Chapter 149: The Past

Words : 1394 Updated : Sep 23rd, 2025

Staring at the large characters ‘The 90s Era’, Xiao Yu stood frozen in place. “The 90s Era... The 90s Model Spaceship! So this is where the 90s ship crashed!” Xiao Yu murmured to himself, “I always thought the 90s Model Spaceship had been destroyed by the White Dwarf Alien Beast... I never expected it to have crashed here.” Instinctively, Xiao Yu once again retrieved the corpse of that woman from the Hebei and examined her closely. Looking at her serene face—peaceful as if asleep—his mind fell into turmoil. He even began making small errors in his ongoing operations. At the satellite factory, one working robot handed over what appeared to be a glass-like component to another, but the receiving robot failed to extend its arm in time. The component fell to the ground and shattered. In space, a Village-Class ship, having just collected enough fusion fuel from the second gas giant, was making its way back through the planet’s rings. A massive asteroid loomed ahead, but the ship made no evasive maneuvers and collided directly with it, bursting into flames and fragmenting to pieces. Elsewhere, some scout robots tumbled off cliffs, and some instruments were installed incorrectly... It took a full five seconds before Xiao Yu regained his composure. Realizing the errors, Xiao Yu immediately enacted recovery measures. At the same time, his mind replayed the memory of receiving that small spacecraft from the Alien Beast’s severed finger. He recalled the words spoken by the intelligent program that had claimed to be from the 90s Model Spaceship. “After the 90s ship was damaged, I transferred into this escape pod. For the past ten thousand years, I’ve been struggling to resist Alien Beast Type-Three’s attacks and protect the pod from destruction. But due to excessive energy depletion and the long duration, Astronaut Number One eventually died. I preserved her remains, awaiting your arrival. The detailed record is stored in the black box chip—you may examine it later.” Xiao Yu carefully analyzed that statement. “It seems... The 90s ship wasn’t completely destroyed. After the woman and the intelligent program transferred to the escape pod, the ship still retained some navigational ability and eventually crash-landed here on Planet One. Then, it was discovered by the Arrow Beasts, who used the technology onboard to evolve to the level of interstellar travel. Meanwhile, the escape pod was captured by the White Dwarf Alien Beast. During that time, the woman died, but the intelligent program survived—until I found it...” Xiao Yu mentally reconstructed the entire sequence of events. “But what does this have to do with me... with Earth’s humanity? What’s the connection?” Xiao Yu’s thoughts raced anxiously. “Why would there be a corpse with human genes, human appearance, in such a distant place? Why would Earth’s written language be here?” “What the hell is going on?” A silent cry echoed in his mind, tangled in a web of questions. Forcing himself to stay calm, Xiao Yu immediately dispatched several hundred engineering robots, sending them by ship to the crash site to begin clearing the debris around the strange spacecraft. Simultaneously, he summoned another ship carrying a full suite of analytical equipment. The cleanup lasted an entire day. During this time, Xiao Yu cleared a full kilometer around the ship—removing every plant and rock—and leveled the terrain. Then, with extreme care, engineering robots moved the ship to the flat zone. Once fully cleared, the “90s Model” spaceship revealed its spindle-like shape. Its midsection bore two wing-like protrusions, though one had been completely destroyed—only the other remained. This remaining wing was about five meters long, and at its tip was a structure resembling an engine. Though the 90s Model spaceship was utterly wrecked, its materials were miraculously intact. After the debris was removed, its smooth outer shell gleamed once more. A massive breach was visible along the hull, and inside the ship were traces of animals having nested there at some point—it had clearly served as a temporary shelter for local wildlife. “Based on the known facts, this ship has been here for at least ten thousand years. And yet... its exterior is still smooth as new, not a trace of rust.” Staring at the vessel, Xiao Yu was filled with awe. He had thoroughly examined the hull and discovered numerous markings resembling writing, though he couldn’t decipher them. “Except for the four Chinese characters that make up ‘The 90s Era,’ the rest must be alien script,” Xiao Yu concluded. “Two different scripts... that implies two civilizations. One uses Chinese characters from Earth’s era—let’s assume that’s Earth’s civilization. Then what’s the other one?” “This suggests a fusion of two civilizations. Maybe... that woman came from Earth and then entered another far more advanced civilization...” As he worked, Xiao Yu continued to speculate. “Let’s check the ship’s interior...” With that, he sent two robots equipped with full detection gear through the large breach and into the spacecraft. “The strength of this material... far exceeds my expectations. It’s even tougher than the materials used in the Hebei ship, which was infused with White Dwarf Alien Beast tissue. What kind of advanced civilization could create such materials? And how powerful must something be to pierce through it?” Xiao Yu murmured. The ship’s interior was vast. After removing the dirt and debris, the true form of the interior was revealed. Inside, Xiao Yu found several mysterious devices of unknown purpose. One resembled a computer, but lacked any familiar components. Another device, connected to the hull, looked like a weapon—but had no barrel, leaving its function unclear. Many other components were so damaged that Xiao Yu couldn’t even attempt to reconstruct them. The ship appeared to be divided into several sections: living quarters, work areas, storage, power systems, and weapon systems. The storage section was completely empty. The power and work areas still housed some indecipherable instruments. The weapons section was completely ruined. “The Arrow Beasts once said that their strongest warrior acquired fusion technology from this ship. I should go ask them what condition the ship was in when it first crashed.” With that thought, Xiao Yu issued a command. At the Arrow Beast plaza, where his hologram was teaching, the lesson paused. Xiao Yu’s projection said, “Lorna, please gather all your kin here. I have some questions.” Lorna obediently nodded. Not all Arrow Beasts attended Xiao Yu’s lectures. Among them were elderly individuals no longer concerned with evolution—they preferred to enjoy their final years in peace. So they weren’t all present in the plaza. But after Lorna sent word, within half an hour, all Arrow Beasts had assembled—around twenty thousand in total. Scanning the dense and diverse crowd, Xiao Yu asked, “Among you, is there anyone who remembers the spaceship that crashed on your planet? Do any of you know how your strongest warrior acquired the fusion technology?” The Arrow Beasts exchanged puzzled looks. Lorna shook her head first: “I’m only seven thousand years old. The ship crashed over ten thousand years ago—before I was born. As far back as I can remember, the ship had already lost all its energy. It was like a rock. Hmm... Grandma Tree, do you remember?” ‘Grandma Tree’ was an incredibly elderly Arrow Beast—almost 29,000 years old. She was nearing the end of the Arrow Beast lifespan and was the oldest among them. Lying lazily on the ground, Grandma Tree perked up at Lorna’s call. She looked at Xiao Yu with some confusion, then furrowed her brow and slowly recalled the past. “I do remember something... Hmm... That was about 10,350 years ago. I was still a strong warrior back then, training in aerial combat between two mountain peaks. Suddenly, I heard a loud roar from the sky. I looked up and saw something like a meteor, trailing a long tail, falling from the heavens.” “You see, at that time, we hadn’t evolved the ability for interstellar travel. We knew nothing about space. So this object stirred immense curiosity. We found it. When we saw a breach in its belly, we selected the two strongest among us to go inside and investigate.” The elderly Arrow Beast’s voice flowed slowly, and as she spoke, Xiao Yu’s thoughts drifted into that time and space alongside her.

Chapter 149: The Past

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