WHOOOOOOSH—CRACK!
Three-year-old Little Fifth’s silver Void-Dragon horns flared as he channeled the newly upgraded Rank 7 Late propulsion of the [Gu Family Flying Courtyard]. The five-acre brick estate tore straight through the hyperspace slipstream between World #9 and World #10, the Sky-Wall Fortress Planet. It covered five million miles of starry vacuum in less than four minutes.
As the courtyard burst out of hyperspace high in the night stratosphere above World #10’s central river basin, thirteen-year-old Ye Xiao tapped his brass abacus rapidly at the forward navigation podium. He projected the planetary overview and local media broadcasts across the veranda screens.
“We’re directly above the Three-River Agricultural Basin of World #10, Papa,” Ye Xiao reported. His eyes were sharp behind his spectacles as he pointed to a massive three-mile-wide concrete-and-star-steel wall holding back a glowing inland sea between two mountain ranges ten miles ahead.
“That’s the Three-River Megadam. It’s the primary hydroelectric and irrigation reservoir for the entire southern hemisphere of World #10. Below that dam lie three hundred farming towns, twelve cities, and Willow-Creek Boarding Elementary School, totaling fifty million civilians.”
“And look at what that lunatic in the white suit is doing on top of the dam wall!” twelve-year-old Gu Nian frowned. He rested his hand on the wooden practice sword at his waist as he looked through the high-magnification spyglass.
