On the train bound for the River Valley Province, Dora and Little Koala leaned against the window, excitedly watching the ever-changing scenery outside. The former's nose was pressed so close she looked ready to poke right through the glass.
From pleasant oases to castles blending seamlessly into mountain ranges, and then to boundless deserts, everything she saw along the way was wondrous scenery she had never laid eyes on before.
The astonishment and excitement on her face were not in the least diminished compared to when she had first seen the ocean.
"This world... is so big!"
Countless words could not encompass her exhilaration, leaving only this single sentence on the tip of her tongue.
Repeating it over and over, Dora felt immensely fortunate in her heart that she had resolutely chosen to follow the Primogenitors to the heavens back then.
Although it was a little lonely never being able to see her family again, being able to behold sights she wouldn't have seen in an entire lifetime made her feel that even if she were to pass away tomorrow, she would have no regrets.
The dwellers of the forest did not care about the length of life.
In Doma culture, how long a person lived was predetermined from the day they were born. Born of the Tree of Ein Sof, they would ultimately return to the tree in another form.
Just like Dora.
Little Koala, hastily brought into existence one day more than two centuries ago, was also seeing these marvelous sights for the first time.
Its amazement was not a bit less than Dora's, and it mumbled softly:
"I see... So this is the planet my father lived on..."
"Sunset Province? It doesn't seem quite like the one in the database. In the database, it was endless automated farmland and irrigation systems... To think such a vast region turned into a desert. I really wonder what happened to the subterranean current conduits now."
It seemed a great deal had truly transpired over the course of two hundred years.
Yet to it, it had merely been a single nap...
In the same carriage.
Ye Shi and White Dove sat across from each other.
At this moment, the bandages wrapped around the latter's head had been completely removed, revealing a face eroded by slime mold.
Of course, rather than calling it eroded by slime mold, it was more accurate to say that it was simply the shape of a fruiting body.
Yet thinking about it, under normal circumstances, how could a human live for more than a century?
While the slime mold fruiting bodies repaired his bodily tissues, they were also slowly replacing his human tissues—just like the biological prosthetics crafted by Xiao Yu.
And when the rate of replacement reached ninety-nine percent, or even one hundred percent, not a single original cell remained in the user's body, nor even a fragment of original cellular DNA.
Under such conditions, he was no different from a slime mold fruiting body; one could even say he was a slime mold fruiting body.
As Ye Shi sized him up, White Dove, sitting opposite him, appraised him with equal curiosity.
"...Incredible. This should be our first meeting, yet you actually know who I am?"
Ye Shi smiled and said, "I've heard of you."
"But your expression tells me your knowledge of me goes beyond merely having heard of me." White Dove curved the corners of his mouth slightly. The expression seemed like a smile, though it was rather unsettling.
Still, while this man was somewhat hideous in appearance, he was a benevolent and charitable person; otherwise, he wouldn't be so deeply respected by the survivors of the Camel Hump Kingdom.
"How should I put it? We have a special way of communicating in our vault... Have you heard of psionics?"
"I have. I saw it in the newspapers," White Dove said, looking at Ye Shi with keen interest. "So you learned about me through psionics... from your companions?"
Ye Shi nodded. "That's right."
"Incredible," White Dove clicked his tongue softly, speaking with profound emotion. "I secluded myself in the Lost Valley for decades, devoting myself to researching mutant slime mold and the mental traits exhibited by it. Yet to this day, I have made no substantial progress... To think that the very subject I still haven't figured out has not only been thoroughly researched by you, but is already being put to practical use."
There was not the slightest pretense in his envious tone.
It was obvious he was genuinely impressed.
Seeing this guy wearing an expression of "the younger generation is to be feared," Ye Shi didn't know what to say.
Scientific research wasn't cultivation.
Why on earth did this guy think working behind closed doors would yield faster results than collaborating and trading favors all over the place?
Looking across the entire history of the Human Alliance, the only person capable of being so formidable seemed to be the "Professor."
Not to mention him—even Dr. Conclusion above him, who had lived far longer, probably didn't possess such caliber.
Still, Ye Shi didn't undermine him, merely coughing lightly and saying, "We haven't completely figured it out. Our understanding of this mental power is only superficial. As for practical applications, we mostly rely on the wisdom of our predecessors."
"Do you mean that back in the Human Alliance era, someone had already mastered large-scale applications of psionics?" White Dove's expression shifted slightly. After a soft sigh, he said in a tone half-joking and half-sincere, "To be honest, I don't know whether to feel comforted or depressed."
"There's really nothing to be depressed about. Compared to what we lost from the Era of Prosperity, this bit of disappointment isn't even worth mentioning."
Ye Shi offered no judgment, continuing in a casual, conversational tone, "Besides, we call this mental energy the 'morphogenetic field.' If you've been following the news, you should have seen it in the papers. If you're interested, you could also join us."
The expression on that face seemed tempted, but White Dove didn't immediately answer.
His gaze fell upon Ye Shi's wrist, and he abruptly changed the subject to something else.
"Is this... an Academy prosthetic?"
"Yes."
Ye Shi rolled up his sleeve to show off—or rather, flaunt—Jiang Xuezhou's technical achievement, smiling as he said, "Exquisite design, isn't it?"
The only fly in the ointment was a single detail, but there was no need to bring it up here.
"Indeed, quite nice," White Dove said with a touch of approval in his eyes. Pausing for a moment, he continued, "A very long time ago, I felt the Academy was probably beyond saving. Those fellows who only knew how to parrot the wisdom of their predecessors were bound to end up rotting away in the swamplands. I never expected that I was the one being dogmatic... Even after I left, so many geniuses continue to emerge."
"Haha, genius might be stretching it, but that fellow really is quite gifted in mechanical engineering."
Ye Shi smiled sheepishly, offering a bit of modesty on someone's behalf, and then looked at White Dove. "Do you have any plans? I'm guessing you didn't suddenly show your face just to catch a glimpse of our guest from Alpha Centauri."
As he spoke, he glanced toward the window, where the two "children" were still engrossed in staring outside, eagerly admiring the scenery along the train tracks.
"Naturally," White Dove smiled, setting down his teacup and looking at Ye Shi. "Actually, I came for you."
Ye Shi paused in surprise. "Me?"
White Dove nodded, retrieved a neatly folded copy of the *Survivor Daily* from his coat, smoothed it out, and placed it on the table.
Ye Shi glanced at the headline. The printed news seemed to be precisely what he had said to reporters during an interview when he first returned to Earth about establishing an extrasolar exploration team.
He hadn't expected this brother to be interested in that.
Staring at Ye Shi with bright eyes, White Dove continued, "...I heard you intend to recruit volunteers worldwide for the exploration team. Is that true?"
Ye Shi smiled sheepishly. "It's only at the proposal stage. In the end, it still needs the approval of the various representatives of the Slime Mold Consortium."
"It is an excellent proposal, and I believe passing it will not be very difficult... based on my observations of your Administrator," White Dove nodded approvingly. "By the way, does your ship lack a biologist and a materials engineer? I mean the professional kind."
Ye Shi shook his head. "Not at the moment. Do you have someone to recommend?"
He had only asked offhandedly.
Yet to his complete surprise, the old monster sitting across from him broke into a radiant smile and uttered words he had never anticipated:
"What do you think of me?"
Ye Shi: "...?!"
Holy crap?!
...
Never did he imagine picking up a big shot just by taking a trip out; Ye Shi was truly stunned by this unexpected windfall.
A scientist who had lived for over a century, whose lifespan was practically infinite, who could be put to use right up until Wasteland Online shut down its servers!
Having no reason whatsoever to refuse, Ye Shi agreed on the spot without a second thought.
Although White Dove had poked fun at himself for being too old to keep up with the times, Ye Shi hadn't taken that modest pleasantry seriously.
A scholar capable of leaving his name in history might not reach SSSR rank, but he easily qualified as an SSR rarity.
Furthermore, this big shot had no special demands regarding compensation, merely asking that a cabin be set aside as his laboratory, and that his Xiao Hong and the Titan from the Lost Valley be brought along.
Compared to that "Tree of Life" in Baiyue Province that excelled at dissemination and planting, Xiao Hong was better at fusing metallic materials and evolving "regenerative armor" on top of them.
According to White Dove, he could help repair the Orion's damaged hull and bolster its defensive capabilities.
With Xiao Hong and White Dove joining the crew, the Orion would essentially gain two layers of defense enhancement and in-combat healing buffs!
Ye Shi was grinning so hard he could barely contain his delight.
Just this single gain made the entire second half of the trip worth it!
Just as the train passed through Lion City in Sunset Province and headed toward River Valley Province, a strange occurrence unfolded far away in Dawn City.
Some residents living in Dawn City claimed to have seen transparent paper airplanes inside their homes.
They were paper airplanes folded very slender, only about the length and thickness of an index finger.
Some people spotted them from their balconies, watching them drift leisurely through the sky; some saw them from their bedrooms, watching them glide past the windows; and some made even more bizarre claims, stating their children watched one fly straight through a bedroom wall.
Initially, the talk of paper airplanes was merely gossip on the streets, akin to an urban legend.
However, thanks to the counter-espionage awareness Dawn City residents had cultivated during wartime, some reported the matter to the police department after noticing the anomalies. This brought the matter out into the open, and it even ended up in tabloid rags like the *Goblin Observer*.
Bizarrely, however, although nearly seventy people claimed to have seen the "paper airplanes," not a single person had successfully captured a photograph of one.
One person had even taken a photo, but nothing showed up in the picture.
This quickly drew the attention of the Guards Corps, who linked it to the recent disappearances of fountain pens.
Although there was no direct evidence proving any connection between the two, both strange phenomena had indeed occurred around the same time.
In particular, following investigations and door-to-door visits by the Guards Corps, the sample count and scope of the "lost fountain pen" incidents highly overlapped with the "paper airplane" incidents.
In other words, occurrences of both anomalies were in the double digits, and all took place within Dawn City.
In the Administrator's office inside the Alliance Building, Lyu Bei reported the findings of the investigation to Chu Guang with a grave expression.
Pausing for a moment, he cautiously offered his opinion:
"I was wondering... could these strange incidents be the Celestials' doing?"
Looking over the report in his hands repeatedly, Chu Guang asked offhandedly, "Have they caused us any substantial losses?"
Lyu Bei shook his head and said solemnly, "At present, we haven't discovered any substantial impact... aside from being unable to find those lost pens. However, it's hard to say whether this might be some reconnaissance method we don't understand."
It was precisely because they did not understand it that the Guards Corps responded as though facing a formidable foe.
After all, the impression the Celestials had left on the various survivor factions on Earth was far too shocking.
Those people hadn't bothered to offer a single greeting; right off the bat, their attitude was "what does your destruction have to do with you?" Anyone would find that intolerable.
Especially after the Orion incident, the Slime Mold Consortium had completely abandoned all intentions of negotiating with the Celestials and the Enlightenment Society, preparing to unite and exterminate this pest once and for all to eliminate future troubles.
Now, both sides were frantically preparing for war, making it hard for any slight rustle in the wind not to put everyone's nerves on edge.
Chu Guang pondered for a moment, then suddenly said, "I don't think they have that kind of ability. And frankly, if they could really produce reconnaissance craft capable of passing through walls, why wouldn't they use them on Daybreak City or our space elevator? Why deliver them to Dawn City—and into residential districts, no less?"
Lyu Bei frowned and said, "Could it be... to pass messages to spies hidden within Dawn City?"
Chu Guang shook his head. "The possibility exists, but it isn't very high. Even if this method of transmission could bypass our interception, it causes far too much commotion. Just like now, it alerted us almost immediately."
Lyu Bei fell silent.
These matters had actually been discussed across several rounds of meetings within the Guards Corps. The opinions provided by intelligence officers at all levels were the same: they believed the likelihood of a connection between the two "anomalies" and the Celestials was very low.
Yet the question remained.
If it had nothing to do with the Celestials, who else could pull off such a thing?
At least among the major survivor factions known to the Guards Corps, none possessed either the motive or the capability to accomplish this.
Just then, however, Lyu Bei's heart stirred, and a thought suddenly occurred to him:
"Could it... be related to the events at Alpha Centauri?"
This time, Chu Guang did not dismiss his speculation outright, falling into contemplation instead.
"I've actually been suspecting that all along."
These inexplicable "anomalies" seemed to have begun only after the Orion returned.
Just as Chu Guang was deep in thought, Lyu Bei suddenly received a communication request.
Nor was Lyu Bei the only one who received a message.
Squatting inside the pen holder, Xiao Qi also received a transmission; her expression drastically shifted as she scrambled out of the pen holder.
"What happened?" Seeing Xiao Qi's pale, alarmed face, Chu Guang asked immediately.
Without time to use her usual respectful honorifics, Xiao Qi cried in a fluster:
"Something happened to the Scientific Expedition!"
Chapter 1036