To perfectly impersonate an alternate identity, thorough preparation is essential.

The first step was setting up the appearance.

Perhaps it was because his aesthetic sense had been influenced by alien tastes, but Xi Yujin's drawing skills had deteriorated badly. Even though he had clear clothing references in mind, once his pen touched the paper, all that emerged were crooked, wobbling lines.

"Isn't there any AI that can help with drawing…?" Xi Yujin switched to a sock puppet account and sought help in the temporary chatroom. "Surely the Intelligent Machines must have invented something useful for cosmic beings, right? No? Why not? They have the energy to invent writing AI and assassination AI, but not a single practical AI in sight."

Left with no choice, he tried to make the outfit from his own draft.

He gathered some fabric and attempted to sew it together. Unfortunately, he was not omnipotent. After several attempts, all he managed was tearing the cloth to shreds.

At that moment, Gano walked in and saw him sitting there, clearly frustrated. Xi Yujin explained that he wanted to give his other personas complete lives and let them out occasionally to move about, so he needed new clothes.

Gano nodded, picked up a needle and thread, and began sewing with steady hands. Calmly, he said, "Stitching corpses back together is a compulsory skill for warriors."

Xi Yujin sat cross-legged opposite him, eyes practically sparkling. Stitching corpses? Was that really such a terrifying thing? It wasn't even worth mentioning. Gano was simply perfect.

Under that gaze, Gano slowly lowered his head, once again gripped by that familiar tension.

Meanwhile, Fuling, another alternate identity, was still working diligently. Xi Yujin's original setting for her was simple: she loved working.

He scheduled timed posts. To outside species, Fuling appeared to be publishing her assignments one by one on her homepage. Driven by curiosity, they eagerly clicked in. This time, the links weren't fake.

The field of poetry she was responsible for had one major advantage: brevity. Even long poems could be excerpted and circulated easily.

First, she posted:

Western Poetry Series, Epic Excerpts: The Homeric Epics

In that era of slave owners, plunder was praised, and courage defined heroism. The war surrounding Troy had dragged on for ten years, and the valiant warrior Achilles was about to duel the Trojan prince Hector…

Then came:

Western Poetry Series, Poetic Novel Excerpts: Don Juan

A handsome Spanish youth rejects the advances of a Turkish empress, escapes the palace amid war, joins the Russian army, and later encounters Catherine…

And also:

Western Poetry Series, Lyric Poetry Excerpts: To Chaadaev

He pursued his homeland's freedom as fervently as a young man pursues love…

The sheer variety left the onlookers dizzy. At this point, no one doubted that Blue Planet was a fabricated race anymore. Blue Planet was clearly a sacred land of literature!

Creatures who loved literature were as delighted as mice in a granary. When they reached the end, they howled in anguish after discovering that it was merely an excerpt.

Even those with weaker reading skills found themselves engrossed. Some of the works Fuling released were narrative poems, which were structured almost like orderly novels. Out of curiosity toward Blue Planet's culture, they read on with unusual tolerance. At first, they skimmed, barely tasting anything, but the further they read, the more they felt the words leap inside their mouths. The distinctive rhythm offered a wholly new reading experience.

They launched into lively discussions about the plots.

"I knew Blue Planet's close friend had a deeper meaning! Look at Achilles' fallen friend; that's a close friend who's also a lover. I get it now. This is archaeological research!"

"Wow! This Don Juan has so many romantic escapades. The author's moral compass is questionable!"

"I don't fully understand it, but this poem feels more solemn than the love I imagined…"

Fuling released set after set of poems.

Just as the creatures were immersed in studying Blue Planet poetry, another piece of news spread like wildfire:

Ms. Jung is negotiating a cooperation on Investigator Files!

She's on a spacecraft at coordinates 23, 07, 32!

Still reverberating from their literary shock, many species hurried to coincidentally run into Jung, using magnetic links to jump over. The narrow connection channels was quickly filled with traffic.

The spacecraft belonged to another race that Xi Yujin had selected for friendly diplomacy. The Ctulrt had already met Yujin, so it wouldn't do for them to see Jung as well. Because of that, even though the Ctulrt longed to meet her, they had to accept a polite refusal.

Xi Yujin wore a voice modulator and adjusted his voice to that of a mature woman. A wide black hat shaded half his face, and he had temporarily dyed his hair black. During the disguise process, he'd even discovered a trick for hair extensions: if he pressed a mineral of similar density and structure tightly against his hair, it could temporarily function as long hair. They didn't last long, though; one wrong move and they'd fall off. Thus, Xi Yujin walked very stiffly.

"The new game script has been revised," Jung said, handing over the manuscript.

The alien beings, seeing the gothic lady for the first time, accepted it in a daze.

Nearby, alien creatures who were not diplomatic staff but merely in charge of security whispered among themselves: "Wow, she's unbelievably cool. Wait, what is that in her hand? Is that a pocket watch mentioned in Blue Planet records? That sheen, that design, so cool! She has completely captured my heart! Do Blue Planet humans mind interspecies relationships? We look pretty similar, don't we?"

The twin-horned humanoid creature could hardly contain its excitement.

Jung checked her pocket watch. "I'm sorry, but I have an important meeting later. I need to deliver a speech."

"A speech! That's wonderful!" The alien snapped back to its senses after a moment of daze. "We won't disturb you then… It must be very important."

"It's the annual assembly of Blue Planet's Official Novelists," Jung replied. "Quite important indeed. Although we currently can't access the StarNet, there are many novelists aboard our ship. I still need to fulfill my duty. It should be posted on the Blue Planet's official website."

"The official website? Can we watch it too?" the alien asked eagerly.

When Jung nodded slightly, it became even more delighted. "We'll definitely watch on time! You must be the most dazzling star on Blue Planet."

"Oh, let's not go that far." The real Xi Yujin, beneath the Jung persona, momentarily let his true feelings slip. Seeing the alien's confused expression, he had no choice but to praise his own original appearance. Though he didn't quite understand alien aesthetics, he was probably good-looking.

"What I mean is, I am not the most dazzling one. Those who have seen Mr. Yujin's true appearance are often stunned by him."

Jung left this vague evaluation and stood up to leave the spaceship.

Outside, Gano had been waiting for some time. He followed silently at her side until Xi Yujin slightly lifted the brim of his hat and asked quietly, "Not used to it?"

Only then did Gano step closer to their usual distance and whisper, "No."

The scheduled time for Blue Planet's Official Novelist annual assembly arrived, and Blue Planet's official website released the video link right on time. It seemed that many Blue Planet citizens truly did log in to watch.

On screen, a man in a kimono was tidying a study. Before his face could be clearly seen, he exited the frame. Six or seven seconds later, Jung entered. She was dressed in a different formal gown, with a wide-brimmed hat that still shadowed half of her face.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am honored to deliver the address at this year's Official Novelists Assembly. Why do we engage in archaeology? Why do we summarize our work each year? Why do I stand here to fulfill my duty? It all stems from our history."

A polite smile appeared on her lips.

"Since the era of the Isolated Planet, our historical research has been a battle of information preservation."

The aliens who had just spoken with Jung hurried to switch to the broadcast page, as did those who had long been watching Blue Planet. What they did not know was that this was pre-recorded; all the segments had been prepared in advance, and the real Xi Yujin had already left the ship.

Her voice, processed through technical modulation, flowed through countless spacecraft.

"In primitive times, humanity did not yet understand the world, nor realize the abundance surrounding them. They carved the cycles of sun and moon into stone, recorded food reserves, and documented encounters with great beasts. Those stone tablets became our earliest historical relics.

Later, humanity recognized the importance of information exchange and adopted more comprehensive and complex media. We developed bamboo slips, parchment, papyrus, and other tools. We could now record not only history, but also art and thought. Yet it was far from enough. What we wrote still grew too vast. The Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance alone spans a full 249 volumes, enough to fill an entire room. Only through generations of correction and supplementation did it present over a millennium of history.

After wave upon wave of technological revolutions, we began using more convenient electronic technology. Vast seas of ancient texts could easily be stored on a USB drive no bigger than a thumb. Humans naively thought that from then on, we would never lose our history again.

But the speed of information preservation could never keep up with the speed of information evolution and production. At that time, several internet giants directly destroyed entire graveyards of hard drives that stored historical data. Yet who among us could guarantee that the destroyed data didn't contain a lifeline for the future?

Information storage is prone to errors and omissions, priorities and rankings, power struggles between various factions, technological bottlenecks, and disasters both natural and man-made. As humanity has walked this path, it has been like holding sand in our hands; inevitably, grains of historical sand have slipped through our fingers. To this day, we have already lost far too much."

All the cosmic beings watching were moved.

In their near-light-speed travels, most of them didn't care about time. What was left behind was the past, and what was destroyed was no longer mourned.

That's why they were so shocked by Blue Planet's spirit of wanting to preserve everything. If an unfamiliar race had done this, they probably would have mocked it as a futile effort. But Blue Planet had just displayed its vast and completely preserved cultural heritage. Like new recruits being intimidated by a veteran general's presence, they couldn't help but feel profound respect.

"So should we just let that lost history disappear?"

Ms. Jung continued.

"We can never know the most complete truth, but those scattered grains of sand record the path we've traveled. When we look back, we know why we came to be and where we came from. History connects present-day humans with humans of the past on a single thread. In this vast universe, we never exist in isolation.

We are not the first to look back at the past. Blue Planet archaeology is almost as old as Blue Planet history itself. Prosperous eras inherited experience from primitive times. Peaceful ages drew strength from wartime. Space-faring Blue Planet sought anchors from the Isolated Planet period...

It is precisely because there have always been people who refused to abandon history that we can declare with confidence during the cosmic navigation era: Since the Isolated Planet period, Blue Planet civilization has never been severed."

Ms. Jung concluded her address.

In the workroom of the Navigator Colossus, optical computer screens flickered as several aliens in spacesuits couldn't help but stand and applaud.

In the ships of civilizations that considered themselves advanced, several alien beings sat as if they had suffered a heavy blow. They lifted their heads as if wanting to say something, but in the end, only sighs remained.

In countless rooms where alien beings had only heard of Blue Planet's name, they felt their hearts surge with emotion. Their bodies were filled with an inexplicable drive, as if they could see Blue Planet's busy archaeology workrooms.

Those must be rooms filled with the sound of typing.

Several Blue Planet scholars sat at desks, decrypting quantum computers. In cyberspace, text was arranged by storage date. They extracted enormous amounts of information from different units: original materials, corrupted code clusters damaged by various humans, and papers left by predecessors.

They proposed their viewpoints and debated which school of thought a particular article belonged to. In the clash of ideas, the present and past were unified, and the path to the future became clear.

"Blue Planet must be the least lonely civilization."

The cosmic beings murmured, even feeling a yearning to join Blue Planet's archaeological journey. They, too, wanted to taste the joy of being able to cite sources and precedents for everything they did!

While the passengers were shocked by Jung's speech, Xi Yujin and Gano were talking with a black market staff member. Jung appeared on screen while Yujin appeared somewhere else; this was the simplest method for them to appear simultaneously.

The staff member who had just been listening to Jung's address was clearly very excited. Its praise for Xi Yujin was practically over the top. After all, it knew that the person before it was the head of Blue Planet's Official Novelists, which was a transcendent position. How could it not be careful?

The alien staff member placed a paper airplane in a one-square-meter transparent sealed container and respectfully presented it to Xi Yujin: "We have been carefully and meticulously preserving your auction item. Please take a close look; is there anything unsatisfactory?"

"How else would you preserve a paper airplane?" Xi Yujin said. "We at Blue Planet do indeed have plans to exchange ideas with other civilizations."

The alien hurried to flatter him: "Being selected as a friendly diplomatic partner of Blue Planet is truly an honor!"

Xi Yujin continued, "But we must act prudently. From historical experience, one of the main principles of diplomacy is sincerity."

The alien thought it understood the hidden meaning in Xi Yujin's words. This meant adding more shills during the auction to drive up the price.

"Therefore, we've decided to bring out ancient texts that had a profound influence during the Isolated Planet period."

Xi Yujin felt it was time to introduce Qiongtian. The main issue was his lack of knowledge about foreign literature. If he were British, he would likely be referencing Shakespeare's four great tragedies and comedies right now. However, it was easier for him to work with the works of his own ancestors.

So which of China's Four Great Classical Novels was the shortest?

Xi Yujin confidently filled in Dream of the Red Chamber in the auction item details. He even thought he was being very considerate. It had the fewest characters, so the appendix wouldn't be long.

It wasn't until the staff respectfully saw Xi Yujin out, walking side-by-side with Gano, that Xi Yujin suddenly remembered a fact he had taken for granted: Dream of the Red Chamber was a colossal pit!

He froze instantly, and Gano asked what was wrong. Xi Yujin came back to his senses and leaned in mysteriously to whisper in Gano's ear: "If something goes wrong, can we jump ship and escape?"