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"Wait a minute, did you just say you collided with a ghost ship?!" I suddenly interrupted the babbling herbaceous plant, and it seed startled by my abrupt shout, causing its leaves to shiver. Then, the sharp voice ca out again from the chanical device beneath its stem: "Yeah, ghost ship. Isn’t this news all the rage? You guys in Shadow City should’ve heard about it, right? The out-of-control Imperial warship wandering around, a lot of people have seen it — but we are probably the only unlucky ones to crash into it."
Even Sandora started to take it seriously. She touched the leaves of the "Mimosa": "You ’crashed’ into it? Not due to a firefight or so other conflict? What was the situation like at the ti?"
"Wow, the urban managent and street office in Shadow City even care about this?" Mimosa wobbled uncomfortably, hopping around, "You guys are really responsible, much more humane than I imagined. Actually, the day before yesterday when the spaceship docked for repairs, our boss already filed an accident report with the Space-Ti Managent Center, but since you’re interested, I’ll share what I know. I am the navigator monitor of the spaceship, so I happen to know more."
The plant twisted its body as if preparing for a long narrative, then it spoke: "Our Forest Spirit Caravan is a large rchant group, unlike those individuals who carry so luggage in their personal space and run around the transit point in the Crossing Gate doing small trades. We trade with big cargo rchant ships, and that’s a fine ship. Our boss spent a fortune buying it as a retired military item from the New Eden Federation; reportedly, one-fifth of its components are Imperial-made, and that thing runs like a dream..."
"Get to the point!" Sandora and I shouted in unison.
Mimosa shivered again: "Alright, alright, to the point. Anyway, we have a very large cargo rchant ship. Previously, we were running short-line trades in several transit zones of the Macro World. Recently, there’s been a Feiyali Void Consortium, right? This consortium is recruiting many rchant groups to organize a bigger trade network, which our boss took interest in. A few days ago, we brought in a batch of heavy elents from the Kebola III Star Cluster, planning to negotiate cooperation with the Void Consortium. Because our rchant ship is a retired military item, it has its own cross-world engine, so we didn’t use those large civilian World Gates on fixed routes but applied for a free route according to regulations. The accident happened on this free route — all ships encountering ghost ships are taking free routes! We departed from Kebola III, diverted to the Edimion Three Realms Alliance, checked in at the Great Cross Sky Corner Void Station..."
Again, Sandora and I couldn’t help but interrupt: "Get to the point!"
Mimosa shivered once more: "Then we collided with the ghost ship."
I bumped my fist on my forehead: This green plant speaks even more frustratingly than Silvia does: "Now you can talk about the details!"
"You all are so peculiar, even the transmission of information has to differentiate between different bit rates, my cognitive codec is going to overload," Mimosa jumped twice on the spot in protest, then continued, "We checked in at the Great Cross Sky Corner Void Station and transferred to the Galaxy Civilization Community, after which there was only one more stop to the Imperial Capital, and everyone relaxed a bit. Our boss suggested we unwind, so all of us jumped off the workbench, ran to the resting pit to water ourselves, and basked in simulated sunlight, which Forest Spirits love — and then the ghost ship suddenly appeared just ten kiloters in front of our rchant ship: it was definitely the largest spaceship I had ever seen, practically like a space city."
"When the ghost ship appeared, the spaceship’s control stations were all unmanned..." I stared in amazent at the plant, "Don’t you have operating procedures or sothing?"
"We do, the procedure is only one: don’t splash water on the equipnt while watering yourself," Mimosa shrank its leaves, "Forest Spirits are a romantic and free race... besides, we have a talent: the chanical body we symbiose with ensures Forest Spirits don’t make too many mistakes."
I glanced at the chanical component beneath its roots: "This thing can’t prevent you from watering and sunbathing while the spaceship is navigating."
"That’s a survival behavior, the chanical component’s judgnt is relatively weak in this regard," Mimosa swayed, "Anyway, when the ghost ship appeared, we couldn’t control the spaceship, but everyone saw that spectacular scene on the resting pit’s monitor. Screams echoed throughout the resting pits; more than half of the Forest Spirits frantically buried themselves in the soil. I saw our boss trying to use voice command to alert the spaceship to evade, but he stuttered too much. Ultimately, the onboard mainfra kicked in: It’s worthy of retired military gear, as it forcefully activated a hidden security protocol at the brink of collision, commandeering most of the spaceship’s systems — well, all except our greenhouse and sunlight simulator. The ship made a violent turn, with the rear cargo hold and an auxiliary engine crashing heavily into the ghost ship’s protrusion, oh, that was quite a hit, the ship’s structure shook as if it were about to disintegrate. Myself and two unluckies were thrown out of the resting pit, crashing against the sunlight simulator, blinding our light-sensitive vision components, but sohow, we managed to avoid major destruction. The price, however, was steep: the rear hemisphere of the ship got demolished, the cargo hold is gone, and we lost an engine. Nevertheless, the reliable passage control device and self-repair drones patched all the holes, so no one died. Injuries, thank goodness, healed quickly enough. In the next two days, our boss was borrowing fertilizer to drown his sorrow. Our beautiful ’Grass and Wood Ark’ arrived at Shadow City tattered like a pitiful drift ship and docked at the repair shipyard that afternoon; the only silver lining is that the Goblin Insurance Company covers accidental losses from ghost ship collisions — fortunately, those green-skinned traders don’t know we were all sunbathing in the resting pit during the collision."
This Forest Spirit quite enjoys talking, despite being a bit verbose. It narrates the ghost ship collision event vividly, revealing how this unfortunate air disaster unfolded and even revealing that herbaceous plants have an insurance fraud habit...
Considering this unlucky rchant fleet almost lost its savings this ti, and the vast wealth of the goblin insurance organization across worlds, I decided to pretend not to have heard its last two sentences.
"So, you’re saying your collision was entirely suicidal," I said, stroking my chin in thought, "This still doesn’t confirm the ghost ship’s behavior pattern; it did nothing active from start to finish."
Even though the ghost ship’s behavior pattern can’t be determined, one thing I can be sure of: the ghost ship evidently exists.
Previously, I held ninety-nine percent belief and one percent skepticism toward this wildly circulated ghost ship story, but now with a victim recently suffering an air disaster right in front of , the ghost ship affair undoubtedly seems real.
"So, is your investigation complete?" Mimosa asked, unable to wait after our long silence, "If possible, could you help to the nearest teleportation point? I need to return to my hotel... those heartless ones didn’t even notice soone fell behind."
I looked at the chanical stubby legs beneath the herbaceous plant, those tiny paws might not be as swift as humans, but surely capable of a few hundred ters? How co it’s so lazy?
"We are plants, after all," Mimosa said, swaying its leaves in response to my confusion, "Forest Spirits don’t like long journeys; we prefer being rooted in soil, and walking consus a lot of energy, especially since it’s nightti without the sun. What am I supposed to do?"
I shrugged and casually picked up this peculiar new citizen (or maybe new traveler? Forest Spirits probably haven’t registered as permanent Shadow City residents yet), heading with Sandora toward the civilian teleportation point at the street corner. anwhile, Xyrin and Silvia squatted around studying dirt clods, noticing we were leaving, hastily caught up.
Oh, it’s Xyrin catching up, she, incidentally dragging the dazed Silvia.
In Shadow City, each street and all crowded places have civilian teleportation ports. These silver-tubed thick columns look like garbage bins at intersections (don’t criticize this comparison, they do look alike), featuring multiple interaction modes and accepting most frequency of thought inputs, and are available for use by all residents of Shadow City. Following Mimosa’s directions, I input the hotel destination, then everyone moved outside the teleportation zone, watching as the Mimosa was gradually enshrouded by a twisted light curtain. Suddenly, Silvia seed to snap out of it and waved to the Forest Spirit about to be teleported: "Oh, hello Mr. Forest Spirit, I’m Silvia..."
Everyone: "..." This reaction speed!
The Mimosa vigorously swung its branches, leaving behind its final words: "We Forest Spirits are hermaphroditic plants!"
Now I finally know how to address Mimosa, calling it is impolite, better call him...
Once Mimosa disappeared in the teleportation glow, Sandora thoughtfully rested her chin and spoke up: "Ah Jun, what do you think of the ghost ship?"
"It’s ultimately a problem," I pondered, "After all, it might be sothing left over from the Old Empire, or an out-of-control military unit. If it appears on the flight path, it’s not too bad, but if it suddenly shows up over so colony, that would be quite a spectacle. Also, based on experience... anything that has managed to survive from the Old Empire’s disaster until now tends to be sowhat special. It’s quite intriguing."
"Actually, while you were away, I’ve also been keeping an eye on the ghost ship. There have been four or five more sightings in the past few days," Sandora looked up at the deep night sky, "And I had Xiao Xue do a few vague predictions... Although there were no direct prediction results, Xiao Xue saw that the ship seems to have so connection with ."
I was quite surprised: "A connection with you? Could it be sothing under your command back then?"
After the collapse of the Old Empire, the most intact part was the Fifteenth Day Zone. Although Sandora survived, her remaining forces consisted only of her Personal Guard and the Revenge Fleet she later reassembled. The universes once ruled by the "Battle Song Princess" had mostly disintegrated, and the armies and fortresses once stationed in those worlds didn’t survive either. But over the years, we’ve continuously discovered remnants of the Old Empire. These items, which erged with world fragnts or were dispersed through material leaks in space after the Old Empire’s collapse, ca from various Sky Zones. Naturally, this also includes relics from Sandora’s forr Sky Zones. If the ghost ship were also such an artifact, it certainly needs to be reclaid.
"Still not certain," Sandora shook her head, "I don’t rember ever ordering the construction of that type of spaceship, and the ghost ship doesn’t bear any insignia of the Revenge Army—we’ve all seen the sighting pictures, and it doesn’t look like any of my things."
As Sylvia was yawning and stretching out with a long, lazy stretch, she suddenly said, "Yawn—I’m feeling sleepy—take your ti talking, okay—"
Sylvia had been spacing out while Sandora and I were conversing. By now, who knows how many loops her mind had gone through, finally getting herself worked up into a state of confusion. But I looked up at the moon in the sky and realized it was only a bit past eight, prompting my curiosity: "Do you always sleep this early? It’s not even eight-thirty."
"Activities of Bellavilla require energy," Sylvia was visibly drowsy, with her eyes barely open, "She’s been helping Orelia build a Star Shaping Pool these days, so I’m quite... Zzz—"
And with that, the magical Silver-haired Mole fell asleep standing up!
I admired this slowpoke capable of standing to sleep, yet feeling touched by both her and Bellavilla’s diligence (though mainly Bellavilla’s diligence, Sylvia, after all, is also responsible for cooking for Bellavilla). Then, together with Xyrin, we escorted this clueless and unguarded gal back to her little shop-cum-ho. By this ti, indeed, it was getting late, and our ti lingering outside had slightly exceeded the plan, so we bid farewell to Xyrin and headed ho.
Upon entering the living room at ho, the first thing I saw was that Firefox browsing... a silly fox squashing a ball combo right next to the sofa. Bingdisi had moved the replica Divine Artifact into the living room, and a temporary special fra seed to fix it below. anwhile, that silly fox was perched relaxedly on top of the ball pretending it was connecting to the Internet. She was, of course, awake, gnawing on chips while watching a Korean drama with the little doll—you see, their taste is quite sothing; my daughter is almost getting spoiled by that silly fox!
"These two have been secretly in love for over thirty episodes, humans are really dumb." The little doll, clutching a remote that’s slightly too large for her, comnted while watching TV. The fox wagged its tail: "Yeah, really dumb. Human love is too troubleso, not as convenient as for animals."
I casually switched the TV to an animal docuntary, pulling the fox’s ear: "Happy now watching animals?"
The fox’s face turned red, and with tails swirling like wind and fire wheels, she smacked my back: "Why are you so dirty-minded? I’m already an immortal now, I’m human..." Just then, she noticed the television was showing the mating cycle of the Arican leopard and quickly covered her face: "Ah! Felines are so shaless..."
: "..." This fox is practically done for; no one disagrees, right?
"Fool, the snack’s for , right?" The little doll climbed up the sofa’s back intending to snatch the TV remote, but her eyes imdiately lit up upon spotting the snack bag I was holding in my other hand. She excitedly snatched the bag and picked her favorites from inside. Despite what I’ve said before, it has to be repeated: how does this doll even digest food?
Truth is, I’ve always wondered: eating so many greasy snacks, won’t her wind-up key get rusty?
Casting around the living room, searching for Bingdisi, who usually would be found playing poker with so randomly selected mbers of the Divine Clan’s Tiaozi Five group at this hour, but this ti, I didn’t see her after a round of searching. Although poker was indeed being played: Monina and Yelsen were ganging up on Lin, with Uncle Kenser approving everyone’s play with a nod.
"Where’s that hooligan leader?" I gestured towards the Firefox browsing setup, "Did she just dump the artifact here? This fox is starting to use it as a bed!"
Dingdang erged from sowhere, flapping loudly to land on my shoulder, chirping softly: "She’s in divh’s room, teaching that Crow how to care for its wings; she gave this artifact to the fox..."
: "...Is it really okay to just hand such an important thing to this silly one as a toy?!"
The fox tapped my back twice with her tail in protest, but it was neither painful nor itchy.
"Anyway, if understanding it is impossible, might as well let the fox play with it—Bingdisi said that," Dingdang swiftly slipped into my pocket with unbelievable agility, "The fox seems to really like that ball. Also, what’s a Firefox browsing?"
I chuckled dryly, thinking that the female hooligan’s enthusiasm lasting only three minutes was confird: Just this afternoon, she was confidently declaring she’d unravel the hidden secrets of the artifact.
Sandora seed a bit preoccupied, as her eyes rested on the softly glowing golden orb, her brows lightly furrowing: "Who knows how long the Divine Clan will need to extract the contents stored in the artifact."
"Even Father God has forgotten what the original reading rules and devices were," I shook my head, "So we can only rely on the experts and scholars from the Divine Clan. However, at least there’s so good news: the artifact is in our hands, and so is the lead to the hotown world. In this aspect, the Fallen Apostle is completely behind the curve and kept in the dark."
Sandora’s tightly knit brows finally relaxed, and she slowly nodded.
I gazed at the golden orb, lost in thought. This relic, just as ancient as the hotown world, likely docunted more than one coordinate. It also recorded the situation of the hotown world and many surrounding universes at that ti. Perhaps it’s a delusion, but I’ve always felt there’s sothing odd about the Abyss Gate that destroyed the hotown world, so what’s recorded in this artifact...
Could it possibly unravel the mystery? (To be continued. If you like this work, please vote for recomndations and monthly tickets at Qidian. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian to read.)
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