The wandering warriors of this planet? Or...
Li Xiaofei remained on high alert and asked in a deep voice, "Who are you?"
The other party said nothing.
Confident in his own abilities, Li Xiaofei cautiously approached and asked, "How long have you been watching?"
Still, there was no response. Li Xiaofei glanced at the little black dog. The creature was quite intelligent. It let out a low growl before hiding behind Li Xiaofei, tensing up. Its sphincter contracted as it instinctively prepared to defecate and urinate out of fear.
The mysterious figure was clad in tattered rags, as if its clothing had been crudely pieced together from various random materials. The outfit resembled a makeshift raincoat, obscuring its figure. A metallic helmet-like hat concealed its face, preventing Li Xiaofei from determining whether they were human or some kind of humanoid monster.
Fortunately, the figure did not emanate a strong presence. Or rather, there was no biological presence at all. It stood there like a cold, lifeless specter having managed to silently approach within fifty meters of Li Xiaofei without him noticing.
Li Xiaofei had a feeling this mysterious figure had not appeared by chance. It had come specifically for him. But since it refused to speak, communication was impossible. He decided to take action, capture it alive, and extract the answers himself.
Just as he was about to make his move, the surroundings stirred again. Ten more figures emerged like ghosts from behind a frozen sculpture. They wore identical outfits of peculiar raincoat-like garments and strange metallic headgear. Their entire bodies exuded no discernible signs of life.
Li Xiaofei frowned slightly. He had no idea how these mysterious figures had appeared. But one thing was certain, their arrival was no coincidence. They had come specifically for him.
He turned his palm and clenched the air. A long spear materialized in his grasp. Li Xiaofei decided to strike first.
"If you don't want your companion to die, then don't resist," the first mysterious figure finally spoke.
Its voice had been altered through some kind of modulation, carrying a metallic resonance. It was a cold, mechanical tone, making it impossible to determine if the speaker was male or female.
The figure raised its palm and a virtual projection flickered to life.
On the screen, Huang Dinggou was gagged and tightly bound in a dimly lit room. He struggled against his restraints, facing the camera. He shouted, "Save me, Brother Chen! Save me! I'm still a virgin. I don't wanna die!"
Li Xiaofei's forehead twitched with black lines.
This guy... is completely unreliable.He’s been captured alive.
"We did not come here with ill intentions," Li Xiaofei tried to explain. He needed to gauge the other party’s background and abilities.
But the mysterious figure simply said, "You have six seconds. Surrender without resistance, or prepare to collect your friend's corpse."
Li Xiaofei thought for a moment before putting away his spear. He fastened the star-magnetic shackles that were thrown toward him. Even Black Emperor had all four of his paws locked in restraints.
"Come with us," said the mysterious figure as it nodded in satisfaction.
Both man and dog were fitted with head coverings. They were then transported on a crude flying device resembling a hovering skateboard until they had no idea which direction they traveled or how far they went. After about an hour of winding through an unknown route, they finally arrived.
The head coverings were removed. They were in a cavernous underground space. However, the walls were made entirely of solid ice. Above them, embedded in the dome-shaped ceiling, were luminous pearls the size of washbasins, emitting a silver-white glow that illuminated every detail of the space.
"Who are you?" The leader of the mysterious figures asked, "Where are you from? Why did you come to Planet M73? And what was your purpose for ascending Autumnwatch Peak?"
Li Xiaofei saw no reason to hide the truth and answered frankly, "We came from Chongque City to fulfill a friend's last wish. He wanted to be buried on Autumnwatch Peak so that he could gaze upon the stars of his homeland even in eternal rest."
The leader of the mysterious figures fell silent for a few seconds before asking, "What was your friend's name?"
A thought crossed Li Xiaofei's mind.
"His name was Nangong Longjian."
"Him... How did he die?"
"He perished in a life-and-death arena match."
After a brief exchange of words, the leader of the mysterious figures once again fell into silence.
He wasn’t sure whether it was his imagination, but Li Xiaofei vaguely felt a faint sorrow spreading in the air.
About half a minute later, the leader of the mysterious figures spoke again. "Are you from Earth?"
Li Xiaofei's heart tightened. He did not answer immediately.
The leader then asked, "Can you recount the battle in detail? Did he leave you any special words?"
Li Xiaofei carefully described everything that had happened in the arena that day. Then he added, "He only asked me to bury his remains at the highest point of Planet M73 so that he could gaze upon Earth day and night. Aside from that, he left no other special message... Oh, right. Before he died, he guided me in my cultivation path and even transferred some of his cultivation to me."
The leader fell silent once more. At that moment, Li Xiaofei had a vague idea of what was going on.
After a long pause, the leader finally spoke, "Then you must be an Earthling, aren't you? You must have smuggled yourself into Chongque City."
Li Xiaofei felt a little sensitive to that word.
"Lord Nangong would never entrust this place to an outsider so easily. That means you must be from Earth." The leader spoke with absolute certainty, "He once said that if one day, someone carried his remains to Autumnwatch Peak, that person would be a friend of the camp. Everything he left behind here would be passed on to them. If you are not lying, then you are the one chosen by Lord Nangong."
Li Xiaofei was taken aback and asked, "You were Nangong Longjian’s subordinates?"
"Not subordinates. Comrades," replied the mysterious figure, correcting Li Xiaofei.
A flash of realization struck Li Xiaofei’s mind like a bolt of lightning. He asked, "You... you’re also from Earth?"
The leader of the mysterious figures removed her strange helmet to reveal a breathtakingly beautiful face. She had slender phoenix-like brows and eyes as enchanting as blooming peach blossoms. Her face was oval-shaped; her skin was as smooth as jade and as flawless as white porcelain.
Her features were exquisitely delicate, her expression carrying a touch of cool elegance, yet with a hint of pure clarity. Long, jet-black hair cascaded over her shoulders, her lips a natural rosy hue and her teeth were pristine white. She looked like the kind of beauty spoken of in legends, one whose mere presence could bring kingdoms to ruin.
For a moment, even Li Xiaofei was stunned. He hadn’t expected the leader of these mysterious figures to be a woman. And not just any woman, but an extraordinarily beautiful one.
"I am Ah Qing, the thirty-eighth leader of the Autumnwatch Ice Star Smugglers' Camp," she said.
As she spoke, she removed Li Xiaofei’s shackles and freed the little black dog.
"Smugglers' Camp?" Li Xiaofei asked, "Does that mean... you all came from Earth?"
Li Xiaofei was shocked.
Besides Ah Qing, the twelve others are all from Earth as well? How did they get here?
At that moment, Li Xiaofei suddenly understood why Nangong Longjian had insisted on being buried at the highest point of Planet M73. It wasn’t just about gazing at Earth from afar.
He had wanted Li Xiaofei to come here. He had wanted him to meet Ah Qing and her people, to learn more about their existence, and to connect with these Earth-born smugglers. He had foreseen everything.