Chapter 466: Unable To Return?
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Thump~ Thump~
Unmistakably, Chen Jin felt his heartbeat speed up.
This was something that he had never experienced before.
Besides the beautiful and n.o.ble woman, he saw the silver s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p behind her, the azure sky, and the huge building, which instantly blurred into nothing. They were completely ignored by Chen Jin’s brain.
There was only the woman.
Looking at her coming closer, her delicate and beautiful face gradually became clear.
For a moment, Chen Jin appeared to be entranced as his expression became stupid and blank.
Until they were less than one meter away from each other. The beauty stood in front of him, and the slight breeze sent a scent towards him that tickled his nose.
Only then did Chen Jin react. He looked at the woman and faintly greeted her, “Yun, you’re here.”
“Mm, I’m here.”
Mu Yunhua also sized him up roughly. Her face was full of doubts, “Jin, you’re human too?” He was not a two-dimensional figure with a big head, big eyes, and ill-fitting body proportions.
While this greatly astonished her, it was also expected at the same time.
What she believed to be a higher civilization and the group representing this intelligent race, was human.
Moreover, there was nothing unusual about his appearance, they were ordinary; the man before her only had a pair of eyes with unfathomable depth.
Many speculations rushed to the forefront of her mind. Could it be that Jin was a survivor who remained on Haierfa planet and that he had created such a civilization?
“I guess.”
Chen Jin did not want to answer too many questions. After all, they had just met. They were far from the point where they could lay all their cards on the table and have a heart to heart.
“Let’s go and get you settled for the time being. And if there’s anything you don’t understand, you can take your time to ask your questions.”
…
The two got on the shuttle bus and 20 or 30 minutes later, the bus arrived near the core area of the Base of Operations and they alighted. They entered a tall building.
“This city was built on a bomb crater after the outbreak of the use of nuclear weapons, so I called it Crater City…”
“Currently there are only two permanent residents in this city, this planet and even this galaxy – my wife and me…..”
Chen Jin introduced the general situation.
However, Guo Yan was not by his side. She did not go to the airport to meet their guest but took the initiative to prepare lunch–the perfect expression of a virtuous and generous wife. She seemed to have lost the wariness of previous days.
However, Chen Jin knew that this was a retreat to avoid any awkwardness and to restrain her inner feelings and to secretly observe and collect useful information.
They were all over the age of 100. They were very clear in their minds regarding what was the most suitable and appropriate course of action.
“Wife?”
Mu Yunhua glanced at Chen Jin and noticed a trace of awkwardness on his face.
However, she still did not show any expression on her face. Even though she knew in her heart that Jin was deeply pa.s.sionate inside, he was outwardly reserved. In their past few decades of communication, they had conducted some special exchanges more than once.
Jin understood very well the content during these exchanges, including her body and some secrets that could not be said to outsiders. He was very familiar…An inexplicable connection that was beyond ordinary friends.h.i.+p existed between the two of them.
This would cause some awkwardness or embarra.s.sment. At least, Chen Jin felt rather uncomfortable about it and was a little overcautious.
Even so, Mu Yunhua still wore an unflappable expression, giving one a n.o.ble and aloof feel.
It was as if she did not have any of those embarra.s.sing memories.
…
He arranged a detached villa for Mu Yunhua.
She set down her luggage.
He arranged dozens of nanny and chef robots to do their duties after she had settled down.
Afternoon.
In the large living room on the first floor of the main villa.
Sumptuous dishes fill the entire table.
There were more than a hundred dishes, including lobster, shark’s fin, sea cuc.u.mber, steak, lamb, fruit salad, and common vegetables. All of them were made with purely natural and organic ingredients. The smell emanating from the food would make one drool and greatly increase one’s appet.i.te.
It was just that the long table was too big. After the three of them were seated, there was not an atmosphere of warmth and grandeur.
On the contrary, it felt cold and empty.
Seeing that Guo Yan was present, Chen Jin made a round of introductions. Chen Jin did not act too enthusiastically after the greetings were made. He only said to “eat more” to Mu Yunhua who was sitting across him, and then he did not speak anymore.
On the other hand, Guo Yan was acting like a very competent hostess. She continuously told Mu Yunhua to eat more and showed kind concern for her well-being by asking many questions.
Mu Yunhua responded politely and said a lot of situationally appropriate things.
It seemed that the relations.h.i.+p between two women tended to progress towards friends.h.i.+p.
But Chen Jin knew that everything that was happening was only on a superficial level.
Although the two women got a rhythm going on in their conversation and were full of warmth to each other, the cold and indifferent element remained in the overall atmosphere.
Chen Jin did not like this atmosphere very much.
After lunch.
In the late afternoon, Chen Jin took Mu Yunhua out of the villa and got them on a sightseeing aircraft. The cabin seating was arranged in a single row and each of them had their seats.
He maneuvered the aircraft and it ascended into the sky.
Chen Jin took Mu Yunhua on a tour of Haierfa with its all-new appearance.
“Over 88% of all areas are covered by forests and plants. The transformation of the entire planet has been completed.”
“The marine ecosystem has been restored and the variety of biodiversity now is as rich as it was before the outbreak of war.”
“Whew, air pollution has disappeared, and the concentration of oxygen is a little on the high side. Besides the rainy season, blue sky and white clouds are the normal weather in most areas.”
“There are many beautiful birds in the sky. There are many deer herds and wolf packs in the forest. Cattle and sheep can be found all over the gra.s.slands. It is lively everywhere in this beautiful nature.”
“A beautiful world; a beautiful planet.”
Looking at the white, snowy peaks not too far away, and the clouds in the sky that were whiter than cotton.
The beautiful scenery that seemed to belong in a painting made the woman shut her eyes slightly in fascination.
After a thorough transformation, the hometown in front of her was much more beautiful and environmentally friendly than the Haierfa she remembered.
The scenery in every corner could be shot to produce a wallpaper-quality image.
The most original, earliest ecology.
But… Although it was perfectly beautiful, the only thing about it that made one regrettable and feel that something was missing, was the kind of human energy and bustle that used to be present.
Humanity had disappeared.
The city was gone.
Roads, railways, dams….. Many man-made facilities had disappeared, or only their rough outlines could be seen.
Only the beautiful and original planet remained.
It looked beautiful and full of vitality. It allowed one to easily let go of body and mind; penetrating straight to one’s soul.
But in fact, it seemed to have lost its soul.
Only peace and loneliness were left; peace and loneliness that were impossible to get rid of.
It was no longer the planet in her memories.
After she finished appreciating the natural beauty, an inexplicable sadness and sense of loss flashed across Mu Yunhua’s face.
“It’s all gone, there’s nothing left.”
She whispered to herself, “All that existed had dissipated in the long river of time, there is no way to reminisce or commemorate. They’re all gone, not a single thing remains.”
Disappointed.
She was very obviously disappointed.
Mu Yunhua, who originally held some expectations, could not see anything that evoked her memories. Even most of the desolate ruins of her memory were turned into green hills and clear water, buried in the endless green.
It was as if the traces of civilization had been erased, with no way to rouse her nostalgia.
Mu Yunhua found it somewhat difficult to accept.
However, she did not blame Chen Jin about why he had transformed the environment so thoroughly.
He turned around and noticed the expression on the woman’s face. Of course, Chen Jin knew the emotions in her heart.
He thought about it and said, “Yun, when I first arrived, this planet was like dead cancer cells. Radiation and pollution were everywhere. There were drought and dust that blocked out the sky, it was very ugly… I can only invest a huge amount of energy and resources to carry out a thorough transformation.”
“However, the robots did not employ destructive methods of cleaning during the process of clearing up the ruins, instead, they’ve collected some high-value items.”
“There are library books, CDs and other audio products, some oil paintings, ancient paintings, calligraphy, and other works of art. There were also gold and silver jewelry, previous film and television works, games, doc.u.mentaries, and industrial technology materials…”
“As long as the collection value was high, I let the robots collect and store them in a museum.”
“If you want to find some memories related to the past, I can take you to the museum to see if there is something you like.”
The museum was called “The Commemorative Museum And Tomb of Civilization.”
The area of the museum was extremely large, and the materials stored exceeded hundreds of thousands of PBs. The contents could be said to be extremely complete.
One could find any information that he wanted.
Of course, Chen Jin was not the one who wanted to collect so much information, it was Nuwa, who had received the transformation project for the planet. In the beginning, it was a conscious act. One could consider the museum to be the fruit of unintentional labor.
As Mu Yunhua listened, she became blank.
A large number of books.
Valuable art.
Past film and television works, games, and doc.u.mentaries.
An extremely complete database.
There should be some clues about what had happened during the Great Destructive War and information about what happened to the senior administrators of the Great Hua Empire.
“Jin, take me to the museum. I do want to check some things out.”
Mu Yunhua said with some urgency.
Chen Jin understood her att.i.tude.
He knew that she had a few riddles in her mind that she wanted to solve, or perhaps she was eager to understand some past events.
This was like the final review of a suspense drama. It made one want to do a summary review from the overall perspective.
Some historical lessons had to be drawn.
And to summarize some experiences and so on.
Then again, what there any meaning to this?
In Chen Jin’s eyes, there was not much meaning to this. The tragedy had already happened. There was not any use in reviewing, a.n.a.lyzing, and summarizing events again. Under the cloak of history, the mistakes that were made would still be committed.
Development had become a necessity.
Just as the increasing entropy of the universe.
But…
“Ok, I will take you there!”
Chen Jin changed his direction and returned to Crater City.
The next day, he brought Mu Yunhua with him and entered the huge museum.
…
An underground s.p.a.ce that covered more than 10,000 square kilometers.
The two of them wore protective suits with oxygen supply and entered an environment filled with nitrogen at room temperature.
Looking up, circular bookcases or lockers were filled with a wide variety of items.
An advanced and complex data retrieval system could intelligently collect data according to the questions asked by the user, then it would use its robotic arm to capture it. Its retrieval efficiency was very high.
After Mu Yunhua came in, her emotions were all astir, and it was immediately revealed on her face. She raised a lot of questions about the intelligent retrieval system.
For example, she asked how the destructive war erupted and the att.i.tudes and behaviors of the ruling cla.s.ses of each country.
She asked about the modes of operation of each survival base during the nuclear winter.
As well as some scientific and technological doubts.
She also asked about some small details in the long river of history and so on.
Her inquiry was extremely detailed.
Moreover, she received rather definite and specific answers to more than 70% of the questions which made her nod in repet.i.tion.
…
Hence.
In that huge underground museum.
Half a year.
Mu Yunhua stayed in it for half a year.
She asked a large number of questions every day and downloaded some research materials.
Like a historical research scholar, she was so engrossed in her work that she neglected her sleep and forgot to eat.
Because information was readily available and complete, they were also generally of a higher level of credibility. Therefore, it was rather rewarding for her. She had never considered leaving this place.
She even told Chen Jin that the knowledge she had gained in the past six months had improved her information by 5%.
She would know the entire truth after about ten years or so.
Seeing her like this.
Chen Jin felt that it was kind of a pain in the a.s.s.
“What is the use of this research?”
He said that it was very difficult to understand. “Even if you know the truth, so what? What’s the difference between knowing and not knowing the truth? Can time be reversed, can you stop the tragedy?”
He shook his head. It was just a waste of energy and time.
He had some opinions.
However, what he largely felt was embarra.s.sment.
Because he had said to Guo Yan that Mu Yunhua would only be staying for three to five days, she would be leaving soon.
In the end, she had sunk into an obsessive state for half a year.
What should he do?
He did not even know how to mention this to Guo Yan. After all, Mu Yunhua was an esteemed guest. If he mentioned this, wouldn’t it mean that he wanted to chase Mu Yunhua out?
Guo Yan understood this reason too. Although she wanted Mu Yunhua to leave, the only thing she could do when she saw her condition was to take care of her meals and smile, as if to say, “It’s not a problem to stay for longer.” It was difficult to say something impolite.
Other than that, after half a year of understanding and contact, doubts also developed in Guo Yan’s heart. She was not sure if Mu Yunhua was a “threat.”
One, Mu Yunhua was too cold, only focusing on her affairs. She was very polite to her, and would occasionally approach her for a heart-to-heart. But she seemed a little aloof towards Chen Jin. She frequently showed disinterest towards Chen Jin which embarra.s.sed him.
The state that she was in could be described as the researcher state. Besides the things that she was working on, she would not care about anybody or anything else.
Two, what happened to Mu Yunhua elicited sympathy. The more contact she had with her, the more her emotions were moved and then she started to feel admiration towards her.
Over time, she lowered her guard and her wariness disappeared.
Guo Yan even came to this conclusion, “A woman like Mu Yunhua is simply out of Chen Jin’s league. There was no possibility that things between them could develop to the point that they were together.” Her worry was purely redundant.
If Chen Jin understood the thoughts in Guo Yan’s mind, he would probably cry. Was he so terrible?
But no matter what.
Chen Jin and Guo Yan gradually became familiar with Mu Yunhua’s existence on Haierfa. They even thought that it was pretty good. After all, people were social animals, they needed to feel the energy from other human beings.
However, on this day, Mu Yunhua realized that she had stayed for too long and that she had forgotten to go back as early as possible.
“It seems that I have to go. The All-Stars Federation still needs me. But I will not stop my research here. Please arrange a few remote robots for me so that I can control them remotely for my studies,” Mu Yunhua stood up and said.
She seemed to want to depart immediately.
“Wait~”
Chen Jin raised his wrist and looked at a message that he had just received. His expression changed, “Yun, you might not be able to return. A situation seems to have arisen in the All-Stars Federation.”
“???”
Suddenly, a bewildered expression came over Mu Yunhua’s face.