The woman cradled in Zhong Yun's arms drew Yun Qi's admiration. Su Qian couldn't help but crane her neck to peek, only for a surge of anger to blaze through her mind.

Through the curtain of hair obscuring half the woman's face, Su Qian could still see she was strikingly beautiful - unconscious and clearly just kidnapped.

The villain had probably snatched her right out of her home, Su Qian instantly conjured this "truth". Teeth gritting in fury, she nearly launched at Zhong Yun before remembering his devastating kick from school.

Control the impulse. We need a foolproof plan, she sternly warned herself. No good would come of charging headlong into rescuing them from such a notorious criminal.

Another person to be saved had just been added to her mental list.

The airlock hissed open as Yun strode out onto the docking platform. A transit shuttle already waited there for internal transport between ship decks.

Zhong Yun guided Su Qian aboard. The cabin was spacious and extravagantly appointed compared to their cramped flyer - four caramel leather sofas arranged in a square, two long and two short. He placed Wei Wei on one of the longer couches and settled into an armchair himself. Yun Qi and Su Xing joined them.

"Main control room," Zhong Yun ordered.

"At once, Master."

The mechanical voice startled Su Qian badly. She'd grown hyper-sensitive since learning that Zeng family agents were hunting Zhong Yun's group. Her husband had always spoken of the Zengs in hushed tones - an enigmatic powerhouse surpassing even the royal line.

When they boarded this ship, she felt marginally safer given its superior speed compared to mech suits. Yet she still couldn't shake her nerves.

"Is this your ship?" Su Qian finally asked Zhong Yun curiously.

"It is," he nodded.

Su Qian muttered in disbelief - this so-called villain must be obscenely wealthy despite his drab clothes.

Zhong Yun assigned Su Xing and daughter to a quarters adjacent to the command room, then placed unconscious Wei Wei elsewhere. After settling everyone, he joined Yun Qi in main control where hundreds of red and white dots swirled across the holo-display - enemy mechs versus Mercury's defenders.

"Is this your flagship?" Yun Qi asked wonderingly.

"Welcoming you aboard Mercury," Zhong Yun grinned, gesturing to the hologram. "Say hello to our new mistress."

"Welcome home, Mistress," the ship's AI intoned.

"Pleasure," Yun Qi replied politely before shooting Zhong Yun a sidelong glance.

"This planetary-class warship?" she continued, eyeing the interior like it might sprout wings at any moment.

"Yes. Now we finally have real protection," Zhong Yun said.

Yun Qi remained skeptical - even with Mercury's power, they were still outmatched by an entire mid-stage civilization. Only if they could extract that near-stellar class ship from the dead zone would they achieve true security.

Meanwhile, all pursuing mechs had been eradicated.

"Zhong Yun," Yun Qi suddenly said. He turned to her. "I miss my parents... shall we return home soon?"

Her clear gaze seemed to pierce through his defenses. After several seconds of eye contact, he relented with a nod. They understood each other - she didn't want him risking everything in an impossible war against hundreds of starships and millions of mechs.

"Target: Yun Qi Star," Zhong Yun commanded the AI as Mercury changed course for departure.

"Very well."

Standing before the display, Zhong Yun muttered to himself, "Zeng family... consider this my parting gift."

Across Krondan, emergency sirens blared again. The planet plunged into panic identical to that two years prior.

Two hours later, authorities declared it a drill meant to test planetary defenses. Though skeptical, citizens eventually let the scare fade from memory.

But in secret, the Zengs' hidden base on Krondan had been reduced to ashes overnight - along with 30,000 elite members including the family patriarch's brother and eight senior commanders. Combined with previous losses of 50 top warriors and hundreds more in mech units, their entire power structure was obliterated.

The Zeng matriarch summoned their high-level patron from an advanced civilization nation. Through political pressure, they issued a bounty on Zhong Yun - ten million credits for information leading to his capture, two billion if caught alive. He became the most wanted criminal in history.

"Yun Qi."

In Mercury's side chamber, Zhong Yun held her close. His fingers traced the contours of her face as he whispered her name with drowsy affection.

"Mmm," she murmured sleepily, voice thick with drowsiness that sent shivers down his spine. Who said she was ice-cold? Only for him did such sensuality emerge.

"Your grandfather once gave me a condition," Zhong Yun breathed into her ear, grazing the translucent lobe with his nose.

Yun Qi squirmed. "No... tickles."

"I'll soothe it," he murmured, hands creeping up her sides before she caught them mid-movement.

"Don't be cheeky!" she scolded playfully, her eyes smoldering as he shivered at the heat in her gaze.

"He told me not to..." Zhong Yun trailed off dramatically.

"What?" she pried gently.

"To wait until you're twenty-four," he admitted with resignation. "If I can't control myself, he said I could seek comfort elsewhere."

"Actually..." Yun Qi hesitated before confiding the truth.

After serving as Supreme General during the National Defense War, Yang Tianlie became an adventurer in Daowo. During one expedition through a spatial rift, his team discovered ruins containing two artifacts - a mech key and an enigmatic star-shaped pendant.

When he held newborn Yun Qi, the pendant suddenly emitted sapphire light. This artifact had somehow triggered her extraordinary potential - the first person in Daowo to break past the level 20 barrier. Yang's theory was that she'd reach this milestone by age twenty-four.

Hearing this revelation, Zhong Yun's eyes sparked with excitement. "But you've already surpassed it... which means..."