"That was Mist Year Twenty-Nine."
"In other words, Old Era Calendar 1948."
"By then, humanity had already established a unified government, and development of Central Star was changing with each passing day, but we had yet to leave Earth."
"What resources lay in the distant depths of the universe, what dangers existed there—humanity still saw it like flowers through fog, the moon reflected in water."
"Moreover, humanity at the time still fell short in aerospace science and technology, unable to support interstellar voyages or deep-space exploration."
"That was the year Treasure Boy arrived."
Shi Tiexin picked up the thread. "This Treasure Boy was a Kryptonian?"
Chu Feihong nodded. "That's right!"
"On April 12th of Mist Year Twenty-Nine, humanity observed a spacecraft break through the Mist Wall and enter the Solar System."
"The spacecraft spent fourteen days observing every planet in the Solar System, then headed straight for Earth with a clear objective."
"They arrived in Earth's synchronous orbit, hijacked our soon-to-be-abandoned low-grade communications network, and broadcast live to the entire planet."
"The broadcast revealed that they looked exactly like us. They called themselves the noble and great Kryptonians. Their leader, some General Yude, announced that they would requisition Earth to rebuild Krypton. He even gave us three days to relocate, saying that any stubborn holdouts who refused could hardly blame them for being ruthless, and so on."
"Huh?" Shi Tiexin's head was full of question marks. "He wanted to forcibly demolish Central Star? How many Kryptonian divisions did he have?"
"Not a single one. There were only fourteen of them in total."
"Fourteen? To make such wild claims, were they all Lesser Sages?"
"Not even close."
"I get it now. This General Yude had a screw loose."
Chu Feihong raised a finger. "Hey, you got it right. He did have