Lin Xiaohe told everyone about the difference in time flow and asked for their thoughts.
Dong Yuxuan’s first reaction was: “Huh?! By the time we get out of the Dark Domain, won’t I be older than my brother? Haha, he’ll have to call me big brother instead.”
Just picturing that wonderful image of his older brother calling him “big brother” all grudgingly, Dong Yuxuan grinned so wide he showed eight big white teeth.
Wesley rolled his eyes hard.
He’d always found Dong Yuxuan hard to take—a naive sweetheart who, over nine years, had only grown taller, not smarter. Yet, as luck would have it, this naive rich kid had latched onto the Chief when she was just starting out and became her disciple.
This sweet, naive young master had hit the jackpot!
Wesley said, dripping with sarcasm, “If you stay in the Dark Domain even longer, your brother might have to call you ‘uncle’ or maybe ‘grandpa’?”
Not catching the sarcasm at all, Dong Yuxuan seriously explained, “But that would mess up the generations.”
Wesley was done for!
Initially, everyone had felt lost and a bit scared when they heard the news. But thanks to those two clowns, that feeling of being lost just vanished.
So what if time flowed differently?
They were living each day to the fullest. The only real pity was that their enemies would live longer than they would.
“It doesn’t matter, Chief. Whatever you want to do, we’ll do it.”
“Yeah! Chief, we’ll follow you.”
When the sky falls, the tall folks hold it up.
Lin Xiaohe was even taller than the sky!
Feeling everyone’s unconditional trust, the weight on Lin Xiaohe’s shoulders grew a little heavier.
She handed the supplies she’d brought over to Wesley for distribution. “Keep the seeds for me. As for the rest, distribute it as you see fit.”
“Got it!” Wesley snapped to attention and saluted.
He would never disappoint the Chief’s expectations of him! Jiuzhou Star would become their new home, and it would never be inferior to Tigre Star!
After getting things arranged, Lin Xiaohe entered the Whale Sea. She planned to ask the Elder Groan Whale and Chang Qing.
The Elder Groan Whale went “Wah!” and spat out a huge pile of crayfish. “Xiaohe, spicy crawfish!”
With so much on her mind, how could Lin Xiaohe possibly have the energy to cook?
She finally managed to catch the Elder Groan Whale and quickly asked the question that was troubling her.
The Elder Groan Whale floated in the sky, its voice like thunder: “You’re asking me how to extend human lifespans? I don’t know either!”
Chang Qing used its aerial roots to form a lid, firmly covering the crayfish. “Where did you catch these crawfish? Last time, didn’t you say you’d caught them all?”
The Elder Groan Whale said in a muffled voice, “Don’t even mention it. A bunch of new wormholes appeared over by the Domain River. Besides crawfish, there are other little bugs too, and no matter how much I catch, I can’t get rid of them all. Otherwise, I would’ve come back to play with Xiaohe a long time ago.”
Why hadn’t he been nagging Lin Xiaohe to cook? Because he couldn’t come back! Even if Lin Xiaohe cooked, he wouldn’t be able to eat it.
Seeing these two steering the conversation off course, Lin Xiaohe asked Chang Qing again, “Do you have a solution? And don’t give me any of that ‘it’s fate’ stuff.”
Fine, then.
Chang Qing swallowed what he was about to say and rephrased it. “If there really was such a method, wouldn’t the Federation and the Empire have used it long ago? For humans, immortality is an eternal pursuit.”
At first, people just wanted to live to a hundred.
Once they achieved that, they wanted to live to a thousand.
If they achieved that, they’d want to live as long as the heavens.
As one of the long-lived races, neither Chang Qing nor the Elder Groan Whale understood why humans were so obsessed with lifespan.
Lin Xiaohe’s eyes dropped in disappointment.
Just thinking about her family and friends leaving her, about being separated by life and death, made her heart ache non-stop.
Her family and friends were like a thread connecting her to this starry era.
With them around, Lin Xiaohe felt a tiny sense of belonging to this time.
Chang Qing saw how listless she was, no longer her usual vibrant self, and couldn’t help but speak up. “If you’re not after immortality, but just want to reduce the impact of the Dark Domain’s time difference on your bodies, I might have a way.”
“What way?” Lin Xiaohe’s eyes sparkled as she looked at Chang Qing expectantly.
Chang Qing pointed at the Elder Groan Whale. “Do the same as them—actively incorporate Stardust and become a Stardust creature. Stardust can slow down the passage of time. How much it slows depends on how much Stardust you incorporate into yourselves.”
In short, the more Stardust you incorporate into your body, the less impact time differences will have.
Lin Xiaohe raised an eyebrow. “My mom was infected with Stardust sickness. Why didn’t she change?”
Chang Qing sneered. “Incorporate, not inhale! One means you can control the power of Stardust, the other means you’re harmed by it. Those are two completely different things!”
Lin Xiaohe then asked how to incorporate Stardust, but Chang Qing said he didn’t know.
The Elder Groan Whale said, “Back in the day, we went out into the universe and actively inhaled Stardust. Those who survived became Stardust creatures.”
It was harsh. The Groan Whales played by the rules of survival of the fittest.
Lin Xiaohe asked, “What was your success rate?”
“Less than one in ten.”
Having gotten a possible solution, Lin Xiaohe returned to the Hummingbird.
She had tried just now. She simply couldn’t inhale Stardust.
The battle armor on her automatically protected its wearer. When Stardust landed on the armor, it slipped right off, like water droplets on a smooth iron ball.
She stood by the porthole, gazing out at Jiuzhou Star.
More and more areas of Pangea were emerging from the ice and rivers.
The crustal movement on Jiuzhou Star hadn’t stopped yet, but it wasn’t as intense as at the very beginning. Monitors showed most earthquakes were magnitude 3–5, with a few at the connections reaching magnitude 7.
Wesley reported that within a month, Pangea would reach a basically stable state. Then, they could send people to develop it.
Right now, Wesley was leading a team to build a space station and spaceport on the tree that Chang Qing had grown.
This tree grew extremely fast. Its crown had already reached into space, but due to Jiuzhou Star’s gravity and rotation, the crown had spread out like an umbrella.
Thick branches grew along the curvature of Jiuzhou Star, extending outward as if trying to wrap around the entire planet.
For now, though, it only covered a small patch of sky.
Wesley and the others thought this tree looked a lot like a space elevator. So, after a flash of inspiration, they decided to build a space base on its crown.
“Chief, give this tree a name.” If it were up to Wesley, he would name everything on Jiuzhou Star after “Lin Xiaohe”—for example, the Tree of Lin Xiaohe, the Continent of Lin Xiaohe, the Sea of Lin Xiaohe.
But the Chief didn’t like that, so Wesley had settled for asking her to name it.
Lin Xiaohe’s mind drifted, and the words slipped out: “Jian Mu.”
In Chinese mythology, Jian Mu grew on the Plain of Du Guang, at the center of the earth. It towered into the clouds and was also called the Ladder to Heaven, connecting heaven and earth so people could reach the celestial realm.
Wesley applauded. “So learned, Chief!”
Then he asked cautiously, “Chief, what’s bothering you? Are you unhappy with our progress?”
“No, you’re doing great.” Lin Xiaohe repeated Chang Qing’s answer to him.
Wesley let out a breath of relief and said with a gentle smile, “God loves the world and delivers all beings. Some fall into hell, some enter the cycle of reincarnation—this is all part of deliverance.”
