Chapter 64: 042 Close Encounters of the Fifth Kind [Super Large Chapter Vote Request]_2
The faint sound of collision became increasingly clear.
“Captain, should we activate the protective shield?”
Yang Ming whispered, his eyes fixed on what lay ahead.
The dust cloud obstructing his view suddenly disappeared, and the spaceship fell into a pure vacuum.
Just as Yang Ming felt a tinge of disappointment, believing he had overshot and exited the dust cloud, he froze.
The spaceship stopped moving.
The engines were running normally, all the instrument readings were fine, and the radar was working, but at this moment, the hundred-and-thirty-meter-long exploration ship suddenly lost all kinetic energy and momentum, hovering at the very center of the dust cloud.
It was a perfectly square vacuum space, about twenty kilometers in length, width, and height, with the Feinan situated right in the middle.
“Number Two… are we stationary?”
“From a physical standpoint, yes,” Molly No. 2 immediately responded, “Insufficient data in the library, unable to provide corresponding analysis.”
Even though Yang Ming had actively sought this out, he now felt slightly nervous.
He remembered that the ‘Chosen One’ had not encountered so many issues.
That guy had simply flown into the dust cloud, discovered an abnormal spatial vortex, dove in, and found an abandoned, highly automated mechanical city.
“There’s an information stream reaching our ship,” Molly No. 2 alerted.
Before she finished speaking, the projection screen in front of Yang Ming turned pitch black, with lines of numbers and text flashing rapidly, finally displaying a series of sentences in the Empire’s common language.
[Civilization information… accessed.]
[Civilization language… changed.]
[Inquiry commencing.]
[Inferior lifeform, please use the most concise language to describe your purpose here.]
Yang Ming frowned as he looked at the projection screen.
He didn’t appreciate this interrogation-like tone, especially the term ‘inferior lifeform.’
Tap tap tap, this time the projection screen even included typing sound effects.
[If I find any element of dishonesty in your answer, you will forfeit this opportunity.]
“I’m here searching for answers and hoping to gain something,” Yang Ming contemplated for a few seconds before responding, “It’s an adventure, as well as a quest for redemption… Number Two, translate that into text for me.”
Molly No. 2 did not respond.
[Your primitive auxiliary piloting program has been put into protected hibernation. It’s too rudimentary. I can understand your language.]
[Here is the second question.]
[Will you allow me to thoroughly scan your brain?]
“No,” Yang Ming answered firmly.
[Impressive, you possess autonomy of consciousness and are qualified to continue communicating with me.]
[What are you trying to redeem?]
“Family, myself, everything I care about… who knows.”
Yang Ming took a deep breath:
“I don’t know what I’m redeeming either, I just want to survive and then do something, try to save my parents and friends.”
[You should be reminded that once a carbon-based inferior lifeform is brain-dead, even with a complete molecular structure map of the body, it’s difficult to replicate the same personality.]
[Thought Bodies born of the same structure but different dimensional phases have fundamental differences.]
“I can’t explain this to you completely because I don’t understand it either,”
Yang Ming spoke calmly:
“This is the answer I’m searching for.
“I don’t know whether they are dead or still alive someplace unknown at this very moment.
“But I feel like if I don’t do something now, they might be doomed in the future nonetheless.”
The typing sounds stopped for several minutes.
Yang Ming watched the cursor blinking on the screen in front of him.
The ‘Chosen One’ hadn’t mentioned anything about a test… What was all this about?
[Were you mistaken in coming here?]
Yang Ming said, “That’s more than three questions.”
[I wish to ask you a few more to determine whether to grant you an audience.]
Yang Ming’s frown deepened.
He felt that all he could do now was follow his instincts, not to lie but to tell ‘parts of the truth.’
“Not mistaken. I knew this place held something, I thought it might be a treasure, and I deliberately sought it out.”
[Do you understand the value of this place?]
“I do not understand, as you have not introduced yourself.”
[Curious inferior lifeform, I need to perform an energy level scan to determine your threat level. This will avoid your private parts. Do you consent?]
Deep down, Yang Ming was quite confident.
He, Captain Hanton, had undergone hundreds of scans, big and small, from the Human Rights Council to Cole Port Prison, and never flagged anything abnormal!
A point of light appeared outside the bridge, casting rays that seemed to penetrate the entire ship.
“And then I went inside,” Yang Ming said succinctly, sipping the fragrant wine.
Kolev frowned deeply, “Is it really a high-dimensional civilization? What were the results of the scan? You can’t just brush off an old man bursting with curiosity like that!”
“Can’t reveal personal privacy parts, but that indeed was a remnant of a high-dimensional civilization.”
“Oh, that’s… alright, keep going, don’t stop.”
Yang Ming chuckled softly, his eyes growing increasingly saturated with memories, beginning to choose carefully what to share with Kolev.
The sound of typing reappeared, this time somewhat impatient.
[Are you a separate part of an Ancient God Life Form? Compared to the true Ancient God Life Forms, you are far too weak, yet you possess some of their characteristics, what a strange existence, this is too amusing.]