CH 13

Moonlit11-14 minutes 11.06.2023

TL: Moonlit

Wrapped in a bath towel, Shu Shuishui walked to Gu Langu’s side, staring at Gu Langu’s hand with an expression that seemed to say, ‘Come on, stretch out your hand.’

As Gu Langu complied with Shu Shuishui’s wish, placing his palm flat on the table, Shu Shuishui was satisfied. After taking a hot bath, it was a blissful moment for Shu Shuishui to wait for his fur to dry on such a beautiful hand.

In the gaze of Yu Jin, who had already lost the ability to react, Shu Shuishui first stepped on a corner of the towel to dry his paws, then stepped onto Gu Langu’s palm. After rubbing and drying off all the water droplets while wrapped in the towel, Shu Shuishui sat on Gu Langu’s hand and quietly waited for the moisture on his body to evaporate.

“You can continue your conversation, don’t mind me.” After sitting obediently for a while and seeing that the two of them were still silent, Shu Shuishui grinned with his characteristic cuteness, urging them. After all, he wanted to learn more about what a cold wave was.

Yu Jin “…”. This might be a bit difficult. He couldn’t ignore the lump of unknown creature on Gu Langu’s hand.

Indeed, Yu Jin couldn’t be sure what Shu Shuishui was anymore. He had never seen a talking mouse before, let alone one that was logical, understanding, polite, had a name, and could introduce itself.

Shu Shuishui, who crouched obediently, waiting for the conversation to continue: (＾-＾)

One minute later, Shu Shuishui: (＾-＾)

Two minutes later, Shu Shuishui: (＾-＾)

Three minutes later, Shu Shuishui stretched out its paw from the towel and rubbed its slightly sore cheeks. “Did you forget where you left off? Let me give you a starting point. Can you trace the source of the cold wave news? Can you confirm the authenticity of the information? Ready, set, go!”

Yu Jin “…”

Gu Langu’s eyelids also twitched, and he instinctively enclosed the little dormouse with both hands, afraid that after the starting point, the dormouse would suddenly become interested and start singing that seaweed song. At this moment, Gu Langu had no idea that this was a dormouse that loved seaweed dancing.

Shu Shuishui was caught off guard and was now trapped in Gu Langu’s hand. Its two little ears immediately trembled uncontrollably. These were a pair of hands so beautiful and perfect that Shu Shuishui’s attention was instantly diverted.

Gu Langu’s hand was wide and slender, giving an inexplicable sense of security. Sitting in his hand, Shu Shuishui couldn’t even see the outside world; the entire dormouse was enveloped in his palm. Gu Langu’s palm was warm, but Shu Shuishui didn’t know that to conserve energy, Gu Langu always kept his body temperature low, maintaining a low-energy state rather than a normal body temperature.

With its little head facing Gu Langu’s ring finger to see outside, Shu Shuishui used its paws to cling to the gap between Gu Langu’s ring finger and middle finger, trying to create a small opening to look outside.

However, Gu Langu didn’t grant Shu Shuishui’s wish; his palm remained motionless. Shu Shuishui wasn’t discouraged and just reached out its paws to touch Gu Langu’s hand, then revealed a “(￣ˇ￣)” expression.

Gu Langu’s hand didn’t have any roughness, which intrigued Shu Shuishui. Unable to resist, it kept touching and exploring.

Gu Langu couldn’t withstand Shu Shuishui’s harassment any longer. He slightly opened his fingers, revealing a gap between them for Shu Shuishui to see outside, but he didn’t release his grip.

Shu Shuishui behaved and greeted Yu Jin, who had already turned into stone outside the gap. “Hi~”

Yu Jin “…”. Today was definitely the most surreal day since he met Gu Langu. It felt like they were guarding the dormouse as if someone would steal it.

After a while, Yu Jin still couldn’t adapt, but Gu Langu was contemplating what to do with the dormouse in his hand. However, soon enough, Gu Langu didn’t need to ponder over the issue anymore because the little dormouse trapped in his hand had fallen asleep. Even the perceptive Gu Langu didn’t know when Shu Shuishui had fallen asleep.

Gu Langu opened his palm, and Shu Shuishui curled up into a ball, nestling in the center of the handkerchief. Although his fur hadn’t completely dried, he was already snoring peacefully.

Gu Langu: “…”. How did it fall asleep?

Yu Jin: “…”. It can fall asleep like this?

Both of them remained speechless for a moment. Finally, Gu Langu realized what to do, so he spread out his palm, placed Shu Shuishui on the table, and then took out a dry cotton handkerchief. He picked up Shu Shuishui and placed it in the center of the handkerchief, folding the corners of the handkerchief back to the center.

Yu Jin watched as Gu Langu deftly wrapped the dormouse and silently placed Shu Shuishui into the pocket on the chest of his jacket. Then he looked at Yu Jin, gesturing to continue the previous topic.

Without the warm brown bundle in sight, Yu Jin’s attention finally returned. “The news of the cold wave is said to have come from Zone B. Some people have seen Zone B preparing winter supplies. Perhaps Zone B obtained the information from the simulator’s missions. As for the electromagnetic storm, we don’t know if it will cover Zone C. The entire Zone C is in a state of panic.”

Compared to Zone B, Zone C already has inferior living conditions, insufficient resources, and an unfavorable environment. Now, with the addition of the electromagnetic storm, the survival space in Zone C has become even smaller. If the cold wave arrives early this year and Zone C doesn’t evacuate, it’s likely to result in heavy casualties.

Regarding weather forecasting, without any satellites or extraterrestrial detection devices, they can only rely on experience. However, on this extreme and ever-changing planet, experience isn’t very accurate, and discoveries are usually made late, often without enough time for a perfect response. That’s why the early arrival of news about a cold wave can cause panic.

Gu Langu, on the other hand, is different. His semi-mechanical nature allows him to manipulate machines more easily. He can create small scouts himself. Although they can’t fly out of the Battle Star, they are sufficient for gathering ground information. After investigating for a while, Gu Langu can basically confirm that the electromagnetic storm won’t expand within the next six months, so there’s no immediate need to worry about it in Zone C.

However, Gu Langu hasn’t detected any information about the cold wave. “We’ll wait until Brother Nan comes back before making a decision. Those who want to leave don’t need to be stopped.”

Yu Jin had already anticipated this outcome. “Even if we wanted to stop them, we couldn’t. But it’s fine. After all, we haven’t been on the Cang Zhan Star for long, and we don’t have deep roots here. There’s no need to force it.”

“You’re afraid that I’ll suddenly lose control and kill them all,” Gu Langu casually exposed the true reason. Many people were aware that Gu Langu was exiled to Cang Zhan Star and came here out of curiosity. However, after six months, Gu Langu hadn’t shown enough dominance. Instead, he adopted an attitude of indifference—allowing people to come and go without refusal or retention. This gradually disappointed many, making them think that the former war god was nothing more than that. In that case, why risk staying here, fearing that Gu Langu might suddenly lose control and kill them? It’s better to seek another path.

Yu Jin knew that Gu Langu didn’t care, but he continued his analysis. “The situation on Cang Zhan Star is more complicated than we imagined. Since it was a prison star, most of the people here were once powerful soldiers who fought on the battlefield. Do you really believe that the Xian Ge Galaxy will abide by the peace treaty? The war won’t stop.”

Gu Langu remained calm, apparently understanding everything Yu Jin said. The Xian Ge Galaxy, also known as the G Galaxy, is the only extraterrestrial civilization discovered and contacted in Cang Zhan Star. It was named after the mysterious audio vibrations constantly detected from that galaxy. The audio had certain patterns and was considered a cosmic song, hence the name Xian Ge1Xian Ge can be interpreted as Cosmic Song Galaxy.

The environment in the Xian Ge Galaxy is much harsher than the Cang Zhan Star, with few habitable planets. However, their technology has advanced rapidly. Just ten years after the Cang Zhan Star first detected the Xian Ge Galaxy, they arrived at the Cang Zhan Star using light-speed spacecraft.

This is also the origin of the war—the collision of two civilizations. If they can’t merge, they can only consume each other.

The process doesn’t need to be reiterated. The mechanical level of the Xian Ge people far surpasses that of the Cang Star system. In the Cang Star system, Gu Langu, a perfect fusion of semi-mechanical components, is considered a miracle. However, in the Xian Ge system, fully intelligent robots have long been developed. They have human-like appearances but are even more powerful than humans.

Gu Langu took advantage of the Xian Ge people’s almost universal mechanization to launch an attack on the ruling AI brain of the robots. That war, which was said to have annihilated both sides, resulted in a tremendous cost.

Gu Langu’s attack caused a crisis in Xian Ge society regarding artificial intelligence. Once AI possesses thoughts and autonomous behavior, how can they willingly be controlled? In order to sustain the war and their way of life, the Xian Ge people produced a large number of AI robots. In Xian Ge society, the number of AI robots exceeded that of the human population.

When the robots rebelled, it plunged the Xian Ge people into internal turmoil. Without the energy or strength to launch an invasion, they had no choice but to sign a peace treaty with the Cang Star system.

After the war subsided, Gu Langu, who had once been regarded as a savior in his semi-mechanical form, now stood out, resembling the characteristics of the Xian Ge people. This led to doubts and various speculations, ultimately resulting in his current situation.

Gu Langu didn’t know what disappointment felt like, but in that final battle, he lost many dear friends and comrades, causing him to lose his desire for war. The victory, achieved at the cost of so many lives and the sacrifices of numerous young warriors and geniuses, left him as the sole survivor, making him the object of suspicion and ultimately a criminal—a laughable situation.

The end of the war marks the beginning of the fall of the gods.

However, it remains unknown if the Cang Star system will have another war god when the next war arrives.

Gu Langu touched the small dormouse in the pocket of his jacket. The dormouse was wrapped in a handkerchief, with only its fuzzy little head visible. It was peacefully sleeping in the pocket, leaving only a warm brown top for Gu Langu’s hand. Annoyed by Gu Langu’s touch, the mouse finally stuck its head into the pocket impatiently, but the pocket was only so big, so its chubby little bottom was exposed.

Gu Langu hesitated for a long time between touching and not touching until Shu Shuishui’s furry tail swung out of the pocket. He then happily proceeded to stroke the fluffy tail.

There’s no possibility of going to war. It’s impossible in this lifetime. Is it because the dormouse isn’t cute or the tail isn’t pleasant to stroke?

Author’s Note:

Lao Xuan solemnly and passionately stated, “The end of the war marks the fall of the gods!”

Shu Shuishui smiled with his signature smile: (＾-＾).

Gu Langu responded indifferently, “The fall of the gods? What does it have to do with me?” He then turned away, ignoring Lao Xuan, and turned to the dormouse to resume its grooming.