"Qiao Ying, what are you looking at? Have you found something inscribed with arcane runes?"
Ye Feng asked curiously after noticing Qiao Ying staring at a large black boulder for a long time.
"No~"
Qiao Ying shook her head gently, her expression solemn. "Although the fracture surface of this boulder looks very rough and like it was torn apart, it... should have been cut by a sharp weapon formed from spatial energy..."
"This... Speaking of which, I heard a rumor before that Star-Stepping City, which boasted defenses capable of withstanding nuclear bombs, was split in half with a single strike..."
"If it was a long saber formed by spatial energy, then it makes sense..."
Hearing this, Ye Feng frowned slightly, recalling what Shen Botian had told him in Mech City.
"Big Brother, come here quickly, Sister Yue Yan has made a discovery!"
At this moment, Xiao Xiao's excited voice drifted from afar.
"Okay~"
...
Soon, Ye Feng and Qiao Ying arrived at where Xiao Xiao and Yue Yan were.
Yue Yan had already set up a rather crude stone platform, which was carved with a large number of arcane runes.
"It's a teleportation array!~"
Ye Feng glanced at the arcane runes on the stone platform and immediately recognized it.
"Yes!"
Yue Yan nodded. "The stone platform forming the array was broken, so Xiao Xiao and I reassembled and repaired it!"
"Big Brother, should we enter this teleportation array?"
As soon as Xiao Xiao finished speaking, Qiao Ying and Yue Yan both looked at Ye Feng.
"Let's go in and take a look!"
Ye Feng pondered for a moment and then nodded.
Immediately, the four of them stepped into the teleportation array.
"Buzz!~"
The four of them felt a distortion in space, and with a flash of light, they found themselves in an unusually vast area.
"Why is there such bright lighting underground? Everyone be careful!"
Yue Yan, wearing a miner's helmet and holding a searchlight, frowned slightly, and Qiao Ying also looked serious.
Ye Feng and Xiao Xiao looked up at the bright sun in the sky. After a while, they exchanged glances and said in unison, "Artificial sun?"
"An... artificial sun? Can the sun be artificially created?"
Hearing this, Yue Yan was suddenly amazed, and Qiao Ying was also quite confused.
"It can~"
"When Big Brother and I were exploring an ancient ruin before, I saw this. At that time..."
Xiao Xiao quickly explained to Qiao Ying and Yue Yan.
After a while, Qiao Ying and Yue Yan finally understood what an artificial sun was.
"Ye Feng, did that artificial intelligence named Ying Yue really confess her love to you and kiss you?"
Yue Yan ran up to Ye Feng, acting like a curious baby. Qiao Ying's expression was also a bit gossipy, clearly both interested in this matter.
"..."
Ye Feng was speechless. "What strange focus do you all have..."
"Let's explore Star-Stepping City quickly~"
Saying that, Ye Feng strode forward.
...
"This..."
After Ye Feng, Xiao Xiao, Qiao Ying, and Yue Yan walked over a small hill, they were stunned.
Gazing out, they saw a super-giant ruined city. There were pits everywhere, large holes scattered around. Moreover, the ruins were overgrown with various trees and vines...
Among the bushes, forests, weeds, and vines, giant white skeletons and various large metal mechanical parts were scattered everywhere...
...
"Big Brother, so many broken mechs?"
"And these mechs are all at a high level... Most of them are of the Profound tier... Just now I saw a level three Earth tier..."
Walking along the road, Xiao Xiao exclaimed in surprise as she looked at the broken mechs around them.
"So many wreckage of tanks, planes, and armored vehicles... scattered human skeletons... This place must have experienced an extremely fierce battle..."
"Those giant white skeletons might be the skeletons of some kind of monster... There are many bullet holes and explosion marks on them... They should be the monsters that attacked Star-Stepping City..."
Qiao Ying chimed in.
"Big Brother, look over there, it looks like the skeleton of a Hellhound!"
At this moment, Xiao Xiao exclaimed again.
"This..."
Ye Feng followed Xiao Xiao's gaze and frowned. "There were Hellhounds among the monsters that attacked Star-Stepping City, and more than one..."
"Ye Feng, these skeletons... should be Goblin skeletons... And that pile of skeletons mixed with human skeletons... there are many Goblin bones inside..."
"Over there are also Goblin Shaman's skull staffs... Goblin Paladin's rune armor..."
Qiao Ying pointed to several places not far away and said.
"This thing... looks like the skeleton of a Gluttonous Fly..."
Ye Feng crouched down to examine the thing stuck in a steel component and said, "A slash of spatial energy... Hellhound... Goblins... Beelzebub, one of the Seven Deadly Sins' Gluttonous Flies... What exactly happened in Star-Stepping City..."
"Sister Yue Yan, what's wrong?"
As soon as Xiao Xiao spoke, Ye Feng and Qiao Ying turned to look and found that Yue Yan's eyes were a little red and her expression was sorrowful...
"No... nothing!~"
Yue Yan waved her hand, her face a little unnatural. She looked at Ye Feng and asked, "Ye Feng, what are you holding?"
"Oh, this was given to me by Senior Shen. It seems to be very important to Star-Stepping City!"
"Yesterday evening, when we reached that area with peculiar starlight, I took it out... But until we discovered the wreckage of buildings outside Star-Stepping City... even now, this twelve-sided die hasn't shown any reaction..."
Saying that, Ye Feng showed the twelve-sided die in his hand to the three girls. It was the one Shen Botian had given him in the City of Arcane Arts.
"My god... I just thought it looked a little familiar... I didn't expect it to be... the key... Key!"
Yue Yan stepped forward and examined the twelve-sided die before exclaiming, "Shen Botian was willing to give you this thing?!"
"Key?"
Ye Feng, who was thinking about how to use the twelve-sided die, was surprised by Yue Yan's words. "This... isn't this twelve-sided die the key to entering Star-Stepping City? No, we've already entered..."
"It's the key to entering Star-Stepping City... Oh, no, to be precise, it's the key to entering the top-secret area of Star-Stepping City..."
Yue Yan said with excitement and surprise. "I've wanted this thing for a long time... But Shen Botian isn't a pushover... If I had shown too much eagerness, it would have exposed the true value of this item..."
"Shen Botian probably only knew that this item was very important to Star-Stepping City, but not the specifics... I didn't expect him to give it to you..."
Yue Yan quickly explained.
"The top-secret area of Star-Stepping City?"
Ye Feng looked at Yue Yan with great surprise. "Yue Yan, how do you know this?"
...