Chapter 169 - 129: Return to Earth

Chapter 169: Chapter 129: Return to EarthJi Xinghuo returned to Olympia, and it was already night. He first went back to the villa to tidy up, taking out some items from the Dimension Stomach, including nearly a hundred types of arrows. He hung the Thunderbolt Battle Blade on his left waistside, and strapped the Invisible Stab and Demon Sound Longsword on his back, alongside the Magnetic Arrow Bag. Then came all of his Ya Yuan cash, Dragon Coins, and two Heroic Medals. He left the Star Tear untouched. The most important thing was the letter Ren Mian left for him, which he kept close in his pocket. Also, a brick-like cell phone, Power Shoes and clothes were all stuffed into his backpack. After confirming nothing was missed, Ji Xinghuo left the villa and took a bus to the Star Gate Square at the Olympia Center. A moment later. Ji Xinghuo stepped onto Star Gate Square. It had been a year and a half since he came to the Star Realm. He had passed through here multiple times, but this was the first time he had stepped back onto the square, seeing from afar the over fifty meters tall black Star Gate. The perfectly spherical Star Gate was like a black hole that reflected no light. It stood in the center of the square, with the ground around it marked with striking red lines to delineate areas. Entering the Star Gate from different angles would lead to one of the thirteen Star Gates on Earth. Ji Xinghuo walked towards the Asia-Pacific Community’s transfer area. The Asia-Pacific Community controlled three Star Gates: the Chaka Star Gate, the Xianglian Star Gate, and the Giant Port Star Gate, and their respective transfer areas were contiguous. Since it was the New Year, the Star Gate was somewhat congested at this time. Most were returning to Earth from the Star Realm, like him, going back for the New Year. Dozens of long queues snaked across the square, each stretching to a kilometer in length, possibly totaling a hundred thousand people. Ji Xinghuo took his place in the queue for the Chaka Star Gate. As soon as he stood there, a group of Mutants immediately followed behind him, looking dusty and worn as if they had just returned from a hunt. "Blockage at the gate!" "Can the front move faster, hurry up and keep up." The line grew longer and longer, and those at the back grew impatient, urging those in front. Ji Xinghuo glanced back but paid no attention. However, his glance startled the team behind him, with the leading captain subtly distancing himself two or three steps away from Ji Xinghuo, not daring to get too close. His eyes were sharp, recognizing that Ji Xinghuo’s equipment were all of superpower level, worth tens of millions, maybe even a hundred million. And Ji Xinghuo was a Solo Hunter. Such a Mutant was not someone ordinary people could afford to provoke; their strength was extremely frightening. After nearly two hours, Ji Xinghuo finally arrived in front of the Star Gate and began the identity verification and security check. The Star Realm Guard responsible for the check obviously had an Ability like true vision, enabling them to instantly distinguish disguises and illusions, to prevent Alien Races from infiltrating Earth. A Star Realm Guard looked Ji Xinghuo up and down, then his gaze suddenly fell on Ji Xinghuo’s head. "What is that creature in your hair?" he asked, frowning. Ji Xinghuo was surprised because Qing Hong was hiding in his hair in its Shrinking form, and he hadn’t expected it to be discovered by the Star Realm Army personnel. Such formidable eyesight was no wonder he was responsible for the security check. "It’s my War Pet." Ji Xinghuo took Qing Hong out of his hair, placed it on his palm, a two to three-centimeter-long little snake, mini and cute, seemingly harmless. The Mutants behind him saw Qing Hong and looked at each other in confusion, even letting out a chuckle. Could such a tiny snake serve as a War Pet? What kind of combat power could it have? The Star Realm Guard observed it carefully for a moment, his face suddenly changed, and he instinctively stepped back. "This..." Shock appeared in his eyes. The energy response level of this slender little snake was comparable to that of a Catastrophe monster! "Officer, is there a problem?" Ji Xinghuo interrupted him, not wanting to expose Qing Hong’s information because of a security check. The Earth’s countries did not prohibit Mutants from bringing War Pets back to Earth; otherwise, Hunters, Masters, and Dragon Lords who heavily relied on War Pets would be completely useless on Earth. However, War Pets were strictly bound by the Battle Pet Supervision Law on Earth. If a War Pet went out of control or deliberately caused harm to individuals or the public, the owner would be held responsible. In serious cases, the War Pet would need to be humanely destroyed, and the owner would not only have to compensate but would also face criminal liability. The guard, seeing Qing Hong behaving innocently and harmlessly on Ji Xinghuo’s hand, then felt at ease. He looked deep into Ji Xinghuo’s eyes, committed his face to memory. "No problem." The Star Realm Guard answered calmly. He saw that this little snake was extremely dangerous, but it was not an Alien Species in disguise, and it did not violate the laws of the Asia-Pacific Community. It could follow its owner freely through the Star Gate. Ji Xinghuo was certainly an Earthling, with no problems with his identity. "You can go through now." The Star Realm Guard waved him through. "Thank you." Ji Xinghuo nodded his head and, under the watchful gaze of the Star Realm Guard, walked towards the pitch-black Star Gate, disappearing the instant his hand touched its surface. Darkness enveloped Ji Xinghuo, and in his Perception, the space around him was twisted to the extreme. Time seemed to stretch, as if elongating, yet it felt like just a moment. As his vision returned, he was already standing on a circular platform, looking out over a huge hall with vast space around him. This was the center of the Star Gate Fortress. "Back!" Urged by the Star Realm Guard, Ji Xinghuo stepped down from the circular platform. He looked around the huge Star Gate hall, bustling with people. The day he entered the Star Realm one and a half years ago was still vivid in his mind, as if it had been yesterday. Although his will was firm back then, there was an inevitable unease about the future deep in his heart. Now, his state of mind was completely different. Ji Xinghuo quickly adapted to Earth’s gravity. The difference between the gravity of the Star Realm and that of Earth was very small; if it wasn’t for his heightened Perception, he wouldn’t even notice such a slight difference. However, his breathing was a bit labored. Having grown accustomed to the ether-rich air of the Star Realm, he immediately felt the difference upon returning to Earth. The air of the Star Realm contained Ether Energy, and each breath drew in small amounts of Ether Energy. Though Earth’s air also had it, the concentration was significantly lower by more than an order of magnitude. It was a bit uncomfortable at first, like oxygen deprivation. But after a few minutes, he gradually adjusted. After all, he had been breathing the air on Earth for over twenty years before entering the Star Realm. Ji Xinghuo took out his mobile phone to power it on, only to find that it was out of battery. Having been switched off for more than a year, the battery had naturally drained away. He went to a bank. He had exchanged cash at this bank before he entered the Star Realm two years ago. Now, he wanted to deposit the cash he had on him. "I’d like to make a deposit," Ji Xinghuo said to the teller behind the counter. Then he placed a bundle of cash on the counter. Sёarch* The novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The teller initially remained calm. There were many Mutants returning from the Star Realm to deposit money every day. She opened the package and started to count the cash. When she saw the denomination of the cash, she couldn’t help but show a look of surprise. The bundle didn’t look like much, but most of it was made up of ten-thousand Ya Yuan notes, with any single one equal to half a year’s salary for her. "This much!" Her eyes widened as curious glances came from the other tellers. Fortunately, the bank protected the privacy of its customers. Each counter handled transactions one-on-one, so other waiting customers could not see what was happening. "Mr. Ji," the teller counted three times and said respectfully, "The total is 94,520,000 Ya Yuan. Would you like to count it again?" "No need," Ji Xinghuo shook his head. "Just deposit it into my account." That number was correct. Ninety-four million and some Ya Yuan, more or less the same as the figure he remembered. During his year and a half in the Star Realm, his total income was about one hundred and forty million, out of which over thirty million was from hunting profits split with Ren Mian. The remainder largely came from bounties for hunting the Beiluo Shimen Clan and selling the weapons and equipment of Alien Species and enemies. After deducting his expenses for purchasing the amber cat’s eye stone, Invisible Stab, and the Dragon Falcon Eagle Bow, the amount left was just over ninety million. Additionally, there were seven Golden Dragon Coins that Sister Ren gave him, each worth 4.5 million Ya Yuan. He had spent one in Yunxiao City, leaving six. Ji Xinghuo had decided to keep the Golden Dragon Coins and not exchange them for Ya Yuan. They could still be used upon his return to the Star Realm and were accepted in the True Dragon Dynasty and many Star Realm nations. There was also a sum of cash in his backpack, approximately five or six million Ya Yuan, kept for emergencies. In total, his cash alone exceeded one hundred million! The teller quickly processed the deposit into Ji Xinghuo’s bank account; while operating the transaction, she couldn’t help but steal glances at Ji Xinghuo. A millionaire so young and handsome too! "Mr. Ji, here is your paper deposit slip." After completing the deposit transaction, the teller handed him a deposit slip. Knowing that Ji Xinghuo’s phone was out of battery and that he couldn’t receive bank notifications, she considerately provided a paper slip as proof. "Thank you." Ji Xinghuo took the deposit slip and noticed a series of digits written on the back – obviously a phone number. The teller boldly flashed him a sweet smile. Ji Xinghuo did not respond and pocketed the deposit slip before getting up and leaving the bank. He found a store in the Star Gate Fortress’s transmission hall that offered free charging services for Mutants, so he placed his phone there. In less than a minute, the battery was fully charged. Power on! The screen immediately lit up, entering a familiar interface. Before Ji Xinghuo could check anything, his phone started to ding and dong incessantly with a flurry of notification sounds, as messages streamed in. A Mutant charging next to him couldn’t help but ask, "Bro, how long have you been away from Earth?" "A year and a half," Ji Xinghuo casually replied. "Awesome!" Ji Xinghuo just smiled and started to go through the information and emails. Having not used his phone for so long, he felt somewhat unaccustomed. He checked according to the date. The oldest unread message was from September of the 23rd year, the day he entered the Star Realm. His brothers and sisters at home received his scheduled mail and sent him inquiry messages, along with dozens of missed calls. On that day, Min Chongwu also made a call, which he also missed. After that, all went quiet. Occasionally, classmates and friends made calls that didn’t get through and sent messages that went unanswered. In the university’s class group chat, friends he was closer to sought him out, and after receiving no response from him, it triggered discussions among the classmates. But after two or three months, hardly anyone brought it up anymore. For more than a year afterward, aside from holiday and birthday wishes from siblings and friends, there were virtually no other messages. Then, three months ago, a sudden explosion of messages! Family, classmates, friends, neighbours... Ji Xinghuo realized that nearly everyone he knew had sent congratulatory messages. The class group chat was buzzing with activity; everyone was discussing him heatedly for days. They were focused on the Global Ladder. That day, he had climbed to the bottom of the Global Ladder! In the following three months, people sent greetings daily, along with many missed calls, as if everyone was awaiting his return to Earth. Ji Xinghuo opened his social media account and saw the number of followers had increased from just over a hundred to 1.3 million, a skyrocketing increase! Underneath each post he had made, there were numerous comments. Even content from ten years ago had been dug up. "Fuck!" Ji Xinghuo cursed under his breath. His social media account was casually set up for fun, a log of his life, used since elementary school. Whenever he had some thoughts or came across something interesting, he would post it, sometimes also venting frustrations. He had never thought he would become famous, so he didn’t set up privacy protection; anyone who followed him could see everything. Some of the stuff was thoughtlessly posted in his rash youth. Looking back on it now, it was simply too embarrassing! "I’m not going to get socially annihilated, am I?" Ji Xinghuo nearly had a heart attack. Regardless of notifying his family that he was back, he stood on the sidewalk and went through each of his posts, ready to delete those dark historical records.