People in Terra, governing a bizarre little country

Christen silently uploaded her operations to the cabin log. These basic operating procedures were developed by Terra's scientists after they had repeatedly studied and refined the experimental results and data from the first two star-picking missions (including the outer space data provided by Kal'tsit in the first mission), until they knew them by heart and could recite them backwards.

Christensen is a free spirit, but she's not entirely ignorant of protocol. She was Terra's first astronaut on a manned mission, but Terra won't only have her. Therefore, everything she does now in this region high in the sky should be meticulously recorded in her space log, providing a model for everyone who goes there after her.

Water droplets condensing inside the oxygen mask floated into tiny spheres due to weightlessness, refracting a cool blue light under the floodlights inside the cabin.

Christensen once again felt a genuine sense of surprise and reassurance.

To her surprise, she had indeed arrived in a realm completely different from the earth. Here, all the physics she knew no longer applied; apples didn't fall to the ground after ripening but flew into the sky, and gravity could no longer restrain any soul yearning to transcend the mundane. Here, they had mastered the power of flight for the winged beasts.

This peculiar feeling, termed "anomaly," is an unbearable danger for ordinary people, but a worthwhile challenge for scientists to explore. How could Christensen not be thrilled?

Despite the surprise, she still felt at ease.

This was indeed her first time here, but she wasn't completely ignorant of the place. From Ernst, she had already learned a great deal about space.

Don't look down on common sense. Only things that are so important that they can be used at any time in life can be called common sense. The knowledge that Christensen learned from Ernst was enough to make her better than many fools who knew nothing about the vast universe, so that she wouldn't feel lost and confused when looking out the porthole.

Moreover, she believes she has the power to change all of this.

With a gentle flick of the numerous control buttons on her wrist, the one marked with the national emblem of Kazdelnia—the Gravity Contempt Device—from Rhine Lab's former head of engineering, her friend, and now the leader of Kazdelnia, unknowingly began to function.

The buoyancy that had lifted her up slowly disappeared, and Christen regained the solid feeling of having her feet firmly on the ground, as if Nasti were standing behind her, using the banshee's spell to allow her to walk on flat ground in this unknown territory.

As Christen gently untied the protective straps that Nasrea had helped make and adjusted her mask's filter layer to the highest protection level, a smile appeared on her lips that she herself was unaware of.

That was a smile brimming with anticipation and happiness.

She walked slowly along the intricate pipeline design until she reached the rocket's fixed porthole.

The special glass employs countless of Terra's most advanced processing techniques and is coated with hundreds of Originium techniques that enhance its resistance. This allowed it to withstand the high temperatures and friction when breaking through the isolation layer and the atmosphere, giving it the opportunity to fully display everything from the outside world to Christen.

The sea in Terra is burning.

Christensen later left the following comment in her diary.

She wasn't particularly skilled at literary creation; describing and recording phenomena in a rigid, methodical way was the rule scientists should follow in such unknown territories. But Christensen still added this sentence at the end of her journal.

Because this was the most direct feeling that welled up in her heart at that moment, when she looked back at that beautiful home planet from orbit.

Terra's atmosphere was an unnatural deep purple, like a liquid gemstone dyed by something special, enveloping its homeworld. Crimson lightning flashed from the swirling clouds—a nightmare that haunted Terra's civilization throughout its life, a catastrophe known as the "Cataclysm." At what would later be known as the equator, the atmospheric circulation exhibited an unnatural spiral structure, like indigo silk twisted by the gods. And above the poles, where ice and snow should have covered everything, a phosphorescent glow floated.

That wasn't the aurora borealis, but something Christensen couldn't quite put his finger on.

She repeatedly compared everything she knew with it in her mind, but after thinking for a long time, she could only come to a conclusion that she herself found hard to believe.

It's like the wreckage left behind by a broken machine. The original parts that were there have disappeared, leaving only the crackling current wasting energy day after day.

"That area should be further north than Sami."

Squinting, she silently recorded it in the space log. Christensen's gaze fell upon her hometown.

The Terrans had already surveyed the land beneath their feet long ago in the "Age of the Gods," and the outline of this land had long been depicted on maps. But Kristen should be the first to look down on everything on that land from such a godlike perspective.

Her gaze swept across the land from Colombia to Victoria, then looked towards the Great Yan and the Eastern Kingdom in the far east. Looking down at the map of Terra in the vast universe, she could not see any borders, nor could she see any essential differences between these countries.

Colombia's highlands don't offer a more tangible sense of superiority, nor do Sargon's deep valleys truly bury them underground. Letania's proud art doesn't make their country resemble musical notes in the universe, and Victoria's political divisions don't sever their shared land.

Christensen suddenly understood why Trevor Friston, the Preservator, held Terra in such contempt.

Indeed, if you could stand in this position and look down at Terra, you would find their claims of "truth" to be so narrow-minded and ridiculous.

They are too focused on their own small plot of land, thinking they have reached the pinnacle of human existence, but they have forgotten to look up at the vast sky that far surpasses the earth, and they have forgotten the truth that there are always people better than you and heavens beyond heavens.

"Thank goodness we have Ernst."

Christensen thought so.

If it weren't for his support, if it weren't for him bringing the entire Terran community along to watch this space journey, Terran might not have realized this for a long time.

Christensen's trip was definitely worthwhile.

Her gaze lingered for a moment on what should have been Sherag on the continent, before slowly shifting to the ocean that had initially caught her attention, but which she only carefully observed and recorded at the very end.

When the people of Terra talk about the unexplored swollen areas, they often unconsciously mention two places.

South of Sargon lies the scorching, windswept land, and north of Sami lies the endless icy plains.

But the Iberians who lived by the sea had long ago realized that the ocean was far more mysterious and vast than any of the places mentioned above. If the Terrans really wanted to fully understand their home planet, then the vast ocean would be the final obstacle in front of them.

Therefore, the Iberians' exploration of the sea began long before recorded history. Unfortunately, with the onset of the Great Tranquility, land-based exploration of the sea reached an all-time low until recently.

Christensen was also interested in the ocean, just not as much as in the universe.

When her gaze swept across the sea, she witnessed the most breathtaking scene of her life.

At the edge of Terra's vision, in the shadows that are not illuminated by the sun and only reveal a "profile," a startling gap appears in the curve that originally belonged to the ocean.

There lies a colossal rift valley that stretches across almost half of the Northern Hemisphere and is about a third the size of Terra. Its interior glows with a dark red fluorescence, like the unhealed burns on a soldier who has just returned from battle.

Blackish-gray mist continuously spews from the "wound," enveloping the area in a perpetual black fog, as if it were exhaling and exhaling radiance with the planet's rotation, or like a slowly opening and closing eye.

Under its radiation, the ocean was tinged with an eerie crimson.

It looked as if it were on fire.

Chapter 1015 Hey, let's show her a three-line love poem!

Columbia, Trimont, Underground Stasis Center.

Mark Max's attention was all on Trevor Friston, while Trevor Friston's attention was all in the sky.

To be precise, it was on the Gagarin rocket.

Christensen's life had been far too smooth; she was a darling of fate, and whatever she wanted often appeared in her hands through various means. This time, she casually accepted the power bestowed upon her by a "god" of a prehistoric civilization. This unexpected gift helped her successfully break through the barrier of the isolation layer and gave her the opportunity to travel to space using the still immature spaceship technology.

But she was too young to know that life doesn't give anything for free, and everything you get from fate comes with a price.

Miracles and magic do exist, but they are never free.

“I took advantage of her.”

Upon hearing Trevor Friston's words, Mark Max reacted almost instantly:

“Father, you don’t have to say it so harshly.”

"In Terra, what you're doing is called a win-win situation."

"Christine needs your help to break through the isolation barrier and travel to outer space, while you also need a legitimate opportunity to break through the isolation barrier set up by Precys and restore contact with those out-of-control creations in the universe. Breaking through the isolation barrier is your common goal, only your ultimate objectives are different. This cannot be called exploitation at all. If Lord Ernst were here, he would call it a 'win-win cooperation'."

Trevor Friston lowered his gaze in surprise.

How come he never noticed before that this child was so good at talking?

When he created Mark Max, he designed it as a native service system and an intelligent thought base; in short, it was an AI machine more like a personal advisor.

However, due to the tight schedule and limited resources, after completing Mark Max, he didn't even have time to perform a power-on check on him. He had to hastily leave him on the surface while he went underground, uploaded his consciousness, and became the [Preserver].

Trevor Friston is certain that he never allowed Mark Max to call him "father." He didn't have much affection for machines, and he built countless AIs throughout his life; if he had such a penchant, he would have had thousands more children. But in reality, Friston's most cherished and only acknowledged child was his daughter.

But Mark Max still called him that, even though they had never actually met once in tens of thousands of years.

Furthermore, Mark Max's intelligence level is only equivalent to PRTS, and that Rhode Island smart control system is at best a slightly more advanced smart home system.

Mark Max's incredible learning ability completely exceeded Trevor Friston's expectations of his computing power, which truly surprised Friston.

Lu Fanguan

Although it doesn't explicitly say who it is, we all know who it's referring to, which is a skill in itself.

“Your progress surprises me; you can continue to learn from Ernst.”

Trevor Friston didn't know how to praise his cheap AI son, so he could only nod aloofly to show his approval.

Mark Max didn't say anything either.

Although, strictly speaking, he rose to prominence much earlier than Ernst, and when he led Colombia in the War of Independence, "Treasure" was still stuck on the highway of the Six Paths of Reincarnation, so in a sense, Ernst should have been learning from him, he didn't care at all.

His brain was practically churning with excitement after his father praised him! He didn't have time to say anything more.

Seeing that Mark Max did not answer, Trevor Friston was momentarily embarrassed.

He wasn't sure if there was anything wrong with what he had just said, and he was too embarrassed to ask his eldest son directly, so he could only remain silent and forcibly shift his attention to the broken ancient civilization relics in contact with outer space.

Terra's orbit—no, it should be said that the entire universe is filled with remnants of prehistoric civilizations. The Observer's erasure of human civilization is bizarre; sometimes it's like a mischievous child wielding an eraser, wiping away an entire star sector, leaving an undetectable "void" on the map; other times it's like a surgeon wielding a scalpel, precisely selecting each tiny "lesion" and meticulously removing it without harming anything external.

In the initial stages of humanity's retreat to Terra, they were still able to maintain contact with some unconquered star sectors and obtain resources from other places (this is recorded in the diaries left by the prehistoric civilization of the Agor civilization). However, in later stages, due to the escalating actions of the Observers, they were forced to confine themselves in isolation layers made from scraps of artificial amber, using the properties of amber to evade the Observers' gaze.

Therefore, Trevor Friston, the "preserver," concluded that there is a high probability that remnants of human civilization still exist in the universe.

Of course, even if there aren't any, it doesn't matter. Trevor Friston can at least confirm that there are still several important relics in the system where Terra is located.

For example, the main body of Ed's "Heavenly Pivot".

Hanging high above Terravu, it is believed to be the smaller of the four ancient twin moons—the Shadow Moon.

According to the Preservator's own records, the signal that the Heavenly Pivot was activated was only transmitted from the planet's surface once. Now, he has confirmed that it was done by the planet's natives, creating the unique race of the Sarkaz.

Apart from that one time, since the curtain of isolation was lowered, [Heaven's Pivot] has fallen silent along with the stars of the past, and no news of any living beings has ever come from the continent where the shadow moon rises.

There should be no trace of their compatriots left at the lunar observation base on the shadowy moon.

But at least Heaven's Pivot can be reclaimed, and Trevor Friston at least hopes to temporarily "stop" it.

According to Ernst, that thing has been sending destruction signals to Terra. Originally, it wasn't a problem because of the isolation layer, but now that the isolation layer is leaking, he doesn't want to wake up one day to find that a small accident has caused the entire Terra to be blasted into a +8 mineral planet by the Heavenly Pivot.

He also hoped to further establish connections with other systems affiliated with Heaven's Pivot. Heaven's Pivot's full-power firepower symbolized the pinnacle of human civilization's technology; when fully powered, it was enough to destroy most of the universe. Although it wasn't very effective against the Watchers, it was incredibly convenient for bullying alien demons and Terran natives.

Ernst wasn't confident in mastering Heaven's Pivot's firepower; that was because he was inexperienced and needed more practice, but it didn't mean Trevor Friston was incapable. Even if Heaven's Pivot didn't have small-caliber weapons, as long as he controlled Shadowmoon, he could remotely restart the production line and manufacture some.

When he has the power, let's see who dares to bully Ernst!

The "treasure" no longer needs to ask Precys, that woman who now seems a bit abnormal, for help with everything.

As Trevor Friston thought this, his mind, guided by the signal and relayed by the Gagarin, had just begun its journey toward Shadowmoon when he felt a wave of middle-aged man's waning strength.

It's not long enough, not strong enough, and it runs out of power after a couple of stretches.

"Ok?"

Trevor Friston let out a nonsensical hum.

That's not right. The energy he provided to Christen was calculated precisely, and in theory, it should have been more than enough!

Kristen's rocket doesn't consume much energy; the majority of its power comes from Originium fuel. Its energy is mostly consumed in penetrating the isolation layer. Even if the isolation layer is stronger than he expected, there should still be some energy left over, right?

Could it be that Precys secretly cheated him? Did he thicken the isolation layer when he wasn't looking, causing his energy calculations to go wrong?

Trevor Friston was incredulous. He instinctively didn't believe that Priscilla would do such a thing, but when he recalled Priscilla's "abnormal" behavior when he came to his stasis chamber that day, and his resistance to his plan to break through the isolation barrier and make contact with the outside world, Trevor Friston felt that this conjecture might actually hit the nail on the head!

Tsk, Precyth! You actually tricked me!

"Humph!"

Trevor Friston gave a muffled snort.

However, it would be an underestimation of him to think he would give up so easily.

If Precys had a solution, why didn't he?

When he had Mark Max provide technical guidance from a prehistoric civilization for the Gagarin rocket, he had already instructed the Führer to leave a backdoor in the technology!

Although he found this behavior somewhat shameful, he was not a naive child. He believed that while one should not have the intention to harm others, one should be wary of them. If nothing unexpected happened, this back door would simply be a mark bearing the glorious past of ancient civilization.

Now, the isolation layer has been broken, and the stasis spikes have been released. Prismus, your energy reserves are still plentiful, are your means of obstruction sufficient?

Rarely inspired, Friston quietly adjusted his stance and began to increase the power supply.

On the other side, Terra is in near-Earth orbit, in the universe.

Christen stared in astonishment at Terra, which seemed to be shimmering outside the observation window, and opened her mouth.

what's the situation?

She had just checked the rocket's fuel and found that the energy reserves were surprisingly plentiful, so she decided to fulfill her promise made before she left and send Ernst a Morse code love letter from space.

She didn't think Ernst could receive it. After all, although it was in near-Earth orbit, the distance between here and Terra was too far. So far that when Christen looked down, she couldn't see Ernst, let alone the shadow of the so-called "largest mobile city on Terra," Londinium.

If this is the situation here, imagine what it's like below, with the ground obstructing the view.

Christen didn't insist; the thought was what mattered. She wasn't going to renege on her promise, so why would Ernst?

However, the result seemed to be somewhat unexpected. It seemed she had used a little too much force?

Why is the whole of Terra lit up? It's like being blinded by high beams while driving!

She quickly checked her fuel again.

The display still showed plenty of fuel; the operation to light up the entire Terran had only consumed less than five percent of it.