“I’ll give you only ten seconds to decide!”
As the words fell, Dr. Forefinger’s countdown began.
Lin Zhen instinctively reached for the control lever.
Suddenly, a figure emerged from the shadows and placed a hand over his.
He turned to see Yun Che.
“Nine!”
“Don’t do this. The Doctor will brainwash us all; he won’t let another chance for escape slip by!” The black-haired youth spoke rapidly.
“A-Zhen, you have to understand this!”
“Eight!”
“I know… but I really…”
Lin Zhen lowered his head, then raised it again. Tears streamed uncontrollably from the corners of his eyes, his face contorted with grief.
“I really miss Yun Ruoxi so much!”
“Six!”
Another hand pressed down on Lin Zhen’s.
“You still have me!” Zi Jiu, having unbuckled her seatbelt at some point, appeared at Lin Zhen’s side.
“Five!”
“And me!” Kaos added his hand.
“Four!”
“Brother A-Zhen, I’m here too! I just can’t move!” the heavily injured Anvil shouted.
“What a touching display of brotherhood. Lin Zhen, you have everything now! But what about Yun Ruoxi? She has nothing! You’re even trying to take her sister away!”
At the third second, Dr. Forefinger’s cold voice rang out.
Lin Zhen’s entire body trembled. Yun Ruoxi’s voice echoed in his ears.
[B-But… I don’t have a home anymore…]
[And remember to bring Xiao Ai back for me. She’s going to be my bridesmaid!]
“Ajin brother!”
Hearing that familiar address from behind, Lin Zhen turned back in disbelief.
Through his blurry, tear-filled eyes, the blue-haired girl was smiling.
‘Is… is it you?’
As a tear fell, his vision cleared. The beautiful blue long hair had turned yellow.
Aili, who had woken up at some point, raised her hand through her tears.
“Take me away from here, Ajin brother! Sister went through all that trouble—”
“Waaaah!” she cried out. “She just wanted me to pursue freedom with all of you!”
“If she could see this, she would definitely smile and say that I’m the best sister!”
Listening to their conversation, Aili remembered the things her sister had said about parting when they were alone.
The sister who understood her sister best realized everything and made the right choice.
“For… freedom!”
Lin Zhen’s tears were still falling, but a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
Hand after hand stacked on top of his.
They lent him their strength.
They gave him the power to push the lever forward!
*Click!*
The lever was pushed to its limit.
The engine roared and thundered instantly. The small spaceship turned into a beam of light, charging into the Star Sea without looking back!
Was freedom on the other side of that sea?
“Since you’ve made such an unwise choice, just wait to be dragged back by Behemoth and brainwashed!”
No one cared about Dr. Forefinger’s snarling voice.
Everyone in the ship simply looked up at the boundless, brilliant Star Sea.
This wasn’t their first time entering the Star Sea.
But it was their first time stepping here as themselves, rather than as battle camp trainees.
Pitch black was the canvas of the Star Sea, adorned with colorful lights.
Suddenly, a blue high-energy beam swept past in the distance.
The group was stunned for a moment before smiles broke out on their faces.
‘Xiao Xi, is this you sending us off?’
“Begin searching for positive-negative jump nodes! Prepare to go home!”
Lin Zhen steered the ship, making a turn and flying straight toward the star ring made of meteorites outside the Fetal Star.
The meteorites in this belt were exceptionally dense, and beneath the rocky exterior lay hard metallic minerals. It was extremely dangerous.
One wrong move, and they would face the destruction of the ship and the death of everyone on board.
But because of this, the large warships could not enter the star ring.
The numerous meteorites could also be used for hiding and as cover against the warship’s weapons.
This was the best escape plan Lin Zhen had devised long ago in case they were discovered and pursued!
“Lin Zhen… Hello… Can you hear me?”
Just as the ship entered the meteorite belt, Chicha’s voice suddenly echoed from the control console.
“Senior Chicha, is that you?” Lin Zhen asked cautiously, despite his joy.
In the surveillance footage shown by Dr. Forefinger earlier, there had been a scene where the doctor disguised himself as Chicha.
So, while the probability was low, this “Chicha” could be a desperate trick by the infuriated Dr. Forefinger.
“A-Zhen, it’s me, Doctor Chicha!”
“It’s me. I’ve arrived near this Starfield and can rendezvous with you shortly. I’m sending the coordinates of the nodes I’ve detected for the jump to your Terminal now!”
Only he and Chicha knew about this, so it was undoubtedly the real Chicha.
Lin Zhen breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the positive-negative jump nodes Chicha had sent.
Wild joy instantly appeared on his face.
Whether it was due to the unique nature of the Fetal Star or some other reason, there were actually a large number of nodes nearby that could be used for positive-negative jumps!
Fortunately, there was one right in front of them.
After so many setbacks and so much bad luck, it was finally time for them to be lucky!
“I didn’t expect your luck to be this good.” The persistent Dr. Forefinger spoke again. “Chicha, as far as I know, you’ve been secretly helping Lin Zhen, haven’t you?”
“That’s right,” Chicha replied coldly.
Perhaps because the jump node was directly ahead of the ship, the Saint’s Hand Society wouldn’t be able to stop them even if they were alerted now.
Thus, Dr. Forefinger’s attitude changed again. He rarely admitted defeat, and his next words shocked everyone.
“I’ll take the loss this time!”
“I won’t report this to the Saint’s Hand Society; it’s too late anyway. I hope you all leave and never come back, and that you never get caught by their pursuers.”
He smiled coldly. “I will terminate her mandatory mind control. In return, I hope you keep this secret well!”
“That way, perhaps no one will ever know what happened between us! And I won’t have to do anything to Yun Ruoxi to cover my tracks!”
Dr. Forefinger’s threat was blatant.
“I understand. I will keep my promise. I also hope you cancel Yun Ruoxi’s brainwashing once we leave!”
Lin Zhen’s gaze was incredibly cold.
He loathed this selfish man, but this was undoubtedly the best outcome—they could leave safely, and Yun Ruoxi wouldn’t be forced into mind control.
This way, he could return to the battle camp in the future and try to save her.
Indeed, he had no intention of truly keeping his promise to the Doctor, nor did he fear his pathetic threats.
For Yun Ruoxi, he would definitely come back!
Because that was the promise he had once made to her!
To return and get married!
‘Sigh, Lin Zhen, your life is ruined by Ruoxi. Your head is full of nothing but marriage.’
Lin Zhen was like an old general on a stage, covered in flags of doom.
“Cancel the brainwashing? Maybe!” Dr. Forefinger didn’t give a straight answer, only urged: “Go quickly! Otherwise, even with my cover-up, the Saint’s Hand Society will notice a ship leaving the Fetal Star!”
“Then you should be even more careful about keeping the secret!” Lin Zhen didn’t miss a single chance to taunt the Doctor. “We’re about to pack up and leave, but you’re still stuck here!”
“By the way, you should make sure Mo Yuan keeps the secret as well.”
“He won’t say anything.”
“Who knows?” Lin Zhen brought the ship to the jump node and pressed the button.
A cold light instantly lit up inside the positive-negative warp engine.
A transparent force flowed out, following the pipes that ran throughout the ship, covering the surface and forming a bubble-like structure.
The membrane wall remained intact. This bubble was the key to the jump, allowing the ship to pass through the cosmic membrane without being torn apart.
After all the hardships, they were finally about to escape.
‘Is Lin Zhen the first trainee in hundreds of years to escape with so many people from the battle camp?’
‘Come on, everyone, send a message saying “Lin Zhen is the GOAT” for me to see.’
‘Watching these two bicker is actually pretty interesting, like a love-hate relationship.’
Lin Zhen looked back at the Fetal Star and added one last sentence:
“It’s not you, but the rules!”
As he finished speaking, the jump initiated, and the ship began to blur. Dr. Forefinger’s voice instantly became distorted and unintelligible.
Lin Zhen and the others gripped their armrests, preparing for the violent shaking that occurred when crossing the membrane.
But one second, two seconds, three seconds passed…
A full ten seconds went by.
The violent shaking Chicha’s data mentioned never occurred. Instead, dozens of deep black lines appeared outside the ship, wriggling slowly like earthworms.
*Crack! Crack!*
The warp engine reinstalled next to Scarlet made a strange noise.
Then, the bubble protecting the ship suddenly popped and vanished.
The jump… failed?
Upon realizing this, the interior of the ship fell into chaos, and the barrage of comments exploded.
‘Ah, an accident happened?’
‘I knew it. There are still nearly twenty minutes left in this episode. How could it end that easily?’
“What’s going on?” Lin Zhen stared at the dashboard in shock.
The engine was intact and functioning normally. He had checked it before leaving, so it couldn’t be an engine problem.
Was the node wrong?
But Chicha had provided it! Could this Chicha be Dr. Forefinger in disguise? Were those two just now…
Lin Zhen couldn’t help but feel suspicious; the theory made logical sense.
But in the next second—
The voices of Chicha and the Doctor came through the speakers one after another, both sounding incredibly surprised.
Chicha: “Why is your signal still in the Negative Universe? Did the jump fail? But there shouldn’t be anything wrong with that node!”
Dr. Forefinger: “Hmm? It failed? But that is indeed a weak point in the membrane that can be used for a jump. Lin Zhen, did you fail to check the warp engine beforehand?”
“That’s impossible!” Lin Zhen argued. “I checked it before we left!”
“Then why? Forget it, whatever the reason, you’ve completely failed. Since you can’t jump, just come back to the battle camp obediently!”
Although Dr. Forefinger was happy that the escape plan had failed, he was very confused.
If there were no issues with the node or the engine, why did the jump suddenly fail?
His scientific instincts made him investigate reflexively.
He typed quickly on his keyboard, using the ship’s sensors to detect the situation on Lin Zhen’s end.
While analyzing the data, he added with a smile:
“By the way, my previous conditions still stand!”
“In your dreams!” Lin Zhen gritted his teeth. This was the chance Xiao Xi had sacrificed everything to create; he would never return to that place, no matter what.
“Heh, then what else do you…”
Dr. Forefinger’s voice trailed off.
New data appeared on the screen. He glanced at it casually, then suddenly sat bolt upright with a gasp of surprise.
“Wait, this is…”
“I’m almost there. Wait for me, I’ll take you to another galaxy.” Meanwhile, Chicha was calmly comforting Lin Zhen. “A-Zhen, try a different node first. If that still doesn’t work, we’ll think of another way to jump!”
“Okay!” Lin Zhen nodded and prepared to steer the ship away.
But Dr. Forefinger’s voice cut in first—
“Don’t waste your energy. The space within ten light-years of the Fetal Star has been locked down by the warship’s space solidifier!”
On the warship, Dr. Forefinger’s expression was incredibly grim.
He hammered at the keyboard frantically, muttering under his breath:
‘Is it you… Mo Yuan?’
[Delete data?]
[YES]
[NO]
A prompt popped up on the computer. Dr. Forefinger hit enter.
[YES]
In the next second—
The door to Dr. Forefinger’s room suddenly swung open, and a massive figure, nearly as tall as the doorway, stepped inside.
“Doctor, it’s time to stop!” Behemoth said coldly.
Dr. Forefinger raised his hands with a face full of innocence.
‘Holy crap, there’s another player!’
‘The Battle Royale starts now!’
‘Even Dr. Forefinger got played. LOL.’
‘So Mo Yuan really did snitch.’
‘I did feel like Mo Yuan was a bit annoyed with Dr. Forefinger earlier.’
‘This matches exactly what the UP Master I watch predicted. In the end, Lin Zhen…’
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