CHAPTER 282: CHAPTER 282: SHADOWS AND DECISIONS

A soft breeze filtered through the open windows. The sun painted warm streaks across the floor, catching the gentle movement of white curtains swaying with the air. Liora sat on the balcony, her baby curled peacefully against her chest, one tiny hand gripping her shirt as if afraid she’d vanish again.

It had been a month since she built the ten bases on Blue Planet. And in that time, everything had changed.

People had poured into the newly constructed shelters like water rushing into a dry riverbed. Survivors, drifters, and entire families who had been holding on by a thread finally found a safe place to rest. The bases—designed to be impenetrable, self-sufficient, and warm—became the new lifeline for humanity.

Each day, thousands of refugees arrived, and before long, the bases were overflowing.

And when the system issued another mission—Build 10 more bases—Liora had completed it within a week.

That wasn’t the surprising part.

What stunned her was the new feature.

[Base Upgrade Function Unlocked: Residents may now complete missions listed in the Base Center Hall to earn Upgrade Points. Once enough points are collected, the base will automatically level up.]

It changed everything.

Now, even in her absence, people were building their own future. Most of the twenty bases had already reached Level 5, just by residents completing missions: farming tasks, hunting lower-level beasts, scavenging forgotten supplies, or helping newcomers.

The Blue Planet—Aerhua—was stabilizing. Finally.

Liora should have been relieved.

But she wasn’t.

Despite the quiet and the sense of safety, there was an undercurrent of unease that never left her chest. It lingered like a storm cloud in the distance—too far to see clearly, but too close to ignore.

Kazren.

She hadn’t heard from him once in this past month. Like he had never existed.

And that—more than anything—kept her awake at night.

"Still no news?" Xu Kai’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts. He was standing at the doorway, holding two mugs of warm fruit tea. He handed one to her before sitting down beside her. The baby let out a tiny coo in response, nuzzling deeper into Liora’s embrace.

She shook her head. "No. It’s like he disappeared. Like he doesn’t care anymore."

Xu Kai raised an eyebrow. "You really think Kazren gave up?"

"No," she said immediately. "That’s what scares me."

They sat in silence for a moment, sipping tea.

After a while, Liora spoke again, her voice quieter. "Kai... I want to go see my father. My brother. And Eli."

He turned to her slowly, unreadable. "You’re thinking about going back?"

"I don’t want to live in hiding forever," she said, staring at the city skyline. "I know it’s risky, but I can’t keep running. One day... Kazren will come. And when he does, I want to be ready. I want them to be ready. I want to look them in the eye and say I didn’t abandon them."

Xu Kai looked down into his tea, then nodded slowly. "I thought this day would come."

"I also want to take Aerish with me," she added, glancing down at her daughter. "I don’t want to leave her again. Not even for a day."

He hesitated. "Liora... If something goes wrong—"

"I know the risks," she interrupted gently but firmly. "But Aerish can’t grow up in fear. Neither can I. We can’t live our whole lives waiting for a shadow to strike. Kazren wants to rule the world? Let him try. I won’t let him take one more thing from me."

Xu Kai leaned back against the chair, thoughtful. "It might be possible to go," he admitted. "There’s a cloaked shuttle in the lower hangar. If we mask our energy signatures and travel through the dead zones, we can reach the edge of the neutral territory undetected. From there, a direct route to your father’s planet is viable."

"And it’s safe enough to take Aerish?"

"She’ll be fine," he said. "With me there and the new defensive units I’ve integrated... yes, it’s possible."

Liora exhaled, her heart pounding at the thought of finally seeing her father’s face again. Her brother’s laugh. Eli’s stubborn grin.

A month of safety had brought peace to the world—but not to her heart.

And perhaps... that peace was only the calm before the storm.

"I just hope we’re not walking into a trap," she murmured.

"Even if we are," Xu Kai said, finishing his tea, "you won’t face it alone."

She looked at him, then smiled faintly. "Thank you."

The sun had dipped lower in the sky, casting longer shadows across the planet. Liora stood up, pressing a gentle kiss to Aerish’s forehead. Her eyes gleamed with determination.

"Let’s prepare. We leave tomorrow."

Meanwhile, on the Blue Planet...

In the outermost reaches of the wastelands, beyond the territories of the newly built bases, a figure stood on the ridge of a shattered mountain. His dark robes fluttered in the wind, and behind him, legions of mutated beasts knelt in eerie silence.

What knelt at his back could not be called beasts. Not truly. Their forms shifted with every blink—too many limbs, or none at all. Some floated inches off the ground.

Others pulsed with a dull, internal glow, as though lit from within by something alive... and angry. Their skin—if it could be called that—was nothing like the creatures of Blue Planet. It shimmered like oil on water.

All the beasts have malicious gazes in their eyes; they did not look dull like Blue Planet’s mutated beast. Their eyes were showing with intelligence.

The blue planet beasts were more like normal beasts with some mutation, but these beasts...no, these monsters were like they came from somewhere else.

Kazren’s gaze was fixed on the sky; no one knows what he was thinking. His face was unreadable as always.

"So," he whispered, lips curling into a cold smile, "she’s finally stepping out of hiding."

He turned, his voice like ice. "Begin the next phase."

Finally the moment he has been waiting for is coming.