CH 28

TL: Moonlit

Because the spiritual storage couldn’t store live creatures, Shu Shuishui took out a roll of spiritual silkworm silk from the spiritual storage. Although the silk thread couldn’t bear a heavy load, it was enough to tie up a grasshopper and make it behave.

When Shu Shuishui first caught the grasshopper, its hind legs were still strong, kicking at Shu Shuishui’s paw, hoping to free itself from the dormouse’s grasp. But in the next second, the dormouse’s nose approached, almost touching the grasshopper. The dormouse sniffed a couple of times, seemingly detecting the scent, and its whiskers trembled slightly.

In the face of a natural enemy, the grasshopper finally became obedient.

Shu Shuishui held the hard-caught grasshopper and sniffed it, nodding his little head in reluctant satisfaction. After all, the grasshopper didn’t eat Spirit Grass, so it was understandable that the taste would be a bit different from the carefully nurtured ones.

Finding a slightly thicker dead branch and picking up a small stone, Shu Shuishui hammered the branch into the ground to secure it. Then it tied the grasshopper to it and continued hunting for the next one.

After all, Shu Shuishui was not just a dormouse now; it also had a humanoid pet to take care of. Shu Shuishui counted with his small paws, estimating how many it would take to satisfy Gu Langu’s appetite. “One livestock, two livestock, three livestock, four livestock… seventeen livestock, eighteen livestock… probably need a bowl…”

Gu Langu, who was already out searching for the simulator, had no idea that his little pet was preparing a “feast” for him.

Shu Shuishui continued moving through the grass, but the sparse vegetation meant there weren’t many grasshoppers around. Shu Shuishui went quite far before discovering the second grasshopper. His little ears instantly perked up, and he crouched low, observing the seemingly resting grasshopper. His short hind legs gathered strength and then he leaped out.

This time, Shu Shuishui was lucky and successfully caught it. The struggling grasshopper flapped its wings and almost slipped from Shu Shuishui’s grasp, but the small brown ball quickly pulled out the spiritual silkworm silk and swiftly wrapped the grasshopper. Finally, the grasshopper stopped struggling but was now wrapped up like a cocoon by Shu Shuishui.

Despite being bundled up like a dumpling, the grasshopper was unharmed, indicating Shu Shuishui’s mastery of handling meat.

Shu Shuishui picked up the bundled grasshopper, brought it close, and, as usual, waved its little nose to sniff. Satisfied, he extended his paw and patted the grasshopper’s head. “Don’t be afraid, I will fatten you up. I won’t eat you until you’re plump. Isn’t that a better thought?”

The grasshopper obviously couldn’t understand and couldn’t move at all. Its two antennae on its head tried their best to avoid Shu Shuishui’s small paw. Fortunately, the grasshopper couldn’t understand; otherwise, it might have cried.

Shu Shuishui tossed the grasshopper onto his back and, carrying the second livestock, happily walked back with a pitter-patter sound to the spot where he tied up the grasshoppers before. He then tied the second immobilized grasshopper to the branch.

However, Shu Shuishui realized that his good luck might have run out. After searching the surroundings, he couldn’t find a third grasshopper.

Perhaps there were only two grasshoppers in this grassland, or maybe they were scared away. Shu Shuishui had to consider searching further since he knew it would be five days before setting off. Shu Shuishui wasn’t in a rush to return to the base, as this wasn’t a desert. There weren’t strong temperature differences between day and night, so Shu Shuishui could camp outside.

Climbing a slightly higher small hill, Shu Shuishui stood on tiptoe, surveying the terrain and plant growth around. He also used his little paws to calculate the surrounding feng shui using the five elements and eight trigrams, not for finding auspicious spots but to locate a place with good weather conditions—a place with abundant vegetation and many livestock, allowing it to catch a bowlful of prey.

After determining the direction, Shu Shuishui didn’t immediately set off. He carefully selected ten ling grass seeds from the spiritual storage space. Although ling grass was considered a spiritual plant, it was actually the basic food for spiritual beasts with strong survival capabilities. Most importantly, grasshoppers loved to eat it.

Although Shu Shuishui couldn’t catch many grasshoppers, he still planted ling grass seeds. Just in case someone else came here to catch grasshoppers one day.

Using several small pieces of premium ling stone fragments, Shu Shuishui arranged a small formation to ensure that the ling grass would grow quickly and safely.

Only after all this did Shu Shuishui carry the two grasshoppers on his back and head toward a more northern direction.

At the same time, the three teams from the scattered bases were also intensively searching. On the vast continent even farther away, countless people were striving for the same goal. Anyone with experience or organization could guess that the simulator would be released in the next two days.

After these few days, such good weather would be difficult to come by. The approaching cold wave season would rapidly lower the temperature, and blizzards would replace the clouds, enveloping the sky all day.

Three months later, the even colder freezing season would arrive. By then, almost all humans would lose their ability to stay outdoors for extended periods. Searching for food would become extremely difficult. In such circumstances, having a simulator that could exchange rewards would be like having a guarantee in the harsh winter.

Although there is a risk of death when using the simulator, on this planet, who isn’t constantly facing the threat of death? No one can say for sure whether this fragmented planet will completely collapse tomorrow, turning into a storm-ravaged, desolate wasteland. In such circumstances, naturally, every day of survival counts.

On Cang Zhan Star, in different continents, whether it’s Zone A, Zone B, Zone C, or wandering individuals, they all step out of their dwellings, hoping to be the lucky ones who witness the descent of the simulator.

Finding the simulator requires luck, while safeguarding it requires strength or finding a safe place to hide before others discover it. It’s imaginable how tense the atmosphere will be in these few days.

“Cheng Que, is your information accurate? Are there really only one hundred simulators this year?” Liu Po, who was busy preparing for the winter plan in Zone B, asked once again.

Cheng Que, the person being addressed, stood by the floor-to-ceiling window on the second floor of the villa, looking south. Without turning his head, his tone was calm. “Hmm, that’s the information I learned before coming in.”

Liu Po couldn’t help but feel a headache. Last year, a batch of simulators had reached their self-destruct deadline, but he didn’t expect the number of simulators this year to be so few. Only one hundred worldwide, and even if Zone B managed to collect ten, it would already be considered a lot. However, it was clear that Liu Po had no say in this matter, so he changed the topic. “Why did you come here? The Gu family would turn on you. Aren’t you afraid of causing gossip?”

Cheng Que raised an eyebrow. “The Gu family does want to turn on someone, but I’m not that someone.”

Liu Po fell silent for a moment but quickly understood Cheng Que’s veiled meaning. “You don’t mean the Gu family is in such a desperate state that they want to wipe out anyone, including Gu Langu?”

“As far as I know, it’s not just the Gu family. There are other prominent families, and even the Xian Ge Galaxy might be involved. After all, in the Canghai Galaxy, there are many modified semi-mechanical beings, and Gu Langu is just one of them. If the Xian Ge Galaxy wants to invade the Canghai Galaxy in the future, Gu Langu must be eliminated. Unfortunately, people in the Canghai Galaxy can’t see through that.” Cheng Que tugged at the corner of his mouth, his smile slightly ironic.

With Gu Langu alive, he posed a threat to many people. The Gu family was afraid he would lose control again and bring calamity to the family, causing irreparable consequences. Moreover, as long as Gu Langu remained alive, his identity as a semi-mechanical being could be used as a reason for other families to suppress the Gu family. Other prominent families feared Gu Langu’s power and wanted to suppress the Gu family. To do so, they had to eliminate Gu Langu, who was a ticking time bomb.

For the Gu family, Gu Langu was quite troublesome, like a sharp and invincible knife, but a knife without a sheath or even a handle. If they wanted to use it, holding it would undoubtedly harm both others and themselves. Now, the Gu family had finally decided to completely destroy this knife because it was too sharp and uncontrollable, posing an increasing threat to themselves.

“I arrived early. Did Gu Langu really annihilate the enemy and our own troops?” Liu Po had been on Cang Zhan for many years. When he arrived, there was no internal conflict in the Xian Ge Galaxy, and the two galaxies were engaged in a fierce war. At that time, Gu Langu was still a hero of the entire galaxy, a god-like existence.

Cheng Que fell silent for a moment. “If he annihilated both enemy and our own troops, it was undoubtedly the optimal choice.”

“What do you mean?”

“Gu Langu has no desires, no desire to kill, no desire to attack, not even the desire to annihilate everything. Everything he does is the optimal choice. Do you really understand what a machine is? A killing machine itself doesn’t have the desire to kill because killing is also a desire. The Gu family just suddenly lost control of the switch for Gu Langu’s killing desires…”

Liu Po felt dizzy listening to it. “Are you reciting a tongue twister?”

“In simple terms, anything Gu Langu says or does should not be trusted because none of it is real. One moment he might cherish you like a treasure, and the next moment, he will crush you into pieces. His likes are real, and his dislikes are also real. Everything is just commands emitted by his brain, and he faithfully executes them. That’s what a semi-mechanical being is.”

Cheng Que’s eyes grew deep as he continued, “Imagine this: You tell a joke, and for Gu Langu, he needs to make a smiling expression. This expression comes from the coordination of artificial cells, artificial nerves, and artificial muscles in his face. The coordination is perfect, and no one can make a more perfect or charming smile than Gu Langu because even this smile has been meticulously designed and rehearsed millions of times to find the perfect state of a smile. But this smile is fake.”

Described in this way, Liu Po couldn’t help but feel a chill. “Does Gu Langu really have no emotions at all? How is he any different from a real robot?”

Cheng Que’s eyes flickered with hesitation, but it was quickly overwritten by denial. “Robots… are even more like humans than Gu Langu. Gu Langu, I’m afraid, will never have emotions in his entire life. It’s both pitiful and pathetic.”

Author’s Note:

Today was also a day of trying hard to catch grasshoppers to feed my pets~~~

Shu Shuishui: “I’m… so… cute~~~”

Gu Langu: “What should I do… with something… so… cute~~~”

Douyin dormouse suddenly goes online~~~ Hahaha, from then on, it’s impossible to look straight at the two protagonists.