Chapter 1 The Essence of 'Alien Monsters'

Yu Sheng’s words, "alien monsters," are essentially a general term referring to all entities that might pose a threat to astronauts, possibly causing life-threatening dangers.

This includes potentially living aliens, autonomous defense robots, automatic gatekeeping facilities, and a range of other existences. Of course, true alien monsters are included, and even the possibility of spacecraft transforming into giant robots, biological ships morphing into massive amoebas, or biochemical monsters have been considered and countermeasures designed by Earth.

[After all, they are civilizations from the same era as the immortals and gods. They soared through the stars thousands of years ago. It's not surprising that their defense measures, or the lifespan of individuals, can exceed thousands or even tens of thousands of years. To be honest and without arrogance, our Earth civilization is actually descended from those civilizations.]

Yu Sheng said with emotion, [Of course, they may have died long ago, and any automatic defense measures may have been shut down by the immortals and gods, but we must use the most humble attitude to consider the most dangerous possibilities. Only in this way can we go far.]

[Careful and prudent, anticipating the enemy, this is the way to coexist with the world.]

"Yes, survival is the most important thing."

Su Zhou deeply agreed. As everyone knows, he has always been careful and cautious, acting meekly in the face of unknown powerful enemies, and striking hard against enemies he can defeat. Caution is the key to long-lasting success, and this has always been his guiding principle.

In fact, this is also the guiding ideology of the Zhengguo Aerospace Administration, namely, soft response. Earthlings are actually very hopeful that there are still living aliens. Through communication with aliens, they can quickly understand the situation of the universe and use it as a breakthrough to quickly crack alien technology.

Therefore, Su Zhou is often reminded that if he discovers intelligent aliens, then he should ensure their basic human rights while ensuring his personal safety. As long as the other party does not use weapons of mass destruction, then the human side cannot use them either, and Su Zhou had best not take action, to avoid accidentally injuring innocent alien friends.

"Don't eat them at the slightest disagreement!"

This was Dao Sheng's worried instruction during a previous meeting, and An Tuo, the Water Qilin, and Jin Qiong's eyes were wet with emotion.

"Look at what you're saying, I'm nostalgic and never eat unfamiliar creatures," Su Zhou replied reassuringly—causing the others to become even more tearful.

The test ended, and Su Zhou's body data and combat data in the lunar environment had been roughly collected.

Although it was not the real moon, the test area could simulate at least 95% of the lunar elements, and the lunar landing plan would not begin for several months. Who knew how much Su Zhou's strength would improve by then? Therefore, there was no need to be too rigorous this time, knowing a rough estimate was enough.

"I'm leaving."

After passing through three layers of disinfection measures, Su Zhou changed back into his original clothes in the locker room. While using his spiritual power to control the clothes to put themselves on, he said to the camera next to him, [Yan Sheng—or rather, Yan Sheng's clone, do I have any more tasks?]

And as Su Zhou casually asked, a voice sounded from the broadcasting equipment in the locker room, [No, Professor Su, you have free time now. Your vehicle has arrived at the entrance of the test area and you can leave at any time. Have a good trip.]

"Okay."

Su Zhou had long been accustomed to the ubiquitous Yan Sheng. He naturally knew that Yan Sheng had already copied many 'information sub-bodies' that were connected to his own thinking based on his soul information, to contact the Sages and key figures like him at any time.

It must be said that having such a great figure move with you cannot be said to be uncomfortable. At least if there are any problems, you can directly contact Yan Sheng. Of course, if Su Zhou needs to deal with any problems, then the Sages can also ask Su Zhou to take action, which is convenient for both parties.

As for privacy... well, as Su Zhou, who controls lightning techniques, he can only let the other party see if he wants them to. Otherwise, with Su Zhou's current strength, he can completely interfere with all electromagnetic signals within a few kilometers of himself. If the purpose is to destroy, he could paralyze half the city. Monitoring privacy is simply nonsense, and the Zhengguo side would not be so tactless as to specifically monitor him.

Leaving the simulated lunar test site, Su Zhou stood at the entrance of the test site and looked back at this huge semi-circular space completely wrapped in special materials—this place was originally Zhengguo's new weapon test site, a place to test the power of various tanks, artillery, and high-performance weapons. However, due to the discovery of other worlds, most of the weapon experiments have been sent to the Beast God Realm and the Tianchi Realm, and these domestic test sites have been converted into various other functional places.

This is a desert area located in the northwest of Zhengguo, next to a military base. In the endless desert, you can vaguely see some military multi-functional terrain vehicles driving in the desert. It is a kind of spider-like bionic vehicle that can use tracks or walk, and can cross various complex terrains. It is currently being tested and is expected to replace light vehicles in the future, specializing in dealing with disputes in cities and expanding mountain combat power.

And the vehicle that Su Zhou and others will be riding for the lunar operation is also a specially made lunar vehicle of the same type. Before his test, Su Zhou had already seen the tests for these vehicles at the control console, and they were quite good.

"I really don't know if technology is really advancing so fast, or if I just couldn't access this aspect before, and the parts that were hidden from ordinary people are now being shown to me after my level has increased."

Perhaps both are true.

Su Zhou shrugged his shoulders, turned around, and saw a black car that looked extremely ordinary had automatically driven up to him.

Click, the car door opened automatically, and the soft voice of the in-car AI sounded: "Hello, Mr. Su, please get in. Or do you need some more time to deal with other matters?"

"No, take me out of the no-fly zone."

Su Zhou casually replied, then entered the back seat. He could see that the driver's seat was empty, but the steering wheel and accelerator were automatically turning and rising and falling. The voice came again from the high-end car that looked ordinary, but whose armor was so thick that even tank guns couldn't penetrate it: "Would you like a drink?"

"Some yogurt."

The car started and sped away, extremely smoothly.

Fully automatic car. This can also be regarded as a newly emerging novelty. Nowadays, there are more and more intelligent AIs serving people in this world. It is said that Yan Sheng's research has made a breakthrough, but some say that artificial intelligence has already been secretly serving, but it has only recently begun to be announced to the public.

If it were before, some people might have panicked because the emergence of artificial intelligence would take away their jobs, but now, because of the citizen points system and the emergence of cultivation, most people are not too concerned about this issue—having AI handle complicated and trivial matters allows them to have more time to cultivate.

On the fully automatic car side, after collecting two years of data, the original on-board AI has once again evolved. Su Zhou knows that in addition to artificial intelligence, each on-board AI has a 'Yuanling' (artificial soul) specially designed and built by a refining master.

Artificial intelligence, coupled with an artificial soul, combined together, is a fusion that far exceeds the efficiency of the sum of the two. Their control and driving accuracy is comparable to professional racing drivers. As long as you are not afraid of danger, and completely entrust the control to the on-board AI, even ordinary people who have never driven a car can enjoy the thrill of driving on mountain roads and continuous drifting on Akina Mountain.

In fact, Douyin and Kuaishou are already full of videos showing off AI car skills, and the safety is really first-class. AI is definitely the best driver in the world, unless you need services that break traffic laws, such as speeding, the AI can't do it. Their programs are locked in this regard.

On the side of the car, a small refrigerator popped out, and Su Zhou casually picked a bottle of yogurt from it—after all, he doesn't drink or smoke, and rarely drinks carbonated drinks. He is a healthy and sound new era young man, and drinking yogurt is normal.

Afterwards, the AI asked some more questions, and Su Zhou didn't even reply, just waved his hand, and the AI stopped asking, showing great intelligence in this regard.

And this intelligent fully armored black high-end car was naturally not bought by Su Zhou himself, but was used by the 'New World Exploration Department'.

After all, although Su Zhou's current department is currently a completely empty unit, a one-man command, to be honest, even if this department only has Su Zhou, it can't be said to be shabby at all.

"But no matter how I think about it, one of the Thirty-Six Sages, this step can be considered to have reached the extreme—no matter how I think about it, it's too fast."

Sitting in the car, drinking yogurt, Su Zhou clicked his tongue: "Speaking of which, it seems that the leadership of the transcendent aspects of major forces around the world are becoming younger."

He also knew very well that although his situation could be called unprecedented, it was not that there were no similar people in other parts of the world.

Just like in Dongying, the conservative old guard is now in full collapse, and the reformist Prime Minister who has taken office is named 'Kasumigaoka Yurushi', and seems to be only in his thirties. This is even more exaggerated than himself for the Prime Minister's position in Dongying, where the average age is fifty or sixty.

And the first thing this Prime Minister did after taking office was to sign all the death penalty sentences that Dongying had accumulated over the years, even if the other party was backed by a large financial group, it can be said to be full of courage... After all, supporting him is almost the entire Dongying transcendent class, and he himself is a peak transcendent cultivator.

Faced with this force, even the Dongying gate valves and financial groups have no power to fight back.

Thinking carefully, even the mysterious organization is the same, isn't the new leader of the Convocation only in his twenties? Although he hasn't seen the main body, through the vision shared by the snake attachment technique, Su Zhou can also confirm that the other party is very young.

"After this experiment, I should be able to formulate an exploration strategy based on my strength. It's a pity that the launch vehicle is still being tested and calculated, otherwise, it is estimated that we can set off within this year, instead of waiting until March next year."

Muttering to himself, a projection float frame also appeared in front of Su Zhou—that was the timetable projected for him by the on-board AI, which had collected keywords, indicating that the current time was November 23, 2016, and the scheduled launch time for the exploration rocket was after March 21, 2017.

It's almost the end of the year. Watching this time, Su Zhou couldn't help but nod: "Before going to the moon, it's almost time to go back to the Shenmu World."

"I don't know how Qiming is preparing now. Coincidentally, I'll go back to Hongcheng and ask."

At this time, the speeding car also left the no-fly zone next to the military base.

Noticing this, Su Zhou immediately stopped the AI, opened the door and went out, preparing to fly back to Hongcheng himself. He told the AI: "I'm going back to Hongcheng, you drive back to Xijing yourself, you should have my account, right? If you run out of gas, go and pay for it yourself."

"Okay, sir." The on-board AI's tone was always so gentle. Afterwards, it started itself and drove towards the road.

And Su Zhou also flew into the high altitude, Lan Jia started, preparing to enter supersonic flight mode.

Although he does have the authority to fly in the military area, sometimes, it's not that you have the right to use it, why bother making the military area alert for no reason? There are also various special declarations and post-event records.

Su Zhou has always been gentle, kind to others, and doesn't like to cause trouble.

The process of flying has no meaning. It didn't take long for the human rocket Su Zhou to arrive at his hometown of Hongcheng while cultivating and flying.

And in the process of descending, Su Zhou crossed layers of rain clouds, he could see the city below him, shining in the rain with bursts of winter drizzle.

Huge 3D projection advertisements were flashing and floating in the city center square, and bright neon lights were adorning its surroundings. Tall buildings in the rain, with dim tones setting off the lights emitted from their interiors. A large number of automatically driven new cars were shuttling back and forth on the wide roads and newly built overpasses.

It sounds very cyberpunk—

But in fact, just looking at the content of the advertisements, it's not cyberpunk at all.

[Fulu City's new-style earthenware pot soup, new cooking techniques, spiritually-filled soup, the best choice for the new era!]

[Sanhao Family's new automatic barbecue, different craftsmanship, absolutely attentive service, beef and mutton cultivated with the latest technology from the Beast God Realm, the flavor of another world, why not come and taste it?]

[The real Hongcheng people's hot pot! I can already feel your desire! Spicy! Extremely spicy! Powerfully spicy! Fifty times the spiciness, such a detestable hot pot, who in this world can resist it?!]

Bright red advertisements were flashing in the center of the city.

If this can be considered cyberpunk, then at most it's cyberpunk gourmet.

"What?!"

The food advertisements showing off new technologies immediately caused Su Zhou's heart to stir: "Fifty times the spiciness? What would that taste like... such a detestable hot pot, I really want to try it!"

And just as Su Zhou was thinking about when to find some time to eat this hot pot, Yala, who was disguised as Su Zhou's watch, raised her head: "Speaking of which, Su Zhou, you have completely mastered your supernatural powers and other powers recently, right?"

"Huh?"

Su Zhou just blinked at the snake spirit's words. He didn't quite understand what the other party wanted to express, and while descending in altitude, he replied with some confusion: "Yes, I have completely mastered it—the Devouring Demon Lord, the Fire of Sin, the Thunder Technique, the Wind Technique, the power of Water Control, and the Sacred Geometry, I have completely mastered—even the Heart of Musing that I obtained some time ago as well. As long as I accumulate a little more spiritual power, I can advance to the mid-stage of the Commander Realm."

The dividing point between the mid-stage of the Commander Realm and the early-stage of the Commander Realm lies in completely mastering one's own supernatural powers—if Su Zhou hadn't recently obtained the supernatural power of the Fire of Sin through his True Soul, and the supernatural powers of the Devouring Demon Lord had also been strengthened and needed to be mastered again, he would have advanced around early October.

"Well, the progress is indeed good, as expected of the person I have taken a liking to."

Yala has always been very satisfied with Su Zhou's cultivation speed, but soon, she changed the subject: "Since you have already reached this point, then you should have a multi-stage transformation now."