Pei Wenye piloted the mecha back into the air, then activated its intelligent system to scan the surrounding environment.
The mecha was equipped with the most advanced scanning device available. As long as a creature showed signs of life, it could be detected.
While the scan was running, Yunyang took a bottle of purified water from her space button and handed it to Pei Wenye.
After unscrewing the cap, Pei Wenye handed it back to her.
Yunyang froze for a moment before silently stuffing a second bottle into Pei Wenye’s hands.
All the water and other supplies were with her. She had only meant to share it with him just now…
Forget it. It wasn’t important.
She had been thirsty for far too long, so Yunyang drank slowly while checking the time on her terminal.
December 14, 7238, by the Federation calendar.
She remembered checking the date before heading to support Sister Zhaozhao at the insect planet. It should have been December 7.
In other words—
She and Pei Wenye had spent at least a week inside the wormhole!
Now that she had a sense of how much time had passed, Yunyang immediately opened her contacts. She had no idea how things were going on the insect planet.
After finding Si Zhao in her contacts, Yunyang quickly composed and sent her a message.
But it failed to send.
Yunyang then opened her group chats with several of her beastman husbands, as well as the two group chats she shared with her close friends. Without exception, not a single message could be sent.
They were outside the coverage area of the Federation’s terminal network.
Yunyang immediately recalled what Fu Shiyi had told her before.
“Besides the Federation, there are indeed other star systems in the galaxy. They’re known as extraterritorial star systems.”
“The Federation once sent people to explore those star systems, but none of the beastmen ever returned, and their terminal signals disappeared as well.”
“Later, the Federation gave up on exploring extraterritorial star systems.”
Could the Insect Race have sent her and Pei Wenye to an extraterritorial star system?
As soon as the thought occurred to her, Yunyang tried logging onto the Star Network. Naturally, that failed too.
She turned to Pei Wenye and asked anxiously, “A-Ye, does your terminal have a signal?”
Seeing the frown between her brows, Pei Wenye realized how serious the situation was. He immediately activated his terminal and tried to log onto the Star Network.
Two minutes later, he shook his head.
“Mistress, there’s no terminal signal here.”
Just then, the mecha’s scan results came in.
Pei Wenye opened the holographic display and looked it over. For a moment, he didn’t know how to react.
The good news was that they weren’t on a second insect planet, and there was no danger anywhere nearby.
The bad news was that this appeared to be an abandoned planet. Apart from him and his Mistress, there were no signs of life in the surrounding area—and there was no terminal signal either.
Pei Wenye told Yunyang both pieces of news.
By now, Yunyang was completely certain that she and Pei Wenye were in an extraterritorial star system.
The Federation’s barren planets all had identification numbers and were covered by terminal signals. Nothing like this could happen there.
Still, the fact that there was no danger was already a blessing in disguise. Besides, they had enough supplies in the space button.
Before leaving for the insect planet, her several beastman husbands had helped her prepare a great deal of equipment and supplies, covering every possible need. Even if she and Pei Wenye couldn’t leave this abandoned planet for a while, they could still live quite comfortably.
With that thought, Yunyang opened her space button and rummaged through it, taking out a foldable habitation pod.
When folded, the pod was a palm-sized ivory metal sphere.
Once unfolded, it could expand to provide as much space as needed.
Pei Wenye’s combat mecha had only two forms: mecha and aircraft. The aircraft’s interior was too cramped to fit even a bed, so Yunyang handed him the habitation pod.
“A-Ye, find a suitable spot and set this up.”
“All right.”
Pei Wenye guided the mecha back to the ground, took the habitation pod, and walked out through the hatch.
“Mistress, stay inside the mecha and wait for me. I’ll be right back.”
After giving her that instruction, Pei Wenye still wasn’t at ease. He shut the hatch securely and set up an ability barrier before finding a suitable location nearby to unfold the habitation pod.
Since there were only two of them, he adjusted its size. Once expanded, the habitation pod contained one bedroom and one living room.
The living room had an open kitchen and a dining area, while the bedroom came with its own bathroom.
Pei Wenye hadn’t deliberately left only one bedroom. In an unfamiliar place—even an abandoned planet—he would only feel at ease if he could stay by Yunyang’s side at all times.
Now that none of his other rivals were here, he absolutely had to protect his Mistress and do everything he could to make sure she returned to the Federation safe and sound!
Once the habitation pod was fully expanded, Pei Wenye hurried back to where the mecha was parked. He opened the hatch and helped Yunyang out.
Yunyang had tried contacting several other people just now, but without exception, not a single message had gone through.
She was almost ready to give up.
So when she learned that the habitation pod had been set up, she eagerly stepped out of the mecha.
Pei Wenye caught Yunyang with one hand and stored the combat mecha in his space button with the other. Then he took her hand and led her into the habitation pod.
After closing the door and activating the defensive systems, Pei Wenye took a bag of bread from his refrigerated space button and gave it to Yunyang to tide her over. He went to the bedroom to tidy up the room himself.
When Yunyang had moved house earlier, she had bought quite a few things. Since the new home had already been fully furnished, some of those items had never even been removed from their packaging.
Things like the bed and the single-seat sofa were finally coming in handy now.
Pei Wenye left the bedroom door open. Even while organizing the room, he never stopped keeping an eye on Yunyang.
Back in the wormhole, the space buttons had been completely unusable, which meant they couldn’t access any of the food inside. As a result, Yunyang and Pei Wenye hadn’t eaten a single thing for days.
Fortunately, ability users had exceptionally strong physiques, or the two of them might have starved to death inside the wormhole.
Now that they could finally eat, they both wanted to devour everything in one go. Even so, Yunyang forced herself to eat slowly, so she wouldn’t damage her stomach by suddenly overeating.
She chewed and swallowed at an unhurried pace. By the time Pei Wenye finished arranging the room, she still hadn’t finished the large piece of bread in her hand.
Yunyang no longer wanted to eat it. It was a little too dry.
Seeing this, Pei Wenye naturally took the remaining half of the bread from her. Then he retrieved a large serving of pumpkin and millet porridge from his refrigerated space button.
Rong Jin had cooked the porridge earlier. The pumpkin had been carefully selected and was sweet and soft enough that it didn’t even need sugar. Yunyang had always loved it.
At that moment, it was even more suitable for her and Pei Wenye.
Yunyang divided it into two portions and gave half to Pei Wenye, then found a small spoon and began drinking hers slowly.
Since she couldn’t access the Star Network and had nothing to occupy her time, she simply took out the insect core covered in cracks.
This was the Insect Queen’s core. Because it hadn’t been completely destroyed, only part of its energy had been lost. There was still a great deal of energy remaining inside.
Yunyang immediately handed it to Pei Wenye.
“A-Ye, absorb this later.”
Although she also wanted to raise the level of her ability as quickly as possible, their situation was unusual. Her ability had no offensive capabilities, so the most important thing was to raise Pei Wenye’s ability level first.
Pei Wenye shook his head.
“Mistress, I can’t absorb this insect core.”
