Chapter 610.1: The Dawn After The Long Night

Chapter 610.1: The Dawn After The Long Night

The first light of dawn passed over the edge of the porthole, illuminating the sleeping profile of Yang Xiaoyang.

As if sensing the touch of that light, her long eyelashes fluttered, her tiny hand pressed against the cryo-pod stirred, and she let out an unconscious yawn.

“You’re awake?” A gentle voice came from beside her ear.

𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

“Mm.” She answered without thinking, rubbing her drowsy eyes, her gaze fixed blankly on the porthole.

The sky was a dazzling red. The rising sun floated above the sea of clouds, casting a soft glow through the thin atmosphere.

Is it already morning?

As she stared in a daze, the gentle voice came again. “Morning in the sky comes earlier than on the ground. Standing on the deck it’s even more spectacular... around you it’s still dark, but far away, the sun has already risen.”

Yang Xiaoyang turned her head. The big sister who always checked her health was sitting beside her, smiling warmly.

The memory of last night slowly surfaced.

There had suddenly been loud noises outside, and this sister had brought her into the infirmary, locked the door, shut the curtains and lights, and told her not to make a sound no matter what happened outside.

She obediently did as told, stayed beside Yinyin, listened to the rumbling and shouting outside, and eventually, without realizing it, fell asleep.

Perhaps nothing much happened outside after all?

She glanced at the brightening porthole and blinked softly. That breathtaking sunrise was always so overwhelming she couldn’t look away.

It was a sight she had never seen at Pinecone Ranch.

Sometimes she wondered, if she spent her whole life there, would she never have seen such beauty?

Just then, Yang Xiaoyang noticed there was more than just herself and Chen Yutong in the room. Beside another cryo-pod sat a stranger, a woman with twin ponytails.

A distinct tear streak marred her lovely cheek, made more obvious by the sunlight. Clearly, she had been crying for a long time.

Yang Xiaoyang fell silent.

Inside that cryo-pod must have lain someone very important to her.

Sensing her gaze, the woman lifted her head.

Startled, Yang Xiaoyang quickly looked away, staring rigidly out the window as if she hadn’t been looking at all.

But the woman didn’t stare long. Soon she turned to Chen Yutong beside Yang Xiaoyang and choked, “I don’t understand... Why did you pretend to be dead?”

Chen Yutong sighed. She had planned to avoid Jiang Xuezhou until she left the airship, but last night, Jiang Xuezhou had suddenly stormed into the infirmary with others.

Faced with the unexpected reunion, Chen Yutong didn’t know what to say. She pointed to the sleeping Yang Xiaoyang, pressed her finger to her lips, then gestured a plea.

It was a flimsy excuse, after all, the hallway was just outside.

But Jiang Xuezhou, at a loss for how to face her resurrected friend who had kept her in the dark, had simply nodded.

After the men from the Enterprise placed Night Ten in a pod and left quietly, the two of them sat in silence until dawn.

“... If I hadn’t, I could never have left that swamp.” Chen Yutong sighed again, meeting her gaze instead of avoiding it.

Jiang Xuezhou’s expression grew complicated.

“... Why did you have to leave?”

“If you want to know why...” Chen Yutong thought for a moment before revealing a helpless smile. “There wasn’t any special reason.”

Just like the Academy, hoping to escape their barren land to reach the distant paradise and solve everything, there was always some obscure Prospector who pinned hopes on escaping the Wandering Swamp.

She later learned she wasn’t the first. Over the last century and a half, people had left one after another.

Including Dove, who had gone to the southern Tzobar Mountains and written Oasis Beneath the Tzobar Mountain Range.

Each had made small contributions to the wasteland with their knowledge. She never saw leaving as something shameful.

However, Jiang Xuezhou could not accept it.

Her once most trusted friend was a traitor. And worse, she claimed she had no reason.

“No reason at all...”

Not wanting to bully a grieving friend, Chen Yutong softened her words. “Well, if you insist on a reason, it was that I saw no hope.”

“... Hope?”

“Humans are creatures who need hope. Without it, life is unbearable. Maybe you can’t imagine what it’s like, but no matter how hard I tried, I would always be a trivial E-class member of the Academy, an expendable Prospector. Like a pawn on a board, moving only by fixed rules, toward a place even I didn’t know.”

Jiang Xuezhou pressed her lips tightly. “I worked hard to become D-class...”

“I don’t deny your effort. In fact, I admire your perseverance, it’s something I lack. But I don’t envy you. I only wanted to live my own life, nothing more.” Chen Yutong smiled faintly, turned to the brightening sunrise. “Do you know? Before leaving that swamp, I never even knew there were beings beyond the rule-bound AIs. They were like real people, with thoughts of their own. Two centuries ago, they were common creatures. In the Academy they are taboo.”

Jiang Xuezhou bit her lip, countering, “I agree with Dr. Conclusions. Unchecked AIs could bring disaster. Tools must remain tools, they should not have minds of their own.”

“And humans?” Chen Yutong asked.

Jiang Xuezhou froze. “... Humans?”

“Yes.” Chen Yutong nodded lightly. “If someone is born as a tool, should they be allowed to think for themselves? I never found the answer. So I chose to leave and see elsewhere.”

“If I stayed, maybe I’d reach D-class at best. Haha, don’t think I’m boasting, I would have managed it as a Prospector. But I didn’t want to be labeled, not D-class, not anything. In the rat race, no matter how long your tail grows, how many servants you command, how many resources you own, as long as you’re on that pyramid, your fate is never yours.”

“I don’t want to control others. I don’t want to be controlled. I don’t want to die for meaningless reasons in meaningless places. I just want to be an ordinary person, study what interests me, and if I must die, let it at least mean something.”

“Fortunately, I’ve found my paradise. Not light-years away, but here under my feet. If my research interests others, it will be valued. If not, I’ll amuse myself. As long as I bother no one, no one bothers me.”

“Life here isn’t as good as the Academy’s, but I’m satisfied. There are things here the Wandering Swamp lacked, and so many interesting people. These aren’t miracles created by wealth, but by imagination and creativity. If you don’t understand, let’s just say the New Alliance offers more.”

Catching herself rambling, Chen Yutong laughed at Jiang Xuezhou’s stunned look and joked, “Ah, don’t copy me though. I would hate to corrupt a good girl.”

She knew her friend well.

Unlike her own lazy, rebellious self, Jiang Xuezhou was a diligent soul. She was gifted, serious, hardworking, and passionate about rank advancement.

The Academy’s promotion path lay open to her. Her future was bright, perhaps B-class, even A-class, in the Research Division where her mentor already stood.

Jiang Xuezhou stared at Chen Yutong for a long while, then bowed her head. “I’ll keep your secret... We never met on this airship.”

Chen Yutong returned a sincere smile. “Thanks.”

Her family still lived in a settlement governed by the Scientific Committee, likely already receiving death benefits. If the Academy learned she was alive, it would be awkward.

She could never go back, but she hoped her family could live well, untouched by her choices.

Jiang Xuezhou turned silently toward the cryo-pod, eyes full of sorrow and conflict.

Soon, she felt a hand take hers.

Startled, she looked up.

It was the child, now awake, holding her hand firmly, speaking softly. “It’ll be alright... The doctor said that as long as the pod still detects a life signal when the lid closes, the light will stay green.”

It was unlike Yinyin...

Yinyin’s light was dark.

But Yang Xiaoyang would not despair. She would wait, and tell her everything once she woke.

Feeling that warmth in her palm, Jiang Xuezhou’s sorrow eased, a smile breaking faintly through. “... Thank you.”

Yes.

He was still alive.

He was not truly dead, just gravely hurt, unable to wake for the time being.

Even if he never stood again, it didn’t matter.

Jiang Xuezhou steeled herself. She would bring him back, replace his body if needed, turn him into another Wangy if it came to that.

This time, she would be the one to save him.

At the same moment, outside the infirmary, Gale and Ample Time exchanged strange looks.

They waited forever, but the NPCs inside never came out.

They hadn’t even gotten a chance to unplug Night Ten’s ICU.

But then again... Was there still any need for that?