Although there was no sound, the three of them had an illusion that the black shadows seemed to be wailing.
"Damn it!" Itheri cursed, her face pale, "Our luck is just so lousy!"
"What's actually happening?" Li Qianxia asked.
"Hydrochange," Itheri spoke quickly, her voice anxious and desperate, "No one can explain exactly what it is, but it's as if it's the will of a planet, preventing anything that tries to 'take oil away from the gas station'!"
The black shadows seemed to get closer.
Itheri continued, "There's only one way to get rid of them, return all the hydrogen! Even what was originally in your own flyer!"
"If we give it to them, how are we going to get back?" Bi asked.
"We can't! If there were a dozen cosmic people, we might be able to break out, but that's assuming this is just a first-stage hydrochange." Itheri carefully piloted the flyer, trying to get closer to the atmosphere.
As she moved, the actions of the black shadows became faster, clinging to the flyer like ghostly figures right outside the transparent cabin walls!
Itheri turned her head to the left, where clearly there were no black shadows, yet it felt like something had hit the flyer.
She stared around warily, not daring to breathe, not daring to blink.
"It's over," Da Yi's voice came through, somewhat desperate, "Once you fall into a hydrogen station during a hydrochange, no one can save you."
"That's not necessarily true," Li Qianxia also felt somewhat alarmed and said in a hushed voice.
Li Changzhou disappeared from the bridge.
The flyer suddenly dipped, and Itheri shuddered, her gaze lifting to find Li Changzhou standing outside the flyer.
Her first reaction was that this was an illusion!
"Captain?!" came the exclamation through the communicator, and she began to doubt the reality of Li Changzhou before her eyes.
Li Changzhou frowned slightly, originally thinking that Li Qianxia's timidity was due to the scene resembling a ghost story, but it wasn't.
These black shadows gave off an unsettling, madness-inducing pressure.
He didn't rush to use "Emotion Control," reasoning that as long as it didn't actually drive one mad, the pressure might not be all bad, similar to the disaster about to befall Konglu Star.
The ghostly figures encircled the flyer, seemingly sizing up the suddenly-appeared Li Changzhou.
Li Changzhou scrutinized the ghostly figures as well, hesitating whether to make a move to test them.
But in the end, he decided against it.
This place was a "gas station," surrounded by hydrogen; if it were ignited, with his ability to control flames, he couldn't guarantee that he could fight—though escaping was a different matter—in such a scale of flames.
Itheri's eyes temporarily darkened.
When the light returned, she found herself back inside the mothership's flyer hangar, still at the pilot's seat of Flyer #2, as if the scene before departure had replayed.
"That was close!" Li Qianxia was the first to catch her breath, "If it wasn't for the old bro, we'd have definitely been done for this time." Thɪs chapter is updated by 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹·𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑒·𝗇𝗲𝘁
She might have been able to make it alone, but with Bi and Itheri, even with her protection, a breach in their spacesuits would have started a countdown to death.
Immortals could call the wind and rain, move mountains and overturn seas on planets, but in the vast universe, danger lurked everywhere.
Only once one became an Earth Immortal, and had their own 'territory,' could they explore the universe with relative safety—nothing was absolute; even Heavenly Immortals couldn't ensure that, only the 'victors' could.
Li Changzhou led the three back to the bridge.
The gaseous planet that filled the entire front window seemed harmless, aside from its enormity.
"I've already reported it, this planet has produced a first-stage 'hydrochange'," Da Yi said.
"First stage, there's a Second Stage?" Li Changzhou asked.
"Second Stage is when the whole planet awakens, but it's actually safer because from a distance it's clear when it has entered Second Stage—the planet will appear to have grown eyes," Da Yi explained.
"The planet... grew eyes?" Li Qianxia paused for a moment, recalling something.
Li Changzhou, Yang Qinglan, and Turquoise Pool exchanged glances.
"Growing eyes is just a metaphor," Engineer Houhou clarified, "No one knows for sure what that is, there are too many mysteries in the universe. From the sensors, the Second Stage hydrochange seems like a series of ordinary storms that, from afar, look like eyes."
"Eyes... What happens if there's a Second Stage hydrochange?" Li Qianxia asked cautiously.
"These 'eyes' become storm monsters," Itheri poured herself a hot drink, letting the warmth of the cup seep into her body, "These storm monsters will, at some point, leave their mother star and charge at other planets, sweeping away all the hydrogen there."
"Is there hydrogen in the atmosphere?" Li Qianxia turned to Li Changzhou, her emotions lost to shock.
"One in two million," Li Changzhou replied.
"Even that little won't be spared," the engineer said.
After a moment of silence, Turquoise Pool asked, "When do the eyes become storm monsters?"
"It's unclear, there's no pattern, even the Divine Will Great Wall hasn't figured out how hydrochanges happen," the engineer answered, "If all engineers worked on it together, they might figure something out, but there's too much that needs researching. Hydrochanges are rare, difficult to study, and aren't very beneficial, so only a few people focus on it as their subject."
"Troubles really do come one after another," Li Changzhou said.
First was the Lord of Radiance from history waiting for him, then the 'victors' reigning supreme and locking down the endgame, now hydrochanges, with Jupiter ready to unleash monsters to attack Earth anytime.
—No need to worry too much, many things can destroy humanity, like nuclear weapons, solar storms, meteorites, planetary oppositions in the Game of Value; these could all happen at any time. One more from Jupiter doesn't make much of a difference.