Before the man could even react, Yuzhou suddenly thrust the elevator upward with tremendous force. At the same time, he grabbed hold of the man and leapt out through the shattered elevator doors.
The elderly man in the protective suit was completely stunned.
He had been certain that the young man who saved him had died—yet in the next instant, a streak of golden light shot upward, and a stranger he had never seen before appeared before him, carrying that same man.
"You… who are you?"
The old man's mouth hung open, unsure what to say.
"As for me?"
Yuzhou smiled faintly.
"I'm just a wanderer."
Although Yuzhou could not recall the rescued man's name at first, the elderly man's identity was crystal clear to him.
Han Zi'ang—one of the key figures in the original storyline.
The grandfather of the protagonist, Liu Qi.
In the original timeline, Han Zi'ang had been thrown onto this floor, the building collapsed, and he died shortly afterward.
But now that Yuzhou was here, saving the two of them was little more than a casual act.
"Wan—wanderer… thank you for saving me!"
The man spoke quickly after regaining himself.
"My name is Zhao Zhigang!"
"I'm Han Zi'ang," the old man added.
Both of them were shocked by Yuzhou's inhuman strength.
Yet in an era where the Earth itself had fled the Solar System, people's psychological resilience was far stronger than before.
Faced with someone like Yuzhou, they felt only awe.
After briefly asking about their situation, the entire building suddenly began to shake.
It looked as though it was about to collapse.
"This is bad! The building's going to fall—we can't get back to the top!"
Zhao Zhigang looked around nervously as shards of ice continued to fall.
With no exit, the three of them would surely die.
But as that thought crossed his mind, Zhao Zhigang instinctively looked at Yuzhou.
This man… possessed godlike power.
"Let's go."
Noticing his gaze, Yuzhou said nothing more. He grabbed one person with each hand and headed toward the window.
"Outside the window is an ice canyon!"
Han Zi'ang couldn't help but warn him.
"That's where I came in from," Yuzhou replied calmly.
Both men froze for a moment, then fell silent, entrusting everything to him.
At the window, Yuzhou glanced at the thick ice sealing it shut.
It was nothing like ordinary glass—impossible to break for normal people.
But for Yuzhou…
Crash!
With a single kick, the ice-fused glass shattered violently, scattering fragments everywhere.
A howling blizzard rushed in.
Zhao Zhigang and Han Zi'ang, wearing protective suits and helmets, were unharmed.
They stared at Yuzhou.
He was wearing nothing but a short-sleeved shirt, no helmet, no protection—yet his body glowed faintly, completely unaffected by the cold.
"Hold on tight."
Yuzhou spoke softly as light spread from his body to envelop them both.
The next moment—
The three of them floated into the air.
Han Zi'ang and Zhao Zhigang had never experienced anything like this before; their hearts raced uncontrollably.
They were flying.
Before either could process what was happening, Yuzhou carried them straight out the window and ascended toward the surface.
Chunks of ice and debris broke loose from the building as the ground trembled violently.
Already pushed beyond its limits, the structure collapsed completely, crashing down into the canyon below in a rain of ice and stone.
By the time the three reached the frozen surface above, the entire building had already been reduced to ruins.
On the ice stood a girl in a protective suit, kneeling on the ground and screaming in agony.
If one listened closely, the word she cried out was—
"Grandpa!"
Behind her, two men had already come to blows.
"Why didn't you go save my grandpa?!"
"This is our fate!"
"..."
Yuzhou had naturally noticed the group.
Han Zi'ang and Zhao Zhigang had seen their companions as well.
With a nod from Yuzhou, the three descended.
The two men were about to escalate their fight when they suddenly froze in disbelief.
"Hu Kou!"
Han Zi'ang shouted.
The fighting stopped instantly.
The young man ran over and hugged Han Zi'ang tightly.
"You old bastard!"
This young man was Liu Qi, the protagonist—nicknamed Hu Kou by family and friends.
No matter how cold and rebellious he usually was, seeing the grandfather he believed dead standing before him made his eyes redden instantly.
The kneeling girl rushed over as well, throwing herself into Han Zi'ang's arms and sobbing uncontrollably.
"Gangzi!"
The rest of the team reacted with shock and joy upon seeing Zhao Zhigang alive.
Soon, one of the men—who had just been fighting—turned his attention to Yuzhou.
"Gangzi, how did you get out?!"
He asked excitedly.
Zhao Zhigang paused, then looked at Yuzhou.
"This… wanderer saved us."
"Hello," the man said, stepping forward and extending his hand.
"I'm Wang Lei, captain of rescue team CN171-11."
He was the same man who had fought with Liu Qi—an important supporting character in the story.
Standing this close, Wang Lei was certain of one thing:
In an environment nearing minus one hundred degrees Celsius, anyone standing here in a short-sleeved shirt was definitely not normal.
Still, caution lingered in his eyes.
"You're heading to Hangzhou, right?"
Yuzhou asked directly.
"…Yes."
Wang Lei hesitated, then nodded.
Their mission was to deliver the planetary engine's fuel—Firestone—to the stalled Hangzhou planetary engine.
The situation was dire.
Due to Jupiter's gravitational pull, a massive number of planetary engines across Earth had failed.
If things continued like this, Earth would collide with Jupiter.
"By the way," Yuzhou continued, "wherever the upper leadership of the United Government is—I want to make a deal with them."
Coming to this world, Yuzhou had not come without purpose.
Among all the things here, only two truly interested him:
The planetary engines, and the space station's artificial intelligence—MOSS.
The engines themselves were impressive, but ultimately of limited use to him.
What truly mattered was MOSS.
Not because Yuzhou lacked artificial intelligences—he had seen many and could obtain others if he wished.
But for rebuilding his own world, seeking AI elsewhere would be inefficient.
MOSS's capabilities and upper limits were perfectly suited for a civilization in reconstruction—especially for Huaxia.