CH 126

Cheng Que’s predictions were extremely comprehensive, and his perspective on the issues was notably different from that of others. While others were still in a cloud of uncertainty, cautiously exploring and speculating, Cheng Que seemed to have already witnessed the rise and fall of the entire world. He even suggested that the Canghai Galaxy had captured a segment of high-dimensional civilization during the interstellar war and that it was actually bait.

In a way, this explanation made a lot of sense. Perhaps the Canghai Galaxy didn’t intend for temporal anomalies to occur, but human wars were not something it could prevent. Once temporal anomalies appeared, the Canghai Galaxy couldn’t stop them either. Perhaps, while capturing that segment of high-dimensional civilization’s information, the Canghai Galaxy had already realized that danger was looming.

“With the current technological level of both the Canghai Galaxy and the Xian Ge Galaxy, it’s impossible to surpass and defeat that unknown high-dimensional civilization. The reason is quite simple: the bait released by the high-dimensional civilization will lure and fatten the fish, but it will never allow the fish to consume it. Therefore, the information that was captured has an inherent limit to its technological development. In such a scenario, the Xian Ge Galaxy had no choice but to send a signal urging its inhabitants to flee. Perhaps every dimension has its own limitations, and perhaps this signal wasn’t meant solely for humans, which is why it remained undeciphered for so long.” Cheng Que’s emotions appeared strangely calm, but his statement seemed incredibly real.

Ignoring the somewhat stunned expressions of Gu Langu and Shu Shuishui, Cheng Que continued to analyze the Canghai Galaxy. “Similarly, the Canghai Galaxy is also trying to save itself, but in a slightly different way. Since this insurmountable danger comes from temporal anomalies, they’ve decided to gamble with these temporal anomalies, connecting to as many timelines as possible and absorbing resources they deem valuable. These resources include Shu Shuishui and even the Huanxing Continent which is trapped in the apocalypse. However, it’s evident that the Canghai Galaxy is having trouble digesting the Huanxing Continent. So, although life forms there have undergone varying degrees of mutation, they haven’t successfully embarked on the path of cultivation. Instead, they couldn’t handle this evolution and went mad…”

Gu Langu, for once, was listening very attentively, and Shu Shuishui was also staring at Cheng Que intently. By the time Cheng Que had finished his lengthy explanation, an hour had passed. Outside, the world was already in darkness, with no stars visible in the sky. It had unexpectedly become overcast.

The rainy season on Cang Zhan Star was just like this. Regardless of whether it rained or not, the sun was rarely seen. Overhead, the sky was always shrouded in clouds. Occasionally, a clear sky seemed like a luxurious sapphire, hidden behind layers of clouds and only sparingly revealed to let people see the azure sky and enjoy a brief moment of sunlight.

After Cheng Que finished speaking, there was a long silence in the room. Cheng Que knew that what he had said today was quite astounding, and understanding would take some time. He didn’t rush or try to persuade the two. He simply stood up to take his leave, indicating that he wouldn’t disturb them any longer.

Just as Cheng Que was about to bid farewell, Shu Shuishui suddenly called out, “Xiao Cheng Cheng, bring over the experimental equipment first. I’ll earn the first high-paying reward.”

Cheng Que hesitated for a moment but quickly responded, “Sure! I’ll go get it!” With that, he swiftly left.

Gu Langu, who had just been about to speak and ask for a set as well, opened his mouth but stopped as Cheng Que had already disappeared from the doorway. He remained silent.

It didn’t take long for Cheng Que to return with the experimental equipment. Shu Shuishui had expected something like a heavy helmet, but what he received were two circular magnetic plates that could simply be attached to his temples.

For a moment, Shu Shuishui felt like an uncultured rodent, completely ignorant of future technology.

However, Shu Shuishui didn’t show it on his face. Instead, he listened calmly to Cheng Que’s explanation and curiously attached the two magnetic plates to the sides of his head.

He shook his head a bit, feeling no discomfort at all. Moreover, the material of these magnetic plates was quite peculiar, adhering well to the skin and having a very low profile.

“These sensing magnets were created with the help of Xie Feng by disassembling extraterrestrial rewards obtained through simulated space exchange. Although they are simpler, their performance and test results are stable. The experiment lasts for a period of seven days, during which the sensing magnets will record all your neural activities,” Cheng Que explained the source of the experimental tools.

Upon hearing the last sentence, Shu Shuishui became curious and somewhat nervous. He asked, “All neural activities will be recorded?”

Cheng Que nodded, confirming, “That’s correct.”

Suddenly, Shu Shuishui felt a tinge of regret. He asked with some anxiety, “So if I steal a kiss from Gu Gu or something like that, it will also be recorded?”

Gu Langu, who seemed to have discovered something, brightened his eyes.

Cheng Que pondered for a moment, still completely oblivious to the term “dog food.” “Normally, yes, but the magnetic plates don’t record the wearer’s consciousness; they record emotions. In other words, what the magnetic plates display is the emotional fluctuations at the moment of a stolen kiss, not thoughts and specific thoughts. The magnetic plates detect emotional tension, not specific actions.”

Shu Shuishui breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s good; otherwise, I’m afraid Gu Gu Gu would be embarrassed.”

Gu Langu: ??? Who exactly was the one getting embarrassed?

Suddenly, Gu Langu extended his hand towards Cheng Que. “Give me one for the high pay as well.”

Cheng Que unexpectedly glanced at Gu Langu. “You have undergone professional emotion control training in the past, and your abilities in this area have been enhanced during the modifications. So, what the magnetic plates detect from you may be a flatline with no emotional fluctuations, which would be of no experimental value and a waste of experimental resources.”

Gu Langu: “…” If he understood correctly, was he being rejected?

Shu Shuishui looked at Cheng Que. “Can’t Gu Gu, who’s so cute, have a matching one?”

Initially, Cheng Que was about to straightforwardly say that Gu Langu had nothing to do with cuteness. However, as he looked at the earnestness in Shu Shuishui’s eyes, he suddenly realized that Shu Shuishui genuinely believed that Gu Langu was cute and needed a matching emotion-sensing magnetic plate. So Cheng Que nodded. “Sure, you can have one. I’ll go get it.”

Cheng Que was always proactive, so he left in a hurry.

Inside the room, Shu Shuishui’s eyes curved as he smiled and patted Gu Langu’s shoulder. “See! Gu Gu is the cutest, and Cheng Que thinks so too.”

Gu Langu couldn’t help but nod and smile. He didn’t actually mind Cheng Que’s earlier comments. Cheng Que was right; his thought processes had been weakened, his emotions were shallow, and his neural activities were limited. That device that detected emotional fluctuations didn’t affect him. In fact, Gu Langu didn’t even feel anger anymore, but that was how he used to be.

Soon enough, Gu Langu received an emotion-sensing magnetic plate matching Shu Shuishui’s. He adjusted its position in front of a mirror, making sure he looked exactly like Shu Shuishui.

Unfortunately, during bedtime, Shu Shuishui had a sudden idea. Since this batch of emotion-sensing magnets was designed for mutant rats, shouldn’t he maintain a mouse’s appearance?

In an instant, the figure on the bed vanished, and in its place was a small, furry dormouse that had crawled out from under the thin blanket. The little dormouse approached Gu Langu’s head and nuzzled his nose with its tiny nose. “Gu Gu, goodnight.”

Gu Langu responded by gently nuzzling the dormouse’s nose with his own. “Shui Shui, goodnight.”

So, what had been a lovely night for the two turned into a night with one person and one dormouse. Fortunately, Gu Langu was relatively easy to satisfy. He slept soundly even while holding the dormouse, and he even had a pleasant dream.

As for Shu Shuishui, he slipped into another dream unknowingly, and this time, it was Cheng Que’s dream. Perhaps after hearing so much in the evening, Shu Shuishui dreamt of the future Cheng Que had predicted.

However, the dream’s perspective was strange, and Shu Shuishui later realized that he was in Cheng Que’s dream. In Cheng Que’s dream, everything was chaotic. Gravity disappeared, galaxies vanished, and Cheng Que floated in an unknown place. Besides Cheng Que, there might be a star or perhaps a planet. There was endless despair enveloping Cheng Que, the kind where you couldn’t see the end and didn’t know if you would die the next second.

Then a book fell from the sky, shattering the maddening chaos. A figure appeared and approached, radiating light. It was only when the person got closer that Shu Shuishui realized it was himself. Shu Shuishui was taken aback, realizing that in Cheng Que’s eyes, even the past version of himself who gave him the book was radiant, like an energy-consuming light bulb.

The next day when Shu Shuishui woke up, he was still lost in thought. Every time he entered a dream, he couldn’t quite figure it out – he didn’t understand why he entered the dreams or what he was supposed to do in them. So this time, Shu Shuishui was much calmer and didn’t panic. If he couldn’t understand it for now, he decided not to dwell on it.

Gu Langu woke up and gave Shu Shuishui a morning kiss, and then got up together, freshened up, had breakfast, strolled around the boat, went fishing, and relaxed.

By the end of the day, not only this boat but almost the entire fleet had learned about the sensing magnets. Shu Shuishui and Gu Langu were practically walking advertisements. They were like billboards that didn’t require power but generated their own electricity. Wherever they went, it was a flood of dog food.

Cheng Que sat in the lab, studying the images sent back by the sensing magnets. At first glance, the most surprising thing was the emotional fluctuation chart in Gu Langu’s mental state, which showed that his mood points were consistently high throughout the day, far exceeding the points they had set for him during the modification process.

In other words, Gu Langu had been in a very cheerful mood the whole day, occasionally reaching peaks of happiness. These emotions were honestly displayed in the chart.

Even the majority of Gu Langu’s scheduled points were higher than Shu Shuishui’s. Shu Shuishui’s emotional fluctuations, on the other hand, were relatively calm, as if he was fully embracing what it means to have peaceful and happy days.

However, these two often had overlapping emotional fluctuations, as if they were both pleased about the same thing. Cheng Que thought this discovery was quite good, as it aligned well with his aesthetic.

In front of the two real people, Cheng Que had no self-awareness when it came to indulging in “dog food”1referring to affectionate or romantic interactions between couples. However, at this moment, he was indulging in the “dog food” while looking at two sets of data. It could only be said that the thought processes of geniuses are somewhat different from those of ordinary people.