337: Three days of leisure and an "unexpected visitor"

On the rest day of the hope, the atmosphere was as relaxed as the Lunar New Year.

After the upgrade was completed, Wen Youyi fulfilled his promise and gave everyone three days off—not a total shutdown, but everyone except the necessary duty personnel could arrange their own time.

As soon as this news came out, the whole ship was buzzing.

The liveliest place was the newly expanded ecological dome area.

Everyone now affectionately called it the "Small World," which had simulated sunlight, a breeze, and even an artificial lake for boating—although the boats were cobbled together by a few tech geeks using scrap metal from repairs and looked a bit shaky, that didn't stop everyone from having fun.

Zhao Iron Pillar, along with his apprentice Xiao Li and a group of young crew members, started an "interstellar barbecue" in the open space by the lake.

The ingredients were rainbow potatoes freshly picked from the ecological area, Moonlight Rabbit meat (farmed, not pets), and flatbreads made from the first batch of mature star rice.

The grill was modified from scrapped ship parts, and Zhao Iron Pillar claimed this was "a blacksmith's art."

Although half of what they grilled was charred and half raw, that didn't dampen the atmosphere, and everyone ate with gusto.

"Let me tell you," Zhao Iron Pillar said while flipping the meat skewers, bragging to a young Sky Patrol crew member next to him, "Back in the Ranch World, our Cooperative was so poor we could only eat meat once a month."

"Now, we eat meat every day! This is the benefit of following Youyi!"

The Sky Patrol crew member bit into a piece of grilled rabbit meat, grimaced from the heat, but still gave a thumbs up: "Delicious! Much better than the nutrient paste on our fleet!"

On the other side, Senior Brother Zhang gathered a few equally tech-obsessed crew members and started a "Star Chart Decryption Contest" in the "Star Observation Deck."

The holographic projection of the observation deck could simulate the starry sky of any corner of the Universe, and they competed to see who could most quickly find the coordinates of hidden Star People ruins from the star chart—the loser had to cover the winner's duty shift for a day.

"Here! Seventh quadrant, coordinates (374, 229, 588)!" a young crew member pointed excitedly at the projection, "Based on the pattern arrangement, this should be an outpost!"

"Not bad, but there are more hidden ones," Senior Brother Zhang pushed his glasses up and his fingers slid quickly, zooming in on a barely visible point of light at the edge of the star chart, "Look at this. The energy reading was deliberately disguised as background radiation, but the fluctuation frequency has a 0.3% anomaly—this is likely a hidden knowledge base."

The cheers and groans of the tech geeks rose and fell.

In the medical area, Mu Wanqing was not idle either.

She organized an "Interstellar Herb Identification Class," and the students included not only "Spark" team members but also several Sky Patrol members interested in botany.

The desks were filled with Star People herbal specimens reproduced from the Ruins database—some looked like glowing coral, some like crystals constantly changing colors, and some even made pleasant sounds when touched.

"This 'Starlight Grass' was commonly used to treat mental trauma in the Star People era," Mu Wanqing picked up a plant emitting a faint blue glow, "Its active ingredients can calm chaotic brain waves."

"However, be careful when picking it. If the technique is wrong, it will 'self-destruct' and waste all the active ingredients."

A Sky Patrol student asked curiously: "Physician Mu, how did you learn this knowledge? The medical System of the Star People must be completely different from ours, right?"

Mu Wanqing smiled: "The Ruins database has complete teaching videos left by a great physician named 'Qinghe' from the Star People era. Her lectures are very vivid. I studied for three months and just got started."

In fact, she was being humble.

In three months, she had mastered 70% of the basic Star People medical System, and the remaining 30% were mainly those Advanced techniques that required special talents or equipment.

This learning ability made even Luo Chen admire her, saying that if Mu Wanqing had been born in the Sky Patrol civilization, she would definitely be a top medical officer.

Wen Youyi didn't fully rest during these three days either.

He spent half a day roughly categorizing the newly unlocked Star People technology database in the master key.

The amount of data was too huge, and even with his current Mental Energy (after so many adventures, his Mental Energy was far beyond that of ordinary Cultivators), he could only get a rough idea.

"Energy technology, space technology, biotechnology, Materials science... and this, 'Civilization Sociology'?"

Wen Youyi clicked on this last category, and inside were actually observation records and analysis reports of Star People on different civilization development models, and even a guidebook on "How to guide Elementary civilizations to avoid going astray."

"This is simply the Universe version of 'Civilization Development Guide'."

Wen Youyi was amused, thinking that the Star People were really worried sick back then; even though they were about to ascend and run away, they still left so many "parenting manuals."

The next afternoon, Wen Youyi decided to go to the bridge to check on the duty situation.

As soon as he walked into the bridge, he heard Wang Wu arguing with someone.

"...No, it's not happening! The Captain said, during the holidays, unless it's an emergency, you can't use the training simulator!"

"Just once! Let me try the newly installed 'Illusion Battlefield' module!"

It was Zhao Iron Pillar's apprentice Xiao Li. The kid's eyes were shining, "My Master said that thing can simulate fighting against Star Devourers. I want to practice!"

Wang Wu put his hands on his hips: "I haven't settled the score with you for almost setting the No. 3 engine room on fire yesterday! Still want to play the simulator? No way!"

Wen Youyi walked over: "What's wrong?"

As soon as Wang Wu saw Wen Youyi, he immediately complained: "Captain, you came just in time! Xiao Li insists on playing the training simulator. I said it's not open during the holidays, but he won't listen!"

Xiao Li scratched his head and giggled: "Captain, I'm just itching... I want to try the new features."

Wen Youyi glanced at the training simulator console.

This thing was newly added during the upgrade, and it could generate a highly realistic virtual battlefield, allowing crew members to practice combat and emergency handling without taking risks.

The principle was a bit like an Advanced version of a VR game, but the realism could reach 95%.

"You can try if you want," Wen Youyi said, "But there is a condition—you must pass the basic knowledge test."

"The simulator is not a game. The 'enemies' inside are generated based on real Star Devourer data. If you are not careful, you will really 'die' (mental trauma). If you don't even understand basic operations and safety procedures, going in is just sending yourself to be slaughtered."

Xiao Li's eyes lit up: "I'll learn! I can take the test now!"

Wen Youyi asked Wang Wu to bring up the test questions.

There were 100 questions in total, covering basic operations, emergency procedures, psychological assessment, etc.

Xiao Li lay on the console, scratching his head and working for half an hour. Finally, he got 61 points—just passing.

"Barely qualified," Wen Youyi nodded, "But you can only play at the Elementary difficulty, and you must be accompanied by an experienced crew member. Wang Wu, you watch him."

"Ah? Me?" Wang Wu had a bitter face, "Captain, I'm on duty..."

"You can watch him while on duty," Wen Youyi smiled, "Anyway, everything is normal now. Besides, you should also familiarize yourself with the new equipment."

So, a strange scene appeared on the bridge: Wang Wu was staring at the main screen to monitor the status of the whole ship while occasionally glancing at Xiao Li, who was wearing a simulation helmet and dancing around; and Xiao Li was shouting in the virtual battlefield: "Come on! You hunk of iron! Take my shot! Ouch... Brother Wang Wu! Left! There's an enemy on the left!"

Wen Youyi shook his head with a smile and was about to leave when he suddenly heard the ship spirit of the hope sound: [Abnormal space fluctuation detected. Source: Edge area of the Ruins. Fluctuation characteristics... 87% similarity to Star People energy.]

Wen Youyi immediately returned to the main console: "Call up the surveillance footage."

On the main screen, at the edge of the silver vortex outside the Ruins, a small "bulge" appeared at some point.

That bulge expanded slowly like a water bubble, and pale golden light flowed on the surface. Within the light, complex geometric patterns could be vaguely seen—it was exactly the style of the Star People.

"What is this?" Wang Wu also came over, "A new feature of the Ruins?"

"Doesn't look like it," Wen Youyi frowned, "ship spirit, analyze the energy composition and intent of that thing."

[Analyzing... Energy composition: pure space-time energy, mixed with traces of information flow. Intent unknown, but non-aggressive. Attempting to establish communication...]

The bridge fell silent, with only the faint sound of instruments running.

A few seconds later, the "bulge" suddenly cracked, and a... basketball-sized silver ball of light flew out of it.

The surface of the light ball was as smooth as a mirror, without any features, just floating quietly in the Void Realm.

[Communication established.] The ship spirit reported, [The other party sent an identification code, verified as... Star People 'Messenger' unit. Requesting docking.]

"Messenger?" Wen Youyi and Aila looked at each other, "Didn't the Star People all leave? Why is there still a messenger left?"

"Maybe it was sent with a delay," Aila speculated, "Just like a timed email, it only appears after specific conditions are triggered. We collected the seven fragments and upgraded the hope, which might be the trigger condition."

Wen Youyi nodded: "Allow docking. But stay vigilant, prepare emergency evacuation procedures."

"Qianlong" was sent to perform the docking mission—it was small and had good maneuverability, so it could retreat quickly if there was a problem.

Ten minutes later, "Qianlong" returned with the silver light ball and sent the light ball into the isolation chamber of the hope.

In the isolation chamber, Wen Youyi, Aila, Senior Brother Zhang, and Luo Chen (who was urgently called over) stared at the light ball through the observation window.

After the light ball entered the chamber, fine patterns began to appear on its surface. Then, a gentle neutral voice sounded directly in their minds: [Star People heritage successor detected. Identity verification passed. I am the final messenger preset by the 'gravedigger' System, codenamed 'Return Guide'.]

Wen Youyi responded with his consciousness: "What is your purpose?"

[To provide the complete implementation plan for the 'Return Plan', and... a warning.]

The light ball projected a holographic image. It was the star map of the "Tianyuan Realm" where the Ranch World was located, but the map was marked with dense red dots.

[According to my continuous monitoring over the past 30,000 years, the Creation Heavenly Court has strengthened its control over the Ranch World after you left. The spirit net coverage has increased by 42%, the emotional collection efficiency of the Heart Demon System has been optimized by 37%, and the scanning accuracy of the destiny system has been improved by 28%.]

The image zoomed in, showing three huge energy nodes as bright as stars—this was the Master control center of the spirit net System.

[More importantly,] the light ball continued, [the Creation Heavenly Court has already perceived the external threat (referring to the news of your destruction of the Star Devourer Royal Court spreading), and has begun to deploy the 'Ultimate Harvesting Protocol' in all Ranch Worlds. Once triggered, they will forcibly harvest all life forms that have reached the 'market standard' within 30 days, then completely close the Ranch and transfer positions.]

"What?!" Wen Youyi's face changed drastically, "30 days? Then our compatriots..."

[Yes, time is tight.] The light ball's voice was still calm, but the content was shocking, [According to calculations, if you follow your original plan to return to the Ruins to prepare, then sneak in to destroy, and finally organize the evacuation, the whole process will take at least 45 days. It's too late.]

The bridge was dead silent.

The previously relaxed and happy atmosphere was instantly shattered by this bad news.

"Then... what should we do?" Zhao Iron Pillar also came at some point, his voice dry, "We can't just watch our brothers get harvested, right?"

The light ball spun around: [Therefore, I brought another plan—the 'Lightning Raid Plan'.]

A new holographic image unfolded. It was an extremely risky plan: abandon the methodical preparation, the hope will set off immediately, reach the periphery of the Tianyuan Realm through a dimensional channel; then split into four groups, simultaneously attack the three spirit net Master control centers and a "General Dispatch Station" located in a higher dimension; while destroying the monitoring System, directly open large-scale portals across the Tianyuan Realm to take away the people who are willing to leave in the shortest time.

"But this requires coordination accurate to the second," Senior Brother Zhang stared at the details of the plan, his brows locked, "If any part goes wrong, the whole plan will fail. And... we are seriously understaffed. Four-way simultaneous action requires at least three people per route. How many people do we have in our core team in total?"

"Twelve," Wen Youyi calculated quickly, "Me, Aila, Senior Brother Zhang, Zhao Iron Pillar, Yun Zhi, Luo Chen, Leah, Wang Wu, Mu Wanqing, Old K, Xiao Li... plus two Sky Patrol technicians, it's barely enough, but each route is very thin."

"And this plan has almost no fault tolerance," Luo Chen's expression was heavy, "Once dragged down, the reinforcements of the Creation Heavenly Court will arrive within half an hour. By then..."

"By then we'll really be dumpling filling," Old K's mechanical eye flashed red, "But having said that, is there any other choice now?"

No. The intelligence brought by the light ball was very clear: the 30-day countdown had started, and for every day delayed, there was an increased risk of compatriots being harvested.

Wen Youyi closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

When he opened them again, his eyes had become as sharp as a knife.

"Notify everyone," he said, "The holiday is over ahead of schedule. Gather in the core team conference room in one hour. We need to refine this 'Lightning Raid Plan' to every action and every second within six hours."

"What if we find it's still not feasible after refining?" Aila asked softly.

Wen Youyi looked at her, then at the companions around him, and grinned: "Then we'll refine it while flying. Rule number two for programmers—no plan is perfect, but as long as you start executing it, bugs will be solved one by one."

He clapped his hands, and his voice spread throughout the bridge: "Everyone, cheer up. We are leaving ahead of schedule."

"On the way to save people home—"

"We can't be late."

One hour later, the hope's engines ignited, and the silvery-white hull slowly sailed away from the Ruins dock.

And behind them, the silver light ball completed its mission, silently dissipated into points of starlight, and merged into the silver vortex of the Ruins.

The news it brought was heavy.

But the hope it brought was even heavier.

(End of this chapter)