T/L: The main story ends at chapter 123, so we’re suuuper close! Don’t worry, there’s a total of 9 extra chapters, so we’re not done yet!
The traction array took shape, and Qiao Yi separated the two isolation spheres, gathering the two forces with magic power and shooting them towards the center of the array.
Upon receiving the energy, the array visibly trembled and then began to emit a series of white lights. Qiao Yi approached the tall young man, smiled friendly at him, and then waved his hand in front of the young man, who suddenly felt an itch and scratched his neck, removing a piece of old black scale.
“Trade it for a toy.”
Qiao Yi spoke and took out a toy to hand over. The young man hesitated for a moment before happily trading the scale for the toy.
Having obtained what he wanted, Qiao Yi returned to the formation and shot the scale, still warm and infused with the young man’s aura, into the formation.
The array, which had been glowing rhythmically, suddenly brightened upon the scale’s entry. The scale, combined with the two forces within, transformed into a thin black line that spun wildly within the formation.
Qiao Zhiya subconsciously held his breath and stepped forward.
After spinning wildly, the black line suddenly stopped, pointed in a direction, and then emitted a burst of black light. The formation disintegrated instantly, turning into magical flames that wrapped around the black light and dissipated into the air.
“It was still affected by the force field around the monster, unable to lock onto a position for long,” Qiao Yi said, waving his hand to dispel the strange smell lingering in the air after the black light disappeared. He turned to Chu Rong and said, “All we got was a vague coordinate: east.”
Chu Rong, hearing this, looked at the star map. His gaze moved eastward and noticed that the path led to the active asteroid area they encountered on the first day they ventured into the asteroid belt. He felt a stir in his heart and said, “Even a vague coordinate is enough. Let’s move out.”
The flagship changed direction towards the east. As it was already late, Chu Rong ordered everyone except the on-duty personnel to rest, leaving Qiao Zhiya behind to keep watch with him in the command room.
“Come, sit here.”
Chu Rong took out a wide sofa and placed it in the corner of the command room, gesturing for Qiao Zhiya to come over.
Qiao Zhiya, happy to not be sent to rest, quickly ran over and sat beside Chu Rong, nestling close to him and resting his head against Chu Rong’s chest in an affectionate manner.
Chu Rong held him, kissed the top of his head, leaned back on the sofa, and gently stroked his back. Worried he might be cold, he pulled out a blanket and covered him, then opened the star map to study the path through the asteroid belt to the east.
As Qiao Zhiya felt the gentle pats and was surrounded by Chu Rong’s presence, he gradually grew drowsy, slipping down to rest his head on Chu Rong’s lap, sleeping peacefully with his mouth slightly open, inviting a kiss.
Chu Rong, shifting his gaze from the star map, watched Qiao Zhiya’s sleeping face for a long time. He suddenly pulled the star map down to cover them both and leaned down to gently kiss his lips.
Lin Zhen, who was on-duty, noticed this scene reflected on the screen and quickly looked away, a smile tugging at his lips.
Without circling around to search for that one asteroid, the flagship reached the active asteroid area they first encountered in just two days. The previously cleared area was now filled with asteroids again. Chu Rong ordered the flagship to stop and observed for a few seconds before turning his head and asking, “Can we use the traction formation again?”
Qiao Yi nodded and replied, “We can try, but there’s no guarantee of results.”
“Let’s give it a try. Thank you for your hard work,” Chu Rong responded.
The experiment subject No. 09 – also affectionately nicknamed Xiao Jiu1Little Nine by them – wearing a hood, was called over again. This time, Qiao Yi didn’t use toys to trade for the scale but instead exchanged a bottle of wood-elemental potion for some blood, advising, “Drink a drop daily. The mixed bloodlines in your body will affect your lifespan and health. This wood-elemental potion can help stabilize and integrate them. Don’t worry, your condition will improve.”
The young man looked at him blankly, with some confusion in his eyes.
‘A condition? What condition?’
He touched his face, different from others, smelled the fresh and soothing fragrance of the healing wood-elemental within, and then gave Qiao Yi a silly smile — he liked these gentle people, very much.
Qiao Yi smiled as well, then used magic to take some blood from the young man’s hand and also took an old scale. He returned to Chu Rong and Qiao Zhiya, beginning to draw the formation.
Affected by the blood, the scale turned into a dark red line this time, and the formation’s glow seemed dimmed by the blood, although the line eventually started spinning, albeit slowly.
After more than ten minutes passed, just as everyone was beginning to doubt whether the formation was malfunctioning, the dark red line suddenly stood up and then disappeared along with the formation.
“The monster’s lair is either above or below this area,” Qiao Yi said, looking at Chu Rong.
This was an unexpected find — Xiao Jiu indeed had some blood similar to the monster’s.
Now the question was whether to go up or down.
Everyone’s gaze fell on Chu Rong. Chu Rong looked at the star map, carefully observing the pattern of the active asteroid area, then turned to Xiao Jiu and asked, “Which do you choose, up or down?”
He was startled, his silly smile fading, as he uneasily moved closer to Qiao Zhiya. Seeing everyone looking at him, he hesitated and then answered, “Up?”
The group looked at the scan image, seeing that it still showed asteroids above, though they were gradually leaving the active asteroid area. They thought to themselves that the path seemed easier if they went up.
However, Chu Rong immediately made a decision, saying, “First enter the active asteroid area, then follow their trajectory downward. Activate the protective barrier to avoid the flagship being struck by asteroids.”
Everyone was stunned.
“Sir?” Lin Zhen asked, puzzled.
Xiao Jiu had just said to go up, and the formation was activated using his blood – perhaps he had some sense of the direction.
This time, Chu Rong didn’t have to explain, as Qiao Yi spoke first, “Cunning and deceitful, from inside out, even the blood can lie. Xiao Jiu wouldn’t lie, but the monster’s blood would.” Even if Chu Rong had decided to go up, he would have advised going down.
The young man was taken aback and looked towards Qiao Yi, replaying the term “Xiao Jiu” in his mind. His eyes gradually brightened. ‘Was Xiao Jiu referring to me? Do I have a name now?’
Hearing this, the others remembered the misleading asteroid coordinates they had encountered. They exchanged glances and quickly accepted this reasoning.
The three flagships began to line up and descend deeper into the active asteroid area, dodging asteroids as they went.
“The monster is very cunning. These misleading asteroid coordinates were all placed in the upper part of the asteroid belt, subtly diverting our search direction,” Fan Xiangnan, who had just come on shift, couldn’t help but sigh after hearing everyone’s analysis.
Lin Zhen stepped down from the monitoring station, patted him on the shoulder, and silently agreed.
Fan Xiangnan immediately composed himself, returned a smile, thanked him for his hard work, and took his place at the monitoring station.
After descending for about half a day, the flagship’s scanner suddenly issued an alarm — the magnetic field ahead was unusual, and entering it could cause the flagship to lose control.
“Sir.” Fan Xiangnan immediately turned to Chu Rong.
Chu Rong squinted, waved his hand to signal the flagship to stop, and pondered while tapping the control panel.
“The monster is just ahead,” Qiao Yi said, coming to Chu Rong’s side and looking at the screen filled with red alerts. “There was definitely an asteroid with the true transmission coordinates in this active asteroid area before, but the monster destroyed it, leaving a fake one to mislead us to the wrong coordinates.”
They had been led in circles by that fake asteroid, straying further off course. To prevent them from noticing anything amiss, the monster even used the insect race to mislead them into thinking the monster’s lair was deeper, thus neglecting this peculiar area at the edge of the asteroid belt.
The enemy was indeed very cunning.
Chu Rong thought of something and turned to Qiao Yi, saying, “I remember that last time you and your wife left the asteroid belt in a homemade vessel with a driving system different from traditional ones?”
Qiao Yi met his gaze with a slightly approving smile and nodded, “Yes, it’s a system that isn’t affected by any magnetic field in this world.”
Magic stones are driven by magic, and in this world, magic can almost do anything.
Mi Lai, who had been deeply immersed in the ocean of mecha knowledge, was personally brought over by Chu Rong. After understanding the request of this son-in-law, Mi Lai first frowned, then waved his hand, took out a large hammer and a pile of magic stones, and said, “It’s just creating a parallel driving system, simple. Give me the flagship’s schematics.”
Qiao Zhiya quickly handed over the schematics with a pleasing smile towards his mother.
Mi Lai, moved by her son’s smile with his ears perked, hugged him tightly, rubbing his chest and shoulders due to their height difference, and said excitedly, “Baby, do you want to learn? No problem, Mommy will teach you! Mommy will teach you everything! My baby is so eager to learn and cute, Mommy loves you!”
Qiao Zhiya, blushing from the attention, hugged her back slightly and softly said, “Thank you, Mom.”
Creating the magic stone system required magic infusion throughout the process. When he was on the magical continent, he couldn’t learn it because he didn’t have magic. Now, he could finally learn it, fulfilling a childhood dream.
Standing nearby, Chu Rong, seeing their overly intimate posture, had a slightly stiff expression. He couldn’t help but look at Qiao Yi, who was smiling contentedly at his wife and son, seemingly not seeing anything wrong with their embrace. Chu Rong felt a pang in his chest and silently turned his gaze away.
The three flagships stopped and began modifying the driving systems. With limited magic stones, Chu Rong decided to transfer everyone from the other two flagships onto the Chu family flagship and then store the other two flagships.
Flagships are more complex in both system and structure compared to other vessels. It took Mi Lai two full days with Qiao Zhiya’s help to understand the flagship’s navigation system, after which they began the intense process of modifying it with the magic stone system.
The mother and son duo worked side by side, teaching and doing, with Mi Lai’s hair tied up in a bun and Qiao Zhiya sporting a little tuft on top of his head. They wielded a large hammer and a small hammer, and magical energy was flying everywhere as they worked fervently. Their stature, both much shorter than average, made them look like two children playing house together, which caused Master Ren, who came over to help, to twitch his eyebrows in amusement.
Three more days later, the parallel magic stone navigation system was finally completed. Under everyone’s gaze, Qiao Zhiya stepped forward, placed his hand on the magic stone beside the control panel in the command room, and carefully injected his magical energy.
The flagship’s previously dormant navigation system immediately lit up with indicator lights, waiting for his next command.
“We did it!” Mi Lai exclaimed, clenching her fist in joy, her eyes full of pride.
Chu Rong’s lips curved slightly as he stepped forward to stand alongside Qiao Zhiya at the command station. He looked at Qiao Zhiya, his expression softening, and in a much gentler tone than he used with Lin Zhen and Fan Xiangnan, he instructed, “Proceed, break through the magnetic field.”
Standing at the forefront with Chu Rong for the first time, working together, Qiao Zhiya felt both nervous and excited. Fearing his emotions might affect the magic output, he took a deep breath to steady himself, avoided looking at Chu Rong’s current expression, and increased the magical output, focusing intently on the scanning screen as he responded, “Yes!”
