Reactor malfunction! Just because of a reactor malfunction!
A glorious civilization, an exile of no return, a final struggle, who would have thought that all of this would be destroyed by a machine malfunction? The hibernation facility was supposed to operate for many more years, but due to the sudden damage to the fusion reactor, the hibernation facility's mainframe was affected, and all the hibernation pods were activated prematurely. Hao Ren did not know what logic the Vault's mainframe used to make this decision, but he knew that it was beyond the designer's expectations. Even Vivian, who was used to life and death, could only sigh. "Fate really does make fools of us."
Suddenly, the MDT seemed to have noticed something. "Wait a minute, there seems to be another room in front."
As it spoke, it flew towards the other end of the bridge. Hao Ren did not know why, but he followed it anyway. They ran across the hundred-meter-long bridge and came to the other end of the cylindrical space. There was a small door here, and there was no sign on it.
The MDT hacked into the access control system and quickly opened the door.
Behind the door was a smaller room. At first glance, Hao Ren noticed that it was not as tidy as the rest of the Vault. There was a lot of junk on the floor. Empty food cans and paper boxes filled up almost half the space, and the rest of the space was occupied by various cables and equipment. The moment he saw the interior of the room, he realized one thing: someone had lived here!
"There's a hibernation pod here too!" Lily's eyes were sharp, and she was the first to find something behind the junk. The others looked over and saw a silver-white metal box placed in the corner. However, it was different from the small hibernation pods outside. The metal box in front of them was obviously bigger.
It was meant for adults.
The MDT floated over to inspect it, and suddenly exclaimed in surprise, "There's life inside!"
Hao Ren was shocked when he heard the news, but he did not care about the details at this time. "Hurry up and activate this thing!"
The MDT had already figured out how the low-tech hibernation chamber worked. It connected itself to the control circuit of the hibernation chamber and confirmed the vital signs of the occupants as well as the dimensional biomass in the chamber. Then, it started the activation process. A few small lights lit up on the shell of the hibernation cabin, and then a burst of cold air came out from both sides of the container. Accompanied by a subtle mechanical friction sound, the cover of the hibernation cabin slowly slid upward, revealing the true appearance of the person sleeping inside.
An old, skinny, bearded old man.
Hao Ren was a little stunned. He didn't expect the people inside to look like this. The old man lying in the hibernation cabin looked like he was on the verge of death. Wrinkles crawled over every inch of his skin. His dark age spots and skinny head made him look like a horrible mummy. His long and messy hair and beard seemed to have never been tidied up. They were messy and dirty and stuck to the old man's chest like a nest of birds and beasts.
After the hibernation cabin was activated, the viscous liquid that filled the cabin slowly retreated under the influence of some kind of magnetic field. The old man lying in the cabin twitched, and then slowly opened his eyes.
He looked at Hao Ren blankly for a full two minutes until Lily accidentally touched something and made a sound. The old man's eyes suddenly rolled, and a strong look of shock and excitement appeared on his face. The intense emotional fluctuations even made him look a little ferocious. The old man, who was as skinny as a mummy, suddenly grabbed Hao Ren's sleeve with incredible strength. His throat made an indecipherable sound, as if he could not speak.
"Calm down, calm down." Hao Ren struggled to break free from the old man's grip and held the old man's arm. "Take a deep breath. Take a deep breath. Alright, calm down. It's safe here. You have time to explain the situation to us."
The old man was trembling. He slowly scanned the strangers in front of him with bewilderment. He then struggled to climb out of the hibernation cabin. Lily saw this and quickly went forward to help him. Together with Hao Ren, they helped the old man to a chair next to them.
The old man seemed to be mumbling something in his delirium. After he sat down, Hao Ren could barely understand what he was saying. The old man kept repeating a few words. "You're here. You're finally here. I've waited for hundreds of years … I almost thought you were all dead …"
"Waiting for us?" Hao Ren's first reaction was to be stunned. However, he quickly realized that the old man did not know where they came from. The old man was actually waiting for the people in the sanctuary city.
"I'm afraid you're mistaken." Vivian heard the old man's mumbling as well. She explained, "We're not from the ark. We're just passing by. Our spaceship is parked right outside your spaceship."
"You're … not?" The old man's mind was sluggish after waking up from hibernation. It took him a while to understand what Vivian meant. He looked at the strangers in disbelief. "But you …"
He stopped abruptly in the middle of his sentence. He finally noticed Nangong Wuyue, who was curled up in a ball not far away. She was a half-snake, half-human creature. He realized that these people really did come from outside the ark.
"I …" The old man's mouth was agape. He did not know what to say in the midst of the chaos. Finally, he sighed. "Are there any survivors on the ship?"
"There are many survivors. Although they're not in good condition, we came just in time." Hao Ren grabbed the old man's bony hand to calm him down. "Can you tell us about this ship? Who are you? Why are you frozen in this room alone? "
"My …" The old man shook his head, trying to remember something. "I … forgot my name. I should have a name, but I forgot …"
Vivian pressed on the old man's shoulder. "Maybe it's a short-term memory disorder caused by the long hibernation. Don't worry, you might recover soon. Other than a name? What else do you remember? "
The old man frowned and said slowly, "I remember that I'm supposed to … Oh, yes, I'm the 'father'. I'm supposed to teach the children. Oh, yes, yes! I remember, I'm supposed to lead the children to rebuild the society. I'm the last adult who's not sick! "
"You're not sick?" Hao Ren suddenly became serious. "MDT, do a check."
The MDT flew around the old man's body. "Old, but healthy. Incredible."
"What happened in the spaceship? Where did you come from? Why did the plague happen? Does this disease only infect adults? " Hao Ren asked one question after another. "And the golden disc in the spaceship … Tell us from the beginning."
"Our home … is destroyed." The old man grabbed Hao Ren's hand. In the first minute, he just kept repeating these few words, and then he organized more words. "It's said that the same thing happened on other planets. It's a terrible ecological disaster. We received a warning from a higher civilization before the end of the world. We built the ark and paid the price of more than half of our population to escape from our home … Do you know? Do you know? You must have experienced what happened in this universe. But you're definitely more advanced than us. You even have the spare time to investigate other people's spaceships … But we had to do our best just to survive. "
The old man's mind was sometimes muddled and sometimes lucid. His words were agitated and confused. But Hao Ren did not interrupt him. He knew that if he did, the old man would not know how to speak.
"… I was born on the spaceship and grew up on the spaceship. My father, grandfather, and all my ancestors were the same. Our ships were getting fewer and fewer, and so were our people. But we've been trying to survive because we don't want our bloodline to end … There's a divine artifact protecting us. Oh, you mentioned it just now. That golden disc. It was brought by the higher civilization that gave us the warning. They even taught us how to use the power of the divine artifact to avoid being hunted … But it doesn't always work. It can only slow down the pursuers … "
The old man panted heavily. He needed a break before he could continue. Seizing this opportunity, Hao Ren immediately let the MDT pull up the image of the Denizens of the Stars.
He pointed at the amorphous light for the old man to see. "Do they look like this?"
"… Yes, like this."
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
