Chapter 130: Return to Earth

Chapter 130: Return to Earth

By the time Ji Xinghuo returned to Olympia, night had already fallen.

He first went back to his villa to sort through his belongings, taking out some of the items stored in his dimensional pouch. He had nearly a hundred arrows of various types, the Lightning-Fast Battle Sword hung at his left waist, the Invisible Sting and the Sonic Longsword strapped to his back, alongside the magnetic arrow quiver.

Then there were all the sub-yuan cash, dragon coins, and two hero medals.

He left the Tear of Stars untouched.

The most important item was the letter Sister Ren left for him, which he kept close to his body in his pocket.

He also had a phone that resembled a brick, power shoes, and clothes, all stuffed into his backpack.

After confirming that he hadn't forgotten anything, Ji Xinghuo left the villa and took the bus to the Star Gate Square in the center of Olympia.

Moments later.

Ji Xinghuo stepped into the Star Gate Square.

He had been in the Star World for a year and a half, passing through this place numerous times, but this was the first time he had set foot in the square again, gazing at the fifty-meter-tall black Star Gate from a distance.

The perfectly spherical Star Gate resembled a black hole, reflecting no light at all.

It stood tall in the center of the square, with bright red lines drawn on the surrounding ground to demarcate different areas. Entering the Star Gate from different angles would lead to one of the thirteen corresponding Star Gates on Earth.

Ji Xinghuo walked towards the Asia-Pacific Community's transmission zone.

The Asia-Pacific Community controlled three Star Gates: the Chaka Star Gate, the Xianglian Star Gate, and the Giant Port Star Gate, with their respective transmission areas connected together.

Since it was New Year's, the Star Gate was a bit congested.

Most people were returning to Earth from the Star World, just like Ji Xinghuo, heading home to celebrate the New Year.

Dozens of long lines wound through the square, each stretching to over a thousand meters in length, with a possible total of a hundred thousand people.

Ji Xinghuo joined the line for the Chaka Star Gate, and as soon as he took his place, a group of aliens walked up behind him, looking dusty and weary, apparently returning from a hunt.

"The gate's jammed!"

"Can those in front speed up a little? Hurry up and keep up."

As the line grew longer, someone at the back impatiently urged them to hurry up. Ji Xinghuo turned to look but didn't pay them any mind. However, his glance startled the group behind him, and their leader quietly took a few steps back, not daring to get too close.

The leader had sharp eyes and recognized that Ji Xinghuo's weapons and equipment were all super-level, worth tens of millions, or possibly even hundreds of millions.

Moreover, Ji Xinghuo was a solitary traveler.

Such an individual was definitely not someone to be trifled with, possessing formidable strength.

Ji Xinghuo waited in line for nearly two hours before finally reaching the Star Gate, where he underwent identity verification and security checks. The Star Guard in charge of the inspection clearly possessed an ability like True Sight, able to discern disguises and illusions to prevent aliens from infiltrating Earth.

A Star Guard scrutinized Ji Xinghuo up and down, his gaze eventually settling on his head.

"What creature is in your hair?" he asked, frowning.

Ji Xinghuo was surprised, as Qinghong was hiding in his hair in her miniaturized form, and he hadn't expected her to be noticed by the Star Guard.

No wonder he was tasked with security checks with such incredible eyesight.

"It's my battle pet," Ji Xinghuo replied, plucking Qinghong out of his hair and placing her on his palm. She was only two or three centimeters long, tiny and adorable, and looked completely harmless.

The aliens behind him exchanged glances at the sight of Qinghong, and some even laughed.

Could such a tiny snake be a battle pet?

What kind of combat power could it possibly have?

The Star Guard studied her intently for a moment, and his face suddenly paled as he unconsciously took a step back.

"This..."

His eyes reflected a hint of horror.

The energy reaction level of this delicate little snake was comparable to that of a calamity-level monster!

"Is there a problem, officer?" Ji Xinghuo interrupted, not wanting to expose Qinghong's information during a simple security check.

Earth's nations did not prohibit aliens from bringing their battle pets back to Earth. Otherwise, hunters, beast tamers, and dragon masters, who heavily relied on their battle pets, would be useless on Earth.

However, battle pets on Earth had to strictly abide by the Battle Pet Regulation Act. If a battle pet went berserk or intentionally harmed individuals or the public, the owner would be held responsible. In serious cases, the battle pet would be humanely put down, and the owner would not only have to compensate but also face criminal charges.

The guard relaxed when he saw Qinghong sitting innocuously on Ji Xinghuo's palm, looking docile and harmless.

He gave Ji Xinghuo a sharp look, committing his face to memory.

"No problem," the Star Guard replied calmly.

He could tell that the little snake was extremely dangerous, but she wasn't an alien from the Star World in disguise, and she didn't violate the laws of the Asia-Pacific Community. She could freely pass through the Star Gate with her owner.

Ji Xinghuo was undoubtedly human, and his identity checked out.

"You may proceed," the Star Guard waved him through.

"Thank you," Ji Xinghuo nodded and walked towards the pitch-black Star Gate, disappearing the moment he touched its surface.

Ji Xinghuo was enveloped in darkness, and his senses told him that the space around him was distorted to the extreme.

Time seemed to stretch, and yet it also felt like an instant.

When his vision returned, he found himself standing on a circular platform, looking out into a massive hall.

He was right at the heart of the Star Gate fortress.

"I'm back!"

Ji Xinghuo descended from the circular platform, urged on by the Star Guard.

He surveyed the enormous Star Gate hall, bustling with people, and his memory took him back to the day he first entered the Star World a year and a half ago, as if it were only yesterday.

Back then, although he had been determined, he couldn't help but feel some anxiety about the future.

Now, his state of mind was completely different.

Ji Xinghuo quickly adapted to Earth's gravity, as the difference between the gravity of the Star World and Earth was minimal. If not for his heightened senses, he wouldn't have noticed the subtle difference at all.

However, he found his breathing a little uncomfortable.

He had grown accustomed to the ethereal air of the Star World, rich in aether energy. Every breath he took there contained a small amount of aether energy, but the concentration of aether in Earth's air was noticeably lower, by more than just a single magnitude.

Ji Xinghuo took out his phone to turn it on but found it was out of battery.

Having been turned off for over a year, the battery had naturally drained.

He went to a bank, the same one where he had exchanged his cash for star currency before entering the Star World a year and a half ago. Now, he wanted to deposit the money he had earned.

"I want to make a deposit," Ji Xinghuo said to the teller behind the counter.

He then placed a bundle of cash on the counter.

The teller's face was initially calm, as it was common for travelers from the Star World to deposit large sums of money. She opened the package and began counting the cash.

But as she noticed the denomination of the bills, her eyes widened in surprise.

While the amount didn't seem like much, most of the bills were 100,000-yuan notes, and a single one was enough to cover half a year's salary.

"So much money!" she exclaimed.

Her eyes widened, and even the tellers at the neighboring counters glanced over with curiosity.

Fortunately, the bank protected its clients' privacy, and the counters were designed for individual service, so waiting customers couldn't see the transactions.

"Mr. Ji," the teller said respectfully after counting the money three times, "there's a total of 94,520,000 yuan here. Would you like to count it again yourself?"

"No need," Ji Xinghuo shook his head. "Just deposit it all into my account."

The amount was correct.

A little over 94 million yuan—it matched the records he had kept during his time in the Star World.

In the year and a half he had spent there, his total earnings amounted to about 140 million yuan. About 30 million of that was shared with Ren Mian from their hunts, and the rest came mostly from bounty rewards for hunting members of the Beiluoshimen tribe, as well as selling exotic species and enemy weapons and equipment.

After deducting his expenses, the purchase of the Amber Cat Eye Stone, the Invisible Sting, and the Dragon Falcon Eagle Bow, he was left with about 90 million yuan.

Additionally, he had the seven Gold Dragon Coins that Ren Jie had given him, each worth 4.5 million yuan.

He had spent one in Yunxiao City, so he had six left.

Ji Xinghuo intended to keep the Gold Dragon Coins instead of exchanging them for yuan. They could still be used in the True Dragon Dynasty and many other star nations when he returned to the Star World.

He also had some cash left in his backpack, amounting to about 5 or 6 million yuan, for emergencies.

All in all, he had over 100 million yuan in cash!

The teller efficiently deposited the money into Ji Xinghuo's bank account, glancing at him from time to time as she processed the transaction.

Such a young billionaire, and handsome too!

"Mr. Ji, here's your paper deposit slip," she said.

After completing the deposit, the teller handed him a slip, knowing that Ji Xinghuo's phone was out of battery and he couldn't receive the bank's digital notification. She thoughtfully provided a physical copy as proof of the transaction.

"Thank you," Ji Xinghuo said, taking the slip and glancing at it. He noticed a string of numbers written on the back, apparently a phone number.

The teller boldly flashed him a sweet smile.

Ji Xinghuo didn't respond and instead pocketed the slip before leaving the bank.

He found a shop in the Star Gate fortress's transmission hall that provided free charging services for travelers from the Star World and placed his phone on the charger. In less than a minute, it was fully charged.

He turned on the phone, and the screen lit up, displaying the familiar interface.

Before Ji Xinghuo could check anything, his phone started buzzing nonstop with a flood of notifications and unread messages.

A fellow traveler charging their device nearby noticed the commotion and asked, "Hey, brother, how long has it been since you last returned to Earth?"

"A year and a half," Ji Xinghuo replied casually.

"Damn, that's impressive!"

Ji Xinghuo smiled at the comment and then began sorting through the messages and emails. It had been so long since he last used his phone that he felt a bit rusty.

He started checking the messages in chronological order.

The earliest unread message was from September of last year, the day he entered the Star World.

His siblings had received the automated emails he had set up and sent inquiries, along with several dozen missed calls.

Mincongwu had also called that day, another missed call.

After that, things went quiet.

Occasionally, classmates and friends tried to reach out, but their calls went unanswered, and their messages were left unread.

In the university group chat, his closer friends tried to contact him, but after a few months of silence, the topic died down.

For over a year, aside from festive greetings and birthday wishes from his family and friends, there wasn't much activity.

Then, three months ago, everything exploded!

Messages poured in from family, classmates, friends, neighbors...

Ji Xinghuo realized that almost everyone he knew had sent him congratulatory messages. The group chat was buzzing with discussions about him, and it continued for several days, all centered around the Celestial Ladder.

On that day, he had ranked last on the global Celestial Ladder!

And for the following three months, people continued to send messages and make calls, seemingly waiting for his return to Earth.

When Ji Xinghuo checked his social media account, he found that his follower count had skyrocketed from a hundred or so to 1.3 million—a ten-thousandfold increase! Every post he had ever made had comments, even those from a decade ago.

"Holy crap!"

Ji Xinghuo inwardly cursed, realizing the problem.

His social media account was something he had set up casually, using it as a personal journal of sorts. He had been using it since elementary school, occasionally posting thoughts or interesting things he came across, and sometimes even venting. He never expected to become famous, so he hadn't set any privacy restrictions, allowing anyone who followed him to see his posts.

Some of the things he had posted in his youth were cringeworthy!

"I'm going to die of embarrassment!"

Ji Xinghuo's heart nearly stopped.

Forgetting to notify his family that he had returned, he stood on the side of the road, frantically going through his old posts to delete the ones that could potentially embarrass him.

Volume 2: City Hunter

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end