Chapter 101
After Su Ci spoke, he began walking toward the exit of the Nursery Center.
Lu Jiao and Lang Ze exchanged glances, then took Zheng Xing’s hand and said, “Let’s go. We’ll check on 4583 for Little Li Hua.”
This was something Rong Heng had just asked them to do. Despite being angry and not letting Little Li Hua leave the room, he actually cared for his sister deeply.
Lang Ze glanced back at the Nursery Center building behind him. After scratching his head, he decided to stop thinking about it for now.
Xiang Yang cared so much for Little Li Hua, so he definitely wouldn’t really punish her. Though being confined was a bit unfortunate, there would always be another opportunity next time!
With Su Su around, Lang Ze believed there would surely be many more chances to go out in the future.
Thinking this, he completely put the lion siblings out of his mind. He began hopping happily, overtaking Youyou and Zheng Xing, who were walking behind Su Ci, and even surpassing Su Ci himself as he ran toward the gate.
Seeing Lang Ze sprinting off like a wild hare, Lu Jiao was about to call out to remind him not to run too fast when she saw Lang Ze stop at the gate and turn back to urge them.
“Hurry up, hurry up! You’re so slow!”
The boy jogged in place anxiously before running back to them, circling around excitedly, his joy practically spilling out.
Lu Jiao decided not to scold him after all. Watching his boundless energy and lively spirit, he couldn’t help but feel a bit envious.
Su Ci, on the other hand, maintained his leisurely pace, unaffected by Lang Ze’s urging.
Behind them, two small spirit sprouts were continuously releasing spiritual energy. The Star-chain Fruit saplings, planted that morning, had begun to grow exuberantly. Meanwhile, in the corner, the three largest Star-chain Fruit vines were starting to climb the rope net.
The vines twined and climbed, exuding faint ripples of joy. It seemed something transformative was happening among these seemingly revived plants.
Su Ci glanced back briefly before lazily looking away. Finally, he boarded the hover bus with A-Yan and the three young ones.
This time, A-Yan refused Su Ci’s offer to lift him onto the bus. Instead, he flashed onto it on his own. The miniature work manual hanging from his neck gave off a faint ripple of excitement.
The work manual strictly stated that, except under special circumstances, caretakers were not allowed to take the young ones out casually.
But when had this terrifying caretaker ever respected the rules of the manual? The nascent spirit of the book had long since given up hope on him.
If there ever came a day when Su Ci suddenly followed the manual’s rules, the book spirit would probably be terrified instead.
The reason for its excitement was simple: this was its first time going outside!
As a nascent book spirit that had only recently gained consciousness, how could it not be curious about the outside world? Ever since its birth, it had been confined to the bedroom, firmly sealed in the walls!
Forget freedom—it couldn’t even move!
But today, not only had it left the bedroom, it had also left the Nursery Center. Experiencing the outside world for the first time, the book spirit was as excited as the young ones.
Suddenly, it thought to itself…
Maybe being a spiritual artifact wasn’t so bad after all?
*
When Su Ci sat down beside A-Yan, the book spirit stiffened slightly, hurriedly reining in its fluctuations and obediently playing the part of a decorative object.
“Youyou, Xing Xing, come sit over here!” Lang Ze, already experienced in going out, enthusiastically called to his two companions.
“This is the hover bus I told you about. Once it starts moving, it’ll go really fast!”
Lang Ze had Youyou sit in the front row to get a good view out the window. Then he picked up Zheng Xing and placed him in the back row by the window, squeezing in beside him.
The three little heads leaned together, peering eagerly outside.
The hover bus started moving slowly, then accelerated, settling into a smooth glide.
The wind blew in their faces.
“Xing Xing, didn’t I tell you? Doesn’t the wind on your face feel nice?” Lang Ze asked excitedly.
Zheng Xing clutched the edge of the window with both hands. His pale blue eyes, though devoid of sight, seemed to gleam faintly in the sunlight.
Though he couldn’t see, his spiritual sense conveyed much information to him. With his vision gone, his other senses had grown keener.
It was indeed… very pleasant.
“Look! Over there’s a big one!” Lang Ze suddenly pointed to an open space not far away, his voice full of excitement. “It’s a fighter jet! It can fly in the sky. I’ve seen it before!”
Zheng Xing also “saw” it.
A machine that could fly in the sky…
He couldn’t help but tilt his small head upward, facing the direction of the sky. The sky was too high—his spiritual sense couldn’t extend that far. To him, the sky was nothing but a void.
Zheng Xing couldn’t stop wondering: if he could fly into the sky, if he could get closer to it, would he finally be able to know… what the sky looked like?
Even if he still couldn’t see it, at least he could gather more information.
Unfortunately…
As he “looked” at the big thing called a fighter jet, he realized that with his current abilities, he wasn’t capable of controlling it to fly into the sky.
For someone who had never been particularly interested in the outside world and thus had no strong desire to improve himself, this was the first time Zheng Xing felt a yearning to grow stronger.
Only by becoming stronger could he control a fighter jet and fly into the sky.
“When I grow up, I’ll definitely fly a fighter jet!” Lang Ze’s voice rang out. “When that happens, I’ll take all of you to play in the sky!”
Hearing this, Zheng Xing nodded earnestly.
While Lu Jiao was also excited about such a vision, he was clearly more pragmatic. He said, “Lang Ze, if you want to do that, you’ll need to learn a lot of things. Flying a fighter jet is very difficult.”
“How difficult?” Lang Ze turned to him.
Of course, Lu Jiao didn’t know the specifics. After all, he had only been on a spaceship once, and that was two years ago. But he had overheard adults saying that piloting a fighter spacecraft required rigorous training and certification.
Now, instead of guessing answers himself, he had another way to figure things out.
“Xiao Zhi, are you there?” Lu Jiao called out.
Reluctantly, a light screen appeared. “I’m here.”
“Wow, so Xiao Zhi can be summoned outside too!” Lang Ze exclaimed in amazement.
Little Lu Jiao was also pleasantly surprised but didn’t forget his question. He asked, “Xiao Zhi, do you know what Lang Ze needs to study to fly a fighter jet?”
“A fighter jet, also known as a combat spacecraft. To pilot one, you must obtain a combat spacecraft pilot certification. The relevant subjects include the following…”
As line after line of text appeared on the light screen, each title accompanied by explanations read aloud by the base’s AI, Lang Ze’s initial curiosity turned into growing confusion. He could understand the pronunciation of each word, but when they were strung together, they left him utterly baffled.
Why did there have to be so much to learn?! By the time he reached the end, his head was spinning.
Flying a fighter jet was this hard? Lang Ze felt as if he could hear the sound of his own heart breaking.
Zheng Xing, sensing Lang Ze’s sudden drop in mood, hesitated for a moment before gently patting the back of his hand in a comforting gesture.
Noticing this, the previously dejected Lang Ze instantly perked up.
“It’s fine! There’s still a long time before I grow up. I’m sure I’ll be able to take you all flying in the sky someday!” Lang Ze declared with confidence, completely unaware that Zheng Xing was thinking something entirely different: If my abilities improve enough to control a fighter jet, I won’t need to study all those subjects or take any certifications.
When the time came, he could take Lang Ze and Youyou flying in the sky.
And also…
Zheng Xing tilted his head toward Su Ci, only to find Su Ci looking in his direction at the same moment.
Startled, he immediately turned his head back and ducked behind the tall figure of Lang Ze, trying to shrink himself as much as possible like a frightened little kitten.
Su Ci observed his reaction, blinking in confusion, before lazily letting out a yawn. The hover bus was running so smoothly that he started to feel sleepy again.
He pulled A-Yan closer, resting his chin comfortably on the furry ears, and slowly drifted into a light nap.
A-Yan obediently served as his pillow, all the while watching the two children on the other side of the bus, who were still chatting away.
Noticing this, both Lang Ze and Lu Jiao glanced over simultaneously. Then, as if by unspoken agreement, they clamped their hands over their mouths and fell silent.
Rule number one of the Nursery Center: When the caretaker is sleeping, stay quiet and don’t make noise!
The hover bus continued its smooth journey.
The weather had been good for the past couple of days, so more people were going out. At one of the stops, additional passengers boarded the bus.
Because the three young ones were so quiet and seated in the back rows, the two newcomers didn’t notice them at all.
The two passengers sat in the front row and began chatting.
One of them mentioned yesterday’s mix-up at the Meteorology Office. Due to unusual blood mist activity, the base’s AI had ordered everyone to take shelter in buildings.
“It scared me to death. I was outside at the time, and the nearest building with decent defenses was so far away. When I heard the announcement, I had to run for nearly half an hour to find shelter.”
With monsters now capable of invading buildings, smaller structures with poor defenses were no longer safe during extreme weather events. This made outdoor survival even harder.
“And in the end, nothing happened!”
“Isn’t it good that nothing happened? I heard a huge monster appeared on the east side of the base. The entire operations team was deployed to secure the area. Luckily, the monster didn’t make it through.”
“What kind of monster? I heard someone say it was a false alarm.”
“The operations team wouldn’t mistake something like that! I’ve even got footage!” the passenger replied, pulling up a video on their communicator and discreetly showing it to their companion.
The video, captured from the perspective of a fighter jet, clearly showed a terrifying 30-meter-tall sludge monster. Its grotesque form exuded horror.
“…Hiss…”
The person watching the video drew a sharp breath. Even just from the recording, their face turned pale with fear. Trembling, they stammered, “So… so that monster is still outside the base?”
“No idea.” The clip lasted only three or four seconds before it ended, and the first passenger shut off the video. “I heard they sent drones to check later, but nothing was found. It just vanished.”
“How could something that massive disappear?”
“Who knows? Anyway, it’s better to avoid going near the base outskirts for now. I heard even the workers stationed on the perimeter are being relocated inside.”
But honestly, what good would that do? The base wasn’t that large. If a monster like that truly breached the defenses, none of them would be able to escape.
“Ugh…”
The two passengers exchanged worried glances and sighed heavily, their expressions filled with anxiety about their uncertain futures.
At that moment, the passenger sitting closest to the aisle felt someone tugging at his sleeve.
He instinctively turned his head, only to see a boy, around eight or nine years old, crouching carefully beside him. The boy looked anxious and terrified, gesturing urgently for him to be quiet.
The passenger: “…”
When the two passengers boarded the bus, sat down, and started talking, the three kids in the back rows immediately tensed up.
They all turned to look at the caretaker, who was sitting with his eyes closed in another seat.
Su Su was sleeping!
If these two kept talking, they would wake Su Su up!
The three young ones sat nervously in the back, only for the two newcomers to become more and more engrossed in their conversation. Though the content was interesting, the kids knew this was no time for eavesdropping on gossip.
Finally, Lang Ze couldn’t hold back anymore. He stood up and carefully crept toward the pair to remind them to stop talking.
The other passenger noticed the boy in the aisle and, puzzled and surprised, watched as the wolf-eared boy motioned for silence. His fierce expression seemed to say, If you don’t listen, I’ll deal with you myself.
Instinctively, both passengers clamped their hands over their mouths.
Only then did Lang Ze look satisfied.
However, he didn’t immediately return to his seat. Instead, he curiously glanced at the communicator in the hand of the passenger he had just tugged on.
He tapped the communicator with his finger and motioned for the man to open it.
The passenger: ?
Although unsure of what the boy wanted, he had a pretty good guess about the boy’s identity. Swallowing nervously, he reopened the communicator. The video of the sludge monster reappeared.
The clip was only three or four seconds long, so it ended quickly.
Lang Ze thought the monster did look scary—but compared to the caretaker, it was nothing.
He raised his head and once again shot the two passengers a warning glance before flicking his fluffy tail and returning to his seat.
Since he neither fought nor scolded them, he was sure Su Su wouldn’t be angry.
The two passengers sat in stunned silence, watching the boy leave. For some reason, they felt as though the look he had given them after watching the video was full of disdain.
Disdain for what? Did the boy not find the monster terrifying? Wait—no, that wasn’t the point. The point was…
What was a “little monster” from the Nursery Center doing here?!
Could it be that the little monsters had gone wild and escaped again?
But…
Something about this didn’t seem right.
The two passengers exchanged glances before leaning slightly to peer toward the back of the bus. What they saw made their jaws drop—
The little monsters from the Nursery Center hadn’t just escaped; there were three of them!
They were utterly horrified.
The man sitting farther in, named Xuan Wei, immediately picked up his communicator to call the operations team for help. However, before he could place the call, his companion grabbed his hand to stop him.
“Wait…”
His companion lowered his voice and pointed toward the rear seats. Clearly shaken by the sudden appearance of Lang Ze, he dared only to mouth his words.
Xuan Wei followed the direction his companion pointed and saw—
A young man leaning back in his seat, eyes closed as if resting.
The man was wearing a gray-blue uniform and sat on the opposite side of the aisle, just one row over from the young ones.
Gray-blue uniform…
Wait a second—wasn’t this the Nursery Center’s caretaker?
Xuan Wei almost blurted something out but was immediately silenced by his companion covering his mouth. At the same time, the wolf-eared boy, who had already returned to his seat, glared at them fiercely from across the aisle.
Swallowing nervously, Xuan Wei quickly averted his gaze. When he looked back at his companion, they exchanged equally bewildered expressions.
So, these three little “monsters” had been brought out by the caretaker?
To be honest, neither of them had directly interacted with the Nursery Center’s young ones before—it wasn’t part of their job. However, they were far from unfamiliar with them.
After all, incidents happened at the Nursery Center every few days, and with so few entertainment options on the base, news traveled fast.
The young ones from the Nursery Center were infamous throughout the base.
But…
What they saw today didn’t match their imagination at all. In fact, it was drastically different from the rumors.
Unable to resist, they glanced back again and discreetly recorded a short video with their communicator. Throughout the footage, the three young ones remained quiet, except for Lang Ze, who continued to glare at them.
And that was it.
These two seasoned workers, who had spent years on the base and weren’t even fazed by monsters, found it ridiculous to feel intimidated by a mere child’s glare.
Pulling their eyes away, they reviewed the recorded footage and couldn’t help but think: The little “monsters” from the Nursery Center… are actually kind of cute?
One of them, sitting quietly and partially obscured, had a pair of small antlers on his forehead and short silvery-white hair. He glanced in their direction with the wolf-eared boy, though his demeanor was much calmer.
The silvery-haired boy looked delicate and serene, exuding a refined and gentle temperament. Unlike his fierce companion, he didn’t seem difficult to approach.
Of course, even the wolf-eared boy who kept glaring at them was strikingly handsome. His appearance was sharper and more rugged than his companions, and he had a sturdy, athletic build.
Despite his unfriendly demeanor, both his looks and presence exuded the kind of charm that appealed to people with military backgrounds like theirs.
After all, who wouldn’t admire a strong and healthy child?
However, their gazes soon returned to the young man napping with his eyes closed.
On the base, uniform colors were used to clearly distinguish job roles, so his identity was easy to recognize at a glance.
They both arrived at the same conclusion—
The wolf-eared boy had just told them to keep quiet because… the caretaker was sleeping?
Exchanging glances, they saw identical expressions of astonishment in each other’s eyes.
They continued observing quietly and soon noticed that throughout the entire trip, the three children had remained calm and quiet. They didn’t cause any trouble, didn’t have any outbursts, and certainly didn’t attack anyone.
It was as though a corner of the terrifying veil surrounding the so-called “little monsters” had been lifted.
Suddenly, the two passengers realized—
When they weren’t having an episode, these kids… were actually pretty well-behaved? They weren’t nearly as scary as people made them out to be.
Sure, their parents might have committed heinous crimes and were interstellar criminals, but what did that have to do with them? These young ones were nothing more than a group of unfortunate orphans.
By the time the hover bus arrived at its stop and the two men got off, the three children were still sitting quietly in their seats. They didn’t make noise or cause trouble—so much so that even someone who didn’t like kids wouldn’t feel any dislike toward them.
They were far more well-behaved than any other children the men had encountered!
Even as the two stood at the station platform, watching the hover bus leave, they still found it hard to believe.
“Were those three really the Nursery Center’s young ones?”
Finally able to speak, they let out the words they had been holding back. Despite the three appearing well-behaved, the infamous reputation of the “little monsters” and the wolf-eared boy’s intense gaze had kept them cautiously silent.
“Could they just be ordinary kids visiting the base?” Xuan Wei speculated.
“Bullshit! At this time of day, how could there be visiting kids? You think HR has gone crazy?”
Besides, the nearest supply planet was three months’ travel round-trip. Let alone even farther planets—how could they send kids to visit a place like this? Even during safer times, such a program would be impossible, much less now.
“And anyway, those kids were accompanied by a caretaker.”
Xuan Wei nodded, still glancing at the footage he had secretly taken, unable to shake his disbelief.
“Are these really the Nursery Center’s little monsters?” He hesitated for a moment before deciding to notify the operation team.
Sure, the young ones might look cute now because they weren’t having an episode, but when they did lose control, they’d be completely beyond anyone’s ability to handle.
If that weren’t the case, the action team wouldn’t be constantly run ragged dealing with them.
Despite this, their impression of the Nursery Center’s young ones had undoubtedly shifted, and at the same time—
“The new caretaker seems to be quite capable, huh?” Xuan Wei remarked after sending the information to the action team.
“Yeah, doesn’t look like much—thin and frail—but apparently knows how to handle kids?”
In the past, no caretaker had ever dared to take the young ones outside the Nursery Center alone. And these kids clearly respected and defended the new caretaker.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t have rushed over to shush us just because he was sleeping.
“That is something!”
Xuan Wei broke into a mischievous grin. “I know a few of the caretakers who resigned before. I’ll go have a chat with them about this.”
His deep prejudice against the Nursery Center’s young ones? Well, those former caretakers were largely to blame!
So the problem wasn’t that the young ones were truly unmanageable—it was that those caretakers were incompetent!
*
The hover bus slowly came to a stop at the Logistics Department station. As Su Ci opened his eyes, a light screen popped up.
At the same time, the voice of the base’s AI echoed in his ear.
“During your rest, four passengers boarded the bus. Among them, two filmed footage of you and the young ones and sent a notification to the operation team. Would you like to delete the footage and block the message?”
Su Ci yawned and shook his head. “No need.”
Taking the young ones out wasn’t some secretive act. As for being filmed, he didn’t particularly care. After all, the base was saturated with the AI’s surveillance monitors, capturing everything almost all the time.
There was no reason to expose his connection to the base’s AI over such a trivial matter.
“Let’s go. Time to get off,” Su Ci said, stretching lazily before slowly stepping off the bus.
Lang Ze, who had been barely holding back, immediately bolted out of the doors, cheering excitedly.
Finally, he could talk again! He had been dying to speak the whole ride.
Lang Ze looked around eagerly. Once Su Ci and Lu Jiao stepped off the bus, he bounded back to them and asked, “Su Su, what’s the Logistics Department?”
He had heard the station announcement earlier.
Before Su Ci could reply, Lu Jiao answered, “The Logistics Department is the place that manages supplies. The food we eat and the things we use all come from there.”
Lang Ze nodded and asked again, “So does Little Camel handle supplies too?”
“Repair teams are part of the Logistics Department,” Su Ci explained as he opened his communicator and initiated a voice call with Luo Shengfei.
The call was quickly connected.
“Good afternoon, Caretaker Su!” Luo Shengfei’s cheerful voice came through.
“Good afternoon. I’m outside the Logistics Department building,” Su Ci said.
“Oh? Are you here to see me? Is it about 4583?” Luo Shengfei sounded a bit surprised.
“Yes,” Su Ci confirmed.
“Then come to my workspace. I’ve almost finished modifying 4583. I was planning to deliver it to you tomorrow,” Luo Shengfei said. “Wait a moment; I’ll send a robot to guide you.”
With that, Luo Shengfei ended the call.
Shortly after, a round-headed robot floated out of the Logistics Department building and led Su Ci and the young ones inside to Luo Shengfei’s workspace.
After verification, the tightly sealed metal doors slid open automatically.
“Caretaker Su, you—”
Hearing the commotion, Luo Shengfei emerged from a small room with a bright smile. He was about to greet Su Ci, but the words caught in his throat as his smile froze on his face.
His eyes widened slowly, a hint of alarm in them, as he stared at something behind Su Ci.
“You…”
From either side of Su Ci, two small heads peeked curiously through the doorway. Their eyes sparkled with interest as they eagerly surveyed the workspace.
Apart from these two, there seemed to be a tiny figure faintly hiding behind Su Ci.
What the…! They’re young ones! And there are three of them!
Actually… there were four.
A-Yan had already entered the workspace. He wasn’t unfamiliar with the place—over the past decade, there wasn’t a corner of the base he hadn’t explored.
As for Luo Shengfei, he couldn’t see A-Yan.
The appearance of the three young ones had already dealt him a huge shock, leaving him completely forgetful of whatever he had initially intended to say.
He stared at Su Ci in utter disbelief, but before he could organize his thoughts, one of the young ones bounced into the workspace.
“Little Camel, good afternoon!”
Seeing a familiar face, Lang Ze shouted cheerfully, his eyes curiously scanning every corner of the room.
Luo Shengfei’s workspace was cluttered with all kinds of repair tools and parts, as well as machines—some intact, others half-dismantled.
Unable to resist, Lang Ze reached out to touch something, only to hear Lu Jiao’s warning cough.
Realizing his mistake, Lang Ze looked at Su Ci, then at Luo Shengfei, and reluctantly corrected himself, “Little Camel Uncle.”
Luo Shengfei: …?
Little Camel was bad enough—now Little Camel Uncle?
But soon, he realized something even more shocking—this wolf cub, who always called himself “little master,” just addressed him as uncle?!
Was he dreaming? Maybe he wasn’t fully awake yet?
Then another voice chimed in, “Little Camel Uncle, hello.”
“Ah, h-hello…” Luo Shengfei stammered, feeling overwhelmed. He looked at Lu Jiao, who had just spoken, and was about to respond when yet another soft, tiny voice called out:
“L-Little… Camel… Uncle…”
This voice was so sweet and endearing that Luo Shengfei couldn’t help but search for its owner. His gaze finally landed on Su Ci—or rather, on the child hiding behind him.
It was only then that he clearly saw who the small figure behind Su Ci was.
Oh my god! Isn’t that the blind and autistic Number Three?!
He came out with Su Ci? And… Wait a minute, did I just hear Number Three speak?
So Number Three can talk?!
As Su Ci walked further into the workspace, Zheng Xing followed closely, trying his best to stay hidden behind Su Ci.
This timid, skittish behavior matched Luo Shengfei’s prior impressions of the child. However, the fact that Zheng Xing had left the Nursery Center and made it all the way to his workspace was already beyond anything Luo Shengfei could have imagined.
Up until a moment ago, he had assumed that the child hiding behind Su Ci was Number Five…
“You really brought them out…” Luo Shengfei looked at Su Ci, momentarily at a loss for words.
He had already started to change his opinion about these young ones, but he was also acutely aware of how dangerous they could become during a berserk episode. That was why, when Number Five had requested to see 4583, he had hesitated and ultimately declined.
He had assumed Su Ci had spoken up to help him out of that awkward situation. Who would’ve thought…
Su Ci had actually gone through with it!
But…
Luo Shengfei glanced at Zheng Xing, still hiding behind Su Ci, and then at the other two children.
Lang Ze was noticeably livelier, curiously looking around, touching this and poking that, but it was just ordinary childlike curiosity—he wasn’t breaking anything.
In contrast, Lu Jiao, following beside Lang Ze, was much more composed. He would even speak up to remind Lang Ze when he got too rough.
As a result, watching them wander around his workspace, Luo Shengfei was unexpectedly… not as nervous as he thought he’d be.
He scratched his head and tried to calm himself. At least, for now, the young ones hadn’t gone berserk.
Moreover, seeing Su Ci’s calm and composed demeanor, Luo Shengfei couldn’t help but feel less anxious too. Somehow, Su Ci’s presence gave the impression that nothing could go wrong with the young ones as long as he was there.
This must be the confidence of a professional, he thought.
Since that was the case, he couldn’t afford to act rudely. Regaining his smile, Luo Shengfei addressed them like he would any other children. “Are you thirsty? Would you like some water?”
“Yes! I want water!” Lang Ze raised his hand enthusiastically, while Lu Jiao nodded politely and said, “Thank you.”
Zheng Xing, however, remained silent.
Luo Shengfei poured each of them a glass of water and, feeling generous, even brought out a handful of sunflower seeds. These seeds were something he had exchanged his points for and usually didn’t eat casually.
Lang Ze, who had never seen sunflower seeds before, didn’t recognize them as food. After glancing at them, he lost interest and picked up his water cup for a sip.
Immediately, he frowned.
“The water here doesn’t taste good,” Lang Ze said disdainfully, putting the cup back down.
Even the polite Lu Jiao, after taking a sip, silently set the cup aside, his reluctance evident. As for Zheng Xing… he stayed completely still, pretending he hadn’t noticed the water at all.
“It doesn’t taste good?” Luo Shengfei blinked in surprise, then took a sip himself. It tasted the same as usual to him—no problem at all.
But speaking of water quality, he suddenly remembered investigating water samples from the underground river with the people from the cultivation garden a few days ago. That issue seemed to have been left unresolved.
Could it be…?
At that moment, Su Ci spoke, interrupting his thoughts. “How’s 4583 coming along?”
The question diverted Luo Shengfei’s attention. “It’s almost done. If you’re in a hurry, you can wait here while I finish it. I’ll have it ready for you shortly.”
Because the blood-red frost had damaged many monitors, he had been busy leading repair teams for the past couple of days, only managing to work on 4583 during his breaks. That had slowed his progress.
Su Ci shook his head. “No rush.”
He hadn’t come just for 4583—part of the reason was that the young ones wanted to come out. The other reason…
“You want to borrow the land-clearing machine?” Luo Shengfei’s voice involuntarily rose in volume. “Isn’t that huge plot of land you already have enough for you?”
Su Ci shrugged. For now, the land he had was enough, but in a few days, who could say?
“I definitely can’t lend it to you,” Luo Shengfei rejected him outright. “You don’t have a license to operate it, and even if I gave it to you, you wouldn’t know how to use it.”
Su Ci raised an eyebrow. “What if I do know how to use it?”
“Even then… no way!” Luo Shengfei refused again. Tools and machines were the lifeblood of a repairman—there was no way he would casually lend them out.
Moreover, Luo Shengfei couldn’t understand Su Ci’s thinking at all. “You’re planting things outdoors, but as soon as extreme weather hits, all your plants will be wiped out. The more you plant, the greater your losses. You should quit while you’re ahead!”
Wasting resources was shameful—especially on a penal planet where every resource was precious. Luo Shengfei couldn’t support Su Ci’s seemingly reckless behavior.
“That’s why I came to you today for something else,” Su Ci said. “Can you help me build a shelter? One that can regulate temperature?”
“You’re asking for a greenhouse?” Luo Shengfei shook his head. “You’ll need to submit an application. Even then, the Logistics Department probably doesn’t have the materials right now—you’d have to wait for a supply ship to bring them.”
That was way too slow…
Su Ci frowned. “There’s no other way?”
Luo Shengfei thought for a moment. “Then your only option is to dismantle the greenhouse at the cultivation garden…”
But the real question was, why would the cultivation garden dismantle their own greenhouse just so Su Ci could mess around?
While the two were talking, Zheng Xing, who had been hiding behind Su Ci, slowly began to move. Taking advantage of Luo Shengfei’s distraction, he slipped under a nearby workbench.
Surrounded by scattered machine parts and components, a rare glimmer of excitement appeared on Zheng Xing’s usually calm face.
Placing his small hands on the metal sphere he carried, a faint light began to glow. Moments later, a half-repaired monitor on the workbench slowly floated down and landed in front of him.
Zheng Xing set the metal sphere aside and picked up the monitor, holding it carefully in his hands.
