After registering everyone's destination, Mana reminded the group.
Once they left their home worlds this time, it would be at least several hundred, perhaps even several thousand years before they could ever return.
So the thousand geniuses all chose to spend some time with their families and friends before departing.
…
After leaving the Virtual Universe, the four of them returned home directly.
Especially Hong and Thunder God.
As for the Luo brothers, both Luo Fan and Luo Feng could leave a Space Wyrm avatar to stay by their families' side.
After all, an avatar alone wasn't of much use to either of them.
Even Luo Feng's Space Wyrm clone had now reached the Universe level, capable of splitting into a hundred avatars.
Luo Fan, on the other hand, could divide into ten thousand.
So it didn't matter much to them.
But for Hong and Thunder God, this truly was a farewell lasting hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years.
The two of them planned to remain on Earth for a while longer.
When the ship was about to reach the coordinates they had provided, one of Luo Fan's avatars would use a pre-established wormhole to send them there.
The locations they'd left behind were fabricated home planets.
Both of those worlds contained life records that matched Hong's and Thunder God's identities perfectly.
Unless a Universe Master personally examined the flow of time and space, there would be no flaws to find.
During this period, Luo Fan spent time discussing with Fang Xueyi several times.
After all, it always felt a little strange to use an avatar.
Even though a transformed avatar was identical to the true body, down to soul and biological essence...
Both Luo Fan and Fang Xueyi still felt something off about it.
…
Time passed quickly, and soon, the ship was about to arrive at Blackflow Star.
Luo Feng and the others had already been delivered by Luo Fan's avatars to three different cosmic nations.
On the way, Luo Fan had reminded them once again to conceal their mental state issues.
Luo Feng was fine, but Hong and Thunder God, once they left Chaos City, would likely dive into the Illusion Sea and clear ten or twenty levels. There was no way that wouldn't attract attention.
Even if their backgrounds were different now, revealing such profound mental fortitude would still draw suspicion.
If one person possessed such a state of mind, it might be overlooked, but two in the same generation?
The human high command would definitely investigate.
And their methods could not be hidden from a Universe Master.
Even having four individuals from the same era enter the top thousand of the Cosmic Genius Battle was already highly unusual.
Not to mention from a single planet.
Even across an entire cosmic nation, the odds of four geniuses reaching the top thousand at once were astronomically low.
The three of them kept that warning firmly in mind.
After bidding Fang Xueyi farewell, Luo Fan went straight to Blackflow Star.
It took him only a few minutes to arrive.
Not long after, a spaceship descended upon Blackflow Star.
It was a deep-black vessel about six hundred meters long, one hundred meters wide, and nearly one hundred meters thick, shaped like a massive sword.
Even from a distance, it exuded an ancient aura, as if it had existed for countless ages within the river of time.
As Luo Fan approached, information about the ship's metallic shell automatically surfaced in his mind.
Guiyan Stone Mother, a type of F6-grade metal.
Extremely expensive.
As he drew closer, the ship's hatch opened slowly.
A group of people emerged.
At their head was a white-haired youth who looked remarkably human.
Though his hair was pure white, his face appeared very young.
His skin was smooth as a baby's, and he stood about two meters tall, his eyes sharp and penetrating.
The moment he saw Luo Fan, the youth slightly bowed.
"Greetings, Your Highness!"
"Greetings, Your Highness!"
The people behind him all bowed respectfully in unison.
Seeing Luo Fan's calm, unreadable expression, a flicker of surprise crossed the white-haired youth's eyes.
But remembering who this "Highness's" teacher was, he quickly understood.
Then he addressed Luo Fan.
"Your Highness, I am the representative from the Virtual Universe Company responsible for escorting you to headquarters. You may call me Cang Liu."
"These individuals are your guards for the journey."
"They will also attend to your daily life during this period."
Luo Fan nodded slightly, saying nothing.
Seeing this, Cang Liu continued,
"Your Highness, let us board the ship first."
"This journey will take roughly three years to reach the Virtual Universe Company headquarters. Once aboard, I'll explain everything in detail."
Luo Fan smiled faintly.
"Then I'll be in your care for the time being, Mr. Cang Liu."
With that, surrounded by respectful attendants, Luo Fan flew into the F-class ship.
The interior was spacious. The "guard-hand" sections of the warship housed its primary power chambers.
Other compartments filled nearly all of the ship's lower decks.
At this moment, Luo Fan was in an opulent hall located on the upper level—three hundred meters long and sixty meters wide.
Soft couches, fine wine, and rare spirit fruits were already prepared, with beautiful maids standing by to serve.
"Please sit, Your Highness," said the white-haired youth with a polite smile.
Luo Fan and Cang Liu sat facing each other.
After taking a glance around, Luo Fan noted that the vessel's structure and space were far inferior to his own F9-class Mechanical Clan ship.
He could clearly sense the technological gap between the human race and the Mechanical Clan.
Seeing Luo Fan examining the ship, Cang Liu took the initiative to explain.
"Your Highness, this ship is forged from F6-grade Guiyan Stone Mother."
"The edges are reinforced with embedded origin law patterns, making them incomparably sharp."
"At high speed, it can pierce straight through a planet, clean through without even significant loss of momentum."
As he introduced the vessel, pride flickered across Cang Liu's face.
However, Luo Fan's expression remained unchanged from start to finish.
Cang Liu couldn't help but admire his composure inwardly.
Then he began his own introduction.
"Your Highness, I am one of the Virtual Universe Company's Immortal beings. I was once a member of the Doomsday Secret Realm."
"For this voyage, I will serve as both your steward and bodyguard."
"If you have any questions, you may ask me at any time."
He then introduced the others nearby.
"These ten are World Masters of the Doomsday Secret Realm. They are…"
Luo Fan glanced around, each of the ten World Masters bore the aura of those acknowledged by the laws themselves.
As for the hundred Domain Lords and the thousand Universe-level guards behind them, Cang Liu did not bother introducing them one by one.
After presenting everyone, Cang Liu went on to explain several matters concerning the company's core members.
Although Luo Fan already knew most of it,
some of the details had never been recorded in the original.
So he listened carefully.
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