"You're back." Liu Yunqi's image materialized before him, unchanged, still as dazzling as ever.

The familiar greeting made Zhong Yun's heart soar; it felt profoundly unreal. "Regardless, I am back."

"You don't seem very surprised." Zhong Yun tried to lighten the mood, completely omitting any mention of his recent experiences.

"I met your friend, Zhang Xiao." Liu Yunqi's eyes shimmered as she recalled the words the other man had relayed from Zhong Yun.

"He didn't go blabbing that I was a survivor, did he?" Mentioning Zhang Xiao brought up a serious matter in his mind.

Initially, he hadn't realized that the news of survivors from the Tongguang Star would cause such an uproar. The news reports played during his shuttle ride back were entirely focused on Zhang Xiao, the Tongguang Star survivor. Only then did he grasp the gravity of the situation.

It made sense; in his past life, the first astronaut from his home nation hadn't just become a hero but had been immortalized in history books. For the citizens of Davo, the Tongguang Star incident would be no less significant than the launch of their nation's very first manned spacecraft.

That’s why he was now exceptionally worried—if Zhang Xiao foolishly let slip that he, too, was a survivor, things would become a major ordeal. He had landed stealthily on Planet (Wol), and if that detail were exposed, explaining it clearly would be far from easy. It was his eagerness to return home that had left such a glaring vulnerability.

"He didn't mention there were other survivors."

Liu Yunqi's words allowed the tension in Zhong Yun’s chest to ease. This made things much simpler; he needed to devise a way to patch the hole.

"How many people know I was a survivor?" Zhong Yun asked, his eyes darting around.

Liu Yunqi quickly guessed his intention. "Besides me and Second Brother, no one knows yet. However, this secret won't hold for long."

Indeed, it wouldn't hold long. His presence aboard the Tongguang Star was documented. Anyone with enough persistence could easily uncover it. Unless Zhong Yun vanished forever, exposure was inevitable.

"It doesn't need to be hidden for long," Zhong Yun said with a slight smile. In a few years, once his strength had grown, what would it matter if certain interested parties found out?

Not now, though. Given the current fervor of the public, the media would dig up every detail about his ancestry for three generations. Perhaps some well-connected journalist might even uncover his secret.

"Mmm." Liu Yunqi nodded slightly. She already knew what needed to be done. With the power of the Yang family, and by pulling a few strings, erasing Zhong Yun’s name from the Tongguang Star flight logs might not be impossible.

"You probably have other calls to make," Liu Yunqi said kindly. "I’ll wait for your call."

Zhong Yun was ecstatic. If this were in the past, Liu Yunqi would never have expressed her feelings so openly. It seemed this journey out hadn't been entirely without its gains.

When Zhong Yun finally connected with Tianhai, the look of utter shock on the other end, as if he'd seen a ghost, was truly amusing. "You're not dead?" Tianhai had only recently heard the news of Zhong Yun's demise; receiving his call now felt as unreal as a dream.

"You're the one who’s dead," Zhong Yun shot back with a laugh.

"Where are you now?" Tianhai, snapping back to reality, asked urgently.

"Home."

"Wait for me, don't you dare move." Tianhai could be seen fumbling towards the door, not even disconnecting the video call.

Zhong Yun found this hilarious. "This is my home; where would I go?" Still, Tianhai's palpable concern touched him deeply.

Just as he was considering whom to call next, he heard activity downstairs. The door to his room wasn't closed, so he could hear the sound of the main entrance opening below.

Could it be that fast? Zhong Yun assumed it was Tianhai. He walked from the ** room to the top of the staircase and saw two incredibly familiar figures standing at the doorway.

"Dad—Mom—" A trembling voice, one that had only existed in dreams, suddenly echoed through the house. Zhong Pingjiang and Yun Rong were struck simultaneously as if by lightning, gazing over in disbelief.

"Xiao Yun?" Yun Rong pressed a hand to her mouth, tightly covering it, tears blurring her vision as she looked at the figure she had yearned for day and night. Zhong Pingjiang stood beside her, tightly embracing his wife’s shoulders, a look of profound relief spreading across his face.

In the reunion of immediate family, the three members of the Zhong family wept with joy.

The subsequent arrival of Tianhai and Chen Wen added further liveliness and joy to the house.

"You damn scoundrel!" As soon as they met, Tianhai and Chen Wen pounced on Zhong Yun, looking fierce, grabbing his clothes from front and back. Shaking him, they snarled, "How dare you fake your death? Do you know how worried everyone was? Tell us, where the hell have you been these past few months?"

Zhong Yun feigned collapse. "Let go, or I really will be killed by you two."

"Damn it, pretending to be dead!" Tianhai recalled how utterly devastated he had been over Zhong Yun's "death notice" just days ago. Seeing the brat now, vibrant and kicking, made him grind his teeth in annoyance.

"Making Uncle Zhong and Auntie Yun worry so much—we absolutely have to teach this heartless fellow a lesson today," Tianhai ground out through clenched teeth.

"Exactly," Chen Wen chimed in, joining the clamor. This kid Zhong Yun was simply too disloyal.

"Help! Murder!" Zhong Yun cried out.

"Here, have some iced mung bean soup to cool down." Yun Rong walked out carrying a tray.

The three stopped their roughhousing and sat on the sofa. "Thank you, Auntie Yun. I love your iced mung bean soup the most." Tianhai eagerly picked up his bowl and slurped it down in one go.

"Don't rush, drink slowly; there’s more in the kitchen." As she reached for the empty bowl in Tianhai's hand, Zhong Yun kicked him lightly. He then said to his mother, "Mom, don't stand on ceremony with him; it's not Tianhai's first time here."

Tianhai chuckled and stood up. "Auntie Yun, you don't need to wait on us; Xiao Wen and I aren't outsiders."

Yun Rong smiled and shook her head, retreating to her room, listening to the laughter echoing from the living room, feeling more relaxed than she ever had before.

After their boisterous reunion settled, Tianhai brought up the serious topic. "What exactly happened on the Tongguang Star?"

This was likely the question on the minds of all Davo citizens. The Tongguang Star was a landmark spacecraft for Davo. How could it have suffered an accident on its maiden voyage? Many speculated whether some force beyond human control was involved.

"You'd probably have to ask the captain of the Tongguang Star," Zhong Yun shrugged. "All I remember is that suddenly, the ship lost control, and within minutes, there was a violent explosion. I had to flee, obviously."

Even recalling the scene now, Zhong Yun felt a lingering dread. "It was a near-death experience. If my luck had been slightly worse, I probably wouldn't have made it back."

"Tell us about it," Chen Wen asked with interest. He was genuinely fascinated by Zhong Yun's ordeal. Imagine struggling for survival in the vastness of space after a catastrophic crash, only to be rescued in the end—it was as legendary as a movie plot.

However, Chen Wen and the others didn't realize that Zhong Yun’s experience was far more miraculous and convoluted than any movie.

Zhong Yun omitted the details of his rescue to avoid worrying his parents and Liu Yunqi, but he felt no such restraint with Tianhai and Chen Wen. He recounted the ordeal of the disaster, though he modified the ending slightly. He only said that on the primitive planet, he eventually encountered a certain alien civilization that had come to colonize the area, and that encounter was how he was saved.

Tianhai and the others listened, utterly amazed. "So, aboard the ship, people were killing each other to fight for the escape pods. That Zhang Xiao said everyone politely deferred to each other while boarding the pods—that guy’s mouth runs off like a train."

"He'd be brain-dead not to say that," Chen Wen snorted twice. He knew very well the background of those youths aboard the Tongguang Star; his Chen family also had a relative aboard. If Zhang Xiao had told the truth about what happened then, he would have offended far too many powerful people.

After a moment of reflection, Chen Wen asked Zhong Yun, "What are your plans now?"

"I absolutely cannot let the media know I was a survivor of the Tongguang Star. You two must help me keep this secret," Zhong Yun urged them.

How can you possibly hide it? Chen Wen smiled wryly. He knew exactly how resourceful the media people were.

"And then you're going back to Mingzhu School?" Tianhai asked.

"Are you kidding me?" Zhong Yun acted like he was about to faint. "Mingzhu School must have a record of me being on the Tongguang Star. Going back to school would be advertising to them that I'm a survivor!"

Black lines creased Tianhai's face. "And you think you can hide it this way? Unless you never show your face again."

"No." Zhong Yun already had a plan. Just as Tianhai had said, he couldn't hide it forever unless he vanished from the face of the earth. However, he just needed to survive the current frenzy. Once the public's excitement died down, even if he was exposed then, it wouldn't cause such a sensation.

"I'm very curious," Chen Wen suddenly interjected. His eyes fixed intently on Zhong Yun. "How did you get back to Planet ? Did you manage to avoid alerting the military?"

Zhong Yun gave a bitter smile. "That part is a bit bizarre." He recited the story he had already concocted. "Do you know why I didn't come back with Zhang Xiao? Because on Planet Freedom, I met a noble benefactor..."

In Zhong Yun's telling, this benefactor possessed an incredibly advanced spacecraft that took him directly into Davo territory and dropped him off on Planet .

"That is indeed quite strange," Tianhai clicked his tongue.

"And the military wasn't alerted?" Chen Wen was startled. Although this was an era of peace, for national security reasons, Davo poured the lion's share of its budget into defense spending every year.

Yet, the defense perimeter built with vast sums of state money had been breached without the slightest detection, allowing passage both in and out freely. If the benefactor Zhong Yun spoke of was an enemy of Davo, the consequences of bringing a ship straight into Planet ...

Chen Wen shivered involuntarily.

"What's wrong?" Zhong Yun looked at Chen Wen strangely.

"Nothing," Chen Wen forced a smile and quickly returned to normal. "I was just thinking about where we should go to celebrate tonight."

P: There's another chapter tonight. My monthly tickets haven't moved in days, screaming out for votes!