Crimson Starfield, Bakala Star.

Xiaoman followed the trading caravan to Huangsha Town, the largest town outside the Eternal Prison.

Even before they got close to the city gate, an unprecedented sense of tension swept over them.

Xiaoman frowned slightly and looked at the caravan leader, "Are you sure there's no problem?"

The leader approached, lowering his voice, "Ninety-nine percent certainty!"

"That's wonderful!" Xiaoman wrapped her face with a scarf and walked in the least conspicuous position in the group.

Soon after, the caravan arrived outside the city gate.

The city was heavily guarded, with towering walls that seemed to reach into the clouds. Most passersby kept their heads down and dared not speak.

The lifeless atmosphere made people feel extremely depressed.

The caravan leader approached with a smile and handed over the pass.

The guard glanced at him, his face full of anger, and opened his pass, revealing a food ration coupon valid across interstellar space.

The guard glanced around to make sure no one was watching, then took the food stamps and forced a faint smile. "No problem, go ahead!"

The group quickly passed through the city gate.

The other guard's gaze remained fixed on Xiaoman, his brow furrowing and relaxing intermittently. Suddenly, he shouted, "Halt! Identifications!"

Xiaoman handed over her identification. The guard looked it over, stared at her, and said with a frosty expression, "The identification says you are a Hemudu refugee, but why do I feel that your facial features look more like those of an ancient Shu person?"

The caravan leader quickly approached, flicked out the interstellar currency from his sleeve, and casually slipped it into the guard's pocket. He grinned sheepishly and mouthed, "Just a little something, just a little something!"

The guard glanced at his pocket, then looked at them, nodded in satisfaction, and said, "You're sensible!" He turned and shouted, "Let them through!"

The group quickly passed through the city gate.

Shortly after they left, a group of fully armed soldiers appeared at the city gate.

"Wang Weijun?" The city gate squad leader broke out in a cold sweat, his legs trembling slightly. He quickly stepped forward, "Sir, what's going on here?"

"Take over this place!" Squad leader Wang Weijun didn't even bother to look at him, and coldly shouted, "Take your men and get out!"

"Yes, sir! Everyone, retreat!"

The city gate squad quickly left.

As soon as this group took control of the city gate, they ordered that people could only enter and not leave.

The news quickly spread throughout Huangsha Town.

Xiaoman frowned, thinking, "No outsiders were present during the discussion, so the news couldn't have been leaked. The fact that this place is now under martial law means that the power grabbers have already begun their operation. Time is of the essence; we must obtain detailed information about the Eternal Prison as soon as possible."

Looking around, his gaze settled on the largest supply station.

"Let's go take a look over there!"

They walked towards the supply station at a leisurely pace.

Along the way, they encountered many unfamiliar interstellar races, but they all had one thing in common: they kept their heads down and went their separate ways.

"How strange!" Xiaoman didn't dare to linger and followed the others' example, hurrying on her way.

They soon arrived outside the supply station.

"What impressive defensive fortifications!" He carefully noted down the surrounding troop deployments and map.

Just as I was about to look elsewhere, a cold, piercing voice rang out: "Who gave you permission to loiter around here?"

Five angry guards surrounded Xiaoman, their fingers already on the trigger.

"Please calm down, my lord! Please calm down, my lord!" Xiaoman raised her hands, feigning fear. "I was just passing by, just passing by!"

"Identity!"

Xiaoman slowly lowered her right hand and took out her ID from her waist.

The guard snatched it away, opened it, examined it carefully, and kept comparing it with the original.

"Head, no abnormalities!"

The squad leader, with a stern face, snatched the ID, compared it back and forth, and coldly shouted: "If you dare to look around again, you can forget about having your eyes!"

"I won't dare again, I won't dare again!" Xiaoman pretended even more convincingly, her whole body trembling, and deep fear flashing in her eyes.

Such a reaction would fool not only a few low-ranking soldiers, but even experienced investigators would not be able to detect any flaws.

"roll!"

"Get out of here right now, get out of here right now!" As Xiaoman turned around, her eyes narrowed and her lips twitched. She thought to herself, "If the guards in a border town are this cautious, I wonder how strict the Eternal Prison will be? Sigh, I can only take it one step at a time!"

Feeling depressed and not very sharp-witted, I returned to my lodgings and waited patiently.

Time flies, and it's past midnight.

Xiaoman suddenly sat up in bed and carefully sensed her surroundings. "It's so quiet, I can't even sense a trace of primal force!"

I activated stealth and cautiously made my way outside.

The courtyard wasn't large, but it took almost ten minutes to walk out.

As soon as I stepped onto the street, I heard faint footsteps coming from a great distance.

They quickly hid in the shadows.

A patrol team hurried past the hideout. They were wearing heavy interstellar armor, fully armed, and smelled faintly of blood, indicating they had just come from the battlefield.

"Things are worse than we expected. We need to find out more about these people!"

Back at my lodgings, I sketched out the places and people I had explored that day, and then carefully looked through the drawings...

Several hours passed without me even realizing it.

As dawn broke, the sounds of people getting up echoed from nearby. "Everyone, hurry up! If we miss the time to leave town, we're all doomed!"

"Yes, boss!"

The moment the door opened, someone knocked.

"Who is it?" Xiaoman asked in a low voice.

"We're about to leave, so hurry up!"

"Okay, coming right away!"

Xiaoman tidied up her belongings and checked them carefully again to make sure she hadn't left anything behind before going out.

After the caravan members gathered, they headed towards the town gate.

After crossing two wide streets, a large crowd gathered ahead.

"What's going on?"

"I don't know!"

The caravan members exchanged bewildered glances. The owner, his brow furrowed, nodded to the team member in charge of intelligence.

A few minutes later, the intelligence officer returned, looking grim. "Boss, Huangsha Town is under martial law. You can only enter, not leave!"

"What?" the boss said coldly. "Did he say why?"

"No!" The intelligence officer approached and whispered in our ear, "The garrison troops who are on good terms with us have revealed that Huangsha Town has been taken over by Wang Weijun."

"Sigh!" The boss's face was extremely grim. "How long will it take before the restrictions are lifted?"

The garrison said they didn't know!

Everyone looked at the boss with cold expressions.

"Looking at me won't help! Everyone back in the yard, wait!"

"All right!"

The group returned the way they came.

Xiaoman's lips curled into a bitter smile. "I have to find a way to sneak out!"

My mind works incredibly fast.

Suddenly, an extremely risky idea came to mind.

Noon.

The sun was scorching hot, and the soldiers could only hide in the shade.

Meanwhile, Xiaoman used her stealth skills to walk under the blazing sun.

Feeling nervous, coupled with prolonged exposure to the sun, caused my body to start sweating.

This was undoubtedly the most fatal thing for the assassin, but fortunately the guards were all listless and no one noticed.

As time went by, the sweat had turned into beads of water, which could drip down at any moment.

Xiaoman, however, was calmer than ever and successfully defused the situation by utilizing the nearby fortifications.

"I need to rest!"

They hid on the reverse slope of the fortifications and waited.

The sun in the sky became even hotter, and it was hot even when hiding in the shade.

Xiaoman observed the changes in the guards and noticed that many of them were starting to droop their eyelids, which put her mind at ease.

A few minutes later, the vast majority of people were asleep.

"Don't rush, wait a little longer!"

The agonizing two minutes passed, and the entire guard fell asleep, even the patrolling robots hid in the shade.

Xiaoman sped up and quickly passed through the city gate.

Leaving the town, they didn't dare slow down, only stopping a few miles away from Huangsha Town.

Just as I was about to rest, a roaring sound came from the horizon.

"What bad luck, it's just a patrol drone!"

Quickly suppress your aura and maintain your previous posture.

The drone flew straight past.

Suddenly, it turned back and began scanning the area below.

After doing this three times, he turned and left.

Xiaoman let out a long sigh of relief and quickly hid in the sandpit to recover her almost depleted physical and mental strength...

The temperature in the desert is too high, and the body quickly becomes dehydrated.

He smacked his chapped lips, his gaze darting around, searching for something to hydrate him.

"I should have brought more water with me!"

She said the same thing. When sneaking around, the most dangerous thing is items that vibrate and make noise. Most assassins don't dare to carry water bottles. Xiaoman is one of the best. She only dares to carry 20 milliliters.

As the sun began to set, it shone directly on this area, causing the temperature to rise again.

The surrounding sand was constantly emitting blue smoke.

"Staying here will only make me die of heat!" Xiaoman dragged her exhausted body and moved to the right slope.

When the body is exposed to the sun, the rate of moisture loss is faster, the steps become unsteady, and double vision appears.

Staggering forward, he reached the edge of a tall sand dune, completely exhausted, and collapsed...

She didn't know how much time had passed when Xiaoman woke up with a splitting headache.

The area was dark and reeked of a nauseating stench.

Raise your arm, and it clangs.

"Girl, don't bother!" An extremely old voice came from the right side.

Xiaoman was quite frightened. She looked over and saw an old man with a dog's head. His brows were furrowed as he recalled the memory of fainting. A sharp pain shot through his head again, and he quickly covered his head. He felt a metallic sensation in his palm.

He touched it and exclaimed in surprise, "What is this?"

"The Sealing Needle!" the kobold elder sighed. "It can seal all primal force!"

Xiaoman felt a little flustered. She secretly channeled her internal energy and found some resistance within her body.

Two weeks later, the resistance disappeared. Overjoyed, but not daring to show it, he asked, "Uncle, I want to ask, where is this?"

"Ha, ha!" the old kobold sighed a few times, "The Eternal Prison!"

"Huh?" Xiaoman was full of question marks and didn't come to her senses for a long time.

A dozen minutes later.

The old dog-headed man suddenly spoke up: "You're so young, why were you captured and brought here?"

Xiaoman recounted her experiences in the desert.

"Well, you're really unlucky!" the old dog-headed man sighed. "No one imprisoned here ever leaves alive." Pointing to the darkest corner, he continued, "If you don't want to suffer, do what those people do and end it all!"

There were countless corpses over there, the stench was overwhelming, piles of white bones, and maggots crawling on some of the not-yet-completely-rotted corpses, with flies swarming around them.

"Why don't you just end it all?" Xiaoman stared at him.

"I'm afraid of pain, even more afraid of death!" The old dog-headed man's eyes flashed with reluctance as he looked towards the seven o'clock direction. "I'm waiting for a miracle!"

Xiaoman was startled, thinking, "He definitely knows some secrets, otherwise he wouldn't have shown such a strong will to survive! I'll try to get some information out of him; maybe I can find clues to escape!"

"Uncle, miracles are impossible!" After a pause, he whispered, "Only you can create a miracle!"

The old dog-headed man trembled slightly, a wary glint in his eyes. His right hand gripped the large bone club, and he stared intently at Xiaoman. "Girl, those who are too clever don't live long!"

"Is that so?" Xiaoman smiled, her eyes half-closed, and pointed a finger at the old man.

A strange force enveloped it.

"This?" The old man was shocked, then overjoyed. He quickly looked around and approached, "Girl, you can use the Force?"

"We can mobilize some!" Xiaoman held a piece of broken bone in her hand, ready to act immediately if he dared to make any sudden movements.

The old man maintained his previous posture, a brief hesitation flashing in his eyes before turning resolute. "If I provide you with something to restore your Force, how long will it take you to return to your full strength?"

"I can't be sure! You'd better let me see it first!"

"Girl, you're quite cunning!"

After a cold laugh, the old man pulled out a jet-black object from his robes, radiating traces of pure primal energy...