Chapter 105 Studying Dou Dou

Nan Gong Wuyue held Dou Dou and studied her for a long time, finally reaching a conclusion: the little thing was as healthy as ever, or rather—she seemed even more lively than usual, perhaps due to her cheerful mood after returning home.

"Was she always this strong?" Hao Ren asked the others while holding the Fish Baby. He had to be very careful holding the little thing because Dou Dou's tail was always slippery, and she liked to wriggle around. One wrong move and she would slip through a gap. Vivian shook her head: "I don't remember. Maybe she's always been strong since birth, and we just didn't notice. Speaking of which, aren't you Dou Dou's father? Shouldn't you know?"

Hao Ren was about to nod when he suddenly realized, "Nonsense! Of course, I don't know! I'm not a fish!"

Dou Dou's sudden display of strength didn't attract much attention from the others. After all, this "strange strength" was only relative to her size. A half-foot-long little thing lifting a table was visually striking, but it was nothing to this room full of superhumans. Instead, Becky showed extraordinary curiosity about Dou Dou. She leaned on the table, eye to eye with the little thing: "What is this? Your world has so many weird creatures."

Because Hao Ren had thrown Dou Dou into the big basin in the water room as soon as he got home, and Becky had been busy studying high technology in the living room, this was the first time she'd seen the little thing.

Hao Ren repeatedly placed the little mermaid, who kept crawling around on the table, back beside him while introducing her to Becky: "Her name is Elizabeth, nickname Dou Dou. She's also from another world. I'm her guardian. You've actually seen this little thing before, she was in a pot at the time..."

Hao Ren's reminder finally made Becky remember the strange pot he always carried around during the few days in the Dream Plane. She immediately looked surprised: "Oh, so that little thing was in there? You lied and said it was some kind of alchemical tool—is raising a child in a pot a custom in your world?"

Sweat beaded on Hao Ren's forehead as he felt Becky's misunderstanding of this world growing...

While everyone else was talking, Hilda was the only one who didn't participate. She just ate silently, seemingly without any opinion on the food of this world. Vivian felt that this was a bit neglectful of their guest, so she proactively looked for a topic: "Hilda, is my cooking okay? How does it compare to what your imperial chefs make?"

"Imperial chefs? There's no such thing," Hilda shook her head. "I receive synthetic food according to the quota, just like everyone else—it's a tasteless organic substance, a little salty if anything. Our ecological domes can only provide a very limited source of organic matter. Most of the time, the domes serve only to provide research samples and some compounds that can't be synthesized. Most of the residents' food is produced by synthetic factories and recycling projects. This food..."

As she spoke, Hilda pointed to the dishes on the table, revealing a slightly embarrassed expression: "It's very exquisite, but I don't know how to describe its taste. My sense of taste seems a bit overwhelmed by these complex things, but overall, it's still pleasant to taste. Thank you very much for your hospitality. If possible, I'd like to take some back for the others to try."

Vivian suddenly felt a little awkward. She felt like she had said something she shouldn't have—she had originally thought that Hilda, as an elven queen, should be living the life a queen should, even if she came from a world whose resources were starting to dry up. But she and Hao Ren had underestimated the dire situation of the Erem elves.

Vivian's poverty seemed insignificant in front of Hilda.

This somewhat awkward topic seemed to cool down the atmosphere at the dinner table, and the meal ended in silence. Only two people maintained their usual strong appetites: Dou Dou, who was growing up, and Lily, who was always carefree—Hao Ren sincerely envied those two.

After lunch, without waiting for Hilda to speak, Hao Ren took the anxious elven queen to the basement. The data terminal had already set up one of the hibernation pods there. Hao Ren pointed the coffin-like device to Hilda: "Just lie down in there. I'll upload your traverser characteristics to the database, and the relevant departments will find your home."

Hilda didn't comment on the coffin-like design of these hibernation pods; her hometown had long since abandoned such taboos. Under Hao Ren's guidance, the elven queen lay down in the hibernation pod. Before the device closed, she looked into Hao Ren's eyes: "Please hurry. Every day I live in such an abundant environment is a torment for me."

The hibernation pod closed, and Hao Ren stood beside it for a while, then began the next task.

He turned on the data terminal and, following Raven 12345's instructions, looked for the official information release interface of the local cosmic channel. He actually found his own broadcasting permission: he had never paid attention to how to use these publishing modules before because he felt he couldn't keep up with the high-level conversations on the local cosmic channel, so he had always just watched without speaking. Since becoming an inspector, he had been lurking for several months, and the channel and various information publishing stations had already begun to spread the legend of "a deep-sea mud beast appearing among the imperial commissioners"—today, he finally had the opportunity to say something on the cosmic channel.

"Speaking of which, is there anything I need to pay attention to when publishing official information?" Hao Ren was using this thing for the first time and felt a heavy sense of mission surge into his heart, so he anxiously consulted his data terminal: he felt as nervous as he had when he first went to the school radio station to read a manuscript in the first year of junior high school. The difference was that the basic content of his manuscript reading in the first year of junior high school was to help teachers and students find lost items, and now he was going to announce on the cosmic channel...

Uh, still lost and found, seems like there's no difference, except this time the lost item is relatively large.

Hao Ren immediately stopped being nervous.

The data terminal explained the publishing format of various official announcements and the channel operations. These operations had been simplified to the greatest extent, considering the different civilization levels and cultural structures of the participants in the local cosmic channel. Not only was there a dedicated translation template on the receiving end, but the operations on the publishing end were also very simple. Hao Ren quickly filled out an announcement. In this small basement, he completed his first shout-out to the entire universe:

"Special Announcement Report - Local Cosmic Channel, originating from First Galaxy - Kuiper Station, sent to the entire universe. Inspector Hao Ren discovered a wrecked spaceship with no obvious markings in the Dream Plane. The spaceship's origin is confirmed to be the Surface World, and the accident is estimated to have occurred two months ago (Kuiper Station provides time conversion algorithms). The spaceship's characteristics are now being announced. Any civilization or individual in this universe who hears this broadcast and knows the origin of this spaceship, please contact the stationmaster of Kuiper Station immediately. Note: This is a special event that may involve the fundamental balance of this universe. It is recommended to set it as a Level 3 priority event. See the attachment for the spaceship's characteristics. End of report."

Earth was not a civilization that had already emerged in the universe, and there were no other registered civilization systems around Earth, so Hao Ren used Kuiper Station as the origin of the report. That sparsely populated but busy transit station was his office in this star sector: at least that's what his employee card said.

After sending this message, Hao Ren breathed a long sigh of relief. He really wasn't used to such a serious official document. He would have preferred to just say, "Hey, I saw a 600-meter-long spaceship outside the other day. Did anyone lose it?"—but considering this was his first time speaking, he had to force out a serious announcement to leave a good impression on the other colleagues.

The data terminal even cheekily added, "Oh, you're really getting into it, like a retired old cadre..."

Hao Ren didn't have time to argue with the data terminal because he found that the report he had published was instantly locked by the data link on the homepage of all channels and pushed to the network of every civilization in the entire universe with the highest priority. Immediately after that, brief responses from various regions erupted like a screen-sweeping torrent:

"Unencrypted Report - Targeted Reply, Dan-Tuin Civilization Circle acknowledges, will launch an investigation."

"Unencrypted Report - Targeted Reply, Chandar Civilization Circle acknowledges, will launch an investigation."

"Unencrypted Report - Targeted Reply, Suha Satellite Station acknowledges, forwarded to all merchant guilds, will launch an investigation."

"...Campbell Civilization Circle acknowledges, will launch an investigation."

Every civilization circle in this universe that was qualified to stand on the stage of the stars was bound to be connected to the data link provided by the Empire, and only the Empire's spokespersons were qualified to publish official announcements on this link. These announcements were always the most important information on the link: without exception, they were related to the rise and fall of civilizations and even the fate of the entire universe. Hao Ren was in the midst of it and therefore didn't realize how significant the things he had experienced so far were, but the listeners of the data link wouldn't underestimate his broadcast because of this.

These explosive, serious, and earnest replies from various interstellar civilizations made Hao Ren feel dizzy, as if he had suddenly become a big shot, which even made him a little embarrassed. But soon, his inspector colleagues gave him some tranquilizers in the official announcement-specific information exchange channel, making Hao Ren realize that he was really just a rookie:

"Where's the pic? - Dan-Tuin Civilization Circle Inspector Tunara."

"You clicked 'attach file' but didn't click 'upload,' right? - Kelson Vorff Civilization Circle Inspector Loken."

"No pics, no truth - Campbell Civilization Circle Inspector Ron."

"Don't panic, newbie. Shaking hands with a fellow newbie. Don't be like those old guys - Arcturus Civilization Circle Senior Inspector Vandal•Kouke."

Hao Ren: "..."

This work environment is just too f*cking awful.