The moment they heard the words “go home,” the nine beastmen no longer wanted to fuss over anything else.
They could finally take their female lord home.
The nine of them escorted Yunyang aboard the starship, with Nuo Xiao following close behind.
Once everyone was seated, Chen Yueli and Cang Zhuonian immediately activated the starship according to the route marked on the star map.
With a clear destination in sight, the starship accelerated to full speed and made several consecutive jumps.
In the instant the third jump ended, Nuo Xiao caught sight of the familiar Snow Star through the starship window.
Then they entered another jump, and Snow Star vanished from Nuo Xiao’s view.
The starship traveled day and night without stopping.
At first, Chen Yueli and Cang Zhuonian took turns piloting. Later, the other beastmen voluntarily took over the shifts, finally giving Chen Yueli time to stay close to Yunyang.
However, as they drew nearer and nearer to the location marked on the star map, Chen Yueli’s expression grew increasingly grave.
The Little Black Leopard wore his emotions plainly on his face, making them easy for anyone to read.
Yunyang toyed with the Little Black Leopard’s tail and asked, “Why the long face?”
Chen Yueli glanced at the other beastmen. Everyone was delighted that they were finally going to return to the Federation.
After hesitating for a moment, he answered honestly, “Female lord, before I came looking for you, I left a clone behind in the Federation. With my strength, I should be able to sense its location.”
If the direction marked on the star map was correct, then as they drew closer to the Federation, he should certainly be able to sense his clone.
Even if there was a barrier between the extraterritorial star system and the Federation, it should not be able to sever that connection.
But now, with only a few more jumps before they reached their destination, he still hadn’t sensed anything.
Unless his supernatural ability had been blocked, the only explanation was that the direction indicated by the star map might not lead to the real Federation.
Yunyang had not known about the clone before. Now that Chen Yueli had mentioned it, her expression immediately turned solemn.
“Leonardo, how much longer?”
Leonardo, seated in the main pilot’s position, quickly lowered his head to glance at the star map before answering, “Female lord, we’ll reach the destination marked on the star map after two more jumps.”
Yunyang pressed her lips together but did not immediately order Leonardo to stop.
They still could not determine whether the star map was accurate. For now, they could only continue toward the marked destination.
If they confirmed that the map was wrong, they could look for another solution afterward.
Chen Yueli knew that was the only choice as well, so he quickly stuffed his tail back into Yunyang’s hands.
Half an hour later, the final jump ended, and the starship came to a temporary stop in the sea of stars.
Leonardo immediately relayed the surrounding situation to everyone else.
Yunyang looked at the holographic display before them. Other than several chunks of interstellar rock, there was not a single planet in sight around the starship.
She turned to Chen Yueli. “A-Yue, can you sense your clone?”
Chen Yueli narrowed his eyes and concentrated for a while before shaking his head.
“Female lord, I can’t sense anything.”
Other than Pei Wenye, the rest of the beastmen already knew about the clone.
Thus, when they heard Chen Yueli’s answer, the expressions of the other seven beastmen turned solemn.
Pei Wenye could also guess what had happened and volunteered, “Female lord, I’ll go take a look.”
After receiving Yunyang’s permission, he immediately headed to the starship’s combat preparation bay. He then took out his combat mecha and switched it into flight mode.
Fu Shiyi and Cang Zhuonian followed him without hesitation, taking out their own combat mecha from their storage buttons as well.
The cockpit had a clear view of the preparation bay. Only after confirming that the three men were ready did Leonardo open the bay doors.
The three aircraft left the starship one after another and flew toward the boundless darkness ahead.
Pei Wenye took the lead. Once his aircraft came to a stop, he immediately used his supernatural ability and attempted to create a spatial passage.
Perhaps because he had awakened his ability too recently, Pei Wenye failed several times in a row.
He continued trying. Whenever his supernatural energy was exhausted, he absorbed insect cores to replenish it, yet he still could not successfully create a spatial passage.
Inside the aircraft behind him, Fu Shiyi watched the entire process clearly.
He pressed the communication button. “Stop trying. This isn’t the direction of the Federation.”
When designing Rose Shadow’s combat mecha, as well as those of several rivals in love, Fu Shiyi had specifically added a short-range communication function.
As long as they were within the combat mecha’s detection range, they could use the function to communicate even without a signal.
The function had never been useful before, so Pei Wenye was momentarily stunned when he suddenly heard Fu Shiyi’s voice.
He quickly recovered, however, and decisively turned his aircraft around.
Fu Shiyi and Cang Zhuonian also piloted their aircraft back to the starship’s combat preparation bay.
There were many chunks of interstellar rock floating nearby. After confirming that all three men had returned to the preparation bay, Leonardo immediately closed the doors.
The three men quickly put away their combat mecha and returned to the cabin.
Looking at their grave expressions, Yunyang had already guessed the result, but she still asked, “How did it go?”
Fu Shiyi adjusted his glasses. “Female lord, when we came here, it was Her Majesty the Empress who opened the spatial passage.”
“Her Majesty the Empress had not yet advanced her spatial ability to SSS rank, but she was already capable of establishing a spatial passage between the Federation and the extraterritorial star system. Pei Wenye, however, was unable to establish one.”
“My guess is that this is not the direction of the Federation, and that the distance from the Federation far exceeds the range an SSS-rank ability can cover.”
Data analysis had always been Fu Shiyi’s greatest strength.
Yunyang had no doubts. The fact that Chen Yueli could not sense his clone, combined with Pei Wenye’s inability to create a spatial passage, was already enough to prove it.
“Fuyuan, bring me the star map.”
Fuyuan immediately took the star map from the copilot’s seat and walked over.
After taking the star map again, Yunyang studied it carefully once more.
Like Willow of the Snow Owl Tribe, Xie Wenna knew that they had been trapped in the extraterritorial star system and that their true roots lay elsewhere, outside this region of space.
Yunyang suddenly thought of something and turned to look at Nuo Xiao, who had been unusually quiet these past two days.
“Nuo Xiao, do you know when the Black Flood Dragon Tribe’s dragon-ascended ancestor died?”
Nuo Xiao did not know why Yunyang had suddenly asked, but he still tried to recall the answer. “I heard the Holy Female mention it before. I think it was more than seventeen hundred years ago.”
More than seventeen hundred years ago…
Yunyang suddenly grabbed Fu Shiyi’s hand. “A-Shi, take a look. Based on the star map, how many jumps would it take to get from Water Star to Snow Star?”
Fu Shiyi clasped her hand in return and lowered his head to calculate carefully.
The star map clearly indicated the distance between the two planets. All he had to do was factor in the starship’s maximum jump distance, and the answer was easy to calculate.
Fu Shiyi quickly gave his answer. “At least seven.”
“That’s impossible!” Nuo Xiao suddenly shifted back into human form. “I paid attention when we set out. You only made three jumps before I saw Snow Star.”
Seven jumps and three jumps—the difference was more than double.
The moment Nuo Xiao said this, Yunyang finally confirmed where the problem lay.
