On each deck of the Orion Missile Cruiser, the ship's command broadcast echoes in the corridors, in the dining hall, in the bar, in the toilets, above the heads of every crew member.

"... Good evening, crew of the Orion Missile Cruiser. I am Zhao Tianhe, your captain."

"I apologize for interrupting your rest at this time, but please give me ten minutes and listen patiently to this broadcast."

"I believe you have already noticed; our spaceship encountered an unprecedented situation as we entered the hyperspace passage, and for unknown reasons, we stopped in a temporal rift..."

"In order to overcome the current predicament and for the future of human civilization..."

"We must unite!"

...

In the broadcast, Captain Zhao Tianhe of the Orion Missile Cruiser candidly told the ship's crew the course of events and conveyed a battle plan jointly formulated by sections one, three, and five.

The operation is codenamed "Dawn."

They will disguise themselves as friendly corpses, remain silent in the deep-sea-like outer space to deceive the observers, passing through a historical dark curtain lasting two centuries out of everyone's sight, until their timeline coincides with that child from the Wasteland Era, year 215.

This broadcast, personally sent out by Zhao Tianhe, caused quite a stir on the cruiser.

Not merely because the identity of the boy named Night Ten as a "time traveler" got "official" recognition, but also because they learned about the Twins' ordeal in the broadcast.

Unbeknownst to them, they became executioners who killed their own allies...

In the dining hall on the lower deck, a group of red-faced crew members are loudly arguing.

A man with a beard angrily slammed his fist on the table and shouted furiously.

"This is ridiculous... just because of suspicion, we fired neutron torpedoes at them?!"

Sitting across from him, Xiao Yong, who had been silent for a long time, finally spoke.

"I believe our captain was right. We could not execute the plan called 'End War.' Conflict was inevitable. It might even have been that by the moment we refused to execute the order, the torpedoes from the Twins were already aimed at us."

The man with the beard glared at him angrily.

"Evidence? Just your words?"

"There's no such thing," Xiao Yong shook his head, unyieldingly meeting the man's gaze, "This is space, outer space, the dead have no voice. I'm not afraid. I would even rather I was one of those who died on that ship, but the stuff beneath my feet must not be handed over to them; there are my family on Earth... so they must die."

"You...!"

The two seemed about to fight, but their colleagues nearby separated them.

Watching the endless disputes over the Twins, Lin Youyou, sitting in a corner of the dining hall, couldn't help but show a touch of sorrow on her face.

She could not agree with Xiao Yong's words, nor could she agree with the captain and the decisions of some colleagues, even if they might be right.

Those were once comrades who fought side by side with them; they were among the few survivors of that war.

If everyone expressed their demands with such intense methods, even if they miraculously survived the current crisis, they would inevitably lose everything in some future gamble.

Perhaps the situation of being trapped in the hyperspace passage is destiny's punishment for them...

She looked at Night Ten, who was quietly eating beside her, and couldn't help but ask.

"Do you think we are doing the right thing?"

She wanted to know how history would judge them.

Pausing with his chopsticks in hand, Night Ten was silent for a moment before answering.

"I don't know. In the history I know... it was you who bombed us, but who knows? There's still a long string of things we don't know, including the Orbital Landing Corps, the formation of the Post-War Reconstruction Committee, and so on... For us, the disintegration of the Post-War Reconstruction Committee is already distant enough, while you are still before their birth."

Seeing that "young person acting mature" demeanor, Lin Youyou couldn't help but feel a bit of heartache, wanting to reach out and touch the child's head, but quickly remembered he does not like being treated as a child and withdrew her hand.

"You mentioned your people's judgment; I actually want to know your judgment."

"Me?" Night Ten was stunned for a moment, then thoughtfully said, "I might lean towards agreeing with your actions."

"Why?" Lin Youyou couldn't help but ask, "It's just that I killed over 3000 people... and they were our teammates too."

"Maybe because I live in an era where 'not killing one person means killing everyone else'? Night Ten shrugged, "Look at it from another angle; you just saved an entire planet of people."

This is actually just a comforting phrase as even he cannot tell how to judge the incident.

Standing from the position of Residents of the refuge, it seems only those who couldn't make it into the refuge died, and Residents of the refuge were almost unaffected.

Most of the people they saved ended up dying eventually, suffering prolonged torment, passing the pain they felt to their offspring.

Then those who survived became the initial Waste Land Wanderers.

From this perspective, the plan named "End War" was indeed a merciful choice.

Without Waste Land Wanderers, perhaps the Enlightenment Society wouldn't exist, along with Torch Church and celestial beings and so on...

Yet, conversely, the Post-War Reconstruction Committee would likely vanish, along with Giant Stone City, Singular Point City, and the seeds sown by the former on the Wasteland.

That would be a future composed entirely of Residents of the refuge.

They would probably follow the original plan of the "Ark Plan," rebuilding a new United Human on the Wasteland according to standards planned long ago.

It's difficult to compare which future is better.

However, if he had to choose...

"I think you did pretty well... don't be too hard on yourself."

Seeing Night Ten start eating again, Lin Youyou was momentarily stunned, then came to her senses and teased.

"It seems you're the one comforting me now."

Chewing on his food, Night Ten slowly said.

"The first part of what I said was, but the latter part was sincere."

"I didn't expect you to be quite caring."

Looking at this interesting young man, Lin Youyou rested her chin on the back of her hand and suddenly said with a sly smile.

"Speaking of which, is that girl Jiang Xuezhou your girlfriend?"

Night Ten almost choked on his food, coughed with a red face, and said.

"What strange things are you saying, it's impossible for me and N... In short, we're not in that kind of relationship, we're teammates."

Seeing the flustered young man, Lin Youyou couldn't help but burst into laughter and patted his back.

"Haha, don't be nervous, in our era, it's not strange for teammates to have a deeper relationship. Is it taboo in your time? If so, I didn't mean to offend, I'm just a bit curious about how people 200 years later interact... I mean emotionally."

She was quite honest about her nosiness.

"I don't know, ask Fang Chang, he knows more." Night Ten brushed it off and quickened his eating pace.

"Really? But I'm more curious about that girl Jiang Xuezhou," Lin Youyou smiled and said in a teasing tone, "If I can live to 200 years later, can you introduce us?"

"Sure..." Night Ten replied vaguely.

If they truly met 200 years later, he wouldn't need to say it; he would eagerly show them around, flaunting his legendary experiences.

Lin Youyou didn't know what he was thinking, but she remembered his words and smiled gently, saying.

"Then it's settled."

...

Although the tragic fate of the Twin Stars shocked the three thousand officers and soldiers on the ship, fortunately, the commotion didn't last long, and most people adjusted within a day or even half a day.

It wasn't because they were cold-blooded.

It was because the crew knew their captain was right.

That, at least for now, they must unite.

It was not only to save themselves but also to save future humanity and that child who accidentally entered their timeline and got trapped here with them.

Even to sooner bring the captain who ordered the destruction of their ally to justice, they needed to unite to overcome the current challenge.

With the same belief, whether they supported Zhao Tianhe or opposed him, they put aside their disputes at this moment.

And the plan codenamed "Dawn" was now moving from inception to implementation.

Engineers from Division Four deployed repair robots, conducting a series of improvements to the ship's exterior, including the paintwork.

They planned to disguise themselves as the remaining Twin Stars, survive, and communicate with the Lagrange Space Station as the Orion after leaving the hyperspace passage, leaving a record.

Then they would develop an intelligent lifeform called "celestial beings."

Even if it was a fake intelligent lifeform—

They needed the "Observer" from the future to witness the birth of the "celestial beings" firsthand!

Honestly speaking, Night Ten felt deep down that this far-fetched plan would likely fail, but he was truly moved by the determination and selflessness of these people.

Logically speaking, he was a mysterious person who suddenly appeared on this ship, just when it got stuck in the hyperspace passage, it wouldn't be surprising if someone suggested killing him.

Yet, no one did so.

Instead, not only did they not show hostility or alienate him, but they also cared for his injuries and showed concern for him.

Whether or not the crew believed his words, they certainly treated him as a living, breathing person.

Upon self-reflection, Night Ten knew he wasn't that noble.

Maintaining composure facing despair and not succumbing to human nature's darker side was already an extraordinary feat for him.

Because they achieved what he couldn't, his heart was deeply touched.

He was someone who reciprocated others' treatments.

How others treated him was how he would treat them.

Therefore, even if he was aware this was merely a game's story, he found it difficult to treat these people as mere NPCs.

They felt more like friends to him.

Or rather, they were his friends.

He wanted to help them out of this maze—

For the reunion two hundred years from now!

Night Ten strained his memory to recall every detail about celestial beings and conveyed them entirely to the "Robot and Artificial Intelligence Department" staff.

As the "Tenth Division" of this starship, although this department was the last in the ship's departmental sequence, it was more useful than the fifth division, which was placed earlier in the sequence.

All the intelligent programs on this starship were maintained by this department.

Sometimes, they even collaborated with other departments to develop artificial intelligence applications and assisted the third and first divisions in dealing with potential electronic warfare intrusions.

All the engineers in the ten departments are true programming experts, graduated from prestigious higher institutions of the United Human. They might not be as gifted as Xiao Jiang, but their professional skills are in no way inferior to the latter, who is well-versed in various fields... and each of them is like this.

With Night Ten's assistance, they completed the design of "celestial beings" without too much effort.

It was a lifeform with autonomous evolution capability.

And it was completely based on the extreme conservative forces in the United Space Army.

Its mission was to purify the Wasteland ecological environment and revive the Prosperity Epoch, even at the cost of all survivors on the Wasteland.

According to the standards of the Scientific Ethics Committee, such an anti-human artificial intelligence exuded an illegal aura from head to toe. In peacetime, everyone from the developer to the sponsor on the list would be sued and sentenced.

But they couldn't care about that now.

After all, according to what Night Ten said, even if they didn't do it, the extreme conservative forces on the Lagrange Point Space Station would still develop a similar intelligent lifeform, or even become such an existence themselves.

This was a predetermined reality of the future, an event that had occurred and could not be changed.

Their task was to usurp it.

To have this artificial intelligence masquerading as a devil kill and replace the real devil, and then be killed by the "brave" in the distant future.

In this way, the cause and effect over time would form a closed loop.

To ensure the devil could be killed, they left a fatal backdoor while designing this intelligent lifeform named "celestial beings", or rather a Key.

It was a set of cryptographic keys.

Anyone who entered this set of keys would be able to format "celestial beings" automatically, thus burying this wicked devil.

Night Ten actually very much wanted to be this "exorcist" himself, but unfortunately, according to Dr. Wu, he possessed an Observer attribute.

Once he took this set of keys to the future, this set of keys would likely become invalid.

In other words, this glorious mission could only be accomplished by the Orion Missile Destroyer that created celestial beings.

According to the "Dawn" plan, they would rendezvous with Night Ten, who had returned to his timeline, 200 years later near the wreck of the "Gemini" Missile Cruiser in synchronous orbit.

This was an indispensable link...

After nearly 300 hours of effort, all preparations were finally completed.

With the help of the crew of the Orion Missile Destroyer, Night Ten lay back in the Sleep Cabin where he initially awakened.

He would use that unreliable method to enter a hibernation state again, and then be sent by the crew of the Orion to the nearly-crashed Research Ship.

According to Captain Zhao Tianhe, he wouldn't have to wait inside for long, as they would go to the site of the incident 200 years later to rescue him and wake him from the Sleep Cabin.

Looking at the crowd standing in front of the Sleep Cabin, a complex expression appeared on Night Ten's face, and he couldn't help but make a sarcastic remark in the end.

"...If you all don't appear on my timeline, then celestial beings would have been designed by me."

What Wasteland celestial locust.

This is just too damn ridiculous!

"I promise you, we will never abandon you, after all, that is our home too."

Luo Yi placed his hand on Night Ten's shoulder, making a dignified and solemn promise.

"We will definitely meet, in the distant future."

"Let's hope... As you say, for me, it would just be a blink of an eye anyway, if not, I don't need to expect too much or wait too long."

As he said this, Night Ten took a deep breath, looking at those already familiar faces and pair of passionate eyes.

"But I believe you, and all of you..."

"Let's start now!"

"Take care..." Koala also patted his shoulder, then followed Luo Yi out of the room.

Lin Youyou gave him a worried look, but in the end, she also followed them out.

Wu Xinghuan was the last to leave.

He was the theoretical designer of the entire plan and was also the most anxious person at the moment.

Night Ten gave him a "don't worry about me" look, then closed his eyes with a devil-may-care attitude.

At worst, it's just death.

It's not his first time dying, anyway.

But thinking of Jiang Xuezhou, who was still waiting for him to return in some corner of the universe, his heart hardened the previous second suddenly ached again.

Brother Guang!

I'm begging you!

Let me return, don't make me start over!

The door of the Sleep Cabin slowly closed, a chilling cold crept up his spine to his brow.

The exhaled air froze on the cabin door glass, and he felt his conscious clarity becoming shaky as if falling back into that pitch-black well.

A trace of timidness suddenly surged in his heart.

But it was too late to back out now, he could only brace himself and charge forward.

Just like before.

Standing outside the cabin, Zhao Tianhe stared intently at the sleep cabin, then nodded at the staff member beside him, who was wearing an exoskeleton and a spacesuit.

"Let's begin."

The staff member gestured that he understood, then lifted the sleep cabin and walked toward the room cordoned off by the isolation tape.

According to the plan, they needed to stow the sleep cabin back into that research ship, then restore the scene to its original state as much as possible, and remove all observation devices that might interfere with quantum entanglement.

Then...

Everything would return to the moment it all began.

And the research ship that accidentally entered their space-time would also transform into the landing craft of the Twin Ship.

There would probably be some combat personnel on board.

But it didn't matter.

The Space Combat Squad from the third department was already prepared, fully armed and waiting here.

They would subdue the unwelcome guests at once, disarm them, and detain them in the sleep cabin until the causality corrected itself into a closed loop 200 years later.

The lights in the room suddenly started to flicker for no apparent reason, as if some anomaly was occurring.

Watching Luo Yi standing in power armor beside him, Wu Xinghuan involuntarily held his breath, his palms sweating uncontrollably.

Almost at the same time as the engineers from the fourth department evacuated the isolation zone with their equipment, the ship seemed to experience a collision and shook slightly.

Everyone present felt that vibration—

It was like the reverberation of an explosion.

Everything seemed to revert to the start of the temporal confusion.

Amidst the shock, Luo Yi felt a tinge of excitement, instinctively tightening his grip on the assault rifle in his hand.

Did they succeed?!

Yet faintly, he sensed something amiss—

Should this many people have heard the explosion?

His mind remained preoccupied with the clues he had previously gathered from the fourth and eighth departments.

Only around 200 people heard the explosion, the exact number being 227.

But now, there were no fewer than 100 people on site.

However, there was no time to ponder over it; barring any surprises, the people from the Twin Ship had already landed on their lower deck.

"Prepare for battle!" shouted Xiao Yong, leading the charge with his team.

The lockdown gate descended, sealing off the area where air was leaking.

Fifty combat personnel swiftly reached their designated positions, then advanced on the scene of the incident in a surrounding formation.

Upon reaching the entrance of the gymnasium, they first threw a short electromagnetic pulse grenade into the room, suppressing any possible drone devices, then two heavy power armors plunged in at the vanguard boldly leading the charge into the room.

A small shuttle-class spaceship lay there, its two-meter-long and wide metal hull dented and distorted inward. It was clearly not the one they had previously seen—

The spaceship had changed!

Which means...

Success?!

Everyone held their breath in tension, maintaining a suppressive formation as they approached the spaceship.

Xiao Yong punched the air in front of Luo Yi, who nodded and pushed forward, grabbing the warped and distorted alloy door panel, ripping it off with brute power from the powered armor.

Gun barrels pointed inside the spaceship, eliminating all dead angles in an instant.

No one...

Luo Yi's heart sank halfway.

And when he saw the familiar sleep cabin, everyone's heart dropped to the bottom in an instant.

Through the holographic screen, Wu Xinghuan, standing outside the isolation zone, froze in place, his face turning pale in an instant.

"How could this be..."

Zhao Tianhe turned to face the navigator, who shook his head with a look of struggle.

"We are still in the hyperspace passage..."

They hadn't escaped.

It was as if they had circled through the forest, only to return to the point where they had originally left a mark.

Executive Wu Mengke sighed, reaching out a finger to rub her sore brow.

"It's not like we didn't gain anything; at least the spaceship indeed changed... Maybe something went wrong somewhere."

She glanced at her utterly stunned cousin, shook her head, and pressed a finger on the communicator.

"... Let's rescue the people first and foremost."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.