"The Galaxy State is just handed over to him?" In the main control room of the Mercury, Ming Yunyu stood with her back to the console, looking up at the clock hanging above Zhong Yun's head.

"It doesn't matter who it's given to." Zhong Yun’s gaze remained fixed on the large screen above. The "him" Ming Yunyu referred to was Lauren, the first person to surrender to Zhong Yun.

"You planned this from the very beginning, didn't you?" Ming Yunyu looked at him with an unreadable expression.

"Did you think I planned to stay on that planet forever? Is that all the ambition I possess?" Zhong Yun glanced down at her, then returned his focus to the large screen.

Ming Yunyu fell silent, turned back to the console, and after a long pause, said softly, "Your fiancée must be very beautiful."

"Yes." Zhong Yun nodded reflexively. "She is the most beautiful woman in this world."

"More beautiful than me?" There was a hint of defiance in Ming Yunyu's voice.

Zhong Yun pursed his lips and offered no answer to the loaded question. Telling a beautiful woman that another woman was more beautiful was surely asking for trouble.

"Speaking of which, you should know her."

"Oh?" Ming Yunyu was indeed intrigued. "Is she Dawanese?" In Dawan, the number of unmarried women whose beauty could rival hers could be counted on one hand. The profiles of such women flashed through her mind.

Suddenly, a spark of realization hit her. "I know now, so it's her. No wonder..."

No wonder what—she didn't finish the sentence. "I didn't expect her to fall into your hands. How many young talents knelt before her in the past, yet she never gave them a second glance?" Her tone was strange, impossible to categorize.

Zhong Yun smiled, a proud smile. Indeed, for a woman like Yun Qi, who held no man in high regard, capturing her heart was reason enough for him to feel immensely proud.

"The renowned Crystal Rose, plucked by you. If the men back home who have coveted her for so long found out, they would surely be consumed by jealousy," Ming Yunyu sighed.

"Wait a minute." As Zhong Yun listened, something felt wrong. Crystal Rose? When did Yun Qi become the Crystal Rose? His eyes widened as he asked, "Who did you just say?"

"The Crystal Rose?" A flicker of understanding crossed Ming Yunyu's eyes. "She definitely never told you about that nickname. That makes sense; she probably never mentioned her age either. You are barely in your twenties; she wouldn't want you to know... I heard she even has a daughter." Ming Yunyu seemed to be murmuring to herself.

"Wait." Zhong Yun found himself growing increasingly confused. A daughter? How old was Yun Qi? This was turning into a joke.

He was now almost certain that the person Ming Yunyu was talking about was not the same person he was referring to. "What is the name of the person you are talking about?"

Ming Yunyu bit her lower lip. "She has a beautiful name: Yu Daoqing."

Zhong Yun froze instantly. He had never imagined hearing her name from Ming Yunyu's mouth.

Even less had he expected her to be that legendary figure—the greatest singer in history, the first person from a medium-level civilization to reach the highest stage of the Gayan Empire, conquering the Gayan Imperial Family with her voice and even being awarded the title of Gayan Imperial Knight—that legendary woman.

And this woman was Yu Daoqing, whom he had rescued from a primitive star, who treated him like a younger brother, for whom he would gladly give his life, and who was still unconscious now.

The two figures slowly merged in his mind.

I was so foolish; I should have guessed long ago. Zhong Yun couldn't help but offer a bitter smile. In Dawan, which woman held such great power other than the legendary Crystal Rose? He just hadn't considered that possibility.

If Yu Daoqing was the Crystal Rose, many mysteries would unravel. She was indeed the woman Yang Siqing had longed for decades. The "Crystal Rose" potted plant that Yang Siqing cherished like his life had already given the answer.

If that were true, wouldn't she be forty years old by now? The Crystal Rose debuted twenty-five years ago, the year Zhong Yun was born, which was exactly when she announced her withdrawal from the music scene.

Even if she debuted at sixteen, she would be forty-one this year.

Zhong Yun could hardly believe it; time had left no trace on her. She looked so young, so much so that anyone would believe she was under twenty.

Wait, Zhong Yun suddenly recalled something. "You just said she has a daughter?"

"That's right." Ming Yunyu had been watching the expressions shift across his face. Hearing his question, she replied, "Many high-ranking officials in Dawan know about this. Her daughter should be about your age."

A wave of discomfort washed over Zhong Yun. She had a daughter...

He quickly suppressed this feeling, shaking his head. "You guessed wrong. My fiancée is not her."

"Not her?" Ming Yunyu was taken aback. The woman who disappeared around the same time as Zhong Yun, whose looks were comparable to hers, should only be Yu Daoqing. Who else could there be...

Right, there was one other person. Ming Yunyu gasped. "Could it be Yun Qi?" Her eyes widened, her expression showing even greater shock than when she had thought of Yu Daoqing.

Zhong Yun smiled. "So you know her."

"It's Liu Yunqi..." Ming Yunyu's mind felt hazy as she murmured, "How is that possible?"

Zhong Yun raised an eyebrow. "Why wouldn't it be possible?"

"Yun Qi... how could she possibly fall for a man?" Ming Yunyu still hadn't fully recovered from her shock; the words slipped out unintentionally.

Zhong Yun forced a smile, caught between laughter and tears. "If she doesn't like men, does that mean she likes women?"

"No, Liu Yunqi—she would never like anyone, man or woman." Ming Yunyu seemed to know her quite well. "She is the type of person utterly indifferent to everything and everyone; she's like a cold, emotionless stone."

"It seems you two are quite familiar," Zhong Yun said, watching her with a softened gaze. "How come I've never heard her mention you?"

"We aren't exactly acquaintances. Although we share the same teacher, we never met," Ming Yunyu explained. "But I know her very well."

Never met, yet knows her well? Zhong Yun pondered. Since Yun Qi also studied music, it stood to reason that Ming Yunyu viewed her as a potential rival.

"Liu Yunqi actually agreed to marry you," Ming Yunyu exclaimed again.

Zhong Yun felt something was off again. Did she think Yun Qi married him for some ulterior motive? "She wants to marry me because she loves me."

"Actually, I heard back when Yun Qi was in school that she had a boyfriend, but I never believed that boyfriend was you," Ming Yunyu sighed, shaking her head.

Zhong Yun smiled faintly and did not press the topic further. He cranked the detector to maximum, found no trackers, and finally changed direction, heading toward the location of the old base.

He was going to retrieve the Mars. When they relocated the base to Arashi Star, the Mars had to be hidden because there was no one to pilot it. But now they were heading to the Ayre Nation, a light-year away; he couldn't leave the Mars here.

He had a plan. These past few days, he had been teaching Chu Tiange and the others how to operate the Mars. Xiao Ling seemed unlikely to wake up, so he would have to entrust the Mars to Chu Tiange and a few others to pilot.

Giving the Mars to Chu Tiange's group was a last resort, but at least they had earned some of his trust.

With the detailed star charts retrieved from Arashi Star, Zhong Yun's party traveled much faster, reaching the planet where the Mars was hidden—the planet with the incredibly hard mantle—on the fourth day.

The Mars was hidden in a deep pit on the ground. Zhong Yun personally piloted a small flyer down to the bottom of the pit and boarded the Mars.

As he started up the Mars, Zhong Yun recalled the robots outside. During this period, he had sent all the robots out to continue excavating the secrets of the planet.

After the robots returned, he examined the photographs they had taken. He had previously noticed peculiar, slightly raised patterns on certain sections of the impossibly hard rock.

While on Arashi Star, the robots had been working, attempting to uncover all these patterns.

The captured photos were fragmented. Zhong Yun stitched all the photos together to form a complete image, then scaled it down to a specific size, finally revealing a pattern.

Zhong Yun stared at the pattern on the large screen, stroking his chin thoughtfully. The pattern was complex, composed of many polygons. At first glance, it resembled a blooming flower, but upon closer inspection, it looked like some kind of animal.

He inputted the pattern into the database and compared it against the national flags of various countries. The result showed no matching samples.

Zhong Yun still had no clue even after the Mars was fully activated. He decided to let it go; the universe was vast, and there were countless things he couldn't figure out. If he couldn't understand it now, he would set it aside for the time being.

The Mars began its journey, flying out of the atmosphere to rendezvous with the Mercury.

Just as Zhong Yun was about to summon Chu Tiange and the others, a look of sheer ecstasy flashed across his face. He bolted out of the Mars's main control room, jumped into a flyer, and exited the launch bay of the Mars.

Back on the Mercury, Zhong Yun rushed straight into the main control room. Seeing the familiar figure at the center console, he let out a deep, guttural sigh. "You're finally awake."

The small, cartoonish figure clad in black top and trousers, holding a whip in its palm-sized hand, its face set in an eternal expression of coldness—it could only be Xiao Ling.

"I updated the timeline and found that I have been dormant for three hundred and forty-eight days." Xiao Ling’s signature cold voice sounded again, and Zhong Yun found the sound more beautiful than any celestial music.

"It seems you managed things quite well even without me."

"Do you think I'm a small child who needs a nanny to look after me?" Zhong Yun rolled his eyes.

P: Suddenly thought of the loose end regarding Yu Daoqing and filled it in. I'll take this opportunity to give everyone a refresher on previous plot points; if you've forgotten, feel free to review the earlier chapters.

Also, sending out a call here to those who haven't subscribed yet—please take a moment to subscribe to one chapter, I ask of you.