"Take our dedicated aircraft. The star map onboard will display all the planets marked by our starship fleet." The staff member glanced at Xi Yujin's registered name and added, "We look forward to your work, Mr. Wenhuo from Blue Planet."

Xi Yujin had his own peculiar logic when it came to aliases. Back when he was in his glittering diamond-spirit phase, he called himself Yujin (Ember). Now that his hair was pink and his temperature had risen, he became Wenhuo (Warm Flame).

Gano had personally witnessed Xi Yujin switching personas on the spot, so he naturally understood how all those previous aliases had come about. His assessment of Yujinno as an absolute drama king who rose to new heights. Still, he cooperated fully, and outside, he also began to refer to him as Wenhuo.

Xi Yujin even justified his split-personality-style alias habit: "Creating new identities prevents being mobbed by aliens all the time. It's not good for Gano to always have to pull me out of the horde of creatures…"

Gano replied, "But every time I pick Yujinno up, I feel happy, and Yujinno feels happy too. That feeling is wonderful. I could keep carrying Yujinno as we wander through the universe forever."

The temperature on Xi Yujin's skin rose slightly.

"Don't suddenly say things that sound like love confessions…"

Gano didn't understand what part of that counted as a confession. Xi Yujin surrendered in defeat and resignedly instructed the little Rust Clan members to enjoy themselves aboard the starship belt but not touch random things.

They were heading out to search for a suitable planet. Perhaps this trip would lead them to their future homeland.

The Starship People's aircraft didn't use fuel. Instead, it glided along stellar high-energy radiation winds. Its overall shape resembled a dragonfly, with four pairs of enormous transparent wings extending from the top, essentially scaled-up Zerg bone wings. The craft detached from the starship and glided toward the already-marked planetary systems.

Xi Yujin glanced at the massive bone wings. Gano also turned to look for a moment, but neither spoke.

The aircraft's star map wasn't electrically powered but formed from faintly glowing memory particles. The particles floated out from the screen and assembled into a gigantic three-dimensional star map. Xi Yujin could rotate it freely in 360 degrees.

The controls were similar to ordinary star maps, though the resolution was a bit lacking.

Their first destination was a star ten times larger than the Sun.

Creating derivatives for the Starship Belt required using every planet within a star system. If a system had ten planets, then ten works must be created.

Xi Yujin circled the system with a critical eye, dissatisfied.

Too many gas giants, and the rocky planets were tidally locked to the star, meaning there was no alternation between day and night. On top of that, the planets simply weren't attractive enough.

"We Blue Planet people care a lot about a planet's appearance. Ideally it should be a lovely deep, clear blue."

Xi Yujin commented with complete seriousness. Gano had long since become accustomed to the strange little customs of Blue Planet humans and nodded solemnly.

Next, they passed by a pulsar.

A pulsar was a dense remnant left behind after a supernova explosion: a dead star emitting pulses of radiation, second only to black holes in density. The aircraft's star map marked the region as dangerous, and they were already accelerating away.

Xi Yujin was nervous too, clutching the little asteroid accompanying him tightly. He had the unsettling feeling that if he added even a bit of mass to that old star, it might collapse into a black hole on the spot.

Sensing Xi Yujin's anxiety, Gano piloted the aircraft away at top speed.

After traveling together for so long, Gano's escape piloting skills had already reached master level.

Once they finally passed through safely, Xi Yujin discovered an exceptionally beautiful planetary system.

The planets looked as adorable as candy: pink, lake blue, emerald green, with pale streaks decorating their surfaces just right. Even the planetary rings resembled playful skirt hems.

But when Xi Yujin looked at the neighboring region, he froze.

A gigantic planet was slowly crashing toward the system.

For some unknown reason, its orbit brought it through this poor star system once every four hundred thousand years, and each time it insisted on smashing into several smaller planets before leaving in a satisfied manner.

"I don't want to spend the future reenacting a meteor-disaster evacuation every four hundred thousand years."

Xi Yujin retreated gloomily.

"Why is finding a suitable planet so difficult…"

He dreamed of discovering an Earth-like world covered in greenery and birdsong, like the homeland in his memories. But now, he abandoned that fantasy and carefully checked every planetary catalog.

Only then did he realize that among the six million planets visited by the starship belt, not a single one possessed green vegetation.

This was the true normal state of cosmic exploration: endless emptiness.

"This one, then."

In the end, they chose a red dwarf system.

A red dwarf is smaller and dimmer than the Sun. It never expands into a red giant, but instead slowly collapses inward over an extremely long lifespan. This particular red dwarf had captured six planets, and one of them was gaseous.

The second planet from the star had surface temperatures ranging from -10°C to 50°C in certain regions.

Which meant it had liquid water.

The aircraft pierced through a dense ozone layer, which blocked ultraviolet radiation and prevented life from being instantly destroyed by intense radiation. A good sign.

They landed in the center of an enormous crater.

Xi Yujin stepped out of the aircraft and, with great ceremony, pressed a footprint into the ground.

One small step for humanity, one giant leap for Blue Planet civilization.

Then he took Gano's hand and walked forward.

Across the rugged, crater-covered land, two beings in spacesuits slowly advanced. Several kilometers away, white mist billowed upward like a waterfall appearing from nowhere. A boiling ocean awaited the arrival of life.

Sulfur compounds cooled from the steam and settled across the ground beneath their heavy boots.

Xi Yujin stared blankly at the ocean before him. Though lifeless, it brimmed with vitality.

The murky yellow sea continuously churned with white bubbles. Waves nearly fifty meters high crashed endlessly against the shore with thunderous roars. If the two visitors didn't possess extraordinary physiques, they might have been dragged away by the vacuum force generated as the waves receded.

When the tide withdrew, glittering selenate mineral grains remained along the shore.

After a while, Xi Yujin said to Gano, "I know what my first derivative work will be."

It was the instinct engraved into every Chinese person: "I'm going to farm!"

Back aboard the starship belt.

"We have received a signal from SYE-1832. Mr. Wenhuo from Blue Planet will be creating his work there."

The staff members delivered their reports methodically.

"Please have the logistics center transport the creation equipment to the port. Also, send Mr. Wenhuo's script to the actors' center…"

After a while, a massive container rolled past the staff along the corridor tracks. Sitting atop it was the only creature in the entire starship belt who actually enjoyed this line of work.

It hopped down and opened the compartment hatch, and threads of cold air drifted out.

The staff looked inside and glimpsed a pure white egg.

After confirming the serial number was correct, they approved the device for shipment to the port.

Suddenly, fierce arguing echoed down the corridor. The two staff members both froze in surprise.

The Starship People were generally quite peaceful, or rather, their emotions rarely fluctuated dramatically. Life aboard the starship was materially abundant; what they pursued instead was spiritual fulfillment, which was why they devoted themselves to work.

Because their population was small, and because they did not engage in romantic relationships, they tended to treat one another with extreme politeness.

"The younger generation's emotions are becoming more and more extreme."

The staff recognized the arguing pair as the youngsters Tula and Aila. They exchanged looks and silently agreed with the sentiment.

Aila enjoyed introducing scenic locations to others and had chosen to become a tour guide. Tula liked organizing and cleaning things and had chosen to become a cleaner. Within the starship, neither profession ranked above the other.

"I just hate outside artists!"

Tula declared viciously.

"The derivative works made by outsiders are worse than garbage thrown into outer space!"

"You're being incredibly rude!" Aila retorted sharply. "You can't say things like that in front of alien visitors!"

"Am I wrong?" Tula shot back. "Outside species come from poor, deprived environments. Their internal wars probably happen more often than we eat meals. How many truly good works can come from such unstable societies? Besides, our technology is so advanced that even the most famous novelists out there probably wouldn't know how to use our equipment! Aila, wake up. We have every right to be proud!"

Aila didn't know how to argue back and could only mutter weakly that such thinking was too extreme. Ever since birth, they had been taught that interstellar peace was the ultimate goal.

"I've got a great idea," Tula said. "I'll go to the actors' center and persuade our people not to accept scripts from outside artists. Without our help, those outsiders won't understand how to operate the equipment. They'll definitely make a complete fool of themselves!"

With that, it activated its hovering disk and sped away. Aila chased after it from behind but couldn't catch up at all.

Tula accelerated furiously, as though venting pent-up frustration.

Lately, more and more outside artists have been entering the Starship Belt. It was true that the Starship Belt possessed abundant resources, yet those outsiders always wasted things, leaving food unfinished and failing to empty oxygen tanks. Tula had disliked them on sight and wished it could bundle them all up and toss them into outer space.

It truly couldn't understand why the Starship Belt allowed outsiders in.

The museum director had once explained that in the past, the starship belt mostly traveled through the ruins of ancient battlefields and rarely encountered other races. But now they wished to spread the ideals of peace throughout the universe through art.

But what exactly were battlefield ruins? Tula had never understood such terminology.

Still, the thought of making outside artists miserable lifted its spirits.

Suddenly it slammed on the brakes, nearly crashing into Xi Yujin, who had just returned from outside.

They had arrived at the actors' center.

The place was arranged warmly, like a home. Several companions sat reading scripts with lowered heads. Before this, some outside artists had already chosen planets and hoped to begin creating works. But the actors here wore calm, indifferent expressions while reading the scripts, seemingly unimpressed.

Tula turned to look at the human beside it.

Xi Yujin politely said, "Excuse me."

Tula instinctively stepped aside.

Only afterward did it realize what it had done. It immediately moved back in front of Xi Yujin, only to be pushed half a step backward by some invisible force.

Tula paid no attention to it and asked arrogantly,

"You came here looking for actors?"

Xi Yujin glanced at its shiny, bald head.

All Starship People were hairless, and Xi Yujin's face blindness kicked in. He couldn't tell whether the person speaking to him was the tour guide Aila or not.

For his first project, he wasn't planning anything grand. He wanted to familiarize himself with the production process before attempting larger works. Assuming the other party was Aila, he replied kindly:

"I don't plan to use actors."

"No actors?" Tula exclaimed. Then it became irritated with itself. "Fine. Handle it yourself, then!"

With that, it stormed off angrily.

It would just wait and see what kind of masterpiece this outsider could possibly create.

Xi Yujin watched it leave, baffled. Beside him, Gano silently glanced at Tula several times.

Xi Yujin then told the staff he wanted to borrow a signal amplification service to contact beings in other black boxes.

Far across the stars, alien readers suddenly saw a new announcement appear on the official Reader website.

"Hello everyone, I'm Wenhuo from Blue Planet, a screenwriter specializing in advanced textual derivatives. I currently need some source materials and am therefore making an open request to the public…"

"Is he working together with Mr. Yujin? Didn't Mr. Yujin mention attending some kind of starship art exhibition before… But what is the Starship Belt?"

"First time hearing of Wenhuo. Leaving a comment now so I can count as an old fan later."

Alien readers instinctively tried to assign close friends to Wenhuo. The Blue Planet best friend matching system had become deeply ingrained in public consciousness.

Xi Yujin understood perfectly well that the more of his well-developed alternate identities interacted with the Wenhuo persona, the faster Wenhuo's popularity would rise, and the easier it would be for him to gather the materials he needed.

So he had all of his aliases repost and comment in support of Wenhuo!

Surely at least one of them could become Wenhuo's new best friend, right?

Countless beings stared at the flood of reposts and comments and fell into eerie silence before their optical computers.

"This Wenhuo… why is he so popular?"

"I don't think it's popularity," said readers long traumatized by Yongye, and naturally had their nerves become extremely sharp. "It feels more like task-based, mandatory reposting."

"I've only ever seen this kind of reposting behavior from one Blue Planet person before. Coincidentally, this time that exact Blue Planet person is the only one who didn't leave a comment."

"That makes sense. Back when Yujin forced the Blue Planet Office to repost his psychological short story, the Blue Planet novelists reacted exactly like this."

Some readers scrutinized the name Wenhuo suspiciously, privately wondering whether this was yet another new pen name belonging to some novelist.