Chapter 21: Prehistoric Spaceship

Inside was a spacious area, roughly dozens of meters high and covering an area of nearly a thousand square meters. The entire space was filled with dim, yellowish light.

This was not the reason Lin Lei was shocked. What made him lose his composure was the spaceship parked right in the middle of the grounds.

Yes! A spaceship. The moment he saw it, that was the first impression it gave.

It looked to be over two hundred meters long, shaped like a sleek semi-circle. It was slender, beautiful, and harmonious. On the concave side of the semi-circle was a row of engine exhaust ports; there were seven or eight of them, varying in size.

At the very top, there was a slight transparent bulge, offering a glimpse of the complex control instruments inside.

“System, is this a spaceship? Why is it here, and why is no one guarding it?” Lin Lei’s voice trembled with excitement.

He knew what this meant. It meant the hope of traveling the Universe.

“Scanning target aircraft information.”

“Scan complete. This aircraft belongs to the low-level acceleration spaceship category. Maximum cosmic speed is 0.1C.”

“Propulsion: Plasma thruster. Energy utilization rate is 98%, capable of providing an acceleration of 15m/s2.”

“The spaceship contains a standard life support system, capable of sustaining ten Earthlings for 50 Earth years simultaneously.”

“This spaceship has maintained this state for 80.4 million years. It was built by the prehistoric civilization of Blue Rain Star and is currently an ownerless object.”

Lin Lei’s excited mood was immediately doused with a basin of water, and ice water at that. An antique from over eighty million years ago was good enough if it hadn’t fallen apart. It definitely couldn’t be used.

“Due to the primary force field protection maintained by the ultra-stable geothermal heat of Blue Rain Star, the spaceship can still function normally to this day.”

The System knew what Lin Lei was thinking and immediately added this sentence. This sentence was a stimulant, causing Lin Lei’s heart to beat power fully all of a sudden.

“System, so can I drive it out now?” With the System present, the driving method wasn’t a problem. As long as this thing worked, that was fine.

“Current spaceship energy reserve is zero. Unable to perform flight.”

“Then where do I find energy!?” Don’t toy with people like this. Can it fly or not? Can’t you just say it clearly in one sentence?

“Plasma thruster operation requires propellant and powerful electrical energy. The propellant storage in the spaceship is intact, but the electrical energy reserve is zero. Unable to operate.”

Where on earth was he supposed to get electrical energy? Was he supposed to rub his hands together to generate electricity? He guessed that even if he rubbed his hands off, the spaceship wouldn’t react.

Lin Lei was thoroughly depressed. It was like finding out you won five million during a number check, only to turn around and realize you couldn’t find the lottery ticket. The pain was indescribable.

Forget it, forget it. It seemed he was ultimately just a passerby in the long life of this spaceship.

In the end, Lin Lei realized he was purely there to buy soy sauce. This truly made him sigh with regret. Such an ownerless treasure was actually just a background prop. Fate was truly playing tricks on him.

Lin Lei took one last look at the dazzling spaceship and left dejectedly. Without energy, it was meaningless for him to enter the spaceship. It would only invite sadness.

It wasn’t that Lin Lei had never seen a spaceship before. In fact, he had seen ones much more advanced than this. The spaceships of the Layite People could cross interstellar space in just a few months. Their technology was far beyond what this spaceship could compare to.

But those belonged to others. This one, Lin Lei could own for himself. Just imagine the feeling of owning a spaceship; any man’s heart would race.

Sigh. Although he couldn’t own it now, he should at least remember this place and keep it as a thought. In case he ran into some incredible luck later and actually found a suitable energy source, he could come back and drive it out.

“System, mark a coordinate here.”

“Host request received… Marking complete.”

Lin Lei resolutely stepped out of the primary Protective Force Field and closed the round door.

At this moment, his perspective on this underwater passage was different.

He discovered many traces of artificial work, and even saw a set of remains that had become fossilized, which looked a bit like a human skeleton.

“System, restore the appearance of this set of remains when it was alive.”

“Collecting data, building basic model… Image restored.”

Seeing the image sent by the System in his mind, Lin Lei was startled. This appearance was less like a human and more like the Bulin Beast on the Floating Island.

Aside from having longer legs, a taller height, and more distinct fingers, its face was very similar to the Bulin Beast.

The Bulin Beast was simply a miniature version of this prehistoric creature from Blue Rain Star.

Connecting this place, which could be called an underwater base, with that spaceship whose technology surpassed Earth’s, Lin Lei fell silent. This was a civilization on the verge of stepping out of the planet and into the Universe.

This civilization ultimately failed to escape the world-destroying cycle that occurred every ninety million years and vanished into the dust of history.

In comparison, the disaster of Earth, in the eyes of those higher civilizations, was merely a common accidental fire.

The Layite People could completely explain it as Earthlings going mad, while they simply failed to control the situation. Afterward, the Layite People did exactly that.

Aggressors accusing the invaded of resisting too fiercely—such a laughable matter to Earthlings was taken for granted by the high-level civilizations of the Universe.

They thought the Layite People just wanted the abundant rhodium isotopes in the Earth’s mantle, and naturally, they would arrange a way out for the Earthlings. Symbolic resistance was acceptable, but why take things to the extreme?

Lin Lei learned all this later in the Ecological Sphere. He didn’t find it hard to understand this logic of the strong, but he couldn’t accept it. So he walked out, alone in the Universe, looking for a chance to turn the tables for the Earthlings. That was all.

Lin Lei sat down against the smooth wall, which emitted a faint glow. He needed to recover his strength. The System’s outburst just now had consumed a full half of his body’s energy.

He didn’t know if that big octopus outside was still there, or if it was waiting to take revenge on him.

He dared not speculate on the behavior of a species that survived from the previous era using the logic of ordinary beasts.

Any creature that achieved a certain level of success, regardless of its intelligence level, would make one pay the price for underestimating it.

He dared not go out through this entrance. He had to find another exit. If this was truly an underwater base for intelligent creatures, it shouldn’t have only one exit.

Even a cunning rabbit knows to have three burrows. A civilization capable of creating such heights shouldn’t be stupider than a rabbit.

The seawater depth here was only over 2,000 meters. It should be close to the continental shelf of the Hebrew Continent. Perhaps he was on the continental slope right now.

Lin Lei felt motivated. He searched through the passages one by one, tapping on the walls, trying to discover anything different.

He was much more serious than someone looking for a martial arts manual in a wuxia novel. That was for the desire to become stronger; Lin Lei was doing this for his own life. The two couldn’t be mentioned in the same breath.

But reality ruthlessly disappointed Lin Lei. Nearly ninety million years had passed. It was a miracle among miracles that this place was preserved so well. How could he hope for an even more elusive passage?

A single major geological change would be enough to make it impossible for even the builders to find.

Ninety million years was not a short time for a planet. It was truly time enough to turn the ocean into mulberry fields.

Out of options, Lin Lei steeled himself and prepared to go out through the entrance. He poked his head around the entrance for a long time. Using the faint light at the bottom of the sea, he saw no sign of the Loki Beast for a long time.

So, it left? Lin Lei thought so, but he still felt as if something was watching him from outside. He didn’t dare to take the risk. Being cautious, he prepared to wait inside the cave for a while longer.

Finding a good spot, Lin Lei gave an order to the System: “System, keep my body’s oxygen consumption at the minimum. Lower all physiological activities to the lowest point. Wake me up in five days.”

How does time pass the fastest? Sleeping is the fastest, of course. If that big guy was still outside, let it wait foolishly. Hehe.

As soon as the thought crossed his mind, Lin Lei tilted his head, stretched his legs, and went into hibernation.

…

Outside the cave, the furious Loki Beast lay in ambush behind the underwater mountain range. It extended only tiny tentacles to sense the water flow outside the cave. If anything came out, it would detect it immediately.

The Loki Beast vowed revenge! It absolutely could not tolerate being hurt by a little thing it regarded as a snack!

On the first day, there was no movement, and it remained incredibly patient.

On the second day, there was still no movement, and it became a bit anxious.

On the third day, there was likewise no movement. It began to suspect that its eyes were playing tricks on it. Had that little thing not gone in at all and escaped long ago?

On the fourth day, overcome by hunger, it glanced angrily at the entrance and left helplessly. It seemed that little thing had run away long ago. It was truly out of luck; not only did it not eat the snack, but it also lost two thick tentacles.

On the fifth day, Lin Lei woke up. He observed the situation at the entrance. Hmm, that potential pressure was gone. It seemed that big guy had really left.

Lin Lei stretched his limbs, had the System calibrate the direction, and then, as if his butt was on fire, he swam in a streak towards the mainland to the east.

As for the prehistoric spaceship here, he would wait until he had enough good luck to find energy.