253: Chapter 253 Joining the Earth Fleet, Qinling Mountains

On Jupiter. Upon learning that there was a black hole in the direction of the Solar System's revolution, Marquis Huaguo and He Shiqi—one monkey and one wolf—were dumbfounded.

They looked at Old Fungus Lao and asked anxiously, "Old Fungus Lao, what's going on? Aren't you an expert at observing celestial phenomena? How did you fail to see that there's a black hole ahead?"

If there were truly five or six hundred years left, Marquis Huaguo wouldn't be worried at all. Because he believed that, after five or six hundred years, he would be capable of leaving the Solar System.

But the problem was this: those humans didn't know that the mass of the entire Solar System was rapidly increasing due to the return of the consciousness seas of numerous immortals and deities.

With such great mass, as it rotated, the speed would only get faster and faster. Therefore! There was absolutely no way they had five or six hundred years to prepare.

Facing Marquis Huaguo's questioning, Old Fungus Lao smiled bitterly, "I haven't fully recovered yet. Currently, the celestial phenomena I can divine are limited to the vicinity of the Solar System."

"That Ascension Star that Jiang Chen spoke of is several light-years away; it's too far, and I cannot perceive it."

Marquis Huaguo rolled his eyes, "You can't even accurately measure the Solar System; you can't even find a single returned immortal or deity."

"..." Old Fungus Lao felt a bit wronged.

The Ascension Star could be attributed to its lack of recovered strength due to the distance. But being unable to accurately measure the celestial movements of the Solar System really had nothing to do with it.

After all! Previously, seventy percent of the Solar System's mass was dark matter 'Qi', and the remaining thirty percent was celestial mass; it had originally been very easy to calculate celestial movements.

But later on, obviously, the consciousness seas of many powerful figures returned, causing the mass of the Solar System to increase, and celestial movements became increasingly strange!

Although Old Fungus Lao was one of the Three Pure Ones, there were still many powerful figures whose consciousness seas were beyond its ability to detect.

The mass of this portion of consciousness seas neither belonged to celestial bodies nor to Qi, but since it had mass, it would naturally lead to abnormal movements of celestial bodies in the Solar System.

It was precisely this abnormality that made it impossible for it to correctly calculate where the returned immortals and deities were.

"Forget it, let's not talk about this. What about that Starship outside?"

Marquis Huaguo originally didn't want to get involved in the affairs of these humans, but now, the time for ease might be less than two hundred years. It had to hurry and borrow human technology to jump to other planets and evolve to a higher level.

Although there was quite a bit of solidified Qi on this Jupiter, there was only one Jupiter after all. Even if it ate it all, it wouldn't be enough.

Besides, it couldn't eat it all, otherwise, the structure of the Solar System would be severely damaged, and other planets would lose control.

Therefore, it could only eat one-tenth of Jupiter and then head to the outer Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune to eat them in parts.

But these three planets were too far away. Relying on itself, it couldn't get there at all. It had to rely on the magnetic field jump that Jiang Chen mentioned, which was one-sixth the speed of light.

"For this Starship to arrive at Jupiter so quickly, it likely has magnetic field jump technology," Old Fungus Lao said.

Marquis Huaguo pondered for a while. Theoretically, it was possible to simply seize the Starship and head to Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

However, Jiang Chen had classified the Starship as part of the Earth Fleet. If it seized it now, it would naturally offend that kid.

"Old Fungus Lao..." Marquis Huaguo looked at Old Fungus Lao, wanting to drag it along to seize the Starship.

Old Fungus Lao waved its hand, "Don't look at me; I don't intend to go to the outer rim yet."

"We have absorbed almost enough from this Jupiter. At most, we can absorb for another month. If we keep absorbing, the structure of this planet will be destroyed, so you still have to leave."

"Better to leave sooner than later," Marquis Huaguo persuaded. As long as it became a lifeform higher than Jiang Chen later, it wouldn't matter even if it got struck by lightning.

The two were hesitating. He Shiqi, who was nearby, suddenly spoke up, "Are you two stupid? Just announce that you've captured the Starship, then join the Earth Fleet; wouldn't that allow you to openly occupy the Starship?"

"Wouldn't we have to fly it back?" Marquis Huaguo didn't react in time.

He Shiqi said, "Can't the engine have problems? Isn't it normal to spend a month or so repairing it? During this period, just head to Saturn. If that kid urges the Starship to return, just say it's out executing a mission. In short, there are definitely ways; why bother seizing it directly?"

"That makes sense. I didn't expect you, you dog, to have turned bad too." Marquis Huaguo touched its face and smiled in deep agreement.

"You two are such schemers..." Old Fungus Lao shook its head, "You go fool that kid; I'm going to observe the celestial phenomena." After saying this, it disappeared into the cave.

"Husky, you go and fool the commander of the Starship over here." Marquis Huaguo started the communicator, preparing to contact the Starship, while signaling He Shiqi to trick Commander Zhu Fujun outside.

"Awooo!" He Shiqi let out a wolf howl and rushed out. Not long after, Xia Zhongxun on the Starship received a message from Marquis Huaguo.

[The Starship fled to Jupiter and was captured by the three of us working together.] [However, the engine has developed a problem and is currently under repair.] [Additionally, I, Marquis Huaguo, am very interested in the Earth Fleet that Comrade Jiang mentioned, and I apply to join.]

After receiving these three messages, Xia Zhongxun was overjoyed. "The Starship really did run to Jupiter! Jiang Chen's prediction was correct." "As for joining the Earth Fleet, that will have to be asked of Jiang Chen."

Thinking of this, he immediately contacted Jiang Chen. At this moment, Jiang Chen was taking his wife and driving their small fishing boat toward Earth.

In these seven days, he had signed in seven times in the fishing system. Each time, he had obtained the hidden location of a piece of black technology.

However, these seven locations were all too far away. One was on the Sun. One was on Saturn. One was on Uranus. One was on Neptune. There was also one in a non-luminous region on the outermost edge of the Solar System, where there was suspected to be a non-luminous celestial body.

Only two remained that were relatively close. One was in the northern region of the Pacific Ocean. One was in the Qinling area of the Dragon Kingdom.

After Jiang Chen finished handling the meeting at the Moon Palace, he naturally hurried first to the Qinling area of the Dragon Kingdom. While on the way, he suddenly received a message from Xia Zhongxun. The Starship had been captured.

Moreover, Elder Hua, who was far away on Jupiter, actually wanted to join the Earth Fleet. "Strange! Even the Southern Heavenly Gate didn't see them being so proactive about joining. Why are they so eager to join the Earth Fleet?" After receiving the message, Jiang Chen was somewhat puzzled.

Xue Yao, who was beside him, heard this and chuckled, "I reckon they have their eyes on the magnetic field jump technology on the Starship."

Jiang Chen heard this and immediately realized. Although he had already announced the magnetic field jump technology and let the Longke Academy at the Lunar Base start building it, the only ones with physical structures right now, besides the Starship and the Tudigong Starship, were the Starship.

For those three mysterious powerhouses, what they needed most was speed-related technology. Being able to reach other planets as quickly as possible would naturally save a lot of time.

"Allow them to join, but they must return as soon as possible," Jiang Chen replied.

However, Xia Zhongxun said, "Jiang Chen, Elder Hua says the engine has a malfunction and needs repairs."

"So sneaky?" Jiang Chen raised an eyebrow. Any fool could see that this reason was suspicious. The Starship had only jumped to one planet; how could it suddenly need repairs?

"Tell them to turn on the positioning information transmission system; otherwise, they are not allowed to join the Earth Fleet." Jiang Chen wanted to see where this Elder Hua wanted to take the Starship.

"Alright!" Xia Zhongxun conveyed Jiang Chen's meaning to Marquis Huaguo. Marquis Huaguo only thought for a moment before agreeing. It was just positioning information; at worst, it could just say it was executing a mission.

"My admiration for Comrade Jiang is like the water of the Yellow River, overflowing into the Pacific Ocean. Joining the Earth Fleet is, of course, my honor!" "Of course, being able to become the commander of the Starship is inseparable from Comrade Jiang's strong support. I'll hang up now." After saying this, Marquis Huaguo cut off the communicator.

"???" Xia Zhongxun was dumbfounded. When did Jiang Chen say he would let you become the commander of the Starship? But at this moment, the communicator had already been cut off. To get the Starship back, he still had to rely on this Elder Hua. So, he had to accept it.

On the small fishing boat, Jiang Chen pondered these three mysterious figures whose faces were never revealed, and couldn't help but ask Xue Yao, "Is the identity information of these three people so confidential? No one even knows who they are or where they come from?"

"Their strength is the strongest among humans; they hid their information long ago. Even Zhao Yinhu and Mai Gurong can't find it," Xue Yao shook her head. The top three on the lifeform rankings had transcendent strength; wanting to hide their information was simply too easy. As long as they erased the key information, after a few years, it would naturally be impossible to query.

"Who could they be?" Jiang Chen frowned in thought. Although he didn't know the true identities of these three, it wasn't that he had no abnormal sensations. For example, during the meeting at the Moon Palace, when these three first appeared at the cloud meeting, quite a few people showed curious, scrutinizing gazes and actions toward Jiang Chen. Because those people didn't know Jiang Chen. It was their first time seeing Jiang Chen. So there were such subtle actions and gazes. With Jiang Chen's perceptual ability, he could naturally detect it.

Only these three—Elder Hua, Elder He, and Elder Li—were exceptions. Although they were shrouded in black robes, with their faces unclear and eyes unseen, their actions didn't change at all. Especially their dialogue. It seemed very composed, as if they had known everything long ago. At the time, Jiang Chen just assumed that the other party had transcendent strength and might not care about his own strength. But now, as Marquis Huaguo wanted to use the magnetic field jump technology, Jiang Chen naturally knew that the other party's strength was likely around level three or four, and it couldn't exceed his own by too much.

"Do you mean they might know you?" Xue Yao was somewhat surprised after hearing Jiang Chen's analysis. In her impression, these three had climbed to very high positions decades ago. They were like children of heaven, their strength advancing by leaps and bounds. It's just that no one had ever seen their faces. No one knew where they came from. Plus, they hadn't participated in most affairs for years, only evolving on various planets, so information about them was naturally even scarcer. If it weren't for Jiang Chen wanting to rebuild the new order this time, these three probably wouldn't have appeared.

"First, I can be certain that their strength won't exceed mine by too much, otherwise they wouldn't have so easily agreed to my establishment of the new order." "Second, I feel that they seem quite familiar with me; at the very least, they have specifically studied my background." "Third, they don't care about the struggle for human interests. Before, I thought it was because of their transcendent strength, but combining this with the first point, I feel something is wrong. With their strength, they still need to compete for resources, but they don't participate. This can only mean they have their own methods for evolution..." "Combining this with the fact that they just wanted to join the Earth Fleet, I feel that their next step might be to go to other planets to evolve," Jiang Chen analyzed.

Xue Yao nodded and then suggested, "Should we have Haipeng go to Jupiter to investigate?"

"His Avian Flight Formation is too slow; it would take over half a year of flying to get there," Jiang Chen shook his head, preferring to wait until the magnetic field jump technology was built on a large scale.

"Alright then... By the way, what are we going back to Earth for now?" Xue Yao touched her belly and asked. She was pregnant and needed to find a place to have her confinement.

At this moment, it was exactly morning on Earth, around 6 AM in the Dragon Kingdom's East Eighth Zone. Half was night, half was morning light, cutting diagonally from the Arctic all the way across the coast of the Dragon Kingdom. The airspace where the small fishing boat was flying was located on this diagonal line. The position where Jiang Chen was located was illuminated by morning light, while the position where Xue Yao was located was hazy. Plus, since the small fishing boat kept flying northwest along this boundary line between night and day, the two of them kept maintaining this strange state of separation.

Jiang Chen reached out and touched her hair, "I'll take you to Xiao Ran's place. Recently, the Qi concentration on Earth has been increasing. You having your confinement there will also be good for the fetus."

"Ah? Aren't you going to stay with me for the confinement? Where are you going again?" Xue Yao looked at Jiang Chen nervously, thinking this guy was going to the Arctic Circle again.

Jiang Chen said, "I'm going to Qinling, I'll be back soon."

"Damn, last time you said you'd be back soon, but you made me wait fifty years. No way, I have to go with you." As Xue Yao said this, she didn't know where she got a pair of handcuffs and cuffed her right hand to Jiang Chen's left hand.

"You..." Jiang Chen couldn't help but smile bitterly. He said, "I really will be back soon, and I'm not going to evolve." Although the Lightning Qi concentration on Earth was rising, it was still insufficient. Given Jiang Chen's appetite, he had to go to other planets to find Lightning Qi.

"Just let me go with you!" Xue Yao begged. As she spoke, she didn't know where she pulled out a medical kit and said, "No matter how long it takes, it's fine, because I'm already prepared." As she spoke, she pulled out pliers, a scalpel, suture needles, medical thread, gauze, etc., from the medical kit.

"..." Jiang Chen was speechless. "Are you going to be swift with the knife and deliver the baby yourself again?" Last time she said she would deliver the baby herself, but she ended up screaming in pain for ages, and it was still the medical staff who helped her. Unexpectedly, she had prepared these things again this time.

"Don't worry, last time I had no experience. This time I've prepared anesthesia, I guarantee I won't scream in pain," Xue Yao promised confidently.

"Anesthesia... After you're numbed, are you going to have the baby crawl out by itself, and then be swift with the knife yourself?"

"It might just work. Look at how powerful Qiu Zhi and Haipeng are; the next child will definitely be even more powerful."

"Qiu Zhi..." Jiang Chen was about to laugh about the time the girl uprooted a weeping willow when she was little, when he suddenly remembered something. "Eh, isn't this girl fated to carry fire?" Previously, Jiang Chen had been thinking that the future Organization on the Mars Base needed to find a leader fated to carry fire. He hadn't noticed that Commander Jiang Qiuzhi actually had a fire Qi attribute.

"Yes, she has a fire Qi attribute. It's a pity that the fire Qi on the Mars Base has all been divided up, so her strength is just at that level," Xue Yao said.

Jiang Chen thought for a moment and then asked Xue Yao, "Do you miss Sister Li? Do you want to have Commander Jiang Qiuzhi return the commander's position to you? And then let her go to the Starship?"

"That wouldn't be good, and I'm already old; I'm not suitable for Sister Li anymore..." Xue Yao shook her head slightly, her face carrying the elegance of a loving mother. Jiang Chen couldn't help but think to himself that his wife was truly gentle, a mother who had become strong. But suddenly, she leaned forward, changed the subject, and said, "I think I'm more suitable for the Luan Bird."

"Then you'll have to improve your strength properly," Jiang Chen smiled. He steered the small fishing boat toward Qinling and dove down.

"Achoo!" General Wei on the Luan Bird suddenly sneezed. He muttered to himself, "Strange, how did I catch a cold while being near the Sun?"