Wesley suggested that the choice should be left to everyone, letting each person decide whether they wanted to take the risk.
Of course, before officially implementing it, they needed to select two or three trial groups to explore the path for humans to become Stardust creatures.
Lin Xiaohe took his advice and announced the matter on the communication channel.
More than three-quarters of the people were full of anticipation at the idea of becoming stronger, turning into Stardust creatures, and achieving a different kind of longevity.
The rest weren’t interested in this. They poured all their energy into developing Jiuzhou Star, hoping to turn it into the “Earth” that Lin Xiaohe had spoken of.
Without affecting the Jiuzhou Star transformation plan, Lin Xiaohe prepared to select the first batch of test subjects, with three to five spots available.
The Lin family strongly demanded to be included in the experiment.
Grandma Lin said assertively, “I’m the oldest here, so I’m the one who most needs to be in the experiment.”
Grandpa Lin put his arm around Grandma Lin. “Together, the two of us can achieve a ‘one plus one greater than two’ potential.”
Father Lin’s forehead veins bulged, and he gritted his teeth. “Xiaohe gave you two special training, and that barely raised your mental power to A level. Of course, I should go first in this experiment!”
“I’ll go,” Lin Jingqiu said, her face stern.
Lin Chiyang touched his hedgehog-like hair and said confidently, “Who else but me?”
Lin Xiaohe took a deep breath, then another deep breath.
She couldn’t hold it in anymore. She was so frustrated!
“What do you all think this experiment is?! This is Stardust, get it?! The kind of Stardust that causes Stardust sickness with just a tiny bit of contact!”
Lin Xiaohe’s eyes turned red.
Damn it! Whose heart was she worrying for?
Yet these people didn’t understand her at all!
Seeing her explode in anger, the Lin family members shrank back weakly and didn’t dare to respond.
Finally, Grandma Lin stepped forward, hugged Lin Xiaohe tightly, and gently stroked her back. “There, there, my good little one. The reason we dare to participate in the experiment is precisely because you’ll protect us.”
Lin Xiaohe shook her head. “I don’t have confidence in myself.”
She hadn’t even walked that path herself. How could she dare let her family take the risk?
Grandma Lin said gently but firmly, “Then you need to believe in us, just as we believe in you.”
Lin Xiaohe looked into Grandma Lin’s wise eyes. Those eyes, tempered by time, seemed able to embrace everything.
Because of Grandpa and Grandma Lin’s insistence, they successfully made it onto the list of test subjects.
Also included were Dong Yuxuan and Su Xi.
Dong Yuxuan’s reason for applying was simple: “I can’t go back to the Federation with white hair, can I? My brother would cry if he saw that.”
Wesley also wanted to participate, but he was in charge of transforming Jiuzhou Star, so he had to regretfully pass.
To ensure the experiment’s success as much as possible, Lin Xiaohe made a special trip to see the Elder Groan Whale, hoping to get the cultivation methods of adult Groan Whales to enhance her own strength.
The Elder Groan Whale said, “There aren’t any. Every Groan Whale’s mental power is unique. After they mature, they follow the voice in their hearts to cultivate their own mental power.”
“Thank you.”
Lin Xiaohe returned empty-handed. She met the eyes of Grandma Lin and the others, took a deep breath, and said decisively, “Prepare for the experiment!”
The experiment site was on Taiyin Star.
There, civil robots operated soil processors to treat the soil on Taiyin Star, then used 3D printers to shape it into domed buildings.
One of them was converted into a medical bay.
Old Blackie pointed at the fully stocked equipment and reassured everyone, “Stardust sickness isn’t untreatable from the start. As long as you get a blocker in time during the early stage of infection, you can reduce most of the damage. I’ll stay here until the experiment is over.”
The four people put on low-protection space suits and stayed in their respective domed buildings.
The domes would slowly open a crack, letting Stardust enter, penetrate the low-level protective suits, and enter the test subjects’ bodies.
Lin Xiaohe sat in the center of the four buildings, safeguarding the experiment.
With a click, the domes gradually opened.
Lin Xiaohe closed her eyes and spread out her mental power. When she focused it on the four individuals, she could clearly see their blood vessels and beating hearts.
Grandma’s heart rate was accelerating, and her blood flow had slowed down a tiny bit. It seemed Stardust was integrating into her bloodstream.
Dong Yuxuan’s heartbeat was nearly as fast as rock music. That kid said he wasn’t scared, but his body betrayed him.
Lin Xiaohe watched the four people with extreme concentration, using her mental power.
This was a state she had never experienced before.
In the past, her mental power had been scattered, like a flower blooming in all directions.
Although Xinbao, Sweetie, and the other little ones shared her mental power, most of the time, each had their own focus.
Even during wartime, she had never been as focused as she was now.
Her immense mental power gathered inward, compressed to the extreme, like compressing a planet into a single bead. Then, with a pop, Lin Xiaohe’s mental power underwent a qualitative change!
She felt as if she had fallen into a long, winding tunnel filled with colorful bubbles of all sizes, spinning and falling endlessly.
She didn’t know how long had passed, but she seemed to have touched solid ground.
It was pitch dark here, with only four beads of varying sizes emitting faint glimmers of light.
From the darkness, dense swarms of black specks surged out and clung to the four beads, dimming their light even further.
Lin Xiaohe looked at herself and found that she wasn’t in the shape of a bead, but rather a tiny red beetle.
A small leaf was pasted on the red beetle’s forehead, and its back bore patterns of green and yellow vines.
Feeling a sense of purpose, Lin Xiaohe slowly approached the nearest small white bead.
Inside it, white mist swirled, occasionally revealing familiar scenes.
“You’re a waste, a disgrace to the Dong family!”
“You think your brother likes you? He just doesn’t want you to embarrass him!”
As more and more black specks covered the bead, the white mist churned even more violently.
The warm scenes that had occasionally appeared vanished completely. The bead became filled with countless instances of mockery, belittlement, and suppression, showing Dong Yuxuan breaking down in tears.
Lin Xiaohe frowned, extended her two antennae, and brushed away those black specks.
But those specks were like mosquitoes in a summer forest. Even after they flew away, they would come back in droves.
Cracks appeared on Dong Yuxuan’s white bead, and a black speck slipped through a crack and successfully entered.
Alarmed, Lin Xiaohe followed the black speck in with her antennae, trying to catch it.
In an instant, somewhere in a certain dimension of the universe, it seemed a string had been accidentally plucked, emitting a resonant hum.
…
Guo Hai sat on his exclusive shuttle, holding a small wooden box close to his chest.
It was the thing that Boss Chu Huaizhi wanted to send to Lin Xiaohe.
He wasn’t interested in what was inside the box, nor was he curious about Lin Xiaohe. His sole focus was on carrying out his boss’s instructions.
In the brothers’ group chat, those animals were howling again.
“Old Guo, where the hell did you go? We sent you to protect the boss. You’re not out chasing girls, are you?!”
“Now that the boss is awake, get your ass back here! The brothers can’t hold on much longer.”
Guo Hai replied, “I still have something to do. Didn’t the Ministry of Security’s special operations unit get there? Hold on for a few more days.”
The other person wailed miserably, “Hold on, my ass! Damn it, another new breed just popped up. The Ministry of Security’s special forces have lost more than half their people! I said it long ago, we should never have implemented the Leviathan Plan!”
Wow, there was lightning and thunder all night long.
It was mainly because it was so cool; I even had to use a blanket.
