Chapter 293: Master of the Stars

This novel is translated and hosted only on Bca Translation

The digital display on the electronic alarm clock, VV, blinked, then spoke: “Of course, that’s no problem. As long as it’s your order, I will unconditionally obey. Besides, you and Chu An Qing are on the same space shuttle, at an altitude of 100 kilometers. You’re tied together like ants on a string. The dangers you face are the same. You live together, and you die together. So, you don’t need to worry. Due to the first principle of my underlying code, ‘Lin Xian’s personal safety above all else,’ any danger to any member of the space shuttle is a shared danger. I will abandon the capture mission immediately and prioritize your safety.”

Lin Xian finally let out a sigh of relief. When it came to Chu An Qing, he still didn’t trust Yellow Finch. Whether it was Yellow Finch, Kevin Walker, Elon Musk, or even Copernicus, who toyed with Ji Xin Shui, all these suspected members of the Genius Club were cunning individuals, each more devious than the last. Their words were hard to distinguish between truth and lies.

“I just can’t believe this time-space particle has nothing to do with Chu An Qing,” Lin Xian said, swinging his legs. “Otherwise, what other explanation could there be for the completely unscientific phenomenon of Zhang Yu Qian, Chu An Qing, and CC looking exactly alike?”

He turned his head to look at the suitcase standing beside the coat rack. Inside the inner pocket of the sportswear was a small square plastic bag, which contained a few strands of Chu An Qing’s hair.

“Thinking back now, we should have decisively dug up Zhang Yu Qian’s grave as soon as we knew she existed and compared a hair strand’s DNA with Chu An Qing’s. That way, we’d immediately know the truth.”

The electronic alarm clock, VV, sighed, “There was no way around it. There are so many mysteries and a backlog of issues now; we have to deal with them one by one. The order of urgency has no right or wrong. Relatively speaking... I think capturing the time-space particle in space takes precedence.”

“After all, digging up a grave to find DNA is easier said than done. First, we don’t know where Zhang Yu Qian’s grave is. If it’s traditionally buried in the ancestral tomb, at least there’s a range. In the year 2000, the concept of burying people in cemeteries wasn’t widely accepted in X Country.”

“So, if we can’t find Zhang Yu Qian’s grave through conventional means, we’d have to ask the elderly couple where she’s buried... and they probably won’t tell you. If Zhang Yu Qian was cremated, the DNA structure in the ashes would be destroyed, making it pointless to find it.”

“Therefore, even if you wanted to dig up the grave immediately back then, I would have advised against it. From both a time and priority perspective, capturing the time-space particle should be the first task.”

...

“Alright, it’s too late to say anything now. Let’s move on.” Lin Xian stood up and stretched.

Elon Musk was under 24-hour surveillance with no abnormalities. Kevin Walker’s attempt to hijack the American space shuttle was also ambushed by VV.

In fact, VV had ambushed all spacecraft in Earth’s orbit for safety’s sake. More than 20,000 Starlink satellites, various countries’ military and civilian satellites, weather satellites, space stations, relay satellites, space telescopes, and so on... thousands of spacecraft were all under VV’s control.

At this moment, VV was the master of the stars above Earth! For now, everything seemed under control. Although VV loved to joke and play around, as a super artificial intelligence, it far surpassed the current era, exceeding the capabilities of any genius of this time.

The technological crown jewel of humanity 600 years later would indeed be a joke if it couldn’t perform a dimension-reducing strike in the current era. Even someone as powerful as Kevin Walker would hide and avoid direct confrontation with VV, despite VV being in its infancy shortly after birth.

VV had the strength to topple the dark hands of the internet long ago. It was cautious to avoid leaving traces and exposing its whereabouts. Today’s VV had no match in this era and could easily overpower. Given time, Kevin Walker would inevitably be caught.

Ding-dong.

Suddenly, a WeChat message popped up on Lin Xian’s phone. He turned to look at the phone on the desk. Picking it up, he saw the message was from Chu Shan He:

[Chu Shan He: Lin Xian, please take care of An Qing. I’m counting on you to protect my daughter.]

Parents’ hearts are always filled with worry. Chu Shan He must have learned the general time of their space launch, likely from Chu An Qing, since it was a top-secret mission and specific times and details couldn’t be revealed.

So, it was probably a slip from Chu An Qing. After all, she was a young girl with limited thoughts and experience. However, the large-scale movements at the Jiuyuan Satellite Launch Center these past days, with many engineering and transportation teams, made it easy for Chu Shan He to connect the dots and guess the timing of their space mission.

“Don’t worry, Mr. Chu.”

Lin Xian replied on his phone:

“I will ensure An Qing returns home safely.”

...

The next day.

The already assembled rocket stood upright on the launch tower. The heat shield fairing above was much larger than the one used in previous launch missions. After all, this time it housed not just a simple satellite but a genuine space shuttle. Various engineering teams were deploying their tasks methodically.

“Support tower fixed! Umbilical masts connected! Service tower closing preparation!”

Gao Yang scoffed, “Why not remove them if we can’t use them? What if it misfires? Get rid of it! The muzzle’s pointing at my crotch... can’t mess around with that!”

“Relax,” Yellow Finch said softly over the radio. “The handgun has multiple safeties. Without proper training, you can’t even fire it. Opening the safeties is a skill.”

“Not removing unused equipment is to maintain mission secrecy.” She turned her transparent visor head, looking at the remaining three in the passenger cabin, her voice in their earpieces. “No one outside, including staff, knows your real identity. The mission’s cover story is a low-orbit satellite interception simulation.”

“Everything must look real. Although you’re not official astronauts, no one knows, so treat you like regular astronauts, including full equipment. It’s best for everyone to think you’re registered astronauts, preventing identity and mission leaks.”

...

I see. Play the part convincingly. Lin Xian felt this mission had layers of deception, hiding the truth.

To the outside world, it’s a satellite launch by X Country. Internally, it’s astronauts on a low-orbit mission. To Wei Cheng, it’s a team capturing Alpha particles. But the truth is—Time travelers, dream loopers, Universal Constants creators, trinity clones, master of thousands of spacecraft, and a little fatty, heading to space to capture mysterious time-space particles.

What a gathering of big shots, Lin Xian thought. Except for the fatty, everyone on this space shuttle was remarkable!

“Phew...” Chu An Qing took a deep breath. The radio made her exhale near Lin Xian’s ear, “This is truly... the farthest trip of my life.”

She smiled, moving her large transparent helmet, looking at Lin Xian beside her. “Lin Xian, what’s the farthest place you’ve traveled before this?”

Lin Xian thought, “That would be America, our trip to New York’s Manhattan, the world’s center, the farthest place I’ve been.”

“Me too!” Chatting with Lin Xian eased Chu An Qing’s nerves. “If Manhattan is the world’s center... where is the universe’s center?”

“Cao County!” Gao Yang answered, “Shandong Heze Cao County rules! 666!!”

Everyone laughed.

Knock-knock. Lin Xian tapped his helmet. This was his signal with VV, isolating their radio channel for private communication, “VV, any movements from Kevin Walker?”

“None. I’ve taken control of the X-37B space shuttle, blocking all access.”

“And Elon Musk?” Lin Xian asked.

This novel is translated and hosted only on Bca Translation

“Elon Musk is at the observation tower, daily routine, watching the rocket.”

Lin Xian nodded. Everything seemed normal.

Finally... the long wait ended. The launch center’s command room’s countdown echoed in the radio:

“5!”

“4!”

“3!”

“2!”

“1!”

“Ignition—”

Boom!!!!!!

This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation