Throughout the city, the green elves, Tree God guards, and trainees from every battle camp heard the commotion and looked up in a daze.
Whether through windows or by looking directly, they saw it — the “bowl lid” that shielded the sky had violently shattered, leaving behind a massive hole.
Brilliant starlight poured down from the opening.
A blue-haired girl stood upon the starlight as if she were a solitary immortal. Her hair fluttered in the wind as she turned her head to cast a final glance at the surface.
Then, she flew into the breach and left the Tree God City.
‘Yun Ruoxi…’
In a corner of the city, inside a certain inn, the red-haired girl, Scarlet, whispered the name silently. She then pushed open a window and leapt out, vanishing into the end of an alleyway within a few steps.
Judging by her direction, she seemed to be heading out of the city.
“Wasn’t that Xinglan? Why did she go there?”
The green-haired girl asked in surprise, “Wasn’t she just here with us? Does any of you know when she left?”
“No!”
“Did she go and cause that massive scene?”
“As expected of the first, she really is headstrong!”
*Tap, tap…*
The sound of footsteps suddenly rang out as Flame Star, who had remained silent the entire time, began walking toward the exit.
“Flame Star, where are you going?” the green-haired girl asked hurriedly.
Flame Star paused and looked back at everyone, remaining silent for a long moment.
“The truth is… let us part ways here!”
“What?” E Chai was stunned.
The other two reacted the same way.
They all assumed he had lost his confidence due to his failure earlier that day, and they began to persuade him all at once.
“The mistake during the day couldn’t be helped! We can definitely do it next time, so don’t just give up!”
“Yeah, we’ve already come this far. Are you really going to give up, Flame Star? Let’s try one more time!”
“It is not… that I have lost confidence. I simply have my own matters to attend to!”
Flame Star spoke sincerely, “How about this? If you are willing, wait for me here for five days. If I return after five days, we will try to complete the survival test together again!”
“Is there anything more important than the survival test?” E Chai asked.
“Is it because of Xinglan?” the green-haired girl asked.
“No!” Flame Star reached the door and shook his head. “It is to sever my ridiculous love!”
As soon as he finished speaking, he walked straight out of the civilian house.
“Was that… Miss just now?”
Genbeier leaned half his body against the wall, poking his head out of the window to stare at the sky in astonishment.
“I thought she had left here a long time ago.”
“It seems she was delayed for a bit!” Guan Kelai pulled on his hood and stood up. “Prepare to move. We need to leave this place as quickly as possible as well.”
Genbeier suddenly turned and asked, “Do you really intend to leave? Aren’t you afraid of Miss?”
“I am afraid of her, but I am not afraid of the others…” Guan Kelai explained.
Before today, he had indeed been desperate to leave. However, that explosion had changed everything. With these devils around, there was nowhere in the entire world that was safe.
The only option was to leave this world entirely.
Furthermore, aside from Yun Ruoxi, he could tell that the other people in that team had very good characters. Following them might provide him with a way out.
Genbeier nodded. As he and Guan Kelai reached the door, he suddenly asked again, “Are you sure that channel of yours is reliable?”
“Even if it isn’t, there is no other way!”
“Fine then!”
Genbeier closed the door and went downstairs with Guan Kelai. They soon vanished at the end of the street.
***
Under the same night sky.
Dozens of minutes ago, just as Yun Ruoxi and Flame Star were negotiating, Lin Zhen and his group had arrived at the Giant Stone City.
They left the underground hall and reached the surface, only to be immediately shocked by the tense atmosphere within the city.
There was a sentry post every few intervals along the streets, and squads of green elf soldiers on duty could be seen everywhere.
“It seems that previous yellow elf invasion and the bombing have put the entire Giant Stone City into a state of war,” Kaos remarked with a sigh.
“This situation isn’t great!” Zi Jiu said worriedly. “Isn’t that Divine Stone supposed to be in the center of the city? At this rate, it will be difficult for us even to get close, let alone…”
Everyone understood Zi Jiu’s unspoken meaning.
Lin Zhen gazed at the silhouette of the Great Rock in the distance. “Let’s head over and take a look first. At the very least, we have to confirm the feasibility of the plan before we can discuss anything else.”
Lin Zhen’s emotions had been visibly fluctuating while they were waiting for Yun Ruoxi outside the Tree God City. Now, however, he had become strangely calm.
Yet, this calm felt like the precursor to a coming storm, making everyone feel quite uneasy.
“Right, let’s go to the Great Rock first. After that, we can see if we should cooperate with the Aristocrats or find some other way… either way, there will be a solution.”
Yun Che poked his head out to observe the soldiers on the street, searching for a path that could bypass everyone’s line of sight.
“If only Sister or Guan Kelai and his group were here,” Aili whispered suddenly. “They could definitely take us straight over.”
Hearing Aili’s complaint, the group fell into a momentary silence.
Zi Jiu bit her lip, turned around, and hugged Aili.
“Xiao Ai, it’s precisely because Xiao Xi isn’t here that we have to try even harder!” Zi Jiu said. “She certainly wouldn’t want us to be unable to do anything the moment we leave her side, right?”
“Mhm!” Aili nodded.
Zi Jiu wanted to say more, but then Yun Che suddenly spoke up.
“I have an idea!”
“What idea?” Kaos asked.
Yun Che pointed toward the sky. “Since the green elves have set up heavy security in both the underground and on the ground, we’ll go through the air!”
“Through the air?” Anvil repeated, looking confused. “But how are we supposed to do that? Sister Xiao Xi isn’t here, and none of us has a supernatural power that allows us to fly while carrying people.”
“No, there is no need to fly!”
Kaos understood the plan and spoke with an excited expression, “I can use my supernatural power to lead you all in a glide!”
“We just need a high enough starting point!”
“A Zhen, what do you think?” Yun Che asked.
“It works!” Lin Zhen nodded, having no objections. He didn’t have any better ideas at the moment, so it was worth trying Kaos and Yun Che’s suggestion.
“Are we going to glide from this giant tree?” Zi Jiu patted the massive tree beside them.
Kaos looked up and shook his head. “No, this tree is a bit too short. Although I could lead you in a glide from here, it would be easy to be spotted by the green elf Aristocrats living in the canopy.”
“Then we just have to make sure we aren’t spotted, right?”
Lin Zhen spoke suddenly. He snapped his fingers, and several discs flew out from his backpack.
“These are cloaking devices I made myself. Although they aren’t perfect and are easily exposed in bright environments, it is night right now. With the cover of darkness, there shouldn’t be any issues.”
As he spoke, he pressed a disc against his chest.
A second later, a blue light flashed across the side of the disc, and Lin Zhen’s figure gradually vanished into the night.
Except for the slight distortion in the air at his location — looking as if the space was being warped by heat — there was almost no trace of him.
Because this degree of spatial distortion would be noticeable even to an ordinary person during the day, he had never brought them out to use before.