This was the second day after Yao Yuan released his two orders, and he sat in command central waiting patiently to be peppered with opinions and criticism. However, he didn’t expect the first one to visit him to be Qi Xiao Niao.

Yao Yuan frowned and said, "You heard wrong. I’m the captain, why would I a.s.sign myself an outstation mission? I need to be here to keep the s.h.i.+p afloat and the government running."

"Huh? Really?" Xiao Niao said in an excessively surprised tone. "But don’t you need to evade the crowd for a while after the release of the Containment Order and Logging Order? Aren’t you afraid the parties that want to get down to the surface and the nature lovers are going to crowd your office and question your decision? What do you say, shall we go down there for a temporary reprieve?"

Yao Yuan’s frown deepened as he activated his Thinker power. He tried to tease out the underlying meaning in what Xiao Niao was saying.

For one, Xiao Niao was personally present when they were discussing the release of those 2 orders. He should understand that the release was necessary to protect humanity from the dangers of their human desire. With Xiao Niao’s brilliance, he should know as much.

For another, even though Yao Yuan would be annoyed by those parties that would come bearing opinions and criticisms, he wished to meet them. He preferred to discuss his decision with these parties face-to-face to calm and inform them instead of allowing them to spread false rumors around the s.h.i.+p. As the captain, how could he have escaped due to fear of criticism? Where was he going to put his face then?

However, since Xiao Niao had purposely come to say such things, he must have something else in mind. As one of the only two Thinkers on the Hope, he couldn’t not see the two orders’ actual purpose. He must have been vying for another angle, but what could it be?

Is it…

Yao Yuan asked suddenly, "Why? Do you intend to follow me if I go on this reprieve?"

Xiao Niao snickered and said, "Of course. I too have the desire to see the blue sky, green gra.s.s, and plants. Instead of going on some mission, I’d rather follow you on a holiday."

Yao Yuan thought about it before adding with a nod, "Alright, we’ll go on this ‘holiday’ as you call it, but to be sure, I want you to go for a body check. There’s no medical help out there if you suddenly fall sick."

Xiao Niao laughed as he pulled out a medical report from his coat. "I’ve predicted as much. Since we’re going on a holiday, there has to be a body check, so here you go. As you can see, I’m not down with any ‘virus.’"

Yao Yuan read the report wordlessly. He focused on the part about Xiao Niao’s genetic mapping. The report was signed by Ivan and a few other scientists. Xiao Niao was clean as a whistle.

(It is as I’ve expected, he has some secret that he wants to tell me, something that can’t be revealed while we’re on the Hope. Since the report states clearly that he’s not under the control of some alien monster… Fine, he probably has something important to say.)

Yao Yuan thought about it some more. Currently, the Hope was running along just fine, there were no reports of emergency disasters, and Guang Zhen had a good hand over the military. The cleaning crews were going through the motions, and the Hall of Communications was handling the administrative part of the government well. It was absolutely fine for him to excuse himself for a few hours, even though it might disappoint the few parties that wanted to meet him to discuss the 2 orders. Yao Yuan laughed, thinking they would end up believing he was running because he was too afraid to meet them in person.

The two of them moved to the hangar and put on their s.p.a.ce armor. After Yao Yuan put on his red s.p.a.ce armor, Xiao Niao said, "How about we take one of the newer transport shuttles? They are the updated models that haven’t been field tested yet. We can take one and kill two birds with one stone."

Yao Yuan frowned and his brain started churning, but he didn’t voice his thoughts out loud. He merely nodded. He noticed that unlike him, Xiao Niao hadn’t reached for his weapons or gear, and it didn’t appear like he was going to do so. "That’s not a bad idea. Wait here, I’ll go fill in the required forms."

With Yao Yuan piloting, the pair left the Hope in the biggest transport shuttle the s.h.i.+p had. It moved further and further away from the Hope until the blue sea came into their view. Yao Yuan landed the shuttle on an isolated stretch of the beach and stared intently at Xiao Niao.

To his surprise, Xiao Niao said, "Aren’t you going to activate the creator’s particles generator? Aren’t you afraid those people are able to locate you? In the meantime, I’m going to go for a stroll. I wonder if this planet has crustaceans, like crabs."

Without waiting for a response, Xiao Niao strode towards the exit.

Yao Yuan took the hint and activated the shuttle’s creator’s particle generator. The shuttle was a new model and was still in need of modifications. It was more of an armored shuttle than a transport shuttle. It had a built-in creator’s particle generator and a small polymerized reactor.

After Yao Yuan descended from the shuttle, he realized that Xiao Niao had wandered outside of the 100 meter range that was unaffected by the creator’s particle. He walked to him wordlessly until he was within 1 meter of Xiao Niao. Only then did he ask, "Get on with it; what is it that made you act so weirdly? Could it be that you feel you’re being monitored on the Hope?"

Xiao Niao checked his status using his s.p.a.ce armor, and after he made certain that they were in the creator’s particle coverage, he admitted, "I am… no, we are being monitored, but I’m not sure who or what is doing the monitoring."

Yao Yuan frowned and asked, "What do you mean?"

Xiao Niao structured his thoughts and explained, "I’ll reveal everything to you in detail. It started way before you realized I was a h.o.m.o Evolutis. That day me, Qiu Qiu, and Dan Dan were playing a game of Star Craft 3 in the internet café when…"

Xiao Niao spoke at length until he concluded, "I have no idea what this is ZERO. To be honest, I thought she was just a random troll before this war we had with the mother nest. After all, what she was saying was simply impossible.

"However, she made true to her words, and we did stumble into a Zerg-like alien. It is impossible to tell whether this mother nest and the Zerg were one and the same, but you have to admit that their unique characteristics were way too similar. Even my latest conversation with ZERO proved that ZERO herself believed the mother nest was the Zerg. Can you believe this was all a coincidence? Or to put it another way, do you think a random n.o.body could make something that was obviously said in frustration a reality?"

Yao Yuan frowned and asked, "Do you mind if I ask what is this Star Craft 3? Is it a video game?"

Xiao Niao rolled his eyes, but he still patiently explained the game, especially emphasizing on the Zerg, their image, and their unique combat system.

"…Like I said, the Zerg in Star Craft 3 is an alien species that relies on absorbing genes from multiple species to evolve its own body to adapt to the s.p.a.ce environment. Its battle mechanics is almost the same as the mother nest that we’ve countered, which is a heavy reliance on the advantage of numbers."

"In other words, you suspect that this ZERO was behind our latest warp? She made us come into contact with the mother nest to prove to you that she is not a noob and that the actual Zerg exists in s.p.a.ce?"

Xiao Niao shrugged. "That is why we’re here. There is obviously something that I don’t know about the Hope. Do you know how much pressure I was under to schedule this meeting? On one hand, I needed to make sure ZERO couldn’t find out what I was up to, and on the other, to persuade you that I have important things to tell you but only in secret. The preemptive medical report to ensure I wasn’t infected by the alien and the deliberate motion to leave my weapons behind, the hoops I had to jump through. So how about it? Are you going to tell me the Hope’s secret?"

Yao Yuan hesitated only slightly before saying, "You do have the clearance to know about it, but I need you to promise that you won’t reveal anything to your two friends…"

Xiao Niao answered immediately, "I never intended to tell them in the first place. I didn’t even tell them about my latest conversation with ZERO."

Yao Yuan continued, "In a hidden compartment underneath the Hope’s mainframe, we found the source of the s.h.i.+p’s future-tech devices for things like the anti-gravitational system and s.p.a.ce-warping technology… It was an UFO, the one initially found by the US government in Tennessee."

"UFO? Inside the Hope?" Xiao Niao was shocked, then he questioned, "Are you pulling my leg? Why didn’t the eloped government official take off with it if it’s something that important?"

Yao Yuan replied with frustration, "I’ve been bothered by that too. There are still many mysteries surrounding this UFO, but one thing is certain: the UFO is real, and it is definitely the source of all the future-tech currently on the Hope…"

"Could it be that… ZERO is the UFO’s AI?"