The Whale Song instrument, crafted from the skull of a Titan Whale, produced a beautiful, moving sound under the player’s skilled touch. Paired with the clear, pure chanting of children’s voices, it sent a shiver down the spine of everyone who heard it.
This was music that reached deep into the soul, a breathtaking performance brimming with epic grandeur.
The Hummingbird slowed its pace. Lin Xiaohe and the others were completely immersed in the wonderful music.
[The silver moon sinks behind the mountain peak, a gentle breeze kisses the Titan Whale’s strings. O hero who has gathered your traveling pack, you don the morning mist and let the stars adorn your fiery red battle armor.]
After a resounding whale call, the blended children’s voices rose a key higher. Organs and harps joined in, swelling the melody into a magnificent chorus.
[You go forth to cross the land of endless night, where darkness follows like a shadow. But the starlight of the Titan Whale will cleave the frozen pass, guiding you over bones and into spring.]
[Let us drink the lingering taste of farewell, using tears to adorn the crown of your ascension. When you sail beyond the vortex of time, we shall meet in the yet-unborn dawn!]
After the climax, the melody turned soft and lingering, as if brimming with deep reluctance and a long, drawn-out sigh.
[O distant light-chasers, you follow the undying star, writing the verses of fate. We who remain behind offer this song as a send-off.]
[Please remember the name of this song — The Star Grain Farewell!]
The Star Grain Farewell?!
Thunderbolt snapped out of his musical trance and cried out in delighted surprise, “It’s a song the people of Heige Star wrote especially for Lin Xiaohe! This is just…”
For the first time in his life, Thunderbolt regretted his lack of eloquence. All he could do was rely on the word “beautiful” to get by.
Ewan was stunned for a moment, then a smile touched his lips. Over the comm channel, he said, “Not just a song for our Party Leader. It’s a song for us, too. We are the light-chasers, and the Party Leader is that unquenchable star. One day, her light will illuminate the entire Federation!”
The song seemed to pluck at Lin Xiaohe’s heartstrings.
In both her lifetimes, this was the first time someone had specifically written a song for her. It was so beautifully composed, and the passionate emotion in the music warmed her chest so much it felt hot.
“Thunderbolt, Ewan, flash the signal lights. Tell our friends on Heige Star… take care!”
A thousand words clogged her throat. Besides a simple “take care,” she couldn’t find a single suitable thing to say.
Over twenty spaceships flashed their lights in the same rhythm.
On Heige Star, the people who had been watching them closely erupted in jubilant cheers.
“They’re saying goodbye to us! They’re telling us to take care!”
“This is wonderful! Lin Xiaohe is still the same Lin Xiaohe!”
“Smooth sailing! Don’t let the Security Department catch you.”
Many people ran from their homes into the open, waving their arms high and shouting their farewells.
Even though they knew the Hummingbird and Lin Xiaohe couldn’t see their actions, they just wanted to do it anyway.
At that moment, physical distance couldn’t block the feelings between them. This uniquely interstellar romance made everyone’s eyes sting with emotion.
It was time to move on.
The Hummingbird‘s engines hummed, waiting for Lin Xiaohe to lead the way.
Lin Xiaohe was just about to proceed when she suddenly stopped.
“Wait for me a moment.”
She flew through the void, but this time, no green rings of light appeared beneath her feet.
Thunderbolt was baffled. “What’s Xiaohe doing? She looks like a mutated bee flying all over the universe after eating poisonous mushrooms.”
The Lin family shook their heads. They didn’t know what was going on either.
But less than half an hour later, Lin Xiaohe flew back.
With a cheerful lilt in her voice, she said, “Open your eyes and watch closely.”
Three, two, one.
She snapped her fingers.
In the previously dark universe, several green rings of light suddenly bloomed into existence.
On the vines, red and yellow flowers blossomed in brilliant splendor.
Standing on Heige Star and looking up at the sky, one could see these green rings forming the shape of a heart.
Colorful flowers, carrying specks of starlight, bloomed and drifted down, as if a heart-shaped rain of blossoms was falling.
“Ahhhh! So beautiful!!”
“It’s Lin Xiaohe! She’s definitely the one who did this!”
“Ah! I’m going to faint! My idol is making a heart for me! Don’t stop me, I’m going to take my little spaceship and follow her!”
“Take it, take it, take it all! Take my heart, take my love, take all my star coins!”
Hearing the joyful chaos on Heige Star through Xin Bao, Lin Xiaohe giggled with delight. “Let’s move out!”
Onboard the Hummingbird, Thunderbolt grumbled to the others, “That’s so cheesy, seriously. A heart shape? How could someone as young as Xiaohe use such an old-fashioned trick?”
Over the comm channel, Ewan and the others chimed in, “Exactly! Red and green together? It’s not even a good color combination.”
Everyone criticized Lin Xiaohe for lowering her cool, high-status image.
If you ignored their jealous gazes that practically screamed envy, and dismissed the sour tone dripping from their words, Lin Xiaohe might have almost believed their nonsense.
“Relax. Even though I made a heart for them, you’re the ones here by my side!”
It sounded like something a player would say, but it worked wonders. At the very least, Ewan and the others shut up.
The journey through the Fourth Ring was so pleasant that when the Hummingbird finally left the region, everyone felt a twinge of reluctance.
“Wow, who knew leaving the Federation would be this easy.” Thunderbolt stretched lazily, a look of deep satisfaction on his face.
He had never had such a smooth flight. No pirates, no interceptors, no quarantine inspections. An unobstructed journey all the way.
Lao Hei, his face stern, had to interrupt his musings. “Alert! Over a hundred ships dead ahead.”
Dense clusters of little red dots filled nearly half the screen.
Instantly, a shadow fell over everyone’s hearts.
Were they finally going to make their move here?
Lin Xiaohe’s brow furrowed slightly, her muscles unconsciously tensing.
The ships weren’t moving at high speed. Their formation was strange, not any kind of defensive or offensive pattern.
Lin Xiaohe instructed the Hummingbird and the other ships to slow down while she went ahead to check the situation.
When both sides drew close enough, Lin Xiaohe “saw” clearly.
Two-thirds of these ships were civilian vessels. The rest were Fifth Ring military warships and deep-space communication ships from Gonggong Star.
The moment Lin Xiaohe’s figure appeared on the warships’ display screens, a deep, powerful male voice sounded over the comm channel: “Target has appeared. Three, two, one!”
Lin Xiaohe was on full alert. The next second, her eyes widened sharply, her gaze filled with utter disbelief.
Using the starry sky as a canvas and the signal lights of the spaceships and warships as brushes, they painted a picture on that canvas: a pink Beetle mecha.
Inside the pink Beetle mecha, the depiction of Lin Xiaohe wore a very serious expression.
The mecha’s two plant-simulating cannons were unleashing a torrent of fire.
A pale yellow protective shield rippled like flowing water.
The backdrop was the bombed-out, ruined landscape of the Grand Canyon military airport.
This was the very same painting Wesley and the others had given her! Only this time, it was recreated in the cosmos by these ships.
Outside the painting, the deep-space communication ship from Gonggong Star displayed a line of text: “This is the road you came by, and it will be the road back!”
“Lin Xiaohe, we, Gonggong Star, will never forget your contribution!”
“In the Fifth Ring, you may come and go freely!”
