Chapter 113: The Return Voyage

“Strange, why hasn’t Lilith mentioned even a word about our country’s plan to launch the mushroom bomb?”

The Black Dragon only recalled this upon waking from its dream, feeling somewhat pensive—did she not know, or did she simply not care?

No… Given this elder sister’s abilities and methods, it was impossible for her not to be aware of such a significant matter!

In other words, she must be indifferent, or perhaps even… in favor of it?

The Black Dragon always sensed that this goddess seemed to be playing a grand chess game, using it as a mere pawn. Strangely, despite this, the Black Dragon felt little resentment. On the contrary, it found her forthright and approachable—someone worthy of deep friendship.

Tasting success, the Black Dragon lingered on the asteroid for a while longer, hoping to unlock new skills. Unfortunately, whether due to low power or insufficient permissions, it gained nothing this time.

“I wonder how long it’s been... Are Academician Ding and the others getting anxious?” The Black Dragon spat out a mechanical watch from its belly, trying to check the time.

Originally, the Shako Institute had intended for it to carry a cesium atomic clock, but for some reason, its body strongly rejected the device. As soon as it was ingested, nausea overwhelmed it, so the plan was abandoned.

“Huh? Why’s it broken?” The Black Dragon noticed the watch’s hands had stopped moving without its awareness, causing some surprise.

Though somewhat technologically advanced, it was purely mechanically driven and specially crafted by the Shako Institute using foreign materials. It worked well abroad, so why was it dysfunctional up here in the heavens?

Unable to determine the time, the Black Dragon grew a little anxious, then scolded its heart, “Aren’t you supposed to be capable? How come you can’t even handle a simple timing function?”

“...”

“Brain, I’m ordering you now—develop this function immediately! Technically, it isn’t difficult; just allocate some computing power to keep time!”

“...”

Perhaps having unlocked higher permissions, the heart obediently complied with the brain’s demand, unleashing a surge of electricity within itself and producing a panel that read 00:00:01.

“...You’re really obedient? You actually did it?” The Black Dragon was dumbfounded. It had only been looking for trouble, intending to give that traitorous fatty a good thrashing. Who knew it would actually develop a timing function? Such plasticity!

Even so, without calibration, the Black Dragon still couldn’t be certain of the time. Since the main goal of this trip was basically achieved, to avoid worrying Academician Ding and the others, it decided to return.

Thinking that if it was leaving, at least it ought to greet the Star Realm Great Dragon first to be polite—though secretly, it hoped to hitch a ride, since compared to the Great Dragon’s speed, the Black Dragon was slow and had to constantly blast jets, which was quite inefficient.

“Big brother… big brother…” The Black Dragon tried calling a few times. The Star Realm Great Dragon remained asleep, but the eyes on its body all woke up. Seeing the Black Dragon calling, they instantly became hyperactive, almost buzzing with excitement.

Several eyes nearby eagerly scrambled to pry open the Great Dragon’s eyelids, clearly trying to help wake it for the Black Dragon—quite a generous gesture.

The Black Dragon was touched and resolved to treat everyone to colored contact lenses someday.

The Star Realm Great Dragon slowly awakened and, without a word to the Black Dragon’s farewell, immediately grabbed it and flew toward the Material Realm.

“Big brother… I haven’t asked your name yet?” The Black Dragon couldn’t help but inquire, feeling this Great Dragon was extremely aloof—more so than the high gods Hebrenion or Lilith!

It wasn’t clear if this was just its character or something else.

The Great Dragon remained silent. Instead, its eyes grew excited, blinking furiously and flailing as if trying to convey something. Unfortunately, this only caused severe visual pollution for the Black Dragon.

Not daring to meet their gaze, the Black Dragon quickly looked away and focused on the Material Realm below.

One of its main tasks this trip was to determine if the Material Realm, where the Xia nation had crossed into, was truly a planet.

But looking down from the sky, it could not get a full view and became increasingly confused, vaguely sensing that the Star Realm and Material Realm might exist in different dimensions.

Only the area where Xia nation was located had a strong presence and less dissonance, like fireworks in the night sky adding color to an otherwise discordant dark expanse.

The Star Realm Great Dragon flew swiftly, soon dropping the Black Dragon off beside the barrier, then decisively leaving.

The Black Dragon didn’t quite know how to respond. Despite the Great Dragon’s cold attitude, at least it provided free pick-up and drop-off service. One couldn’t ask for more.

Its only regret was not knowing how to contact this kind elder brother the next time it wanted a ride in the Star Realm.

“Finally back!” The Black Dragon passed through the barrier into domestic territory, soon noticing something odd—it felt the laws within the territory suppressed its body far less than before.

“Could it be that those data… not only gave me the ability to harness nuclear energy, but also made my body more compatible with the world’s laws here?”

The Black Dragon wondered instinctively.

If so, the dead star and the deceased deity must have been terrifying indeed. It clearly held technology capable of enabling transcendent beings to break through barrier limits. If other gods obtained this technology, what then?

But so far, no other gods seemed to have such tech; otherwise the god of light wouldn’t have lost her angel within Xia nation and failed to rescue her to this day.

Hence, the Black Dragon formed a guess: perhaps this world once had mechanical gods, physics gods, or technology gods, but due to ideological and interest conflicts, they were jointly destroyed by other gods?

And the dead deity’s realm was one of those fallen divine kingdoms?

Only then would everything make sense.

“Seems there’s no need to return to base. I’ll just inform Academician Ding and head south…” The Black Dragon still remembered that upon returning it would be arranged to meet the Red Lady—not a blind date, but to teach the red dragon to obey Xia nation’s rules!

Moreover, the Moonshadow Lake was further south. Since the Night Goddess personally requested help to seize territory from the night elves, it must show face and support the effort soon.

With these thoughts, the Black Dragon pulled out a signal transmitter from its belly, used a mage’s hand to operate it, and found it still functional. It sent a location signal to Academician Ding and headed south.

“Xia nation is truly wonderful. If this were abroad, where would you see any lights or night scenes?” High above, the Black Dragon gazed at clusters of lights on the homeland, feeling a rare peace. Abroad, such lights and beautiful nightscapes were unseen.

Because the Sun God was a reactionary divine power, the Black Dragon’s plan to ascend using a nuclear-powered manhole cover had to be executed at night.

The homeland lay cloaked in darkness, which somewhat relieved the Black Dragon—it hadn’t stayed long in the Star Realm.

“Come to think of it… since the Material Realm’s sun isn’t part of a planet-star system, there must be no rotation or orbit. How then does day and night alternate?”

The Black Dragon suddenly pondered: could the sun and moon have preset shifts, logging off at fixed times?

“I wonder what the Star Realm looks like when the sun is on duty. Are all stars forced offline? Probably not, since some gods work during the day…”

“But if there’s a chance, I should check the heavens during daytime sometime…”

Flapping hard, the Black Dragon soared, reaching speeds over 400 kilometers per hour under gravity, thoroughly enjoying the thrill of flying.

Although the nuclear-powered manhole cover and Star Realm Great Dragon were fast, the former was excessively speedy, while the latter had no wind in the Star Realm, depriving one of the joy of flight.

“Huh… what’s that glowing over there, and it’s moving?”

The Black Dragon noticed something flashing in the lower right, clearly following a flight path, and curiously approached.

At several hundred kilometers above ground, no aircraft should reach this altitude.

Could it be the legendary UFO?

“Oh… it’s a satellite,” the Black Dragon quickly realized its true nature, sparking curiosity.

At this height, the satellite couldn’t be in geosynchronous orbit; it must circle Earth at a specific speed to avoid falling.

But since Xia nation had crossed over, these satellites should have lost orbit by now. Why were they still functioning normally?

“Come to think of it… I once linked that dead star with our satellites. In some ways, they do resemble each other…”

The Black Dragon recalled its earlier conjecture that gods were essentially technological creations of advanced civilizations, a truth denied by the Night Goddess.

Still, it didn’t fully trust her mysterious words.

The Black Dragon chased the satellite for a while but couldn’t catch it. It soon realized it could just ask Academician Ding instead; chasing satellites like a foolish dog was pointless.

“Now that the laws within the territory suppress me less than half as before, maybe I could take on satellite launch missions to help the aerospace department deliver satellites to the heavens…”

The Black Dragon mused, adding that polishing and waxing satellites might be worthwhile if conditions allowed.

“Academician Ding, Mr. Huang’s signal has appeared!”

Shortly after the Black Dragon activated its signal transmitter, relevant personnel detected it and reported to the command center.

“First confirm whether Mr. Huang has temporarily returned inside to hide or is flying home directly.”

“Also, verify if the signal frequency is a distress call.”

“Yes.”

After some operations, the staff reported, “Academician Ding, Mr. Huang’s signal is steadily within the territory, and the altitude is steadily descending. The signal frequency is stable—not a distress signal.”

“Good, continue tracking. Confirm his current position and altitude and see if we can establish contact.”

“Understood.”

“…”

“Dongguan, why do you think Mr. Huang returned so quickly? It’s been less than ten minutes since launch. Could he have encountered danger?”

“I don’t know yet,” Ding answered gravely. “A thousand kilometers altitude is far for us, especially at night and within the mysterious Star Realm. Our current technology can hardly observe what’s happening there. We must wait for Mr. Huang’s return. Hopefully, it’s good news.”

“Academician Ding, Mr. Huang seems to be flying south rapidly!”

After a while, the staff reported again.

“I see. Keep tracking.”

Ding nodded. “Heading south isn’t bad. Otherwise, moving across land would be troublesome—slow and prone to attracting unwanted attention.”

“Exactly. The recent domestic debate about his naturalization is heating up.”