Age of Cosmic Exploration Chapter 193

Chapter 193: Love that is Blocked by Glass
Jay was successfully injected with the Ultimate Vaccine. In a twist of fate, the typical side-effects were nullified because he was in a coma. The day after that, Zhang Heng and Ebon brought his body out of the Hope. Their destination was a wooden cabin set up next to the capital building site. It was sandwiched between a grass plain and a riverside fishing hole. The cabin was big enough to fit Zhang Heng, Ebon, and Jay.
Yao Yuan had his own idea behind this arrangement.
First, the obvious gain aside, Jay was his comrade, and they had been in plenty of life-or-death situations before. Yao Yuan had already treated him as part of the Black Star Unit. Furthermore, Jay ended up this way due to a selfless action, so Yao Yuan really wanted him to wake up.
Practically speaking, Jay was one of the most unique Homo Evolutis alongside the All-Rounder. Yao Yuan needed more information on the Deceiver’s power, and that could only be done with Jay’s conscious cooperation.
For example, Yao Yuan had gained much knowledge about the All-Rounder. He was the center of all Homo Evolutis, a spiritual existence that could gather the confidence and faith of other Homo Evolutis. In other words, the possibility of betrayal among the Homo Evolutis would be greatly lowered with his presence. This was a great burden on Yao Yuan’s back because to have the powerful Homo Evolutis revolt would be a serious blunder. That was why Yao Yuan was reluctant to let Guang Zhen force-enlist the new batch of Homo Evolutis into the military.
He wanted to know more about the Deceiver that was deemed to be equally unique as the All-Rounder. Wherein lays the uniqueness?
Therefore, Yao Yuan decided to move Jay to the planet's surface and had Ebon and Zhang Heng protect him. The choice of Ebon was self-explanatory; he was the strongest among all the Perceptors, and his close-quarter combat capability could easily rival Yao Yuan’s.
Zhang Heng, on the other hand, was the strongest Diviner. His power thus far had been 100 percent correct, responsible for saving mankind from certain death multiple times. With him by Jay’s side, Yao Yuan was relieved. The orders he gave were simple. If there was any sense of danger, Zhang Heng would be tasked to protect Jay and bring him back to the Hope while Ebon stayed behind to cover their retreat.
It was a failsafe recovery plan…
The one detail that bothered Yao Yuan was Feng Xiao Chen, who was mentioned by Zhang Heng when he returned from claiming Jay’s body. The lovesick woman had been taking care of Jay for multiple years. Because of her beauty, she had attracted the attention of several bachelors over the years, but she firmly rejected them all. She wanted to focus completely on looking after Jay. And Zhang Heng said that when they left… she cried.
Yao Yuan’s hands were tied. He really wanted to help Xiao Chen, but alas, she wasn’t a Homo Evolutis, so the Ultimate Vaccine in its current form would kill her, and they still needed at least 3 months to perfect the vaccine suitable for the public. Yao Yuan steeled his heart and approved of the mission.
When they reached the surface, Ebon and Zhang Heng first spread out to search the perimeters following the Black Star Unit’s usual protocol. They sighed in relief when they made certain there were no wild animals hiding around the corner. Then they started setting up the place, Jay’s and their own bedrooms, the weapons rack, and the like.
In reality, both were rather laid back because this mission was quite a relaxed one. Compared to the mission undertaken by the Black Star Troopers, taking care of Jay was a cakewalk. The area they were in was defined by the experts as a light-green area, or a space where the scale of danger was incredibly low. The chance of encountering life-threatening danger was low. When the capital was complete, the area would become a dark-green area, which

meant that it was totally safe. Humans could travel around the area without any fear for their safety.
Then again, with Zhang Heng’s presence, the place was practically a dark-green area. Hence, this mission was a rare holiday for the both of them.
After everything was set up, Ebon chuckled slyly as he retrieved from his backpack several fishing rods. He said, "How about it, Zhang Heng, want to go fishing? The few things here can be considered antiques since they were taken from Earth. They have not seen use for several years; didn’t think I’d be able to use them again in this life."
Zhang Heng was slightly startled before saying excitedly, "Why not? I was deliberating whether we should have canned roasted potatoes with beef or canned pork for dinner. Fresh fish sounds a lot better. The fish from this planet have been analyzed by the Academy to be virus-free, right? There’s nothing in its meat that would be harmful to human consumption, and they said its meat was full of vitamins and nutrients. With the vaccine injected, it’s beneficial to our bodies to consume the fish on this planet, and I’ve always wondered what one tastes like."
Ebon’s face scrunched up and he shook his head real fast, adding, "You mean the one that has legs? They look so weird. Other than the eyes on their head, they have another pair on their belly; it’s so creepy."
Zhang Heng shrugged it off. He took Ebon’s fishing rods, and with Ebon pushing Jay, the three of them headed towards the riverside.
The new home planet was truly a natural paradise. It was a planet completely untouched by human pollution. It was filled with biodiversity, there were reptiles that reminded them of dinosaurs, giant mammals hiding in the forest, amphibians that were 10 meters long but had the look of a common frog. The evolution on this planet was completely different from that of Earth’s, but nature was beautiful in all of its forms.
Simultaneously, there were different species of aquatic creatures. Other than the obvious feet-like appendages, the fish on this planet had similar looks to the ones on Earth. With their "legs," they were able to survive on dry land for a certain period of time. They would crawl out of the water to munch on river weeds or move to another habitat.
With this evolution as evidence, some scientists believed that this planet had a serious tidal phenomenon. The fish had to evolve to survive on land because certain places would completely dry up when the tide ebbed. This was valid from a meteorological perspective. Since the planet and Moon 2 were so close in size, it was entirely possible that the gravitational pull between the two could dry certain rivers or lakes up during certain months. The month they arrived happened to be spring season, where the tide was high that so fish with legs were understandably a weird sight…
Of course, Zhang Heng and Ebon didn’t know nor did they care about such details. They started fishing by the riverside. It was possible because the fish on this planet hadn’t seen a fishing hook before, so they were easily drawn to their bait. In just 10 minutes, between the two of them, they had pulled in about 100 fish of varying sizes. If calculated in kilograms, both of them had a combined haul of about 120 kilograms in just one hour. However, due to the fragility of their fishing rods and their inland location, they didn’t catch any big fish. Regardless, that didn’t take away from the fun that they had.
Suddenly, their communicator rang. Ebon turned serious, dropped his rod, and said, "This is the Black Star Troopers’ Lieutenant Ebon."
The reply came, "Lieutenant Ebon, this is Cadet Qiu Si Te from the tour craft. We have Feng Xiao Chen onboard with us. With the Captain’s permission, she wants to see Jay."
Ebon was at a loss. Before he could reply, Zhang Heng snatched his communicator and said, "This is Lieutenant Zhang Heng, affirmative on that order. Please bring her to the resting bay. We’re fishing by the riverside. If you spot us, please drive the craft down our direction."
A few minutes later, a mid-sized craft floated down towards them from upstream. There were about 10 people looking at them through the craft’s glass dome. Most of them were children interspersed with a few guardians. As the craft neared, Zhang Heng and Ebon stood up from the position and wheeled Jay further into the flat plains. When the craft halted, they saw Xiao Chen pushed up to the glass doom, her eyes scanning searchingly their way.
Zhang Heng mumbled a few words at Ebon before pushing Jay closer to the craft. Because the craft’s elevation wasn’t high, when Xiao Chen lowered her head, she could peer into Jay’s sleeping face. Almost instantly, her tears started falling.
She stuck her hands to the glass and opened her mouth to say something, but she realized that the craft was completely segregated from the outside world. Other than through the communicator, there was no way her voice was going out of the craft. Helplessness made her cry even harder.
Zhang Heng sighed and grasped Jay’s hand to align it to Xiao Chen’s hands that were on the glass. Even though they were separated by the thick pane of glass, this reminded Xiao Chen of the walks they used to take together hand-in-hand.
"Jay Wales… You big liar, please wake up, I want to hear you call my name. I don’t want to be alone anymore; I want to be a Homo Evolutis, because I want to be beside you…"
Xiao Chen kept on crying, and gradually, she felt her consciousness giving. Finally, she collapsed to the floor…
Everyone stared at her with worry, and the medical unit stationed inside the craft rushed to her side. Zhang Heng and Ebon, who were outside the craft, yelled into the communicator, asking for updates. With all the commotion, no one noticed that Jay’s eyebrow had moved several times…

Chapter end