Abnormal crossing

Chapter 154 With stars above, the race marches forward

"."

Hearing what Hina said...

Speaker Gray immediately glanced in the direction Sheena had come from and nodded: "Then bring them over, Sheena."

After saying that, he turned to Elliot and said succinctly, "Lord Elliot, you will be in charge of handling the handover of supplies. What do you say?"

Elliott clenched his right fist and pounded his chest: "Don't worry, I will live up to your expectations!"

Seeing Elliott's obviously humble posture, Gu Wei blinked quickly.

He remembered that Sheena had just said that.

The planet Mold currently operates under a federal system, with the highest leaders at the planetary level consisting of the Speaker of the Federal Parliament, the Supreme Court Justice, and the Garrison Commander, who respectively lead the government, the legal system, and the military.

But based on the current performance...

It seems that Gray's position as Speaker of the Federal Assembly is far higher than the other two.

Most of them also have untold stories.
Then very quickly.

Sheena then brought a large group of Mord aliens from afar.

There were about a dozen or twenty people in the group, including men, women, children, men and women of all ages and heights.

Most people looked sorrowful and somber, while a few appeared relatively restrained; they were likely not members of the system or officials.

In Gu Wei's pre-time travel terminology, they would be described as "the masses".

Guided by Sheena, the group quickly arrived at the entrance of the Khan. At the same time, Gray retrieved the metal plate that held the broken world of the Eraser.

next second.

Swah——

Joe Cowen's image reappeared before everyone.

However, in addition to Qiao Kewen, there were many other figures in the video that Gu Wei had never seen before, gathered in the frame as if taking a group photo.

Seeing this, Gu Wei glanced at the several Moldians sobbing in the crowd and vaguely guessed what was going on:
Besides Captain Jokowen, the Burning Crusade expedition team had nine registered crew members on board.
At the very beginning of the incident.

The Eraser world is on the verge of destruction due to instability. Jokov felt guilty towards his crew members, so he forcibly put them into hibernation, wanting to face the end of the world alone.

However, with the intervention of Milo and Gu Wei, the destruction efficiency of the Eraser world was reduced to the standard speed of light. If Jokowen had stayed in his original position, it would have taken him billions of years for the world to reach him.
In this situation.

The original method of hibernation became meaningless.

Aside from the ship spirit, which has already been digitized, the remaining eight are all genuine Moldians—at least before they were devoured by the Eraser.

Now that they have returned to their home planet, their families should naturally be present.

as predicted.

Upon seeing the crew members in the frame, a commotion quickly broke out among the crowd brought by Sheena.

Seeing this, Gray took the initiative to walk to the side of the crowd, gently hugged a woman who was sobbing, and then exchanged a few words with the others before leading two elderly Molde people back.

The two Molds were holding hands, looking like a couple. They were slightly younger than Gray and had black hair like Gray.

Seeing this, Gu Wei stroked his chin again and whispered to Meimei, "Meimei, why do Speaker Gray and other older Moldans have black hair?"

“It’s a problem with the signal axis,” Meimei shrugged. “There is a special telomere-melanosome signal axis in the hair follicle stem cells of the Molde people. When they are young, the telomere shortens and inhibits tyrosinase activity, which turns them blue. It’s a bit like the whitening mechanism of many organisms.”

"As we age, when telomeres shorten to about 50 bp, it triggers abnormal splicing of telomerase RNA components, producing a small RNA with melanin activation function."

"This small RNA guides hair follicle cells to synthesize special melanin vesicles, forming porphyrin fullerene complexes that can absorb the entire spectrum of visible light, so the older the Mold people are, the darker their hair becomes."

Gu Wei then nodded slightly.

That's it
Another piece of knowledge that's useless but sounds impressive has been added to my knowledge list.
And the other side.

Led by Speaker Gray, the couple slowly walked to the screen next to the metal plate.

Joe Cowen also gave up the middle seat to a middle-aged man in his thirties.

This man was taller than the average Molde resident, with a round face, thick eyebrows, and slightly drooping brown eyes. The corners of his mouth naturally had a slight upturn, suggesting that he used to be a cheerful person.

The middle-aged man was silent for a moment, then forced out a smile that looked more like a grimace: "Dad, Mom, I'm back."

Looking at his son, who was much more mature than he remembered, but still looked about seven or eight parts similar to when he left home.

The woman in the elderly couple reached out her hand, trembling, as if she wanted to touch his cheek.

But the moment his fingertips touched the screen, they effortlessly pierced through the outline of his son in the image.

The old mother's fingers could only grasp at the air in vain. Soon, tears streamed down her wrinkled, blue face, leaving glistening trails: "Berry, my child, your hands... Mommy can never touch them again."

The elderly man next to the woman was biting his lower lip hard, his chest heaving violently, as if trying to say something.

But in the end, he could only force himself to lift his head and look at the ceiling.

“Um, Dad, Mom, we…we’ve collected a lot of data on stars over the years,” Berry forced a smile at her parents’ silent, weeping faces, and then, as if changing the subject, pointed to the shimmering star map in the projection background: “Look, that blue one, it’s like your eye.”

Berry didn't finish his sentence.

Thud— The old mother's legs suddenly lost their strength, and she staggered and knelt down on the ground.

"That day... I should have stopped you that day. I shouldn't have let you register." Her voice was broken, her hands clutching the front of her clothes tightly, as if that could ease the throbbing pain in her heart: "I should have stopped you."

Speaker Gray sighed, silently turned his face away, and looked elsewhere.

Gu Wei also felt quite uncomfortable.

I don’t know if it’s an illusion.

The lights in the berth seemed to dim a little at that moment, casting long shadows on everyone.

"What nonsense are you talking about!"

However, facing his wife who was lying on the ground, the old father, who hadn't said a word, suddenly squatted down and used his rough hands to support his wife's trembling shoulders.

His voice sounded like it was being forced out of his chest, hoarse but firm: "If we had stopped him that day, the parents standing here now would be someone else's parents. Are you trying to trade someone else's child's life for our son's safety?"

The old mother's body trembled violently, and the fingers that were gripping her clothes gradually loosened.

She looked around—at other parents who had also lost their children, at those faces that were trying to hold back their tears.

As the old father spoke, he reached out and stroked his wife's cheek, wiping away the tears that kept rolling down her cheeks: "Berry volunteered back then, just like his grandfather volunteered to participate in the Earth's core stabilization project, just like you and I volunteered to go to the front line to repair the atmosphere when we were young. No one forced him."

"He was already an adult then, not some baby you can leave at home—he left that day wearing the exploration team's uniform, that's what you should remember!"

Done.

The old father, or rather, old Berry, suddenly looked at his son in the picture and asked him, "Boone Berry, do you still remember the ancestral teachings of Mold?"

Beryl, who was in the world of the Erasers, was slightly taken aback upon hearing this, but then straightened his spine forcefully: "By the stars above, the race marches on!"

Old Berry was silent for a moment: "Now that you're a star, do you regret it?"

This time.

Berry stared at his father for several seconds before saying clearly and firmly, "No regrets."

He paused, then tilted the projection forward slightly, as if to cross the boundary between virtual and reality: "In the past few years, we have discovered three uninhabited planets suitable for immigration, mapped seven inter-galactic passages, completed seven primary missions and one intermediate mission, and upgraded to an intermediate exploration team in just five years."

"Although we have now returned to the stars, the results we left behind remain. Within a hundred years, Mold may be able to break free from the shackles of the Labyrinth!"

"Therefore, Father and Mother, being a member of the exploration team and contributing to our people is the proudest thing in my life! I will die without regret!"

The elderly mother stared blankly at the image in front of her.

In a trance.

Memory and reality seem to transcend time.

The mature and resolute face projected on the screen gradually overlapped with the image of the boy in my memory, fastening his uniform in the morning light.

The same eyes hold the same starlight.

Her tears were still flowing, but she no longer broke down.

"I...I just..." Her voice was still choked with emotion, but it held a new strength: "I just miss you so much."

Old Berry helped his wife up, his gaze towards his son's projection a mixture of pride and a deep-seated pain that only he could understand.

Seeing this, Gray also walked over to the two of them and bowed to them solemnly: "Mr. Berry, Ms. Kshida, please allow me, on behalf of the Supreme Council of the Molde Federation, to pay you the highest respects—you have nurtured a true hero."

"Based on our communication with the Governor and Captain Millow, each crew member's family member is allowed to communicate with the crew member once every three months for a period of one-twentieth of a Molde day."

"At the same time, in the name of the Speaker, I assure you that the names of Berry and the other members of the exploration team will be engraved in the central square of the home planet, and every child who looks up at the stars will know who lit the way for them."

As soon as Gray finished speaking...

The other Molde executives present also bowed to the two.

Milo, Gu Wei, and the others also placed their hands flat on their thighs to pay their respects to the couple and Berry—their etiquette was not as formal as Gray's, but their attitude was very serious.

True.

Perhaps Berry's level of knowledge is countless levels below that of Fluttering Fluttering. It's no exaggeration to say that even Nono's knowledge reserves are far superior to Berry's.

However, this spirit of pioneering and enterprising resonates with reality, regardless of the actual gap between them.

Especially for veterans like Milo who have faced life and death in the Star Sea, it's easier for them to identify with Berry and his family.

Perhaps limited by the boundaries of civilization, Berry's story will ultimately end on this somewhat barren planet.

But for the Molde people...

from now on.

The deeds and souls of Berry, Jokowen, and others will be woven into the way the entire race gazes at the stars—every time a Mold looks up at the stars, they are continuing their unfinished journey.

With stars above, the people move forward.

Note:
They're on TV! In the bottom right corner!!!

(End of this chapter)