"The rocket is expected to enter the ionosphere in twenty seconds. Please be advised."
Inside the rocket ascending from Crocodile Continent sat an astronaut who was also an official investigator of Crocodile Continent, a highly educated man who taught as a professor on the side.
He wore no bulky spacesuit, only a shirt and sweatpants. Lightly dressed, he sat at the rocket's controls, watching the constantly changing data on the screen.
To an ordinary person, an astronaut like him ought to have been wearing a bulky spacesuit.
But as Special Items became more numerous, the Crocodile Continent Investigation Bureau had acquired a type that improved physical fitness and temporarily enabled photosynthesis, freeing people from the restrictions of spacesuits and greatly broadening the range of environments in which they could breathe.
"Phew..." He exhaled. The skin on his face and arms was green from the abundance of chloroplasts within it. They were performing photosynthesis, assisted by suitable lighting inside the rocket that worked in conjunction with his item.
"This time, I have to leave Blue Star. What a dangerous place."
A shadow seemed to flicker through John's pupils. He had not wanted to leave just like this, but an old friend had sent him a private message saying the Investigation Bureau had come knocking.
And it was not just one old friend. Another had also sent a secret warning before being captured.
The capture of two Elder Level friends had made him feel profoundly threatened. He had immediately left his residence and switched bodies.
John had taken over the body of a Crocodile Continent investigator to ensure his safety in the short term, then obtained permission to conduct research aboard the Space Station.
Before boarding the rocket, he had performed many spiritual divinations.
Of every ten divinations John performed, nine yielded