Chapter 641: The Home in the Ghost Town
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The levitating car stopped near a high-rise residential area and the Nangong couple took everyone to their temporary residence. They brought the guests into the living room. Ayesha brought the food she bought from the mall today to the kitchen while Nangong Wudi was sitting on the big sofa with the guests, ready to answer a series of questions.
Hao Ren looked around the furnishings. Obviously, the natives of this planet were highly similar to the people on Earth, and their civilization was somewhat similar to that of the Earth. The furnishings in the room were strange, but they could guess most of their functions easily. The house was clean and tidy, and all kinds things were placed in the position that was easy to get, they could see that the people living here had made it a safe and comfortable home. As a place for a pair of stranded couples to spend a hundred years together, this place was surprisingly good.
"Most of it was tidied up by Ayesha. There are a lot of strange things here, thanks to the wisdom of my wife, otherwise, I really don't know what to do." Nangong Wudi smiled and explained when he noticed that they were looking around, "When we first came here, we were very busy for a while. It still makes me laugh when I think back to what happened at that time."
Hao Ren noticed that the manner of speaking of Nangong Wudi was a little odd. He thought for a moment and realized that it was the traditional Chinese country gentleman's usual tone of more than 100 years ago. This man had left the Earth for about 100 years. Cutting off from the outside world allowed him to keep the way of speaking in those years. This situation could also be seen in those who had been staying in shelters all year round. When he was in the sanctuary of Athens, he saw a lot of old vampires and old werewolves who spoke and behaved like they were still in the Medieval Period.
"Dad, how did you and mom get here? And how did you find this sanctuary?" Nangong Sanba could not wait to ask.
Nangong Wudi smiled and explained, "I can't explain exactly how we came here. All I remember was that we were covered by the light of Vengeful Spirit. We were dazzled by the strong light and it made us feel dizzy. When we woke up, we already came to a dark and icy underworld... Oh, we're actually on the ground. Your mother and I were struggling to survive in the snow. But it's really difficult to survive in the snow, and your mother still needed to sustain my life with her mist. We took the risk to walk through the snow, and about 10 days later, we still couldn't see the end of the snow, but suddenly, the earth trembled and the mountains swayed for a while as if the sky was falling and the earth was crumbling. Another day or two later, we saw that the steel mountain nearby was suddenly shining brightly.
Hao Ren suddenly interrupted, "Wait a minute, you mean, when you first came to this world, those engines... I mean, the beams of light had not yet appeared. It only appeared sometime after you got here?"
Nangong Wudi nodded and said, "Yes. Then two of us walked towards the light, and soon we found the city made of iron and steel and things made of delicate mechanism. And then an automaton took us to this place."
Hao Ren and Vivian exchanged a glance and said, "…It's the same as I guess. Before that, this planet remained in its own solar system. It was after the Nangong couple came to this planet that something was activated to make the planet sail."
"It's not necessarily activated by them, but they happened to be here at the right time," Vivian said while touching her chin, and then looked at Nangong Wudi and asked, "Was there a frequent earthquake after you saw the light? And did you sometimes feel like you're in a weightless environment… like your feet couldn't touch the ground or you couldn't walk properly?
Nangong Wudi nodded and told them of what had happened and they found that this basically corresponded to the phenomenon when the planet set sail. Although the natives of this planet had created the 'Planet Ark' such an amazing thing, they were not advanced at some level of science and technology. For example, they did not know how to make an anti-gravity device or deal with the inertia problem of a spacecraft during acceleration, but could only rely on a long acceleration or deceleration or a variety of damping devices to solve the problem.
Nangong Wudi's memory completely confirmed Hao Ren's speculation about the time that this planet set sail.
"Dad, do you have a hard life here?" Nangong Wuyue almost cried.
"We met some difficulties in the beginning," Nangong Wudi said and gave her a warm smile. "But we soon got used to it. It's so convenient here. We got everything we need here. And to be honest, things here are a lot easier to use. Our life is good here, just… a little lonely."
He tried to make it sound light, but everyone could guess that he and Ayesha had a lot of trouble when they first came to this world. They had no guidance, they were nervous and afraid, and they could not even understand the language here. This fully automated, advanced world was probably a scary place for a man of 100 years ago. Nangong Wuyue's mother should be the quickest one to adapt here. She was a siren after all, and Nasaton, the city of the sirens itself was an advanced starship. Therefore, she was not unfamiliar with the automatic facilities here. At least she was no stranger to this kind of world.
But the biggest difficulty was: It was a little lonely.
"Have you met anyone else here?" Lily asked while hugging her knees.
"No." Nangong Wudi looked serious. "I know what you want to ask. My wife and I have been around the whole town, and there's no one here but us. But we often see some figures appearing on the screen, and new products often appear in the shops."
"Outside of the city? Have you ever been to other cities?" asked Y'zaks.
Nangong Wudi's answer was way beyond their expectation. "We can't get out. We can't get out after we come in, and to be honest, we don't know the way to the other cities, and we don't even know if there are any other cities."
"Can't get out?" They looked at each other, and Vivian broke the silence, "How? Somebody stop you or?"
"The way out of the city is blocked. That's the tower you left when you came down, didn't you go back and see? It should not be opened again. The outer layer of the city is stones and steels, covering the whole city tightly. There're some places looking like the city gates, but they're closed."
Hao Ren frowned and asked, "Didn't you try to get out by force?"
"Yes, we did, but then we were stopped by the automaton," Nangong Wudi said and grinned, "Ayesha and I didn't try to break through the gate again. After all, this place is so weird. It's hard to survive outside where it's all ice and snow. In this city, we can at least live well. In order to be safe, we settle down here."
Hao Ren's expression turned serious.
The city was blocked, and the lifts and police robots in the periphery of the city carried out a planned blockade—meaning that people were banned from leaving in the city. He thought of the middle-aged man who appeared on the big screen, and the apparently newly-created news. These clues point to a group of mysterious people hiding behind the scenes, perhaps the real owners of the planet. But why would they do that?
A lot of ideas flashed through his mind. Hao Ren suddenly felt that this empty 'ghost town' was likely to be an observed laboratory. The real natives and the sanctuary were probably somewhere else. In this way, many situations that did not feel right could be explained clearly.
But what was the point of doing this?
Hao Ren called the spacecraft waiting in orbit. The voice of the data terminal soon appeared in his mind. "Boss, found anything?"
"We've found Nangong parents," Hao Ren first reported the good news, "But that's not the point. Now please increase the radar power, scanning the life signals on the planet in the deeper layer and looking for facilities such as large shelter. I suspect that the survivors of this planet are hidden deeper in the ground, and there is something wrong with their behavior."
"Ok, anything else?"
"Be careful. Try to avoid any conflicts." Hao Ren did not forget his code of practice. "If not necessary, do not use any force against other civilizations."
The actions of inspectors should be maintained at the 'civil' level as far as possible. Although there was no clear definition of the term 'civil' in Xi Ling Empire, they certainly could not start a war on other civilizations without careful consideration, especially when the planet itself was an observation specimen full of civilized achievement.