Xiao Yu had already recorded the precise coordinates of this star. Someday in the future, he would return here to see whether the seeds he planted today had reached the time for harvest.
On this planet, Xiao Yu also left behind an automated program. This program operated from within a large structure. Inside this structure, Xiao Yu equipped more than five hundred intelligent robots with self-repair capabilities. Under the guidance of the program, these robots would continuously monitor the civilization’s progress on this planet and, when the time was right, provide appropriate guidance to steer its development. Of course, since Xiao Yu had departed from this planet, and because superluminal communication fails once the distance expands beyond a certain limit, he had no way to receive information from here in real time.
Everything was left to be governed by the will of the unseen rulers of fate.
“Perhaps, once true intelligent life appears here, I will become like the Creator God in their myth and legend,” Xiao Yu thought to himself with a trace of self-mockery. “But who would ever imagine that your so-called Creator God, in this tiny galaxy, is nothing more than a humble being who must spend all his days running around?”
Thinking this way, a faint sadness rose in Xiao Yu’s heart.
As he drifted farther and farther from this star, when he finally reached seven billion kilometers away and broke free of the gravitational disturbances, Xiao Yu once again engaged in curvature flight, heading toward his next target.
Just as Xiao Yu had expected, he saw that the Level 4 Alien Beast was still following him closely, entering curvature flight right after him.
“Let it be.” Xiao Yu thought helplessly. “How did I end up encountering such a fool? With all that time, rather than striving to develop itself, it wastes everything on this pointless pursuit.”
While reserving a portion of his attention to watch the Level 4 Alien Beast, Xiao Yu focused the rest of his mind on his proper business.
The next target star was nearly twice the mass of the Sun. Its higher surface temperature caused it to appear white, and the greater mass meant its lifespan was drastically shortened. This indicated that its stellar activity was far more violent, and such a star could already be classified as a subgiant.Around such stars, the likelihood of intelligent life developing was quite low. But Xiao Yu still intended to take a look. In any case, it wasn’t far, only 2.3 light-years away. At Xiao Yu’s speed, he would need merely three and a half months to arrive.
No surprises awaited him. Upon reaching this star system, what spread out before Xiao Yu was an even more desolate scene.
The intense stellar activity subjected its only two planets to constant bombardment by powerful radiation. One of the planets was even tidally locked by its gravity, forced to face the star with the same side forever. The other planet was no better. Because it orbited too close, its surface temperature averaged six hundred degrees Celsius.
Originally, given its distance from the primary star, its surface should never have reached such extremes. Unfortunately, it possessed a thick atmosphere rich in carbon dioxide. This meant a severe greenhouse effect, trapping the star’s heat so that only a small portion escaped, very much like Venus in the Solar System.
If one were to rank the environmental conditions of the major satellites and planets in the Solar System, Venus would undoubtedly be the most hostile. On Venus’s surface, molten lava flowed everywhere, and the sky was perpetually black because the clouds were so dense that no sunlight could reach the ground. The air was thick with the stench of sulfur, and lightning storms raged more fiercely than any on Earth. Venus also had rain, but this rain was many times more corrosive than the most dreadful acid rain on Earth. Its virulent potency would drive any living creature to despair. There was wind on Venus, too, but the winds were many times stronger than on Earth due to the oppressive cloud cover. In short, it was a world of utter hopelessness.
Yet the conditions on this planet were even more excessive than those on Venus. The moment he saw the two planets, Xiao Yu completely lost interest in conducting any close-range surveys.
Inwardly, Xiao Yu even muttered to himself, “If lifeforms can exist in a place like this, I’ll swallow the Yanjing whole.”
Of course, without a body, Xiao Yu couldn’t possibly swallow the Yanjing whole, and on such a harsh planet, there would never be any life. Xiao Yu had no intention of wasting time here; instead, he maintained his Faster-Than-Light travel state, skimming past the star from a distance of forty billion kilometers, continuing on to scout his next target.
However, carrying out a limited survey was still possible, after all, it would cost Xiao Yu nothing. He might as well collect data on various planetary environments. So, as he passed by the star, Xiao Yu deployed a probe. Once it exited curvature flight, it would proceed toward the planet at sub-light speed. After spending four days to arrive, it would carry out a seven-day survey and transmit the findings to Xiao Yu via superluminal communication.
The reason this survey duration was set to seven days was that Xiao Yu estimated the probe he had built could survive no longer than that in such an extreme environment. Beyond this timeframe, it would inevitably succumb to corrosion and other adverse conditions. It wasn’t that the probe couldn’t be made to last longer, but doing so would require incorporating Alien Beast flesh into its construction, and for such a purpose, that hardly seemed worthwhile.
The next target was a yellow dwarf star, whose mass was about the same as Tianyuan IV, only slightly smaller than the Sun, located five light-years away.
After spending more than seven months to arrive, Xiao Yu faced yet another disappointment.
Even after a thorough tachyon scan, Xiao Yu still detected no signs of biological activity, so he embarked once again on another long voyage…
Time slipped away little by little. Xiao Yu continued shuttling between one star after another, remaining in a state of Faster-Than-Light travel at all times except when resupplying. Each time, Xiao Yu was full of hope, and each time, the result was disappointment.
“Ah… it must have been over five hundred years by now. I’ve scouted more than two thousand target stars, and in proportion, I’ve already eliminated over two hundred thousand stars. Is the birth of intelligent life really so difficult? In these five hundred years, let alone intelligent life, I’ve only ever found that one instance of ordinary life. Truly… frustrating.”
To search for intelligent life, Xiao Yu had remained in Faster-Than-Light travel throughout this period. That meant he couldn’t receive a steady supply of materials and couldn’t process technological data, a rather severe price to pay. But Xiao Yu still believed that if he could find intelligent life, paying this price would be worth it.
The most disheartening thing of all was paying such a price yet receiving no return.
“I refuse to believe this,” Xiao Yu ground his teeth and resolved fiercely. “I’ll keep going. There must be a reward eventually!”
During this time, to Xiao Yu’s slight surprise, that Level 4 Alien Beast was still doggedly tailing him, like a young man desperately pursuing the object of his affection. Amid his frustration, Xiao Yu actually found it a little funny. “This creature really is one of a kind in this galaxy. I truly don’t understand its thinking.”
After yet another disappointment, Xiao Yu gathered his resolve and set out again.
This time, the target was still a red dwarf star, only somewhat larger than a typical red dwarf, with sixty-five percent of the Sun’s mass. It had three planets: one rocky planet and two gas giants. The rocky planet was closer in, and the gas giants farther out.
What gave Xiao Yu a bit of anticipation was that this rocky planet happened to lie in the zone suitable for liquid water to exist. Although Xiao Yu didn’t believe liquid water was a necessary condition for life, the presence of liquid water still increased the likelihood of life to some extent.
Xiao Yu’s fleet was rapidly approaching.
At a distance of sixteen and a half billion kilometers from the star, Xiao Yu’s fleet exited curvature flight. Gazing into the distance at the faintly dim star, Xiao Yu’s heart once again filled with hope.
But at that moment, Xiao Yu discovered something unusual.
“Hm? What’s that? This is… it’s not an asteroid, it’s an artificial object.”
Xiao Yu’s detection instruments had picked up something strange. The object’s main body resembled a cube, with two wing-like extensions protruding from opposite faces. Overall, it looked like a bird.
Its total length was about five meters, and the two wings alone spanned over four meters. Its smooth surface and shining wings all marked it as something extraordinary.
This was roughly at the heliopause of the star.
“Those two wings are probably the solar panels… the middle section must be the main instrument body… and in this place, there’s actually such a primitive… interstellar probe?” Xiao Yu muttered in disbelief.
“Capture it.” Xiao Yu decided immediately.
A Village-Class ship swiftly approached, used its robotic arms to grab the object, and transported it into the Yanjing. Aboard the Yanjing, Xiao Yu quickly began dissecting the unknown device.
Such a crude piece of equipment took Xiao Yu less than a minute to take apart. Looking at the ancient electronic components inside, Xiao Yu felt an emotion somewhere between amusement and exasperation.