310: Chapter 310 Departure from the Star Sea

Qin Lin pulled up the star map on the holographic screen.

The full view of the planet appeared before everyone. Under the detection of the Deep Space Scanning Array, this planet presented a scene completely different from the time of the apocalypse.

The ice and snow that once covered the continents were receding, and patches of blue were appearing in the gray sky.

The color of the ocean was no longer gloomy, and light green appeared at the edges of the land, a sign that vegetation was recovering.

It wasn't an illusion; this planet really was in Recovery.

Qin Lin also checked the number of living beings globally. The number of survivors after the apocalypse was much higher than imagined.

Survivor groups of various sizes were scattered across different regions, hiding in safe buildings and surviving on supplies that appeared periodically.

The The Ark's scanning results showed that these survivors' vital signs were stable, and there was no risk of extinction in the short term.

“The crystal stones have vanished, and the apocalypse has vanished along with them,” Su Yuran said.

Of course, Qin Lin hadn't taken all the crystal stones. After confirming that the apocalypse was about to vanish, he left some of the lowest-grade crystal stones on this land.

As for how people in the future would utilize these crystal stones, it wasn't for him to decide, nor did it concern him anymore.

“Then what about these people?”

Li Ying looked at the light spots representing survivors on the screen, her tone unusually serious.

“We took the crystal stones, and the apocalypse is slowly receding. They’ve struggled for so long; they won't die easily. From now on, it's up to them. The number of people I can save is limited, and there's no more room on the The Ark. But at least we've left them a world where they can start over.”

“So we're essentially the saviors of this world?” Han Yurou's voice came from nearby.

Qin Lin looked at her; her expression was serious, she wasn't joking.

“Not saviors, just people who happened to survive.”

The next morning, everyone gathered on the Bridge.

Fourteen adults and thirteen children.

Su Yuran held Qin An, Lin Wanwan held Qin Yuan, Han Yurou held Qin Yue, Li Ying held Qin Xu, Xu Xue held Qin Xue, Zhou Lingling held Qin Yao, Zhou Yueyue held Qin Xiaoxing, Xia Qiuyan held Qin Xia, Lin Xiaoyue held Qin Yi, Lin Fang held Qin Tian, and Wang Xiulan held Qin Zheng.

Han Qing stood before the medical equipment console, Li Ran stood beside Su Yuran, and Su Yuling stood by the co-pilot's seat behind Qin Lin.

Everyone was there; all the children were there.

As for the meadows, flower beds, vegetable patches, streams, and woods of Peach Blossom Spring, everything was in the Void Storage Room, being carried away by the The Ark.

The true Peach Blossom Spring had never left; it was inside the The Ark, within everyone's memories.

The The Ark rose slowly. The holographic screen directly in front of the Bridge displayed the scene outside.

The moment the The Ark emerged from the Void Storage Room exit, everyone was stunned.

It wasn't the apocalypse.

Outside the window was no longer a dark snowy plain, no longer a gloomy gray sky, no longer an eternal night.

The sky was blue—not the kind of blue simulated by the projection System, but a true blue.

White clouds moved slowly across the sky.

Sunlight leaked through the gaps in the clouds, casting patches of golden light on the ground.

The ice and snow were still there, but they had receded far away, revealing the black earth beneath.

Small green sprouts were pushing out from the cracks in the soil, appearing in clusters, like scattered stars.

“Look!”

Han Yurou pointed to the bottom right corner of the screen.

There was a tree there—not a dead trunk, but a living tree.

There were tender buds on the branches, green buds that trembled slightly in the breeze.

It stood there alone, like a messenger telling everyone that spring had returned.

Li Ying looked at that patch of fresh green without speaking, but Qin Lin noticed that her arms tightened slightly as she held Qin Xu.

Su Yuran looked at the sky and thought of the summer before the apocalypse, remembering those carefree days at school.

Li Ran didn't speak, but her eyes were red.

Qin Lin set the first coordinates on the control console.

The Moon.

On the holographic screen, the lunar surface was revealed in minute detail under the scan of the detection array—gray-white, cratered, without air, water, or life. Su Yuling said it actually looked quite beautiful.

Qin Lin nodded.

The next flight would take a long time.

The The Ark left the atmosphere and entered space.

The outside temperature plummeted to over two hundred degrees below zero, and a faint silver glow rippled across the surface of the The Ark's energy shield.

Outside the window was no longer blue sky and white clouds, but an endless blackness, filled with dense clusters of stars.

The babies had all fallen asleep at some point.

Thirteen children, lying quietly in their mothers' arms.

The The Ark continued to ascend, and the Earth slowly grew smaller behind them. Seen from space, the post-apocalyptic Earth was still beautiful.

The white ice and snow that once covered the continents were receding, revealing the brown land and blue oceans beneath.

There was a halo of light green around the edges of the oceans, where phytoplankton were proliferating.

Qin Lin stared at that light green halo for a long time before adding a new recording point on the control console.

The The Ark Breakthrough the atmosphere.

Under the effect of the gravity regulation system, the acceleration did not affect anyone.

The babies were still sleeping soundly, without even rolling over once.

The detection results from the Deep Space Scanning Array popped up on the Bridge's holographic screen.

No signs of other intelligent life were found within ten light-years, but there were three asteroid belts, two unnamed star Systems, and one planet suspected of having liquid water.

Qin Lin didn't set those coordinates. He piloted the The Ark toward the Moon.

The Moon wasn't far—three hundred and eighty thousand kilometers.

At the The Ark's current speed, it could arrive quickly even without a subspace jump.

But Qin Lin was in no hurry. He lowered the speed to cruise mode, letting the The Ark drift slowly to give everyone time to adapt to the starry sky.

The stars outside the window remained motionless—not because the The Ark wasn't flying, but because they were too far away, so far that movement was negated by distance.

Su Yuling leaned back in the co-pilot's seat, curled her legs up, and hugged a cushion. She looked at the stars outside, quiet for a long time.

Qin Lin asked her, “What are you thinking about?”

She thought for a moment and said, “Thinking about whether we'll encounter aliens in the future.”

Qin Lin was taken aback: “Why think about that?”

“Because the starry sky is so big, it's impossible that it's just us,” Su Yuling's voice was very soft. “If there are aliens, what do they look like? Would they be like us? Would they also have homes, children, and an The Ark?”

Qin Lin didn't answer, because his answer wasn't the same thing as Su Yuling's expectations.

She didn't need his answer; she just needed someone to listen to her. Qin Lin listened.

After flying for a long time, the The Ark entered lunar orbit.

A message popped up on the holographic screen: Current coordinates lunar orbit, landing suggested.

Qin Lin was in no rush to land. He hovered the The Ark above the Moon, allowing everyone to see the cratered surface of the planet.

The lunar terrain rotated slowly on the holographic screen.

The gray-white land, the dense impact craters, no air, no water, no traces of life.

But Qin Lin noticed an anomaly in the scanning data.

On the far side of the Moon, at the bottom of a massive impact crater, an energy reaction was detected.

It wasn't the energy of a crystal stone, but a completely unfamiliar frequency.

Qin Lin marked that location in the System.

Then he leaned back in the command chair and looked at the Moon outside, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly.

The Moon outside the window was huge, large enough to fill half the sky.

The gray-white surface shimmered with a faint light under the sun, those impact craters looking like a weathered face.

The The Ark's protective shield glowed with a faint blue light in the vacuum, stable, quiet, and safe.

From the The Ark's cabins behind him came the sound of a baby's laughter. Qin Lin didn't know which child was laughing—perhaps it was Qin An, perhaps Qin Yuan, or perhaps Qin Yue.

But he heard that laughter.

The The Ark hovered in lunar orbit for a while, then slowly descended, flying toward that anomalous energy point on the far side of the Moon.

The apocalypse hadn't ended; it had simply moved to a different place to continue.