The ancient return was exposed by his sister's live stream.

A request for a meeting. The highest level of protocol.

He closed the document and placed it on the corner of the table.

No response. No rush.

They are not the ones who should be in a hurry.

He turned to Chen Siyao's live stream on the screen. In the video, the girl was standing on the edge of the floating island, looking up at the dome.

His eyes are red.

Old Zhao watched Chen Siyao's image for a few seconds.

"How old is she?" he asked.

"Nineteen. Freshman year," the deputy replied.

Deputy Director Zhao didn't say anything more. He pushed the cold coffee aside, stood up, and rubbed his face.

"Keep an eye on it."

He walked out of the conference room. The corridor was quiet. The lights were white fluorescent lights. He walked a dozen steps and stopped in front of the window at the end of the corridor.

There was no view outside the window. The windows of the underground command center were fake.

An LED panel embedded in the concrete wall simulates the weather outside... Today is a cloudy day.

Old Zhao stood in front of the fake window for a while.

97.32%. That's high enough. But it's not 100%.

The Yin Realm.

Chen Siyao didn't know how long she had been standing there.

The spirit stones above the dome have been dimmed. It's "evening." Day and night in the Taiyin Realm are artificially controlled... when the spirit stones are lit, it's daytime; when they're dim, it's nighttime.

Her legs felt a little numb.

But she didn't move.

Yang Wanqing sat on a rock nearby. She changed her posture seven or eight times... sitting cross-legged, hugging her knees, lying on her knees, leaning her head back against the rock wall, but none of them were comfortable.

It's not that my body is uncomfortable, it's that my heart is uncomfortable.

She had never been so quiet before.

Crystal leaned against the steps, the camera focused on Chen Siyao's profile.

The comments section is still scrolling. There's no sign of it slowing down. The number of online viewers has stabilized at over 600 million. It's attracting global attention.

"Three hours have passed."

"If I estimate, he left more than two hours ago. That includes travel time."

"How long will it take on the road? Who can calculate the flying speed of those cultivation masters?"

"Any results? Any news?"

"No official announcement has been issued."

"Observatories around the world have confirmed the disappearance of Pluto. But no organization has mentioned Chen Hao."

"That goes without saying. Which official body would dare to publicly say, 'Someone blew up Pluto'?"

"Not daring to speak out doesn't mean I don't know."

"The only question now is... is he still alive?"

Chen Siyao did not read the comments.

Her photo crystal was on, but she didn't interact with the audience. She hadn't said a single word since she arrived at that spot.

Yun Wanlan was standing nearby. The Sushen girl hadn't left. She didn't know what to say, so she just stood there.

Occasionally glancing back at the floating islands below... the people had already returned to their respective homes.

The panic caused by the bright light gradually subsided.

But Yun Wanlan knew in her heart that the light was related to Chen Hao.

Yang Wanqing changed her sitting posture again.

She suddenly spoke. Her voice was hoarse.

"My master will not die."

No one responded.

"He won't die," Yang Wanqing repeated.

She stared at the dome. "You have no idea how powerful he is. He single-handedly killed 100,000 Heavenly Demons. You saw it. Swords fell from the sky, and not a single one of the 100,000 was left. Compared to him, the Heavenly Demons on Pluto..."

She didn't continue.

Because my throat got blocked up while I was talking.

Chen Siyao moved slightly.

She didn't turn around to look at Yang Wanqing. She looked at the dome.

My brother said, "I'll be right back."

When did he ever lie to her?

there has never been.

When she was little, if I said I'd buy her ice cream, I would definitely buy it. If I said I'd help her with her homework, I would definitely do it. And when it came to going somewhere, I'd just say, "Yaoyao, if you want to go, then we'll go."

The barrier moved.

Chen Siyao froze.

On the dome, where Chen Hao had left, ripples appeared on the light membrane of the barrier.

It was very subtle. But Chen Siyao's eyes were fixed on that spot; she couldn't possibly have misread it.

Yang Wanqing also jumped up.

"It moved!!" she pointed to the dome. "The barrier moved! Something is passing through it!"

Yun Wanlan looked up. Her cultivation level was higher than both girls'. She sensed a familiar fluctuation of spiritual energy seeping in from outside the barrier.

Very concentrated. Very stable.

It's that person's scent.

Chen Siyao's heart was racing. She pounded her chest repeatedly.

The ripples widened. The barrier's light membrane caved in at that point. It wasn't a crack—something was pressing in from the outside.

then.

A human-shaped outline emerged from the light membrane.

Wearing dark clothes. Tall and slender figure. His posture was casual; he didn't break through the barrier to enter, but rather walked in as if on flat ground.

The light membrane closed behind him, restoring its smoothness.

Chen Hao.

Chen Siyao rushed out.

She didn't float, she didn't ride the wind, and she didn't use any cultivation techniques. She just ran on two legs.

Run from the edge of the floating island to the elevator platform, and from the elevator platform run up the stone steps that connect to the dome.

Chen Hao's figure descended from the dome and landed on the platform of the highest floating island.

When Chen Siyao ran onto the platform, she stumbled and almost fell. She didn't fall.

She rushed over and hugged Chen Hao.

She was hanging there, her arms wrapped around his waist, her face buried in his chest.

He remained silent.

I just held him like that.

Yang Wanqing ran up from behind. She reached the two of them and grabbed Chen Hao's arm. She didn't say anything, just held on tightly.

The photo crystal fell over; Chen Siyao bumped into it on the steps when she ran.

But Crystal was still working and managed to capture a shot of Chen Siyao hugging Chen Hao at an angle.

The comments section is scrolling.

But at this moment, not a single one of the hundreds of millions of people typing in the comments section laughed.

"I'm back."

"Safety."

"It's good that everyone is alright."

Chen Hao placed his hand on the back of Chen Siyao's head.

"What could possibly happen to me?"

Chen Siyao didn't look up. Her voice was muffled in his chest.

"I saw someone in the comments say that Pluto exploded."

"Um."

I thought something had happened to you.

Chen Hao didn't reply. He gently patted his sister's hair twice.

Yang Wanqing sniffed.

"Master, I thought something had happened to you too. That light was incredibly bright, and after it stopped, someone said Pluto was gone, I..."

She took a deep breath. She didn't finish her sentence.

Chen Hao glanced at her.

"It's alright now."

Two words.

Yang Wanqing nodded several times. She nodded vigorously.

Yun Wanlan stood at a distance. She didn't approach. But her shoulders relaxed.

The string that had been taut for hours... snapped.

When Chen Siyao let go, her eyes were still red.

But the expression on his face had already stabilized.

She took a half step back, glanced at Chen Hao, and sized him up.

The clothes were intact, there was no blood, no dust, and even the hair was perfectly neat.

It's like going out for a walk.

She bent down and picked up the crystal camera that had fallen onto the steps. The camera was then refocused.

The barrage of comments was moving so fast it reached the display limit of the image crystal. The system automatically implemented rate limiting, displaying only one hundred comments per second.