"This—this is…!"
The senior official of the Joint High Command had never imagined that such a scene could exist.
He stared at the boxes piled high throughout the reception room, his expression completely frozen, as if he had been choked by shock.
Most of the boxes contained snacks.
But mixed among them were fresh fruits and vegetables—along with chicken, duck, fish, and meat.
These were supplies Yuzhou usually kept stored inside his spatial ring, ingredients meant for cooking.
Within the spatial ring, time itself was frozen. Food neither spoiled nor decayed.
Seeing so much fresh food, the high-ranking official was so overwhelmed that he couldn't speak.
How many years had it been?
How many years since they had eaten things like this?
Chicken. Duck. Fish. Meat.
In this apocalyptic world, such animals had long since gone extinct.
The underground cities were far too small—there was no space, no sunlight, no soil, no suitable temperature to raise livestock.
Even vegetables were scarce: low yields, artificial light, insufficient nutrients, hostile conditions everywhere.
"This is also one of my local specialties," Yuzhou said calmly, looking at the official.
"Take them back and eat."
Food was something Yuzhou never lacked.
Giving away this much was nothing to him.
"Thank you—thank you, Mr. Wanderer!"
Overcome with emotion, the official immediately tore open a package of snacks.
Snacks that had vanished from Earth long ago.
...
The Joint High Command did not deceive Yuzhou.
They genuinely handed over MOSS's core chip.
After witnessing Yuzhou's miraculous abilities, every senior official present agreed on one thing—
This gamble was worth taking.
After all, Earth stood on the brink of annihilation.
Even a sliver of hope was better than none.
After testing the chip, Yuzhou nodded in satisfaction.
He turned to the Chinese high-ranking official, Wang Heng, and said:
"Leave the rest to me."
"I look forward to your performance," Wang Heng replied solemnly, nodding.
"Tell me all locations where ignition stones are stored," Yuzhou continued, extending a hand, "and every planetary engine that requires repairs."
"This device contains the transport points for all ignition stones, as well as the damaged planetary engines."
Since they had chosen to trust Yuzhou, Wang Heng handed him a tablet-like device.
It contained global operational data—and was already integrated with MOSS's artificial intelligence.
"Alright. I'll move now."
After a brief glance, Yuzhou left.
Saving Earth was never going to be easy.
Especially an Earth that had already escaped the Solar System and was drifting through space.
...
Back on the frozen surface, Yuzhou confirmed the ignition stone locations and damaged engines on the tablet, then stored it away.
He summoned his spaceship once more.
His task was clear:
Deliver every ignition stone to the planetary engines that needed them.
The spaceship was extraordinarily fast and had immense cargo capacity, allowing him to restore engines at maximum efficiency.
Priority naturally went to the primary equatorial planetary engines.
Without hesitation, Yuzhou began.
He collected ignition stones directly from rescue teams across the globe.
With orders already issued from high command, the teams handed them over without resistance.
Once the ship was fully loaded, Yuzhou headed straight for the inactive equatorial engines.
Afterward, he continued supplying secondary engines as well.
Installation was handled by on-site personnel.
Once delivery was complete, Yuzhou departed immediately.
There were over three thousand inactive planetary engines.
Yuzhou had only restored a portion of them so far.
Yet even this was enough for MOSS to calculate a partial correction of Earth's trajectory.
The planet had regained some thrust.
But it still wasn't enough.
Yuzhou knew the original timeline well.
There was only one true way to completely free Earth—
Ignite Jupiter's hydrogen.
Jupiter's gravity had already captured part of Earth's atmosphere.
Hydrogen had mixed with oxygen.
The conditions for combustion were met.
What was missing… was ignition.
In the original timeline, Liu Peiqiang detonated the space station to provide that spark.
But now—
Yuzhou raised the Sparklence.
Amid the endless ice and snow, waves of radiant light spread outward.
A sound like chiming silver bells echoed across the frozen plain.
Moments later, a colossal figure of silver, violet, and crimson shot skyward.
"Space station satellite detection: unidentified object rapidly approaching from Earth!"
"Repeat—unidentified object approaching the station!"
A sudden alarm rang through the Navigator Space Station.
MOSS's alert jolted everyone present.
Astronauts preparing for collective hibernation immediately halted.
They stared at the projected image in stunned silence.
"Unidentified object has reached the vicinity of the station."
On the screen stood a giant—
Ivory-white eyes.
A blue, jewel-like core embedded in the chest.
Three golden stripes across radiant armour, shimmering with light.
"What is that?"
"An alien?"
"Why is it approaching the station?"
Voices filled the control room.
"Do you wish to initiate an attack?"
MOSS queried calmly.
If the astronauts could not decide, it would escalate the matter to Joint High Command.
"Wait."
A lieutenant colonel named Liu Peiqiang raised his hand.
His eyes never left the giant on the screen.
Seeing that figure stirred a memory from his childhood—
A long time ago, his grandfather had taken out an old disc from a drawer and played a show on the computer.
"Liu Peiqiang?"
An astronaut patted his shoulder.
"What's wrong?"
"I've seen this giant before," Liu Peiqiang said quietly.
The room fell silent.
"Are you serious?"
"Do you know what you're saying?"
"What is that thing?"
Liu Peiqiang took a deep breath.
Others might not know—but he did.
Long ago, in his grandfather's generation, there had been a series of special effects shows.
Because his grandfather often replayed the things he loved as a child, Liu Peiqiang had seen them too.
Ultraman.
And this one—
"He's Tiga."
Slowly, firmly, Liu Peiqiang spoke:
"Ultraman Tiga."
"Ultraman? Tiga?"
The others were even more confused.
"What does he do?"
Liu Peiqiang clenched his fist, his voice trembling with emotion.
"He is the one who guides humanity toward the light."
"He is the light that brings hope to mankind."