“One step further?”
Lin Zhen rubbed the comb Yun Ruoxi had given him in his pocket, pondering Yun Che’s words.
Suddenly, he thought of something and said immediately, “Maybe it’s possible! But I need a little time!”
“How long?” Kaos, who hadn’t been able to get a word in, finally found an opening and asked.
“It depends on how long it takes to get in touch!” Lin Zhen said.
“What do you mean?” Yun Che was puzzled.
“Do you remember the Chicha I told you about before?” Lin Zhen spoke very quickly.
Everyone naturally remembered and nodded immediately.
“He told me back then that when I left the Asha Star system, I should contact him, and he would help me escape!” Lin Zhen said excitedly. “So after landing on the taixing, I immediately sent him my position.”
“If he received it, he must be on his way now!”
“You mean we should wait for him to come over?” Kaos asked.
“No!” Lin Zhen shook his head.
“He doesn’t need to come. He only needs to help me disguise the neck collar signal remotely! He once hacked into the battle camp’s central control system to help me block the surveillance and help me undo Xiao Xi’s mind control.”
“He can definitely handle something like this!”
“So as long as I can get in touch with him, this plan will be foolproof!”
「It’s Chicha again. The omnipotent Chicha is just too useful.」
「Goblins: Daddy is here!」
「Daddy, save us!」
「Lao Lin really is something. If he’s not relying on his wife, he’s relying on his big daddy. Can he even stand on his own?」
「Wait, you guys. Chicha is a cyborg; they shouldn’t have a gender, right? In that case, couldn’t Chicha also be a mechanical maiden?」
「Sigh, Lao Lin’s life of living off others!」
“So we have such a powerful helper!”
Kaos gave Lin Zhen a surprised nudge with his elbow. “A Zhen, you’re not a good friend. Why didn’t you say so earlier? You made me worry for nothing!”
Anvil nodded vigorously in agreement.
Lin Zhen rubbed his arm and said apologetically, “Even if I contacted Chicha, he wouldn’t be able to come here immediately. Besides, all my attention was focused on finding the metal elements before.”
“If I hadn’t heard what A Che said and happened to remember it, I might have waited until he contacted me to think of it.”
“Dummy,” Zi Jiu curled her lip and whispered.
Kaos also laughed. “You actually forgot that? A Zhen, you aren’t that smart after all!”
“Stop joking and hurry up and contact him!” Yun Che urged.
“Yeah! Then I’ll disable the blocking! But after I contact him, Chicha’s reply usually takes anywhere from a few hours to a few days. If Chicha is really rushing toward us, we should only need to wait for 1 day at most.”
“We can still afford to wait for 1 day!”
“Alright then!”
Lin Zhen nodded and then disabled the signal blocking on the neck collar.
He waited for a moment, but since no message came from the neck collar, he reached out and tapped the edge of the collar twenty times.
This was the connection signal they had agreed upon during their second-to-last contact.
“Let’s go!” Lin Zhen stood up. “Let’s get some rest first.”
“Wait!” Kaos had a look of surprise, giving him a “Is that it?” look.
The others didn’t speak, but they also felt it was a bit too fast and looked at Lin Zhen one after another.
Lin Zhen felt a bit helpless and could only give them a “It really is over” look in return.
Then, he went down from the “mountain top” with the group.
They found an uninhabited building in the middle of the great rock and rested while waiting for Chicha’s reply.
The wait was long, especially when they didn’t know if there would be a reply.
After all, the Star Sea was so vast. Although the Xin Hao Fasheqi that Chicha gave Lin Zhen was said to be able to bridge very long distances, what if the location of this survival test was just that far away?
Or what if the location of the survival test was so far that Chicha couldn’t reach it at all within 2 months?
These were all factors that could affect the plan.
Lin Zhen thought of them, and Yun Che thought of them too, but neither of them mentioned these factors to avoid spoiling everyone’s mood.
Lin Zhen even secretly made up his mind that he would wait for only 1 day. Even if there was no news from Chicha by then, he would pretend he had made contact and proceed with the plan as normal.
Fortunately, luck was on their side this time.
After one night, Lin Zhen, who had been unable to sleep, lay on the bed and watched the sun rise outside the window. While his mind was wandering and thinking of Yun Ruoxi, a familiar voice sounded in his ear.
“Lin Zhen… Hello… Can you hear me?”
Lin Zhen performed a kip-up and sat up abruptly from the bed.
“I can hear you, Elder Chacha!”
“Good. I am currently rushing to your location. I am currently about 100 light-years away and will need 10 days. Until then, you must wait patiently.”
Although Chicha’s tone was cold, Lin Zhen could hear some warmth in it.
He shook his head.
“Elder Chacha, we don’t have 10 days. Before that, we plan to start our survival attempt!”
“Is it that plan you told me about before?”
“Yes!” Lin Zhen answered.
In the next second, there was a soft click as the door was pushed open. The others, who had heard the commotion, walked in curiously.
Before Lin Zhen could speak, Chicha said softly, “Don’t worry, I’ve temporarily blocked the signals for everyone in this building.”
“Elder Chacha!” Zi Jiu said politely, and the others followed suit, calling out to him.
“Hello, Zi Jiu, Yun Che… I’ve long known about you from Lin Zhen, and I’ve felt a spiritual connection with you for a long time. However, it seems someone else isn’t here?”
“Xiao Xi stayed behind to cover our retreat, and her whereabouts are currently unknown!” Lin Zhen said gloomily. Then he reacted. “Wait, Elder Chacha, can you help me find Xiao Xi’s location?”
It wasn’t that they hadn’t tried to use the Xin Hao Fasheqi to confirm Yun Ruoxi’s current position on the map, but they didn’t know if Yun Ruoxi had lost her Xin Hao Fasheqi in battle or if she really hadn’t escaped from the tree god city.
From last night, her displayed position had always been in the tree god city.
Lin Zhen and the others were naturally inclined to the former, but they couldn’t help but worry about the possibility of the latter.
“I’ll try!” Chicha said, then went silent for a few minutes.
In the meantime, the room was terrifyingly quiet.
Lin Zhen’s breathing was heavy, and his eyes were out of focus.
Aili gripped the hem of her clothes uneasily and bit her lip hard. Her eyes were so red it looked like she would burst into tears in the next second.
The others were also full of worry.
Until Chicha’s voice sounded again.
“Found her!” Chicha said. “She’s on her way to your location!”
「Nice!」
「Lao Xi is still strong.」
「Actually, she almost failed, if Mo Yuan hadn’t saved her.」
“Phew!” Lin Zhen and Aili breathed a sigh of relief instantly.
The latter’s legs even went weak, and she collapsed into Zi Jiu’s arms. “Sister is really okay! That’s wonderful!”
“However, there are two locals with her,” Chicha added.