Host Heart Treasure: “Due to the cosmic collapse, the original navigation route has shifted. Over the next month, the Adjudicator will travel at reduced speed. The Lord and several hundred Star Dust humans are scouting ahead, seeking a new route for the Adjudicator Ark.”
Yi Jian sighed softly. He was already used to temporary route changes.
Over the past three years, the Black Domain had become unfamiliar to the Giant Sound Whales and the mutated Star Dust creatures.
Some of the homes they had lived in for generations had collapsed, while others had undergone astonishing transformations.
These powerful beings were just as panicked as ordinary humans. They could only follow closely behind the Adjudicator, waiting for the Lord to take the helm and lead these lost, pitiful lambs out of the Black Domain.
Host Heart Treasure: “In three days, registration for the first Ark Admissions Examination of Jiuzhou Star University will officially begin. Registration requirements: complete 360 hours of online preparatory courses and pass the online qualification certification exam. Students who meet the requirements are welcome to sign up enthusiastically.”
“In order to vigorously cultivate scientific and technological talent, the Ark General Command has proposed, with the Lord’s approval, that a certain amount of resources will be allocated to Jiuzhou Star University. This includes but is not limited to waiving tuition and miscellaneous fees for enrolled students, establishing science and technology bonuses, and one-on-one mentorship with professors…”
Yi Jian checked his online course hours. He had already reached 400 hours. He just needed to pass the qualification exam.
To avoid unnecessary complications, he decided to take the exam right now.
The qualification exam was 80% basic content and 20% advanced content. There were also special question types involving physics, chemistry, biological cosmology, economics, and more.
Ten years to sharpen a single sword.
Yi Jian had studied hard every day, and now at last he was reaping the fruits of his hard work.
He worked through the questions all the way and clicked submit.
[Congratulations, examinee Yi Jian, on passing the qualification exam. Jiuzhou Star University looks forward to your enrollment.]
Below this message was the electronic signature of Jiuzhou Star University’s president, Lin Xiaohe.
Yi Jian’s face was flushed with excitement, his eyes sparkling. “I will definitely get into Jiuzhou Star University!”
He was so happy that he wanted to share his joy with Strongie immediately.
Just as he was about to close the Heart Network, Host Heart Treasure suddenly broadcast a temporary news flash.
“Attention! Attention! Levels four and five have entered an orange alert state. All researchers of Jiuzhou Star University level five and above are to assemble at the research center immediately. Starting today, the Heart Network will shut down at 9 p.m. every night. Restoration time is to be determined.”
The next second, the Heart Network disconnected completely.
Yi Jian glanced at the time. It was exactly 9 p.m.
His brows furrowed tightly, and he could not help but worry. What on earth had happened? The Heart Network shutdown was surely to save computing power.
There must be something more important that needed that computing power.
At the same time, whether they were in deep sleep, leading experiments, or in the middle of class, all the researchers received individual notifications from Heart Treasure.
They immediately dropped whatever they were doing and rushed to the research center without delay.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t heard anything about a major research project starting.”
“Where’s the Lord?”
“Out scouting.”
“Could something have happened to the Lord?”
“Don’t fucking jinx it. Even if something happened to the Lord, they shouldn’t notify us first. They should notify the military first.”
By the time they reached the research center, it was packed with people.
There were ordinary human researchers and also Awakened ones.
The expressions on their faces were all very grave.
The researchers who had just arrived softened their footsteps, stopped whispering, and silently sat down in the empty seats.
Once everyone was present, the wall at the very front of the research center instantly turned transparent.
The people in the research center could see inside, but the people inside could not see outside.
The person who appeared inside surprised everyone greatly.
“It’s the Lord!”
Opposite the Lord was a humanoid being with blue skin all over, webbed hands, pointed ears, and pupils that took up almost the entire eye.
His expression looked somewhat blank. He first looked around, then sized up Lin Xiaohe. He seemed to realize something, and his expression gradually became excited.
He opened his mouth and made squeaking, chattering sounds, saying something.
Through Heart Treasure, Lin Xiaohe assigned a task to the researchers: “Translate what he’s saying.”
The researchers immediately sprang into action.
They had long since built a multilingual civilization database and could use tone, vocal structure, movements, and so on to translate the general meaning.
They thought it would be a small matter, but unexpectedly, they could not find any similar point in the language database at all.
Now this was awkward.
The researcher in charge of the language database project stammered, “Lord, we cannot find any similarity to his language.”
This person’s language was like the communication method of the Sui Star civilization—completely incompatible with this star region.
Lin Xiaohe rubbed the space between his eyebrows. “It’s fine. I’ll think of another way.”
The person on the other side seemed to know that communication between the two sides was not smooth, so he slowed his speech and increased the range of his movements.
Clearly, he really wanted to communicate with Lin Xiaohe.
Lin Xiaohe sent a message to the Sui Star envoys trailing behind the Adjudicator Ark, asking them to come and take a look.
The moment the message was sent, Number Three came running over and knocked on the door.
He gave Lin Xiaohe a fawning smile.
They feared the Aola people’s combat power and had not joined the war between the Aola people and Planet Jiuzhou.
After Lin Xiaohe whipped away one-third of the beautiful Aola people’s ships with a single lash, they no longer dared to have any other ideas. They only wanted to perform well in front of Lin Xiaohe and prove their value.
Lin Xiaohe: “What is he saying?”
Number Three listened carefully. “He’s asking you whether this place is the Divine Kingdom.”
Huh??
Lin Xiaohe was slightly stunned. “They’re also people of the Divine Kingdom?”
Number Three’s mouth corners turned downward, his eyes showing disdain, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, fur bristling.
“How is that possible?! A civilization that has just stepped out into space—how could it be qualified to join the Divine Kingdom? Even as a vassal civilization of the Divine Kingdom, it wouldn’t be qualified enough.”
Lin Xiaohe shot him a glance. “Then what’s this Divine Kingdom he’s talking about?”
Number Three threw the same question to the person on the other side.
The blue humanoid being chattered away, gesturing with his hands, saying a whole lot.
Number Three: “He says they come from the Laniakea Supercluster, the outskirts of the Hydra-Centaurus Supercluster, NGC 5068 galaxy. They are located on the inner edge of a secondary spiral arm of that galaxy, in the Gliese 667C system, about 32,000 light-years from the galactic center. Shadow Star.”
Huh??
The research center was buzzing with discussion.
“I’ve never heard of this. I’m certain there is absolutely no such so-called supercluster in our star region.”
“In all likelihood, Shadow Star is a planet outside the domain.”
Lin Xiaohe asked Number Three: “Shadow Star is outside the domain?”
“Probably. The outside domain is too vast. I can’t remember so many planets either.”
Lin Xiaohe was astonished. “You wanted to come here, and it took you so much effort and so long. According to what you said, Shadow Star’s civilization level is around 0.8. Then how did they get in?”
Number Three was stunned.
Yeah, how did the people of Shadow Star get in?
“Can you let me see Shadow Star’s ship?”
Lin Xiaohe’s expression was a little strange, but he still agreed to Number Three’s request.
The wall on the other side turned transparent. There was a very large silver reflector there, with an area of about twenty thousand square kilometers.
It was made of countless mirror surfaces, with long seams between them, like the latitude and longitude lines on a map, woven into squares.
At these convergence points there was a fully sealed cylindrical structure. That was their control station.
Number Three’s mouth twitched. He finally understood why Lin Xiaohe’s expression had been strange.
Because Shadow Star’s ship was just too crude! So crude that the fact they could break through layer after layer of obstacles and reach this star region was nothing short of a miracle!
Number Three felt sour inside, a little emotionally wrecked.
