Ch 38: Interplanetary Planting Master

Projection

The Galactic Federation had ventured into space for over a thousand years, successfully establishing thousands of colonies. Humans spread across two arms of the Milky Way Galaxy, but no matter where they went, they always remembered that they came from the Solar System—Earth. Many people living on the colony planets might never visit Earth in their lifetime, but from the oldest to the youngest, no one would mistake the star chart of the Solar System. Just as now, everyone stared in astonishment at the star chart above them, immediately recognizing Earth within it.

“What is going on? Could it be…” Even the usually outspoken Jiang Bo couldn’t finish his sentence.

The room’s atmosphere grew tense again, and everyone’s eyes focused on Su He. His earlier actions hadn’t been hidden and were easily perceived by the sentinels.

Su He was just as astonished and explained, “I recognized that character; it means ‘light,’ so I thought…”

Wei Na stepped closer to the wall and examined the character carefully before tentatively asking, “Is this Oracle Bone Script?”

Su He nodded, still puzzled, “Yes, Oracle Bone Script, a form of ancient Chinese script. It’s strange to find it here.”

The foundation of the Galactic Federation was rooted in Chinese civilization, which had thrived for millennia. Though the dark beast tide almost wiped out the human race a thousand years ago, humanity never gave up on preserving their civilization, even in the direst times. Wei Na, with a keen interest in ancient Earth history, occasionally followed related information. She thought the character on the wall resembled Chinese writing but hadn’t expected it to actually be ancient Chinese.

What was Oracle Bone Script? Although the sentinels present didn’t recognize it, they had all heard of it. “This is really strange!” Jiang Bo voiced everyone’s thoughts.

“Continue searching for more information,” Lu Li ordered, and the team dispersed. Lu Li kept Su He by his side. Su He was still pondering what was going on when Lu Li suddenly asked, “Could this be what you call a formation?”

“Huh?” Su He was taken aback. “You sensed an energy fluctuation?”

Lu Li nodded. Since the room had lit up, he had felt the spatial energy fluctuation. Extending his senses, he confirmed that the entire room seemed like a large energy field.

Su He thought about it but wasn’t sure. “It feels like a formation, but I’ve never seen one like this.” Glancing at Lu Li, he added, “Many of these techniques have been lost over time. What I know is just the basics. My master used to tell stories about them, which I always treated as mere tales.”

Su He had mentioned his master several times, but when Lu Li found Su He, only Han Rui was with him. Guessing the probable scenario, Lu Li squeezed Su He’s hand a bit tighter. Sensing Lu Li’s emotional wave, like a gentle breeze or the sun rising within him, Su He lowered his head slightly and responded by lightly scratching Lu Li’s palm with his fingers.

They didn’t speak further, quietly exploring a corridor. Despite the constant noise from the other sentinels, the sounds seemed blocked, unable to disturb the bubble that enveloped Su He and Lu Li. A peculiar energy field surrounded them, creating a world unto themselves. An unseen thread bound them together, making them an inseparable unit.

At the corridor’s end, they both stopped simultaneously. Su He glanced up at Lu Li, who smiled back. In front of them was a closed room with a dark metal door marked with a character Su He didn’t recognize. The sentinel’s search was nearly complete, and this was the first “locked” room they had encountered. Su He, feeling somewhat nervous as if something was hidden behind the door, asked Lu Li, “Should we open it?”

Lu Li nodded, positioning Su He behind him.

A milky white light entered the character, like a password unlocking, and the metal door slid open softly, illuminating the room inside. Unlike the simplicity elsewhere, this room was unusually large and contained many unfamiliar utensils. Lu Li frowned slightly and called Wei Na over.

Wei Na quickly arrived with Shen Shen. They reacted similarly to Lu Li, and after a quick survey, Wei Na said, “This appears to be a laboratory.”

“A laboratory?” Su He asked.

Wei Na, patient with the young guide, pointed to several peculiar utensils on the metal table and explained, “While there are no familiar instruments here, I have seen similar utensils in school laboratories—these are bacterial culture dishes. And this…” She picked up a tool resembling tweezers and admired, “A very intricate design, commonly used in laboratories, though slightly different from Federation standard tools, the function is likely similar.”

As Wei Na continued along the metal table, she soon discovered another character in the center. Without needing Lu Li’s prompt, Su He infused a stream of spiritual energy into it. Pale blue light glowed before them, and suddenly, a tall, strikingly handsome man with black hair and black eyes appeared out of nowhere. The man, towering over three meters tall, wore a dark robe trimmed with gold, exuding an air of arrogance and dominance.

“Holographic projection!” Lu Li murmured.

The man casually turned to issue an order before addressing them. His speech, resembling Chinese but with peculiar pronunciation, sounded familiar to Su He, akin to some regional dialect.

After speaking for a while, the man stepped aside, and the projection showed the room they were in. As Wei Na had said, it was indeed a laboratory. Rows of transparent containers held various bizarre plants or animals.

The man, with a detached expression, directed assistants to pick mismatched creatures from the containers, combining them arbitrarily. His method, requiring few instruments, resembled Su He’s cultivation technique, with a faint green glow emanating from his hands. The man seemed to be conducting experiments, constantly adjusting his subjects. One moment he stitched four legs onto a strange fish’s belly; the next, he attached two more heads to a beast. He even created a mermaid-like creature, combining a human-like upper body with a fish tail.

Various odd life forms took shape under his hands, but none seemed to satisfy him. He discarded these creatures together, documenting their survival status, and incited them to attack and devour each other. The lab’s population grew, and Su He spotted the green life forms among them—or rather, their predecessors. They weren’t native to this planet but were a product of the man’s whimsical experiments.

He conducted many experiments, constantly adding or removing parts from the green life forms. Many experimental subjects died, and the man discarded their bodies like garbage. Eventually, one experimental subject survived: the gray rock that Su He had seen before. At this point, it did not have the green tendrils on its back, and the man seemed satisfied with it, meticulously recording the entire creation process.

A new round of experiments began. Animals, plants, metallic materials, and even the experimental subject’s own corpses were all consumed by the gray experimental subject. According to the man’s design, it refined the energy it consumed into energy stones. The man seemed dissatisfied with the subject’s efficiency, so he modified it by integrating another plant’s tendrils into its body, accelerating its digestion speed.

Countless experimental subjects perished. Though they lacked intelligence, they possessed a faint awareness and, in the face of death, felt fear. They feared the man’s presence and the aura he exuded. This fear was etched into their genes, passed down through generations.

Su He felt a chill throughout his body as he watched. The man’s expression remained aloof and superior. He seemed like an emotionless creator, whimsically creating life forms. After an indeterminate amount of time, the projection finally ended. Su He heard gasps behind him. While he was engrossed in the projection, the room had filled with sentinels.

Everyone had watched the projection with the same speechless amazement as Su He. Although humans possessed biotechnology, it paled in comparison to the man’s techniques, which seemed almost magical.

Jiang Bo muttered, “Did you all see that mermaid? If you replace the tail with legs, it looks just like a human.”

Everyone: “…”

This time, no one scolded him for talking nonsense. Instead, they all gasped simultaneously. Su He felt an even deeper impact. He recalled the mythological stories his master had told him as a child: ancient deities creating all things in the world, particularly favoring humans created in their own image. These deities imparted various knowledge to humans, creating and structuring human society… Su He shivered, realizing how terrifying this thought was.

Throughout the building search, they found no clues about the planet’s origins. But now, no one was concerned about that. They enthusiastically discussed their thoughts on the projection. Who was the man in the projection? Was he human or a human-like alien? Was such magical biotechnology truly possible? The group was fervently engaged, reminiscent of the lively post-film discussions in Su He’s hometown.

They entered the building at noon, and by the time they exited, it was dark with stars beginning to appear. The fourth squad stood silently outside, dutifully following Lu Li’s orders without changing their positions even slightly.

Lu Li cleared his throat, drawing everyone’s attention. He spoke gently, “The target building revealed no useful information. As usual, take everything practical and return to the Iris.”

Upon receiving the order, the sentinels swiftly transitioned from a lively discussion into efficient “pirate raiders.” The mysteries of the projection were quickly forgotten as they methodically began their work.

Su He: “…”

Due to the size difference, there weren’t many practical items in the building. However, the exterior walls, made of a unique metal, were quite valuable. Without Lu Li’s instructions, everyone instinctively began cutting down the walls, which could be used to repair parts of the damaged Iris.

Realizing the opportunity, Su He pulled Lu Li inside. “Quick, since we’re dismantling anyway, help me take down a few characters from the walls. I want to study them.” As the saying goes, “proximity to cinnabar makes one red; proximity to ink makes one black.” Su He felt Lu Li’s influence on him.

Half an hour later, the building was in shambles, and the shadow left by the projection was cleared away with its dismantling. The sentinels returned to their mechs, and Su He once again found himself nestled in Lu Li’s arms, examining the palm-sized piece of metal inscribed with the character for “light.”

Unlike the sentinels who moved on quickly, Su He had too many questions swirling in his mind. Who was the man in the projection? Was he related to his sect? Although the techniques differed, the man’s gestures resembled those of his sect’s cultivation method. Could it be as he suspected? Moreover, the protective shield outside the building was similar to the energy shield of the Star River Treants. Could they be related?

Su He’s mind was a whirlwind of thoughts. Unable to contain himself, he asked Lu Li, “Aren’t you curious?” Since watching the projection, Lu Li had shown no sign of curiosity, maintaining his usual gentle demeanor and not discussing it with anyone.

“Curious about what?” Lu Li asked.

“Curious about who the man in the projection is, his origins, if he’s related to us… Or curious about how I opened the door and if it’s related to him?” Su He nervously looked at Lu Li, the latter part of his question being what he truly wanted to know.

Lu Li responded, “Do you think he’s related to you?”

“I don’t know; it seems too unbelievable,” Su He admitted.

“Well,” Lu Li’s voice was soft, his hand resting on Su He’s shoulder, “It doesn’t matter whether he’s related or not. Tracing origins and digging up roots is the job of archaeologists. This planet has been abandoned for a long time, and the records are from ages ago. Regardless of who that man was, it has nothing to do with our present situation. We should continue living as we are.”

Su He: “…”

“Did I say something wrong?” Lu Li raised an eyebrow.

Su He: “It’s just that you made too much sense. I have nothing to say in response.”

Lu Li suddenly laughed, his eyes lighting up like stars. He patted Su He’s shoulder and said, “Don’t overthink it. Once we repair the starship, we’ll leave this place.”

Su He was comforted by Lu Li’s few words. By the time he returned to the Iris and found out that dinner was radish stew with meat, he had completely forgotten about the events of the afternoon.

The Iris’s part-time cook was named Chen Hongliang, a slightly chubby man who always had a smile on his face. Like the other sentinels on the Iris, he was also very fond of the captain’s young guide. Seeing Su He drool over dinner satisfied his passion for cooking even more.

He told Su He that he had been interested in cooking since he was young. His original plan was to open a small restaurant to cook and experiment with culinary techniques. But at the age of thirteen, his sentinel genes awakened, and Chen Hongliang was forced to say goodbye to his hobby. The sentinel’s keen senses were a double-edged sword. His acute sense of smell and taste could have helped him in culinary research, but being too sensitive was a disaster. He couldn’t stand any stimulating flavors; even normal smells were unbearable. Fortunately, after years of military training, he could finally perfect his sensory shield and thus return to his passion on the Iris.

“But it’s also because we’re too poor. The captain wanted to save money on a housekeeping robot, so I had to step in,” Chen Hongliang ended with a plain truth.

Su He looked at Lu Li with a smile, and Lu Li’s expression remained calm, without any denial. Su He grinned mischievously and asked, “So now that we have money, are we going to buy a housekeeping robot?”

Lu Li cleared his throat and said, “I believe everyone agrees that frugality is a virtue.”

Su He burst into laughter, and the people around them also laughed.

In the dining room, the conversations mostly revolved around the Iris. As Lu Li had said, no matter how shocking the scenes they saw in the afternoon were, they had little to do with the Iris. The sentinels might use it as a temporary talking point, but eating, keeping watch, repairing the Iris, and finding a way back to the Federation were their real concerns.

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