Chapter 238 – Return to Blue Star

Inside the spacious and bright basement, Mu Yuan’s figure appeared amidst faint ripples of light.

He glanced around. To his left was a row of benches for resting, while the right side was furnished with a wardrobe, shelves, a fitting mirror, and other items. He stood on a dark-colored doormat, with numerous slippers thoughtfully placed nearby by Sophia.

This basement had once served as a training ground, where General Dolai had devoured large quantities of steel, embarking on its path to strength.

However, by now, Mu Yuan no longer needed to use the basement for training. The Tianyuan Territory offered more suitable training grounds and facilities, so this basement had gradually transformed into a ‘transition space.’

Whether it was Lord Mu, Sophia, or others, they all used this place to enter and exit the Eternal World, as well as to transport or retrieve treasures.

This arrangement was more discreet, eliminating the need to guard against prying eyes from the outside.

Mu Yuan had also installed decent anti-detection barriers around the basement… the level of secrecy for this small underground space was already quite high.

As for the wardrobe, fitting mirror, benches, long table, and even the coffee machine, those were Sophia’s touches.

She had arranged the space to resemble a lounge, keeping it spotlessly clean. Naturally, Mu Yuan couldn’t just trample around in dirty shoes.

He changed into slippers and walked over to the storage cabinet, retrieving his now-neglected phone. Unlocking the screen, he saw it still had 73% battery.

The phone buzzed incessantly.

The unread messages in the small group chat had already exceeded 999+.

As for the unofficial player group for Baijiang City… Mu Yuan had long set it to mute notifications.

「Tan Moumou: Brother Mu, don’t forget the gathering on November 10th. If you don’t show up, our batch of newcomers will be missing something special.」

「Tan Moumou: After all, there are only a few of us lords from this batch in White River… (message recalled).」

「Tan Moumou: I’ve also invited quite a few new players from our batch. If you need, Brother Mu, you can recruit some to handle tasks for you.」

「Tan Moumou: Liver Emperor and the others will be there too. Anyway, just remember to come.」

「Tan Moumou: A gathering like this might be the only one we’ll ever have.」

「Tan Moumou: …」(18 unread messages)

Mu Yuan: “…”

He had no choice but to reply, “Okay, okay, I’ll definitely be there on time tomorrow.”

In truth, Tan Moumou had been planning this ‘class reunion’ for a while—all the newcomers in their batch, including non-lord players, had to take online courses covering topics like monster knowledge, world history, ethics, and more. There were also a few offline sessions where they had to check in at the Player Association.

Calling them classmates from the same batch wasn’t far off.

After gaining the ability to protect himself, Mu Someone was no longer as resistant to going out. However, he had been busy with the Dragon Court competition and had previously told Tan Moumou he’d see how things went.

“Might as well take half a day off.”

“In the future, I might not get to see the sights of Blue Star again.”

Mu Yuan was well aware that this gathering would most likely be the last. After all, there wasn’t much time left before Blue Star merged into the Eternal World.

Even if the Xuan Nation wanted to preserve as many citizens as possible and ensure a smooth transition for city after city, they could only do their best.

Moreover, even if the merger succeeded, the future would only hold the landscapes of the Eternal World, with no trace of Blue Star’s former appearance.

Such was the tide of fate.Mu Yuan spent the entire day on Blue Star, wandering around Baijiang City for a while before accepting a mission from the Player Association. He ventured into the wild outskirts beyond the city, using Falcon Skyeye, Hunter’s Instinct, and the Black Crow Reconnaissance Plane to locate and eliminate three groups of monsters in succession.

He made a small contribution to the security around Baijiang City.

The next day,

“I could just go to the gathering myself.”

“No, Boss, if you go like this, people will look down on you. In Blue Star, appearances are very important.”

Sophia said seriously.

She now understood Blue Star well! Business negotiations had to be held in high-end venues, and when meeting clients, one must drive a luxury car.

The Boss was a prominent figure among the Lords—how could he ride a shared bicycle or go on foot? That would be utterly unacceptable!

When Mu Yuan stepped outside, he saw three black business vehicles parked in front.

Sophia had made preparations in advance.

From the two vehicles behind, burly men and valiant women in black suits stepped out.

It was the same entourage team… no, the security team he had seen last time.

Mu Yuan: “…”

He’d rather skip the pomp.

Lord Mu was a low-key person and disliked being surrounded by an entourage when going out. If it were a team of Dragons or Angels accompanying him, he might consider it.

In the end, Mu Yuan dismissed the entourage and only boarded the first understated yet luxurious business vehicle.

He sat in the right rear seat, while Sophia sat in the left rear seat. The vehicle started slowly and headed toward the designated location.

Upon arriving, Mu Yuan realized Sophia was right—there were many luxury cars coming and going. The gathering organized by Tan Moumou not only included players from their batch but also many wealthy merchants and social elites from Baijiang City.

As Tan put it, many wealthy merchants wanted to connect with players.

And players could also leverage the wealth of the real world to strengthen themselves.

Moreover, after more than five months, many players had gradually shed their novice status and possessed considerable strength, wealth, and influence.

But compared to luxury cars and bodyguards, troops, especially rare troops, were the most eye-catching.

Some players were followed by two or three Halberdiers or Imperial Guards, drawing sidelong glances wherever they went.

Mu Someone, who stepped out of the business vehicle, seemed utterly ordinary.

However, no one looked down on him.

Despite Mu Yuan’s low profile, most of the newcomers in White River still recognized him. Moreover, Tan Moumou personally received him and seated him at the main table.

After all, among the 16 newly appointed Lords in the Baijiang Four Cities, only four were native White River locals.

Tan Moumou, Liver Emperor, Mu Yuan, and a certain Lu Moumou.

Naturally, Tan had to seat Mu Yuan at the main table.

Besides, in his view, although Brother Mu came from a humble background, his current achievements were certainly not lacking—after all, he was a man recognized by Tan Moumou himself. It was just that Brother Mu was overly low-key and rarely interacted with various wealthy merchants.

Tan Moumou was a genuine rich second-generation from Baijiang City, the son of the wealthiest man in White River.

Just as he was about to introduce Brother Mu, Liver Emperor, and another Lord to several bosses, a boss from the food industry widened his eyes.

“So you are the legendary Boss Mu? It’s an honor to meet you.”

Beside him, a sturdy middle-aged man was a veteran player working for a medium-sized chamber of commerce, holding the position of a manager.When he first saw Mu Yuan, he was still carefully recalling, but suddenly caught sight of the woman sitting beside this young Lord, dressed in a black suit jacket and white inner garment.

President Mu?

“It’s an honor to meet Boss Mu, we must have a strong drink to celebrate.”

He acted as if they were very familiar.

Tan Moumou: “…”

How are you even more familiar with him than I am?

But to be able to easily sell Rare Remnant Souls—truly worthy of you, Brother Mu!

Mu Yuan had actually obtained many three-star Rare Remnant Souls as well.

However, those Remnant Souls he directly sent to Stone Ridge Town to sell, where they could be sold at high prices in less than half a day.

Even one-star Rare Remnant Souls wouldn’t have trouble finding buyers in Stone Ridge Town. The reason he sold them on Blue Star was, first, to bundle them with other medium and low-star Remnant Souls and sell them in bulk to other commerce groups. Second, to establish business relationships with these commerce groups, expand channels, and more efficiently purchase various low-level Remnant Souls.

Although Mu Yuan now had some ‘self-preservation capability,’ it still wasn’t appropriate to be too conspicuous when purchasing Remnant Souls.

Being conspicuous wouldn’t help anyway.

If his Tianyuan Territory wanted to purchase several hundred one-star Remnant Souls at once, these commerce groups might not be able to provide them. No one specifically kept such large quantities of low-star Remnant Souls in stock, as they were typically used as cannon fodder consumables.

“But in the current environment, business is getting harder and harder.”

“Indeed, last week the high-speed rail to the state capital was cut off, reportedly because a nest of Advanced monsters has taken up residence along the necessary route.”

“That’s still manageable—it’s just monsters occupying the area. If strong experts can free up their hands, they can still eliminate this nest of monsters. But like in the western regions, where entire roads are blocked by Border Zones, that’s truly impassable.”

Major bosses and merchant players sighed.

However, some players mentioned that during this period, the Player Association had been issuing an extremely large number of missions, making for good profits.

“True, in the past we new players could only scavenge some leftovers from veteran players within the Taixuan Alliance, developing at a very slow pace. But now, with the Player Association issuing more and more missions, earning Soul Sand has become much easier for us.”

A new player proudly displayed their Professional Tier Lancer and Archer.

But this didn’t draw envy from others.

In previous years, being able to cultivate Professional Tier troops in just a few months would indeed be something to boast about, enough to be considered talented. But this year, such a level could only be considered average.

There were even Ranger players who had already acquired Rare troops.

“Among our batch of newcomers, setting aside lord players, the one developing most rapidly is probably Frog-Selling Bro.””

“Indeed, I heard this bro joined First Hand Commerce early on and is already thriving, having equipped himself with nine Rare troops. Frog-Selling Bro’s current capabilities are probably stronger than some newly advanced Lords.”

Mu Yuan possessed sharp senses and powerful Mental Energy.

No matter how chaotic the surrounding noises were, they flowed into his ears like clear threads.

Professional Tier?

Rare troops?

“When was the first time a General in my territory broke through to Professional Tier? It feels like so long ago.”

That was before the Lord trials arrived.

Back then, he, Mu Someone, found it very difficult to purchase even a single set of breakthrough Materials—or rather, his pockets were empty. In the end, being able to buy the breakthrough Materials was thanks to the three thousand Contribution Points Vice-Chairman Jiang applied for on his behalf.

Now, Vice-Chairman Jiang was reportedly stationed in some large Border Zone, and it had been a long time since they last met.”Nowadays, there are more and more roaming monsters on Blue Star. While earning money has become easier, the risks have also increased significantly. I’ve heard that several newcomers from our batch have already died at the hands of monsters.”

“Our country is still relatively stable, but abroad it’s said to be…”

“However, with the continuous increase in rifts and border zones, the domestic situation might not remain…”

Mu Yuan pondered.

A vague idea began to form in his mind.

Just then,

Buzz buzz buzz—

His phone vibrated, displaying a warning marked with a red symbol.

「Level 2 Disaster Alert」

This was the local Player Association detecting an imminent rift or roaming monster appearance, sending alert messages to nearby residents to advise them to take shelter early.

Simultaneously, they would send a message marked with a blue exclamation point to players within the area—all players registered with the Association had downloaded the official app.

Monster alert messages were also sent through this official software.

The Heavenly Eye, capable of detecting rift formations in advance, had only been developed three months ago.

It was precisely because Player Associations nationwide had deployed ‘Heavenly Eyes’ that they could curb the trend of monster invasions, barely maintaining stability domestically.

But this Heavenly Eye was said to have consumed immense resources to deploy across all Earth-Grade cities.

「Ding dong!」

「The current task has been accepted.」

Nearby, some new players showed expressions of regret.

This was just a minor episode. Aside from a few players who left midway after accepting tasks, everyone else remained calm, already accustomed to the appearance of roaming monsters.

But just as the gathering was about to end,

Buzz buzz buzz—

「Ding dong ding dong ding dong!」

The disaster alert and task notifications rang out again.

This time, the vibration was more intense.

「Level 6 Disaster Alert!」

A large red dot appeared on the map. Judging by its location, it was still far from their current position, not even within Baijiang City’s boundaries.

The disaster location was in the Jiangbei City Southern Suburbs!

“The disaster is about to occur. The Association is summoning players from surrounding cities to reinforce Jiangbei.”

“But a Level 6 alert… isn’t that the warning level for border zone appearances? There will be many monsters, even high-level ones!”

“And we… we’re just newcomers.”

Mu Yuan stared at the continuously flashing red dot on his screen.

The red dot was glaringly bright.

If it were just a border zone appearance, Xuan Nation could handle it easily—initial monster clearance, mid-stage containment and blockade, late-stage conversion of the border zone into a resource area. But this border zone was directly embedded into Jiangbei City. If they responded too slowly, the consequences would be…

“Let’s go.”

“Understood, Boss.”

Mu Yuan drained his glass of red wine and turned to leave.

“Brother Mu, are you planning to…” Tan Moumou asked.

“Yes.”

A flicker of struggle appeared in Tan Moumou’s eyes as he clenched his fists tightly.

“You’re right. We may be newcomers, but we’re also players wielding extraordinary power—pioneers!”

“If we don’t go, who will?”

“Brother Mu, you’ve enlightened me. I’m not as capable as you.”

No, I’m not as brave as you.

Mu Yuan, accompanied by Sophia, didn’t head downstairs but went straight up to the rooftop.

Under the night sky, Baijiang City glittered with lights as a cool breeze swept across his face.

The wind whipped at his clothes.

Beside him, Sophia exerted slight force with her hand.

Rip—Her expensive suit and shirt were torn to shreds, revealing the black bodysuit she had worn underneath. She then took out a black robe from her Storage Ring, slipped it on with practiced ease, and let down her neatly tied-up hair, allowing it to cascade naturally.

In the blink of an eye, her transformation was complete.

Mu Yuan remained silent for a moment before saying, “Let’s go.”

He then leaped from the rooftop over two hundred meters high, transforming into one flapping Black Crow after another, merging into the night.

Sophia followed suit, jumping down right after him. The flock of Black Crows flew toward the outskirts of the city.

A new volume, daily writer’s block—today’s update: 4K words.

(End of Chapter)