331: Chapter 331 The Target Appears

Qin Lin stood on the Observation Tower, looking at the strange land outside the window.

The sky in the distance was not blue, but a grayish, fog-like color.

It was not fog, but energy dissipating from the rift. The energy permeated from the horizon, blocking the sunlight.

Sunlight filtered down from the gray sky, turning into a pale, heatless light.

Su Yuran walked up holding Qin An and stood beside Qin Lin.

"Qin Lin, which is more terrifying, the apocalypse of this world or the apocalypse of Earth?" she asked.

Qin Lin thought for a moment: "The apocalypse of Earth was a natural disaster, while the apocalypse of this world is the death of space itself."

Su Yuran was silent for a moment, looking down at Qin An in her arms.

Qin An had fallen asleep in her arms, his little face pressed against his mother's chest, breathing evenly.

"Qin Lin, will they board your pirate ship?"

Qin Lin rolled his eyes at her: "Do you think I look like a thief?"

"Otherwise, why are there so many women on your ship?"

"Isn't this all for survival? You can't blame me for what survival requires."

"So are you seeking survival, or just seeking?"

Qin Lin understood what she meant: "Both."

...

The The Ark stopped in a valley on the outskirts of the Tianxuan Galaxy.

The light of the protective shield was like a golden lamp under the grayish sky.

Qin Lin was not in a hurry to go out, nor was he in a hurry to find anyone.

The The Ark needed time to adapt to this new world, and he also needed time to observe.

The scanning array worked around the clock, and data was continuously transmitted back to the System panel.

Qin Lin sat on the Bridge, flipping through them one by one.

Planetary terrain maps, population distribution maps, cultivation level distribution maps, resource distribution maps, and rift diffusion maps—each map was covered with dense data points.

He focused his attention on the few small towns closest to the The Ark.

The population was small, ranging from a few hundred people, and their cultivation levels were not high.

Their living conditions were not good; the System labeled them with tags like "food shortage," "insufficient spiritual power," and "Yao Beast threat."

Some people had already left, migrating to safer areas in the south; others remained in the town, guarding their broken homes.

The System popped up a notification box.

[Detected nearby female passenger candidates meeting the requirements of the "Many Children, Many Blessings" mission.]

[Quantity: 3 people.]

[comprehensive rating: 90, 91, 93 points.]

[Location: A small town about 15 kilometers south of the The Ark.]

[Suggestion: The The Ark can head to the town, or make remote contact via Sub-probe.]

Qin Lin looked at this prompt and hesitated for a moment.

Fifteen kilometers was not far; it would only take the The Ark a few minutes to fly there.

But the The Ark was too big; a silver Interstellar Navigator appearing suddenly above a cultivation town would cause panic.

This wasn't the apocalypse on Earth; the people here had never seen the The Ark, never seen technology, and perhaps had never even seen a "ship."

If they saw the The Ark, they might think it was some kind of Magic Treasure, perhaps a Yao Beast, or maybe a monster that had escaped from the rift.

Qin Lin decided to test the waters first.

He brought up the Sub-probe.

The Sub-probe was one of the new features of the Lv9 The Ark, a fist-sized spherical device that could be remotely controlled to fly in the air and transmit images and sound in real-time.

The probe was small and would not attract attention.

Qin Lin set the flight path for the probe on the console and released it from the hatch at the bottom of the The Ark.

On the holographic screen, the real-time footage from the probe began to transmit.

The probe rose from the valley, passed through the grayish sky, and flew south.

The scenery on the ground flashed by quickly in the footage.

Barren fields, dried-up rivers, collapsed buildings.

Qin Lin saw a huge rift in the wall of a building; the edges of the rift weren't blown open, but torn apart by some kind of force.

A small town appeared in the probe's footage.

The town was not large, with dozens of houses built of stone and wood, similar in style to ancient buildings on Earth.

There was a low wall around the town, carved with glowing runes that were very faint, as if they were about to run out of energy.

People were walking around in the town, wearing coarse cloth clothes, similar to the outfits in Earth's historical dramas.

This made Qin Lin think he had Transmigration back to ancient times, or perhaps the ancients had traveled far into the sea of stars?

Their expressions were weary, but not yet hopeless.

Qin Lin zoomed the probe's lens in, focusing on a young woman.

She was wearing a light blue dress, her hair pinned up with a wooden hairpin, standing at the entrance of the town, looking at the sky.

Her face was very clear in the probe's footage, with delicate features and fair skin.

[Target: Cultivator.]

[Age: Approx. 22 years old.]

[comprehensive rating: 91 points. Meets the requirements of the "Many Children, Many Blessings" mission.]

[Note: Current status is "spiritual power depletion" and "mild hunger."]

Qin Lin watched her; she didn't know that a probe was watching her.

She just stood there, looking at the grayish sky, not knowing what she was looking at.

The probe circled above the town a few times and captured two more targets.

One was wearing a red dress, sitting under the eaves, holding a bowl in her hand, but there was nothing in the bowl.

Another was wearing a cyan dress, squatting by the well drawing water; the bucket was pulled up, but it only contained half a bucket of murky water.

[Target 2: Cultivator.]

[Age: Approx. 24 years old.]

[comprehensive rating: 90 points. Meets the requirements of the "Many Children, Many Blessings" mission.]

[Note: Current status is "spiritual power depletion" and "moderate hunger."]

[Target 3: Cultivator.]

[Age: Approx. 30 years old.]

[comprehensive rating: 93 points. Meets the requirements of the "Many Children, Many Blessings" mission.]

[Note: Current status is "spiritual power depletion" and "mild hunger."]

Three targets, three young women.

Their cultivation levels were not high, they were suffering from spiritual power depletion and food shortages, and while their mental states were relatively stable, they couldn't hold on for much longer.

Qin Lin switched the probe's footage to the holographic projection table in the living room.

Everyone saw the grayish small town, the people in ancient costumes, and those weary but not yet hopeless faces.

The living room was quiet for a moment, then Han Yurou's voice rang out: "They are so thin. The one in the red dress, her bowl is empty."

No one answered her, because what she said was the truth.

Su Yuran watched the woman on the holographic projection table standing at the town entrance, looking up at the sky, and was silent for a moment.

Li Ying sat up from the massage chair and placed Qin Xu in the baby basket beside her.

Qin Xu was unwilling and twisted his body to get up, but Li Ying held him down.

"Brother Qin Lin, how do you intend to talk to them?"

Qin Lin thought for a moment and turned on the language translation System on the The Ark.

The System would automatically convert everyone's language on the The Ark into the common language of the cultivation world, and also convert the language of the cultivation world into something they could understand.

"Let's make contact first and see their reaction. If they are willing to come with the The Ark, we'll bring them aboard; if they are unwilling, we won't force them."

This had been the rule on the RV and now on the The Ark: those who are willing take the bait, and Qin Lin would not forcibly take those who were unwilling, unless it was a beauty who made him unable to resist.

Li Ying nodded and didn't ask any further.