The Taklamakan, China's largest desert, spans an area of 337,600 square kilometers, and is known as the "Sea of Death." This place is extremely arid, with endless yellow sand. Only the legendary "Hero Tree," the poplar, manages to survive here. But even in such a desert, oases exist.
This was a rather small oasis that seemed on the verge of vanishing. In the center of the oasis was a small pond, no more than a few dozen meters across, and at its deepest point, it was about six or seven meters deep. The water was very murky but still tolerable. Scattered around the pond were a few drought-resistant desert plants. It looked as though the oasis might disappear completely if the underground water level continued to drop.
The reason I'm bothering to describe this insignificant little oasis in such detail is that, right now, I'm soaking in this damned pond!
Why did Lin Xue and Pandora manage to land smoothly while I had to be teleported into this pond?!
It took me a lot of effort to swim to the shore and then clamber up onto dry land, all while Lin Xue barely managed to hold back her laughter.
"Don't hold it in. If you want to laugh, just laugh!" I said irritably to Lin Xue.
Lin Xue was more than happy to comply, "Pfft—"
Shaking the water drops from my hair, I looked around—of course, I couldn't make out much.
I turned my head to look at Pandora, who was standing silently beside me, and asked, "Pandora, where exactly are we now?"
"We are about 122 kilometers from the base. I have already notified the Superpower Team through 'Mind Communication' to come and pick us up."
My clothes were soaking wet; it was really uncomfortable...
"Pandora," I called the little Loli, who was bored and looking around, "help me dry my clothes."
"Oh." The little one responded and then pulled out a giant cannon as big as a pillar.
I broke out in a cold sweat, "Forget it... I'll let them dry naturally."
At that moment, I noticed Lin Xue staring at me and couldn't help but ask curiously, "What are you looking at?"
"Oh—nothing," Lin Xue suddenly snapped back to reality and answered hastily, then mumbled to herself, "It feels like a dream..."
"It's indeed quite hard to accept," I said, "as long as you remember to keep it a secret, it's all good."
"Of course," Lin Xue answered immediately, then muttered softly, "I don't want your alien army hunting me down later."
I said helplessly, "I've already told you they mean no harm. Just think of them as alien friends coming to Earth for sightseeing—oh, by the way, I haven't seen you at Sandora's base for a while, where did you go?"
"Of course, I went to have a good look around. How often do people get to see an alien military base? Speaking of which, you still haven't told me why you became their Emperor. Can you tell me now?"
"How should I know? One day, I woke up and found myself the Xyrin Emperor, with a little Loli to boot—so I actually profited, right?"
Lin Xue didn't hide her disdain at all, "As a creepy uncle, you really hit the jackpot!"
"Brother," Pandora tugged at my sleeve, "what's a Loli?"
From my understanding of Pandora, she was purely trying to mess with me now—which showed the little one was becoming more human-like.
Time passed slowly as we chatted idly. Finally, when I was starting to get impatient, the deep rumbling of a specially modified desert off-road vehicle from the Superpower Team reached my ears from afar.
As soon as the car came to a stop, a petite figure dashed out of the open door and leaped into my arms. Qianqian's teary voice reached my ears, "Ah Jun! Wahhh... Thank goodness... you are safe... You all disappeared so suddenly, I thought..."
"Alright, alright," I comforted her while patting Qianqian's back and glaring nastily at the amusement on Lin Xue's face, "I'm fine, see? You forgot, I'm a very powerful Superpower User!"
Qianqian hiccupped through her tears, "I know, I know you're strong, but I was still so worried..."
Just as I was about to say something more, a sudden cough interrupted us.
I turned to see a bearded middle-aged man standing in front of me, looking at me and Qianqian with an ambiguous expression.
"Ah, Uncle Xu!" I exclaimed, quickly letting go of Qianqian.
"It's okay, it's okay," Uncle Xu waved his hand, "You two continue, continue, I've already approved your relationship..."
"Dad!" Qianqian regained her composure, blushing fiercely at her father's teasing words, "What approval? Ah Jun and I... um..."
Seeing Qianqian stammering, Uncle Xu laughed heartily, "Alright, I know what's going on between you two. Don't worry. Just for this heroic rescue, I've acknowledged Xiao Jun as my son-in-law!"
I immediately bowed dramatically, "Father-in-law, good day to you!"
"You two..." Qianqian seemed both annoyed and amused, pointing at Uncle Xu and me before stomping back to the off-road vehicle.
"Xiao Jun," Uncle Xu suddenly approached me, "I heard you're a Superpower User too?"
"Unbelievable," Uncle Xu sighed, "I used to think this was all pseudo-scientific nonsense made up by people. But now, after these past few days, it feels like I've been living in a movie. I still find it hard to accept. This experience is a lesson for me to keep my mind active in the future..."
I nodded and responded absentmindedly, thinking: If this is hard for you to accept, wait till you hear the rest!
Despite the many twists and turns during this mission, we managed to find Uncle Xu and his group, which meant the ordeal ended successfully. Lin Xue finding out my secret was unexpected. Initially, I thought only Qianqian and my sister could possibly know. I didn't expect this naturally incompatible person to find out first.
Apart from successfully rescuing Uncle Xu's group, unexpectedly meeting the Xyrin Emperor Sandora was another great achievement of this mission. We not only saved many soldiers of the Xyrin Empire but also confirmed my unfathomable status as Emperor within the Xyrin Empire, alleviating one of my concerns—at least I no longer had to worry about being executed by another Xyrin Emperor.
Speaking of Sandora, she should be leading her warriors right now, fighting. I wonder how they will integrate into human society? With the agreement I made with Sandora, they wouldn't harm humans or disrupt human society's normal order. But honestly, I wasn't entirely at ease with those troublemaking Xyrin Apostles.
"Ah Jun, why are you daydreaming again?" My sister's concerned voice suddenly pulled me back to reality, "Are you sick? You've been spacing out quite frequently lately."
"Oh, it's nothing." I shook my head and replied.
Looks like I need to break this habit of constantly zoning out; otherwise, I'll keep making my sister worry.
"A few days ago, your school teacher suddenly called me, saying you and Qianqian were attending some exchange event. It nearly gave me a heart attack," my sister said, bringing up the story of the exchange event we attended days ago, "I was wondering why you didn't call home when you were so close by. What kind of exchange event couldn't wait? I thought something happened at school. I was so scared until your homeroom teacher came by in the evening to explain..."
Watching my sister's beautiful, relieved face and hearing her nagging, I couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt.
"Big Sis," I suddenly interrupted her, "I'm sorry for making you worry..."
"What are you saying," my sister smiled gently, then, like when we were kids, lightly flicked my forehead, "No need to apologize. As long as you're safe..."
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