Kailin Reno was like a gourd with its mouth sawed shut—she didn’t even move her eyeballs.
But Lin Xiaohe didn’t care. She had already gotten the answer she wanted.
“Keep an eye on her. Don’t let her run.”
She handed Kailin Reno over to the Stardust humans on site for guarding, then took the others to the surface to wait for the rescue ship.
On Jiuzhou Star, dust filled the air. The atmosphere reeked of something burnt and toxic gases.
Old Black Brother hauled a box of transparent face masks out of the warehouse. They were soft, felt cool and refreshing against the skin, didn’t block your vision, but could effectively filter out 98% of the harmful particles in the air.
“Put these on, everyone. This is a bio-concentrated solution that Mori extracted based on Ocean Civilization technology.”
Everyone pressed the jelly-like masks onto their faces. Their noses caught a salty whiff of seawater.
They looked at each other and burst out laughing at how ridiculous they all looked.
Each person looked like they’d been airbrushed—not a single pore visible, faces glowing with that dewy-skin shine.
Young faces paired with world-weary eyes created a sharp contrast. That weird mismatch made even close friends feel awkward around each other.
Not wanting to waste energy on such trivial matters, the scientists turned to Lin Xiaohe for answers.
“Your Excellency the Sovereign, what was that about the Origin of Life you mentioned to Kailin Reno?”
Lin Xiaohe’s gaze pierced through the thick clouds, looking toward Taiyin Star.
The Ark still hadn’t sent a ship over.
“As everyone knows, we’ve had seven eras of civilization in total. Some took human form, some took alien form. No matter how the form changed, one thing remained constant—the Origin of Life. After the Origin of Life passes through the Holy Stele’s cycle of reincarnation, it only weakens. It doesn’t grow stronger, and it doesn’t multiply.”
The scientists’ eyes lit up, each sharing their own views.
“Indeed. When we were studying spiritual power, we discovered that it has both universal and individual characteristics. My guess is that spiritual power is connected to the Origin of Life—it might be a byproduct of it.”
“Hmm, we’ve always been curious—where do humans come from? Where do human souls come from? If a soul dies, does that mean the individual ceases to exist? Thank you, Sovereign, for giving us answers.”
“Your Excellency, is the Origin of Life something only we have? Why can extraterrestrial lifeforms also reincarnate through the Holy Stele?”
Everyone looked at Lin Xiaohe with eager eyes, hoping she could provide an answer.
Lin Xiaohe shook her head and said with regret, “I don’t know.”
The time span of seven eras of civilization was simply too long. Countless pieces of true and false information interwove together, making it impossible to distinguish.
Even Chang Qing, a long-lived species, couldn’t be all-knowing about the past. What he saw was only a small corner viewed from his own perspective.
Old Black Brother raised a soul-searching question: “The Aura people and the Sui Star people all want our Origin of Life. Could it be that our Origin of Life has something special about it? How are we supposed to find the Origin of Life?”
Lin Xiaohe explained patiently, “Either it’s to become stronger, or it’s to survive the great extinction crisis. As for the Origin of Life… I don’t know that much about it either. The Divine Sovereign of the Cultivation Era probably touched upon a tiny bit of the Origin of Life.”
Actually, there were still many puzzles left unsolved. For example, where did the Holy Stele come from? Who made it? Why is it here? The First Era civilization and the Seventh Era civilization both took human form—was that a coincidence, or was there another reason?
The questions outnumbered the stars in the sky.
But even just the information Lin Xiaohe had revealed was enough to keep this group of scientists researching for a long time.
A battered, worn-out spaceship pierced through layer after layer of dark clouds and landed on the ground.
Everyone looked at the ship’s hull, covered in patches everywhere, and knew the battle in space must have been fierce.
The one who came to pick them up was the former commander of the 53rd Division.
His combat suit still bore dark red bloodstains. The wound on his face had split open again while piloting the ship, and blood dripped from his cheek down onto his collar.
Lin Xiaohe asked with concern, “Why haven’t you treated your wound?”
A simple wound like that would only need a spray of healing agent or a healing patch. In under ten minutes, it would heal on the surface.
The 53rd Division Commander shrugged and said casually, “This is a scar from battle. It’s an honor.”
“Are the rescue supplies in the Ark running low?”
The 53rd Division Commander smiled bitterly. “You saw right through me, as expected. There are too many wounded. The healing agent that was originally meant for surface wounds is being used on internal organs. The Aura people’s attack destroyed two-thirds of the medical pods. Many critically wounded soldiers couldn’t hold on while waiting.”
Lin Xiaohe frowned.
Although healing agent has powerful restorative abilities, it’s designed for surface wounds. Using it on internal organs not only won’t work well, but could also cause internal poisoning.
The medical officers in the Ark couldn’t possibly not know this, yet they still chose to do it. Most likely, medical supplies were extremely scarce.
Everyone boarded the ship, but the ship didn’t take off for a long time.
The 53rd Division Commander touched his nose awkwardly. “We still need to wait for other survivors. We’ll leave once we’re at full capacity.”
Everyone was slightly stunned.
So thrifty?
Honestly, everyone really wasn’t used to this.
Although the Federation had severe polarization, it still occupied such a vast star region. When it came down to individuals, the resources they could control were still relatively plentiful.
At the very least, public transport flying cars wouldn’t wait until they were full before departing.
As for Jiuzhou Star, even though it was located in the Black Domain where material resources were scarce, Jiuzhou Star had a small population. Plus, Brother Dong continuously transported supplies in from outside the Black Domain. For ordinary people on Jiuzhou Star who wanted to go to the spaceport, they could still take a spontaneous trip whenever they wanted.
Before today, none of them had ever experienced a situation where a short trip required waiting until the ship was full before it could take off.
Someone asked meekly, “Is it because there’s not enough fuel?”
The 53rd Division Commander’s silence was the best answer.
The joy of surviving a near-death experience was once again suppressed. Everyone’s hearts felt heavy, and a trace of bewilderment welled up involuntarily.
In this vast universe, where should they go?
Their eyes fell on Lin Xiaohe, who stood at the very front.
Lin Xiaohe’s back was straight, like a sharp sword drawn from its sheath, radiating brilliance.
She felt everyone’s gaze and turned her head with a grin. “What are you afraid of? We built one Jiuzhou Star—we can build a second one. Even if there’s no fuel, you can stay in the Ark and follow me as we wander through the universe together. Once we survive the extinction crisis and break through the cage, we’ll find a suitable planet out in the outer domains and build another Jiuzhou Star.”
“Even if we can’t find a suitable planet, it doesn’t matter. The Ark is so big, it’s enough to become an ecological spaceship.”
The great extinction crisis and the era cage sounded light as a feather in her mouth, like beating a level in a game.
Even though she currently only had one Ark that hadn’t even been fully modified yet, the confidence and strength in her words made people believe in her completely.
That’s right—what haven’t they seen? A mere extinction crisis? Didn’t they live through it in their past life, the life before that, and the life before that?
What’s there to be afraid of? Just follow the Sovereign and get it done!
