Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After quietly returning to New York, Zhang Lisheng buried his head in the Internet and learned about all sorts of open strife and veiled struggles, as well as the situation of compromising and making peace of all of the forces on Earth and found a message that appeared in the ‘winter riots’ that looked inconspicuous but had spread widely.
It was stated on the message that long ago before the large-scale fieldwork exploration was carried out, Atlantis had already divided all of the foreign worlds that appeared on Earth based on pure intelligence collecting into six levels:
The level zero word that had almost no living creature, energy, and mineral deposits. It only had air and a small amount of sewage, with no plundering value at all.
The level one world that had native creatures with no supernatural powers, and no sign of intelligent civilization. This world could be occupied directly without any effort.
The level two world that had native creatures with no supernatural powers, but there was a sign of a mature, intelligent civilization. However, its comprehensive strength was weak and had a high immigration value.
The level three world that had supernatural phenomena, mature, intelligent civilizations with a not-so-strong comprehensive strength. However, there were either high technology or spiritual relics and literature legends in the world, and it had an excellent immigration value.
The level four world that had gods or a higher technological civilization with meager colonial value, to the point where the loss might even outweigh the gain and should be isolated as much as possible.
The level five world that could be the origin of the planet-devouring sea monster that appeared last time in ancient times and should be fully isolated with guards.
With these six roughly divided ‘levels’ as the framework, each other level had more detailed rankings on each of the foreign worlds.
So far, about 50 trash-like zero-level worlds had already been discovered in the past.
They were only two first-level worlds that were also known as invaluable, which were Noah and Kunlun. Not only that, but they had already fallen into the hands of the US and China, so the Atlanteans could only heave a sigh while watching by the side, as long as they had no intention to launch a full-scale war.
Left with nothing better than the second choice, there were about 50 second-level worlds, which were also the best colonial targets of the aliens. If they continued to seek a less attractive one, the third-level worlds had the most numbers, where there were a total of several hundreds of them while the Shrimp World No. 2 was ranked ninth in this group. It was also why it was called World 30009 by the Atlantis.
Such ranking could be said as so-so, it was tasteless, but would be too wasteful to be discarded. This was also why Atlantis would jokingly dispatch the smallest fleet to conquer the Wizard Li tribesmen. After their flagship was destroyed, they did not act rashly and had no intention to seek revenge through a violent intrusion.
After collecting all this information and analyzing it, the most perfect result in Zhang Lisheng’s expectation was to have Shrimp World No. 2’s level upgraded into four or five worlds that would need to be isolated. For this reason, he stopped hiding and openly appearing in sensitive places like the Chinese Consulate in New York to obtain the opportunity to mislead Atlantis even if he had to take the risk.
At this time, when the young man heard Alansol taking the initiative to suggest for the Shrimp World No. 2 to be isolated, he was secretly ecstatic with joy. Looking into the Atlantean captain’s bright and dazzling eyes, he said without hesitation, “Of course, I can guarantee that what I said is true, Captain Alansol.”
“This is the most sated and calm sentence you have said tonight, but I feel that it has the least credibility, Dr. Lisheng. All your biological research of your sleepless nights in recent years has been carried out around the Hellfire Archipelago in World 3009. I can’t imagine that you would just abandon it so easily,” Alansol stared into Zhang Lisheng’s eyes in silence for a while and suddenly made such a remark.
“Even if the Shrimp World No. 2 is blocked, I should have the freedom to enter and leave, right? Since somebody is willing to help you monitor the movement of a dangerous foreign world without compensation, I believe that Atlantis will not refuse this.” Knowing that his emotional fluctuations that was starting to be out of his control was beginning to show some flaws, the young man’s heart clenched tightly as he shrugged in a blank expression, “Alright, Captain Alansol, even if you believe it or not, this is the truth. I’ve already told you what I should, and I believe that there’s no need for me to repeat the same thing again to Staff Officer Dulphee, right? In that case, can I leave now?”
“Of course you can, Doctor. Since you’ve fulfilled your obligations, no one will continue to limit your actions. You’re now standing on the land of the eternally democratic and free United States after all,” Joss, who was standing by the side, spoke before everyone else. This three-stars federal soldier who was familiar with Zhang’s bizarre life was actually not entirely convinced by the young man’s absurd story, but he had his own principle in doing things, not mentioning that he instinctively wanted to safeguard the interests of his Earth compatriot in front of the Atlanteans as well.
Despite his reluctance, but with no reason to refute the commander of the New York military base, Atlantis fell into silence before realizing that he had no choice but to surrender. He nodded to the young man and said, “I’ll tell Staff Officer Dulphee to send you back to the city, but I hope that your phone is always reachable.”
Zhang Lisheng stood up from the sofa and wanted to casually acquiesce to the Atlantean captain’s request, but he inadvertently noticed a fleeting mysterious expression on Alansol’s face. Immediately, he swallowed what he wanted to say.
“What’s wrong, Doctor? Is there anything hard about this? Do you still want to continue to live in seclusion?” When Alansol saw that Zhang Lisheng did not speak for a long time, he asked in an overbearing manner.
Zhang Lisheng had no answer for a moment but was suddenly hit by a pang of an idea. Shrugging, he replied, “Oh, nothing, Captain Alansol, it’s just that I’ve been living in a primitive jungle for so long that I almost forget how a phone looks like. Alright, I’ll restore the habits of civilized people in the future and carry my mobile phones around with me, but you may not be able to contact me because, in a few days, I’ll return to my hometown to have some rest.”
“Dr. Li Sheng, you want to go back to China?” The black general on the side asked in shock. It seemed like he understood Zhang Lisheng’s fake ‘New Yorker’ status quite well.
“Yes, General. Too many things have taken place in these six months, and I’m feeling absolutely exhausted. There’s a proverb in China that says ‘a tired bird would return to its nest.’ I think I should stop my hasty footsteps and return to the clean, remote mountain village where I grew up to breathe the fresh air and see those unsophisticated neighbors of mine. Speaking of it, they’re like my family. There’s also another proverb in China that says ‘the neighbors to whom we bid farewell are better than kinsfolk far away.’ When I think about how I can see their pure smiles, my heart warms up right away,” Zhang Lisheng fell into a reminiscing mood and jabbered on continuously.
“Doctor, isn’t your true family, your mother, in Noah World? Wouldn’t it be better to…”
“Oh, General, I know your concerns. Please be assured that my work for the federation will be tight-lipped. What’s more, I don’t think there’s anything about my work that needs to be kept a secret. The reason why I plan to return to China is that, first, I plan to have a short break; second, I wish to see what happened to my hometown now,” Zhang Lisheng sighed and interrupted Joss’ words. A pained and anxious expression gradually showed up on his face, “I wanted to know whether the little mountain village I once knew had turned into a sea of fire like just in my dream… I believe that you should be able to understand this feeling, right?”
Upon hearing this, Joss, the three-stars federal general, turned into an ordinary black old man as he sighed a long sigh and said, “Of course, I believe that in your heart, the ‘little mountain village’ should be just like the wheat field in Kebo Town, Minnesota in my memory. It’s a kind of longing that cannot be parted. Alright, you’re free to go wherever you want, but please remember your obligations.”
“Thank you, General.” When Zhang Lisheng bowed slightly to Joss, he nodded at Alansol as a greeting. “I’ll bid my farewell first, Captain Alansol.”
Then, he proceeded to walk to the office door.
When he opened the door, he saw that Dulphee was guarding there, so he smiled and said, “Mr. Staff Officer, sorry to trouble you again. Captain Alansol would like you to send me back to New York City immediately.”
“Sir?” Dulphee looked into the room with a puzzled look and saw the sergeant nodding his head in a blank expression. Cleverly not saying anything more, he turned to Zhang Lisheng and gestured his head at Zhang Lisheng as he proceeded to lead the young man along the corridor out of the office building.
When the door closed again, Alansol frowned as he looked at the wooden door and pondered to himself with a sigh for a few seconds. He walked up to the cupboard beside the water dispenser and took out a box of instant coffee. “Sorry, I forgot to offer you coffee, General Joss. Frankly speaking, in my heart, coffee with milk is the most valuable discovery on Earth. It’s delicious and sweet and can keep my head alert. I can’t get bored with it.”
“No, thanks, Captain Alansol. It’s already late now, and my wife is still waiting for me to have dinner at home. I’ll see you again,” The black general stood up without appreciating the kindness offered to him. He quickly opened the door of the door and suddenly heard a low voice resonating from behind “Please wait a minute, general. Can I ask you a question? Just how credible do you think Dr. Zhang’s words today are?”
“Captain, to be honest, I can’t make any judgment whether that bizarre story is credible or not, but Dr. Zhang has no reason to lie to us, hasn’t he?”
“Yes, so far, it’s indeed true that I can’t find any reason for him to lie to us…” The Atlantean captain was stunned for a while before his face turned grave. He muttered to himself thoughtfully; he failed to even notice that Joss had already left quietly.
By the time he snapped back to his senses and saw that there was nobody else in the office, he immediately discarded the coffee and strode to sit down in front of the desk. He opened his right hand and emitted a faint milky white light before sweeping it on the table.
At once, eight silver-colored metal beans arranged in an elliptical shape appeared on the smooth surface of the desk without warning. When the silver beans appeared, they ejected a bundle of colorful brilliance within a short span of few seconds that are intertwined together to become a beautiful, charming woman who had long wavy curly hair with a black hairband tied on her forehead.
That woman was looking at a thick book with Greek the words’ Golden Country’ written on the old cover. Suddenly, as though she could feel something, she looked up and smiled elegantly, “Captain Alansol, have you finished meeting the last explorer of the World 30009?”
She spoke in a casual amicable manner, but Alansol had a solemn and respectful attitude when he replied, “Yes, Madam. Dr. Zhang has told me a twisted and bizarre story. I’ll transmit the video to you now.”
