After calming its fellow Starship people, Wengla returned to work.

It was the curator of the museum and the oldest living being in the starship belt. In the past, Starship people had always passed away peacefully at around fifty years old. Wengla, however, had astonishingly lived to sixty-three, and because of that, it had voluntarily taken on one of the most important duties aboard the starship.

The Starship Museum housed many unusual artifacts from their civilization. If these objects could be successfully deciphered, perhaps the entire history of the Starship people could finally be understood.

Recently, Wengla had been studying a mural accompanied by a small amount of ancient text. It could only vaguely make out its meaning:

"Mother rose into the heavens, her body blocking out the sun, bestowing blessings upon the world below.

Do not fear death upon the battlefield. So long as we call upon Mother's honored name, she will guide us home.

To Queen… Er…s…"

"Ers?" Wengla rolled the strange name over in its mind, then frowned. "What does call upon mean?"

Suddenly, inspiration struck it, and it thought of the ultra-high-power broadcasting system within the starship belt.

The starship belt's original technological path had always been unusual, leaning heavily toward biotechnology, whereas most of the universe favored mechanical technology. During the belt's migration through space, they occasionally encountered lonely travelers. By combining foreign mechanical technologies with their own biotechnology, the Starship people had developed a technological system that brought prosperity to the entire Starship Belt.

But that broadcasting system was pure biotechnology, cultivated through some unknown method.

"If I use the ultra-high-power broadcaster to call out 'Ers' toward those wormhole clusters… what would happen?"

Late into the night, Wengla continued reading by lamplight, trying to uncover more secrets hidden within the starship.

"Wengla, you're already sixty-three years old. Please don't overwork yourself," a young Starship person said as it knocked and entered. "Come look at our Planetary Art Exhibition. It's in full swing right now."

Wengla rubbed its eyes. "You're right. Our ancestors taught us that spreading peace is the most important thing… How are the alien artists performing in this first Planetary Art Exhibition?"

"There's one especially outstanding participant!" the young Starship person said, its tone rising three full pitches with excitement. "It's Wenhuo from Blue Planet, you've met him before. His recent television series, Primordial Myth, has already entered the Top 10 rankings. Personality Stealth reached the Top 30, and Seed Odyssey made it into the Top 100. Primordial Myth is still new, so it needs more time to build popularity, but its ranking will definitely rise further soon."

Wengla nodded. "Blue Planet's works truly are special. We can release part of the reward."

The Starship person smiled. "Mr. Wenhuo has been looking forward to it for a long time."

"I can have some usage rights to SYE-1832?"

When Xi Yujin heard the news, he was overjoyed.

According to the Planetary Art Exhibition's rules, if an alien artist has completed works across an entire star system and all of them have achieved excellent rankings, then the Starship Belt would award that entire star system as a prize.

Most alien artists either lacked enough works or failed to meet the quality threshold. At present, only Xi Yujin has earned this honor.

Originally, Xi Yujin thought that he would need to complete six works before obtaining a planet, but he had run out of extra inspiration for the time being. He casually mentioned this frustration to one of the Starship actors and never expected that the Starship people would be so generous as to grant him provisional rights to the system in advance.

Until now, Blue Planet had existed only within the tiny confines of the Tidal Peace itself. Everything else had relied on Xi Yujin bluffing the public, and he had bluffed remarkably successfully. Still, he occasionally felt regret over the reality that they were rootless wanderers.

But now, Blue Planet was finally going to have a physical base of its own!

Since the planets had been gifted by the Starship people, it was perfectly normal that there were no actual Blue Planet natives living there. Xi Yujin could freely recreate his fantasy version of Blue Planet on these worlds and even welcome alien tourists in the future.

Better yet, there were no nearby large civilizations, no wars, and no territorial disputes. In the future, the only neighbors around Blue Planet's new base would be other artists recognized by the starship belt.

Xi Yujin thought about the Rust Clan.

He and Gano would continue traveling together in the future, so they could never remain at the new base permanently. But the Rust Clan needed a new homeland where they could continue developing their civilization, and they could also become allies of Blue Planet.

He found the little Rust Clan children playing nearby and asked whether they would be willing to relocate.

The little Rust Clan creatures chirped, "Eee!"

Xi Yujin patted them one by one. "Then thank you in advance."

"Shoo!"

Carrying the little Rust Clan creatures, Xi Yujin floated back to the Tidal Peace and piloted the ship toward the third planet in the SYE-1832 system.

Parts of the planet maintained temperatures of around 10°C, cold but tolerable, and it also possessed oceans. The soil contained high concentrations of iron, giving the land a rosy-red hue, making it an ideal environment for the Rust Clan.

The moment the Tidal Peace broke through the atmosphere, the glimmer particles previously deployed across the planet erupted into aurora-like streams of light, and a sharp buzzing alarm sounded throughout the ship.

Planets marked by the starship belt did not permit unauthorized foreign landings.

Xi Yujin took out the authorization beacon granted by the starship belt and shone it toward the sky. Only then did the glimmer particles gradually withdraw back into their storage facilities.

The Tidal Peace landed safely.

Xi Yujin unloaded the Rust Clan life-support pods from the ship, then half-buried the egg-like shells into the soil one by one.

After half a day, one of the eggs trembled slightly.

A crack split across its surface.

"Shoo!"

A sootball creature burst out from inside!

Its spikes stood sharply upright, looking distinctly unpleasant to touch.

The little Rust Clan children immediately swarmed around it, their soft spikes rubbing against the older Rust Clan creature's hard spikes.

Not long afterward, the older creature's hard spikes softened as well, turning fluffy. It turned toward Xi Yujin.

Xi Yujin's hair faintly glowed. "Uh… hi?"

An entire crowd of sootball creatures instantly pounced on him!

"I'm getting used to this…" Xi Yujin said politely as he peeled sootball creatures off himself one by one.

More and more Rust Clan eggs cracked open across the ground. The Rust Clan, whose homeland had once suffered catastrophic volcanic eruptions, awakened on a strange new planet.

The little Rust Clan children excitedly told their parents about their adventures:

How they had been trapped inside transparent boxes, suddenly transported into glowing palms, learned countless new things, bravely defeated mechanical villains, and finally arrived at a new homeland that resembled their old one.

The adult Rust Clan members said it sounded just like listening to mythology.

A particularly brave adult Rust Clan member bounced up in front of Xi Yujin. Xi Yujin crouched down to speak with it.

"So that's the situation," Xi Yujin said gently. "The artwork for the third planet will need to be created by your people yourselves. I'll help however I can. And then… this will become your new home."

The Rust Clan creature's fluffy spikes suddenly rippled like waves because its emotions had surpassed what words could express.

Looking at this species, Xi Yujin thought back to himself when he had first arrived at the edge of the universe. Back then, he had written his very first story with anxious uncertainty, using it as his first greeting to this cosmos. At the time, he had no idea whether the universe would welcome him, nor where he was meant to go.

And yet, before he realized it, he had already traveled so far.

"Welcome to the vastness of the universe!" Xi Yujin told the Rust Clan happily. Pointing toward the starlight on the horizon, he added, "That's my new base. Come visit sometime if you want."

In the SYE-1832 red dwarf system, counting outward from the star:

The first planet was Personality Stealth.

The second planet was Seed Odyssey.

The third planet would host the Rust Clan's work.

And the fourth gas giant was Primordial Myth.

"I need to hurry and complete the fifth and sixth planetary projects. At least then I can officially start renovating the planets…"

As Xi Yujin piloted the Tidal Peace back toward the second planet, countless random thoughts tumbled through his head.

"The other planets still feel kind of empty. Looks like I'll have to spend a fortune on decoration. I wonder if the stardust I've saved up is enough… Maybe I should attract some investment? And I'll need defense systems too… You never realize how little money you have until you actually need it."

Tidal Peace landed smoothly at the edge of the crater. The moment Xi Yujin saw the green botanical garden there, his heart instantly softened.

He jumped to the ground and hurried off to share today's good news with Gano.

Gano stared at Xi Yujin's barely concealed excitement for a moment before saying thoughtfully, "I understand now. This is the second Blue Planet that belongs to Yujinno."

"That's not wrong," Xi Yujin admitted, scratching his cheek. "I can never return to the first Blue Planet anymore… so I need a second one."

Wandering through the universe was the norm, while being emotionally attached to land was the unusual one. But Gano never minded Xi Yujin's eccentricities. He only wanted Yujinno to be happier.

"I'll protect this place well," he said.

"No, no, no, Gano, you're supposed to handle the infrastructure construction together with me, and then continue traveling together with me too," Xi Yujin hurriedly clarified point by point, leaving no room for misunderstanding. "We won't stay on Blue Planet Two forever. Tidal Peace is our real home, and you have to stay with me the whole time."

A faint flush spread across Gano's cheeks. Every sentence Yujinno spoke was dangerously powerful.

"What does infrastructure construction mean on Blue Planet?" he asked.

Xi Yujin searched through his archive for the proper explanation. "It's kind of like… building a nest?"

Gano nodded as though he half understood.

He watched Xi Yujin go off to give sunlight to the plants while he himself continued thinking about what nest-building meant, all while thoroughly cleaning his armor.

The armor was powered by his wings. Recently, some strange sticky fluid kept appearing on it, creating an oddly uncomfortable sensation. Gano suspected that the armor's self-cleaning system had malfunctioned, so he began manually investigating the cause.

He inserted his hand into the armor's internal neural interface archive, and a message was reflected directly into his brain.

"This King-class armor was created from the shed remains of Queen Ers and represents the highest honor bestowed upon the bravest warriors. Your genetic permission level is insufficient to unlock all functions."

At first, Gano cared deeply about the title of bravest warrior. He couldn't understand how stealing the armor wasn't enough to prove his strength. But now, he had become much calmer and focused solely on exploring the armor's archives.

As usual, he began asking questions.

"Heat cycle?"

"Your genetic permission level is insufficient…"

"Zerg literature?"

"Your genetic permission level is insufficient…"

Gano frowned and tried another question.

"Nest-building?"

"Nest-building: a behavior marking a Zerg warrior's transition into maturity. Completion grants one opportunity for a Permission Day. When a Zerg warrior approaches the nest-building phase, the following body parts will undergo changes…"

The archive proceeded to highlight several areas, including the insect wings.

"Your genetic permission level is insufficient to receive a more detailed explanation."

A brand-new anatomical diagram of a Zerg warrior appeared before Gano. Looking at the newly highlighted regions, he didn't fully understand them, but he was willing to learn.

He immediately went to find Xi Yujin and displayed the diagram.

"Yujinno, regarding nest-building, we should do this."

Xi Yujin, who was watering flowers at the time, looked at the Zerg anatomical chart and nearly had his soul leave his body.

But cross-species romance was something he would inevitably have to face eventually. He needed to get used to it.

"Gano… that's not what I meant by nest-building," Xi Yujin admitted. "And besides, that's way too fast. There's still something we haven't done yet…"

Gano's curiosity intensified. "What thing?"

"Kissing."

Xi Yujin pulled Gano closer and gave him a brief, feather-light kiss before nervously staring at his reaction.

Gano's chest tightened. Something strange seemed to be trapped inside his body, and more of that odd sticky fluid emerged from his insect wings. But he believed that if he was dating a Blue Planet person, then he naturally should follow Blue Planet customs, so he suppressed the discomfort.

Carefully savoring the feeling of the kiss, he said, "Alright. I've learned it… It feels very, very nice…"