"They're finally gone."
Gao Jian could not help poking his head out, splashing around in the seawater and taking a breath.
The sun was sinking in the west. He had been soaking in the sea since morning.
Gao Jian looked into the distance. At the far edge of his vision, the warships of the United States Second Fleet were slowly leaving these waters. Their hulls and masts were almost out of sight.
The disappearing masts actually confirmed the Earth's curvature. No wonder he had never noticed it before, but now was not the time to study that.
Gao Jian was more worried about his own situation.
Why was one of his country's submarines in the Gulf of Mexico? He could not make sense of it. Such military adventurism was completely at odds with his country's usual restrained approach.
Still, that submarine's appearance had fortunately drawn the attention of almost all the American forces.
Otherwise, Gao Jian, whose spiritual power had been exhausted at the time, would certainly have been discovered by the American salvage crews. These waters were over a hundred kilometers from the nearest land, and he would have had no way to explain his presence.
After recovering his spiritual power, Gao Jian had used the Water-Repelling Art to hide on the seabed a thousand meters down, watching the entire process with his divine sense.
Not long after surfacing, the submarine had left the Gulf of Mexico with the American ships, while NASA's Landing and Recovery Team, which had rushed over after receiving the news, directed the personnel on site in retrieving the Orion spacecraft.
Gao Jian had watched the Orion spacecraft's return capsule being loaded into a United States Navy amphibious transport dock. Throughout the process, the surrounding American warships had gone into full lockdown, apparently guarding against something.
Naturally, the four astronauts he had placed under the Heart-Binding Curse had been picked up as well.
I hope they're all right. And I hope the Americans don't go too far with their investigation.
He was not worried about being exposed. Gao Jian knew perfectly well how the Heart-Binding Curse worked. With the curse in place, even under torture, the astronauts would struggle to say so much as a word about him.
The moment the thought arose, it would weigh down on them like a mountain, leaving them unable to utter a word.
Besides, all four astronauts had already promised Gao Jian they would use memory loss as an excuse.
Unless the United States possessed technology capable of directly reading memories. But as far as Gao Jian knew, research into human memory was still at the theoretical verification stage. Reading memories existed only in science fiction for now.
The Soul-Seizing Art could extract memories, though.
But even back home, that spell was a rare technique used by evil cultivators. Surely no one on Earth knew it. He... he did not know it either.
They had shared a journey, after all. He wished them luck.
Spitting out a mouthful of salty, bitter seawater, Gao Jian swam hard toward shore. From this moment onward, he would be a completely ordinary person, just as he had been for the past two years.
A Foundation Establishment cultivator? Nothing to do with me. Never met one. Don't know any.
This wholly mundane way of life was also the rule Gao Jian had set for himself when he first crossed over.
He had always believed that modern governments possessed astonishing capabilities for controlling information. Once he displayed supernatural powers, even if he merely moved something with his mind, used an escape technique, or flew through the night sky, he would eventually leave traces in this camera-riddled society.
Once the state took notice, investigations into his behavioral patterns, psychological profile, social connections, and personality would begin. And once such an investigation started, whatever remained after eliminating every impossibility would be the truth.
His identity as a cultivator would inevitably be exposed.
It was not that he was afraid. If he truly wanted to hide, he could still manage it by disappearing into some remote mountain forest. But his social ties would certainly suffer, and returning to an ordinary life afterward would be difficult.
Even reaching a cooperative arrangement with the state later would be a hassle. If elders, relatives, friends, or superiors privately asked him for something like a life-extending pill, should he give it to them or not? Gao Jian had never been good at turning people down.
Keeping himself hidden as much as possible and being a law-abiding young man was enough.
Guided by this commitment to staying hidden, Gao Jian swam over a hundred kilometers through the sea, from that afternoon until noon the next day. He headed northwest the entire time, splashing along for a full day and night before finally spotting a beach in Texas.
He encountered several fishing boats and yachts along the way, but submerged to avoid them all.
The Artemis Moon Landing Program had launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and that was where he himself had disappeared. Thus, "respawning" within a hundred kilometers of the launch center would have been the most plausible option.
Still, the safest course was to find Counselor Wang at the consulate general in Florida.
He must be worried sick.
Before coming ashore, since his clothes had long since burned away, he took swimming trunks, a swim cap, and goggles out of his Storage Bag and put them on. He also picked up an abandoned surfboard from the water and tucked it under his arm. Then he wiped his face and walked brazenly onto the beach.
Finally. Finally, I'm out.
The instant his feet touched dry land, Gao Jian suddenly felt his eyes sting.
All he wanted was to cultivate immortality. It was a perfectly legitimate hobby. Why did it have to be so hard?
He found a deserted spot, rinsed himself with fresh water, changed clothes, and tidied his hair. Only then was he properly sorted out. Considering that he had been missing for over seventy-two hours, Gao Jian did not rush off. Instead, he dug his phone out of his Storage Bag.
The phone had suffered severe liquid leakage in the vacuum earlier and would not be usable anytime soon.
The geomagnetic storm's high-energy particles should not have been able to penetrate the Storage Bag, so the problem could only have come from exposing the phone itself to a vacuum.
"I'll have to buy another phone. There goes another chunk of money... tsk."
Gao Jian winced at the expense.
He was no Elon Musk. He had only been working for two years and did not have much saved up. Spending several thousand yuan on a phone still hurt.
Although the state had continually stressed the need to "improve pay and benefits for domestic researchers," policies took time to take effect. As an aerospace engineer, he earned more than an average worker, but he was still nowhere near the level of programmers at major internet companies.
His monthly salary was roughly 19,000 yuan. With various allowances and housing provident fund contributions included, his annual compensation came to around 300,000 yuan. He had saved over 600,000 in two years, but most of that had been transferred to the original owner's grandfather.
Gao Jian had little desire for material things, or he would not have refused the five-hundred-thousand-dollar meeting fee "Wan Hu" had offered. Right now, though, he felt rather poor.
"I still need to make some money."
This incident had served as a reminder.
In the future, he needed to keep more spare phones and clothes in his Storage Bag. If circumstances allowed, he should stock a few generators too. The hundred-odd thousand yuan he had left would not be enough.
I wonder if Wan Hu's five-hundred-thousand-dollar meeting fee is still on the table...
Taking that money would be risky. If Wan Hu is a foreigner, a huge foreign-currency transfer to someone working as an aerospace engineer would practically set off flashing red lights at State Security. Anyone who didn't know better would think I'd sold state secrets.
Maybe earn a little extra telling fortunes? Set up a fortune-telling stall?
No, no. My political affiliation isn't "unaffiliated citizen." Promoting feudal superstition is out of the question.
Go the urban miracle doctor route? Refine some "herbal pills" from medicinal ingredients on Earth, learn from past mistakes, and heal the sick?
Practicing medicine without a license was illegal, and Gao Jian never broke the law. He had no time to qualify for a separate license, either, and no way to explain where his medical skills had come from.
Borrow some from Elon Musk?
Forget it. We've only met once. He only chatted with me out of respect for CNSA. Under normal circumstances, someone in my position wouldn't even get to meet a "big shot" like him.
Never mind. It's too early to think about any of this.
His most urgent task now was to contact Counselor Wang, feel out the situation, and get home first.
The consulate general was in downtown Houston, still a few dozen kilometers from his current location. If everything was fine, the safest choice would be to return to the consulate general, meet up with Counselor Wang, and then fly home through official channels.
Gao Jian searched the streets for a while. Seeing homeless people everywhere along the roadside, he frowned almost imperceptibly. For some reason, he felt that the social conditions throughout the United States had deteriorated considerably since the former president's assassination. The newly inaugurated President Vance seemed to have done nothing for this tottering empire, either.
On a rundown street, Gao Jian finally found a working public phone booth. He inserted a twenty-five-cent coin and dialed Counselor Wang's private number.
"Hello? Is this Counselor Wang? This is-"
Before Gao Jian could finish, he heard a hysterical roar from the other end of the line:
"Gao Jian, where have you been?!!"
Before you continue