The Professional Rankings, in twelve volumes, each bearing the name of my lord.

"Buzz—"

The massive interstellar warship emerged from the space wormhole and slowly approached Earth.

"Sizzle—"

"All shipboard static outer panels open, crew awakening from hibernation initiated, shipboard command system handover begins, target Zhang Beihai..."

The AI's voice echoed throughout the ship.

The sealed hull of the warship was gradually opened, and sunlight shone in.

Inside the various hibernation pods of the warship, the crew members, having ended their hibernation, rushed to their posts while putting on their work clothes.

"Is the landing guidance ready?"

"The AI-controlled Mr. Zhang Beihai has already made contact with Earth. There are no problems below, and he can guide us on landing."

"Atmospheric monitoring completed; no harmful substances detected."

"The swarm robots have entered the atmosphere and are flying around the world searching for intelligence."

"Attention all crew members! Attention all crew members! Our ship is about to land and make contact with our homeworld. Please prepare for landing!"

Standing "in space," Zhang Beihai looked at the blue planet that was gradually growing larger in his field of vision, and he was filled with emotion.

I thought that when I left that year, I would never see this beautiful home planet again.

I never imagined I'd be back.

Zhang Beihai was in the ship's control room.

The control room is located in an openwork area at the top of the warship.

The walls of the capsule can be made transparent, giving people the feeling of standing directly in space.

Zhou Tak also came in.

"According to the official historical database we just received, Song Gua is actually alive. He seems to have been reborn with another identity. Even the bandits are still exactly the same. It's really amazing."

Zhang Beihai smiled faintly.

"Received? You must have hacked into their database."

"How can you call it hacking? I didn't use any hacking skills, but their database was open to me. So I can't not know the current situation on Earth, right?"

Zhang Beihai smiled and shook his head.

"According to the prophecy, the enemy should be arriving in three months. We don't even know what level of power they will be. Now, facing Earth again, I suddenly realize, was our return the right decision? Isn't it just a futile attempt to fight a losing battle?"

Zhou Tak said with amusement.

"So, the people who came back with us this time are either the old people who lived with you and left Earth with me back then, and who have survived to this day through hibernation technology."

They are either descendants of these people, but they have also lived for many years through hibernation.

People like us have witnessed both the world's prosperity and its lows. Even if we were to sacrifice ourselves, we would have died a glorious death, so it wouldn't have been a loss.

"This is what is meant by doing something knowing it's impossible."

"Old Zhang, it seems you've really gotten old. You're not as ambitious as you used to be, daring to seize a spaceship from the heavens all by yourself."

Zhang Beihai smiled wryly and pointed at Zhou Tak.

As the two were chatting and laughing, suddenly, a bright fire appeared in the space ahead, rushing towards them and illuminating the entire control room with a red glow.

Zhou Tak and Zhang Beihai looked out through the transparent bulkhead.

But then they saw a humanoid fireball burning in space.

An automatic alarm sounded in the control room, alerting the warship's defense department that a high-energy object had been detected nearby and needed to be defended.

Soon, Zhou Tak saw clearly the smiling face in the flames.

Zhou Tak quickly turned on his communicator.

"Defense forces, no need to deploy! Retract the deployed combat robotic arms!"

The executive on the other end of the communicator still didn't understand.

"Vice-Captain, the enemy appears to be a high-level spiritual warrior from Earth. They seem to have ill intentions. We should launch an attack!"

"What kind of attack are you going to launch? I'm afraid you'll all lose everything. Come back now!"

A few minutes later.

Song Gua sat on a park bench.

This park is part of the warship's interior. Once inside, you wouldn't guess you're actually inside a spaceship; everything around you is just like it is on Earth.

Song Gua saw those familiar faces.

In his second life, he was accompanied by his adoptive father Zhou Tak, his sworn sister Zhou Lisha, Captain Yue Shengyue who silently helped him, and Zhang Beihai who would run away at the slightest disagreement.

Besides them, Song Gua also saw someone whose face was very old, but who could still be vaguely identified.

"Yuwen Hao?"

With a full head of white hair and a hunched back, Yuwen Hao, sitting in a hovering wheelchair, shakily controlled the wheelchair to Song Gua's side.

"It's me, it's me! Oh my, I didn't expect you to recognize me even though I've gotten so old."

"How could you...?"

"Why do I look so old? Isn't this normal? So many years have passed. When I followed your father to chase after Zhang Beihai, I was already over eighty years old. If it weren't for the advanced medicine of interstellar civilization, I would have died countless times. These past years, I've only been in hibernation, barely waking up for a few days. My old bones..."

"You've really gotten old, huh? You've become so long-winded. Actually, what I wanted to say was, how come you're still alive?"

"Hey! You little brat, you were hoping I'd die! Sigh, actually, I was just thinking of trying out this hibernation technology to see if I could ever see you again in the future. I believed back then that you weren't dead, my good classmate, humanity's savior, Song Gua, you definitely wouldn't die before this useless guy like me!"

Song Gua patted Yuwen Hao on the shoulder.

"Who says you're useless? Everyone has their uses. Just enjoy your retirement. If you're always hibernating, life will be utterly boring."

Yuwen Hao retorted.

"Speaking of which, you've been hibernating the longest among us, haven't you? Do the math, you've been hibernating for at least two thousand years, right? Goodness..."

Yuwen Hao seemed to be saying all the things he hadn't been able to say during his years of hibernation while he was awake, and he was unusually long-winded.

Until his health nurse came and wheeled him away to get his injection.

After Yuwen Hao left, it became much quieter here.

Zhou Lisha's eyes were a little red as she looked at Song Gua, who had hardly changed since then.

"You haven't changed at all. We all bear the marks of time to some extent, but you seem to have stood still in that era."

Song Gua touched his face, and it returned to Song Feng's face.

"Actually, it has changed. I just used my clone's seventy-two transformations ability to change back to my own face."

Zhou Lisha: "..."

It was all for nothing.

Zhou Tak looked Song Gua up and down.

"Son, I feel like you've become stronger."

"Remove the 'seems' part. I haven't been 'hibernating' for nothing these past thousand years."

As he spoke, Song Gua looked at Zhang Beihai and Yue Sheng.

"General Zhang, Captain Yue, how have you been?"

The two smiled.

"Let me guess, you've returned with such a large force to help Earth resist the impending arrival of the Celestial Race, right?"