Chapter 98: Ninety-eighth Day of Being a Salted Fish

Besides, threats were never a good way to foster cooperation.

Goudan said he had a good temper, and that was true enough, Lu Yuan thought. If his temper were a bit worse, he might have completely given up after the Desolate Planet’s little stunt. After all, the people here were neither kith nor kin to him, and the Desolate Planet couldn’t actually do anything to him.

However…

Because the slight fluctuations Lu Yuan had captured when the Desolate Planet triggered the earthquakes and volcanoes felt strangely familiar, he decided to lend the planet a hand.

He was already helping anyway. Doing a little more didn’t really matter.

Moreover… it was just a little fellow.

Even if this “little fellow” was at least several hundred million years old.

Lu Yuan felt speechless at the thought.

He had only learned from Geshu Qing that planets, or at least the Desolate Planet, possessed life. He’d had no prior knowledge of the matter and hadn’t gained much more understanding of this life form since then.

But based on the records Geshu Qing had given him, the Desolate Planet’s lifespan was certainly not short.

It was just that its mentality really didn’t seem very mature, making him subconsciously treat it like a child.

That was actually a good thing.

It made it easy to read.

Lu Yuan thought for a moment, then carefully restored his Mental Power until it covered the entire Desolate Planet.

Then he found a comfortable position to lie down, let out a cozy sigh, and murmured softly, “You clearly have a need for cooperation and want to borrow someone else’s strength, yet you still refuse to show yourself. You hide in the shadows, delusional enough to think you can force others to do your bidding through these little tricks…

“That isn’t the proper attitude for someone asking for a favor.”

His voice held no laughter, but it was calm, devoid of any particular emotion. It was entirely his usual “salted fish” state. It sounded as if he were merely talking to himself unconsciously, without any hidden meaning.

In reality, however…

Lu Yuan had already pushed his Mental Power to its absolute limit. He rarely gave his all to anything, but he was truly uncertain about what he was trying to do this time. The opportunity was rare, so he used almost every ounce of his ability.

Fine, dense threads of Mental Power wove into a net even thicker and more rigorous than before, monitoring every corner of the Desolate Planet. Not a single anomaly would be overlooked.

On the Desolate Planet, the wind and water, the rocks, sand, and dust, the flowers and trees, the birds and beasts, even the insects and bacteria, and the words and actions of millions of people… As Lu Yuan spoke, all this information flowed along the threads of Mental Power into his brain. It was rapidly deconstructed, processed, and categorized into the normal and…

The abnormal.

As his voice faded, a faint smile suddenly appeared at the corners of Lu Yuan’s lips. It was a bit helpless, yet also a bit relaxed.

“I’ve found you.”

He spoke.

His Mental Power suddenly retracted, leaving only the portion suppressing the volcano outside—though that was a mere drop in the bucket. Lu Yuan finally breathed a sigh of relief and closed his eyes, feeling a bit weary.

This time, he still hadn’t truly “caught” the Desolate Planet’s consciousness, but he was now somewhat certain.

Actually, he’d had this idea before.

After all, he had dealt with the Desolate Planet directly. Although he hadn’t truly captured it or even finished locating it… it would be an insult to Lu Yuan to say he had no understanding of it at all.

That fleeting contact had been enough for him to gain a slight understanding of the essence of the Desolate Planet’s consciousness.

It was a form of energy slightly different from human Mental Power, which was why his Mental Power couldn’t establish a direct connection with it. This was likely why the Desolate Planet had never tried to speak with him directly.

Yes, Lu Yuan was well aware that the Desolate Planet hadn’t come to him directly to seek cooperation not because it didn’t want to, but because it couldn’t.

He had suspected this long ago, and after their contact, he was completely certain.

Therefore, to speak with the Desolate Planet, he couldn’t wait for it to find him. He had to adjust his own Mental Power fluctuations to approach the consciousness fluctuations of the planet.

So, he hadn’t said those words because he truly felt that way. They were purely for the Desolate Planet’s benefit.

As for the purpose…

It was mostly to give it a little scare.

When a person experienced emotional fluctuations, their Mental Power fluctuations became more obvious. Lu Yuan wasn’t sure if the Desolate Planet would be the same, but he didn’t mind creating a bit of emotional turbulence to test it out.

Furthermore, if the Desolate Planet was smart enough, it should react to such a “threat.” For instance, by performing some geological activity to make itself a bit more “conspicuous.”

And indeed, that was the case.

“Lu Yuan.” Goudan suddenly walked in.

“Ready?” Lu Yuan snapped out of his thoughts and looked up at him. He hadn’t been keeping his Mental Power focused on Goudan’s side, so he wasn’t entirely sure of the situation.

“Ready. The Garbage Ship has arrived, and everyone is sorting through the dropped items. We’ll leave once that’s finished… I took the opportunity to come over and give you a heads-up.”

“You arranged things quite quickly,” Lu Yuan remarked. After withdrawing his Mental Power, he hadn’t paid any more attention to Goudan and the others. He hadn’t expected them to progress so fast.

“When you mentioned the earthquake earlier, I put together a contingency plan. It turned out to be useful,” Goudan explained his speed as he reached out to pour himself a glass of water and took a sip.

Then, he pulled out the communicator used to contact Siming and the others and handed it to Lu Yuan. “I’ll likely be out for several days this trip. Keep this with you. If something happens, you’re more useful than I am.”

As he spoke, he stared intently at Lu Yuan. “Is suppressing that volcano exhausting? You don’t look very well.”

“Well… you can tell?” Lu Yuan smiled. “It’s not because of the volcano, it’s mainly…”

Goudan frowned. “What is it?”

“There’s something I need to tell you.” Lu Yuan rolled over and sat up, picking up the tablet beside him.

“What?” Goudan asked, puzzled.

“This is the location of the volcano.” Lu Yuan pulled up a map on the tablet and pointed to a spot for Goudan to see.

When they were planning the outward expansion earlier, Lu Yuan had already uploaded the map to the tablet and added many details using his Mental Power.

Even though he had initially protested, he ended up doing quite a bit of work. Lu Yuan had been annoyed with himself over that for several days.

“Alright.” Goudan didn’t know why he had suddenly changed the subject, but he nodded in response.

“This nearby area is the settlement zone. That’s where you’re headed.” Lu Yuan pointed to a spot near the volcano.

Goudan nodded again.

Then, Lu Yuan marked several other points, all in the vicinity of the first one. “These areas were also affected by the earthquake. The situation is likely similar to ours, with collapsed houses.

“Rebuilding will take time and effort… you might as well head over there on your way and bring those people back here with you.”

“And then there’s this place.” Lu Yuan circled another point that was clearly outside the cluster of the others. “A small earthquake just happened here. The magnitude wasn’t large, but houses still collapsed.”

“…” Goudan fell silent, then asked heavily, “Why was there another earthquake? Did you go pick a fight with the Desolate Planet?”

Lu Yuan replied, “…How did you even come to that conclusion?”

Seeing Goudan’s suspicious gaze, he explained helplessly, “I’m trying to establish a connection with the Desolate Planet. But the Desolate Planet’s consciousness is different from a human’s; there’s no way to communicate directly. I can only feel its existence when it creates geological activity. So, likely to increase its presence a bit, it triggered another earthquake.”

“Then why does it have to be where people are?” Goudan questioned.

Lu Yuan looked at him and shook his head. “It probably has no choice. I suspect that for it to take active initiative, there might be certain restrictions. For instance, it might need to happen where people are present.”

This would explain why the Desolate Planet worked so hard to protect the people living here. Without the presence of humans, its abilities might be severely limited.

However, there were still some holes in this theory… regardless, it probably wasn’t far from the truth.

Goudan frowned. “Fine, then I’ll head back and tell everyone to pack more food. This is going to require a significant detour. We can find food on the way, but still…”

“I’ve already planned the route for you.” Lu Yuan interrupted him, drawing a line on the map. “This path is relatively flat and avoids the territories of fierce beasts. The season is good right now, so there’s plenty of food in the mountains. You won’t need to carry too much.

“If you cover twenty to thirty kilometers a day, it should take about a month to complete the full circuit. If each of you carries about ten days’ worth of rations, that should be enough. Bring mostly dried food since it’s lighter. You don’t need to carry water; the route I’ve set for you won’t lack for water sources.”

“Okay.” Goudan had no objections to that, but-

“With so many people, are we bringing them all here? We won’t have enough space for everyone, and I’m afraid the food won’t be enough either.”

He had originally only thought about relocating the people from near the volcano, but with a few gestures, Lu Yuan had pointed out seven or eight different settlements for him. If everyone moved here, there would suddenly be ten times as many mouths to feed.

Even if they had some food reserves, they couldn’t possibly support that many people!

“Just bring them,” Lu Yuan said. “You focus on getting them here. I’ll handle the rest.”

Since there was work to be done, he wanted it finished quickly. That had always been Lu Yuan’s temperament.

Only after everything was settled could he go back to lying around.

However…

As his Mental Power followed Goudan out, “watching” him organize the ranks and lead the people in packing their belongings, Lu Yuan was also lost in thought.

The numbers were admittedly small compared to the troops he used to lead, but in a place with such barren resources, providing food, clothing, and shelter for so many people was going to be quite difficult.

If all else failed… should he pluck a few more Garbage Ships from the sky?

Lu Yuan’s Mental Power drifted toward the heavens, silently locking onto the numerous Garbage Ships currently in flight.

Gradually, a wicked idea began to take root.