A bright light suddenly flashed in the dark and vast space. Then, ripples spread through the space like water. The hundred-kilometer long Cross Star Ship peeked out from the ripples and hovered majestically above a green planet. Of course, no one could see it no matter how majestically it was. The Empire Admiral was in stealth mode. I didn't intend to alarm the natives here before I understood the situation.
This planet wasn't Sandora's dream anymore. It was the original celestial body of this universe after the dream faded.
Sandora's spiritual senses were really accurate. I realized that I had accurately arrived at the gravitational equilibrium point of this planet and its second satellite. Her navigation ability wasn't inferior to the ship's radar.
"The warp engine's activation speed seems to be faster than before and the jump process is more stable." I sat behind the temporary control panel of the officer's platform and chatted with Sandora as I inspected the reborn spaceship's working status. Now that the spaceship's crew members weren't here and Sandora was just a ball, I could only temporarily act as the pilot. Fortunately, I had put in a lot of effort in the past few years to learn how to control spaceships. Coupled with the assistance of the spaceship's mainframe, I was able to complete some basic tasks. "Speaking of which, when the spaceship was reborn, it didn't rebirth any items that weren't part of the spaceship's registration system. However, some of our personal items on the officer's platform were reborn … That's weird."
"No matter what, it's a good thing." A golden ball of light the size of a soccer ball floated beside my hand and Sandora's voice came from it. "This means that its rebirth is controllable and there must be some kind of rule that we can study. This way, the spaceship can still be upgraded and modified. Even if it were to be sunk in the future, it can revive with the modified parts. It won't return to its original state every time it is reborn. "
I hugged Sandora's ball in my arms and walked towards the teleportation device. I gestured for Alaya to follow me as I muttered, "It sounds like you intend to let the Empire Admiral self-destruct a few more times. What if this rebirth is a one-time thing?"
"I'm just imagining it just in case." Sandora's ball struggled a little. "Speaking of which, I can move on my own now. I don't have to carry you around."
I chuckled. "Stop fooling around. It feels good."
Sandora said, "… Well, forget it. We're an old couple anyway. But can you not pinch it? This isn't a toy … "
We didn't teleport directly to the green planet that was full of vitality. Instead, we activated our invisibility mode and went to outer space. Sandora had mentioned that this was an advanced civilization. The reason was that she had discovered a large number of high-tech facilities around this planet: space stations.
The green planet below was slightly larger than the diameter of Earth. It had three natural satellites of different sizes. The smallest satellite was just a large ice rock ball. If it landed on the surface, it would probably be a giant meteorite. The other two satellites were similar in size to the moon. They were located in two sharp but non-intersecting orbits. In the vast space between the three satellites and the green mother planet, thousands of complete space facilities could be found. There was one in front of us.
These space facilities had a streamlined and round shell. The size ranged from tens of meters to nearly one kilometer. Their shapes were basically similar. They looked like giant seeds or some kind of fat plant pods. The glossy alloy shell was mainly green with decorative patterns of vines and leaves. Even though it made people think of cold and stiff space equipment, these space stations still had elegant and complicated patterns and finely carved decorations everywhere. This style reminded me of elves. It seemed that there was a group of local people who loved art living on the green planet below? Also, their aesthetic standards seemed to be in line with the mainstream standards of the Empire. At the very least, the appearance of these space stations was pleasing to the eye.
However, Sandora didn't have any feelings towards this style. She rolled around on a space station in her spherical form. After inspecting a piece of the main armor plate, she concluded, "These patterns are completely useless. They aren't external energy gathering nets, nor are they magic runes. They are just a waste of manufacturing time. The patterns on the Empire's equipment have to be put to use. Purely decorative items require a special application and have a special meaning. Look at this space station … its surface is almost like a painting gallery. What's the point of making it so beautiful? Who would want to see it in space? "
"Aren't we just watching?" I said through the mental connection while catching the Sandora sphere that floated towards me. "Also, don't be too strict with other races. There are elves among the Empire's spawn. They can't wait to draw their own family portrait on their bullets. If you see it, you will die of awkwardness. You haven't seen the space shuttle created by the tree elves. It's even more fancy than the one in front of you. Speaking of which, this thing in front of you does have the style of the tree elves, but it's obviously lacking in technology. "
As we chatted, we studied the 400-meter-long space station that looked like a slender olive seed. Based on its level of technology, we could roughly determine how advanced the civilization of the natives of the planet below us was. This way, we could lay a foundation for our next step of contact. Of course, this space station was inconspicuous compared to the gigantic objects created by the Empire. However, to a civilization that was similar in size to the humans on Earth, it was already quite large. Furthermore, this thing had a Steel Membrane Shield generator and a primitive gravitational wave antenna. Basically, we could deduce that its creator had the ability to travel within the Milky Way. Perhaps, we could release some probes to search further and find the civilization's colonies in other star systems. The outer shell of the space station was filled with beautiful patterns. Just like what Sandora had said, it was "exquisite and beautiful, but useless". However, I discovered that these patterns actually divided the outer shell of the space station into several areas. For example, the maintenance port, the reserved slots for external equipment, and the cover of the deformable equipment were all surrounded by special patterns. Sandora was even more dissatisfied. "It's clearly just something to mark a location. Is there a need to make such complicated drawings?"
I knew that Sandora was unhappy because she couldn't eat, so I didn't argue with her. I just smiled and shook my head. Then, I placed my hand on the outer shell of the space station. I was prepared to understand its internal structure without alerting the people on duty in the space station. Then … this thing is hibernating?!
I was a little surprised. I subconsciously knocked on the outer shell of the space station. Then, I used my spiritual power to probe deeper. In the end, I confirmed that 80% of the interior of the space station was in a closed state. There was only a weak energy reaction at the core.
The only things that maintained normal operation were the two external equipment of the space station: the shield generator and the thrusters used for orbit calibration. These two equipment were necessary to ensure that the space station could operate for a long period of time in space.
Sandora didn't expect this thing to be in a hibernating state even though it looked brand new. She split a small cluster of golden light from the Soul Spark and seeped into the space station. Soon, she came to a conclusion. "There's no reaction, and there's no sign of life. It seems to be an unmanned space station. Even the AI has stopped working … if it has AI."
"Let's take a look somewhere else." I turned to look in another direction. At the end of my vision, there was a silver-white dot mixed with green light. It was the nearest space station.
A moment later, we finished inspecting the second space station. As expected, it was also hibernating.
Alaya released his Holy Spirit doppelganger, Sandora split more mini Soul Sparks, and I expanded the range of my spiritual senses. Soon, we had scanned dozens of man-made facilities in the surrounding space. However, all of them were in a hibernating state, and the hibernation method was exactly the same. The main internal equipment was completely shut down, which meant that the entire space station was no longer carrying out its mission. There was a weak energy reaction at the core, which meant that the core of the space station was on standby. The shield generator and the thrusters used for attitude adjustment were operating normally, which guaranteed that they could survive in this hibernating state for a long time. Perhaps they really had been hibernating for a long time.
"A space station might be hibernating for maintenance or something like that, but all of these space stations are hibernating … The situation is rather strange." The spherical Sandora floated two meters in front of us. Golden lines extended from the Soul Sparks and gradually disappeared into the depths of space, just like when she was in her human form. The golden lines were inspecting the space stations further away. "All of them are hibernating … and the shield and attitude engine are operating. This means that they were intentionally set to this state. Although they aren't working, they have to be on standby in space for a long time. But why did they do that? Did their creator give up on these things? "
"Looks like we can only go to the surface of the planet to find the answer." I looked at the green planet beneath my feet. "Tsk, there are really strange worlds everywhere. Why do I keep encountering this kind of civilization that doesn't develop according to common sense …"
A moment later, we arrived at the surface of the planet and approached the settlement near the landing point in a state of invisibility.
This place was located at the end of a triangular plain, an area where the plain and a large forest met. There was a straight and wide river at the border of the forest, which happened to divide the two landforms into two. The west side of the river was a dense forest, while the east side of the river was a plain with a town, open terrain, and sparse vegetation.
In front of us was a local town. It didn't look that big. Rather than calling it a town, it would be better to call it a huge village. However, the village was surrounded by a wall made of earth and stone, which was why I classified it as a 'town'. From high up in the sky, we could see the full view of the town. It was built along the river, and its' body 'was long and thin. On the bank where the river faced the plain, there were hundreds of houses built along the river. As we went deeper into the plain, the number of houses gradually decreased, but the scale gradually increased. It was obvious that the rich households, shops, and government facilities were located in the inner part of the town that was further away from the river bank. Most of the houses were made of a mixture of wood and brick. Most of them were single-story houses and two-story houses. Their style was relatively simple, and there weren't many traces of decoration. Even the larger houses that looked like noble mansions didn't have much decoration.
However, although it was simple, all of the houses were quite clean and bright. Most of the houses here consisted of a square main house and two or three cylindrical houses. The outer walls of the houses seemed to be made of white cement or some other man-made material. They looked clean and tidy. The sloping roofs of the main houses and the round roofs of the houses were made of blue wooden tiles or baked bricks. Blue and white were the only two colors in the entire riverside town.
In the deepest part of the town, there was a rather unique building with a pointed roof. This kind of roof made it stand out from the other houses. I didn't know what it was for, but judging from its special location, the complicated patterns of stained glass, and the endless stream of people in front of the door … Perhaps it was some kind of religious facility? Of course, this was only my first impression. I didn't know the specifics.
As a town, the scale of this settlement wasn't large, but the population was quite prosperous. Outside the town were large tracts of farmland, and inside the town, people came and went like a weave. From the means of transportation on the streets, I could tell the level of technology in this world: the rich rode horses, the farmers pulled oxcarts, and the vast majority of the people hurriedly walked on the coarse stone road. The most advanced technology in this entire town was probably the three windmills on the eastern wall, as well as the huge water wheel on the upper reaches of the river. Apart from that, I didn't even see a single electric street lamp …
"It seems … it's different from what we expected." I descended from the sky until I was about the same height as the town's walls. I hugged the warm Sandora ball in my arms as I craned my neck to observe what the locals were wearing.
The locals also had human appearances. This way, I wouldn't have to worry about transforming into some strange form to infiltrate them. All I had to do was prepare the clothes of the locals. Alaya had been outside for a record-breaking period of time today. Now, he had lazily returned to my spiritual world to sleep with his daughter. As for Sandora … I asked her to lower the brightness of her light so that I could pretend that I was hugging a soccer ball. Alternatively, she could just turn invisible.
Sandora's observations were much more detailed than mine. She had already spread her power even further and deeper. Her calm voice came from the ball of light in my arms. "From what I can see, their technological level is still at the farming era of artificial plus animal husbandry. There are no signs of electrification, nor any automatic mechanical power. Most of the residents are humans, but there are other races similar to elves and dwarves. Their numbers are low, and they live in harmony with humans. Expand the search area and confirm that the other settlements within a million square kilometers are similar. The overall assessment is that this planet is a low-level, undeveloped civilization … I actually made a mistake in my judgment. "
Not only did she make a mistake in her judgment, even I didn't expect that the surface of the planet would be like this: an agricultural civilization that hadn't even developed modern technology! It even looked like Europe at the end of the Middle Ages!
However, this was the same planet that had hundreds of space stations and artificial satellites operating in its orbit. Those space facilities were as clean as new, and could be reactivated with a single command!
It was obvious that this planet also contained secrets. However, I also didn't expect that I would encounter such an interesting yet confusing situation after being accidentally blown up and coincidentally falling into a remote world where even birds wouldn't poop. I had an extremely low probability of finding a planet with life. My ability to get lucky was like a gift. Why didn't I try buying lottery tickets before I turned eighteen? That way, when the three hundred commanders arrived, I wouldn't have to make them look for their own jobs, and I wouldn't have to nurture Sicarlo's strange hobbies …
I quickly prepared a set of clothes suitable for the local commoners. Actually, wearing the local clothes wasn't awkward at all. I wore a short robe and narrow pants. The grayish-white and grayish-blue colors made me look like the residents of a desert area. It was much better than some worlds with strange clothing habits. Sandora couldn't be bothered to cover herself with camouflage, so she simply turned invisible and floated behind me. The two of us swaggered into the local town without attracting any unnecessary attention.
"Those space stations and artificial satellites in space should have been sealed in a planned situation. There are no signs of them being abandoned in a hurry. Looking at their standby state, it's obvious that they're waiting for a certain time in the future to recover." Sandora remained invisible as she observed the surroundings while continuing to chat with me through the mental connection. "As for those on the ground … they've probably experienced some kind of technological decline. This situation isn't uncommon. In short, it doesn't seem like a special civilization worth paying attention to. However, since we're trapped here now, we can explore for a few days and treat it as an outing. Sometimes, an advanced civilization whose development has been interrupted and has fallen seriously can also have high observation value. It can more or less give us some inspiration. "
As we spoke, Sandora had already defined this as a "leisure outing with educational significance." Although it didn't seem right, since we had nothing to do, it didn't seem like a bad idea to relax on this planet.
Just like that, we speculated about the connection between the sealed space facilities in space and the backward civilizations on the ground as we aimlessly strolled around the riverside town.
Although we hadn't been to other places, this town seemed to be a rather peaceful place. I also saw the elves and dwarves that Sandora had mentioned before. They should be a minority of the town's residents, but it seemed that they lived here for a long time. The three races lived together without any signs of conflict. This wasn't common in other worlds.
This town was a typical agricultural settlement. The farmlands outside the town and the neighboring river were probably the source of the local residents' livelihood. There was a small market in the town where hunters and the like sold game and herbs. The nearby forest was probably a source of sustenance for the locals.
I felt that it was rare for me to find a new world, so I should at least buy some local specialties to bring back as gifts for my family. So, I wandered around this small market. Although I didn't understand the local society, nor did I know the details of currency, customs, daily etiquette, and so on, I was still a veteran transmigrator. Being able to quickly gather information through observation in an unfamiliar environment was my forte. After wandering around for a while, I roughly understood the currency and trading methods here. Then, I was surprised to find that …
Not only did this place use currency, but it also allowed bartering?
It was common to see people dressed in traveler's clothing exchanging strange items for large amounts of food or other daily necessities with the local residents. I couldn't help but think of "adventurers" who had just come out of certain ruins and hadn't had the time to exchange the treasures they had obtained for money. I had seen this kind of scene many times in other worlds.
Just as I was getting more and more interested in this planet, someone suddenly tugged on the corner of my shirt.
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