242: Chapter 241 The Time Hunter, The Last Three Days of Waiting and a Lullaby on Mars
On the Road Home: The Final Three Days
Fullness's ship continued its voyage through the Spacetime Fold Channel.
Three days. There were still three days left.
The ball of light that was the Storm Civilization had shrunk into a tiny sphere, clinging tightly to Fullness's side like a frightened little animal, shivering.
Fullness gently reached out her hand and touched the ball of light.
The light trembled slightly, conveying an extremely faint impression—not language, but a feeling of "being hunted." Like a rabbit running in the dark, with faster footsteps behind it, getting closer and closer.
"time hunters..." Fullness murmured the name.
What exactly was it?
Why could it cause a civilization that had lived for billions of years to be this terrified?
She didn't know. But she knew that after that "touch," everything in the channel had changed.
It wasn't a physical change. The data on the light screen was all normal, with the error still less than one ten-thousandth. But in the air, there was something indescribable, quietly and slowly solidifying.
As if waiting for something.
Fullness clenched her fists and stared ahead.
Three days left.
In three days, they would reach that Gas Giant and send the Storm Civilization home.
In three days, she could start the return journey.
In three days...
She suddenly remembered Lin Wan holding her hand before she left, saying, "I'll cook noodles for you when you get back."
She thought of the small cloth bag Chen Mo had stuffed into her hand—that pinch of soil from the Martian potato fields was still in her inner pocket.
She remembered Lin Shen standing at the back of the crowd, watching her from afar without saying a word, but there was light in his eyes.
"I will come back," she said softly, as if to herself, as if to the huddled Storm Civilization, and as if to the "time hunter" somewhere out there.
"I will definitely come back."
Outside the Channel: The First Appearance
The second day.
Fullness was dozing when she was suddenly startled awake by a violent fluctuation.
The ball of light of the Storm Civilization suddenly exploded outward, then shrank back, trembling frantically.
Fullness opened her eyes and looked at the light screen.
Everything was normal. Data normal. Channel normal.
But she knew something was wrong.
Because something was outside the channel.
She turned her head and looked at the "wall" of the channel—that barrier composed of folded spacetime, which theoretically nothing could penetrate.
Then, she saw it.
Not with her eyes, but perceived through her consciousness—a massive, blurry, indescribable silhouette was pressed against the wall of the channel, quietly "watching" the inside.
The silhouette had no color, no shape, and no characteristics that could be described. But it existed. And it was "watching."
Fullness's heart skipped a beat.
The silhouette moved slowly, sliding from one side of the channel to the other. Wherever it passed, the wall of the channel trembled slightly, like ripples on the surface of water.
It was "inspecting" the channel.
"Searching" for an entrance.
Or "waiting" for something.
Fullness bit her lip hard, not allowing herself to make a sound.
The Storm Civilization had completely shrunk into a single point of light, shaking violently, unable to even convey impressions anymore.
One second. Two seconds. Three seconds.
The silhouette stopped on the channel wall.
It was facing directly toward Fullness.
Then, it "looked" at her.
Not with eyes, but in that indescribable way—Fullness felt her entire existence being "scanned" by that thing. From her body to her consciousness, from memories to emotions, from the past to the future.
Just one look.
Then, the silhouette slowly left the channel wall and vanished into the endless darkness.
Fullness slumped into her seat, her body drenched in cold sweat.
She looked down at her hands. They were shaking violently.
She took a deep breath, then another.
Then, she turned on the communicator and said one sentence toward the Cradle:
"I saw it."
Cradle: A Three-Minute Delay
It took three minutes for the signal to reach the Cradle.
Three minutes later, in the command center, everyone saw that image—not something Fullness had filmed, but the massive silhouette pressed against the channel wall that she had "sketched" with her consciousness.
No one spoke.
Ashes stared at the silhouette, real fear appearing in her pitch-black eyes for the first time.
"There's no such thing in the Executive Court's archives," her voice was so raspy it was almost inaudible, "but there is a legend..."
"What legend?" Lin Shen asked.
Ashes was silent for a long time before saying:
"Among the oldest beings in the universe, a name is whispered—'time hunters.' They are not a civilization, not life, not even anything that can be defined. They are... the 'cleaners' of time. When the 'meaning density' of a certain period of time becomes too high, or the 'existence value' of a certain timeline becomes too great, they appear to 'erase' that period of time. Not by deleting civilizations or harvesting life, but by deleting 'time itself'."
Zhou Zhe was stunned.
"Delete time itself? Then what about everything within that deleted time?"
Ashes looked at him and didn't speak.
But everyone understood.
Everything within the deleted time—civilizations, life, memories, emotions, proof of existence—would all be deleted together.
As if they had never existed.
Beneath the table, Lin Shen's hands clenched into fists.
"Fullness is still on that timeline."
"Yes," Ashes said, "and she has already been 'seen'."
Mars: Lullaby
The Martian potato fields.
little cabbage had been silent for three days.
Those seven seeds hung from the bare receptacles, glowing faintly under the Martian starlight. They didn't know where they would be planted, whether they would sprout, or what they would grow into.
But they knew someone was guarding them.
Potato Chief's projection hovered nearby, motionless.
The "firefly ones" were singing a new song.
The melody of that song came from Old Zhang's flute. That old-fashioned folk song had been adapted by the potatoes into a Martian version of a "lullaby." There were no lyrics, only the melody, singing softly over and over again.
The Crystal Coress "blinked" along with the rhythm, like eyes winking.
The annual ringss "breathed" with the melody, deep and shallow, like snoring.
The sleeping little cabbage gently trembled its leaves in the song.
As if saying: I hear you.
Potato Chief looked down at the seeds and said softly:
"You will sprout. You will grow up. You will speak. You will have your own stories."
It paused and looked deep into the starry sky.
"But before then, we will always guard you."
The singing in the potato field continued.
Over and over, singing softly.
Earth: Old Zhang's Premonition
Earth, a small southern town.
Old Zhang squatted in the vegetable patch, looking at the three clean-washed potatoes.
They were the three roundest and largest he had picked out, ready to be sent to Mars.
But today, he felt something was off.
It wasn't anything in the fields. The potatoes were growing well, and the fourth crop had already begun to sprout.
It was something in his heart.
As if something was happening somewhere very, very far away.
He took out his flute and played a tune for the three potatoes.
It was still that old-fashioned folk song. But today, he played it especially slowly and softly, like he was singing a lullaby.
The three potatoes seemed to move slightly under the moonlight.
Old Zhang finished the tune, put down the flute, and looked at the three potatoes for a long time.
Then, he said softly:
"No matter where you are, be well."
He carefully wrapped the three potatoes in cloth and placed them in his inner pocket.
Tomorrow, he would send them out.
On the Road Home: The Final Day
Fullness's ship sailed through the channel.
The final day.
The massive silhouette never appeared again.
But Fullness knew it was still there. Somewhere, outside the channel, deep in time, quietly "watching."
The Storm Civilization's ball of light was still a tiny clump, clinging tightly to her.
But its trembling had lessened slightly.
Because light had appeared ahead.
Not the light of the channel, but the light of the exit.
They had reached the Gas Giant.
Fullness took a deep breath and said to the Storm Civilization through her consciousness:
"We're here. You're home."
The Storm Civilization's ball of light fluctuated violently.
Then, it slowly expanded, returning to its original form—a mass of rolling light, like a living storm.
It looked toward the massive Gas Giant slowly rotating in the starry sky, toward the place where it was once born, lived, loved, and finally left.
Then, it separated a tiny thread of light and shone it upon Fullness.
The light was warm, carrying the freshness of the sun coming out after a storm.
The final impression it conveyed was:
"Thank you for taking us home. Thank you for not being scared away. We will always remember that there was a civilization called humanity that did the most important thing for us."
Then, it floated out of the channel and toward the Gas Giant.
Fullness stood at the exit of the channel, watching it get smaller and further away, until it finally merged into the rolling clouds.
She knew it was home.
And the "time hunter" had not appeared.
Was it because it had achieved its goal? Or because it was still waiting?
Fullness didn't know.
But she knew she had to head back.
She last looked at the Gas Giant, then turned and walked into the channel.
The return journey would also take three days.
Would that silhouette appear again?
She didn't know.
But she would go back. She definitely would.
Because someone was waiting for her at home.