Gurgling sounds…
Ling Xiao’s stomach let out a weak protest. He patted his belly, sighed dejectedly, and pulled a high-energy nutrition bar from his pocket. He held it, his mouth watering, his lips trembling with desire, but he couldn’t bring himself to put it in his mouth.
After a long while, with superhuman willpower, he stuffed the nutrition bar back into his pocket.
Out of sight, out of mind. If he kept looking, he didn’t know if he could control himself.
“Do you have anything else to eat?” he asked.
Ou Zhanpeng lay on his back, his head tilted towards the ceiling, responding in a voice as weak as a mosquito’s hum: “Barely!”
Ling Xiao closed his eyes in agony: “Are we going to starve to death here? That lunatic is truly a bastard. Even prisoners get a piece of cornbread and some water, don’t they?”
The two of them had been trapped in this control room for nearly half a day. Their meager emergency rations were almost gone. If they kept waiting like this, they’d be finished before long.
Thus, the mysterious entity was logically promoted to lunatic.
They had also considered calling for rescue, but Ou Zhanpeng was alone. Even if others came, they wouldn’t be able to open this compartment. If they got lost on the way, it would be troublesome.
Between saving themselves and everyone being trapped, the two eventually chose to give up.
“Stop talking, save your strength,” Ou Zhanpeng said.
He couldn’t understand why, at this point, this guy still had the energy to talk endlessly. Didn’t his throat hurt?
Ling Xiao acted as if he hadn’t heard, continuing to talk to himself: “I’ve figured it out. That lunatic trapped us here, maybe he wants to conduct an experiment.”
This was a novel theory!
Ou Zhanpeng opened one eye and glanced at Ling Xiao: “What kind of experiment?”
“What other experiment could it be? To see what happens to humans in desperate situations. Maybe he likes watching people eat each other, or maybe he enjoys watching brothers turn against each other.”
“My heavens!” Ou Zhanpeng groaned in pain. “How did I end up knowing someone as unreliable as you? How could the mysterious entity be so bored?”
“Then what do you think he wants to do?” Ling Xiao questioned righteously.
Ou Zhanpeng was silent for a moment before saying: “When the alien species first appeared, it was the mysterious entity who destroyed their warship. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have survived until now. So, I’m very sure that everything the mysterious entity has done so far has been to protect humanity!”
“And now?” Ling Xiao’s voice suddenly rose by eight octaves. “What kind of protection is locking us in here?”
Ou Zhanpeng suddenly pushed himself up with his arm: “Do you think the mysterious entity wants me to learn to operate these systems?”
This was also a rather novel idea. Ling Xiao sat up and echoed: “What do you mean? Come up with a theory and let’s see if it makes sense!”
Ignoring Ling Xiao’s casual remark, Ou Zhanpeng began to think: “First, he sent us both directly here, which means this is the key. Second, the reason the cabin door isn’t opening is because he doesn’t want us to leave here, or rather, he doesn’t want us to be distracted from exploring this place. Third, there’s nothing else here but holographic projections… key locations, not allowed to leave, and control systems. Considering all this, what do you think is the answer?”
“It seems to have some logic,” Ling Xiao said, a hint of agreement in his voice. “But there’s no way it’s like this. Even if you want him to learn, at least give him an instruction manual! With so many projections here, what if one of them is a self-destruct system? That lunatic might have lived enough, but I still have a lot of youth ahead of me!”
Ou Zhanpeng said seriously: “Perhaps there is an instruction, but we just haven’t found it.”
“Stop joking,” Ling Xiao didn’t believe it at all. “This place is so small, you can walk across it in two steps. Tell me, where is the instruction manual?”
Ou Zhanpeng pointed to his temple: “Perhaps it’s here.”
“Huh?” Ling Xiao was stunned. “You’re not going crazy from the shock, are you?”
“You’re the one who’s crazy. From now on, shut your mouth. I’m going to sleep.”
Ling Xiao was even more confused: “Hey, why are you sleeping at a time like this? Are you alright?”
“Shh—” Ou Zhanpeng made a shushing gesture. “If you want to die, keep talking. If you want to live, shut your mouth.”
Young Master Ling’s breath was caught in his chest, and he almost passed out.
What the hell was going on?
Ou Zhanpeng wanted to enter dreamland immediately, but people were strange like this. The more they wanted to sleep, the more awake they became, completely unable to find any trace of sleepiness.
He could only open his eyes and sigh helplessly.
“What do you mean? I wasn’t saying anything either,” Ling Xiao questioned discontentedly.
“It has nothing to do with you, it’s my own problem,” Ou Zhanpeng said after considering seriously. “Ling Xiao, come here.”
“What for?”
“Just come here. I don’t have time to waste with you now!”
Ling Xiao obeyed and came before Ou Zhanpeng: “What is it? Speak.”
Ou Zhanpeng pointed to his temple: “Hit me here, with some force!”
Young Master Ling immediately backed away a few steps: “No, are you really sick? Why would I hit you?”
“Just do as I say. I’m telling you, you have to knock me unconscious. Otherwise, I’ll settle the score with you!”
“Are you going to hit me or not?” Ou Zhanpeng’s tone was stern. “Otherwise, I’ll smash my head against the wall myself!”
Ling Xiao immediately moved aside: “Then hurry up and do it. Hurry!”
Ou Zhanpeng immediately reached for Ling Xiao: “Are you even a man? You can’t even do such a small thing. What’s with all this hesitation?”
Ling Xiao dodged to the side: “Get out of the way. If you kill yourself, it’s suicide. If I punch you to death, it’s murder. Is that the same thing?”
While dodging, he passed through several holographic control consoles, all of which he passed through without any change.
Ou Zhanpeng, in his haste, chased after him. The moment their fingertips touched, all the holographic projections in the cabin dimmed, and only a control console several meters away noticeably brightened.
Neither Ou Zhanpeng nor Ling Xiao had ever been there, let alone touched that projection.
The two of them froze. Ling Xiao immediately pointed at Ou Zhanpeng: “Look, look! What did I say? We should try them one by one. Then we’ll know what they’re all for!”
Ou Zhanpeng retracted his hand, his gaze complex as he looked at the control console, but he still remembered to retort: “When did you say that?”
“Then you don’t need to worry about it,” Ling Xiao said triumphantly. “It’s enough that I’m saying it now. The key is, what do you plan to do? Try it, or not?”
Ou Zhanpeng gave a wry smile: “At this point, can I say no?” He then reached out and lightly tapped.
The projection in front of him was a disc-shaped object, somewhat like the griddle used in northern rural areas.
Not knowing how to control it, Ou Zhanpeng didn’t dare to act rashly. He first touched it with a finger and casually swiped a few times.
The flat surface instantly rose, forming the familiar appearance of the solar system. At the edge of the surface, a small light spot was flashing.
At the same time, the asteroid in the center of the cabin disappeared and was replaced by a projection of the solar system.
The two of them immediately realized that this was some kind of positioning device, and that small light spot was the current location of the asteroid.
To verify his thoughts, Ou Zhanpeng carefully remembered the location of the light spot and lightly tapped on Earth.
As expected, Earth’s projection appeared in the center of the cabin. Waving his hand to enlarge the projection, Earth and the Moon were clearly visible. Even the warship being assembled above the Moon and the Yun Gong space station in Earth’s orbit could be seen clearly.
“Wow, this thing can monitor the entire galaxy?” Ling Xiao leaned towards the holographic Earth and touched the projection of Yun Gong.
The result was the same as before, no change.
But Ling Xiao’s expression was exceptionally serious: “Ou Fatty, if you were to touch it, would Yun Gong be destroyed by the mysterious entity?”
“I hope not,” Ou Zhanpeng tapped again. The Earth in front of Ling Xiao instantly turned into Mars, and two Expedition-class ships were hovering in orbit around Mars.
Perhaps learning from previous lessons, these two warships were in very high orbits, with several satellites orbiting Mars, effectively eliminating the possibility of surprise attacks by the enemy.
The surface of Mars was covered in dust, and the ground conditions could not be seen.
Ou Zhanpeng felt that the function of this thing couldn’t be that simple. He kept magnifying the projection of Mars, and when the projection was enlarged to a certain extent, he finally saw the real situation on the surface of Mars – the alien base was even more massive, with groups of giant species moving around, like a swarm of diligent worker ants building nests everywhere.
Heaven helps those who help themselves!
Ou Zhanpeng immediately signaled Ling Xiao: “Contact headquarters and report the location of the alien base!”
“Received!” Ling Xiao put away all his playful expressions, responded very seriously, and immediately called the warship.
Why not call Mars directly? Of course, it was to protect the secret of the asteroid!
Although Yunhe and the expeditionary fleet departed at the same time, Yunhe knew the mission of the expeditionary fleet, but the expeditionary fleet did not know the purpose of Yunhe.
Therefore, no matter how much he understood the situation, he could not directly notify the warships in the direction of Mars.
After reporting the location of the alien base, Ou Zhanpeng added: “Don’t forget to remind them to verify the situation before implementing the attack!”
“Understood!” Li Keke replied.
Having helped Mars, it was natural not to forget Jupiter. Ou Zhanpeng lightly tapped, and the burning Jupiter appeared in the center of the cabin.
However, this time it wasn’t so smooth. Even after magnifying the projection of Callisto to the maximum, he couldn’t see the situation underwater, so he had to give up helplessly.
Ou Zhanpeng was extremely disappointed. If he could observe the situation underwater, then this thing could definitely find that half of the warship on Earth and completely eliminate the alien species hidden in the sea!
However, with a shift in his thoughts, he thought of more uses. He first brought up Saturn to observe the situation there, and then checked other celestial bodies one by one, searching for traces of the alien species.
Before, he couldn’t find where the aliens were. Now that he had the opportunity, he had to find out where the enemies were hiding.
As for whether he had the ability to destroy them, that was for the higher-ups to consider.
But whether it was because the alien species were too well hidden, or because Ou Zhanpeng’s control methods were too crude, he didn’t find any alien species on the major planets outside of Saturn. Instead, he found two strongholds belonging to the alien species in the asteroid belt.
Well, it turns out the aliens also played a trick of “crossing the river by feinting.” Those alien ships that seemed to fly far away had actually quietly infiltrated the asteroid belt and settled down.
Thinking about it carefully, it wasn’t surprising. Jupiter was already far enough from the sun, and those moons were covered in ice and snow year-round. If the aliens hadn’t ignited Jupiter, that ghost place would have been impossible to survive in!
The alien species weren’t stupid. Since they knew which direction was more suitable for survival, did they need to be asked how to choose?
After some trial and error, he quickly mastered the use of the disc.
Ling Xiao suggested: “Let’s give this thing a name, it’ll be easier to call it.”
“Let’s call it the Star Disc,” Ou Zhanpeng said. “Actually, the name doesn’t matter, we can’t take this thing back anyway.”
“That’s true,” Ling Xiao said with disappointment. “Perhaps you’ll have to be stationed here in the future.”
Ou Zhanpeng wanted to tell him to stop being a jinx, but the words wouldn’t come out.
He had no choice; he himself wasn’t sure what the future held.
He quickly cast aside those messy thoughts. After familiarizing himself with the various known functions of the Star Disc, he lightly tapped the flashing light spot on the very edge. The asteroid immediately returned to its original position, marking the end of his learning.
Ling Xiao stroked his chin and guessed: “Without the Star Disc, we can still control the interference layer. If there are other hidden devices of the mysterious entity in the solar system, can they also be controlled from here?”
“It would be great if we could control it, but we don’t even know if they exist. How can we control them?”
“Sigh, that’s true!” Ling Xiao was also helpless.
The light of the Star Disc did not dim, and the brightness of another projection clearly increased.
It was a vase-like object, thick at the bottom and thin at the top. It was unclear how the holographic projection made it look that way.
Ou Zhanpeng tried it and found that these two things had to be used in conjunction. First, he tapped the vase to activate the device, and then he could search for targets on the Star Disc. It was obvious that this was a weapon, and both of them felt that it might be the very thing that destroyed the broken ship back then.
Ling Xiao kept urging Ou Zhanpeng to try firing a shot. Captain Ou was also very tempted and immediately locked onto the alien base on Mars.
However, how to launch it became a problem. What was more critical was that the vase’s light suddenly dimmed. No matter how Ou Zhanpeng poked it, there was no reaction; it couldn’t be selected at all.
Ling Xiao sighed: “It must be that lunatic who doesn’t want you to fire. Give up.”
Ou Zhanpeng could only keep trying. The results were unexpected. Most of the other projections couldn’t be used, as if there was some problem with the base hidden in this asteroid.
Those that could be used had to be coordinated with the Star Disc. No wonder he had to master the use of the Star Disc first.
Ling Xiao was almost on the verge of collapse. He had thought that one of the projections could control the cabin door, but until the last projection dimmed, he couldn’t find where the cabin door was.
What the hell was this? Was it playing with them?
Ou Zhanpeng was also completely out of ideas. He idly fiddled with the Star Disc, and the image in the center of the cabin alternated between the blazing sun and empty space.
Ling Xiao couldn’t help but complain: “Stop fiddling with that thing, it’s annoying!”
Ou Zhanpeng casually tapped the asteroid, intending to end it, but his hand slipped and tapped the wrong place. Suddenly, a layer very similar to the interference film appeared in the center of the cabin, and outside the film was something that looked very familiar.
The two of them widened their eyes and said in unison: “Black ship?”