Chapter 55: Fifty-fifth Day of Lying Flat Like a Salted Fish

The birth rate on the Desolate Planet had always remained in a state that was neither high nor low.

In the area managed by Goudan, there were a total of several thousand people, and the number of births per year was usually less than a hundred.

Most of these children were born during the summer and autumn.

Perhaps this was mainly because, during the winter, everyone huddled inside their houses with nothing to do. It was cold… and people tended to rely on certain primitive “exercises” for entertainment and warmth.

Calculating by the local seasonal nodes, a child conceived in early winter would typically be born at the turn of spring and summer.

This was, of course, a stroke of luck.

Like most other planets, summer and autumn were the seasons when the Desolate Planet lacked food the least. For a place with a relatively low standard of living, the high temperatures of summer were slightly easier to deal with than the bitter cold of winter—extreme heatwaves notwithstanding.

Fortunately, according to Lu Yuan’s physical perception, the summer heat in the region where he currently resided was not too intense. The mornings and evenings were actually quite cool. It was a temperature that allowed people to survive.

Such a climate and conditions were most suitable for infants to pass through their most fragile first few months, which to some extent guaranteed the survival rate of babies here.

However, in a certain sense, the survival rate of newborns in this place might have nothing to do with the aforementioned reasons.

Those reasons alone were not enough to ensure that almost no children in this area died before the age of three.

The survival rate of newborns here was remarkably high.

Modern technology was sufficient to ensure that the vast majority of infants did not die easily, unless they suffered from some rare congenital disease.

Back when he was outside the Desolate Planet, Lu Yuan had rarely seen children die shortly after birth.

But this was the Desolate Planet.

The environment and medical conditions of a Desolate Planet dictated that children with relatively poor physical constitutions would have a very difficult time surviving.

Lu Yuan had seen more than one child on the brink of death at a young age. Under these circumstances, the fact that these children were all over the age of three seemed a bit inconceivable.

It was miraculous.

But he was also used to it.

There were already too many strange things on the Desolate Planet; after seeing enough of them, one became numb.

Setting aside the question of how he had ended up on this Desolate Planet…

And setting aside Zhu Rong’s talent or Geshu Qing’s ridiculous Mental Power characteristics…

Just take the little band he had encountered. In such a small place with such a small population, for so many children with such high musical talent to appear was already enough to be astonishing.

After meeting Geshu Qing, Lu Yuan sometimes wondered if this planet was alive. If so, perhaps the planet itself possessed some special power, striving to give the people here better talents and better lives.

But such a thing was impossible to verify.

Back to the point. Although more children were born in summer and autumn, it did not mean that no children were born in other seasons.

There was one right in front of Lu Yuan now.

This was the child Goudan had mentioned who was born just a few days ago.

It was a little girl. Thin and weak, she looked quite pitiful.

Lu Yuan didn’t dare to hold her, so he let the mother stand before him while cradling the child. He lowered his head to look at the fragile little creature.

Er Ya stood to the side, watching along with him.

Lu Yuan asked casually, “Why did you come too?”

“This is my sister,” Er Ya said. “Her name is Si Ya!”

Lu Yuan gave a respectful glance to the woman before him, who was as thin and small as the infant in her arms. “Four children?”

“Yes.” The woman nodded. “The eldest died. Counting her, there are three left.”

In the modern era, very few people chose natural childbirth.

Artificial womb and embryo technology were very mature. Children born through this method were physiologically no different from any other child. Furthermore, both same-sex and opposite-sex couples could choose this method of reproduction.

By comparison, natural childbirth—which was long, painful, high-risk, and limited only to women in heterosexual relationships—was not a particularly good choice.

Although some people still did it for various reasons, they were a tiny minority.

But there weren’t even hospitals on the Desolate Planet, let alone artificial wombs. If people wanted to reproduce, they had to rely on themselves.

Under such conditions, to still be willing and able to give birth to as many as four children…

Perhaps it was forced by the hardships of life, but it also required immense courage.

I need to find some more medical textbooks for Goudan, Lu Yuan suddenly thought.

Then he asked, “Can I touch her?”

“You can,” the woman nodded.

Lu Yuan reached out and touched the infant’s hand.

Mental Power followed his finger, probing into the infant’s delicate body.

There were some people whose Mental Power possessed a “healing” characteristic. Fortunately, back when he was a Marshal, Lu Yuan had many such people around him, so he had learned this trait.

Lu Yuan had never treated a child on the Desolate Planet like this before.

It wasn’t that he would watch someone die without helping. It was mainly that he didn’t want to reveal that he possessed such an ability.

If he sensed death approaching-

He would use his Mental Power to check the situation.

For adults, he usually didn’t interfere much. As for the reason…

If he needed a high-sounding excuse, he had them. For instance… the resources of the Desolate Planet directly limited the population; saving one person might inadvertently cause another to die.

However, Lu Yuan knew in his heart that, ultimately, it was because he was too lazy. He also didn’t feel he had an obligation to save people.

As for children, he would usually look at the specific circumstances. If it was something he could heal, he would quietly help improve the situation.

But he wouldn’t expose himself. Lu Yuan didn’t want to bring trouble upon himself. If everyone who got sick came looking for him for a diagnosis… he had no interest in being a doctor.

This was the first time he had chosen to call a “patient” before him to examine the situation.

Mainly because it was too strange.

He had known when the child was born. He had checked in passing back then… and he hadn’t felt that there was anything wrong with the child’s body. It wasn’t until Goudan said yesterday that the child had been sickly and listless that it became unreasonable.

Furthermore, this was the first time he had heard of a child on the Desolate Planet being sickly from birth… they were generally healthy during the newborn stage.

Since he couldn’t see the problem from a distance, he could only take a look up close.

His Mental Power carefully spread from the arm to the infant’s entire body. Lu Yuan frowned slightly.

There was nothing wrong.

But she did indeed look quite listless.

Lu Yuan slowly extended his Mental Power upward, attempting to look at the infant’s head.

An infant’s brain was very fragile and sensitive. Normally, people did not dare to probe their heads with Mental Power. The clash of Mental Power energy could cause them harm.

Someone like Lu Yuan, whose Mental Power was exceptionally strong, had to be especially careful.

Even though Lu Yuan was quite confident in his control, he would only do such a thing in person. He didn’t dare to investigate from a great distance.

However…

Lu Yuan withdrew his hand in disbelief. His fingers curled slightly, and then he reached out to touch the infant’s forehead.

His eyes were filled with astonishment.

His Mental Power was blocked?

This was the first time he had encountered a place his Mental Power could not enter!

What’s more…

This child didn’t look like she had awakened her Mental Power. She shouldn’t have the ability to create a Mental Power barrier.

“Has life, no life, has, has, doesn’t have…”

On the Starship, Geshu Qing lay in his chair, muttering to himself as he recalled the various planets they had passed.

Zhu Rong listened for a while and suddenly asked, “Is there a pattern?”

“No.” Geshu Qing shook his head. “Some have it, some don’t. At first, I thought only those with people on them would have it, but later I found that some empty ones that don’t even look like a Habitable Planet have it too.”

“Don’t look like a Habitable Planet?”

“…Are you two speaking in riddles?” Ying Xun’s voice suddenly cut in.

The two of them were discussing whether planets were alive.

What Geshu Qing had been muttering at the start were the planets they had passed along the way—the ones relatively close by—and whether he had sensed the presence of life on them.

Zhu Rong was also asking if he had found a pattern to which planets had life and which didn’t.

But for the vast majority of people, like Ying Xun, they didn’t even know the possibility that a planet could be alive existed, so of course he couldn’t guess what they were talking about.

Zhu Rong looked at him. “How do you always appear out of nowhere?”

“Heh heh,” Ying Xun laughed. “You didn’t notice me until I spoke, right?”

“No,” Zhu Rong nodded. “Can you teach me?”

“Sure!” Ying Xun agreed immediately. “I’m telling you, I learned this from Lu Yuan! I practiced for many years!”

Zhu Rong fell silent. “…Oh.”

“But that’ll have to wait for later!” Ying Xun grinned. “Let’s go, we’ve got work to do!”