The Path Toward Heaven

Nobody could discover the beauty and art in this dilapidated Mecha buried in the dirt, save for those involved in a fielding relating to it. The female priest had no need to gain profit from the increased value of the arts, though she was, undoubtedly, a true artist. Looking at the Mecha in the glass container, she said softly, “It would look even more beautiful if it could move; but we don’t know what color it has.”

“White,” said Jing Jiu before he turned to head toward the outside of the storage room.

Feeling surprised, the female priest asked after him, “Are you sure it’s white?”

No sooner had she said this than she realized she showed disrespect toward a god.

Jing Jiu didn’t halt his steps, nor did he feel upset. “I’m sure,” he returned.

When the two of them came to the entrance of the museum and prepared to part, the female priest bowed to bid farewell.

By the time she raised her head, the youth in the blue tracksuit with a hoodie had already crossed the street and merged into the throng.

…

…

Along with the thunderous boom, the Scorching-Sun Battleship took off and broke through the atmosphere, heading toward the space.

The sky was blue in color at first, and turned black after the ship left the atmosphere.

It was the endless, vast and cold universe.

A device for the gravitational field was required for the imitative weight, which was expensive and unnecessary. Most of the battleships in the Federation fleet still employed the traditional and cheap devices.

When the Scorching-Sun Battleship was watched from a distance, it looked like a rotating drill, as if it would drill a hole in the dark universe.

Countless burning fireballs appeared one after the other at the interval of a long distance, then becoming tiny specks.

This space was way too vast, more than anything that could be imagined by the intelligent beings. As such, when they were in the midst of it and observed themselves against such a vastness, they would generate a feeling that they were truly miniscule and insignificant; and a sensation of extreme emptiness and dread would ensue.

For modern humans, the feeling of emptiness might be lessened, but the sensation of dread had strengthened instead.

It was because they were fully aware that there were a great many dark matters on the other side of the seemingly empty space.

The sprays of the Sea of Dark Matter could suddenly appear in the universe and darkened the light in this world while producing those destructive monsters. The human civilization of the previous era had been destroyed by them even though they were exceedingly advanced. How could the humans of this era keep away from such a shadow? They could only do so when they were totally drunk.

The buzzing noise of the crystal engine faded, so did the quivering of the floor. The battleship was traveling at a steady pace. More than three thousand officers and soldiers unfastened their safety belts and started to take a rest or prepare to take their shifts.

The captain of the Scorching-Sun Battleship left the bridge and headed toward the Area A in the deep end of the passageway, his expression grave.

As the military boots stomped on the floor, the loud and crisp sound could be heard clearly, indicating a certain status and authority in the military. A dozen soldiers in light armor saluted him when they saw the captain. The captain came to the outside of a room and remained silent for a moment before he tapped lightly on the door.

The door of the room opened slowly, and an adorable and naïve face was exposed. She was none other than the little girl Hua Xi, who had participated in the selection of female priest.

Seeing the shoulder pad on the captain, Hua Xi’s eyes widened. She recovered her senses after some thought, and invited him into the room hastily.

The captain nodded politely. He was led by Hua Xi into the living room of the suite. He halted before a red-haired girl and bowed after he took off his military hat, saying, “I’m the captain of the Scorching-Sun Battleship. I’m glad that you’ve ridden on our battleship to the Main Planet. I’ll send the map of the trip to the main preacher later. Please let me know if you need anything.”

Zong Lizi was not used to being respected that much by a battleship captain. After being reminded by Jiang Yuxia, she managed to reveal a proper smile, saying, “Thank you.”

The battleship captain, An Shanxiang, didn’t stay long and backed out after nodding to Jiang Yuxia and three main preachers in greeting.

It was the Scorching-Sun Battleship that had attacked the praying hall with the laser beams the other night.

Yet, the new female priest rode in this very battleship to the Main Planet. The arrangement was truly a bit dubious.

“The investigation is not over yet; and the attack that day had nothing to do with the Scorching-Sun Battleship. Moreover, the suspect has already been killed. So there is no need to worry,” Jiang Yuxia said softly after she came up next to Zong Lizi.

The main preacher of Shou’er City had the same opinion. He shot a glance at the deep end of the suite, thinking that that person wouldn’t have agreed to this arrangement if it weren’t safe to do so.

This suite was situated close to the bow of the battleship and was very stable. It wouldn’t swirl so much as the ship turned; and its imitative weight was almost perfect and it felt no different from the ground.

There was a large room at the deep end of the suite with a wall-like glass window in front facing the space.

There were tens of millions of stars in the universe; there was one chair in that room.

It was the same chair that had been placed on the deck of the hotel associated with the University of Stargate.

Jing Jiu was sitting in the chair.

Ran Handong, wearing a military uniform, stood next to him; she looked like a secretary of his.

“The Scorching-Sun Battleship is called back for further investigation on the Main Planet. We’re on it because we are heading to the same destination. There is no need to worry about safety.”

She noticed that Jing Jiu was watching the space outside the window in a highly focused manner.

Jing Jiu suddenly asked, “If the other party tried to destroy this battleship, how many people could survive?”

“There is no way for them to survive…Well, most of them anyway.” Thinking of the method the other party might employ, Ran Handong remained silent for a moment before adding, “The right of authority is in the sky-wheel. But I have to remind you to be careful; you might be discovered otherwise.”

Having said that, she turned and left the room.

Jing Jiu looked at the outside of window quietly, the ring on his finger casting a faint glow. He had obtained the right of military authority.

Even if Ran Handong hadn’t reminded him, he wouldn’t attempt to get into the center of the military network with this right of authority.

That ghost-like opponent must have waited for him there.

What he intended to do was to completely seize the control the Scorching-Sun Battleship by means of this right of authority.

A black backpack was placed under the chair.

He took out a paper and pen from it.

The paper was a bit worn-out, its edges frayed, with a few words written on it:

Year…Robot…Standard time…The eclipse of the sun…Artificial Intelligence…

After remaining silent for a while as he looked at the words on the paper, he added more words with the pen.

“Butterfly”.

“The spiritual super-calculating center”.

In the end, his sight fell on the words: Standard time.

According to the standard time of the Human Federation of the Milky Way, he had been in the universe more than seventy days and stayed on the Stargate Base for more than one hundred days.

It was enough time for Xilai and Cao Yuan to come out.

Based on the temperament of the Immortal Tan, he would hide somewhere, and it would be hard to find him again.

But, where were the other two?

He hadn’t had any news about the Snow Girl; but why hadn’t he had any news about those two?

…

…

The galaxy in which the humans resided was called the Milky Way.

The Galaxy of the Milky Way was such a formation in which a few arms were formed by the stretching-out stars.

The frontal end of the Pancan Star Arm was exceedingly thin, only with a few permanent stars, among which the remotest permanent star had a planet, the Planet Lindeng, orbiting it.

This planet had a harsh environment with very thin atmosphere. Normally, it was unsuitable for the humans to live on it for a prolonged time.

Yet, the expedition teams had found more than ten rare minerals on the Planet Lindeng; as a result, a large-scale modification of its environment had taken place.

The mining of the minerals had started many years before the modification of the environment was completed. The large holes could be seen everywhere on the surface of the planet, and the huge transportation spaceships would land on the planet every once in a while.

The humans resided in the residential area in the vicinity of the mines. They looked like the vegetables in a greenhouse as the area was covered with a gigantic inverse glass bowl, and they all showed a numb and idle expression on their faces.

The dormitories in the residential area looked as dull as the expression worn by the humans. They were all square-shaped, looking like square boxes piled up on one another. The windows were useless and hence very small because the light from the permanent star was exceedingly weak.

The windows of a room were entirely blocked by the oily industrial cloth.

The occupier of the room was not afraid of the sunlight but didn’t want to arouse suspicion when the bright light was seen by the people from outside.

There were three TV screens and seven computers in the room. All the screens were lit.

Countless words and pictures flashed on the TV screens and computer screens.

A middle-aged man in overalls sat in a corner of the room expressionlessly, his back straight, motionless, like a stone statue.

The words and pictures on the ten screens were all in his eyes.

Even if someone came in at the moment, they wouldn’t be able to notice him.

The air vented from the temperature control system tousled his sleeves.

This middle-aged man with one arm was none other than Jian Xilai.

Like Jing Jiu, the first thing he had done after he ascended in this world was learn and study.

In the early hours in the morning, the picture on one of the TV screens showed the fitness and weight-loss exercises.

Jian Xilai knew that the other TV sets would show similar programs. He stood up and pulled out the plugs before he came before the window and pulled aside the oily cloth, then looking at the surface of the planet.

This planet rotated from the west to the east daily. The dim permanent star in the distance was cresting slowly in the east.

This was a large and strange world. He had studied diligently for dozens of days but still couldn’t totally comprehend everything.

For instance, the young women on TV liked wearing tight clothing, which was obviously uncomfortable.

And those workers took a fancy to drinking alcohol even though they were evidently very poor.

And those soldiers preferred boasting about how powerful they were even though they appeared very weak.

What he was not aware of was that a battleship was entering the atmosphere of the Planet Lindeng in the west.

The battleship had neither made any noise nor triggered any alarm even though it was quite large.