Gano was already used to Xi Yujin's erratic train of thought and answered seriously, "The Navigator Colossus is moving at supersonic speed. If we rashly jump ship, there's a high chance of an accident."

"Okay, I should have known that this day would come," Xi Yujin said. "Luckily, my survival skills are already maxed out…"

He asked the staff how much longer the journey would last and decided to broadcast the ancient book in eighty episodes. After eighty episodes, he would announce that Blue Planet's archaeology had hit a bottleneck and there was nothing more to share. Then they would simply disembark and run.

Why does it feel like traveling through space is just an endless cycle of running away and preparing to run away?

Xi Yujin fell into a strange contemplation.

Jung's recording continued. She introduced the office's major breakthrough this year: from damaged and maliciously falsified backup data, they had recovered the most historically accurate version of Dream of the Red Chamber, which would soon be released to Blue Planet's citizens for study. On behalf of her colleague Qiongtian, she also introduced what made this ancient book special.

It was not merely a novel of human relationships steeped in traditional culture; it was a masterwork of extraordinary literary skill, with a vast structure and intricate plot. Its technique of using fiction to depict reality had drawn countless readers to study and research it, giving rise to the field of Redology.¹

The alien beings didn't quite understand, but the atmosphere built up beforehand had been so compelling that they cheered in front of their optical computers, wishing they were qualified Blue Planet citizens who could read it themselves.

The races who had already crossed paths with Xi Yujin in the black market received notifications from the Navigator Colossus's staff that the auction item was indeed this ancient book. Their excitement shot skyward like a rollercoaster.

This time, even if they didn't understand it, they would pretend to appreciate the artistic value of Dream of the Red Chamber and bid as hard as they could for that paper airplane. It was a literary treasure embodying the history of Blue Planet!

"How many ship coins do we have left?"

"Forget the military maps. Save everything to bid on that ancient book. We might never encounter that other civilization, but the chance to touch the Blue Planet civilization is right before our eyes!"

Creatures all across the fleet sprang into action. Even the alien who had blocked Xi Yujin's path before was shaken with regret, muttering that he would definitely find a chance to apologize later.

Meanwhile, races that had never set foot in the black market were more relaxed. They didn't expect to have the chance to see the Blue Planet ancient book, but if they could establish diplomatic relations with the Blue Planet races, that would be wonderful. Even superficial friendships, like exchanging greetings during holidays, would make them very happy.

Following the instructions on the Blue Planet official website, the creatures contacted Yujin, hoping to build friendly relations through book diplomacy. Unfortunately, the Blue Planet side said that they had too many diplomatic requests lately, and their Official Novelists simply didn't have that much time. However, they could switch to a different diplomatic model: participating in the joint development of Investigator Files.

Any species wanting diplomacy could submit their race's story to Blue Planet. As long as the overall atmosphere met the requirements, it would be approved, and Ms. Jung would revise it into game text as soon as possible. This was Blue Planet's new diplomatic method: game collaboration.

The aliens agreed enthusiastically, and within just a few days, Investigator Files had added 34 new game modules. Nearly two thousand gameplay summaries have been published on related websites, a testament to its immense popularity. It truly became the hottest topic of this Navigator Colossus journey.

In the conversations of many creatures, Blue Planet was clearly regarded as an inviolable advanced civilization. After they disembarked, the name of Blue Planet would spread throughout the universe through their voices. At that point, Blue Planet would truly exist.

Xi Yujin, who had been keeping a close eye on everyone's sentiments, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Does this mean the danger is finally over…?"

Xi Yujin decided to stay on Tidal Peace and write quietly for a while before venturing out.

His recent workload had been relatively light. Jung was in charge of adapting the game scripts, Fuling was tossing out excerpts of poetry, and Qiongtian was beginning to recreate Dream of the Red Chamber, so there wasn't much that required brainpower.

The only difficult part was the translation.

Gano had already learned most common uses of Chinese, but after reading the first chapter of Dream of the Red Chamber, a giant question mark immediately appeared above his head.

When Xi Yujin first saw Gano's indescribable expression, he couldn't help but burst out laughing and said he would write the interpretation himself.

One characteristic of Dream of the Red Chamber is its abundance of riddles and metaphors, with every sentence echoing the last. Its meticulous attention to detail is so precise that it makes your scalp tingle. Because of this, the novel can be read in many different ways.

Some read it as a love story, sighing over the tragic golden-jade match and the preordained wood-stone bond,² finding the portrayal of human relationships exquisitely crafted. Others read it as an encyclopedia of feudal society, citing passages in their own historical novels.

Still, others read it as a grand collection of puzzles: guessing the answers hidden in the commentaries, identifying character decomposition or satirical contrasts, tracing how foreshadowing connects to later plot points, or spotting how a character's offhand joke hints that two characters are secretly involved… It is precisely because the entire work's structure and details are so astonishingly meticulous that it has captivated so many readers.

One of the more famous versions of Dream of the Red Chamber is the Zhiyan Zhai commentary edition. This can be understood as Zhiyan Zhai's commentary written while copying the novel, which reveals numerous foreshadowing elements. Some even claim that Zhiyan Zhai was the author himself, deliberately dropping clues for the reader.

In later eras, the diversification of publishing houses gave rise to numerous commentary editions of the Zhiyan Zhai version of Dream of the Red Chamber. These editions might begin with the main text of Dream of the Red Chamber, followed by Zhiyan Zhai's commentary, and then a modern scholar's commentary, with the modern scholar occasionally slipping in their own personal opinions. In even more chaotic editions, one might find Scholar A commenting on Scholar B, creating a very peculiar reading experience, like a group of literati bickering in public.

The text of Dream of the Red Chamber is intricate, which pushed the translation difficulty even higher. So Xi Yujin decided to take a shortcut: for now, he would only translate the general meaning and leave the specifics for the aliens to study on their own. The aliens in this universe traveled constantly, each having mastered over a dozen languages, so picking up Chinese wouldn't be difficult. If his own translation skills improved later, he could always supplement it.

"There's still a lot of Redology research out there… Perhaps I could use my alternate accounts to share this research?"

Xi Yujin decided that the next issue of Reader's Digest could feature a new discussion forum to get all the alternate accounts active.

After that, he finally had a relatively relaxed period.

—

Once the buzz around Blue Planet died down a little, he went out for a stroll with Gano. The Navigator Colossus also had many onboard entertainment ships: a stellar-simulated baking ship, a shooting simulator ship, and a buffet ship…

Xi Yujin visited the buffet ship the most, deeply curious about alien cuisine, though he was repeatedly put off by the food's bizarre shapes.

Meanwhile, some races were busily preparing for the auction.

At last, the second auction of the voyage began, and a black-and-gold invitation was delivered to Tidal Peace's door.

Xi Yujin said he didn't want to go to the auction because that place reminded him of unpleasant things. He would just browse the lower-tier black market instead.

This time, the staff dared not push him and agreed with smiles plastered across their faces.

Inside the auction house, a small paper airplane rested on a purple velvet tray. It was illuminated by several gentle spotlights, making it appear almost sacred.

On the surrounding staircase, numerous creatures raised their paddles with flushed skins, seemingly ready to erupt into a brawl at any moment.

The staff's clappers rang out incessantly.

"2,000 ship coins, going once! Anything higher?"

"Thank you, Seller No. 77, for 3,000 ship coins! Any more? 5,000 ship coins now!"

"8,000 ship coins, going once! This is an unprecedented price! But Blue Planet is worth it! Such a great civilization deserves it!"

—

In the auction house's warehouse, a white egg stirred inside a massive cube-shaped container. A passing staff member, feeling that the numerous temperature-controlled lights overhead were a waste, turned off half of them. The water temperature in the cube immediately dropped.

One of the eggs cracked open, and a black spiky ball rolled out. In water, this species looked like a spiny sphere, but on land, the spikes softened and separated, turning it into something like a little fluffy coal ball.³

—

After the intense auction ended, the winner swaggered out the door while the rest of the creatures wore looks of dejected defeat. The staff excitedly approached Xi Yujin and Gano, congratulating them on earning 9,800 ship coins.

"Can ship coins be exchanged for Stardust?" Xi Yujin wasn't sure whether the price was high or low.

"Ship coins are only valid on this ship," the staff replied honestly.

Even if Xi Yujin went to another Navigator Colossus, he wouldn't be able to use these ship coins. They belonged exclusively to a temporary, private little black market.

"So if I don't spend them here, these will basically become worthless coins?" Xi Yujin thought for a moment, then decided to do something he had always wanted to do but never could: he was going to buy out the entire black market!

"That's right, pack up every type of lightsaber here and send them to my ship."

"I'm not short on money. Give me three sets of space pirate suits. In our Blue Planet culture, attacking stars is wrong."

"You don't have any extra exoskeleton armor? Fine, I'll buy that too…"

Xi Yujin swept through the lower black market like a hurricane. Fortunately, Tidal Peace had an extremely high load-bearing capacity, so there was no need to worry about fitting everything.

He happily unpacked his haul after returning to Tidal Peace, but happiness never lasts long.

"Gano! I've been scammed! This exoskeleton needs a completely different power source to operate! All I bought was a fancy decoration!" Xi Yujin once again felt the sting of how cunning aliens could be. Anyone who claimed aliens didn't know how to do business would get a scathing rebuttal from him, complete with evidence. For now, all he could do was complain to Gano.

Although the exoskeleton only cost 10 ship coins, Xi Yujin still felt a pang of heartache over the loss. In the black market, once a product left the shelf, there was no after-sales service. Xi Yujin could only suffer in silence, and his enthusiasm for further shopping sprees considerably dropped.

Gano never quite knew how to respond when Xi Yujin was like this.

"Yujinno, do you really like armor?" Gano reasoned meticulously and arrived at a reliable solution. "Although the Ers Royal Armor can't be fully driven by other races, a partial load should last for a second or two."

Xi Yujin suddenly felt a little embarrassed. "This must be something very important to your race, right?"

Gano paused to think again. He realized that he didn't have a particularly deep sense of racial pride, which was exactly why he had chosen to leave his tribe. Upon recognizing this, he pondered slowly and blankly for another ten minutes before telling Xi Yujin it was fine.

Xi Yujin was always patient with Gano's slow contemplations, so he never interrupted. He waited with a mixture of anticipation and unease for Gano to activate the armor. To be honest, he had liked Gano's armor from the very first moment they met.

The ancient black armor unfolded in midair, and crimson patterns faintly emerged like lava.

Then Gano took off his outer coat, revealing the undershirt beneath. With each movement, the lean, agile lines of his muscles were faintly visible.

Xi Yujin froze. Was this some kind of alien etiquette?

After taking off his coat, Gano flexed his hands. A wild, almost predatory glint flickered in his eyes, while mysterious patterns emerged along his shoulders and neck.

The next second, the patterns came alive, as if ascending from two dimensions into three. Then, a pair of transparent bone wings unfurled, ready to take flight.