On Planet Jiuzhou, the entire world seemed to be shrouded in a thick, heavy gloom.
Everyone knew that their leader had been dragged into a mysterious black hole and had vanished without a trace.
All of the Stardust Humans had been dispatched to search for her, leaving fewer than a hundred people behind to guard the safety of Planet Jiuzhou.
Most of the adults carried heavy hearts, but the children, too young to fully grasp the gravity of the situation, still laughed and played as usual.
The ocean waves rolled and crashed, and the sandy beach stretched out like a golden scroll, glittering brilliantly under the sunlight—so beautiful it took your breath away.
A little boy, about six or seven years old, padded barefoot across the sand, calling out as he walked along.
“Brother Ni! Brother Ni, I need you.”
His clear, crisp voice carried across the surface of the sea.
Before long, a humanoid creature covered entirely in blue scales burst through the surging waves like a swordfish and made his way to the shore.
His voice was a bit muffled, as if he were blowing bubbles: “Little Fatty, what do you need?”
Little Fatty pulled a stone slab out of his backpack, holding it up like he was showing off some precious treasure, and pleaded: “Brother Ni, can you help me write something on this stone slab?”
Brother Ni’s claws were razor-sharp and could easily leave marks on the rock: “What do you want to write?”
Little Fatty’s eyes sparkled like the clear blue sky.
He pressed his lips together, smiling as two little dimples appeared on his cheeks: “Our teacher gave us a homework assignment. She said that time never comes back once it’s gone, and told us to leave a gift for our future selves.”
He scratched his head a little sheepishly, his eyes seeming to hold a galaxy of stars, and his expression was incredibly sincere and devout: “I want to record the process of how Planet Jiuzhou was formed.”
Huh?
Brother Ni was taken aback. He had thought Little Fatty wanted to write something like a heart-to-heart with his future self.
“Why?”
Little Fatty plopped down on the sand, and the white foamy waves lapped at his chubby little feet.
He looked up at the sky and said earnestly, “You know, I was born on Planet Jiuzhou. My parents are both survivors from Wasteland Star. I’ve never seen the Federation or the Empire, and I don’t know what the world outside is like.”
Brother Ni flicked his tail, sending up splashes of water, and mumbled, “Eh, it’s not that great out there. Nowhere near as good as Planet Jiuzhou.”
Even though he was an Awakened One, he had to admit that Planet Jiuzhou was far better than the ocean civilization he came from.
The ocean civilization had strict class divisions—everyone was assigned a profession and a rank from the moment they were born. They spent their entire lives confined within those rigid boundaries.
Planet Jiuzhou was different.
The residents of Planet Jiuzhou could choose to live as ordinary people, or they could evolve into Stardust Humans.
Compared to ordinary folks, Stardust Humans lived longer and had greater abilities, but they also bore greater responsibilities.
Little Fatty looked at Brother Ni and said with a smile, “I know. Without the Party Leader, there would be no Mom and Dad, and there would be no me.”
He lowered his head, his mood turning somber: “The adults all think we’re too young and don’t tell us a lot of things, but we actually know. The Party Leader is in trouble.”
“Uh… don’t think like that. Lin Xiaohe is incredibly powerful—she’ll definitely come back safe and sound.”
Little Fatty rested his chin on his hands and nodded firmly: “That’s right! The Party Leader is the strongest in the universe! But… it’s not just about that. There’s also the great apocalypse crisis.”
Brother Ni’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head in shock: “How do you know about that?”
To maintain stability on Planet Jiuzhou, the news of the great apocalypse crisis had not been shared with the ordinary citizens.
Little Fatty snickered: “I overheard the teachers talking about it.”
“You little clever one. You’re too young to be worrying about so many things—careful, or you won’t grow tall. Dealing with the crisis is up to us adults and the Party Leader—it’s none of your business. Besides, the big crisis won’t happen for a long time yet. By then, you’ll probably be six feet under.”
Little Fatty whined, “Brother Ni, just help me out, please?”
“Ahh, you’re impossible.” Brother Ni figured he was just playing along to amuse the kid. “So, what do you want to write?”
Oh yeah!
Little Fatty pulled a stack of drawings out of his backpack.
He hadn’t paid much attention in class, so he didn’t know how to write a lot of words—that’s why he’d drawn them as pictures instead.
Brother Ni flipped open the first drawing. It showed a round, pitch-black egg: “What’s this?”
“Planet Jiuzhou! The teacher said that when Planet Jiuzhou first arrived here, it looked just like this—completely dark.”
Alright then.
Brother Ni tapped the second picture: “And this?”
The second drawing showed the egg split in two, with a figure hovering above it, wielding a whip. To emphasize the whip’s power, Little Fatty had drawn it extra thick, making it look more like an axe.
Little Fatty: “That’s the Party Leader!”
Brother Ni didn’t know much about the construction process of Planet Jiuzhou, so he just assumed Lin Xiaohe had split some sort of container with a single axe strike. He nodded and kept flipping.
Another drawing showed a bunch of little stick-figure people flying up into the sky, scattering seeds down onto the ground.
Little Fatty: “That’s the Stardust Humans planting crops.”
Then there was one showing heavy rain pouring down from the sky, with Planet Jiuzhou covered in vast oceans, and groups of people carrying tools to dredge waterways on the main roads.
Brother Ni: “Are they Stardust Humans too?”
They work that hard?
Little Fatty: “No, they’re robots.”
Brother Ni went through all the drawings. Apart from being too abstract and needing Little Fatty to explain each one, there wasn’t really any other issue.
“Little Fatty, are you sure you want to carve these onto stone slabs? Don’t you want to ask a teacher to help polish them up?”
Little Fatty puffed out his chest and stood tall, speaking with utter conviction: “How could I?! This is my homework!”
Alright, alright.
“You’ll need to get a lot more stone slabs—this one board isn’t nearly enough.”
Hearing that, Little Fatty dashed back to school in high spirits and asked his friends for help.
The school was built in the architectural style of Planet Jiuzhou’s spaceport—winding corridors, flowers, trees, and greenery, all exceptionally beautiful.
When his friends, who were having a picnic in the pavilion, heard Little Fatty’s request, they immediately became excited and insisted on joining in.
“Little Fatty, did you draw the Divine Tree?”
Huh?
Little Fatty was dumbfounded—he’d forgotten to draw that.
“Little Fatty, did you draw our spaceport? It’s super pretty!”
Little Fatty hung his head, fidgeting with his fingers.
That was way too hard to draw—he simply couldn’t manage it.
“Little Fatty, don’t you know Brother Ni? I heard their underwater homes are super luxurious. Do you want to draw those too? The ocean is an important part of Planet Jiuzhou.”
Little Fatty felt so torn—he couldn’t even draw the spaceport, and now he had to draw underwater buildings too?
“Ahh! And don’t forget our Planet Jiuzhou specialties—the super delicious wheat, corn, and peas!”
The children chattered on and on, each wanting to draw every bit of Planet Jiuzhou.
Just the examples they’d listed would be an enormous workload—impossible for Little Fatty to do all by himself.
Luckily, his friends were quite helpful and volunteered to share the work.
“Alright! Let’s give our collection a name.”
Little Fatty, as the leader, suggested: “The Classic of Mountains and Seas! We’ll divide it into three volumes. The first volume will tell the story of how Planet Jiuzhou was built, the second will introduce the mountains, seas, and minerals, and the third will cover the living creatures and our way of life.”
“Whoa, that’s so cool! I agree! Let’s call it the Classic of Mountains and Seas!”
There’s a theory that the Classic of Mountains and Seas that has been passed down to us isn’t actually the complete work—it’s only the third volume.
The first two volumes were lost long ago.
