Tu Ge leaned against the wrecked off-road vehicle and shifted his back into a more comfortable position. His gaze remained fixed on the starry sky beyond the enormous Wind Leaf Wheel.
"What he knows depends on how much information Master Fan left him."
"I don't know why you're so hung up on that. If I were this so-called 'Master Fan' of yours—Mr. Liang Lu, right?—I'd write a long letter. I might even write a book, setting down my entire life and everything I needed to explain, exactly as it happened and in as much detail as possible. If it ran too long, I'd organize an index and sort out the keywords so it would be easy to consult later."
The mysterious speaker was Luo Yuan, who had left Ronan's Card Deck along with Tu Ge. Despite the uncanny way he took part in the conversation, he was plainly eager to talk. As an Earthling, his curiosity about extraterrestrial civilization was innate.
But as he spoke, he suddenly realized he had overlooked a key word in Tu Ge's reply.
"Left him? You're suddenly that sure?"
Even the strange signal converted from vibrations could not conceal Luo Yuan's surging curiosity. "I remember you and Li Wei could never pin down whether Grand Normal Liang Lu was alive or dead. If I remember correctly, you said that, setting aside all the probes large and small, you'd fought him four times here in Earth Spacetime. Not once could you confirm the outcome..."
"I don't remember giving an exact number."
"But I went through the evidence."
"How thoughtful."
"Don't praise me yet. First, tell me if I've got it right. Of those four
encounters, the first was between Liang Lu and Li Wei's team, which was tracking him. That battle blasted open the 'Star Gate'