As Grandma Tree recounted her story, Xiao Yu began to picture the scene vividly in his mind.
Beneath a clear blue sky, a young and diligent Arrow Beast practiced combat techniques amid towering mountains. Suddenly, a blinding flash of light appeared in the sky, trailing thick smoke as it streaked downward—finally crashing to the ground with a thunderous boom.
Having no knowledge of astronomy, the Arrow Beasts could only stare in stunned silence. Then, they gathered together and discussed their next move. Ultimately, they decided to send their two strongest mbers to investigate the mysterious object.
Grandma Tree continued, a touch of sadness in her voice. “I was one of those two strongest Arrow Beasts. The other… was Xing Qi. It’s a sha. When our whole race’s minds were manipulated, Xing Qi left for another star and ultimately died at the hands of that demon. As for , I was too old to evolve the ability for interstellar travel. I stayed behind on our howorld—and ended up outliving them all.”
Lorna whispered softly to Xiao Yu, “Xing Qi was the first Arrow Beast to master controlled nuclear fusion. Later, he passed that knowledge to everyone in our race. He was the strongest and most respected of our kin.”
Xiao Yu nodded slightly and continued listening.
“When we entered the ship, a voice suddenly spoke. I still rember it clearly.”
“The first thing it said—we didn’t understand. So we didn’t respond. It seed to realize that and imdiately switched to a voice we could understand.”
“It said, ‘I didn’t expect to find an Alien Beast civilization here… and one that hasn’t even evolved interstellar travel. Well, I suppose it’s your lucky day, encountering at the end of my life. Let give you a little gift.’”
“After that, beams of light began to appear—strange, indescribable light. They intertwined, like the display panels on your ships. As the light changed, streams of information flooded into Xing Qi’s and my mind. Sadly… I didn’t understand any of it. But Xing Qi did. The light continued for several hours, and then the voice returned once more—saying sothing we couldn’t comprehend—and vanished. We never heard it again.”
“Later, under Xing Qi’s guidance, our race gradually evolved to the point of interstellar travel. Then many things happened, which… you already know.”
After finishing, Grandma Tree panted heavily, clearly exhausted, before regaining her composure.
Xiao Yu turned these words over in his mind.
“The intelligent program said the 90s ship was destroyed, and both it and the woman were transferred into the escape pod. So who—or what—was still on board this ship?”
“Could it be that the girl in the escape pod still maintained communication with the ship? After all, superluminal communication based on quantum entanglent can’t be jamd. So perhaps, after spotting the Arrow Beasts, she used the last of her energy to share so knowledge… and when her energy ran out, the transmission ended…”
Suddenly struck by a thought, Xiao Yu quickly asked, “Grandma Tree, the voice you ntioned—it said sothing at the beginning and the end that you couldn’t understand. Do you still rember how those two lines sounded? Could you try to mimic them for ?”
Grandma Tree frowned, thinking for a mont before sighing, “Our Arrow Beast race is known for strong mory. But I’m getting old… It takes ti to recall things now. I’m not what I used to be.”
“That’s okay. Take your ti,” Xiao Yu said gently.
The plaza fell silent.
It took a full hour before Grandma Tree finally said, “I’ve rembered. The pronunciations of the two lines were like this…”
She imitated the voice and spoke the two lines. Then she asked, “What do they an? Xing Qi and I discussed it countless tis but never figured it out.”
Xiao Yu didn’t answer. He was too stunned.
“So that’s what it was… That’s what it was all along…” he murmured, completely ignoring Grandma Tree’s question.
At that mont, Xiao Yu felt a very strange sensation.
“It’s Mandarin… That’s why the Arrow Beasts couldn’t understand it.”
The two lines—
The first: “These little creatures are so cute!”
The second: “Oh no, I wasn’t even finished yet! Why am I out of power already?”
Grandma Tree had imitated them flawlessly—even capturing the tone and inflection the woman had used when she said them.
In the Hebei, looking at the peaceful woman lying there, as if rely asleep, Xiao Yu gave a bitter smile.
“So… just because you thought they were cute, you gave them nuclear fusion tech? And from the sound of it, if you hadn’t run out of power, you might’ve even taught them the Grand Unified Theory…”
“You… you look only about twenty. And yet your thinking is exactly like an Earth girl’s. All because they were ‘cute,’ huh…”
“Good thing you didn’t share the Grand Unified Theory. Otherwise, under the White Dwarf Alien Beast’s control, they would’ve already killed …”
“Just who are you? You use Chinese characters and speak Mandarin… but you fly a ship more advanced than mine, and battled Alien Beasts that surpass my wildest imagination…”
These thoughts tangled endlessly in Xiao Yu’s mind.
“Alright, let’s get back to the lesson,” Xiao Yu finally said, steadying his emotions.
“Brother Xiao, are you okay? What did those two sentences an?” Lorna asked, noticing his strange expression.
“It’s nothing.” Xiao Yu shook his head and said, with a slightly odd look, “Those were words from my howorld. The aning… doesn’t matter.”
“Your howorld?” Lorna looked puzzled, but seeing that Xiao Yu had already resud his lecture, she suppressed her curiosity.
The teaching required only a tiny fraction of Xiao Yu’s total computational capacity. Most of his consciousness remained distributed across deep space, among more than a hundred thousand starships, billions of robots—and this very valley.
Xiao Yu tried to reconstruct the full picture.
“First, the 90s ship encountered the White Dwarf Alien Beast. No, wait… according to the intelligent program, it was part of an experint using the Alien Beast as a subject. So the ship must’ve deliberately approached and entered orbit around the white dwarf for observation.”
“Then, for so unknown reason, the ship was damaged. The girl and the AI transferred into the escape pod and tried to flee—but were captured by the Alien Beast. The escape attempt failed. anwhile, the ship itself escaped the gravity field, drifting until Planet One’s gravity pulled it in and caused it to crash.”
“The girl—still ntally intact—maintained communication with the ship. After seeing the Arrow Beasts, perhaps out of boredom, or perhaps because she genuinely found them cute, she decided to share so knowledge. Eventually, energy ran out, and communication ended. She remained imprisoned in the pod, spending her final days in silence—until her death.”
“No… she didn’t age. Which ans she died looking like that. A non-natural death… Perhaps she couldn’t bear the loneliness… and ended her life herself.”
That thought brought a pang of sadness to Xiao Yu.
Even as he reasoned through all of this, he directed robots to continue scanning the 90s ship.
Aside from the living quarters, Xiao Yu had explored the rest of the vessel.
The ship’s hull was made from so unknown, incredibly resilient material—even stronger than that of the Hebei. What’s more, the living quarters were sealed extrely tightly. For now, Xiao Yu had no way to open it.
He knew what lay behind that door was likely the private bedroom of the girl now resting in the Hebei’s stasis chamber.
“You sure valued your privacy… Even the weapons systems and storage compartnts are completely destroyed, but your bedroom is untouched and locked up tighter than anything else.” Xiao Yu sighed internally.
“There’s a good chance that her room holds crucial data—maybe even key intelligence. Sorry, but I’ll have to break in. I wonder if this counts as ‘trespassing in a lady’s boudoir’…”
With that thought, Xiao Yu quickly assembled a large specialized transport ship and began preparations to move the wrecked 90s Model spacecraft aboard the Hebei for further analysis.
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