The Loosely Organized Amber Lord Support Team
The appointed day finally arrived, and the spaceship began to decelerate, preparing to land at Pier Point.
During this time, Jingxing observed the members of the Amber Lord Support Team. He could only say that there were all sorts of people in them. There were merchants wrapped in old fur coats, holding two boxes and guarding them tightly, not letting their guard down for a second; there were a few veterans who were said to have been withdrawn from the battlefield, who occupied the corner of the cargo hold, curled up in a ball and always sleeping; the ship's maintenance crew walked close to the wall, afraid of bumping into people.
Jingxing leaned against the doorway, watching these people, who couldn't understand each other's languages, gesturing wildly—someone in the Genius Society had already invented the "Synesthesia Beacon," but the beings in the universe hadn't yet enjoyed the convenience of this genius invention. Most of the time, they could only communicate through hand gestures.
"It must have been really tough for Jenny and the others to lead such a team," Jingxing thought to himself. They didn't even speak the same language; it was hard to imagine how many languages she must have mastered to guide the team across countless planets and finally arrive at their destination today.
When Fu Xuan opened his eyes, Jingxing was already standing in front of the porthole.
At the moment of approaching Pier Point, an amber band gradually emerged from the darkness outside the porthole, stretching across the entire field of vision, coming from and going to an unknown place. This band looked like a frozen sea.
"All is dedicated to the Amber Lord!" As they witnessed this scene, various languages erupted on the ship—but through the Synesthesia Beacon, Jingxing realized they were all saying the same thing.
He was infected along with them and almost whispered in agreement.
By the goddess Idrila, my apologies.
As the ship drew closer, it pressed down on a layer, and the band of light also began to separate into layers: the ridges in the foreground resembled waves, one after another; the distant parts were swallowed up by their own thickness, leaving only a light of indescribable depth.
Fu Xuan pressed his forehead against the glass and stared at it for a long time before whispering, "This is part of the Amber Lord's divine body."
"That's really exaggerated..." Jingxing exclaimed.
Many people in the cabin knelt down and kowtowed repeatedly in that direction. After kowtowing, they stood up while holding onto the railing, making Jingxing and Fu Xuan seem somewhat out of place.
As the spaceship drew closer, they could see the direction of the light band. Further away, beyond the wall, lay a desolate wasteland devoured by the Swarm Disaster. Within the Amber Lord's protection, however, lay a vast expanse of human lights, densely packed, with Pier Point at the very center.
The people on the boat crowded over to watch. Some laughed, some remained silent, and a woman holding a child kept muttering something.
"The words 'mending the heavens'," Fu Xuan said, "Only today do I realize how accurate the words were in the vocabulary used by the predecessors of the Xianzhou."
Isn't the Amber Lord currently working tirelessly amidst this Swarm Disaster, mending the sky for the people below, where Swarm could break in at any moment?
The spaceship landed in a quarry.
Jenny's people unloaded the stones from the spaceship one stack at a time, and locals immediately came over to register, count, and check the dimensions.
Jingxing stood at the edge of the site for a while and found that the stones here were much more regular than those at Priva II – the edges of each stone were chiseled to the same angle, and when stacked up, even the seams matched perfectly.
"They're from different planets, but aside from the difference in material, the stones are exactly the same size..." He was very surprised. "How did the highest levels of the Amber Lord Support Team standardize the specifications?"
"After we finish unloading this section, we still need to head to the work area to the north." Jenny brushed the dust off the nail plates. "What are your plans for the next step?"
"We plan to walk around on our own first," Jingxing said, holding Fu Xuan's hand. "It's not convenient for us to keep following you. After all, we're not part of Amber Lord Support Team."
"Alright." Jenny glanced at him, her eyes offering no further questions. "The people in the convoy can't really explain things between you two. Well, have a safe journey, and let's meet again under the clear skies after the Swarm Disaster ends."
"May you always be safe and sound." Fu Xuan then bowed slightly.
Jenny pulled a small cloth bag from her bosom and handed it to her. "This contains some information about Pier Point; I hope it will be helpful to you."
Jingxing weighed the bag in his hand; a very soft rustling sound of pages rubbing together came from inside.
"Everything is dedicated to Amber Lord!" After saying this, Jenny left. Jingxing and Fu Xuan stood there for a while, watching Jenny leave.
Pier Point's idea was much more exciting than Jingxing's.
The city they landed in was probably an ordinary small town in Pier Point, with the city center stretching out along the factory district, street after street, and the houses built haphazardly: stone, corrugated iron, and even pieces pieced together from ship planks, as if whoever got there first could claim a spot.
At the street corner, there were vendors selling hot soup, with pungent kerosene burning underneath the pot. Further in, there were blacksmith shops, stalls selling spare parts, and people from different star systems crammed together under a shed to eat.
But no one was carrying a weapon. Or rather, anyone carrying a weapon would place it on a shelf outside the door before entering.
This appears to be an unwritten rule in the city.
Jingxing saw the same shelf in front of three different restaurants, with knives, short axes, a broken spear, and some guns lying haphazardly on it.
"It seems that although the people here possess weapons, they have no opportunity to use them here," Fu Xuan concluded after careful observation.
Over at the soup stall, people were drinking soup and talking about news from the factory area: new stones had arrived and would be transported to the vicinity of Amber Lord tomorrow. After the delivery, they would see if Amber Lord would use them.
"The people here don't seem afraid of the Swarms," Jingxing said.
"They're still afraid," Fu Xuan shook his head. "They just know that with the Heaven-Mending Lord in charge, the Swarm Disaster can't reach this place."
The two walked slowly down the street. As Fu Xuan walked, he carefully observed the information on both sides of the street.
She focused on things different from Jingxing —he looked at the way the eaves were built, the steam rising from the pot, and the soot from lamp oil on the faces of passersby; she looked at the flags hanging at the door, the words on the wall, and the notice board at the market entrance used for taking notes.
"It is indeed a very loose social organization system," she said, "But considering how close it is to the Amber Lord, it's adequate."
"What else did you notice?"
"There's a surplus of resources here," she pointed to the bulletin board, "And nobody seems to be managing them properly. It's hard to believe the Amber Lord Support Team was once the company's predecessor."
"Fleming and Dongfang Qixing are indeed business geniuses beyond imagination," Fu Xuan exclaimed.