Chapter 62: Sixty-Second Day of Living Like a Salted Fish

“So, about Desolate Planet…” Goudan hesitated for a moment, not quite knowing how to describe it. “How do you view Desolate Planet? What kind of thing do you think it is?”

Beside him, several other children looked over with great interest.

Their original intention likely wasn’t to come and listen to Lu Yuan tell stories about Desolate Planet. They hadn’t even come to ask about Si Ya.

Lu Yuan knew very well that they didn’t “disturb” him often. Every time they came over, it was for serious business. Usually, it was because they had written a new song, wanted to hear a specific piece for reference while composing, or a musical instrument had broken… things of that nature.

However, they were clearly extremely curious about many things.

They were children, after all, and children naturally possessed intense curiosity.

They usually restrained themselves out of respect or… awe. But when the opportunity arose, they always wanted to listen.

Lu Yuan didn’t mind.

He was in a rare good mood today and didn’t brush Goudan off with the excuse that “it’s too much work to explain.” Instead, he spoke. “Although I had never heard of a planet possessing life or consciousness before, I believe that Desolate Planet, at the very least, truly has life and even its own way of thinking.”

“Geshu Qing said before that there are many planets outside that feel alive to him. But not all planets are like that. He hasn’t found a pattern yet,” Goudan said.

Lu Yuan nodded. “Let him take his time. This matter is quite interesting, and it might take us a long time to find the truth.”

“Why do you think Desolate Planet has a mind of its own?” Er Ya asked.

“Because it is actively doing things,” Lu Yuan said. “And it possesses Mental Power.”

He thought for a moment. This was also why he was willing to talk about these things today. Geshu Qing’s answer had confirmed certain things for him and given him some new ideas. Explaining them was also a process of clarifying these new thoughts.

“Modern biology… the textbooks say that only humans possess Mental Power. But in fact, that isn’t the case. Humans are just another type of biological organism; our uniqueness is limited.

“The simplest example is the Zerg. Although they don’t have Mental Power, they have similar non-material energy at their disposal. Otherwise, fighting the Zerg wouldn’t be so difficult for us.”

Lu Yuan paused, then continued, “However, we are unable to make other organisms possess Mental Power. Some researchers I knew once dedicated themselves to this field of work.

“They identified the segments in the human genome related to Mental Power and replicated them into animal embryos. But even animals with those genetic segments, even when pushed to near-death states repeatedly, could not awaken Mental Power.

“They suspected it was related to an animal’s brain capacity. In fact, humans are the biological species with the largest known ratio of brain mass to body weight. Usually, this is also considered the reason why humans possess intelligence and can create civilizations.

“So they also tried experiments to expand the brain capacity of animals. But it was still ineffective. They could create animals that were smart enough, but those animals could never reach the level of possessing true wisdom.

“They were incapable of creative work. Art, science, invention, and creation – these were things they could not accomplish. Similarly, they could not possess Mental Power.”

“So, Mental Power and ‘wisdom’ are linked?” Tiezhu asked.

Lu Yuan nodded. “I believe so.”

“And you think Desolate Planet has Mental Power and ‘wisdom’?”

“Yes.” Lu Yuan nodded again. “And the fact that Desolate Planet has Mental Power is a reality. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have the ability to enhance Geshu Qing’s Mental Power, nor would it have the ability to give Si Ya a gift.

“In fact, what I suspect even more is that the existence of Mental Power in humans was originally related to these living, Mental Power-possessing planets. They can bestow Mental Power upon humans, and they can also transform human Mental Power…

“For instance, Geshu Qing’s unique Mental Power trait is far too special. It doesn’t seem like something a simple genetic mutation could cause. Especially since the Geshu Family’s Mental Power has been stably inherited for so many years; for such a mutation to suddenly appear is very strange.”

Goudan thought about it and asked, “Why would Desolate Planet do these things?”

“Self-preservation, perhaps,” Lu Yuan mused. “I imagine that even if an ordinary planet had a mind, it wouldn’t act so obviously or display its uniqueness. That’s why we never knew planets were alive before – at least, most people didn’t. The people who arranged the Garbage Ships definitely knew.”

“But the Desolate Planet has been acting exceptionally obvious. Especially since it even shared its memories with Geshu Qing. I can only think of one reason: it had no other choice.

“Those Garbage Ships are definitely harming it, so it’s unwilling to suffer in silence. It wants to resist.”

He pointed to himself. “I think the reason I ended up here, and the reason Zhu Rong’s mother came here, is also related to the Desolate Planet.

“Zhu Rong’s mother guided Siming. As for me… if I wanted to, I could perhaps bring about even more changes here. The Desolate Planet brought us here because it’s likely beneficial to both parties.

“Unfortunately, it probably lacks the ability or is under some kind of restriction that prevents it from speaking with us. So it can only wait for us to do the work ourselves, unable to tell us exactly what it wants us to do.”

“You’ve already changed a lot,” Goudan said. “If you’re too lazy to do anything else, just leave it to us. Saving the Desolate Planet was always the responsibility of us Desolate Planet natives anyway!”

Er Ya chimed in, “Uncle Siming is working hard on the outside, and we’re working hard on the Desolate Planet. Together, we’ll make this place better.”

Lu Yuan smiled. “That’s why I said you might just change the world. A planet’s life force is something almost entirely unknown until now. If the world finds out it exists, it might uncover many secrets.

“Even if it doesn’t, the planet itself is already a mysterious and novel discovery of immense importance. If scientists found out, they’d be too excited to sleep.”

“If I go back and tell my parents that Si Ya is fine and has actually run into such good fortune, they’ll be too excited to sleep as well,” Er Ya laughed.

“You can go back and tell them now.” Lu Yuan spread his hands. “I don’t have much else to say. A lot of what I just told you is just my own speculation.”

“Not yet. We haven’t finished the official business we came for today.” Er Ya shook her head, stood up, and walked to the counter, handing over a music player with a memory drive plugged in.

“These are the songs we recorded,” Er Ya said. “Six tracks. Including the first farewell song and five others… the ones that best represent us.”

Lu Yuan raised an eyebrow and opened the player to check.

There were indeed six tracks saved inside. The children had even given them titles.

The farewell song was titled “Spring Day.” As for the others, the titles were “Zheng Fan¹,” “Gong Liang,” “Shang Lian,” “Yu Yan,” and “Jue Ying”… the very names Lu Yuan had given them.

In a place like the Desolate Planet, no one usually called them by those names. Even Lu Yuan and Goudan habitually used the children’s original nicknames.

Seeing those names now, Lu Yuan was momentarily stunned before he couldn’t help but break into a smile.

It seemed the children had truly embraced the names he had given them from the bottom of their hearts.

Lu Yuan played through the tracks one by one and nodded. “Not bad. I’ll upload them to the net and tell Siming to help promote them when the timing is right.”

“Thank you!” the children thanked him sincerely.

Lu Yuan shook his head. “No need for thanks. This isn’t much trouble for me.”

Er Ya and the others thanked him again before finally leaving.

Lu Yuan sighed, opened his tablet, and began uploading the tracks to the StarNet.

Goudan, however, remained leaning nearby, having not left yet.

Lu Yuan looked up at him. “Is there something else?”

“I haven’t finished reporting what I came to tell you.” Goudan gave a cheeky grin and scratched his head. “I got interrupted by them.”

“?” Lu Yuan paused, then realized. “Oh, right. Who was the one who planted the poison?”

Although Lu Yuan’s explanation of the situation to Goudan at the time had been a bit chaotic, and Goudan hadn’t understood it immediately, Goudan wasn’t stupid. After going back and thinking it over, he had certainly pieced together the cause and effect of the whole affair.

“Shouldn’t you be asking who has a grudge against the Emperor?” Goudan smiled.

“Oh, that works too. Who has such a massive grudge against the Emperor?”

Goudan blinked, a mischievous expression on his face.

“You do,” he said. “Siming said that in Ying Xun’s eyes, there’s no way your death was an accident. And the only one who would want you dead and have the power to do it is the Emperor.”

“…That’s not wrong, I suppose,” Lu Yuan admitted calmly.

“Then it’s simple.” Goudan spread his hands. “Ying Xun said he holds grudges. Geshu Ming schemed against you before, so he’s going to hold a grudge against the Geshu family. Since he thinks the Emperor killed you, he’s definitely going to hold a grudge there too.”

“If it wasn’t to ensure the Emperor’s death was absolute, would he have really moved to hijack the pharmaceutical company even if he’d received the intel? There’s profit in it, sure, but there’s also risk.”

Lu Yuan asked, puzzled, “Geshu Ming plotted against me… how did you know that?”

“Ying Xun told me.” The smile on Goudan’s face widened. “Unexpected, isn’t it? The Geshu family had a hand in this too. And they were helping the Star Pirates.”

“So the Geshu family provided the poison?” Lu Yuan frowned. “Since when did they have a grudge against the Emperor?”

Goudan didn’t answer directly, only saying, “Do you remember how the Fifth Army has been blocking the First Army? Ying Xun said he was aware of that situation. Someone told the Fifth Army that these drugs were being sent to the Emperor, and the Fifth Army didn’t want him getting his hands on them either.

“Now, what kind of deep-seated hatred could the Fifth Army possibly have with the Emperor…”

He looked at Lu Yuan teasingly. “Have you noticed? All these different factions are connected to you. Your subordinates, your former friend, your army.”

Lu Yuan looked at him in surprise. “Are you trying to say they’re all seeking revenge for me?”

“That’s impossible,” Lu Yuan said helplessly. “How could they all be so idle as to seek revenge for someone they have no real connection to? Even I can’t be bothered to stick my head out.”

Translator’s Notes