On a stretch of open ground, there were no traces of C-04 creatures nearby, nor any signs of battle.
Uncle Zhang arrived here in his aircraft, bringing the bottled Ximi and Tangerine with him.
They had all heard the roaring of the battle underground, but none of them were overly worried. In their experience, Xia Yu had always been very strong, and there was almost nothing that could stop him.
"He wasn't wrong to believe in you; placing his hope in you was the right choice."
After scanning the surroundings and finding no danger, Uncle Zhang spoke to Ximi and Tangerine inside the bottle with a gratified tone.
Hearing this, Ximi was the first to break. With a sob in her voice, she said, "Uncle Zhang, do you know how much we missed you? Tangerine kept bullying me while you were gone."
"I did not. Ximi is the one who causes the most trouble; I'm always the one cleaning up her messes," Tangerine defended herself.
"Hehehe, there's plenty of time in the future. You can tell me all about it then. For now, let me convert my soul into magic power to heal you."
As he spoke, blue magical energy suddenly flared up around Uncle Zhang. This energy then poured into the bottle, repairing Ximi and Tangerine's soul bodies.
In this world, magic power is generated by the soul. Using magic is equivalent to burning the soul, while the body can repair a damaged soul. Once the damaged soul is restored, the complete soul can generate magic power again, thus achieving a perfect cycle.
However, Ximi and Tangerine were undead who had lost their bodies. Therefore, every time they used magic, they consumed a portion of their non-renewable souls.
This was why their soul bodies had become tattered; it was a sign of excessive soul consumption. If they were forced to use spells again, their souls would completely collapse.
However, as long as magic power was infused into them, it could reverse the damage and repair their broken soul bodies.
Under Uncle Zhang's massive infusion of magic power, Ximi and Tangerine's damaged forms were quickly healed, and they gained the strength to crawl out of the bottle.
Looking at her restored body and then at Uncle Zhang, who seemed perfectly fine, Ximi's face was filled with astonishment.
"Uncle Zhang, why do you have so much magic power? Where did this massive soul energy come from? I always hoped that one day I could restore you to your original state, but how did you just come back without saying a word?"
Hearing Ximi's question, Tangerine also looked over curiously. For her, this was equally baffling.
"It's all because of him," Uncle Zhang answered as if reminiscing. "He was the one who cast the Soul Return Art on me, and he was also the one who wanted me to convey an important message to you at this time."
"Who exactly is 'he'? Why would he do this?" Tangerine asked.
"To give you a chance to survive." Uncle Zhang's tone suddenly shifted. "He told me that the stargate is not a hoax, and the colony really exists. Find his next message, and don't give up!"
Hearing these words, both Ximi and Tangerine's expressions turned to shock, but a flame called hope ignited in their eyes.
The so-called stargate was a teleportation device similar to a spatial wormhole. It could transport people between any two points in the universe, but it required a massive amount of magic power as activation energy.
The colony, on the other hand, was the first step in humanity's self-salvation when the first Apocalyptic Crisis arrived.
When the sun left the solar system and all of humanity moved to underground cities, the Supreme Union, as the leader of all mankind, knew that things couldn't continue like this.
Humans could not survive without the sun. Even if they were doing fine now, problems would surely arise in the future. Thus, the Colonization Project was born.
The core of this plan was to find a colony in the universe suitable for humans, then establish a stargate there to allow all of humanity to colonize the new world from Earth and rebuild human civilization.
This plan brought hope to everyone in the underground cities, but in the end, what awaited them was not a new world, but the attention of puchui. The second Apocalyptic Crisis arrived.
Now, suddenly hearing that the colony really existed and the stargate was not a hoax, Ximi, who had been working hard for this, was the first to react. She said triumphantly to Tangerine.
"I told you I wasn't wrong! The stargate is real!"
"But you didn't know the colony existed before either. You were risking everything for a plan you weren't even sure about," Tangerine ruthlessly exposed her.
"Hehe, Ximi wasn't wrong." Uncle Zhang suddenly chimed in. "You both are the best. In this era, still choosing to live—there's nothing more remarkable than that decision."
"See, Uncle Zhang said I wasn't wrong!" Ximi put her hands on her hips proudly, but then she quickly grew puzzled. "Uncle Zhang, as far as I know, the Soul Return Art continuously consumes the soul. Why do you look like you're perfectly fine?"
"This?" Uncle Zhang tapped his skeletal head. "Because he stuffed me with a lot of high-quality soul energy, so I'm perfectly fine right now. Until these souls are completely burned out, I should be okay."
"How much longer can those souls burn?" Worry appeared on Ximi's face. As far as she knew, the Soul Return Art burned through souls very quickly.
"Hmm... they should be able to burn for a few more decades."
At these words, both Ximi and Tangerine were dumbfounded. This soul energy was simply too durable. Decades? They had thought it would last a few days at most before being consumed.
"Who exactly is he?" the two asked in unison the next moment.
"He is..."
"That's right, it is I!"
Just as Uncle Zhang was about to speak, a blue figure suddenly leaped out from an underground pipe. With pale purple skin, blood-red eyes, and that signature blue short-sleeved suit, the three of them recognized him instantly.
"Apprentice, it's so good that you're okay!" Ximi said happily, seeing that even Xia Yu's clothes were barely damaged.
"Welcome back, Apprentice," Tangerine also smiled.
But as they smiled, they both looked at each other in confusion at the same time.
"Did Apprentice just... speak?"
"Hmm... if I didn't hear wrong, it seems so."
"No need to be confused. I did indeed speak."
"Eh?" Ximi's face stretched in surprise. "So you can talk, Apprentice? Then why didn't you say anything before?"
"It must be because Apprentice thinks you're too stupid, so he didn't want to talk to you," Tangerine said disdainfully from the side. "Having a boss like you, I feel sorry for Apprentice."
"How is that possible? I'm an excellent boss," Ximi suddenly put on a proud face. "My labor insurance and benefits are great! They even include resurrection after accidental death on the job. There's absolutely no need to worry about dying from overwork. Although there are no days off or salary, you get to learn so much!"
"...People like you would have been hung from lampposts in the past," Tangerine couldn't help but retort.
"Being a boss requires a certain vision and perspective. Delegating work to the right people is the responsibility of a leader."