A quarter of an hour passed in the blink of an eye.
On the giant, dilapidated sailing ship, Kong Tai's figure silently appeared beside the two old men.
"Actually, there's nothing wrong with being buried in this starry sky."
Gazing at the skeletal remains, Kong Tai's eyes seemed to transcend the annals of time, falling back thirty-five years.
Back then, these people must have all come with dreams!
Shaking his head to dispel the phantom images before his eyes, Kong Tai turned and smiled at the two old men, "Alright, it's time to leave. At least no one will disturb us here, and the environment is beautiful enough, isn't it?"
"Yes."
The two old men exchanged glances, their lips curving upwards simultaneously. A smile appeared in their aged eyes.
This trace of a smile was like the sun breaking through the dawn, easily piercing the haze and making their eyes like mirrors wiped clean of fog. Though their faces were still weathered, they could now reflect the world outside, no longer lost in the initial chaos.
"Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Feder, Justin Feder, and I am the captain of this ship."
The old man wearing a captain's hat first wiped his hands, then looked up and extended his hand to Kong Tai.
"Hello, we will forever remember your help."
Although they hadn't left yet, hope had appeared. Even if they couldn't leave in the end, they now had hope and companionship, no longer just him and the people by his side.
How much worse could it get than now?
Therefore, the old man's mindset shifted very quickly.
Kong Tai glanced at the withered hand extended before him, resembling a chicken's claw, with only skin and bones clinging to it. He looked up into the old man's eyes and similarly extended his hand, clasping the hand before him.
"Kong Tai, Kong of the void, Tai of the void, captain of the Free Adventure Group."
"Free Adventure Group??"
Releasing his hand, Feder looked at Kong Tai, a flicker of surprise in his eyes.
Feder the adventurer knew, but he had never heard of an adventure group before.
"Have so many decades passed that the outside world has changed so much?"
An adventure group, as the name suggests, is a team of adventurers gathered for the purpose of adventuring.
Strictly speaking, Feder's own pirate crew could also be classified as an adventure group, but no matter what one thought or did in this world, as long as one ventured out to sea in an organized manner, the World Government and the Navy would call you a pirate, and that was an unchangeable truth.
That was why he was surprised by the term "adventure group" and mentioned the significant changes in the outside world.
Kong Tai didn't answer Feder but extended his hand to the other old man beside him.
It was another hand like a chicken's claw, but Kong Tai showed no signs of disdain.
"Dodd Krisna!"
Krisna clasped Kong Tai's hand, shook it up and down a couple of times, and then spoke, "You can call me Dodd, or you can call me Krisna."
Releasing his hand, Krisna seemed to have regained his former self. He straightened his back and grasped the hilt of the long sword hanging at his waist, which had long since rusted.
"I am the first mate of the Feder Pirate Group, a swordsman."
Clearly, he was very proud of his identity as a swordsman.
Kong Tai let out an indifferent "Mm!" and then scanned the ship again with his eyes, "If there's nothing else you need to bring, then let's go! After all, we've been here for half a day already."
Looking up at the starry sky above, Kong Tai smiled, "The scenery is indeed beautiful, but even the most beautiful scenery becomes tiresome if you stare at it for too long. Moreover, there's virtually no change here, it's like a painting."
As his words fell, Kong Tai cast an admiring glance at the two men.
If he were to stay in such a place for decades, he didn't know what he would become, but without special abilities, he suspected he might go mad.
Turning, he led the two, Feder and the other, off the giant ship. The stationary Freedom continued its journey.
Standing at the stern of the Freedom, Feder took off his captain's hat, and Krisna drew the long sword from his waist. Both looked up simultaneously.
Above the shimmering, silver galaxy, above the dilapidated giant sailing ship, in their field of vision, it was as if the changes of the past had appeared. To Kong Tai and the others, they now gave off an illusion of not belonging to this era.
Without disturbing them, the Freedom slowly descended along the waters of the galaxy, gradually disappearing from sight in this starry expanse.
...
Actually, getting out of here was very simple.
That was, finding the only path here, and you could easily get out.
But this only path, for the people of this world, was like the sun in the starry sky, seemingly within reach but ultimately impossible to attain.
This space, which appeared infinitely vast to others, held few secrets for Kong Tai.
Its infinitude was the result of stacked and expanded space.
Innumerable spatial barriers made those trapped within revolve endlessly, as if in a cycle. This "ghost wall" like setting was the truth behind why those who entered could never leave.
The subsequent voyage was bizarre.
The Freedom seemed to know the route, making turns left and right, gradually entering a starry expanse that Feder and Krisna had never seen before.
The two men glanced at Ah Hua and the others, who were sitting on the deck, chatting and laughing, showing no signs of worry or tension. Their gazes then fell upon the silver-haired youth lazily reclining on the ship's bow railing, one hand supporting his head and the other holding a wine gourd.
Thirty-five years, thirty-five years of wandering, had made them realize they were going in circles. After all, no matter how many stars there were, after observing them for so many years, they could discern certain patterns.
And now.
Looking up at the starry sky above, a ray of hope, unprecedented in their lives, appeared in both their eyes.
"I've really never seen this before."
Excitement and trepidation instantly filled their entire bodies.
"Don't worry!"
As if sensing their current anxiety, Robin, who was lying on the railing, "slapped" her book shut.
She turned around, leaning her back against the railing, and looked at Feder and the other two. Pushing up her glasses, she smiled, "The captain is the strongest in the world right now. There is nowhere in this world that can trap us. Even this place, known as a forbidden zone for life and fraught with mystery, is just an adventure for us."
"An adventure?"
Feder lowered his head and looked at Robin.
He could feel the confidence emanating from everyone on board, and the source of this confidence was the lazy youth lying on the bow railing.
"Miss Robin, can you tell us about the outside world?"
Feder's trepidation subsided, and he proactively asked Robin about the outside world.
"After all, decades have passed, and we are very curious about what the world has become."
"Of course."
Robin readily agreed. She then began to recount the history after the "God Valley Incident" to the two of them from the bow of the ship.
Oh, I forgot to mention.
Feder and the other two had mistakenly entered this forbidden zone for life after the God Valley Incident.
That was why they said they were strong in their era, but not peak powerhouses.
After all, their era was one of rampant chaos, a time when countless powerful individuals emerged.