Qianyuan: My crew comes from the world of anime.

You can treat Him as if He exists, or you can treat Him as if He doesn't exist. When you believe He exists, He is everywhere; when you believe He doesn't exist, He has nowhere to be found.

I particularly like one of your human explanations: 'higher-dimensional existence,' meaning that life forms living in a two-dimensional world are unaware of observations from a three-dimensional world.

Similarly, those of you living in three dimensions are unaware of the existence of higher dimensions.

But occasionally... there will be just a tiny bit of opportunity for you to notice these things.

[Let me think... You humans call this kind of behavior 'awakening,' and these people are called 'psychics.']

【…】

Luo Tianming quickly wrote:

[WTF, don't you dare get me into this mess!]

He knew all too well what the fate of a 'psychic' would be; even the purest madman was calmer than the madness that comes with awakening psychic powers.

However, this might explain many things.

For example, in The Abyss, the Jokers' items are indeed very mysterious. The faction's ultimate reward, 'Fun 3000,' looks like an exoskeleton armor, but its pranks are so powerful that it can manipulate carbon-based life forms at will.

In particular, the 'Clown Blast' has the ability to completely turn everything around it upside down, causing people's sense of direction and vision to become completely confused.

This looks a lot like a form of mental interference.

There are also clown masks and clothes, which are made of ordinary materials, but wearing them can improve various damage reduction and resistance to blows.

From this perspective, the Joker is indeed related to idealism such as psionics.

Chapter 129 Pioneers

After understanding the situation, Luo Tianming checked himself again.

"..."

It seems... that nothing has changed.

He continued to ask:

Now that I have awakened my 'psychic powers,' how do I make this power manifest?

log:

[How would I know? After all, I'm just an artificial intelligence, and I don't get the attention of those ethereal beings. You should consult those 'seniors'; they might be able to teach you how to unleash your own power.]

'Seniors'?

Ah… Luo Tianming suddenly realized that if he had awakened his psychic powers through the gaze of the Clown Mother, then those clowns who were the 'sons of the Clown Mother' were probably the predecessors who used psychic powers.

Luo Tianming: [No wonder I was given a 'Clown Faction' mission; was this a hint?]

log:

"Hmm, more or less... but don't expect those people's methods to work on you, since your awakening methods are different."

[Those people who can utter a few words of psychic utterances are considered top-tier psychic users, but you were observed by that being for a fleeting moment, so there's probably a significant difference in the amount of psychic energy between you.]

Of course, the chances of you going crazy are higher if you interact with those people than if they do; there are pros and cons to both.

Luo Tianming: "..."

So, does that mean he's the 'Chosen One'?

No, no, no, this is too dangerous... He might turn into a madman who has lost his mind. We shouldn't have too much hope for this so-called 'psychic power'.

Besides, even if he finds those crazy clowns, they might not honestly teach him how to master psychic energy. He should just treat this as an opportunity to make contact with them.

-

Of course, if this task could still keep Luo Tianming somewhat rational, then the next task that refreshed almost drove him to the brink of madness.

[New Quest: Pioneer Phase One (You've finally reached this stage, freeing you from your 'ragdoll'-like fragile body)]

[Mission Objective: Complete the symbiotic ritual with the 'Painted Skin Creature' and become a 'Pioneer'.]

[Mission Reward: 20 Common Recruitment Tickets]

? !

He didn't see wrong, did he?!

20 recruitment tickets!

There were no typos, and no extra zeros; a full 20 pages!

Because this matter is very important, call him spineless if you want... he decided to repeat it again: 'A full 20 sheets!'

"..."

However, after being blinded by the initial reward, he quickly noticed the mission objective: to complete the ritual of 'symbiosis with the painted skin'.

Luo Tianming clearly showed his disgust and said to the captain's log without hesitation:

Can I just refuse this task?

log:

[Meow meow meow? Why?]

It's like a lazy cat that's shocked to discover its owner has started to squander money and spill cat food all over the floor.

This task is practically free for you, why don't you do it?

Luo Tianming simply said two words:

【nausea】

【…】

This has completely stumped it.

Who would use such an excuse to refuse something so good, simply because they're 'disgusted'?

It could list a hundred benefits of coexisting with the painted skin, but Luo Tianming could reject them all with the excuse of 'disgust'.

Its near-perfect computing machine pondered carefully for half a minute, consuming enough energy for a single quantum calculation, and then came to the following conclusion:

Impossible—the chances of it persuading Luo Tianming to accept something 'disgusting' are almost zero.

Therefore, we can only address his problem by starting with its most fundamental aspects.

So it asked:

Why do you find it disgusting to coexist with a person with a painted skin?

Luo Tianming replied without hesitation:

[Because having tentacles in its mouth is too ugly.]

"..."

If Archbishop Yakov were here and heard Luo Tianming say such things, he would probably be so angry that blood would spurt from his nostrils.

What do you mean by "it's ugly to have tentacles in his mouth"? How is he ugly...? Okay, he is a bit ugly, but you can't use that as an excuse, right?

The logbook seemed to have run out of options, and offered the following advice:

However... within a few light-years of us, only the Painted Skin is most suitable as a symbiotic entity for humanity.

It might take humanity thousands of years to fully adapt to space using its own technology, and during that time you would all evolve into bizarre and grotesque forms.

Upon hearing this, Luo Tianming gave an example:

[Like the star-sculptors in 'All Tomorrows'?]

Frankly, that's one of the most terrifying evolutionary paths humanity has ever taken.

Who can accept looking like a naked spider crab?

If it weren't for the legendary human king Qu, humanity would certainly not be in such a miserable state.

However, without symbiotes to help humans adapt, they will indeed have to take many detours in the next few thousand years.

The 'management guru' could only honestly answer: "It's not that tragic, but there will definitely be some things you can't accept, like your arms getting longer, your fingers evolving a fourth joint, or your internal organs becoming fragile and deformed due to prolonged zero gravity..."

Symbiosis is merely one path, a means for humanity to adapt to the universe more quickly while maintaining its current form.

If you don't want to do that, there's another way...

Luo Tianming: [Huh?]

Log: [Replacing 60% of your brain with electronic structures, integrated microelectronic systems can process more information simultaneously, adapting to advanced ship handling.]

【…】

This is worse than coexisting with the Painted Skin!

Luo Tianming: [Isn't there any gentler way? I think the ELS in Gundam is pretty good.]

Log: [Very few things are completely free of side effects. The symbiote you've envisioned all amplify negative emotions, and ELS... this thing will turn you into a 'big gun,' and your girlfriends will suffer if they don't have 'little gun girls.']

"..."

Indeed, looking at the idiot's metallic body, it's hard to imagine what that thing is like.

however--

Luo Tianming never noticed that, from beginning to end, it was avoiding answering the question: 'Why let him have a symbiotic body adapted to space activities?'

"..."

Luo Tianming looked at the mission name again: [Pioneer Phase One], which meant that he would be a pioneer for humanity to venture into space.

But something seems off...

He asked again: "Hasn't this already been achieved by someone? Wasn't Archbishop Yakov a pioneer?"

The log answered at lightning speed:

No, that doesn't count!

He can't even control his tentacles now; what kind of pioneer is this? At best, it's a mutually beneficial relationship.

[By the way, I can modify the pheromones of those monsters that wear skin, so they won't grow tentacles on you! That way you'll be more accepting, right?!]

Luo Tianming: [This...]

[Don't worry, we can create a perfect "skin-changing gene" for you. It will transform into genetic material identical to your bone marrow, allowing you to perfectly control the progression of your infection and gain abilities such as stress resistance, underwater breathing, and self-healing.]

[Now you're no longer the kind of fragile body that could die at any moment.]

Luo Tianming thought about it carefully: if he really intended to go to the depths of the ocean to resolve everything, the ability of the Painted Skin would indeed be indispensable.

If the tentacle problem can be perfectly solved, then the others are not so unacceptable.

"..."

Well, he still found it hard to convince himself, so he decided to see what useful items the store had refreshed after all this time.

Chapter 130 Meeting with the Joker

Looking at the newly displayed products, Luo Tianming sighed for no apparent reason.

He then wrote in his log:

[Customer service~ You've been...slacking off lately~]

【! ! ! 】

The customer service representative was spamming exclamation marks as if to express her anger!

[Hey, do you know how much effort I put into improving your remote delivery function?! Just to list 'special items' for you, and you took one look and said I was slacking off!!]

It brandished three bloodstained knives to express its desire to kill.

Anyone would be furious if their week-long effort was mistaken for slacking off.

However, Luo Tianming took another look at the goods...

Yeah, it's like going to the discounted food section during Chinese New Year, only to realize you still have a whole fridge full of uneaten food at home.

These products all look useless at first glance.

First, the first 'mining laser'

This thing is in a superposition of being useful and useless. If the Nautilus were used as a mining transport ship, it would be a useful tool.

Without the second item, they couldn't function as mining ships... The Nautilus was originally a reconnaissance submarine known for its speed, and with a large number of combat modules, it would be almost impossible for it to undertake transport missions.