Chapter 555 A Great River, Its Waves Broad

“Isn’t there something over there? Old Wan, Xiao Wu, Suozi, come take a look…”

Inside the Star Ship, Ten Thousand Souls Banner had made himself the local tyrant and bestowed a whole heap of titles upon himself. All day long, he led Xiao Wu, the Demon Refining Pot, and the other artifacts in playing “king’s game.”

“Imperial Decree Number 188! Ah Long must give Xiao Wu a kiss!”

Heavenly Dragon Blade’s old face turned red, and even his blade softened.

“Old Wan, quit messing around…”

Xiao Wu’s little face flushed. Her round pill-shaped body turned away from everyone to face the cabin wall.

“Grandpa Wan is so mean…”

Ten Thousand Souls Banner let out a lewd chuckle.

“Ah-ha-ha-ha! I’m the king! You all have to obey my Imperial Decree! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!”

All the sentient treasures aboard the Star Ship joined in the chanting.

“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!”

Ten Thousand Souls Banner said smugly, “See? Everyone’s saying it. Why haven’t you carried out my decree yet?”

Seeing Xiao Wu’s embarrassment, the Demon Refining Pot stepped in to smooth things over and said disdainfully, “What do you mean, ‘everyone’s saying it’? These guys would follow along with anything!”

“Why don’t you try it, then?”

“Ahem… Demon Refining Pot! Demon Refining Pot! Demon Refining Pot! Demon Refining Pot…”

The Demon Refining Pot shouted for ages, but nobody joined in. The Star Ship fell completely silent, leaving him so awkward he wanted the floor to swallow him up.

Then Ten Thousand Souls Banner led the laughter, and all the other artifacts joined in to mock him.

At that moment, the Demon Refining Pot wanted nothing more than to find a crack in the floor and crawl into it.

You watched from the side, eyelids drooping and head tilted, the corner of your mouth twitching. Then you bellowed in a voice that cracked, “Cut it out!!! All of you!!! Are we on a spring outing? Having a group dinner? Is this some summer vacation field trip?! Damn it, look over there and tell me if there’s something there!!! I need to know whether I’ve been alone so long I’m hallucinating!!!”

The Star Ship shook three times.

The artifacts, who’d been having the time of their lives, could only trudge over to the porthole and peer in the direction you’d pointed.

“Looks like there really is something.”

“But I think we’re heading the opposite way. We probably won’t be able to see it in a little while.”

“Where? I don’t see anything.”

“Idiot! You’re a sword. You don’t have eyes! Use your Artifact Spirit senses!”

The artifacts’ discussion convinced you that you hadn’t seen it wrong. It wasn’t a hallucination. There really was something out there.

The vast, boundless universe inspired awe.

You’d been flying for ten years and hadn’t even run into a meteorite.

After finally spotting something today, something that might have been created by an intelligent civilization, you couldn’t bear to miss it. It might hold a clue that could help you find a Channel or an inhabited planet.

You took control of the Star Ship, turned it around, opened up the throttle, and accelerated after the distant object.

“Damn, this thing’s flying pretty fast…”

To speed up the Star Ship, you had to burn through Source Stones at several times the usual rate. It made your heart ache.

Fortunately, you eventually caught up and drew near.

Once you were close enough, you could make out the object clearly.

It was a white, cylindrical object, with many glass windows on its surface, several extended solar panels, and an exceptionally long metal antenna.

A row of English letters was written on the upper section: CNSA.

A row of Chinese characters was written on the body: Kuafu-1.

“A spacecraft?!”

It didn’t look much like the spaceships you remembered, but you were certain it was a spacefaring vehicle built by a technological civilization.

An intensely bright light shone from the spacecraft’s rear. It seemed that the light was what produced its thrust.

When you’d seen it from far away, the dazzling light at its rear was what had caught your eye.

“Could it be a nuclear fusion engine?”

You activated the Divine Art “Traffic Light,” producing a perception similar to Divine Sense. You examined the spacecraft inside and out, down to the smallest detail.

There were no people inside, but it was full of energy systems and complex instruments you couldn’t understand.

Furthermore, it seemed to be continuously broadcasting some kind of energy.

As sensed through your Divine Sense, the energy moved like ripples across the surface of water, following a certain pattern.

“Could it be sound?”

Divine Sense wasn’t one of the five senses, after all. The information it picked up was never quite the same as what your eyes or ears could perceive.

Sound couldn’t travel through a vacuum, so if the spacecraft was making a sound, you wouldn’t be able to hear it.

But if you could get close enough to touch the spacecraft, the sound could naturally travel to your ears.

You cast the spell “Wall-Passing,” leaving the Voyager directly. Then you formed a Triple-Origin True Fire shield around your body and cast “Ten Thousand Mile Wind Travel,” rapidly catching up with Kuafu-1.

“Master! Be careful!”

Xiao Wu and the others watched you from the Voyager’s porthole.

A whole group of blades and swords gazed at you with wide, anxious eyes. To be honest, it was rather eerie in the darkness of space.

But for some reason, you didn’t feel shocked or afraid at that moment.

On the contrary, Kuafu-1 gave you a familiar feeling, and that familiarity made you feel safe.

You caught up with Kuafu-1 and grabbed one of its antennas, letting it carry you along. Then you slowly pressed your hand against its surface.

It really was broadcasting something continuously. The first thing you heard was a piece of music.

“♫ A great river, its waves broad~~  

♫ The wind carries the fragrance of rice blossoms along both banks~~  

♫ My home is right there on the riverbank~~  

♫ …”

For some reason, tears streamed down your face.

That familiar song sounded exactly as it had when you’d heard it as a child.

It came from your true home.

Earth!

Huaxia!

Your thoughts were in disarray. So many memories came flooding back.

But the song was only one part of the content Kuafu-1 was broadcasting on repeat. There was more.

“To every world receiving this message, we send our best wishes. We are the human civilization of Earth, from the Orion Arm of the Milky Way.

“Through long years of labor and creation, humanity has built a brilliant civilization. We have now largely mastered the natural laws governing how the universe works and established a unified theory. Breakthroughs in nuclear fusion technology and the success of the Dyson Sphere Project have given us access to an inexhaustible supply of energy.

“With the energy problem solved, famine and poverty have also been greatly alleviated.

“We cherish all of this.

“Though hatred and war still exist among us, some of us are striving for peace and working toward the lofty ideal of a human society, a communist society!

“At the same time, we yearn to know: are we alone in the universe?

“Therefore, under the leadership of the nation of Huaxia, the world’s major powers joined forces to establish the Kuafu Project…”

The broadcast contained a great deal of information.

It mainly explained the details of the Kuafu Project: searching for extraterrestrial intelligent civilizations and attempting to establish communication and contact with them.

Each time this message played, it switched to a different language.

It continued until it had played every language known on Earth, including those that had disappeared but been reconstructed through technology.

Finally, there were some numbers you couldn’t quite understand.

They seemed to use mathematical formulas and images to translate the message you’d just heard.

“My god…”