucky and lucky.

Unlucky because just after the escape pod flew out of the asteroid field, it ran into that extremely rare cosmic disaster.

But lucky because the pod had not been flung off into some unknown corner of space by the storm. Instead, it had crashed onto a planet with inhabitants.

Although all the instruments onboard had already been destroyed and there was no way to contact the outside world, at least this planet had life on it. It was not a completely dead world.

As long as he could survive, Wen Yuzhi believed he would eventually find a way to contact his father and the others.

And right now, the person Wen Yuzhi was most worried about was still Bai Yi.

The two of them had been in the escape pod together, and yet in the end, only he had been rescued by the hunting team.

But after returning to the crash site this time, Wen Yuzhi still did not find Bai Yi here, nor did he see the body.

Fortunately, he had already prepared himself for that possibility.

So he was not overly disappointed.

With the Saint Clan’s formidable vitality, Wen Yuzhi did not believe Bai Yi was dead.

Most likely, just like him, Bai Yi had been thrown by that interstellar storm to some other place on this planet.

Chong Fengshuang was standing guard outside. Hearing movement behind him, he turned around and saw Wen Yuzhi bending over as he came out of the wreckage.

Only when Wen Yuzhi got closer did he notice that he was holding something in his hand.

“What’s that...?”

“Nutrient solution.”

Although Wen Yuzhi had not found Bai Yi on this trip, he had discovered the four tubes of nutrient solution among the broken metal scraps.

So the trip had not been a total loss.

On food-short Blackrock Star, nutrient solution that could fill your stomach was obviously an extremely valuable supply. It had also been a long time since Chong Fengshuang had seen something like nutrient solution.

But when faced with the four tubes in Wen Yuzhi’s hand, he showed not the slightest trace of greed.

After only one glance, Chong Fengshuang looked away. “Did you find your companion?”

Wen Yuzhi shook his head. “No.”

Chong Fengshuang comforted him. “If he’s not dead, then as long as he’s still on Blackrock Star, you’ll definitely run into him sooner or later. The hunting team goes out all the time. We’ll keep an eye out for you too.”

Wen Yuzhi did not reject Chong Fengshuang’s kindness. He thanked him.

And while they had come to this crater, the other hunting team members had already started searching for prey nearby.

All along the way here, Wen Yuzhi had barely seen any vegetation at all, much less a single living creature.

This place felt a lot like Esoris to him. The climate and surroundings were both extremely harsh, not suitable for life to survive on.

But Chong Fengshuang told him that Blackrock Star had not always been like this.

In the past, although Blackrock Star had also been poor in resources, it had never been so food-starved as it was now, nor had there been so many stray beasts.

Back then, there had still been many people on Blackrock Star. Along the frontier, it had counted as a relatively prosperous planet. And those people had gathered together and built an enormous fortress.

They named it Blackstone City.

As the name suggested, the massive fortress had been built entirely of black stone. Backed by mountains and standing on a vast plain, it had been towering and magnificent, almost like a miracle.

And at the time, that fortress had been hailed as the most important stronghold on the imperial frontier.

The existence of Blackstone City had given the people of Blackrock Star an absolute haven. They no longer feared the dangers outside. They went out to hunt by day and came back to rest at night. They could even grow crops within the city and be completely self-sufficient.

And Blackrock Star at that time had not been as primitive and backward as it was now. Its level of technology had not lagged behind the capital planet, Blackstone City still had huge stores of energy, and they had even been able to produce mechs themselves.

From Chong Fengshuang’s account, the Blackrock Star of the past and the present one were worlds apart.

“This is all what the elders told me, though. I never saw it myself. By the time my sister and I were born, Blackrock Star had already declined.”

Scratching his head, Chong Fengshuang sighed. “They say Blackstone City was destroyed a long time ago too. A lot of people died then. Uncle Chong escaped with some of them, and the place we live in now was built later by Uncle Chong after he brought us here.”

Various parts of the base had also been modeled after Blackstone City.

Relying on defensive structures similar to Blackstone City’s, they had endured one attack after another.

And if even a small base like theirs could survive beast tides for so long with such crude imitation, then it was impossible to imagine how that once-glorious Blackstone City had actually been destroyed.

But Chong Fengshuang did not have time to dwell on it, because the white wolf beside them suddenly let out an excited low growl.

Chong Fengshuang reacted immediately. “There’s prey nearby!”

As soon as he said it, the white wolf shot off.

It ran behind a sand dune and started digging frantically at the ground with its paws. At the end, it apparently found something, because it picked it up in its mouth and brought it back, laying it in front of Wen Yuzhi.

Wen Yuzhi looked down and discovered that it was actually a pile of rabbits.

The white wolf had found a rabbit warren.

Chong Fengshuang said, “Those are sand rabbits.”

These rabbits reproduced quickly and could survive even in harsh environments, making them Blackrock Star’s main source of meat.

The meat chunks in the soup Wen Yuzhi had drunk before had come from these sand rabbits.

He had not expected the white wolf to find prey so quickly.

Faced with the white wolf clearly trying to show off, Wen Yuzhi patted its head.

“Good job.”

Hearing the praise, the white wolf visibly grew even more excited.

It pushed all the rabbits in front of Wen Yuzhi.

The meaning was obvious. It wanted Wen Yuzhi to accept the prey.

There were around five or six rabbits in that nest. Wen Yuzhi only took two, giving the others back to the white wolf.

The white wolf had found them, so it should rightfully get the bigger share.

The white wolf still wanted to push the rabbits back to him, but when Wen Yuzhi saw that, he quickly pointed at the two rabbits in his hands.

“These two are enough for me.”

The white wolf seemed to understand. It rubbed itself against Wen Yuzhi’s leg, then carried the rabbits off to one side to eat.

As for the two rabbits Wen Yuzhi kept, he gave [N O V E L I G H T] one of them to Chong Fengshuang.

Chong Fengshuang wanted to refuse, but Wen Yuzhi said, “Didn’t you say before that you’d roast rabbit for me? Consider this your payment for roasting it.”

“N-no...! I don’t charge for roasting rabbit...”

Chong Fengshuang was flustered out of his mind. The more anxious he got, the more he stammered. In the end, all he could manage was a dry, awkward, “Food is important.”

“I know.” Wen Yuzhi nodded, but still stuffed the rabbit into Chong Fengshuang’s arms.

“I can’t eat that much by myself.”

Thinking of how this little young master had declared himself full after just bread and meat soup, Chong Fengshuang silently swallowed the words of refusal.

What he thought instead was that later, he would see whether there was any other prey nearby.

Since the little young master was willing to give it to him, he could not really just take it for free.

After putting the rabbits into the hunting cage, the white wolf had finished eating as well. Licking the blood from the corners of its mouth, it strolled back to Wen Yuzhi’s side.

Chong Fengshuang looked at the sky. It was still early, and just as he was about to say he would take Wen Yuzhi around nearby to look for prey—

a foul, fishy stench suddenly drifted through the air.

Chong Fengshuang’s face changed at once.

“Stray beasts!”

As he spoke, a horn sounded in the distance. It was the signal for danger.

And Wen Yuzhi also saw the stray beasts.

Several of them were charging straight toward them. They were extremely fast, almost reaching them in the blink of an eye.

Chong Fengshuang looked terrible.

Stray beasts rarely appeared during the day. And even if they did, they normally would not move in packs the way this group was.

That was exactly why the hunting team always chose to go out during the daytime and return before dark.

But now a stray beast pack had appeared in broad daylight.

Judging by the horn, the hunting team on the other side had clearly run into trouble as well.

And on Wen Yuzhi’s side, they had to face several stray beasts of their own.

These stray beasts looked somewhat similar to the few Wen Yuzhi had encountered the day before. Their intelligence was clearly a little higher, and seeing that there were only Wen Yuzhi and Chong Fengshuang, their eyes even showed a disturbingly human kind of greed.

And unlike those five stray beasts, they were not arrogant enough to want to toy with their prey before killing it.

They pounced immediately.

The white wolf lunged forward at once, intercepting the two stray beasts trying to attack Wen Yuzhi.

Wen Yuzhi pulled out his dagger. When one stray beast moved to attack the white wolf, he drove the dagger with perfect accuracy into its back.

The stray beast immediately let out a cry of pain.

But it did not die. Instead, it whipped around furiously and tried to tear into Wen Yuzhi.

Wen Yuzhi had already expected it might strike back. Calm-faced, he raised the dagger and stabbed it into the creature’s eyeball.

No matter what kind of life-form it was, the eyes were always one of the most fragile weak points on the body.

With its eye pierced, the stray beast screamed even more shrilly, but it still did not die.

Compared to the stray beasts Wen Yuzhi had encountered before, this group was obviously far more tenacious.

Wen Yuzhi also noticed that each of them seemed to have a collar around its neck.

But before he could examine it more closely, two more stray beasts lunged at him.

Worse still, those two beasts could actually spit fire from their mouths.

Wen Yuzhi rolled across the ground in a scramble, barely dodging the fireball flying at him.

It was a close escape. The fireball brushed right past him, and one corner of his cloak was inevitably singed by the flames.

Looking at the fireball that had blasted a crater into the ground, Wen Yuzhi frowned.

These two stray beasts were dangerous.

And to make matters worse, the white wolf and Chong Fengshuang were both tied down by several other stray beasts.

For a moment, the three of them were split into three separate locations.

Even though Chong Fengshuang had noticed what was happening on Wen Yuzhi’s side, there was no way for him to rush over immediately.

Wen Yuzhi, however, did not panic.

He locked eyes with one of the stray beasts and poured out his mental energy. In the instant the creature dazed, Wen Yuzhi jumped onto its back and used the same method as before, driving the dagger into its eyeball.

That move only enraged the beast further.

It violently flung Wen Yuzhi off its back, while the other stray beast rushed forward at once. Its target was Wen Yuzhi’s throat. It wanted to bite open this human’s neck.

With both stray beasts charging him at once, there was no way for Wen Yuzhi to dodge.

Just as he was preparing to reveal his wings and fight them head-on, the sky suddenly darkened.

...Had night fallen?

Wen Yuzhi froze for a moment.

Then he realized it was not night at all, but that something had blocked out the sun overhead.

Amid the howling wind, Wen Yuzhi saw a huge dark mass approaching in the distance.

A sandstorm.

Meanwhile, not far from Blackrock Star, a starship disguised as a merchant vessel was hovering in place.

The person in the rabbit mask was staring at the screen on the control console.

“You should consider yourself lucky. The interstellar storm from not long ago affected this place. Their shielding system was damaged, so this is your best chance to enter Blackrock Star.”

As he spoke, the rabbit mask seemed to notice something. Narrowing his eyes, he said, “Looks like your luck really is good. The system has detected signs of a sandstorm forming in this area. You—”

Before he could finish, Xi Heyan cut him off.

“We’ll land here.”

After saying that, Xi Heyan looked at the planet on the screen, and his gaze darkened almost imperceptibly.

After so many years, he had finally returned.

Returned to the homeland where he had grown up.