194: Chapter 194 Dramatic Changes in the Solar System

Is there no going back?

Even if he found the entrance to the wormhole now, would someone already be guarding it?

Gao Yuan didn't know.

But he had no other choice.

After orbiting the planet once, Gao Yuan discovered it was roughly the size of the Moon. He had already spotted at least eight such planets just moments ago.

While Gao Yuan was searching for the wormhole entrance, his battleship suddenly 'lost control'.

He watched helplessly as a massive battleship 'devoured' his own.

Gao Yuan was dumbfounded.

Captured again.

This time, he really couldn't go back.

Gao Yuan sat blankly inside the battleship; he didn't dare go out, as the temperature and lack of air would kill him.

Now, even the transformer was unusable.

Gao Yuan silently awaited the judgment of fate. Soon, snake-people arrived.

"Hello, human!"

A voice drifted in, and thanks to the universal translation system, Gao Yuan understood.

Gao Yuan didn't reply, as there was no point.

"I mean no harm!"

True, they likely didn't mean any harm. If one kept a colony of ants and one ant crawled into one's house, one wouldn't harbor malice... because it simply wasn't necessary.

"I can send you back!"

Hmm?

Gao Yuan was stunned.

There was a chance?

"Why send me back?"

He finally spoke.

"Because we know of you. You are the actual controller of humanity!"

Gao Yuan gave a bitter smile. If a higher civilization was monitoring Earth, they certainly would know him. In a colony of ants, they would definitely recognize the queen.

"And then? So you plan to let me go?"

Gao Yuan had even found the snake-people's home base...

"Go back and lead your people in a game!"

A game?

Gao Yuan was a bit confused. Why was his experience different from what happened in the Future World?

That place had been directly blockaded.

This wasn't right.

"What kind of game?"

Gao Yuan asked.

"A game for the right to survive. Whoever wins will dominate a star system!"

"What if I don't want to go back?"

Gao Yuan asked.

The snake-person before him smiled. "If you don't want to go back, then stay. I am merely giving you an opportunity. If you do not return, then humanity... is destined for extinction!"

Gao Yuan sighed. Indeed, even if he didn't go back, what loss would it be to the snake-person civilization?

It didn't matter at all.

"Fine. Thank you. Please send me back!"

...

Arriving at the wormhole entrance once more, the snake-people opened it and sent Gao Yuan inside. He saw that they didn't need any Antimatter at all. A snake-person had installed an unknown device on Gao Yuan's battleship; after entering the wormhole, a light screen lit up, and this time, Gao Yuan could actually see the scenes inside the wormhole...

Before, he would lose all awareness the moment he entered a wormhole, as if time had stopped. But now, he could see bizarre sights within: blue giants, red dwarfs, nebulae, supernovae, various planets, and strange cosmic structures constantly shifting. These were all projections...

Gao Yuan watched in awe...

Just as he was watching intently, his vision suddenly went dark. When Gao Yuan looked closely, he was already back at the Moon.

Gao Yuan checked the battleship; the device the snake-people had installed had disappeared.

At that moment, the system connected to the Moon's interstellar Wi-Fi, and the time updated.

Gao Yuan checked the date: October 9th. Three months had actually passed this time.

He was a bit stunned. Through his two trips through the wormhole, Gao Yuan could easily calculate that the flow of time in the two worlds was indeed different. Time in the North Star System flowed much slower than on Earth.

He had only spent about a day there, but including the travel time through the wormhole, Gao Yuan could estimate that time on Earth flowed roughly sixty times faster than in the North Star System, and a round trip through the wormhole took about 25 to 28 days!

Including the previous trip, Gao Yuan had now been away from home for four months.

He piloted the battleship toward Earth.

As he reached Earth's upper atmosphere, Gao Yuan saw aircraft flying toward him. It was his own fleet.

Gao Yuan had previously given temporary command of these fleets to Zhou Zhengli.

However, as soon as he appeared, he could take back command at any time because he was the administrator with the highest authority in the battleships' intelligent systems.

The battleship soon linked with the fleet. After Gao Yuan identified himself, he regained control.

At this time, both the Xia Country's Supreme Administrative Center and the Xia Country Aerospace Science and Technology Center on Earth knew that Gao Yuan had returned.

He had originally planned to return to Muza, but Gao Yuan's communication system received a request from Zhou Zhengli.

Gao Yuan connected the call.

Zhou Zhengli's virtual avatar appeared before him.

Having not seen him for several months, Zhou Zhengli seemed to have aged.

"Gao Yuan, you're finally back!"

"Officer Zhou, what's wrong?"

"Something has happened! We've been attacked by an alien civilization!"

What?

Gao Yuan was a bit confused.

How could there be an alien civilization?

The snake-people civilization from Polaris shouldn't have made a move, right? If they did, would humanity even have the power to fight back?

"What exactly is going on?"

"We'll talk when you get back!"

Flying over Earth, Gao Yuan could see smoke everywhere. From high above, he saw that except for Xia Country, the vast majority of the world had been turned into ruins.

There were even quite a few ruins within Xia Country's borders.

Gao Yuan immediately began checking the status of the space fleet. Through the inspection, he learned that of the moon-class battleship fleet he had built—originally 108 ships—32 had been destroyed, and half of the remaining 76 were damaged.

Gao Yuan immediately went to Qinjing.

Soon, he met Zhou Zhengli.

Zhou Zhengli was surrounded by many people, all high-ranking officials of Xia Country, and their expressions were grave.

"Gao Yuan..."

Zhou Zhengli looked haggard!

"Officer Gao, what's going on?"

Just as he asked, air raid sirens suddenly wailed over Qinjing. Gao Yuan looked up and saw dozens of missiles streaking into the sky while dozens of battleships from the fleet ascended...

Gao Yuan saw flashes of fire in the atmosphere! Soon, a large amount of debris fell, turning into streaks of meteors in the air. Gao Yuan looked up, squinting his eyes, as he recalled what the snake-person had told him: humanity was about to participate in a game.

"Officer Zhou, let's go inside to talk!"

"Alright..."

In the meeting room, Gao Yuan looked at the high-ranking officials of Xia Country; every one of them wore a look of anxiety.

"What exactly happened?"

Zhou Zhengli glanced at Duan Haizhou. "Defense Minister Duan, you tell him!"

Duan Haizhou nodded.

"Twenty days ago, the General Administration of Aviation detected a drastic change in the Solar System. Overnight, Venus, Mercury, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Uranus, and Neptune all changed! In short, within the Solar System, every major planet except Earth, the Moon, and the Sun has changed!"

Gao Yuan was stunned. The seven major planets had changed?

"Changed into what?"