The woman had a graceful and elegant figure, with breathtaking beauty and a noble, refined aura. She was none other than Lin Yi, the former number one beauty of Chongque City and a senior spy from Eden. She was, as expected, still alive.
Li Xiaofei’s gaze turned sharp as a blade. He asked, "Where are they?"
Lin Yi smiled faintly and said, "In a place you’re quite familiar with."
Li Xiaofei didn’t care for idle words and said, "Lead the way."
Amusement danced in her eyes as Lin Yi asked, "Don’t you have anything you want to ask me?"
Li Xiaofei replied coolly, "We can talk as we walk."
"So urgent?" Lin Yi said leisurely, "The infamous God of Slaughter, Li Xiaofei, who dared to kill even the Heaven-appointed Lord of Chongque City, turns out to be a man with such deep sentiment for his family."
She walked ahead of them. Li Xiaofei followed close behind. After walking for a while, he began to realize the path they were on felt familiar. It was the route toward the illegal immigrant’s camp.
A sense of foreboding grew stronger in Li Xiaofei’s heart. If Lin Yi had taken control of Taoyuan, the illegal immigrant’s haven, it would be an even bigger problem. The people in that camp cultivated the Natural Art, so their strength was modest at best. They would be no match for the operatives from Eden. If Lin Yi had truly seized control of the place, then by now, everyone there was likely already under her thumb.
This deepened the worry in Li Xiaofei’s heart.
Before long, they passed through layers of geothermal magma and arrived at Taoyuan. The secluded paradise, Taoyuan, was a world of its own. Fragrant flowers and birdsong filled the air, brimming with the harmony of untouched nature. It was a rare sanctuary, like a primal land deliberately preserved by divine hands.
The Taoyuan camp soon appeared before them. Li Xiaofei’s eyes narrowed as he looked ahead. To his surprise, everything within the camp appeared exactly as he remembered. There were no signs of battle or destruction.
Children played wildly outside, laughing joyfully. Thin wisps of smoke rose into the air; clearly, someone was preparing dinner.
The tranquil and peaceful scene left Li Xiaofei slightly taken aback.
Lin Yi said, “I’ve told you before, we share a common goal. We can cooperate. You don’t need to view Eden as some den of evil. We are not a cesspool of filth and corruption.”
Li Xiaofei remained silent as they entered the camp.
"Brother Li!" A young man named Jiang Shi spotted Li Xiaofei and greeted him warmly.
When Li Xiaofei had been framed by Ji Man, this young man had burned with righteous anger but had shown restraint in how he handled it. That had left a strong impression on Li Xiaofei.
"You’ve gotten stronger," Li Xiaofei said, patting his shoulder. He kept his expression neutral and casually asked, "Where’s Granny Village Chief?"
"Granny's been sick these past few days," Jiang Shi said, a worried look appearing on his face. "She’s been resting and cultivating in her own house. None of us have seen her for a few days."
Li Xiaofei nodded slightly and replied, "Alright, I understand. Go on with your work."
Jiang Shi grinned again and said, "Sure. I hunted a seven-colored deer in the wild yesterday. The meat is delicious. We’re making roast and stew tonight. I’ll bring some over for you later, Brother Li."
Li Xiaofei said, "Sounds good."
He continued walking deeper into the camp.
Many people greeted him warmly along the way. Although Li Xiaofei hadn’t visited Taoyuan often, the villagers had never lacked cultivation materials or essentials for survival ever since he replaced Nangong Longjian and took charge of supplying the camp with resources from Chongque City. As a result, they held deep gratitude toward him and treated him with the utmost respect.
Li Xiaofei returned their greetings one by one as he made his way toward Granny Village Chief’s residence. Lin Yi followed behind without saying much, her expression calm and unreadable.
When they arrived at the courtyard gate, Li Xiaofei pushed it open and stepped inside. The courtyard was silent.
The herbs Granny Village Chief had gathered and dried were neatly hanging on specially-made racks. Ground beast bones and other ingredients were also arranged in an orderly fashion. Nothing seemed out of place.
The main house was large. Li Xiaofei placed his palm against the door and gave it a gentle push. It didn’t budge.
He turned to glance at Lin Yi. She offered a faint smile, raised a single finger, and traced a subtle hand seal. A barely detectable stream of energy shot from her fingertip.
Li Xiaofei pushed again, and this time, the door opened. A bright light flared inside. A teleportation array that was ten meters in diameter was spread out before him. Its array lines glowed brilliantly.
Intricate, profound arcs and rune carvings radiated intense light, forming a silver beam that shot upward from the center of the formation like a single, divine pillar. The shimmering energy rippled like water, creating a dazzling sight.
Unexpected? Yes. But also perfectly logical. Eden might have secretly taken control of Taoyuan, but they would never treat it as a primary base. Knowing Lin Yi’s cautious personality, it was only natural she would follow the strategy of the cunning hare with three burrows. She would never place all her cards or her presence in one place.
Li Xiaofei, bold as ever and confident in his strength, didn’t ask questions. He simply stepped forward and entered the teleportation array. His vision blurred. Roughly ten seconds passed before his senses returned to normal.
Li Xiaofei mentally calculated the teleportation duration and the size of the formation. Given both factors, the destination had to be at least several star systems away from M73.
In this era, cross-galactic teleportation arrays were strictly regulated by official authorities. If Eden could construct one linking M73 to multiple star systems in such a short span... it meant one thing, they had a top-tier formation grandmaster working within their ranks.
Li Xiaofei narrowed his eyes as he looked ahead. He was momentarily taken aback. The scene before him felt strangely familiar.
It was a shattered, lifeless, yellow-hued Earth. The land was cracked as far as the eye could see, its tectonic plates broken apart. Trees had withered and turned to stone, while rivers had long since dried up.
A massive, fractured moon hung in the sky. It was easily ten times larger than the one from the real Earth. Its pale surface bore three colossal cracks, as if someone had whipped it three times, leaving it looking like a bruised and battered cake. It looked utterly ruined.
Is this Eden’s base? It looks more like a discarded Earth, an alternate version of the planet that had been destroyed and then completely abandoned. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ NoveIꜰire.net
A realization suddenly dawned on Li Xiaofei. The authorities of Chongque City had been tirelessly hunting Eden for centuries, yet they had never located its exoplanet base. And now he understood why. Eden's base wasn’t located somewhere outside the solar system. It was on another Earth.
Lin Yi led Li Xiaofei to a desolate mountainous region on this broken version of Earth. Countless yellowish stone spires surrounded a vast complex of ancient shrines. The center plaza contained an enormous statue of a bald man riding a turtle.
Li Xiaofei stopped and studied it for a few moments before scoffing and muttering with a laugh, "Ugly as hell."
Lin Yi’s smile faltered slightly.
A few moments later...
Li Xiaofei saw Granny Village Chief, locked inside a metal cage, at the entrance to the central shrine.
She wore an old patchwork robe. Her long, white eyebrows hung past her waist. One hand gripped the bars tightly as she sat hunched in a corner of the cage. Blood streaked down her face, and the dark sockets where her eyes should have been were hollow and raw. Her eyes had been gouged out.
When she heard the sound of approaching footsteps, Granny tilted her head slightly and suddenly spoke with a hoarse and frail voice, "Is that you, Little Li?"