Alien Hotel.

Chapter 458 occupies another section?
In the darkness, everything fell silent.

Yu Sheng tossed and turned in bed, unable to fall asleep for a long time.

He thought about many things: about the Dark Angels, about the large group of people he knew, about the future development plans for the valley, and even about his hometown, the place where the blood-red sunlight flowed—he realized that he hadn't missed home for a long time, and even... the image of home had faded somewhat in his memory.

He turned over again and saw the picture frames of Ominous Star and Eileen sitting quietly on the bedside table. The night sky streaming in from the window was tinged with silver light, and three full moons hung high in the alien sky. The orbital motorized palace "Changmi Palace" was like a silver star, slowly flying across the night sky between "Taiyou" and "Chang'an".

Yu Sheng discovered something—although he always complained that Eileen was a restless sleeper, that she rolled around, grazed her teeth, and talked in her sleep, today, with a doll crawling all over the bed missing next to him… he couldn’t fall asleep.

A soft clicking sound came from the darkness. One of the boxes in the corner was opened, and a pair of scarlet eyes peeked out from under the lid.

Those eyes were staring directly at Yu Sheng, who was lying on his side on the bed, staring wide-eyed.

"--ha!"

A hissing sound came from inside the box.

Yu Sheng clicked his tongue and moved to the side.

A small shadow suddenly darted out of the box and began rolling around on the bed, wriggling sideways, spinning in place, and using its head to push against the sheets like a bulldozer...

Yu Sheng thought for a moment, looking at the little doll rolling around: "Is the box still a little uncomfortable?"

"No, it's so comfortable in there! It feels like I'm home!" Eileen looked up, grabbed Yu Sheng's blanket, and wrapped a corner around herself. "It's just not the way I'm used to it, so I've decided I need to keep one body in bed. Otherwise, you'll become so arrogant..."

Yu Sheng was both amused and exasperated, wondering how the other party had labeled him "arrogant." But before he could ask, he noticed that the little doll had already started snoring.

A few minutes later, Eileen suddenly kicked off the blanket, then turned her body sideways and kicked out.

Yu Sheng felt reassured immediately. He skillfully used the blanket to build a "wall" between himself and the little doll, then turned over and went to sleep.

In a daze, he didn't know how long he had slept. He only felt that he was floating up and down in several discontinuous and strange dreams. Occasionally, he would greet Eileen in his dream, but most of the time he was just drifting in a calm and warm darkness.

His consciousness drifted far, long in this relaxed state, then suddenly sank downwards—

He didn't wake up during the sinking, but felt as if he had suddenly "connected" to something. After a moment, this connection began to rapidly "expand," and a flood of information rushed into his mind. In the vast darkness, he began to "see" things—rain curtains, earth, cities, crystals...

As his sense of touch gradually returned, Yu Sheng moved his body slightly, then jolted awake and dared not move again.

The garrison is deserted.

...This thing is still connected!?
Yu Sheng lay quietly in the darkness, and only after a long while did he dare to extend his senses again. He carefully confirmed his connection with that distant planet, little by little, just like when he first took over "Valley".

They were even more careful than that.

……

A light rain drizzled incessantly, the sky was dim, and distant lights were reflected in the misty rain.

But compared to the previous storm, this continuous drizzle is already quite mild and pleasant weather.

Mo Ran, dressed in a black dress, walked among the ruins near the city outskirts.

The rain that fell from the sky was blocked by her protective spiritual energy a few meters away and retreated to both sides on its own.

She looked up at the enormous ruins in front of her, which resembled a broken mountain.

That was once the Sixth Refinement Tower—this colossal tower that once reached the clouds was destroyed by a terrifying force from the depths of the planet, breaking into three pieces and falling to the ground. Most of its structure now lies quietly among the hills outside the city, surrounded by a degenerated crystal forest, while the broken base remains crookedly on the edge of the city, blending in with the ruins here.

Amidst the rain, the ancient and massive pipes and supporting structures stood like jagged giant bones, bending haphazardly toward the direction in which the tower would eventually collapse and break. A huge fissure, whose full appearance could only be seen from above, pierced through the base of the tower. Crystals grew around the fissure, and beneath it was a vertical shaft that led directly to the earth's veins.

The shaft was originally part of a mining platform, but now the underground veins have dried up, replaced by endless gray-white crystals. At the deepest part of the crystals, one can see the dim red light emanating from the underground magma, and faint streams of light from the earth veins pass through the crystal walls and disappear into the magma.

Further away from the collapse site, many busy figures could be seen—the city repairmen and nearby residents were working together to clean up the gray-white crystals on the streets. Some of these crystals were left behind when the minions of the star entity invaded the city, but most of them were the result of gradual erosion and accumulation over the past few hundred years.

Similar scenes of "cleaning up" can be seen everywhere. In the streets and alleys of Mo City, in every corner, those who have spare capacity are consciously cleaning up the strange crystals that can be seen everywhere. Those who have even more spare capacity are busy in various government offices and weapon-refining workshops, or repairing the city walls and protective formations.

People are doing everything they can to restore the city to the peaceful state they remember it to be—even though, to everyone, even that memory of the city is a lie.

No one knows how much the city can recover in the end, but Mo Ran is very clear that, given the current state of Mo City, it is absolutely impossible to repair those collapsed refining towers—it would be a miracle if the cracks at the edge of the mining platform could be filled within ten years.

But Mexico City remains the best-preserved city on the planet, bar none.

Mo Ran let out a soft breath, then straightened his body even more, walking down the street with a calm and reliable demeanor.

No one knows what the future holds for the city, but the fact that she can calmly walk through it at least gives people something to look forward to.

“Lord,” a guard emerged from the rain and quietly approached Mo Ran, “three cargo ships from Yaomen Star just landed at the Immortal Boat Platform on the outskirts of the city, bringing a large quantity of pills, food, and Xuanjing and Lingmi urgently needed to repair the spiritual vein network.” “Good,” Mo Ran’s expression finally relaxed a bit, and he nodded slightly, “Leave one ship’s cargo, and for the rest… notify Tan Yuan and Bai Cheng to come and collect it. We don’t have enough manpower to deliver it to them.”

"Yes."

The guard hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.

Mo Ran stopped and looked at the other person: "Is there anything else?"

"This morning, quite a few people gathered at the Immortal Boat Terrace again," the guard said with a grim expression, his voice barely audible to the two people in conversation. "Several wealthy families were on their way to 'visit relatives' in the Ten Courts, and we found items from their treasury on their immortal boats..."

"killed."

"Kill...just kill them directly?"

"Public trial, execution, body hung on the city wall, charges clearly listed, and displayed alongside the corpse for ten days—though it's a law from the pioneering period, it's still relevant today, and it's time to put it to use. Is there anything else?"

"Nothing."

"Well, back off."

The guard took two steps back and disappeared silently into the rain.

Mo Ran let out a soft sigh of relief, her expression unchanged, and continued walking forward in the rain.

Some are thinking about rebuilding, some are thinking about escaping the disaster, some are helping their neighbors, some are taking advantage of the chaos, some are still afraid to wake up, and some have gone mad the moment they woke up.

What is meant to be will be, what is meant to come will come, and what is meant to pass will pass—once you become the lord of this city, you will inevitably have to deal with so many troubles.

This is what my father taught me.

...But this "trouble" is really hard to bear right now.

Mo Ran kept a straight face, sighing inwardly.

The city is in ruins, and the entire planet has been severely polluted by the Dark Angels. Order is barely maintained, but it teeters on the brink of collapse every day. The underground minerals have long been depleted, and there is no way to find the materials for reconstruction. The planet itself has long since lost much value, and the desolate place, after suffering heavy damage, will visibly decline further, and this decline will be rapid and complete.

Of course, the Taixu Spiritual Pivot will definitely not give up on this planet—but it's hard to say how far this "not giving up" can go, since this is just a remote and resource-depleted border planet.

Moreover, it was corrupted by dark angels.

Mo Ran sighed inwardly, his gaze unconsciously sweeping over the nearby ruins.

Everywhere were those eerie and unsettling gray-white crystals, and now-dead crystalline tentacles spreading from the ground.

These lifeless "shells" are all that the planetary bodies left behind for the Shuji people after they devoured the resources of the entire planet.

A cluster of crystals growing from a crack in the ground shimmered in the rain.

Mo Ran was stunned. The fatigue of the past few days had made her reaction sluggish, so much so that she didn't realize what had happened at first.

Then the cluster of crystals flickered again.

The guards around him realized what was happening.

"Protect the city lord!"

A guard hurriedly shouted a warning, and then several figures blocked Mo Ran's path. Two others had already drawn their flying swords and were about to pounce on the suddenly "alive" "corpse shell" in the next second.

But Mo Ran suddenly noticed some "traces" on the crystal cluster. After a moment of surprise, she immediately stopped her subordinates beside her: "Stop!"

The guards were puzzled, but they still obeyed the order instinctively. Mo Ran composed herself, hesitated briefly, and then boldly walked towards the pile of crystal clusters.

A faint luster shimmered on the surface of the crystal cluster, and patterns emerged within the illusory light.

First, there was a logo with a triangular shape that had no clear meaning; then a smiley face; and finally, a sentence—

"If you have any problems, contact the hostel. Phone number: XXXXXXXXX..."

From a crack in the ground next to the crystal cluster, a tentacle slowly emerged and swayed in front of everyone.

Mo Ran almost screamed again.

(End of this chapter)