Facing the black-haired youth before her, whose perfection seemed almost divine, Shi Feirou hesitated and asked, "Mr. Chen, Xiaotong said you want to visit the other empires’ libraries?"
Chen Chu gave a slight nod. "That's right. Does anyone here know the way?"
The one-armed elder beside them smiled wryly. "I'm afraid we'll have to disappoint Mr. Chen. Before the apocalypse, our identities were fairly ordinary. None of us have ever left the Baili Empire.
"But, I do have a geography book that includes a basic world map. It shows the directions and capitals of the four major empires."
"Even just a map will do, as long as it can point the way," Chen Chu replied, a faint smile appearing on his face.
This world wasn’t exactly large, but it could hardly be called small either. If he had to search blindly, even Chen Chu had no idea how long it would take to find the other three imperial capitals.
"Mr. Chen, please wait a moment. I’ll fetch it right away," Mr. Jiang said respectfully.
Just as the elder turned to leave, Shi Feitong eagerly suggested, "Mr. Chen, could you take my sister and me along as well? We can help you organize the information."
"You can come. In fact, everyone will."
Everyone...? Those around him were stunned.
Shi Feirou, unsure if she had misheard, asked carefully, "Mr. Chen, do you mean to bring all of us, including Captain Gao and the others, to the other empires?"
"Yes." Chen Chu nodded.
Shi Feirou hesitated. "But if we all leave, what about the children? The base still needs some people to guard it. If we encounter mutated beasts—"
Before she could finish, Chen Chu interrupted calmly, "I mean everyone will leave, including the children. Since fate brought us together, before I go, I intend to find you a safer, more suitable place to establish a new base."
"What? Mr. Chen, you’re leaving?" Panic instantly spread among everyone, especially Shi Feirou and Shi Feitong, who were caught completely off guard. Time had been too short—they hadn't even had the chance to deepen their relationship with him.
"Mr. Chen, did someone at the base offend you?" Shi Feirou asked solemnly. She turned to look at the teenagers, thinking someone must have said something wrong to upset Chen Chu. Why else would he suddenly decide to leave?
Having a powerhouse like Chen Chu, someone who could annihilate an entire city and slaughter hundreds of thousands of mutated monsters in the blink of an eye, meant their survivor base was absolutely secure.
More than that, Chen Chu’s very existence represented hope for this entire world. If he chose to rally humanity, he could easily unite most of the surviving population of the Lost World and establish a new human empire, suppressing and sealing off the surrounding monsters.
Chen Chu shook his head lightly. "It has nothing to do with them. It's because my time is running out. This world is beginning to reject me. In a few days, I will have no choice but to leave."
Just as Chen Chu had suspected before, the longer someone who did not belong to this timeline remained, the greater the disruption they caused, and the stronger the world's instinctive rejection grew.
It was trying to expel him, who did not belong to this space-time.
For now, the rejection force was still weak, but it was steadily strengthening, like a rising tide that would eventually become a tsunami and swallow everything.
Thus, he needed to act quickly—to finish matters such as collecting the ancient cultivation arts stored in the other empires’ libraries.
Chen Chu’s explanation left everyone stunned, struggling to comprehend how powerful he must be if even the world itself was rejecting him.
"So that’s the real reason..." Shi Feirou bitterly smiled.
Since Chen Chu’s departure was due to an irresistible force, there was nothing they could do. Mr. Jiang, who had just returned, froze briefly upon hearing this, then bowed deeply to Chen Chu. "Thank you, Mr. Chen, for thinking of us. Old folks like me don't matter much, but these children and Little Rou truly need a better place to live."
He hesitated for a moment. "Mr. Chen, would it be possible for us to choose the location of the new base?"
"You have a place in mind?" Chen Chu asked, a little surprised.
Mr. Jiang nodded. "Yes. Mount Kawapode—the sacred mountain. An expedition team from the White Lion King Empire discovered ancient ruins there. It’s also said to be the source of the virus outbreak.
"After everything happened, our radios occasionally picked up signals from Kawapode. The survivors there had taken control of the ruins and claimed they were researching a cure for the virus, offering hope to save the world. Even the cultivation arts allowing infected people to strengthen their bodies came from there.
"Unfortunately, after a year, no news of a cure ever came. The last message we received only said they had found a way to save humanity. It’s been more than two years since any contact, but I still believe there may be hope hidden there."
After listening, Chen Chu turned to the Shi Sisters. "What do you two think?"
Compared to the others, he was a little more familiar with these sisters. Without their help, he wouldn’t have found the ruin so quickly, nor obtained the Emperor’s Command Emblem.
This was also why Chen Chu intended to help them before his departure.
Shi Feirou pondered for a moment before replying, "Kawapode is the source of the virus outbreak, but it might also truly hold a chance to save the world. However, this would trouble you greatly, Mr. Chen."
"It’s fine. Let’s go to Kawapode," Chen Chu said casually. Given his strength, he was an invincible existence in this world.
Once the decision to leave was made, Shi Feitong and Gao Tianxiang began organizing everyone to pack up. Whatever could be brought along had to be taken.
Meanwhile, Mr. Jiang and Shi Feirou followed Chen Chu into Yunxiao.
Chen Chu placed the university geography book Mr. Jiang gave him beneath the cockpit's large screen. "Yunxiao, scan the map and match it to our current coordinates and bearings."
As soon as Chen Chu issued the command, a beam of light swept across the book’s pages, scanning and recording all of the text and the simple map. A moment later, the data was projected onto the large screen.
The map only covered the Lost World’s central continent, marked with four major empires and over a dozen smaller countries. A flashing red dot on the southwestern edge of the Baili Empire showed their current location.
Chen Chu contemplated briefly, then drew a line across the screen with his hand. "First, we’ll fly straight through the southern region of Baili into the White Lion King Empire. After collecting the cultivation arts from their library, we’ll cross over this small country into the Black Tiger Empire.
"From there, we’ll circle around to the Azure Dragon Empire’s capital. After that, we'll enter the Sadora Forest and head toward Mount Kawapode. Any issues?"
Shi Feirou respectfully said, "No problem at all. We have no objections."
The red route he traced curved and twisted across the map, spanning more than sixty thousand kilometers. Even during the peaceful era, Shi Feirou and the others could scarcely have imagined such a journey.
By train, it would have taken months and required crossing multiple countries.
Nearly an hour later, Gao Tianxiang and the others finally finished packing. The teenagers each carried heavy packs on their backs, walking nervously out of the base.
For these youths, whose weakest were only at the first tier and the strongest merely at the beginning stage of the third tier, the outside world was perilous. Encountering even a single mutated beast or powerful monster could easily lead to death.
Following closely behind Shi Feitong, the teenagers boarded the fighter jet one after another. The leading boy, Wu Ze, widened his eyes in awe and exclaimed, "It’s huge inside! It looks just like a base!"
From the outside, Yunxiao appeared only seventy meters long, but inside, spatial expansion had increased its space seventeenfold. Just the rest area alone was spacious enough to accommodate everyone comfortably.
Stepping into the sci-fi styled fighter jet for the first time, the teenagers immediately forgot their fear. Their wide eyes gleamed with excitement as they eagerly took in their surroundings.
Chen Chu’s calm voice sounded from the side wall. "Feitong, take them to the rest area. Make sure they don’t wander around—the other sections house the munitions and power reactor."