Faced with my family members on the other side of the communicator, who greeted me and asked questions like a carousel while babbling nonsensically, I was truly moved. It’s such a good feeling to have a family—though after the emotions passed, I still needed to report back honestly because it seemed Lin Xue and my sister weren’t in the best mood... I quite understand, given that Sandora and I had been missing for several days, the family must have been really worried.

The complex situation in this world is hard to explain in a few words, especially with the immense amount of information like the protective layer, First Day Zone, Heavenly God’s Forge, Star Ring Fragment, and Visca’s another insane mainframe. It’s tough to make sense of this without some effort; I could only pick the important points to discuss, yet even so, the other side exclaimed in surprise at every turn. In any case, Qianqian had to gasp at everything she heard: "Wow! You’re actually in the Abyss Zone? We were about to send a search team to Huron Territory!" "Technology lockdown? Lost God Sect? And Tree Elves? You guys have been so busy!" "What is the Heavenly God’s Forge? It sounds so powerful... Ah? Made by Abyss Xyrin again? I’ll ask her about it." "Uh, Abyss Xyrin doesn’t know about these anymore? That’s weird, we’ll study it later. Wait, what did you mean by finding another lunatic?"

Amidst Qianqian’s somewhat adorable surprise, I first gave an overview of the situation here, and finally had the chance to ask about their side: "By the way, have there been any issues at home since Sandora and I left? How did that battle turn out?"

"Everything at home is just fine," my sister replied with a gentle smile, "The battle ended a while ago. We’ve already cleared the last remnants of resistance in the Abyss Zone, and Abyss Xyrin is quickly rebuilding those areas. However, because the New Army destroyed a significant amount of the Universe while powering the Startup Terminal, there aren’t many worlds left that can be rebuilt. For the Imperial Army, this was probably the most costly battle... It won’t be pleasant to look at the battle damage report, but fortunately, the Divine Race and the Old Army helped share the burden, so we won’t be too weakened. Let’s discuss the specifics when we meet."

"Ah Jun, Ah Jun, we’ve already set off!" Before my sister finished speaking, Qianqian jumped into the communicator’s view again, her face beaming with excitement, "We’ve locked onto your position, and we’ll be there soon! Abyss Xyrin has opened all the World Gates in the Abyss Zone, so the main force can jump right over. She’s quite cooperative... Pack up and get ready to come home, I really miss you."

Her simple statement made me a bit embarrassed. Qianqian has never hesitated to express her feelings for me in front of anyone; she sees it as a given, a sign of her candidness. But regardless of why, I had to reciprocate, and to be honest...

"I really miss you too," I said, rubbing my nose, feeling very sentimental. The saying, absence makes the heart grow fonder, is very true. The moment I heard Qianqian’s voice, I almost lost it, "You’ve lost weight, how did you get this thin in just a few days?"

Qianqian pinched the flesh on her belly and said, "I haven’t lost weight; I’m just wearing a slimming belt since I need to keep in shape these days."

Me: "... Girl, don’t do this, couldn’t you play along and let me be moved? It’s rare for our family to have a touching moment..."

At this point, Sandora couldn’t stand it anymore and threw a ball at me, knocking me aside and then leaping onto the communication platform: "Alright, alright, save the daily chatter for later. So, what about the Startup Terminal? When Ah Jun and I self-destructed, the impact was significant, right? It couldn’t have been completely destroyed, could it?"

As soon as Sandora brought this up, I perked up immediately: this was certainly my biggest concern! Be it the New Army, the civil war in the Abyss Zone, or the residues of the Old Empire and Visca’s lunatic mainframe, all could be considered side matters. The biggest issue for the entire Order Camp was the impending Void disaster! Building the bridge was the only hope for the Order Camp’s survival, and the Startup Terminal was the cornerstone of the bridge construction—but after that fierce battle, with Sandora and my coordinated self-destruct, I didn’t expect it to remain intact, but at least there should be some wreckage left to repair, right? Otherwise, we’d be in serious trouble.

"The Startup Terminal... is in worse shape," my sister shook her head, and I knew instantly that things were looking grim. "The self-destruction shredded it into several pieces of wreckage. Although it’s not unsalvageable, the time needed for repairs will be long. Moreover, the entire Universe of the Peace Core was affected by that huge explosion, and its stability now looks grim, uncertain if it can continue to be used. Experts from Abyss Xyrin and the Empire are assessing the situation now, and it may take a few days before we know how much the bridge construction has been impacted."

The Sandora Ball rolled over and bumped into me: "Ah Jun, don’t worry too much. With Xiao Xue here, bridging shouldn’t be an issue. Let’s just take our time finding a path."

I thought about it and decided to relax. I hugged the Sandora Ball and exchanged a few words with the other side before temporarily ending the communication. Now we just have to wait for the Imperial Army to come and take over this world. The Abyss Xyrin has already opened all the World Gates here to the Empire, so the fleet can arrive through a series of jumps without needing navigation, probably in just a few hours. To be honest, the Abyss Xyrin is indeed quite sincere—she’s practically handing over her territory. Is she not worried that the Divine Race and the New Empire will settle scores with her afterward? Though they actually won’t—at least Father God and I haven’t stooped that low yet, and with the Void Declaration in place, the threat from the Abyss Xyrin is truly gone.

"What are your plans?" I turned to look at a group of elderly folks behind me. This group of elves had been standing in formation with solemn expressions, watching me and Sandora chat casually with the person on the communicator. Despite their age, they all stood tall, the military demeanor of their younger days still visible, "This world has been unlocked, and you’ll need to quickly rebuild civilization. We might send other Servant Armies to help with reconstruction, but your situation is a bit complicated—the grassroots populace has been dulled for a long time, religious propaganda has persisted for thousands of years, and the social environment has solidified. Can they accept such a drastic change all at once?"

"No need to worry," Lie Feng said, his face glowing, his voice spirited as if he had returned to the moment he received his mission, "When we established the Lost God Sect, we had considered all possible scenarios we might encounter. We have many sets of propaganda plans for different stages of civilization, and we’ve left lots of room for maneuvering in the religious doctrines. We will first announce that the God of Technology and the Magic God have lifted the curse on mortals, then spend years gradually rebuilding the mental foundation of the people, bit by bit revealing the truth to them. Meanwhile, priests in various regions will establish schools to impart knowledge. Of course, there will be other steps as well; everything is planned. The Lost God Sect will eventually fade away, and it will do so with widespread approval, as the foundation for the new order was laid out thousands of years ago."

"It’s good to have a plan," I nodded cheerily, "You’re much luckier than those unfortunate Clans. By the way, let me tell you something: the Imperial Admiral— the spaceship currently hovering in your planet’s orbit—is holding a large group of Technology Revival Faction members, those people Celine reported to you. They didn’t escape; we captured them."

"Huh?" The fat bishop beside me was instantly surprised, "How did they... Oh, I get it. You were worried they’d become the scapegoats of the last night before dawn. Actually, we’re not in the habit of executing these Technology Revival Faction members right away; we’ll try to capture most of them alive..."

I spread my hands: "We weren’t sure at the time, but handling it this way was more reliable. Since there’s still some time before the Imperial Army arrives, why not take those unfortunate folks away first? They don’t seem to be used to the working robots on the spaceship... Say, I find those Autonomous Machines quite adorable. Why is it that so many people just can’t accept them?"

I instructed the crazy host on the Heavenly God’s Forge to wait there temporarily and promised that she could reunite with her general in a few hours. I then led a group of elves and teleported back to the Imperial Admiral.

Those unlucky (or perhaps lucky?) individuals from the Technology Revival Faction were still in captivity, but I had adjusted their "cells," allowing them to choose partners they’re familiar with to room together. I also moved them from giant rooms to regular cabins to set their minds at ease a bit. The female leader was now living with three female companions, and over these many days, they seemed to have become a bit accustomed to life under spaceship detention. Of course, they still seemed somewhat uneasy around the "electronic squids" on the spaceship...

I double-checked that nobody inside was changing clothes, bathing, or engaging in girl-on-girl action before I dared to enter with the Sandora Ball (I’m just that conscientious). The female leader and the three other unknown women, startled by our sudden appearance, quickly realized who we were. They jumped off the bed and lined up to bow respectfully, showing perfect manners. I glanced around the room and saw that all the beds were messily covered with discarded clothes (I even had supply lines opened for these people, talk about generosity!); the floor was littered with fruit peels and paper scraps, and there was a Mahjong game still left unplayed on the table in the center of the room. A half-eaten bag of chips was on the female leader’s bed. I instantly got a preliminary sense of their morale and spirits.

...Wow, their adaptability is off the charts! Sure, you may not be prisoners in the strictest sense, but at least have the awareness that you’ve been abducted by aliens! Don’t take advantage just because you’ve been granted E-grade supply privileges and start asking for everything— who applied for that copy of "Golden Lotus" left on the bed? Can you even read Chinese? Oh, it’s a picture book... that’s even more problematic!

My eyebrows twitched, and the sisters present obviously noticed, but three of them didn’t dare to speak. Only the female leader, having interacted with us before, was slightly more at ease. She wore an awkward smile and explained, "It gets really boring here... I learned from that little device how to live here, then found some interesting stuff to try out. The machine told us we could claim these items freely. By the way, this place is truly amazing, hehe... um, did we break any taboos?"

"It’s not about breaking taboos; it’s just that it’s the first time I’ve seen people so relaxed after being abducted by aliens," I waved weakly, "Then again, maybe the conditions here are too good, and I don’t look like a little green man, so you didn’t feel any threat. Anyway, you can go home now—together with the folks standing behind me."

At this moment, a group of elderly from the Lost God Sect appeared at the doorway, and of course, not all of them could squeeze inside. Standing in the front row were the older generation like Lie Feng who were deeply rooted in the sect. Thus, an exciting scene unfolded: Representatives from the Lost God Sect and the Technology Revival Faction met here in an unprecedented way.

The reaction of the female leader and the other three was perfectly understandable: they quickly jumped back, grabbed anything they could use as a weapon, and formed a defensive formation. This speedy response clearly showed they were well-trained. However, excuse me, elder sister, are you planning to use that rolled-up ’Golden Lotus’ as a spiritual attack?

The scene froze for a moment, but they soon realized the atmosphere around them wasn’t quite as expected, and the expressions on the bishops’ faces were also not what they imagined. More importantly, the female leader recalled a conversation from a few days ago, so she looked incredulously at the embarrassed elderly men and women: "What’s going on? How can you guys... be here? Has the world outside changed dramatically?"

"I’ve got good news for you: the harsh winter of civilization is over," I said, spreading my arms to open a passage. "The truth may be complicated, but the opposition between the Lost God Sect and all kinds of Technology Revival Organizations has ended. The truth is probably beyond what you could have imagined."

Both sides continued to stare at each other awkwardly; being caught in the middle made things even more awkward for me, so I could only scratch my nose: "Well, maybe you guys could shake hands or something? Oh, it doesn’t look likely..."

I felt there was no way I could stay between these two groups full of historical grudges and emotions, so I tugged Sandora... no, hugged Sandora and quickly left this place that was about to become very troublesome. Judging by the expressive faces of those elf elders, it was clear they also found it a bit overwhelming, but this was their problem to solve, let the elders handle these historical issues. Although things are troublesome, they’ve probably accumulated a lot of experience over the years.

Seizing this opportunity, I also took a few young bishops to pick up Qing Ye and Leon. This young couple had long since fully recovered, but Sandora and I hadn’t found a chance to send them off. Now that everything was settled, it was best to let them return with the Lost God Sect’s bishops, sparing them the hassle of explaining how they came back from the dead. I think the role of the Lost God Sect in handling aftermaths was starting to show it’s very significant here—at least I could pass on these troublesome matters to them with a clear conscience.

Once all the temporary passengers’ affairs were busy and properly arranged, more than an hour had passed, and the bishops led the members of the Technology Revival Faction for a brief return to Holy City—they couldn’t all be released at once. As I said before, there were many radicals and even pure revenge-seekers among the Technology Revival Faction that needed handling. I believe that the Lost God Sect, having dealt with various revival organizations over the years, had ample experience. Now that the world crisis is over, they should know how to properly handle these complex factions.

Meanwhile, Sandora and I came to one of the large upper platforms of the Imperial Admiral, opened the alloy defense wall here, and waited for the Imperial Army led by Qianqian: it’s been a while, and I actually missed them. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

I brewed a cup of hot tea in front of me, while Sandora soaked herself in a basin of hot tea. We chatted idly, speculating how long it would take for the Imperial Army to jump in, as the World Gate in the Abyss Zone can only jump to the closest "neighbor" in this universe, so the exact moment the Imperial Army would appear was uncertain. Yet, before we could come to any conclusion, there was a sudden flash in space tens of thousands of kilometers ahead of the Imperial Admiral.

After the flash, a streamlined high-speed Void Shuttle appeared in the vast outer space. It instantly exchanged identification codes with the Imperial Admiral and then flew towards us with lightning speed. Qianqian’s joyous voice echoed in my mind: "Ah Jun oooooh—— the brakes have been pulled off by me la la la la——"

This isn’t joyous at all, ok!

I couldn’t even imagine how Qianqian managed to mess up an Imperial-made flight device so tough it’s practically insane within a few hours, even damaging the emergency braking directly controlled by the shuttle’s host. Thus, what was supposed to be a warm and touching reunion turned into the first aviation accident of this universe since the civilization blockade—though the warmth and emotion were gone, it was still quite tear-jerking.

The shuttle piloted by Qianqian smashed into the armored belt two kilometers away. Sandora and I stood there dumbfounded by her thrilling entrance, and as the explosion fireball lit up, I couldn’t help but silently admire that this was indeed Qianqian, her style was truly inimitable...

But I wasn’t worried about the safety of those inside the shuttle; an occasional crash or explosion was just a minor inconvenience for us. We regularly ride Lin for travel, why would we fear this?

A moment later, a group of dusty individuals appeared before Sandora and me—it was my family, though not everyone seemed to be present, as I didn’t see Lilina. Qianqian’s face was sooty, and she came flying towards us from more than ten meters away. At this point, I was still holding the Sandora Ball, and before I had a chance to toss it aside, I collided with Qianqian. I am certain I heard Sandora Ball make a ’squish’ sound... Anyway, by the time Qianqian realized there was something against her chest, the Sandora Ball was already thinner than paper.

The sight was so beautiful I almost couldn’t bear to look.

"Ah Jun, I missed you so much," Qianqian cheerfully bounced around, then picked up the Sandora, which had turned into a thin sheet from the ground, "Sorry, didn’t notice earlier. Let me help you—"

With that, Qianqian tried to puff the flattened Sandora back to shape by blowing air into it, but after a while with no result, she grew puzzled: "Hey, why can’t I blow any air into this? How do you usually inflate it?"

...Having a girlfriend with a wilder imagination than a brain is truly exhausting for the mind and spirit. Every day with Qianqian is mental pollution.

"I am not a balloon!" Sandora’s helpless yet amused voice rang out from the Spirit Spark, and the golden aura ball that had accompanied me for many days faded away. "Just in time, the body is also repaired, this Spirit Spark task fulfilled..."

The Spirit Spark completely dissipated into the air, and I felt a warm, soft body hugging me from behind. Sandora’s cheerful voice rang in my ear: "It’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other—at least it’s been long since I’ve seen you in this form. Give me a hug."

I exhaled deeply, feeling happy inside.

We’ve reunited. (To be continued. If you like this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote with recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please go to m.qidian.com to read.)