Chapter 1

The desolate stars of the night were dark and eerie, and unknown animals howled mournfully in the distance.

Inside the cave, Song Chunshi was awakened by the noise, but she only lifted her eyelids slightly before falling back to sleep, wrapped in a blanket.

It wasn’t until the sky began to lighten and birds and beasts were clamoring that she finally yawned and got up. She pushed aside the stone slab blocking the entrance and stepped out of the cave, stretching.

Sunlight bathed her body, the morning air was fresh and cool, and there wasn’t even a single drop of blood left from the previous night’s slaughter.

“Hmm?”

A string of fresh claw marks appeared below the cave. Song Chunshi examined them carefully, judging from their size and shape that they were left by some kind of large predator.

She clicked her tongue, a little headache forming. “Time to fight again.”

This small oasis around the cave was her territory.  The local predators all knew this, and usually kept to themselves, but occasionally some outsiders would come, unaware of the rules, and leave provocative signs, forcing her to fight.

Solving this wasn’t difficult.  Wild beasts would leave their scent in their territory to deter intruders, and Song Chunshi could simply copy them.

But she couldn’t do it.

Marking territory with feces, urine, and flatulence was something she could never do in her lifetime.

Following the claw marks, Song Chunshi quickly tracked down the outsider.

It was a young adult male beast, splashing around in the water. Water droplets rolled off its sturdy body, sliding down its shiny scales, across its broad back, plump haunches, and muscular thighs.

Song Chunshi: “Slurp…”

Five years on the desolate star, if there was one bad influence, it was this.

She still remembered the first time she encountered a large predator hunting. She was so frightened by the bloody scene that her legs went weak, and she had nightmares for two days.

Now?

She could only drool at the sight of its plump meat.

The beast in the water quickly noticed the movement on the shore.  It was a young adult male, over two meters tall, with terrifying claws and ferocious scales.  Song Chunshi stood before it, small and harmless like a rabbit.

But at first glance, the beast was on high alert, a low growl rumbling in its throat.

It had never seen an opponent like this before.  It had no sharp teeth or claws, no scales or fur, and looked so weak that it could be crushed with a single foot, yet it instinctively made its scales stand on end, as if facing a formidable enemy.

This dangerous aura was something it had only felt from powerful members of its own species when it was very young, and it was deeply ingrained in its genes.

Song Chunshi walked out of the bushes, her tall figure approaching the pond with leisurely steps.  She wore boots made of animal skin, and her footsteps landed silently on the ground, like a feline.

The male beast immediately assumed a fighting stance, its vertical pupils fixed on her, as if waiting for the right moment to attack.

The distance between the two grew smaller and smaller, the air almost stagnant, and the battle was about to begin.

Suddenly, the male beast let out a deafening roar, its mountain-like body abruptly turned, and with lightning speed, it ran away.

Song Chunshi was caught off guard for a moment, and after a while, she reached out to try and stop it, “Wait, have some breakfast before you go!”

The beast slipped on its feet, its scales bristling, its four thick legs blurring as it fled the oasis in a panic, disappearing into the desert.

Seeing that she couldn’t catch up, Song Chunshi shook her head in regret.  The winter on the desolate star was approaching, and she was planning to stock up on some winter food, but unfortunately, it had gotten away.

Since she was already out, she took the opportunity to patrol the oasis.  When she returned to the cave, she was carrying breakfast in her left hand and dessert in her right.

After breakfast, she packed food, water, and her homemade tools, covered her nose and mouth, and left her territory, running towards the western desert.

The star above climbed higher and higher, and soon, another star emerged from the edge of the sand dunes.  The two fireballs scorched the earth.

Song Chunshi was used to it.  Before she crossed over, she was still a middle school student, and she didn’t read enough books.  Her meager knowledge of astronomy only told her that this was called a binary star system, and nothing else.

It was also these two “suns” that forced her to admit that she was no longer on Earth.

The temperature rose quickly, the air warping into waves of heat.  Song Chunshi’s long legs alternated rapidly, her toned skin covered in fine beads of sweat, like a beautiful leopard running across the wilderness, full of strength and wildness.

Several figures suddenly appeared ahead, their bodies completely covered, struggling to move across the sand.

She caught up from behind, glanced at them as she passed, and continued on her way without stopping.

There weren’t many humans living on the desolate star, but there were some.  Most of them were scattered across a few large oases, rarely living alone in the heart of the desert like her.  Judging from their equipment, they didn’t look like the native inhabitants of the desolate star, perhaps they were adventurers from outside.

Song Chunshi ran, casually guessing, without paying much attention.

She didn’t know that the people behind her were not the adventurers she had seen before.  They came from the bustling capital star, attending the Imperial Military Academy, and their reason for being on the desolate star was to complete their graduation exam.

The military academy had always been strict with its students, and every year, some students would fail to graduate or even die during the exam.  But those who passed were all outstanding talents, with bright futures ahead of them.

As the top military academy in the Violet Empire, the graduation exam of the Imperial Military Academy was a major event that many people followed, and many people watched the live stream on the star network.

“This team is so unlucky. They drew the desolate star for their graduation exam.  This place is all desert, and there are so many dangerous star beasts.  If I were them, I wouldn’t last a day.”

“The key is that they only have one dagger, no light blade particle guns or mechs.  Who still uses cold weapons these days!”

“As expected of the outstanding talents trained by the Empire.  In such harsh conditions, they can still persevere, and no one has fallen behind.”

“Yeah, this is when you see the difference between ordinary people and geniuses.”

The star network was filled with words of praise.

Just then, a fast-moving shadow suddenly appeared in the corner of the screen.  Everyone thought it was a danger.

Her heart involuntarily clenched.

As the shadow drew closer, they realized it was a young girl.

The girl seemed to be in a hurry, her face covered with a sand mask, revealing only her bright eyes. As she passed the students, she glanced at them casually, her steps never faltering, as light and effortless as she had been before.

The girl’s light and agile figure formed a stark contrast to the clumsy and stumbling figures of the geniuses in the wind and sand.

The audience, who had been praising her just a moment ago, suddenly fell silent, as if they couldn’t praise her anymore.

The barrage of comments went blank for a few seconds until someone analyzed:

“That girl looks very familiar with the desert. She must be a resident of the desolate star.”

“Definitely! They’ve lived in the desert for a long time and have adapted to this environment. Our students are good at fighting, there’s no comparison.”

“That’s right. If I grew up on the desolate star, I could run that fast too.”

The comments echoed in agreement. Even the few viewers who thought the girl’s running speed was far beyond normal were drowned out by the many other comments.

On the other side, Song Chunshi had been running for over half an hour. Before the temperature reached its peak, she dove into a hidden cave in the Gobi Desert, leaning against the rock wall to catch her breath.

Ding..

A sudden voice appeared in her mind, Today’s pace: 45.5 kilometers per hour. Congratulations, host, you have once again broken the speed limit of ordinary humans.

Song Chunshi opened her water bottle and took a sip, holding it in her mouth before swallowing. She didn’t say anything about the system’s words.

If she were still back in her old home on Earth, she might be able to bring glory to her country and break a world record or something. But now, on the desolate star, there were more beasts than people.  No matter how fast she ran, could she really outrun those winged creatures?

“Breaking human limits is meaningless. If you really want to congratulate me, why don’t you give me a light-skill secret manual?  Once I can fly, I’ll show you how to break the bird limit.”

The system listened and pretended to be dead, not answering.

Song Chunshi rolled her eyes. “So stingy.”

The system was something she encountered after she crossed over. It claimed to be from another time and space, an ancient martial arts system, with a vast collection of martial arts manuals and divine weapons, but it wouldn’t give them away for free. It required energy exchange.

But Song Chunshi was more concerned about another point. The system had said that as long as she accumulated 1 million energy points, it would have the ability to break through time and space and send her home.

Song Chunshi was raised by her grandfather. When she was born, her parents were in the midst of their careers and didn’t want to return to their family, so they left her to be raised by the elderly.

Later, when both of their careers stabilized, they had money and free time, and finally had the time to raise their child, but instead of taking their daughter back, they had a second child.

In the past, Song Chunshi always felt wronged, with resentment in her heart.  She was also their daughter, why did they spoil her sister like a little princess, but were distant and polite to her, as if she were an outsider?

After she crossed over, she finally realized that her parents simply didn’t have any feelings for her, just like she didn’t have any feelings for them.

Over the years, she often missed her grandfather and wanted to return to him, but she never missed her parents.

To go home, for five years, Song Chunshi had been mining and saving energy, apart from eating, sleeping, and practicing martial arts.

This cave was where the system told her to dig, supposedly there was an energy mine underneath.

After resting against the wall for a while, when her strength returned, Song Chunshi got up and slowly walked forward along the narrow mine shaft.

She soon reached the end, and the rattan basket she had left yesterday was still there. She took out a homemade pickaxe and struck the rock on the wall with a heavy blow.

The pickaxe tip was made from the claw of a ferocious beast, and it could easily cut through the rock.  The broken stones and sand were put into the rattan basket and dragged outside the mine to be dumped.

Back and forth, again and again, the mine shaft was dug deeper and deeper.

“Clang!”

The pickaxe tip hit the rock, suddenly making a different clang.

Song Chunshi’s spirits lifted. Using both hands, she brushed away the dust on the surface of the rock wall, and under the grayish-brown stone shell, a faint glimmer of a different color could be seen.

She had found the energy mine!

A smile appeared on her face.  She replaced the pickaxe and took out another, smaller tool, carefully peeling off the stone shell, revealing a small window.

Soon, the energy stone buried deep underground was revealed. Unlike the black oil and coal, it was a blue solid, emitting a soft glow on its surface. It looked more like a gem than an energy source.

Song Chunshi admired it for a moment before, urged by the system, she put her right hand on it.

The system could detect the presence of energy, but it couldn’t absorb it remotely. It needed to use her as a medium. During the entire absorption process, she didn’t feel anything, she only saw with her own eyes that the energy stone lost its energy, its color gradually faded, and eventually turned into a dull gray waste stone.

This energy mine was quite large. A transparent panel appeared in front of Song Chunshi, with a number slowly jumping on it, wobbling from 1 to 2, then to 3.

The number represented the collected energy. She had been mining on the desolate star for five years and had collected a total of about 500 energy points, while the system required 1 million points.

In other words, if she continued to dig for another 9,990 years, she would be able to meet the conditions to go home.

That was great. Hopefully, by then, she wouldn’t have become a skeleton and would still remember how to swing a pickaxe.

Just as she was being sarcastic, the ground beneath her feet shook violently, and some sand and gravel rolled down.  Song Chunshi looked around, a bad feeling rising in her heart.

“System, wait!”

It was too late. More stones and dirt fell from above.  She cursed under her breath, not even having time to grab her tools, and ran out of the cave.

When she was digging, the mine shaft was dug diagonally downwards, so it was extra difficult to run out.  Song Chunshi stumbled all the way, nearly tripping several times, and finally saw a glimmer of light from the entrance.  Before she could breathe a sigh of relief, boom!

The entire mine shaft collapsed.