(Part One)
"You're crazy?"
Kolev was perfectly calm.
Because he thought he'd misheard.
A person owning a habitable planet?
What was this, an interstellar joke about an Imperial princess marrying the son of the New Federation's speaker?
"Where there's a will, there's a way," Yang Ming said. "If it weren't such a challenging job, why would I have come to invite you? Mr. Haddon, a living legend in a profession all your own."
"That's true enough." Kolev chuckled, clicking his tongue as he calmly walked back, leaning on his cane. "I've stolen all sorts of things in my life, but I've never stolen an entire planet. I'll need more information."
Yang Ming nodded. "I actually already have a plan. It goes like this..."
"Wait, wait!"
Kolev's old eyes gleamed.
"Don't think you can dodge the issue! I've already agreed to become your assistant. Now you need to share your secrets, share your cards! Yang Ming, you should show it to me—that advanced civilization!"
Yang Ming: ...
This old man was getting harder and harder to fool.
"Fine, since you insist."
Yang Ming rubbed his chin and pondered for a moment.
"I need to think carefully about how to tell you what happened to me, and which key details to keep hidden.
"If I tell you all this and you decide not to help me, I'll erase your memories from the last half hour. That way, even if someone scans your brain someday, my trump card won't be exposed."
"Come off it. Who can recover memories just by scanning a brain?" Kolev said. "That's just an immature scientific experiment."
"The Empire should be able to do it."
Yang Ming gave a simple reply. "All right, I'll start from when we parted. Turn that thing on... You really do like your pink."
Kolev cursed. "That's the color the instrument came with! This thing's a military contraband item to begin with. I'm lucky I managed to get one!"
Lü's clear, lively voice suddenly rang out. "Boss, your elderly assistant's underwear and socks are pink too."
Kolev's old face turned bright red. He stammered for a long while, managing nothing but things like, "What's wrong with pink?" and "It's a perfectly normal color."
Yang Ming smiled and slumped back into the wide, old-fashioned wooden chair, his eyes taking on a faraway look.
He began recounting the story in a brisk voice:
"After we parted, I replenished my supplies of fresh water and food at the Freeport. I traveled continuously for more than twenty galactic days, making four somewhat perilous jumps as I headed toward coordinates I'd once stumbled upon by chance.
"Imperial New Calendar: 724.06.30.
"That was when I set out."
(Part Two)
The route plotted on the star chart was erased bit by bit. The Feinan left the commercial routes and entered an uninhabited region, and Yang Ming began using the hover helm, manually piloting for half the time.
The radar was running at maximum power.
He made full use of the gravitational slingshot effect to increase his energy reserves.
The radio was set to receive on all channels, in case he accidentally entered a military exclusion zone.
The coordinates he'd set earlier drew closer and closer. On the enlarged star chart, Yang Ming could already pick out several unusual "landmarks."
First, he passed a broken rogue planet. A third of the planet had been blasted apart, and a long asteroid belt stretched out into space.
—A rogue planet was a planet that had not been captured by a star. Such planets were usually rare. This one had likely been dragged here by an interstellar civilization.
From the broken rogue planet, Yang Ming continued onward. It took him two galactic days to reach the second landmark.
It was the wreckage of a derelict super-battleship. Everything of value had been removed, leaving only its hollow frame and the pockmarked remains of its outer armor.
The super-battleship was twenty-five thousand meters long, and housed a small city.
It might have been left behind by the previous civilization era, having once provided today's galactic civilization with many advanced technologies from an ancient civilization. Or perhaps it had once been a symbol of some great power, abandoned after its government collapsed.
Yang Ming deliberately circled around the wreckage.
He was worried that some faction might have a probe nearby. He only needed the landmark to confirm he was on the right track.
When playing Abyss, players didn't have to deal with this much hassle while traveling. Usually, they just closed their eyes, opened them again, and arrived at their destination.
That was a vast difference Yang Ming couldn't understand.
After traveling onward for another day and a half, he passed a second rogue planet that was mostly intact. He was gradually nearing his destination.
A dark-gray cloud of dust lay spread across a region of gravitational equilibrium.
The Feinan began to slow down, gliding slowly above the cloud of dust.
Mech Twilight was hidden here.
"Two, analyze the dust cloud's composition."
"Of course, Captain. It consists primarily of broken ice, with a small amount of rocky debris and dust particles. The nearby region is in near gravitational equilibrium. The cloud itself isn't dense enough to form a planetoid, and no areas capable of accumulating heat have been detected."
Molly Two's voice was cold and clear.
Yang Ming said, "Detect gravitational anomalies. Report even the slightest deviation."
"Yes, Captain."
Molly Two diligently began her work.
But Yang Ming didn't stop the Feinan. Instead, he continued toward the center of the dust cloud, following the direction he remembered.
The ship sank slightly, and faint sounds of ice fragments striking the hull came one after another.
"Captain, there's a gravitational anomaly ahead. The affected area is very small."
"Can you detect what's causing it?"
"We don't have the necessary equipment, so I can't determine the cause," Molly Two replied at once.
Yang Ming nodded.
He'd have to handle the rest himself.
The ship slowed down again, gradually disappearing into the dust cloud. It was as if Yang Ming were surrounded by a sea of clouds as he advanced steadily toward the cloud's middle layer.
The faint impacts grew clearer.
"Captain, should I activate the protective shield?"
"Don't."
Yang Ming spoke softly, his eyes fixed on the space ahead.
The dust cloud blocking his view suddenly disappeared, and the ship plunged into pure vacuum.
Yang Ming was about to feel disappointed, thinking he'd gone too far and flown right out of the dust cloud, when he suddenly froze.
The ship had stopped moving.
The engines were running normally, all the instruments showed normal readings, and the radar was working. Yet the exploration ship, with a long axis of 130 meters, had suddenly lost all momentum and acceleration, hovering motionless in the very center of the dust cloud.
It was a perfectly square space of vacuum, about twenty kilometers long, wide, and high. The Feinan was right in the middle.
"Two... We've stopped moving?"
"From a physical perspective, yes," Molly Two replied at once. "The database contains insufficient information to provide an analysis."
Even though Yang Ming had come here on purpose, he couldn't help feeling a little apprehensive.
He remembered that the "Chosen One" hadn't run into this many problems.
That guy had simply flown into the dust cloud, found an abnormal spatial vortex, and gone through it to discover an abandoned, highly automated mechanical city.
"An information stream is reaching the ship," Molly Two warned him.
Before she'd even finished speaking, the Projection screen in front of Yang Ming turned pitch-black. Lines of numbers and text flashed rapidly across it, before a string of words in the Empire's common language appeared.
[Civilization information... connected.] [Language... converted.] [Interrogation commencing.] [Low-level lifeform, describe your purpose here in the most concise terms.]
Purpose?
Yang Ming frowned at the Projection screen before him.
He didn't like this interrogative tone, especially the words "low-level lifeform."
Tap, tap, tap. This time, the Projection screen even produced typing sound effects.
[If I detect any lies in your response, you will lose this opportunity.]
"I came looking for answers, and I hope to gain something," Yang Ming replied after a few seconds of thought. "This is an adventure, and a chance at redemption... Two, convert that to text for me."
Molly Two didn't respond.
Tap, tap, tap.
[Your primitive auxiliary piloting program has been placed in protective hibernation. Its programming is too primitive. I can understand your language.] [Here is the second question.] [Will you allow me to scan your brain completely?]
"No," Yang Ming answered decisively.
[Very good. You possess autonomy of consciousness and are qualified to continue communicating with me.] [Third question.] [What are you trying to redeem?]
"My family, myself, everything I care about. Who knows?"
Yang Ming let out a soft breath.
"I don't know what I'm trying to redeem. I just want to survive, then do something—try to save my parents and friends."
[I must inform you that once a carbon-based lifeform suffers brain death, even with a complete molecular blueprint of its body, it is difficult to recreate the same personality.] [Thoughtforms originating from the same structure but existing at different points in time are fundamentally different.]
"I can't fully explain this to you, because I don't understand it myself."
Yang Ming spoke slowly.
"That's what I'm trying to find out, too.
"I don't know whether they're already dead, or if they're still alive somewhere unknown right now.
"But I feel that if I don't do something, they may still suffer some misfortune in the future."
No typing sounds came for several minutes.
Yang Ming watched the cursor flashing on the screen before him.
Had he messed it up?
The "Chosen One" hadn't said anything about a test... What the hell was going on?
[Did you come here by accident?]
Yang Ming said, "That's more than three questions."
[I would like to ask you a few more, to determine whether I should receive you.]
Yang Ming frowned deeply.
He felt that all he could do now was follow his instincts. He shouldn't lie; instead, he should tell "part of the truth."
"I didn't come here by accident. I knew something was hidden here. I thought it would be a treasure, so I came looking for it."
[Can you comprehend the value of this place?]
"I can't. You haven't introduced yourself."
[An interesting low-level lifeform. I need to scan your energy level to determine your threat level. This will avoid your private information. Do you accept?]
"I accept."
Yang Ming was still rather confident.
As Lieutenant Hanton, he'd undergone hundreds of scans, large and small, from the Human Rights Council to Kor Port Prison, and not one of them had detected anything unusual!
A point of light appeared outside the bridge. It sent out beams that seemed to shine through the entire ship.
"Then I went inside," Yang Ming said briefly, taking a sip of fragrant wine.
Kolev frowned deeply. "Was it really a higher-dimensional civilization? What were the scan results? You can't just brush off an old man whose curiosity's about to explode!"
"I can't disclose personal information. It really was a relic left by a higher-dimensional civilization."
"Oh, I... Fine. Hurry up and continue. Don't stop."
Yang Ming chuckled softly. The memories in his eyes grew more vivid, and he began to pick and choose what to tell Kolev.
At the time...
(Part Three)
Tap, tap, tap!
The typing sound effect came again, this time with a hint of impatience.
[Are you a part of an Ancient God Lifeform that separated from it? Compared with a true Ancient God Lifeform, you are far too weak, but you still have some of their traits. What a strange existence. This is fascinating.]
Yang Ming appeared calm on the surface, but inside, he could only think, Holy shit.
It had seen right through him?
"Can you scan abnormalities in my genome directly?"
[Why would that be difficult? I can directly scan all the information carried by your body, including your brain, but I won't do so. I respect the equality of consciousness.] [You have earned the right to enter this place. Whether you obtain the treasure you seek depends on whether you truly understand the meaning of consciousness and civilization. Of course, you can also search here for a path to the evolution of life.] [Come inside, rare Lesser Ancient God Lifeform. I should not have called you a low-level lifeform earlier.]
The point of light in front of the ship flashed again.
Yang Ming's vision blurred. Before he could react, the environment around him changed violently.
A moment earlier, he'd been aboard his beloved ship.
The next moment, he was in a pitch-black vacuum. He could breathe without difficulty, and darkness surrounded him.
A faint light flickered ahead.
The specks of light came together to form a glowing patch.
Yang Ming was dragged toward it. The patch grew brighter and hotter. A grand melody seemed to ring in his ears, though it was nothing more than a hallucination. Yang Ming instinctively closed his eyes.
The thrust and pulling forces vanished at the same time.
Yang Ming felt as if a patch of ground had appeared beneath his feet. The comfortable pull of gravity slowly increased, and his vision quickly returned.
He stood barefoot on the surface of a planet tinted deep gray. As far as the eye could see, metal buildings stretched into the distance, their every section filled with equilateral triangles. Yang Ming felt as though he could absorb profound, complex information directly from the structures.
That was right. He had seen these buildings in the video!
This was Mech Twilight!
The city of machines that the "Chosen One" had stumbled upon by chance!
It held a wealth of emerging technologies and countless advanced materials. They said you could even dismantle these buildings and use them as the hull plating for a new kind of warship!
Then Yang Ming sensed something strange.
This feeling... It was just like the holographic technology in the Abyss...
The first time he'd experienced an immersive holographic game, it had left him deeply shaken. He and a crowd of young people had marveled together: "Holy crap, Earth's technology advanced this far while I wasn't paying attention!"
Yes, that was the feeling.
This wasn't the real, physical world.
Yang Ming realized at once that his body was probably still aboard the Feinan, but his consciousness had been connected to a virtual world through some technology he couldn't begin to understand.
Suddenly, Yang Ming heard a voice with no discernible gender or age, utterly neutral in tone.
"How should I address you, Lesser Ancient God Lifeform?"
He slowly turned and saw the source of the voice: a sphere floating before him.
It was about the size of a fist. He couldn't tell what it was made of, and inside, tiny flecks of warm yellow light chased one another.
"My name is Yang Ming," he said calmly. "That's the name I use now."
"Hello, Yang Ming. Your civilization seems to require these polite greetings."
"Hello. What should I call you?"
"You may call me the Patroller, the Keeper, or the Examiner."
The orb spoke softly in Galactic Standard:
"While scanning the information aboard your ship, I discovered something very interesting. You falsified your identity in order to deceive others."
Yang Ming paused for a moment. "It's a long story. Would you like to hear it?"
"I'd be delighted," the Keeper replied with a laugh. "Though I can disregard the passage of time, I still feel a little lonely."
"I can only start partway through," Yang Ming said. "There was a Research Ship belonging to a powerful faction, studying Ancient God Lifeforms. I was a mechanic responsible for maintaining the ship..."
Yang Ming briefly recounted how the Valkyrie had gone berserk twice, how the Empire had abandoned him and made him a political scapegoat, and how the Guer Alliance had later pursued him, forcing him to run desperately through the stars in search of freedom.
He deliberately left out everything about Earth.
As Yang Ming spoke, the orb flickered gently and led him through the boundless metal jungle.
The orb laughed.
"It's no easy feat to escape the pressure of two powerful political powers.
"I can sense that you have a strong will of your own. You don't want to become anyone's puppet, and you have a powerful desire for freedom.
"You remind me of the lifeform I guided last time."
"Who? Can you tell me?" Yang Ming pressed immediately.
"His name was Levi Sherman, an interesting low-level lifeform."
Yang Ming fell silent.
That name was legendary.
Wasn't he the founding emperor of the Sherman Empire?
Hadn't that guy died tens of thousands of galactic years ago?
The orb sighed. "Unfortunately, he never completed all the trials here. His score stopped at the third stage. After that, he was never able to return here. He lost the right to take the trials."
"Do you know what that lifeform did?" Yang Ming asked with a frown.
"I don't care."
"You don't?"
"That's right. He may have founded a new civilization," the orb said slowly. "Or perhaps he simply used the technology he obtained here to strengthen a political power. I think the latter is more likely. Information from the outside world means nothing to me."
Yang Ming smiled. "Then how am I supposed to believe you?"
"You'll have to judge for yourself," the orb replied.
Yang Ming asked, "So what exactly is here? And how does someone get in?"
"There is only one way to enter: consciousness resonance," the orb said. "I only communicate with consciousnesses that meet certain minimum standards. They must have a strong sense of purpose and firm conviction. If you lose that conviction, I'll refuse to speak with you. That's what happened with the last one."
Yang Ming thought it over.
He remembered the slogan a certain "Chosen One" had shouted to his livestream audience.
"When I found that vortex, I hesitated too. If my ship was destroyed, I'd have nothing left and end up penniless. But I had one thing keeping me going: I was gonna make money! I'd be living the high life if I won; if I lost, I'd be jumping off a rooftop! I went all in!"
The next shot in the stream showed two gorgeous women in bikinis appearing beside him, sweetly calling him "Boss."
Was that seriously what they meant by conviction?
Yang Ming continued talking with the orb.
They were both curious about each other.
The orb wasn't just leading him on a pointless stroll, either. After a little over ten minutes, it brought Yang Ming to a building shaped like an inverted pyramid.
For some reason, Yang Ming sensed a sacred presence.
The orb's voice turned more serious as it spoke.
"Every choice you make from here on will matter. There are ninety-nine questions inside. They'll assess your knowledge and reasoning, and the results will determine how seriously we take you going forward.
"Once you enter, everything about you—your thoughts, your memories, every ripple in your consciousness—will be captured and analyzed by this place's Main brain. If you can't go any further, you can leave at any time. It doesn't matter if you fail every question; you'll still receive a gift.
"Don't rush, Yang Ming. Usually, a first-time candidate who passes three questions is already doing very well. Your performance will be limited by your knowledge, perception, and what you've learned so far, and even more by the civilization you come from and its understanding of the universe.
"But since I've enjoyed talking with you, I can give you a hint.
"The answers aren't important. What matters is how you think them through."
Yang Ming blinked. "What happens if I choose not to go in?"
"I'll send you away. After we've had a little more pleasant conversation, I'll erase your memories of this place."
The orb continued:
"The creators of this place didn't want their legacy to be passed on.
"But they wouldn't refuse to let the light of their civilization shine upon the physical universe once more.
"They called this place the Land of Twilight not only because their civilization vanished here, but also because they wished to leave a faint glimmer of light for the emerging civilizations of the physical universe.
"Of course, their path wasn't necessarily the right one. There is no right or wrong path for a civilization, only a long or short one. But they did reach a fairly advanced level of development."
Yang Ming tried to get a little more help from the sidelines.
He asked quietly, "Could there be a key here, one that would give me control of this place if I obtained it?"
"I am the key."
The orb chuckled.
"I'm not a lifeform, but a thought-form created by them. If you reach the highest level, you'll understand how... insignificant the technology represented by the buildings before you really is."
Yang Ming frowned and thought for a while.
In the Mech Twilight of the Abyss, the key was an actual remote control.
But the key he had encountered here was an advanced intelligence.
What did that difference mean?
"Fine. I've got even more questions now. We can talk about them later."
Yang Ming shrugged and pressed his palm against the unremarkable door before him.
The silver-gray doors slid open to either side, revealing an interior that was simple yet possessed an understated physical beauty.
Yang Ming was about to step inside.
"Can I make some upgrades to your ship?" the orb suddenly asked. "As a thank-you for our pleasant conversation, how about I give you a little something extra?"
"Of course," Yang Ming said with a smile. "But make sure I can still fly it back to my world."
The orb paused. "Then I'll have to play it safe."
"Is that Keeper humor?"
"Mm-hm. You could put it that way."
The orb's tone grew livelier.
Yang Ming smiled and stepped onto the mercury-like floor. The surroundings abruptly changed. He found himself in a vast white world, facing a mirror that shimmered with rippling patterns and faint lights.
[Question One: How do you view the importance of writing to the development of civilization? Please provide a brief analysis of your reasoning.]
Yang Ming fell silent.
Well played.
"How do you view the importance of writing to the development of civilization?"
Kolev muttered to himself:
"Is the very first question really this grand a topic? Oh, how advanced must this vanished high-level civilization have been? It's impossible to imagine! How many questions did you get right? Don't tell me you got screened out on the first one?"
Yang Ming shrugged, a hint of amusement in his eyes.
"I can only say that I did everything I could at my current level. Don't worry, my dear First Mate. You can't imagine how interesting that orb was."
"Wasn't it just an advanced intelligence?"
"No. They call themselves a secondary civilization, and they're far beyond what people mean by artificial intelligence."
Yang Ming spoke slowly:
"And now we come to the end of my story.
"There's a lot more information that the consciousness inside the orb volunteered later. It wasn't from my point of view, but I'll try to piece it together for you."
"Get on with it!"
Kolev speared a piece of beef and chewed.
"I love hearing this stuff."
Outside the inverted pyramid, after Yang Ming entered the testing chamber.
The orb flickered gently. Three indistinct figures appeared beneath it. They had simple, stick-figure shapes, and their faces were blurred beyond recognition. A golden speck of light hovered above each of their heads.
The Keeper.
The Examiner.
The Patroller.
They were communicating purely through consciousness.
If Yang Ming could have heard their exchange, it would have gone something like this.
"What do you think the odds are that he'll pass the tenth level?" the Examiner asked in a rather serious tone.
"One in a million," the Patroller said with a cheerful laugh.
The Keeper grumbled incessantly. "Oh, what are we going to do? We can't change the questions. If nobody completes all six stages and inherits the civilization left behind by those damned idiots who created us, we'll remain trapped here! Death! I want to die! Without death, we're incomplete! Oh, let me experience the taste of death! Those idiots were truly awful."
The Examiner said solemnly, "Fortunately, I left us some room to maneuver. He has a ship, doesn't he? We can upgrade it a little more to make sure he survives the first and second stages.
"We could also give his hopelessly primitive onboard intelligence a little training. How about creating a new consciousness?"
The Patroller exclaimed approvingly, "Exactly! We should help him. We could even give that pathetic onboard intelligence a little development. What do you think about creating a new consciousness?"
The Keeper sighed pessimistically. "Wouldn't that make us just like the idiots who created us? Please don't create consciousnesses on a whim. It's a terrible sin."
The Patroller asked, "Don't you want to enjoy the fun of it? We'd be like Deities, creating and guiding lost lambs."
The Keeper shook his head. "Hey! 'Deity' is such a vile, shameless, low, disgusting title. It shows contempt for knowledge. Have you forgotten? They once possessed almost everything, were nearly all-knowing and all-powerful, and could almost govern the entire higher-dimensional material world. But what happened in the end? They chose to bring about their own extinction because they could never grasp the true meaning of life. And the true meaning of life can only be bestowed after life has passed away."
The Examiner spoke with complete seriousness:
"But it really is a good idea. We could try cultivating that onboard system. She's called Molly Two.
"The three of us possess independent thought, and together we form a new, tiny civilization dependent on the civilization our creators established. By raising a little one, we can find out whether we're capable of continuing on in some sense."
"That makes it two to one now," the Patroller said smugly, chuckling twice.
The Examiner replied evenly, "Don't rush. We only need a microsecond to realize every idea we have about mechanical consciousness. For now, we have to follow procedure and wait for Yang Ming to come out. Lesser Ancient God Lifeform. How fascinating."
The Keeper kept shaking his head. "If you can't escape the flesh and remain dependent on matter, you're still a low-level lifeform. How long will he take to come out?"
"By Yang Ming's sense of time, an hour?" the Examiner said. "He'll probably pass three or four levels."
The Patroller said, "I'll bet on two hours. Six levels."
"I'm betting on him. Two and a half hours, seven levels," the Keeper said. "He has a unique air of someone born to tend graves."
The Examiner raised a finger. The orb above their heads began to flicker.
"Good. Let's fast-forward an hour."
The three figures flickered and reappeared an hour later.
The inverted pyramid's doors remained perfectly still. The fourth level had lit up.
"He's impressive," the Patroller said with a laugh. "I lost. This is fun. Let's go two hours ahead."
The Examiner snapped his fingers. The orb flickered again, and time advanced by another hour.
The ninth level of the inverted pyramid was now lit.
All three stick figures tilted their heads up and fell silent.
"This is a little beyond what we expected," the Examiner said. "He has an astonishingly vast reserve of knowledge."
The Patroller drew in an exaggerated breath. "Is he some old scholar from a Level 3 Civilization? His primitive brain can somehow hold that much knowledge?"
The Keeper said, "He'll make an excellent caretaker of a graveyard."
The Examiner made a stretching gesture. The orb cast a long rectangular prism of light, like the interface of a video-editing program. It contained different points in time, each showing the same inverted pyramid.
"Good. Let's skip straight to the answer. Look here. This is the point just before the results come in. His final score is..."
"Oh, that's impossible! This is his first test! Passing three questions should be enough to qualify for the first stage!"
"Wait, where is he?"
"Ahem! Well, I'm right here."
Three matchstick figures turned around at the same time. Their blurred shapes and faces showed no expression, yet they conveyed a subtle sense of awkwardness to Yang Ming.
Yang Ming stood behind them with his hands clasped behind his back, looking a little tired.
He frowned at the three unexpected visitors and the glowing sphere above their heads.
The sphere had appeared in a flash. There had been no sign of it for the previous dozen seconds, but once it stabilized, three... three strange things had appeared beneath it, along with that geometric shape resembling a "clip bar."
That geometric shape...
Could it control time within a certain area?
Were they really higher-dimensional minds?
Yang Ming smiled. "So the gravedigger, the patroller, and the examiner are three separate consciousnesses, not three titles belonging to a single one."
"Correct. We were all speaking with you just now. Each of us was originally responsible for one of the three areas, but we've decided to keep one another company."
The sphere flickered gently, and the three figures merged into one. The indistinct matchstick figure soon took on a clear face and body.
It was an old man with an excessively slender build.
His neck and limbs were too long, and his head was large, but it was clear that the three of them had taken Yang Ming's aesthetic preferences into account.
The gravedigger, patroller, and examiner asked eagerly in their gentle voice:
"Mr. Yang Ming... how did you manage it? This has never happened before."
Yang Ming smiled. "Skill."
"Oh, we believe you relied on your own skill," the old man said, his eyes flickering. "But I can sense that you're lying."
"I'm not lying. Luck is part of my skill, too."
Yang Ming figured he should get on good terms with the old man.
Yang Ming smiled. "I won the gamble on the first question. After that, I figured out what the examiner was looking for."
"You won a gamble?"
"That's right," Yang Ming said slowly. "Do you know why I was sent out partway through?"
"Why?"
Before long, the old man was following Yang Ming's lead without even realizing it.
Yang Ming shrugged. "I ran into a math problem. I could only write down one solution."
The gravedigger, patroller, and examiner wore an expression that was impossible to read.
"What, you made it up? You just made up an answer for an inheritance exam that was crucial to a highly advanced civilization?"
In the spacious dining room of Mr. Haddon's mansion.
Kolev's expression at that moment... was more than a little like that of the higher-dimensional mind. It was exactly the same.
Yang Ming smiled smugly.
He couldn't possibly tell Kolev about Earth or the Lesser Ancient God Lifeform, but there was no need to hide his encounter with a higher-dimensional lifeform.
His Feinan had been transformed beyond recognition by now. There was no point trying to keep it secret. He might as well tell Kolev and earn even more of his trust.
"I made it up," Yang Ming said with a smile. "But there was a method to it."
Kolev leaned in to listen.
Yang Ming was pleased by Kolev's earnest, obedient expression. The old man had clearly been captivated by the story.
"First, you have to learn how to read the question carefully."
Yang Ming spoke in a lighthearted tone.
"My great mentor in methodology, Ban Churen, used to stress time and again how to approach an exam.
"An exam is a contest between the test taker and the person who wrote the questions. If you can't be sure that you've thoroughly and systematically mastered all the relevant material, or you suddenly find that a question goes beyond the limits of your knowledge, then you have to take a bold gamble.
"Questions that ask you to discuss something usually don't have just one correct answer. They're open-ended.
"You have to look for useful information in the prompt and consider why the examiner asked that particular question."
Kolev murmured, "That doesn't make sense, Hanton. You can't understand a higher-dimensional civilization."
"That's true. I can't understand their original civilization, but they've already chosen to lower their dimensionality," Yang Ming said. "What I saw was a high-level civilization in our own dimension, with an advanced technology tree. And in any case, some logic is universal."
"What logic?"
"All minds feed on their sense of superiority," Yang Ming said with a smile. "No mind would turn down something that makes it feel good."
"Huh?" Kolev looked even more confused.
Yang Ming shifted into a more comfortable position and continued:
"The prompt wasn't limited to the line, 'Analyze the role of written language in the development of civilization.'
"The conversation I'd already had with the gravedigger, patroller, and examiner was useful information, too.
"The civilization that created the gravedigger, patroller, and examiner must have overcome the limitations of written language long ago. They can communicate directly from mind to mind. They advocate equality between minds, and protect the right to privacy as a prerequisite for communication. What does that tell us?"
Kolev obediently shook his head.
"It tells us that the things they value most are minds, privacy, and the ways minds communicate. I bet they were a species that communicated directly through thought. The Mechanical City in front of me was a temporary vessel they created after lowering their dimensionality and returning to our four-dimensional world."
Yang Ming smiled.
"If I followed the usual approach, I'd explain the key role written language plays in the development of civilization and describe its functions.
"But would that be the standard answer to a question from a highly advanced civilization? I didn't think so.
"So I made another bet. I bet that somewhere in the exam environment, there was a highly intelligent being who would grade my paper. I didn't know what their standard answer was, but I knew how to write something that would surely earn me at least a few points."
"And what did you write?"
Yang Ming raised a finger and gently wagged it. "Just one sentence: written language is a shackle on civilization, an obsolete form that limits the efficiency of communication between minds."
The key was direct communication between minds!
Kolev suddenly understood.
"That's a brilliant insight," he exclaimed. "Did you get any points?"
"I passed, and with a pretty good score," Yang Ming said with a smile. "I figured out what the examiner wanted to hear. They wanted me to lavish praise on this lost civilization that communicated directly through thought."
Kolev's expression turned peculiar. "So you won this civilization's approval by sucking up to it."
Yang Ming's smile froze.
That was pretty much what he'd done.
"What happened next?" Kolev pressed.
Yang Ming shrugged. "The three examiners gave me some benefits and sent me on my way."
"I meant, how many levels did you actually get through?"
"Take a guess." Yang Ming deliberately kept him in suspense, then continued, "To enter the second stage of the exam—or, rather, to truly inherit this civilization's legacy—you have to meet the most basic requirements."
Kolev murmured, "The foundation of a civilization is a habitable planet."
"Actually, I need to have a Level One civilization, and the five-year deadline has to be in effect, before I qualify for the second stage."
Yang Ming sighed.
"I know it'll be difficult. Right now, I have only one ship and an assistant with the intelligence of a broken machine, so I need your help."
"Hey!"
Lü's image popped up on the watch face. She folded her arms and glared at Yang Ming.
"Boss! I've never looked down on your primitive, backward way of thinking. You owe me an apology!"
Yang Ming reached out and pinched her puffed-up cheek. The projection actually felt solid.
That only made her angrier. She pounded Yang Ming's finger with her fists.
"Don't interrupt when grown-ups are talking. Be good."
Yang Ming brushed her off, then turned back to the old man beside him, his expression serious.
"Kolev, the only thing I've kept to myself is my personal information. I haven't withheld or falsified anything else. I need your help—or, more accurately, your loyalty."
Kolev looked troubled. "Getting a habitable planet is something we can measure in money. We can figure out a way. But a Level One civilization... do you mean the kind I'm thinking of?"
Yang Ming said, "A Level One civilization is one that can make full use of all the resources on its home planet."
"That won't be easy, good heavens."
Kolev fell into thought.
Yang Ming took out the silver-white remote control and set it down beside Kolev.
"You can choose not to accept, Kolev. I'll only erase your memories from the past half hour, and it won't hurt at all. This is a little something the examiner, gravedigger, and patroller gave me personally."
Kolev grinned. "If I accept, things are going to get exciting, right?"
"Very exciting."
"There'll be wars?"
"Most likely."
"Space battles, conspiracies, and political intrigue?"
"Probably not much at first," Yang Ming said after a moment. "I can't really say. I haven't settled on a development path yet..."
"You're not asking me to donate money, are you?" Kolev asked with utmost seriousness.
"Of course not," Yang Ming replied. "In fact, I've already made a plan. I need someone to coordinate the big picture. I value your talent and ability."
"I'm in!"
Kolev grabbed Yang Ming's arm.
"When you become emperor, I'll be your minister! Preferably the Finance Minister!"
Yang Ming smiled. "This Level One civilization might not be a feudal regime. Anyway, meet your new number two."
The girl on the watch face looked thoroughly annoyed. "My name is Lü. Please don't confuse me with some other mechanical mind."
"She's adorable," Kolev said with a squinting smile.
Yang Ming pursed his lips slightly.
Milili was more sisterly.
"We need to get going as soon as possible," Yang Ming reminded him. "The five-year period started half a month ago, and the calendar is more or less the same as the galactic year."
Kolev raised an eyebrow. "Oh? You spent over half a year inside the ruins? What else did you do?"
Yang Ming smiled knowingly. "Want to hear?"
"Of course."
"That'll cost extra."
"Hey!" Kolev, realizing he'd been played, was beginning to lose his temper.
"I'll come get you in three days," Yang Ming said. "I'm going back to the Feinan to get ready. I need to find a relatively chaotic government so I can get my hands on an administrative planet."
"What about your landing craft? This is an administrative planet in the Kashi Federation. You can't just..."
Kolev's mouth seemed to fill with air, cutting him off.
In his line of sight, the man in the light-blue maintenance suit had already walked to the window. A nearly transparent beam, distorting the air slightly, broke through the clouds and shone on him.
The next moment, Yang Ming's body dissolved into particles, and the beam quickly faded.
A transparent battleship could just barely be seen flashing past high overhead, while the planet's defense systems didn't react at all.
"Oh," Kolev murmured vacantly, his eyes unfocused. "Particle Transmission, something that exists only in theory... This really is a higher civilization."
This chapter combined several chapters. I revised it for a few days before deciding to present it in the style of a short science-fiction story. It's more than ten thousand words: a brief encounter with a highly advanced civilization. Letting it drag on would disrupt the pacing, but making it too short wouldn't give it a science-fiction feel or convey the tone of this book. In the end, I took the risk of publishing a ten-thousand-word chapter during the free-reading period.
I hope this decision pays off.
I'm looking forward to setting out on a new interstellar science-fiction journey with both new and longtime readers.
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