The group were all well-informed intellectuals who, deep down, did not believe immortals existed. So what was going on with this old man riding a bull? Unable to make up their minds, they could only stare blankly as the little old man cursed up a storm.
"Zhonghua, is that a person?" Hu Yu asked Wen Zhonghua, who stood frozen beside him.
"An immortal, maybe." Wen Zhonghua was already somewhat dazed. It was not strange to see all sorts of alien things in the void of space, and everyone had encountered beings from six or seven civilizations to varying degrees. But how could they not be astonished to see an old man on a black bull out here in the void? He wore no protective suit, and his head and hands were exposed directly to the vacuum of space, yet he showed no discomfort at all. On the contrary, he seemed full of energy as he shouted curses.
"Academicians, what do you think? Is that a person?"
"He certainly looks just like us, but I can't hear what he's cursing about," Academician Xiao said.
"I think he seems to want to come in," Academician Zeng ventured.
"Come in? Can we do that? We're the first people from Earth to venture into space. Could there be other Earthlings out here besides us? He may look human, but something about this doesn't feel right to me."
"Old Hu, how about we give him a hit and see how he reacts?" Wen Zhonghua suggested, having recovered his wits.
By now, the white-bearded old man seemed to be cursing even more furiously. Even through the meters-thick viewport, they could sense his spittle flying and saliva spraying everywhere. He was even jumping up and down on the bull's back, like someone enraged to the extreme but unable to do anything about it.
"Don't attack rashly. We still don't know what he is or what he wants. At least for now, he hasn't posed any threat to us apart from cursing. But we should still order the Hunter-Killer Fleet to prepare to attack. If he makes any unusual move, attack immediately."
"I agree with Academician Zeng. He does want to come in," Academician Xiao said after observing for a while.
"Let him in." After thinking it over, Hu Yu made his decision.
"Old Hu, this is the science ship. It's our highest priority."
"It's all right. If he's powerful and means us harm, there won't be much difference whether he's outside or inside. If he isn't powerful enough, he won't be able to cause much trouble even if he gets in. Let's see what he's after."
The two academicians nodded in agreement. Hu Yu walked over to the viewport and opened the hatch between the ship's airlock and the outside. Sure enough, the old man stopped cursing, turned the bull around, and flew into the airlock. Hu Yu closed the hatch and opened the door between the airlock and the lounge. The door was rather small, and the black bull could not get through at all. The old man tugged at it a few times, then gave up and strode into the lounge alone. Ignoring Hu Yu and the others, he plopped down at the table, grabbed the food on it, and dug in without a care.
The group could only watch him stuff himself as though he had not eaten in years. Within minutes, he had polished off nearly everything on the table, and from the look of him, he was still far from full. Hu Yu had no choice but to ask the logistics staff to prepare and bring out more food. The old man kept eating and drinking without a break, treating the people around him as if they were not there. Half an hour later, he finally seemed to be full. He took out the gourd hanging at his waist, and the aroma of liquor wafted out.
The old man took a few swigs, wiped his mouth, and burped. "Buuurp~~~"
"Which bastard was it who said he wanted to give this old man a hit just now?"
Having eaten and drunk his fill, the old man finally spoke. Although his pronunciation differed from Mandarin, the group could understand most of what he said. His accent fell somewhere between those of Hubei and Sichuan and was fairly easy to understand.
Wen Zhonghua scratched his head awkwardly at the question and did not answer. By now, everyone was reasonably certain that the old man was human. Although they still had many questions, they had already accepted him as one of their own on an emotional level: he looked like them, ate like them, and spoke the same language.
"If this old man remembers correctly, it was you, you little bastard, wasn't it?" Referring to himself as "this old man" every chance he got, the old man pointed at Wen Zhonghua, ready to start cursing again.
"Hey, old man, don't push your luck. You ate our food and took up our space. I haven't even questioned you about who you are or where you came from, and you're turning around and interrogating me?" Wen Zhonghua refused to back down and shot right back.
"And you other brats, this old man was shouting outside for ages, and none of you noticed. You made me chase you for so long."
"You old geezer, how dare you disrespect our academicians? Keep it up and I'll punch you." Wen Zhonghua tugged up his sleeves and raised a fist to scare him.
"Oh? When it comes to fighting, this old man has never been afraid of anyone. But a gentleman uses his mouth, not his fists. I'm here to reason with you."
"Please calm down, sir." Academician Xiao tugged at Wen Zhonghua, signaling him not to act rashly. "Sir, we were just busy studying a problem and didn't notice what was happening outside. May I ask where you're from, and why you speak our language?"
"Where am I from? Am I not human? Do you really need to ask? Are youngsters these days all this stupid?" The old man did not appreciate Academician Xiao's attempt at goodwill, leaving the academician caught between laughter and tears. He was already an old man himself, hundreds of years old, yet he was being insulted by this old fellow.
"Sir, that's not what I meant. I meant, how are you out here in space alone? You see, we all need a spaceship to survive," Academician Xiao continued.
"Sigh, it's all because this old man has rotten luck. Never mind. Since I've eaten your food, I owe you, and your attitude isn't bad for a youngster, so I'll tell you. My black bull is actually a biomechanical bull. It works on the same principle as your spaceship. I usually stay inside its belly and only come out for air once in a while."
"Air? Sir, aren't you afraid of freezing to death?" Wen Zhonghua said mockingly.
"Ignorant and proud of it. Can't this old man use a force field to create a small survival zone? Air and energy surround me. I can tell at a glance that you haven't reached that level yet. Useless."
So that was it. Only then did the group understand the truth behind the supposed immortal they had first seen. The fleet could already control magnetic field lines precisely. If they used them to create a virtual enclosure and kept air and energy inside it, humans could survive in the vacuum of space without wearing spacesuits. The energy inside the enclosure would not leak out, and the temperature could be maintained. All they needed to do was maintain the oxygen concentration. It seemed the old man really did know quite a lot.
"Sir, how should we address you? And where are you from, and where are you headed now?" asked Hu Yu, who had not spoken until then.
"Brat, you were the one who agreed to let this old man in, weren't you? I'm rather fond of you. This old man never changes his name, wherever he goes. I am Zhou Dao. Others respectfully call me Mr. Daozi. I hail from the State of Chu, under the Son of Heaven of the Great Zhou. But judging by your clothes, I can tell the Zhou dynasty is finished. What dynasty is it now?"
"What? You're Daozi? The Daozi who wrote the Great Scripture of No Dao?" the group exclaimed. He was actually Daozi from the Spring and Autumn period, a figure from nearly three thousand years ago, and a renowned celebrity known as the progenitor of morality. They all found it utterly incredible.
"I am. Is there a problem? The Great Scripture of No Dao was indeed written by this old man."
"Old Hu, this old fellow must be an impostor. How could the man who wrote the Great Scripture of No Dao behave like this? He has no morals at all."
"Little bastard, are you ever going to stop? You're ignorant and uneducated, yet you call this old man an impostor. First, I was forced to write the Great Scripture of No Dao. That brat Yin Liang had no morals and wouldn't let me leave the pass unless I wrote it, so I wrote a book called the Great Scripture of No Dao. The title was meant to mock his lack of morals. Second, my Tao Te Ching says that nature should be revered, that beauty and ugliness, good and evil, all complement each other, and that whatever exists is reasonable. It has nothing to do with whether this old man is moral or not."
"Mr. Daozi, later generations say that you rode a black bull west out of Jiayuguan Pass amid countless rays of rosy light, and that nothing more was heard of you after that. What really happened?" Hu Yu asked.
"Sigh, back then, this old man was utterly disappointed in the Zhou royal house and decided to travel around. When I reached Jiayuguan Pass, I was forced to write the Great Scripture of No Dao. I finally regained my freedom, but as soon as I left the pass, I was abducted by an alien civilization. People were ignorant. Those countless rays of rosy light were merely the light from the aliens' spaceship." At this point, the old man grew somewhat calmer, and his tone improved considerably.
"What happened after that?"
"At first, this old man didn't know what was going on either. How could someone from an agrarian age understand such alien technology? I thought a god had chosen me, but who knew it was nothing of the sort? They took me, some other abducted humans, and beings from other civilizations to an unfamiliar planetary system, then conducted research with us. But everyone else died during the research, and I was the only one left alive. I was supposed to be disposed of too, but fortunately, for reasons unknown, the leader of that civilization spared my life and let me stay by his side. I also learned some of their technology. Then, around a thousand years ago, I seized my chance and escaped aboard the black bull spaceship I'd built myself. But my black bull was slow and needed to stop at various planets frequently to replenish its energy. I've been flying on and off for a thousand years and still haven't made it home. Then I spotted a fleet just now, and when I flew closer to take a look, there were actually humans inside. This old man was overjoyed."
"Mr. Daozi, I think you fell for the delicious food on our table at first sight, didn't you?"
"Let's be frank. That's exactly right. This old man hasn't eaten food from home in over three thousand years. How could I not miss it? You, brat, go get some more and stuff it into the black bull's belly. I'll enjoy it on the way home." Daozi pointed at Wen Zhonghua as he spoke.
"Mr. Daozi, home is gone," Academician Zeng said with a sigh.
"This old man knows. The Zhou dynasty was corrupt and incompetent; it was bound to fall sooner or later. Dynasties must have changed many times over these past few thousand years. My family didn't have genetic technology, so they're certainly gone too. It doesn't matter, as long as the place is still there. After all these years, I've thought everything through."
"No, Mr. Daozi, I mean our planetary system no longer exists. That's why we've wandered this far. I believe you must have heard about the Insect Race in the Milky Way. More than a hundred years ago, the swarm descended on the Solar System, and we escaped only after going through countless hardships. Later, the Milky Way Patrols and the Destroyers blew up our Sun to wipe out the swarm. Please don't be too upset. The Sun is gone, but Earth should still be wandering through space. If you really miss home, we can tell you which direction Earth was drifting."
"Ah! How could this happen? It shouldn't be like this! This old man endured for nearly three thousand years, just so I could go home and take one look. Now home is right in front of me, and you tell me it's gone. Boo-hoo~~~" When the old man heard that Earth was gone, he actually began to sob.
The old man fell silent for a moment, wiped away his tears, then grabbed his gourd again and took several large swigs.
"Forget it. This is also the way of nature. It's no big deal." The old man soon recovered.
"Old man, if you have nowhere to go, stay with the fleet. We won't charge you for lodging, but you'll have to do some work for me if you want food," Wen Zhonghua continued teasing him.
"You bastard brat! Back in the day, wherever this old man went, people begged to treat me to meals. I'm doing you an honor by eating your food, and you want to charge me for it? This is outrageous!" Hearing someone talk back to him, Daozi perked up again.
"Old Hu, Academicians, look at him. This old fellow thinks he's entitled to swindle people out of food and drink. As that one fellow put it, I have never seen such a brazen person."
The group fought the urge to laugh. It seemed this legendary sage was nothing more than that. Although, as an ancient, his ideas had indeed been far ahead of his time, in other respects he was just an ordinary person. At this moment in particular, he was nothing more than a stubborn, bad-tempered little old man.
"All right, all right, Zhonghua, cut it out." Hu Yu called out, "Mr. Daozi, please stay with the fleet for the time being. You have nowhere else to go anyway, and we can look after you here."
"This old man was right about you after all. When you said to let me in, I knew you were a decent enough lad."
"By the way, how did you hear us talking while you were outside? What technology was that?" Hu Yu asked.
"Technology, my ass. This old man was just reading your lips," Daozi replied irritably. "But I can't be bothered to stay with your fleet. It's no fun at all. Since home is gone, I'll travel around and see what's out there."
"Old man, I was joking. You're not that petty, are you? Stay if you want to. Don't let pride stop you," Wen Zhonghua urged.
"This old man, petty? You think I'd take offense at you youngsters? I'll stay here for one day. You can take the black bull and study it, but don't break it. That's all the technology I could get my hands on. Oh, right, it's a product of an advanced civilization from a small star sector. Although I didn't learn much, it should be quite good for you. In return, you bastard brat will wait on me with good food and drink. This time tomorrow, your days of suffering will be over." Daozi pointed at Wen Zhonghua with a sinister grin.
"Well, thank you, sir. Chief of Staff Wen, you have your orders. For the next twenty-four hours, serve Mr. Daozi properly. If he's even slightly dissatisfied, you'll get fifty hard whacks with a paddle. That'll teach you to run your mouth."
"No need to thank this old man. I know this is what you want most. After all, you're my juniors, and meeting here must be the will of heaven. It won't cost me anything anyway. Oh, right, when you return my black bull tomorrow, fill its belly with food, leaving only enough room for me to sleep. The fleet's food is quite good. You bastard brat, come over here and massage my legs. This old man stood outside for too long, and my legs are numb."