Chapter 39: Master Control Brain, Please Discard Them

The spaceship’s maximum flight speed within the lower atmosphere could reach ten times the speed of sound, so a journey of over a thousand kilometers only took Lin Lei ten minutes.

Lin Lei turned off the spaceship’s outer force field and slowly descended onto the small island that produced Leto Raw Stones.

He had to be extremely careful; after all, Leto Raw Stones were sensitive to various field-like substances, and they would explode violently if the limit was exceeded.

On this trip, Lin Lei intended to replenish the spaceship’s energy reserves as much as possible. Fifty tons—it was estimated that all the Leto Raw Stones on the surface of the entire island would have to be scraped clean, and even then, it might not be enough.

Now a problem arose: after exceeding the critical field intensity, the rate at which Leto Raw Stones released energy was very stable, and the fusion furnace was not very large, so consuming fifty tons of raw stones would take some time.

So, after collecting a large pile of raw stones to stuff the fusion furnace full, the two of them patiently waited for it to consume them, which usually took half a day.

Lin Lei and Fuweili now had some free time to look around inside the spaceship; both were quite curious about what was on board.

Besides the main control room, there were many other compartments on the spaceship. Apart from three that were obviously for living, Fuweili couldn’t quite figure out the specific functions of the other large rooms.

However, the two of them had finally said goodbye to their days of being naked. They found some clothes made of special materials—clothes that had been preserved for eighty million years.

The style of the clothes was strange, and they were not very long. When Lin Lei wore them, they were tight and stretched, completely becoming bodysuits, which was very uncomfortable.

Fuweili was lucky; hers fit quite well.

“Wei, look, if I add a cape and put an ‘S’ on my chest, I’ll become Superman,” Lin Lei said, laughing as he looked at his outfit.

“Superman? What is that?”

“A superhuman imagined by people from a certain country on Earth, who wears his underwear on the outside and takes saving the world as his duty.”

“I don’t think you look like one. You don’t have the characteristic of wearing underwear on the outside. Also, why would you Earthlings be accustomed to wearing those short garments that only cover the reproductive organs? I think that has little practical significance, especially when worn on the outside,” Fuweili said, her face full of confusion.

Uh, Lin Lei didn’t know how to answer. He stammered for a long while before saying, “Is there no such thing as underwear in the history of Apocalypse Star civilization?”

Fuweili tilted her head and thought for a moment: “Perhaps there was, perhaps there wasn’t. I don’t research this. But there certainly isn’t any now. We only wear single-piece suits because they are powerful enough to meet the body’s various needs.”

Lin Lei was puzzled. He grinned and said, “Just like Combat Suits, they are all skin-tight?” If that were true, his wife’s figure would be completely exposed for everyone to see.

Seeing Lin Lei’s weird expression, Fuweili knew what he was thinking. Her face turned red, and she rolled her eyes at him, saying, “How is that possible? That would be too unimaginative. Clothing and decoration are part of a civilization, reflecting its unique characteristics!”

Oh, that was good then. In the imagination of people from a certain country on Earth, aliens all wore shiny, skin-tight suits. Thinking about it now, that was just baseless speculation.

At this moment, they arrived outside a tightly closed silver-gray door, not knowing what was inside.

“Master Control Brain, open this door,” Lin Lei ordered.

The door slowly slid open, and a stream of white cold air swept past their feet.

Lin Lei hadn’t even seen the situation inside clearly yet when Fuweili screamed from behind him and burrowed directly into his arms.

…What was going on? Lin Lei was a bit confused. He could now see the situation inside the door clearly; wasn’t it just a row of standing black shadows? What was so scary about that?

“Lei, don’t you think the way they are arranged looks a lot like hibernation pods? If there are people or things lying inside, wouldn’t that be scary?” Fuweili buried her face in Lin Lei’s arms and spoke in a muffled voice.

Lin Lei felt dizzy; how could this woman’s brain work so fast? He hadn’t even seen the situation clearly yet, and she had already thought so much and triggered a sense of fear! He really didn’t know what was going on inside that little head of hers.

“Don’t be afraid, I’m here. Let’s go in and take a look,” Lin Lei patted Fuweili’s back to comfort her.

“No, I’ll wait for you at the door.”

“Alright then, I’ll go in and look.” Lin Lei walked in and looked around the compartment.

The area wasn’t large; aside from that row of standing long boxes, there was nothing else.

Lin Lei counted; there were seven long boxes in total. He didn’t know what was inside them. Could it really be as Fuweili said?

As soon as he thought of Fuweili, she ran in from outside the door, sticking closely to Lin Lei’s side. It turned out she found being alone outside even more terrifying, so it was better to stay by Lin Lei’s side.

“Master Control Brain, what is this compartment for, and what are these black boxes?”

The gentle voice of the Master Control Brain rang out from the ubiquitous speakers on the spaceship: “This compartment is a hibernation room for long-term interstellar travel. Placed here are hibernation pods for use by spaceship members.”

“Open all hibernation pods!” Lin Lei continued to order.

“Detected that Captain Lin Lei has full control authority over the spaceship. Master Control Brain is opening the hibernation pods…”

“Hibernation pods number one, two, five, and seven are damaged. The hibernating organisms inside have died and have fused and solidified with the life-support liquid.”

“Hibernation pods number three, four, and six are in an idle state and opening normally.”

So they really were hibernation pods, and there were eighty-million-year-old antiques lying inside. “Fused and solidified with the life-support liquid”—didn’t that just mean they died, rotted, and finally turned into a pulp before solidifying? Oh, it was indeed a bit disgusting, but after eighty million years, it didn’t matter much. Apart from feeling it was a bit of a pity, Lin Lei didn’t really feel much.

Fuweili, however, was in a bad way. She was very smart to begin with, and after listening to Chinese for so long, she could understand it perfectly. Her face was now pale white, and she could almost imagine the tragic state inside the hibernation pods.

“Master Control Brain, discard the damaged hibernation pods,” Fuweili almost screamed.

“Request received from the second authorized person. Captain, please confirm execution?” The Master Control Brain’s voice was as calm as ever.

Of course, Lin Lei wouldn’t keep these things; otherwise, Fuweili would be terrified. “Confirm execution!”

As soon as the words fell, the four life-support pods were received into the walls of the spaceship. He didn’t know how they would be discarded—surely they wouldn’t just be thrown directly under the spaceship? Lin Lei remembered that below the spaceship was the beach, the path they had to take to collect raw stones.

Lin Lei imagined the scene of the four hibernation pods lying in a mess on the island, and he felt a chill in his heart. He hoped it wouldn’t be like that.

It seemed that the dried corpse in the main control room was the unlucky one left behind to execute the hibernation procedure.

However, eighty million years had passed, so it was meaningless to say who was unlucky and who was lucky. At least that dried corpse was still physically intact, whereas the four in the hibernation pods had rotted beyond recognition.

That dried corpse was easy to deal with; he just had to order the Master Control Brain to discard it. Lin Lei quietly gave the command to the Master Control Brain. The spaceship just replied with “Command received,” and he didn’t know how it would execute it.

Additionally, the two of them found a cold storage room, but there was no food left inside, so that needed to be replenished.

The charging was finished. Lin Lei prepared to go to the Hebrew Continent to replenish food and also retrieve Wild Beast Meng, assuming it was lucky enough not to have been eaten by other beasts.

After messing around for most of the day, the Leto Raw Stones in the spaceship were almost exhausted, so the two went out again to search for raw stones.

As soon as they left the spaceship, Lin Lei was embarrassed. The spaceship was indeed labor-saving; it had just thrown the four hibernation pods and the dried corpse right under the ship. One of the hibernation pods had even fallen open, revealing a semi-transparent black solid inside, and a skeleton could be seen within the solid.

In other words, that semi-transparent black solid was the product of the body corrupting and solidifying after mixing with the life-support liquid. It must have been very tragic at the time, but now it had all turned into fossils, so it wasn’t disgusting anymore.

Lin Lei thought this way, but Fuweili didn’t. She vomited as soon as she saw it. Although she wasn’t very scared seeing it during the day, her rich imagination would complete a series of follow-up processes, especially when she saw that dried corpse.

“Lei, get them away quickly, I… I…” Fuweili was so anxious her face turned even paler, and she couldn’t even speak.

Lin Lei had nothing to say. He could only blame the spaceship for its poor way of disposing of bodies. The Master Control Brain treated this place as outer space, thinking that throwing things out would be the end of it. Lin Lei quickly threw the things on the beach far into the sea.

May they rest in peace!

This was just a small episode, but the consequence was that while on the spaceship, Fuweili clung to Lin Lei even more, almost never leaving his side.

Well, when Fuweili first arrived on Blue Rain Star, she could still pull out a gun to fight back when she saw Lin Lei. Now, she was tending towards being weak and sensitive. Lin Lei couldn’t figure out the reason, but he didn’t care; they were supposed to rely on each other.

Recharging on the island took Lin Lei two months. The Leto Raw Stones on the surface of the island were almost completely scraped away.

Towards the end, if Lin Lei hadn’t found a few large Leto Raw Stones in the shallow sea near the island, the spaceship’s energy might not have been fully charged.

Of course, fully charging the energy was just the first step. Lin Lei also stored about ten tons of Leto Raw Stones in the spaceship for emergencies, all of which were found in the waters around the island.

Now the spaceship had enough energy to accelerate to a low light speed of 0.1C in outer space. The two only needed to go to the Hebrew Continent to stock up on food and enough fresh water for the spaceship’s life support system cycle, and then they could set off.

Lin Lei had evolved from a primitive barbaric era to a quasi-interstellar era. On the scale of Blue Rain Star, no distance could stop his footsteps.

Returning to the Hebrew Continent only took a few minutes.

Lin Lei landed the spaceship in front of that cave; there were still some things inside that needed to be taken away.

Such as a large quantity of un-thorned thorn fruits, and some warm animal skins.

Fuweili planned to make another piece of clothing for Lin Lei. Looking at the nondescript outfit he was wearing now, she felt awkward just looking at it.

Indeed, although this tight suit showed off Lin Lei’s perfect muscles containing endless power, they were going back to the civilized world, and Fuweili didn’t want him to attract the eyes of other women.

Hmph, these could only be appreciated by herself, so the making of a loose animal skin coat was imperative.

However, as soon as the two entered the cave, they found a surprise. Wild Beast Meng was actually inside! It had lost weight but looked even more capable, yet its eyes were still filled with a gentle spirit.

Seeing Lin Lei, Meng was also very excited. It pounced directly at him, its big head rubbing against Lin Lei’s body. It had spent the last few months hungry one moment and full the next, often in life-threatening danger, which had been quite enough for it.

Now that this powerful creature had returned, it was naturally happy. In its ignorant little head, the impression that Lin Lei was its master had initially formed.

A master was someone to rely on, a powerful creature where there was food and drink, and no need to worry about danger.

“Heh heh.” Lin Lei patted Meng’s head with some emotion. Since they were fated, he would take it with him.