The golden Ark had been traveling through the hyperspace corridor for an unknown length of time.
For Lin Ye, the concept of time had grown hazy. The ship's intelligent system had taken over most of the navigation, while he spent nearly all his time immersed in the vast archive left behind by the will of Origin, studying, absorbing, and understanding knowledge beyond anything he had ever known.
He learned how to sense the life energy drifting through the universe, how to restore the ecosystem of a dying planet, and how to communicate with primordial worlds where intelligent life had yet to emerge.
But there were some things he would never learn.
Like how to stop missing those names that had become stars in the silence of the late night.
That day, Lin Ye awoke from meditation and sensed that the ship had left hyperspace. He walked over to the main screen on the bridge, and the sight before him took his breath away.
It was a star system he had never seen before.
An enormous blue-green gas giant dominated his view, surrounded by three moons of different sizes. In an orbit not far from the giant, an emerald-green rocky planet moved silently, its surface covered in vast forests and oceans, brimming with life.
The Ark's intelligent system spoke in a gentle, synthesized female voice: "Target star system reached, designation XK-774. Active signs of life detected on the third planet. Ecological rating: excellent. Meets Seeder protocol standards."
Lin Ye took a deep breath and gave an order. "Begin a planetary scan. Analyze whether any nascent intelligent life exists."
"Command confirmed. Beginning scan..."
On the screen, images of the planet's surface were steadily magnified and resolved. Dense jungles, rushing rivers, rolling mountains... everything was so pristine and untouched.
Suddenly, a red marker