Part 1
After finishing up in Freedom Country, Long Yi gave new instructions.
He ordered Shadow Guard 1 to evacuate the rest of the team, leaving only five members behind. Han Yue had just told him with a grin:
"After we finish the last collection… let's go back and do Zero Yuan Shopping again, hehe~"
Long Yi chuckled and agreed.
He told Shadow Guard 1 to keep collecting goods across the country while the rest of the team returned to the Dragon Kingdom. Those returning would be assigned to assist at the Base area, receiving new missions once back.
Shadow 1 understood immediately. He began mobilizing the remaining operatives and reactivated contacts across the country to buy another batch of essential materials—this included medicines, weapons, supplies, building materials, metals, ores, coal, and so on. Their goal was clear: keep stockpiling.
Shortly after, Secretary Wen messaged Shadow 1 with updates on his next schedule and personnel assignments.
Meanwhile, in the air en route to Beauty Country, Han Yue was scrolling through her phone to kill time when she suddenly paused.
"Wait... I'm trending on Weibo again?" she blinked in surprise.
At first, she thought it was probably her old alien doodles again.
But when she tapped in—oh wow—it wasn't aliens at all.
It was a bunch of viral photos of her and Long Yi from their visit to the amusement park in Freedom Country. The images showed them holding hands, smiling, eating snacks, and walking side by side like a couple from a romance movie. They looked flawless together—handsome guy, beautiful girl—like they had just stepped off a drama set.
The photos were spreading like wildfire.
"Are they Asian celebrities?"
"What's the name of this drama couple?!"
"She's so pretty! And that guy… who is he?"
"I want to cosplay her so bad, someone help me find her account!!"
Han Yue's identity wasn't hard to find. Her social media had already gone viral months ago due to:
Her bunny and dog rescue posts
Her livestream donation events
Her family drama gossip
Her alien doodles and memes
She had many fans, both local and international.
Now, with these new couple photos, her following was exploding again.
Fans started tagging her, sharing her profile, and commenting on every post.
Han Yue covered her mouth and giggled while saving one of the photos to her phone.
"Hehe~ what a nice photo >u< !!"
Long Yi, who was sitting beside her, leaned over.
He saw the photo on her screen, smiled, and asked,
"Send me a copy?"
She nodded and sent it to him via chat. Without a word, he set it as his new phone background.
He didn't care much about the public photos. His identity was impossible to trace without high-level clearance. If anyone who knew him saw the picture, they'd probably just think:
"Oh, he's on a date."
After all, he was 18 years old now. Many guys his age were already dating—or even married. To date publicly wasn't strange. Besides, he wasn't the powerless kid from the past anymore.
Now, he had power, money, and influence.
And he could protect Han Yue—and everything that mattered to her.
While admiring their photo again, his phone buzzed.
It was a message from Grandpa Long.
「Wow, my daughter-in-law is so cute.」
Long Yi replied dryly:
「What about me?」
His grandfather's answer came instantly:
「You stinky boy! Just behave and treat my daughter-in-law well!!」
Long Yi smiled faintly and locked his screen.
He glanced at the girl beside him—still giggling at her fans' comments.
Yeah. He'd protect her.
No matter what came next.
After arriving at Beauty Country, Long Yi resumed his logistics mission. He met with Shadow 2 and began collecting goods from one city to the next, sweeping through hidden warehouses filled with precious supplies.
Meanwhile, Han Yue continued her personal collection spree, claiming another ten warehouses under her name. She wandered through malls and high-end boutiques, stunned by Beauty Country's rich offerings—famous skincare lines, luxury body essentials, teas, vitamin C, calcium, iron supplements, medicinal wines, and superfoods.
Her assistants, Chen and Liu, already familiar with her tastes, directed Guide Team 2 to pre-purchase mass quantities of fast food, takeout meals, health products, beauty kits, and rare teas. Han Yue also made several secret night trips into the country's lush forests—collecting rare herbal plants, wild fruits, and medicinal roots. Entire forest segments were transplanted into her spatial mountain, expanding it even more.
After six days, Long Yi completed the sweep. Beauty Country wasn't as vast or lenient with gun laws as Freedom Country, so their focus remained on food, chemicals, minerals, technology, and superfoods. With everything secured, they boarded a private jet headed to their next stop—Bear Country.
Bear Country was a snowy land filled with vast icy terrains, steep mountains, and dense forests. Here, weapons were legal, black markets ran deep, and the country was infamous for its liquor and tobacco trade.
Upon landing, Long Yi teamed up with Shadow 3 for collection operations. Shadow 2, whose team had returned to base, now remained solely to protect Han Yue. She immersed herself in exploring the local markets—factories selling thick thermal garments, boots, gloves, goggles, blankets, hats, and alpine gear. Her assistant had already ordered tons in advance. She also hoarded teas, jerky, alcohol, cigarettes, cigars, and mountain delicacies.
While her assistants managed logistics, Han Yue and Shadow 2 traveled to remote wilderness zones to explore native wildlife. They bought livestock bred for the cold: yaks, sheep, mountain goats, alpacas, Tibetan mastiffs, reindeers, domesticated deers, and snow-fed horses—many destined to be transplanted into her ever-expanding mountain domain.
Riding snowmobiles across the frozen ranges, Han Yue made entire hills vanish into her spatial realm. The space expanded with each terrain she absorbed—forests, snowy peaks, ice cliffs. They even discovered several hibernating bear dens, which she moved whole into her space, gathering over twenty bears along with wild boars and grazing animals.
On one of their drives, Shadow 2 suddenly stopped. Blood stained the white snow. The ground was thrashed, trees broken. A battle had taken place.
Shadow 2 dispatched scouts. Soon, they reported: a fight between snow leopards and a pack of wolves. Most wolves were dead or dying; two snow leopards—likely mates—were dead.
Shadow 2 asked if she wanted to collect the bodies.
"Yes," Han Yue said quietly.
She gathered the dead into her space. The surviving, injured wolves were transported into her snow mountain to recover.
Then she noticed a pair of glinting eyes under a broken tree.
A snow leopard cub.
It trembled but did not run. Han Yue approached, hands warm and open. The little snowball meowed softly and, after a pause, crawled toward her. She scooped it into her arms, heart softening.
Shadow 2 watched in silence.
Before returning to the hotel, they discovered and absorbed 15 hot springs into her snowy mountain range—natural, steaming, crystal-clear, like something out of a dream.
Later that night, Shadow 2 brought Han Yue to Bear Country's underground black market. She blended into the crowd, her aura distant yet alert, until something caught her attention.
A little girl locked in a cage.
She was curled up like a wounded animal, her limbs thin, skin bruised purple, eyes hollow with exhaustion. Their gazes met.
Suddenly, memories flooded Han Yue's mind—flashes from her past life.
She remembered a cold, broken woman from the apocalypse. A survivor who lived like a ghost inside the base. That woman killed any man who touched her, murdered abusers in cold blood, and gained a chilling nickname: Thorn—a beautiful blade no one could grasp.
Thorn had once saved her from a group trying to take advantage of her. Han Yue never forgot it.
And now… this girl—ten years old, fragile, trembling—was unmistakably her, just younger. Her fate hadn't yet twisted into the monster Han Yue knew. But the shadows were already forming.
Han Yue stepped closer, squatted before the cage. Shadow 2 stood silently behind her.
A greasy man beside the cage noticed Han Yue's stare. "Miss," he chuckled. "Interested in this little one? She's still fresh. Untouched. Her good-for-nothing father died owing me money, so I'm just collecting what's due. Maybe a trafficker will fancy her."
Han Yue's voice was calm but firm. "Why is she bruised like this?"
The man scoffed. "She tried to run. Had to teach her some manners. You want her? She's a bit damaged, but still young. Only ten."
The little girl looked up slowly, throat dry, lips cracked. Her hands trembled inside the cage. Her hunger, her grief, the cold—it was too much. Tears welled up, but she didn't cry. Not anymore.
Han Yue looked into her eyes and asked gently, "Do you want to follow me?"
The girl didn't answer, uncertainty filling her eyes.
Han Yue spoke again. "You'll never be hungry again. No more beatings. No more cold. I'll make you strong. So strong you'll never need to fear anyone again."
The child's lips parted. Her voice was hoarse. "Will you… sell me?"
Han Yue's heart clenched. "No," she said. "I'll be your family."
The girl burst into sobs, covering her eyes with her tiny hands.
The man snorted and lifted his boot to kick the cage, but Shadow 2 moved faster. In a blink, his gun pressed to the man's temple, forcing him to kneel.
"I-I-I can make a deal!" the man stammered. "Four thousand! Four thousand dollars!"
Han Yue handed him the money coldly. "Unlock the cage. And give her your jacket."
The man stripped it off with shaking hands. Han Yue wrapped the girl in the oversized coat and asked, "Do you have anything else you need here?"
The girl shook her head. "There's nothing here for me."
Han Yue nodded. Together with Shadow 2, they brought her to a nearby private hospital. A full-body checkup was conducted. The doctor reported internal bruising and malnourishment, but she would recover with care. She would need to be confined for two days.
Shadow 2's men were assigned to guard her room. Once arrangements were complete, Han Yue left the hospital quietly.
Tomorrow, she would head to the mountain again.
But tonight, she had saved a Thorn—before the world could break her.
Part 3
After wrapping up the final collection in Bear Country, Han Yue reunited with Long Yi at the hotel. The moment she entered the room, he looked up from his tablet and reminded her, "Tonight, we have a meeting with Colonel Long. It's already the second month. We need to finalize what we'll disclose and what will be held back."
Han Yue nodded while gently holding her new baby leopard, who was curled against her chest like a soft little snowball. Long Yi reached out to pat the kitten's soft fur with a rare, tender smile. Secretary Wen had already begun setting up the encrypted video conference from the next room, coordinating with both Colonel Long and Grandpa Long.
Han Yue sprawled out comfortably on Long Yi's bed, giggling while playing with her "baby snowball." Long Yi, sipping his tea beside her, casually asked, "That girl you rescued from the black market—what's her story?"
He had already received Shadow 2's report and was curious.
Han Yue paused, her fingers stilling on the leopard's soft ears. Her gaze grew distant. "In my past life, people called her 'Thorn'... because any man who dared to touch her ended up dead. If she saw men hurting women, she'd cut off their third legs—or just kill them outright."
Long Yi's expression darkened.
"She saved me once," Han Yue said softly. "I don't even know her real name. I was cornered back then... and she appeared out of nowhere. Slaughtered them all like a storm of blades."
Long Yi put down his cup. "Who were they? I want names."
She moved from the bed to sit beside him, placing a calming hand over his. "I don't know. It was chaos. Just... lowlifes, I guess. But I never forgot her. And when I saw her again in that cage... I knew she'd suffer the same horrible fate again if I didn't do something."
Long Yi remained quiet, his jaw clenched. After a moment, he exhaled slowly and held her hand.
A soft chime rang. Secretary Wen's voice called out, "The meeting starts in five minutes."
Everyone gathered as the encrypted call connected. Colonel Long's stern face appeared, followed by Grandpa Long's kind, wrinkled smile.
Secretary Wen began the briefing. "As previously agreed, it's the second month. It's time to send the next package of data to government channels."
Colonel Long nodded. "Have you finalized the list?"
Long Yi responded, "Yes. Secretary Wen and I prepared the official encrypted document. It will be sent to the military, key government offices, and intelligence heads at midnight. It includes the six-month countdown and key apocalyptic forecasts in a simplified list."
Han Yue, listening carefully, chimed in, "What about the online version for the public?"
Secretary Wen replied, "I reviewed your draft. It's vague enough. Just enough to let citizens start thinking without causing panic. With all the alien hype and apocalypse novels going viral, many might brush it off as fiction. And if not, it'll be censored anyway."
They all nodded. Long Yi added, "Let our own tech team handle the online distribution. That way, it doesn't trace back to you."
Han Yue then smirked, eyes glinting with mischief. "Why not hack the accounts of trending celebrities? Post the message through gossip accounts or livestream influencers. That'll boost visibility. People will screenshot or save it even if it gets deleted."
Secretary Wen chuckled. "Smart. I'll have the team hijack a few gossip pages, idols' fan clubs, and even your own social media account for plausible deniability."
Just then, Grandpa Long spoke up. "Can I finally tell my old friends? Not directly, of course. Just… hints. Let them prepare quietly."
Colonel Long nodded. "You can say it's based on confidential reports from the astronomy bureau or global disaster projections. Just enough to nudge them."
With the plan in place, Secretary Wen busied himself with the necessary executions. Files, codes, firewalls, and strategies were launched in the shadows.
That night, Han Yue slept peacefully in her room, the baby leopard purring in her arms. Long Yi, in his own room, remained awake—staring at the ceiling.
Tonight was the turning point.
The message would go out.
Whether the world listened… was no longer their burden.
But maybe—just maybe—it would give people a fighting chance this time.