The entire vessel suddenly shuddered violently, throwing several crew members in the main control room from their seats. Wang Jingze's heart lurched in alarm.

After a chaotic flurry of activity among the crew, one man got up and reported, "There was an unidentified explosion in the warehouse area, reaching a magnitude of three."

Wang Jingze, a mixture of rage and shock contorting his face, slammed his fist onto the armrest of his chair. "Damn it, that must be Zhong Yun causing trouble again."

A premonition struck him: the plan he had poured his life and soul into for fifteen years might fail because of this destabilizing element, Zhong Yun.

However, the feeling passed quickly. Having managed to infiltrate Yu Daoqing's circle for fifteen years, his resolve was exceptional; he would naturally not surrender over such a minor setback.

"What about casualties?" Wang Jingze took a deep, steadying breath, suppressing the fire in his chest, and asked with a grim expression.

"Not tallied yet," the reporting crewman replied.

"They will attack soon. Listen to my orders: seal off all passages near the warehouse, immediately."

The crewman’s face was etched with shock. "But, what about those armed personnel?"

Wang Jingze glared at him menacingly. "Did you not hear me? Seal the passages, now."

The crewman’s eyes showed a flicker of internal struggle. Behind him, many working crew members also stopped, staring in stunned silence at Wang Jingze, who sat in the captain's seat.

"Yes," the crewman finally managed to utter the word with great difficulty, profound pain in his eyes.

As the order was carried out, an atmosphere of tension and unease settled over the main control room. When the crew members inadvertently glanced at Wang Jingze, seated loftily in the captain's position, looks of unbidden hatred surfaced in their eyes.

Wang Jingze sensed the change in mood, yet he paid it little mind. Under the circumstances, this was the best course of action. Their haven was almost within reach; there was no need to fight a direct confrontation with Yu Daoqing and her group. Once they reached the stronghold, dealing with a single Yu Daoqing would be simple enough.

As for the armed personnel, their survival meant absolutely nothing to him. The people on this ship were not his own; sacrificing them brought him no heartache.

"What's wrong?" Yu Daoqing looked at the two trickles of blood flowing from beneath Zhong Yun’s ears, her eyes already reddening with anxiety. The usually aloof, high-and-mighty demeanor of the young mistress had completely vanished.

Zhong Yun felt as if ten thousand bees were beating their wings inside his ears; he couldn't hear anything else. Seeing Yu Daoqing’s anxious face mixed with distress, her mouth moving rapidly, he reached out to touch her head. "Are you alright?"

Hearing the concern echoing in his slightly hoarse voice, Yu Daoqing could hold back no longer. Large, heavy tears welled up and spilled from her eyes. Through her blurred vision, Zhong Yun's ordinary face, slick with sweat, and the unreserved focus and pity in his dark eyes, instantly shattered the fragile defenses of her heart, imprinting themselves forever in the deepest recesses of her memory.

Why was he so foolish? When the explosion hit, he disregarded his own safety solely to protect me. He knew perfectly well that my strength surpassed his, but why?

He was injured himself, yet his first question was about my well-being. Did he truly consider me more important than himself?

A pair of large hands cupped her face, and his thumbs wiped away the tears beneath her eyes. The minute ridges on his thumbs brushed against her smooth skin, imparting a subtle, almost abrasive texture.

This was the first time since growing up that a man had touched her face with such intimacy. She closed her eyes, her long lashes fluttering slightly. A tear dropped onto Zhong Yun’s finger, tracing a clear wet path down the back of his hand.

"Don't cry," Zhong Yun managed a smile. "Tell me, where do you feel unwell?"

A woman is still a woman, he mused. No matter how accomplished or noble her status, in a situation of extreme peril, that vulnerability will surface.

Hearing his words of concern, Yu Daoqing choked back a sob, and the tears poured down even harder. But she merely shook her head, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist and pressing herself against his chest.

Embracing the coveted, delicate form that any man would dream of holding again, Zhong Yun sighed contentedly. Inhaling the subtle, elegant scent emanating from her, his thoughts drifted to Liu Yunqi, his official girlfriend.

Aside from that intimate night of close embraces and kisses, they had shared no such closeness since—at most, they held hands. Every time tenderness welled up in Zhong Yun's heart and he wished to hold her, she would subtly evade the gesture.

At first, he attributed it to shyness, so he spent considerable effort orchestrating romantic atmospheres several times, similar to his birthday night, but without success. This left him somewhat annoyed.

After one or two attempts, he simply gave up. If it was to be a relationship of respectful distance, so be it. He wasn't worried; he had plenty of patience for a woman like Liu Yunqi. It required slow, meticulous effort, and since their relationship was established and no formidable rival had appeared, time was on his side.

Zhong Yun was pulled back from his thoughts by the dampness pressing against his chest. In just a short while, the front of his shirt was soaked by Yu Daoqing's tears.

Just as he was about to offer words of comfort, Yu Daoqing lifted her head from his embrace, her mouth moving as if speaking, accompanied by hand gestures—she pointed first to her own ears, then to his.

Zhong Yun suddenly felt something was seriously wrong. The buzzing in his ears had lessened but had not disappeared, and there was a sharp stinging sensation.

Did the explosion damage my ears? Zhong Yun's scalp tingled. If the eardrums ruptured, it would be a disaster. They hadn't escaped yet; hearing loss would mean losing at least a third of their combat effectiveness.

Zhong Yun pulled both hands back, a faint purple aura igniting in his palms as he pressed them against his ears.

Yu Daoqing watched him, her eyes slightly red and swollen with anxiety.

A cool sensation replaced the sharp stinging, and the deafening hum in his ears began to fade rapidly. Suddenly, a danger alarm blared in Zhong Yun's mind. He dropped his hands, grabbed Yu Daoqing, and pulled her through a gap. "Once we're outside, grab me and fly up," he instructed near her ear.

At that moment, Yu Daoqing also sensed it: a group of people was closing in just outside their immediate vicinity, less than fifty meters away. If she hadn't been so focused on Zhong Yun moments before, she wouldn't have noticed.

Her arms slipped under Zhong Yun’s armpits, gripping him tightly. The moment they squeezed through the gap, with a "swoosh," they shot upwards into the air.

Dozens of white pulse waves, saturated with immense energy, scorched the opening of the gap. If Yu Daoqing had been half a beat slower, both of them would have been riddled with holes.

A few more pulses chased their receding shadows but missed entirely. Yu Daoqing's speed was astonishing; even the best sharpshooters among the armed personnel couldn't lock onto them.

In the air, Zhong Yun clearly saw them: forty to fifty enemies, all clad in matching white standard-issue space suits, each wielding a pulse rifle. They were advancing in three waves toward the area where they had been hiding.

The entire warehouse was a wreck following the violent blast. The metal wall that originally held the door had been blown open into a massive gap exceeding fifty meters. Furthermore, the point of explosion had breached walls on both the upper and lower levels. Centered on the blast site, the destructive force had radiated out to cover two-thirds of the warehouse space, turning every metal container holding food into crumpled scrap iron.

Most terrifyingly, the exterior wall of the spaceship nearby—the most heavily reinforced section of the entire vessel—bore a huge, concave impression pointing outward, spanning several square meters.

Even high-powered pulse rifles couldn't leave a scratch on the ship's outer hull, testifying to the sheer ferocity of the explosion. Had it not been for the countless metal containers absorbing the blast energy, the two of them would have been reduced to paste.

Flying into the newly created breach, they stopped before a sealed door. Zhong Yun frowned. "It seems Wang Jingze is dead set on trapping us."

"What do we do now?" Yu Daoqing, who usually made all the decisions, uncharacteristically asked the young man barely twenty years old beside her to decide.

Thanks to the recent treatment, Zhong Yun’s ears were much better, and he heard her question. A flash of killing intent crossed his face. "Return to the warehouse and kill everyone inside."

"I'll do it," Yu Daoqing stated without hesitation, soaring back into the warehouse.

When Zhong Yun caught up, he saw no enemies left standing. He looked at Yu Daoqing hovering in the air with surprise. If he remembered correctly, during their time on 'New Jupiter,' she had once used a power—a sonic-wave type. He hadn't heard a single sound just now, yet these people were dead.

Noticing his gaze, a flicker of panic crossed Yu Daoqing’s eyes, which were fixed on him. "Are you blaming me for being too cruel? I just—"

Zhong Yun couldn't help but laugh, cutting her off. "They are all enemies. One must not show mercy to enemies. I'm simply impressed; your ability is far greater than I imagined."

Yu Daoqing relaxed, explaining, "Back in the tribe, danger was constant. I had to conserve my strength."

"I vaguely suspected it back then," Zhong Yun realized with sudden clarity. "How could a legendary Tenth-Level Expert look so weak, exhausted after just one move? It defied logic."

"A Tenth-Level Expert isn't that much," Yu Daoqing shook her head. "You'll understand later."

Then she asked again, "What do we do now?"

"I already guessed that old tortoise Wang Jingze wouldn't expose himself easily," Zhong Yun said with complete confidence. "Since he enjoys hiding in his shell so much, I'll smash that shell to pieces and see where else he can hide."

Yu Daoqing enjoyed seeing him so self-assured. She didn't interrupt, waiting for him to continue.

"Gather all the remaining energy cores. We're going to play one big one," Zhong Yun chuckled.

"Where should we blast?" Yu Daoqing asked softly.

Zhong Yun pointed downward, directly at the hole blasted through the warehouse floor.

P: Seven days left, ninety-nine votes still needed. Asking for monthly passes.