19: Chapter 19 Reinforcements Arrive from the Sky! Leia's Choice

[Remaining Lifespan: 3683 days 4 hours 35 minutes 00 seconds]

[Energy: 530,376]

[Essence: 353,584]

This was the result of Li Yuan's continuous hunting for thirteen days on the deathly ruins of the Edge No. 7 outpost planet.

Ten years of life!

The death countdown that once hung over his head like the Sword of Damocles had now completely lost its threat. Even under the nourishment of the faint energy continuously absorbed by the [Intent of the Northern Darkness], his lifespan was no longer decreasing; instead, it was increasing by about one minute every day.

Five hundred and thirty thousand energy!

Li Yuan no longer needed to be stingy about the consumption of every single arrow. The 1,440 points of energy naturally gained every day basically covered the daily consumption brought about by the ten Light Guardians' "007" non-stop hunting.

Three hundred and fifty thousand essence!

The 1,000 points of essence required for the String-Controlling Weaver to promote to the second rank had long been gathered and could be advanced at any time. But Li Yuan had carefully studied the preview; the consumption of 10 energy points per arrow seemed extremely cost-ineffective at the moment and wouldn't help much in changing the current situation. What attracted him more was the third rank of [Lord of Light], whose promotion conditions were much harsher—it required a full 1,000,000 points of essence! He was still nearly two-thirds short.

If not for the intoxicating energy transmission process with Laya every day, Li Yuan would have almost felt numb and bored with this dull "mob grinding" work.

His current strength growth had entered a bottleneck period; subsequent hunting only brought numerical changes, seemingly without much practical significance.

“Calculating the time, the rescue from the Prey Star Domain Seventh Fleet should be arriving in these few days...” Li Yuan rubbed his chin, a hint of complexity appearing in his eyes.

Returning to human society was his strongest desire when he was struggling to survive. There was order, there were humans, and there was everything needed to live as a person. But now, this desire was mixed with more and more hesitation.

Returning meant safety, but it also meant he would lose this unique “hunting ground.” Where else could he find a “treasure land” like Edge No. 7, where the Zerg were dense, allowing him to efficiently grind essence and energy, yet with almost no motherships or Cerebrate command interference?

In other battlefields, the Zerg under command would endlessly and pervasively submerge any defensive line like a tide, just like Edge 7 planet before the system arrived.

The sky outside the command post was just beginning to brighten. Li Yuan woke up from a warm, soft, and reassuring fragrance, just as he had for the past dozen days.

His head was pillowed on Laya's pressed-together legs; the short-skirt styled Holy Light Dragon Scale Armor was soft and comfortable, and her retracted angel wings behind her were like the most comfortable cushions.

Her fingers were gently and rhythmically combing through Li Yuan's hair, her gaze peaceful and focused.

“Master, you're awake?” Feeling the movement on her legs, Laya looked down. Her peerless face seemed to emit a faint glow in the morning light, her smile gentle.

“Mm.” Li Yuan sat up, rubbed his eyes, and habitually looked at the system time. His gaze inadvertently swept over Laya's curvaceous body under the armor skirt, finally landing on her clear eyes.

A thought suddenly popped up without warning.

“Laya,” he asked softly, “do you want to go play in the human world?”

“Go to the human world... to play?” Laya tilted her head, genuine confusion appearing in her pure eyes.

“It's...” Li Yuan struggled to find the words to describe it, “to eat all kinds of delicious things—sweet, spicy, fragrant; to play with many fun things—watch movies, go to amusement parks, play games; to buy many beautiful clothes, not just ones made of light; to meet new friends, chat, study, and work with them...”

He described that once ordinary but now somewhat distant world. Following his words, Laya's eyes widened bit by bit, and the light in those eyes, which seemed to contain starlight, grew brighter and brighter, as if countless curious stars were twinkling.

“I will listen to Master,” Laya finally answered like this, her voice exceptionally submissive, “Wherever Master goes, Laya will go.”

But her eyes, filled with longing and curiosity, had already fully revealed her heart. It was a longing for “life” itself by an intelligent being.

Seeing her like this, the bit of hesitation in Li Yuan's heart suddenly dissipated mostly, and the impulse to take her to see the world surged up.

“It seems it's time to go back.” He smiled and made a decision.

However, before planning the return, there was still the indispensable daily “homework.”

“Laya, let's do our morning lesson first.” Li Yuan sat up and naturally reached out to pull Laya's soft body into his arms.

And Laya's reaction was more proactive than his. Almost the instant he opened his arms, she threw herself into his embrace like a young swallow returning to its nest. Her jade arms skillfully circled his neck, and she met him with her sweet-scented lips.

“Mmh...”

A surging torrent of energy arrived as scheduled, carrying a sweetness that made the soul tremble, instantly drowning Li Yuan's senses.

Compared to the initial intoxication, he had long since become accustomed to this impact, even starting to learn how to maintain a trace of clarity within this wave of energy to carefully experience the circulation of energy in his body and observe the subtle changes in the [Intent of the Northern Darkness] vortex at his dantian.

After an unknown amount of time, the wave of energy transmission slowly subsided.

Li Yuan looked down at Laya in his arms. Her whole person was like she had all her bones removed, limply leaning against his chest. Her delicate body under the armor was still uncontrollably trembling slightly, her fine white skin flushed with a moving pink, her eyes tightly closed, her long, curled eyelashes trembling like butterfly wings, and her breathing rapid and hot.

Li Yuan tightened his arms lovingly, letting her curl up more comfortably in his embrace. He held her shoulders and back with one hand and gently patted her back with the other, helping her calm the strong after-effects brought by the transmission.

His thoughts, however, drifted toward the practical issues of returning.

Going back wasn't as simple as just boarding a rescue ship. He had too many secrets and had to plan ahead.

How would he explain the power he now possessed with an F-rank talent like [Intent of the Northern Darkness]?

The dual SSS-rank classes [Lord of Light] and [String-Controlling Weaver] would be world-shaking just by looking at the rating.

And then there was Laya. Although she now had a Human Form, why such a strong girl hadn't been evacuated as part of the Kindling would be a huge problem.

“System,” Li Yuan called out in his mind, his tone a bit self-righteous—after all, it had docked so much of his life energy, it was time for the system to do some work: “My current summoning skills and F-rank talent are seriously mismatched. Is there any solution?”

Almost instantly, that energetic and sweet girl's voice rang out in his mind, without any negative emotional fluctuations. It was unclear whether she hadn't noticed or didn't care about Li Yuan's anti-theft of the energy flow the system had docked.

“I'm here, host sir~ Yes, it's possible, host sir~” Customer Service Agent No. 1518's tone was still brimming with enthusiasm. “May I ask what your specific requirements are?”

“I need a disguise. My talent and class need a reasonable explanation.”

“Understood~” Customer Service Agent No. 1518 responded quickly. “It is suggested to completely hide the String-Controlling Weaver class; its skill release mechanism is unique. The Lord of Light class and related summoned units can be perfectly disguised as the ‘Light Talent’ series.”

“The system suggests disguising it as a B-rank talent: Light Energy Messenger. This talent has the ability to summon light-element combat units. Its initial power and growth curve match the combat strength of your currently summoned Light Guardians, making it unlikely to cause suspicion.”

“B-rank?” Li Yuan raised an eyebrow slightly. Memories of his previous life showed that C-rank and above were the Kindling populations that the Human Alliance spent great effort to cultivate, and among them, B-ranks could be directly recommended to military academies, forming the middle-tier group of military schools. Disguising as a B-rank Light Energy Messenger did indeed seem good.

“Please rest assured, host. Captain-level summoned units can freely switch between ‘Angel Combat Form’ and ‘Human Form.’ In Human Form, she can simulate any Light-type sub-talent you need that is below her talent level.”

Li Yuan felt relieved: “Good, let's do that.”

The subsequent hunting continued. But Li Yuan's mindset was already different; he was no longer hunting just for accumulation, but more like a farewell, making a final inspection of these ruins that had transformed him.

He tested Laya's Human Form—

With her wings hidden and her divine light restrained, Laya looked no different from an 18-year-old human girl—pretty, cute, lively, and agile.

She simulated a B-rank “Song of Light” talent, the effects of which were enhanced basic healing abilities and area-of-effect light-type skills.

As for clothing, the Holy Light Dragon Scale Armor could be hidden. Li Yuan found a bunch of female military uniforms from the command post for Laya to wear for now, and she looked quite heroic and valiant.

Only, when changing clothes, Laya actually hid the Holy Light Dragon Scale Armor right in front of Li Yuan, which led to Li Yuan nagging her and educating her in various ways that she couldn't take off her clothes in front of a man.

Laya chuckled inwardly: I of course know, I did it on purpose...

This day, it was just past noon.

Li Yuan stood at a high vantage point as usual, commanding ten Light Guardians through the system map to carry out efficient “luring-and-blasting” operations. Laya stood quietly by his side, still affectionately holding his arm, except now she was in an ordinary female combat suit, with all her holy light restrained. She looked like a beautiful female Awakened relying on her companion.

Everything seemed no different from usual.

Suddenly—

“VROOOOOM!!!!!”

In the entire sky, the clouds seemed like a fragile decoration, violently torn apart by an invisible gargantuan force!

Several huge pillars of light over a hundred meters in diameter, containing destructive energy, pierced through the clouds without warning, accurately striking the mountain-sized, massive Ultralisks on the distant horizon!

Yet at this moment, these once-unrivaled behemoths couldn't even let out a single wail before being instantly vaporized! Along with the large swaths of Zerg and the terrain around them, they were completely erased from the material level!

Those were Ultralisks! The ground overlord-class combat units of the Zerg! Li Yuan had never dared to get even slightly close.

Immediately after, it was as if the entire sky had darkened.

Interstellar warships descended one after another. Each was several kilometers long, more than several times larger than the ships that had previously carried away the Kindling.

Li Yuan hurriedly dismissed the summons, leaving only one Light Guardian, and took Laya back to the underground command post.

The broadcast in the command post had changed. A steady, majestic male voice rang out in the communication channel:

“All survivors of ‘Edge No. 7’ outpost planet, we are the Prey Star Domain Seventh Fleet! Support has arrived! Landing craft have been released and ground clearing is about to commence. Surviving personnel, please proceed to the nearest command post to await rescue by search personnel and avoid unnecessary casualties! Repeat, proceed to the nearest command post to await rescue by search personnel and avoid unnecessary casualties!”

“Let's go,” he said softly, as if speaking to Laya, and also to himself.

The moment of return had finally arrived.