"Are you starting up the starship right now?" Jiang Ye walked up behind A-Xing, suddenly poking her head out to watch his actions, asking curiously.
"It's already started, we're entering the launch countdown," A-Xing answered automatically.
As soon as he finished speaking, he realized something was off, his back prickling with chills. He jumped in his seat and turned around, jaw practically hitting the floor. "Xiao Jiang? How are you alive?!"
"Hmm?" Jiang Ye's eyes curved, an unfathomable meaning hidden in her smile.
"Pff, that's not what I meant, I mean, you managed to log out?" A-Xing couldn't believe his eyes. He stepped forward, grabbed Jiang Ye's wrist, and looked her up and down. At last, with suspicion, he asked, "You weren't forcibly logged out again, were you? Xiao Jiang, didn't I tell you? You shouldn't stress about things in reality. I feed you Nutrient Solution on time every day to keep you going. If you keep forcing logouts like this, I'm worried your brain won't handle it."
A-Xing offered his advice with painstaking earnestness.
Jiang Ye couldn't find a chance to refute him at all.
A-Xing was just too naggy.
It wasn’t until A-Xing finished saying everything he wanted that Jiang Ye spoke up, resigned.
"You done?"
"Just about." A-Xing seemed to want to continue.
"Can I talk now?" Jiang Ye asked politely.
"Be my guest." A-Xing gestured with a flourish of his palm.
"First, I didn't force logout, I exited normally. Second, haven’t I told you I hate bitter melon-flavored Nutrient Solution? Why is my whole mouth full of bitter melon taste?"
"That's because the bitter melon flavor is cheap," A-Xing glanced to the right, muttering under his breath.
"Hmm?"
"Nothing, nothing!" A-Xing waved it off, quickly changing the subject. "Xiao Jiang, how did you suddenly fix the logout button? I thought before you couldn't exit the game at all?"
With A-Xing bringing it up, Jiang Ye recalled Sea Mirror Lian's face, and that indifferent look in his eyes when he erased Chubby Bird.
What a waste of such a beautiful NPC model, looking so good, but the person controlling him was heartless.
Jiang Ye chuckled.
"Destiny," she said, mystically throwing out these four words, then plopped down in the copilot seat and patted the armrest. "Let's go—onward to the stars and seas."
A-Xing grinned, jumped into his seat, and started up the ship.
Though this starship was outdated and ought to be scrapped, A-Xing had stubbornly revived it. It was old, yes, but it could still fly. When starting up, it shuddered so much that the familiar shaking and pressure against her back made Jiang Ye think of the tractors on Blue Star.
Clank clank clank.
After a fair bit of racket, the starship finally lifted off.
Jiang Ye buckled her seatbelt tight, leaned close to the dusty, grimy window, and through the hazy grime, looked down at the first planet she’d lived on since crossing over.
Nameless Star.
The higher the ship flew, the more Jiang Ye could see.
The garbage mountains, which once seemed insurmountably tall from below, now looked like small mounds of scrap metal piles from the starship.
The scrap building zone and shipping containers where she and A-Xing once lived were blocks like scattered toys from this height.
All kinds of wasteland dwellers bustled about on the Wasteland, and from above, they really did look like ants darting to and fro.
Jiang Ye had once been one of those ants.
She breathed on the glass, but it wouldn’t fog, and she couldn’t draw anything.
A-Xing suddenly got sentimental.
"Xiao Jiang, just wait, one day, your big bro here will take you all the way to the Empire Star! To the brightest, highest place in the star system!" he declared.
Jiang Ye withdrew her gaze from below and looked ahead.
Following the direction of A-Xing's proudly raised hand, above the dazzling, pagoda-like star rings, there glittered the brightest star of all.
That was the Empire Star of Dalibik.
The center of power.
A-Xing was all fired up, but Jiang Ye felt little interest.
"Why should we go up there, instead of them coming down?" she said absentmindedly, thinking: just the cost of escaping the Wasteland was already so much star coin, and all that time spent gaming wasn't enough to save up. If they really went to Empire Star, who knew how much more it would cost.
Too expensive.
She didn't know, but her casual words struck a chord in someone else.
A-Xing went silent for a bit, then seemed to relight with fighting spirit. "That's right!"
"One day, I'm going to make them all come down! Make them all meet us!"
"Xiao Jiang, you've got ambition! You see further than most!"
"We're going to break that ladder and make them all come down!"
"No..." Jiang Ye looked at A-Xing's fired up, juvenile pose, wanting to explain that wasn't what she meant.
But her explanation was clearly useless.
A-Xing had already taken her words as holy writ.
"Exactly!" A-Xing kept praising, "Before I was too short-sighted, just thinking about climbing up. But even then, I was just following their rules."
Seeing A-Xing lost in his own fervor, Jiang Ye sighed and pressed a hand to her forehead.
Kids could be too melodramatic, always making things more profound than they were. There was nothing she could do.
She let A-Xing chatter to himself and cast her gaze out into the distance.
And then—something happened.
Jiang Ye's eyes fixed as she grabbed A-Xing's arm.
"Look in front!"
"Relax, I'm looking," A-Xing said perfunctorily. But as soon as he glanced up and looked through the front glass, he was stunned. "What the hell is that?"
Across the once-clear starfield, a giant ship suddenly soared into view.
That ship was painted with custom spray paint.
Jiang Ye focused and realized it was the face of a fierce tiger.
"Scar Tiger!" They shouted the name at the same time.
A missile shot straight toward their dilapidated starship.
A-Xing hurriedly dodged.
The missile tracked with its own guidance. Gritting his teeth, A-Xing swerved skillfully among meteor debris, finally baiting the missile into colliding with a huge fragment.
The fragment shattered into even smaller pieces.
A-Xing kept dodging.
Suddenly, static buzzed through the signal channel, transmitted from Scar Tiger’s ship.
A-Xing tapped to connect.
"Bro, big bro, what’s up?" Even with sweat beading on his brow from nerves, A-Xing kept his tone light. "So eager to give us a parting gift?"
"A-Xing, quit the crap," Scar Tiger sneered. "I've been waiting here for you. No matter when you leave, I'll catch you! This is called..."
"Big bro, waiting for the rabbit," Skinny Monkey quickly chimed in.
"Correct!" Scar Tiger regained his momentum. "A-Xing, now you turn around and land back down. From now on, you and your little follower work for me in the game, and I can forgive you just this once. If not... you'll pay the price!"
"Ptui!" A-Xing shouted.
Jiang Ye, playing the 'follower,' leaned forward and spoke into the mic.
"Hey, little tiger, so if we work, how much are you paying us? We're open to negotiations."
"Who's 'little tiger'!" Scar Tiger roared in fury. "With your skills, you think you can bargain with me?"
"So, you’re not paying us?" Jiang Ye tutted. "That won’t work. That goes against basic Labor Law. No pay, no work. Play by yourself then."
As soon as she finished, A-Xing joined in, "Yeah! You play by yourself!"
With a smack, A-Xing cut the comms.
"Respect," Jiang Ye praised.
"Likewise," A-Xing grinned back.
"What are our chances?" Jiang Ye asked.
"What chances?" A-Xing was confused.
"If you don't have a plan, why'd you go all 'ptui' back there?" Jiang Ye glared.
"I just had a bit of sand in my mouth, couldn't I spit once?" A-Xing protested, aggrieved.
What a mess!
They exchanged glances, and A-Xing hurriedly re-opened the comms.
"Tiger Bro, about the whole working-for-you thing, is there any room to negotiate?" A-Xing tried to sound friendly.
"No negotiations!" Scar Tiger was now completely blinded by rage. "Today, I'm going to kill you!"
As soon as he roared, six more missiles lined up for launch.
"This damn tiger—those things aren't cheap. He really went all-in to catch us." A-Xing cursed.
"I can hear you!" Scar Tiger slammed the fire button.
A-Xing screamed, immediately jerking the controls to dodge.
But no matter how he mapped out escape routes or ran calculations, he couldn't find a safe option, no sure path out for him or Jiang Ye.
A-Xing's heart sank.
Were he and Jiang Ye really going to meet their end here?
A-Xing turned to look at Jiang Ye.
At that split second, a light shield suddenly appeared, enveloping their battered ship like a barrier.
A new Access Link requested connection.
A-Xing, suspicious, accepted.
"Is this Young Master With Money and A Leaf Boat?" came a familiar voice over the line. "It's me, Yuchi Xi."
"Don't worry, I'm here."
Never in his life had A-Xing found those six words so pleasant to hear.
Yuchi Xi, also known as Kunwu, had arrived—and the tide of battle was instantly turned.
After neutralizing Scar Tiger’s attack, Kunwu’s ship flew over to shield A-Xing’s vessel.
Scar Tiger couldn’t attack anymore—those missiles weren’t cheap.
Everything he’d saved over these years had only paid for a few. He’d just blown them all on A-Xing, to no effect.
Now, finding out A-Xing even had backup, he was furious.
Taking advantage of Scar Tiger’s delay, Kunwu opened the starship bay and let A-Xing’s ship dock.
Once A-Xing and Jiang Ye exited their ship, they came face to face with Kunwu.
In real life, Kunwu was burly and tall. Both A-Xing and Jiang Ye had to look up to really see his face.
The scar on his face was just like Scar Tiger’s.
"Long time no see, Young Master With Money, A Leaf Boat," Kunwu said with a smile.
"Just call me A-Xing."
"You’re shorter than I expected," Kunwu remarked quietly.
"Hey!"
"Jiang Ye," the black-haired woman stepped forward, extending a hand to Kunwu.
Kunwu shook it politely and looked Jiang Ye up and down.
Jiang Ye looked pale, weak as a thin sheet of paper or a transparent cicada wing, as fragile as she appeared ingame, but with even worse color.
In real life, Jiang Ye seemed so frail.
Kunwu forced down some tragic stories running through his mind and led them to the cockpit.
Inside, his subordinates were at the controls.
"You new guy, do you know who I am?" Scar Tiger, not sure what to make of A-Xing and Jiang Ye's rescuer, tried to take the initiative.
"Turn on the screen," Kunwu said, and the two ships went into video call.
The moment the screen lit, Jiang Ye caught the look of shock on Scar Tiger’s face.
"Kunwu…"
Scar Tiger muttered.
"You and them…"
"You’re Yuchi Xi!"
An old friends' reunion—what scene ought it be? Silent understanding, feelings swirling beneath the surface?
But Kunwu and Scar Tiger were no longer brothers.
Kunwu had a thousand things to say, but only said one thing.
"Let them go."
"No way," Scar Tiger replied, a sudden, cold laugh in his voice.
"You’ve got A Leaf Boat now, of course you say that," he sneered at Kunwu, staring at the man’s scar on the screen, watching as hatred swelled in his chest.
Why?
Why did Kunwu still act the hero, standing among the good guys?
He’d gone through the same as him, seen the same things, sunk into deeper and deeper darkness.
What right did this guy have to now play the protector?
Veins bulged on Scar Tiger’s neck.
"If you dare take them away today, Kunwu, you're my enemy."
"When have we ever stood on the same side?" Kunwu retorted coldly.
There was only one thing he could not understand.
"Did you forget how we ended up in prison? What you're doing now—how are you any different from those people?"
These words, so full of emotion, were the most agitated Jiang Ye had ever seen him since they met ingame.
She moved her focus off Kunwu and onto the image of Scar Tiger on the screen.
Scar Tiger, as if hearing the world’s funniest joke, burst out in wild, arrogant laughter.
"Isn’t this better?" his eyes gleamed. "Now I have the same power as them."
"Kunwu, with all your years, don’t you get it? Loyalty, friendship, it’s all bullshit. In this world, only power matters."
"If you aren’t ruthless, others will be ruthless to you."
Scar Tiger’s words sent a chill down Jiang Ye’s spine.
Kunwu pressed his lips tightly, at a loss for words.
But A-Xing broke the silence.
"Evil isn’t an excuse for becoming evil," A-Xing ruffled his straw-like hair, took a step forward, and looked up at the screen. "You’re just making excuses for your own selfishness."
"Picking on kids, ignoring lives, trafficking children," each word hit home, "Climbing up just to satisfy your own greed!"
"Who wants to hear your lecture?" Scar Tiger swore. "Kunwu, let me ask you one last time—this is your choice?"
Kunwu nodded seriously.
"Fine, great!" Scar Tiger’s expression twisted. "I’ll let you go for now. But Kunwu, remember: from this moment, your planet is next. I’ll make it mine."
With that, Scar Tiger spun his ship and left.
Kunwu had no intention of chasing him. With a look, he signaled his subordinates to change course toward Wasteland 1290.
"What an asshole," A-Xing grumbled.
"You said something good back there," Kunwu said, sounding approving.
"Me?" A-Xing pointed at himself.
"Hmm." Kunwu nodded.
"Heh," A-Xing waved it off, "I just quoted Xiao Jiang from before."
"Huh?" This time Jiang Ye pointed at herself. "When did I say that?"
"Back when we caught Scar Tiger sneaking kids out," A-Xing retorted, arms akimbo. "Don’t play dumb, you forgot!"
"Er," Jiang Ye’s gaze wandered away.
She really had forgotten.
Kunwu watched their banter, a trace of a smile flashing through his eyes.
Before he could say anything, the starship suddenly lurched violently.
"We’re hit by a shockwave!" the pilot shouted. "Requesting support!"
A-Xing, with the most expertise and best piloting skills, sprang into action without hesitation.
"This is... Star Disintegration?" Jiang Ye stared in awe at the distant scene, stunned beyond belief.
Kunwu looked as well.
The very planet Jiang Ye and A-Xing had just fled, the planet Scar Tiger was returning to, suddenly began to collapse.
No sound.
The greatest destruction Jiang Ye had ever witnessed was entirely silent.
A supposedly unbreakable planet fractured as if someone had pulled out its Core Extraction, and everything around scattered, fragmented, ready to crumble at a touch.
There should have been no sound, but Jiang Ye could almost hear faint cries and wails in her ears.
These voices came and went so quickly, she could hardly catch them before they vanished.
Then she heard the faint, elderly sound of weeping, but could not tell where it came from.
Scar Tiger’s starship had already been smashed to pieces, reduced to scattered scraps floating in the cosmic river.
Because of A-Xing and the pilot’s quick response, Jiang Ye’s ship dodged the disaster.
Yet not one person on the ship could muster joy.
Watching a planet disintegrate before your very eyes was not an easy thing to accept.
Faced with such tremendous force of nature, humans were utterly powerless.
In the utter silence, Jiang Ye saw a faint, gray shadow.
A giant figure, shaped like an old man.
This shadow was seized by a massive hand reaching down from above, lifted from the planet’s corpse and debris, then turned into a stripe of light and shot off toward the distant Empire Star.
Jiang Ye rubbed her eyes, looked again, and the figure was gone.
Was she seeing things?
"Did you see that?" she whispered to A-Xing.
"I saw," A-Xing answered, for once sounding grave.
"I mean, did you see an old man?" Jiang Ye asked seriously.
A-Xing was silent for a long moment, then put the back of his hand to her forehead.
"Xiao Jiang, I know witnessing this kind of devastation is hard to process. It's understandable that you’d get nervous system glitches, sensory illusions, even visual errors." He patted her shoulder consolingly, "Listen to me, you have to stay strong."
"Actually, planetary disintegration has become pretty common these days," Kunwu explained. "This isn’t the first time I’ve seen it myself."
"They all say it’s Dalibik’s karma," A-Xing snorted. "But if it’s really karma, shouldn’t the first to go be the big bosses’ planets? Yet it’s only these scattered trash planets and Wastelands, ignored and forgotten, that keep disappearing into the void."
"You never mentioned this to me before," Jiang Ye murmured.
"What’s the point?" A-Xing took a deep breath, re-energizing himself. "It’s all just the natural order!"
"Alright, alright, stop looking so down."
A-Xing reached out, deliberately cupping Jiang Ye’s cheeks, forcing her lips into a smile.
"Cheer up. At least we made it out alive."
"Mmm," Jiang Ye managed a smile, though inside she couldn’t feel light at all.
Was it really just her imagination?
She pondered the whole way. Even searching the Star Network, no one else mentioned feeling the same. In the end, she could only dismiss it as her own illusion.
If planetary destruction was random, then nobody knew which planet would be next.
Just as A-Xing said—she had to cheer up.
Jiang Ye gathered herself and adjusted her mindset.
Soon, the starship arrived at Kunwu's planet.
Wasteland 1290.
Though this was also a Wasteland, it was noticeably different from the one A-Xing and Jiang Ye had left.
Beyond the piles of trash, 1290 had a lively area.
Metal structures, rusted and battered, blinked with blue-and-red neon lights.
Kunwu led the way off the ship, showing them a rare smile.
"Welcome to Deegou Star."
"From now on, if you’re willing, this can be your home."