The Gods' Lost Pearl
The warship's forward cabin
"Was this made by a guide using mental power?"
Huosuosi sat in the black leather chair at the head of the room, his dark marshal's uniform setting off his broad, upright shoulders. He held the broken bone-like object between his fingertips, turning it over and examining it carefully. But apart from the faintest lingering trace of guide pheromones, he detected no unusual energy fluctuations, even after scanning it three times with his mental power.
The black panther that had been crouching quietly beside his legs, however, had now risen to its feet. Its once-languid tail was stretched taut and straight, and its dark purple eyes were fixed on the broken bone. A low growl rumbled in its throat, and it made no attempt to conceal the covetous longing in its eyes.
"You want it?" As the panther's master, Huosuosi naturally noticed its desire.
"Rrrow~" The panther growled softly and rubbed against Huosuosi's trouser leg.
Huosuosi raised an eyebrow. Although the panther was his spirit beast, it was aloof and distant, hardly close even to him, its master. It had never shown such blatant desire for anything, and a low, almost coquettish whine like this was utterly unprecedented.
"Here."
Huosuosi casually tossed the bone to the panther. It sprang up and caught the bone neatly in its mouth, then immediately settled down after landing and buried its head in the bone, crunching away with gusto. Even the tip of its tail radiated contentment.
Duoduo, who was nearby, was so anxious that he nearly charged over. Noi reacted quickly, wrapping his arms tightly around the little golden retriever's neck and pulling him into his embrace. Cold sweat broke out on his forehead, his heart pounded wildly, and he hardly dared to breathe.
The bone, now gnawed beyond recognition, had been snatched from Duoduo's mouth. Seeing the panther swallow the bone Duoduo had mangled made Noi feel even guiltier. He dared not let the commander know that the panther was gnawing on Duoduo's leftovers.
Just as Noi was still hesitating over whether to slip away, the federal marshal, who had been sitting at the head of the room looking unconcerned a moment ago, suddenly narrowed his eyes.
Through his mental connection with the panther, a remarkably cool, gentle energy passed through the outer barrier of his mental sea without the slightest resistance.
The energy was almost infinitesimal, but to Huosuosi, the "Federation's strongest combatant," it was already a miracle.
This was the first time since he had reached adulthood that a guide had broken through his mental barrier and entered his sea of consciousness!
No wonder... no wonder Ers and the others had looked so conflicted.
Huosuosi raised his eyes, his gaze passing through the room's one-way glass and falling on the nearby observation cabin.
Andromeda's pink nebula spread out like a soft sea of light. Scattered starlight streamed through the porthole, falling on the young woman as she gazed up at the sea of stars outside, talking and laughing with Shang Yu. Her eyes curved into gentle crescents, and even the loose strands of hair at her temples were touched by a hazy glow.
Seen from afar, she looked like a goddess who had descended to the mortal world, illuminating this dark borderland shrouded in clouds year-round.
Huosuosi could not stop himself from wanting to approach her. By the time he realized it, he had already reached the corner, where he abruptly stopped.
"Wow, what's that?" Yuqing's view of the world had already been upended many times today, but when she saw the mechas floating outside the glass, she was shocked yet again.
"Those are our troops' heavy mechas. They're powerful weapons for slaughtering giant polluted species. You don't usually get to see them, because weapons as devastating as these only serve in our Ninth Military District," Shang Yu said with a smile.
"Those big guys must cost a lot to maintain, right?" The annual upkeep for the few long-range cannons and the particle barrier at her base was enough to feed the population of three medium-sized bases. One look at the mechas before her, each more than ten stories tall, was enough to make Yuqing feel like the budget was burning.
"They do cost a fortune, but... our marshal is no ordinary man. Even without central funding, the Ninth Administrative District's tax revenue alone is enough to support all the sentinels in the military district and its expensive arsenal." Shang Yu's foxlike eyes were full of pride.
"Then he's pretty impressive..." Yuqing meant the praise from the bottom of her heart. After all, the leader of her base was already anxious enough to tear her hair out every day just trying to feed everyone there.
At the corner, the corners of Huosuosi's mouth rose by an almost imperceptible pixel.
"Marshal? Aren't you going over?" Noi asked in confusion, holding the little golden retriever.
"No. Send word to the military district and have them prepare what the guide needs in advance. I have important business to attend to. After the guide decides for herself whether to stay or leave, Ers can report to me." Huosuosi lowered his eyes. His personality was dull and unlikeable, and even his appearance seemed unapproachable. Guides had not liked him when he was young, much less now... he was no longer young.
"Yes, sir."
"Miss Guide, we've arrived. This is Eremos." Ers and Shang Yu stood on either side of her. Shang Yu's excitement from when he had been introducing the scenery was long gone, and Ers unconsciously clenched his hand.
The environment on Eremos was terrible. Thick, purplish-black clouds pressed down overhead, leaving no gaps in the sky. Bare grayish-brown rock and soil stretched as far as the eye could see, with only a towering but weathered black city wall spanning the horizon, its surface pitted by sandstorms and the ravages of war.
The sentinels inside and outside the cabin stood with their backs ramrod straight, but their gazes all lingered on Yuqing. In the second-floor command room, Huosuosi stood behind one-way glass, an unlit cigar between his fingers and his deep-set eyes fixed on the young woman.
Everyone was waiting.
Waiting for her to frown in disgust, to step back instinctively, to say she wanted to return to the central district immediately.
But even knowing that the guide would ask to leave, everyone still harbored a tiny, desperate hope that she might stay a few more days... so they could pretend, pretend that this land had not been abandoned by the gods, and that the Federation had not given up on them.
Yet the expected disgust and retreat never came.
Yuqing stood at the cabin door and swept her gaze over the gloomy sky and earth and the weathered city wall. Her expression was calm, showing not the slightest discomfort. She even tilted her head and, seeing that the two men beside her had gone stiff and motionless, blinked in confusion and asked, "Why did we stop?"
Yuqing had no trouble accepting the environment.
After the zombie apocalypse came to Earth, even the moon had turned red, and all kinds of extreme weather had swept across the globe. What kind of bad weather had she not seen? Besides, the first place she had arrived after transmigrating was the Border Dark Forest. Compared to that, Eremos looked rather pleasant.
"Please... please, this way." Hearing the guide's clear voice, Shang Yu abruptly came back to his senses and hurried ahead to lead the way.
When the Ninth Military District's warships were designed, no one had considered the possibility of a guide coming aboard. Every facility had been tailored to sentinels' physiques. The steps were just right for sentinels, whose average height was over 1.9 meters, but they were rather far apart for the petite Yuqing. Their surfaces were cold, hard, and smooth, and there were no handrails on either side, so she was inevitably a little unsteady going down.
Ers reached out at the right moment and helped Yuqing down the steps from the warship's cabin door. "Miss Guide, we've prepared dinner and a room for you. You can rest first... We didn't have much time, so our preparations aren't complete. We've already sent people into town to buy what's needed. If you need anything, you can tell us at any time..."