119: Chapter 119 Saturn, a Land of Diamonds

The Tianyuan Mothership quickly flew away from Europa and continued its journey toward Proxima Centauri.

"Daddy, Daddy, Saturn! Look how beautiful Saturn is!" Su Mingxia jumped up and down excitedly in the captain's quarters.

Su Fan had called Su Mingxia back after they left Europa.

"Daddy's going to test you on some basic facts about Saturn." Su Fan planned to quiz his son on a topic he had taught him before.

"Saturn is about 1.4 billion kilometers from the Sun, and it's the second-largest planet after Jupiter," Su Mingxia's crisp child's voice rang out.

"Hmm—let me think..."

"Saturn's diameter is about 120,000 kilometers, but its density is very low, so its mass is only 95 times that of Earth."

"Excellent!" Su Fan laughed and gave his son's head a vigorous rub.

"I'm not finished yet!" Su Mingxia dodged Su Fan's large hand with a hint of dissatisfaction.

"Saturn has the largest and most beautiful planetary rings of all the planets in the Solar System, and it has 82 known natural satellites."

"Titan is the largest moon, second in size only to Ganymede, making it the second-largest moon in the Solar System."

Su Fan's grin was so wide it almost reached his ears. "Son, you're amazing!"

"Come here, let Daddy give you a kiss!"

"No kisses, Daddy's smelly!" Su Mingxia turned and ran to Zhou Xiaoxiao's side, then suddenly turned back: "I'll kiss you tonight!"

Su Fan: "..."

"Hahahaha!" Zhou Xiaoxiao burst into laughter again.

"Su Fan, you can't just mess around in front of our son anymore; he's already six years old," Zhou Xiaoxiao said teasingly.

"You little brat, taking advantage as soon as I praise you!" Su Fan scolded with a laugh.

"Daddy, let's go on a trip to Saturn."

"Are there any alien creatures on Saturn?" Su Mingxia asked innocently.

"Most likely not, but we'll go take a look in a bit," Su Fan said with a smile.

The Tianyuan Mothership was very fast, and in just a short while, it arrived near Saturn's rings.

"What beautiful rings!" Zhou Xiaoxiao marveled.

"Saturn's rings are mainly composed of small pieces of meteorites and ice crystals. They constantly move at high speeds around Saturn's equatorial plane, and under the sunlight, they appear as rings," Su Fan explained to his son.

"Red Queen, bring the ship closer to Saturn."

As the Tianyuan Mothership slowly approached Saturn, the true face of the rings was revealed to everyone.

"Daddy, it doesn't look as good up close," Su Mingxia muttered.

"Haha, that's for sure." Su Fan laughed. "Some things are meant to be viewed from a distance, not up close."

"Red Queen, let's go for a stroll inside Saturn."

"Yes! Master!" Red Queen replied sweetly.

The Tianyuan Mothership plunged into Saturn's northern hemisphere.

Scientists on Blue Star once believed that Saturn, like Jupiter, was a gas giant, but upon entering Saturn, Su Fan discovered this view was completely wrong.

Saturn simply has an extremely thick atmosphere, but it also has a rocky surface.

"Su Fan, look, are those diamonds?" Zhou Xiaoxiao's eyes lit up.

Su Fan turned to look in the direction Zhou Xiaoxiao was pointing, surprise flashing in his eyes.

Countless sparkling granular objects covered the ground in the distance.

"Red Queen, scan the composition."

"Scan complete. Confirmed to be diamonds!" Red Queen replied sweetly.

"Wow!" Zhou Xiaoxiao opened her rosy little mouth. "Su Fan, I want to go down and pick up some diamonds, can I? Please?"

"Of course you can!" Su Fan nodded with a smile.

"I want to take our son down with me, is that okay?"

"Yes, we'll all go together in a bit."

"These diamonds aren't worth much; they're useless to us except for their looks, so don't pick up too many," Su Fan said with a smile.

"Okay!" Zhou Xiaoxiao happily led Su Mingxia away.

"Red Queen, park the ship in that field of diamonds, then notify all crew members that they can go down in two batches to pick up diamonds."

"Tell them not to pick up too many; these things really aren't worth much." Su Fan pondered for a moment before giving the order.

"Yes, Master," Red Queen complied immediately.

When Su Fan returned to his room, Zhou Xiaoxiao was helping Su Mingxia into an exoskeleton armor.

This was an ultra-thin model of the E-class Exoskeleton. It not only had better defense and life-support functions than the previous heavy aerospace exoskeleton armor, but it was also extremely light and thin.

Full name: Ultra-thin Exploration Exoskeleton.

The ground environment on Saturn was much harsher than on the Moon; relying solely on an Android's defensive capabilities could easily lead to damage.

Therefore, wearing an exoskeleton was quite necessary.

As for why they weren't wearing mechas, the reason was simple: mechas were too large and didn't provide the same environmental experience as an exoskeleton. Unless they were facing an unknown and dangerous environment, there was no need to wear such large mechas.

Su Fan took Zhou Xiaoxiao and Su Mingxia off the ship together.

As soon as they stepped off the ship, Zhou Xiaoxiao couldn't wait to bend down and pick up a diamond the size of a fist.

"What a beautiful diamond!" Zhou Xiaoxiao held up the diamond, a miniature searchlight popping out from her arm to illuminate it from different angles.

"Su Fan, if this diamond were placed on the Blue Star of the old multi-national era, wouldn't it be a priceless treasure?"

"One is a priceless treasure, two are precious gems, but by the third or fourth, the value drops significantly. If there are too many, diamonds are just hard, pretty stones," Su Fan said with a smile.

He bent down to pick up a diamond the size of a human head, weighed it in his hand, and then tossed it aside.

There were so many diamonds on the ground that he couldn't muster any interest.

Unlike gold, diamonds have poor utility. When the Xia Kingdom was a Level 0 Civilization, they could be used as drill bits, but now that the Xia Kingdom is a Level 2 Civilization, diamonds have no use other than looking pretty.

Gold, on the other hand, is a stable metal with excellent electrical conductivity and ductility. It is a superb material for developing new materials and alloys, with broad application scenarios in various fields.

Many people disembarked from the tianyuan one after another, everyone happily picking up diamonds from the ground.

However, the initial excitement didn't last long. When diamonds are more common than stones, visible everywhere and pick-up-able at any time, everyone's excitement gradually leveled off.

After half a day, everyone returned to the ship, and the tianyuan took off once again.

The destination this time was Saturn's North Pole.

Saturn's North Pole has always had a very mysterious air. From above the planet, one can see a very regular hexagonal pattern here.

Furthermore, this hexagonal pattern is not a short-term occurrence but has existed there for a long time.

Scientists on Blue Star speculated that it was a giant storm system, but storm systems are generally circular or elliptical; a hexagonal storm system wasn't very convincing.

This time, Su Fan wanted to explore the area and see exactly what this hexagonal pattern was composed of.

At the tianyuan's speed, the ship soon arrived at Saturn's North Pole region.

"Oh, holy crap, another surprise!" Su Fan didn't know whether to be shocked or just complain.

The universe is vast and full of wonders, but there have been too many miraculous events in these past two days!

...