Age of Cosmic Exploration, 4

by Zhttty

  Xiao Chen could feel tears pricking her eyes. She suppressed her mounting urge to cry. Without lifting her head, she asked, "No, I’m just a normal citizen… Then, can I go visit him?"

  Zhang Heng too felt pressured by the atmosphere, so he said in distress, "I don’t think that’s possible either. Normal civilians aren’t allowed to go into the new planet unless it’s in the tour craft. You can visit Jay, but your visitation will be through the glass… Are you okay with that? How about this, Xiao Chen, if you’re really not up for it, I will help you persuade the Captain to rescind the order. He’s a sentimental person, so I’m sure he wouldn’t reject your request."

  Xiao Chen deliberated for a long time and finally replied with a fierce determination in her eyes. "No, Zhang Heng, take him away. It’s okay, I’m only taking care of him because he saved my life, after all… No, really, it’s fine, take him, I’m glad to be rid of such a burden."

  As she said so, tears rolled down her face. Like pearls, they fell on her hand that grabbed Jay’s firmly, shattering upon contact.

  Zhang Heng looked at her and sighed. "How about this: I’ll ask the Captain to allocate a permanent craft seat specifically for you. Jay will be moved to the ground tomorrow. With this seat, you can see him whenever you want. Give me a heads-up beforehand and I’ll bring you to meet him." Zhang Heng let out another deep sigh before wheeling Jay towards the electromobile.

  Xiao Chen wiped away the tears that kept on falling, mumbling, "Who… who wants to see him? Damn the liar… he’s already in a coma and still manages to make me cry…"

  Neither Zhang Heng nor Xiao Chen noticed…

  At that moment, Jay’s finger twitched slightly.

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  Chapter190 Love that is Blocked by Glass

  Jay was successfully injected with the Ultimate Vaccine. In a twist of fate, the typical side-effects were nullified because he was in a coma. The day after that, Zhang Heng and Ebon brought his body out of the Hope. Their destination was a wooden cabin set up next to the capital building site. It was sandwiched between a grass plain and a riverside fishing hole. The cabin was big enough to fit Zhang Heng, Ebon, and Jay.

  Yao Yuan had his own idea behind this arrangement.

  First, the obvious gain aside, Jay was his comrade, and they had been in plenty of life-or-death situations before. Yao Yuan had already treated him as part of the Black Star Unit. Furthermore, Jay ended up this way due to a selfless action, so Yao Yuan really wanted him to wake up.

  Practically speaking, Jay was one of the most unique Homo Evolutis alongside the All-Rounder. Yao Yuan needed more information on the Deceiver’s power, and that could only be done with Jay’s conscious cooperation.

  For example, Yao Yuan had gained much knowledge about the All-Rounder. He was the center of all Homo Evolutis, a spiritual existence that could gather the confidence and faith of other Homo Evolutis. In other words, the possibility of betrayal among the Homo Evolutis would be greatly lowered with his presence. This was a great burden on Yao Yuan’s back because to have the powerful Homo Evolutis revolt would be a serious blunder. That was why Yao Yuan was reluctant to let Guang Zhen force-enlist the new batch of Homo Evolutis into the military.

  He wanted to know more about the Deceiver that was deemed to be equally unique as the All-Rounder. Wherein lays the uniqueness?

  Therefore, Yao Yuan decided to move Jay to the planet's surface and had Ebon and Zhang Heng protect him. The choice of Ebon was self-explanatory; he was the strongest among all the Perceptors, and his close-quarter combat capability could easily rival Yao Yuan’s.

  Zhang Heng, on the other hand, was the strongest Diviner. His power thus far had been 100 percent correct, responsible for saving mankind from certain death multiple times. With him by Jay’s side, Yao Yuan was relieved. The orders he gave were simple. If there was any sense of danger, Zhang Heng would be tasked to protect Jay and bring him back to the Hope while Ebon stayed behind to cover their retreat.

  It was a failsafe recovery plan…

  The one detail that bothered Yao Yuan was Feng Xiao Chen, who was mentioned by Zhang Heng when he returned from claiming Jay’s body. The lovesick woman had been taking care of Jay for multiple years. Because of her beauty, she had attracted the attention of several bachelors over the years, but she firmly rejected them all. She wanted to focus completely on looking after Jay. And Zhang Heng said that when they left… she cried.

  Yao Yuan’s hands were tied. He really wanted to help Xiao Chen, but alas, she wasn’t a Homo Evolutis, so the Ultimate Vaccine in its current form would kill her, and they still needed at least 3 months to perfect the vaccine suitable for the public. Yao Yuan steeled his heart and approved of the mission.

  When they reached the surface, Ebon and Zhang Heng first spread out to search the perimeters following the Black Star Unit’s usual protocol. They sighed in relief when they made certain there were no wild animals hiding around the corner. Then they started setting up the place, Jay’s and their own bedrooms, the weapons rack, and the like.

  In reality, both were rather laid back because this mission was quite a relaxed one. Compared to the mission undertaken by the Black Star Troopers, taking care of Jay was a cakewalk. The area they were in was defined by the experts as a light-green area, or a space where the scale of danger was incredibly low. The chance of encountering life-threatening danger was low. When the capital was complete, the area would become a dark-green area, which meant that it was totally safe. Humans could travel around the area without any fear for their safety.

  Then again, with Zhang Heng’s presence, the place was practically a dark-green area. Hence, this mission was a rare holiday for the both of them.

  After everything was set up, Ebon chuckled slyly as he retrieved from his backpack several fishing rods. He said, "How about it, Zhang Heng, want to go fishing? The few things here can be considered antiques since they were taken from Earth. They have not seen use for several years; didn’t think I’d be able to use them again in this life."

  Zhang Heng was slightly startled before saying excitedly, "Why not? I was deliberating whether we should have canned roasted potatoes with beef or canned pork for dinner. Fresh fish sounds a lot better. The fish from this planet have been analyzed by the Academy to be virus-free, right? There’s nothing in its meat that would be harmful to human consumption, and they said its meat was full of vitamins and nutrients. With the vaccine injected, it’s beneficial to our bodies to consume the fish on this planet, and I’ve always wondered what one tastes like."

  Ebon’s face scrunched up and he shook his head real fast, adding, "You mean the one that has legs? They look so weird. Other than the eyes on their head, they have another pair on their belly; it’s so creepy."

  Zhang Heng shrugged it off. He took Ebon’s fishing rods, and with Ebon pushing Jay, the three of them headed towards the riverside.

  The new home planet was truly a natural paradise. It was a planet completely untouched by human pollution. It was filled with biodiversity, there were reptiles that reminded them of dinosaurs, giant mammals hiding in the forest, amphibians that were 10 meters long but had the look of a common frog. The evolution on this planet was completely different from that of Earth’s, but nature was beautiful in all of its forms.

  Simultaneously, there were different species of aquatic creatures. Other than the obvious feet-like appendages, the fish on this planet had similar looks to the ones on Earth. With their "legs," they were able to survive on dry land for a certain period of time. They would crawl out of the water to munch on river weeds or move to another habitat.

  With this evolution as evidence, some scientists believed that this planet had a serious tidal phenomenon. The fish had to evolve to survive on land because certain places would completely dry up when the tide ebbed. This was valid from a meteorological perspective. Since the planet and Moon 2 were so close in size, it was entirely possible
that the gravitational pull between the two could dry certain rivers or lakes up during certain months. The month they arrived happened to be spring season, where the tide was high that so fish with legs were understandably a weird sight…

  Of course, Zhang Heng and Ebon didn’t know nor did they care about such details. They started fishing by the riverside. It was possible because the fish on this planet hadn’t seen a fishing hook before, so they were easily drawn to their bait. In just 10 minutes, between the two of them, they had pulled in about 100 fish of varying sizes. If calculated in kilograms, both of them had a combined haul of about 120 kilograms in just one hour. However, due to the fragility of their fishing rods and their inland location, they didn’t catch any big fish. Regardless, that didn’t take away from the fun that they had.

  Suddenly, their communicator rang. Ebon turned serious, dropped his rod, and said, "This is the Black Star Troopers’ Lieutenant Ebon."

  The reply came, "Lieutenant Ebon, this is Cadet Qiu Si Te from the tour craft. We have Feng Xiao Chen onboard with us. With the Captain’s permission, she wants to see Jay."

  Ebon was at a loss. Before he could reply, Zhang Heng snatched his communicator and said, "This is Lieutenant Zhang Heng, affirmative on that order. Please bring her to the resting bay. We’re fishing by the riverside. If you spot us, please drive the craft down our direction."

  A few minutes later, a mid-sized craft floated down towards them from upstream. There were about 10 people looking at them through the craft’s glass dome. Most of them were children interspersed with a few guardians. As the craft neared, Zhang Heng and Ebon stood up from the position and wheeled Jay further into the flat plains. When the craft halted, they saw Xiao Chen pushed up to the glass doom, her eyes scanning searchingly their way.

  Zhang Heng mumbled a few words at Ebon before pushing Jay closer to the craft. Because the craft’s elevation wasn’t high, when Xiao Chen lowered her head, she could peer into Jay’s sleeping face. Almost instantly, her tears started falling.

  She stuck her hands to the glass and opened her mouth to say something, but she realized that the craft was completely segregated from the outside world. Other than through the communicator, there was no way her voice was going out of the craft. Helplessness made her cry even harder.

  Zhang Heng sighed and grasped Jay’s hand to align it to Xiao Chen’s hands that were on the glass. Even though they were separated by the thick pane of glass, this reminded Xiao Chen of the walks they used to take together hand-in-hand.

  "Jay Wales… You big liar, please wake up, I want to hear you call my name. I don’t want to be alone anymore; I want to be a Homo Evolutis, because I want to be beside you…"

  Xiao Chen kept on crying, and gradually, she felt her consciousness giving. Finally, she collapsed to the floor…

  Everyone stared at her with worry, and the medical unit stationed inside the craft rushed to her side. Zhang Heng and Ebon, who were outside the craft, yelled into the communicator, asking for updates. With all the commotion, no one noticed that Jay’s eyebrow had moved several times…

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  Chapter191 The Deceiver!

  Xiao Chen came down with a high fever…

  After her visit with Jay through the tour craft, she fell into an unconscious fever.

  Initially, many people thought her faint spell was because of her heartbreak from her inability to continue staying with Jay. Even Yao Yuan was under that impression. He only ordered the medical crew to look after her and bring her to the captain’s room when she woke up. He didn’t have any other orders.

  But the later development shocked everyone. Xiao Chen’s body temperature continued to rise, and she had been unconscious for one whole day and night. The medical crew gave her all sorts of fever medicine, including the latest trial supermagnetic procedures, but her condition wouldn’t improve.

  The next day, the medical crew started to worry because they knew Xiao Chen was a person of special importance. Her connection to Jay aside, the fact that Captain Yao Yuan had personally inquired about her condition told them that Xiao Chen must be kept alive. After a rushed discussion with the Academy, they came to a conclusion…

  Xiao Chen was evolving into a Homo Evolutis!

  This came as no surprise to Yao Yuan. He realized her symptoms were way too similar to the mysterious fever. Thus far, many medical workers still believed that the fever was caused by the currently unidentified Virus X. There was no need to quarantine Xiao Chen because if the virus was contagious, many young people wished desperately to contract it. A fever to trade for the possibility of superpowers? Yes, please. A chance to walk on the new planet was an added bonus as well.

  It’s just that… Why did Xiao Chen choose such a time to evolve into a Homo Evolutis?

  Her timing was simply too weird. There had been two awakenings of Homo Evolutis thus far. The first was when they first left Earth, about 100 people evolved into Homo Evolutis. A sad fact was that about 80 percent of the fever patients perished due to mankind’s backwards state of medical technology at the time. This was a point of regret for those who were in the know later, because who knew how many All-Rounders, Deceivers, or some other new type of Homo Evolutis could be among those that had died?

  The second awakening occurred moments after they were warped into this planet.

  For both awakenings, the scales were massive. At least 100 people had fallen ill. According to the research by the Homo Evolutis Faction, this meant that the awakening could be tied to life-preserving planets. For example, the first mass awakening happened when the Hope left Earth, a life-preserving planet. The second was when the Hope warped into this new home planet, another life-preserving planet. It was also worth noting that both awakenings happened around the time of warping.

  Xiao Chen’s case was an anomaly. Why did it happen half a year after the latest warp, and why did it only affect her alone?

  It was begging to be studied.

  Until now, the Homo Evolutis Faction’s research hadn’t really reached a breakthrough. Research topics, like awakening triggers, in-depth research of Homo Evolutis powers, side effects from overexertion of power, and training regimes to enhance the powers, all hit a wall. Among all of these, the most important was definitely the Homo Evolutis awakening trigger. If they discovered the trigger, it was entirely possible to transform the entirety of mankind into Homo Evolutis! Mankind would be a perfect race. How impactful that would be for mankind’s future!?

  But that was impossible because even the more advanced junkyard civilization hadn’t accomplished it.

  But Xiao Chen’s awakening might prove to be a crucial anomaly that could lead to a breakthrough. Why was the timing of her awakening so different? Why weren’t there the usual symptoms before her awakening? Why was only she alone affected?

  And most importantly, could her situation be duplicated on other people?

  Regardless, Xiao Chen’s itinerary for 1 week prior to her awakening was brought up for discussion. Her more personal activities aside, the basic timeline was as follows: separation from Jay, visitation of Jay on the new planet, and then Homo Evolutis awakening.

  From this, the expert tried to extrapolate the possible awakening triggers.

  The first was a great fluctuation of emotions, but the possibility of this was low. There was a series of stirring events affecting mankind ever since they escaped into space, and this was also common when they were back on Earth, so why hadn’t they heard of the presence of Homo Evolutis then?

  Of course, it was possible that it had to be coupled with the element of space-warping. Then again, there were at least ten thousand people on the Hope that experienced space-warping, and there wasn’t a lack of people being stirred by emotions among them, so why hadn’t there been more Homo Evolutis?

  The second was the pain of separation. This had a higher possibility. After all, the first awakening could be caused by the pain
of separating from Earth. The intensity for pain of separation for Xiao Chen could be similar to that.

  However, the refutation was that there were many others whose friends and families died on the battlefield that survived. Wasn’t their pain equally intense? So why hadn’t they undergone the evolution? Why was Xiao Chen’s case so unique?

  This possibility was thus rejected.

  The third possibility was the one offered by Ren Tao and Xiao Niao after they were briefed on the issue… it had to do with Jay.

  This hypothesis was hard to understand, so Yao Yuan called over the both of them to come explain it to him.

  Ren Tao scratched behind his ears and said with a shrug, "Because that’s the last possibility. After you’ve ruled out the other 2 possibilities, this is the one you’re left with. The last awakening wasn’t so long ago, so why didn’t she fall victim to the fever then? "

  Xiao Niao nodded his head and picked up Ren Tao’s argument. "That’s because her situation is unique. Xiao Chen has experienced the same thing as everyone else, the space-warp, the giant sway in emotions, discovery of a life-preserving planet; she was there to experience them all. But she didn’t contract the fever alongside the two mass awakenings; her awakening is uniquely isolated. That’s why instead of looking at the big picture, we should focus on what’s different in her situation. After you remove all the rejected possibilities, the remaining one, no matter how ludicrous it is, is the truth."

  The three of them were at the Homo Evolutis Faction. Quarantined within was Xiao Chen, and outside of it were Yao Yuan, Ren Tao, Xiao Niao, and other scientists. Yao Yuan too entered his Thinker’s state as he deliberated Ren Tao and Xiao Niao’s arguments. He added, "I see what the both of you are getting at… Jay, indeed, is the key to the Xiao Chen’s awakening. He’s the only possible hypothesis left. In fact, video from inside the tour craft did reveal Xiao Chen saying she wanted to be a Homo Evolutis to be beside Jay."