Chapter 413 Hal's Anxiety
The writing on the scroll was clear and well-organized, identical to the modern language of the Western Continent, and required no special translation.
In the final stage of his life, the royal wrote about many regrets.
In the lower part of the scroll he wrote:
[Now that I think about it, my so-called ideals were nothing more than escapes]
[The freedom I desire is actually just indulgence]
[I like the distance, but I don’t want to take on the responsibilities in front of me]
[I ran away from home this time without considering other people’s feelings. I was too selfish]
[I suddenly remembered my father's disappointed back, and my mother's kindness and sigh. I felt mixed emotions. Before I knew it, their gray hair had become so many.]
[The ship is about to sink, but I just realized this now. There is no going back...]
【……】
Seeing this, Su Xia was surprised. He thought that the prince was really someone who was tired of power and yearned for freedom, but he didn't expect him to make a sudden turn at the end.
The following long paragraphs were actually the prince's self-confession.
The letter stated that if he could live his life over again, he would definitely choose a different path.
[I was too willful this time and took the Sword of Power away]
[Now, this sword will also sink into the cold sea with me. I don’t know when it will see the light of day again.]
[If you see this letter, you must have found the Sword of Power.]
[Please bring it back to the Iris Empire]
[This sword is extremely important to the Empire. After you bring it back to the Empire, you will receive the highest royal courtesy and at least be granted the title of hereditary viscount. You will have your own viscount territory in the Empire and enjoy wealth and glory for generations...]
At the end of the letter, there was actually a commission.
Before his death, the prince hoped that someone new could bring the Sword of Power back to the Iris Empire.
After reading it, Su Xia shook his head and sighed: "What's the point of talking about conferring a title? The empire is gone."
If the Iris Empire had not been destroyed, Su Xia would not mind becoming a viscount. At his age, he has never experienced the feeling of being a noble, nor has he ever owned a private territory.
But the world has changed, and nothing can go back to the way it was before.
The prince's regret can probably only be buried deep in this endless sea.
"Captain, do you really want a title?" Sarah asked with a smile.
"No, I just want to feel the feeling of having my own private territory."
Su Xia shook her head gently, and said calmly, "In my world, owning a private territory is a luxury."
"Oh? Is it difficult? Captain, don't you build private houses?" Sarah blinked curiously.
"Of course, but... it's complicated to explain. If I tell you about it, I will be restricted by the inexplicable system rules."
"Well, if you really want a private territory, you can buy a planet and a large number of slaves when you go to the starry sky, and build your own empire on that planet."
"I don't have that much money..."
Su Xia smiled faintly. He couldn't even imagine the money needed to buy a planet.
As he was speaking, his expression changed, and he suddenly thought of the "Crown of the Sixth Empire" that he had won in a lottery a long time ago. He had never used that thing, and he had thrown it in a corner of the space to collect dust and had almost forgotten it.
According to the description, in the eyes of many interstellar collectors, the crown is more valuable than a living planet.
"That thing should be able to... Never mind, let's talk about it later."
Su Xia suppressed these thoughts, slowly rolled up the letter in her hand , and put it into the storage space.
This letter has no practical value anymore, but after all, it was written by a former imperial prince before his death, so it can barely fill Su Xia's own collection room.
He exhaled and returned his gaze to the display screen in front of his left side, continuing to watch the small robot explore the interior of the sunken ship.
But at this moment, a prompt suddenly popped up in front of him.
[You have triggered the mission "A commission across time and space", do you want to accept it? ]
"Um?"
Su Xia was stunned, staring blankly at the prompt in front of her, rubbing her eyes, and failed to react for a while.
The empire is gone, so why are there follow-up missions?
The sudden triggering of the task was beyond his expectations.
【yes】
He was a little curious, so he clicked to accept the task and wanted to see what it was about.
The next second, his eyes flashed, and several lines of task content appeared in front of him.
[Mission: A commission across time and space]
[In a shipwreck in the deep sea, you found a letter from a hundred years ago]
[After reading the letter, you saw the regret of a prince and decided to help him make up for his regret]
[Mission Description: Bring the "Sword of Imperial Power" back to the Western Continent and hand it over to the royal family of the contemporary Iris Empire, and hand it over the prince's letter together.]
[Mission Reward: After completing the mission, you will be awarded the title of "Grand Duke Edward" and have the power to expand territory and compete for the throne]
[Note: Grand Duke Edward, one of the most powerful dukes in the Iris Empire, died in the racial war. Before his death, he left a will, hoping that his title and family name would be preserved and passed on to a wise, brave, and righteous young man.]
[Note: Grand Duke Edward has no descendants, so the title remains vacant]
【……】
When Su Xia saw the task description, her eyelids twitched. She didn't expect that there really were members of the royal family nowadays.
This task has no time limit and the rewards are also mysterious.
After all, the country has been destroyed, and the so-called dukedom and territory are probably all empty. At most, a few certificates will be issued, but it is impossible to snatch a piece of territory from the mechanical race.
Su Xia is not interested in fake titles, as he can buy them on Earth.
For example, the famous "Principality of Sealand" allows you to buy their title for just a few hundred dollars online, and you can even receive a certificate of title by mail.
"Captain, what's wrong with you?" Sarah saw Su Xia in a daze again and couldn't help but ask curiously.
"Nothing, I just received a task." Su Xia sighed.
"About this letter?"
"Yes……"
Su Xia had no choice but to briefly explain the content of the task he had seen.
After listening to this, Sarah smiled and said, "Captain, your chance to expand your territory has come."
"Forget it. If I go to the Western Continent for business in the future, I will send this sword back on the way."
Next, Su Xia stopped thinking about the mission and told Sarah to pay attention to the surrounding situation and beware of mechanical creatures, and then continued to watch the small robots explore the interior of the shipwreck.
Time passed by minute by minute, and it was already night.
In the deep sea, there is no distinction between night and day. The surroundings are pitch black and extremely depressing, with only endless sea water flowing in the unknown darkness.
More and more treasure chests were sent back into the submarine.
Most of the chests were filled with gold coins engraved with fleur-de-lis patterns, and a few contained other valuables.
After being soaked in sea water for so many years, most of the boxes are still intact, but a few have been damaged.
In room number five on the third deck, two gold coin boxes were broken, and entire boxes of gold coins were scattered everywhere. The small robots had to search carefully through the flocculent gray-black deep-sea sediments and pick up the gold coins one by one.
Seeing this, Su Xia frowned and said to Sarah, "Move the complete boxes first. Don't worry about the scattered gold coins. Time is of the essence now."
"OK."
Sarah nodded slightly and passed on the instruction.
She tilted her head and asked, "Captain, you have been paying attention to the time. Are you worried about the mechanical people?"
"Well, this sea area is the home territory of the mechanical race. Even if we have the ability of invisibility, we should not take it lightly." Su Xia said.
The so-called stealth of a submarine does not mean what it sounds like. It means sonar invisibility, electronic radar invisibility, etc., which are aimed at the enemy's detection capabilities, making it impossible for the enemy to detect it from a long distance.
but……
It can be seen with the naked eye!
Although Sarah was very confident that the mechanical creatures on this planet could not detect them.
But Su Xia was used to being cautious and was worried about being detected by the eyes of the mechanical creatures, so she began to urge the little robots.
In the southern waters, he always had a feeling of insecurity and his scalp felt slightly cold, as if something bad was about to happen.
"Let's finish the exploration early, then go directly to the northern waters and reach the Far North Sea as soon as possible to blow the north wind." Su Xia said.
"OK."
Sarah smiled and responded softly.
After a while, she pointed forward with her ten fingers and said, "Captain, look..."
Looking in the direction of her finger, outside the sightseeing window in front of the submarine, there suddenly appeared several gray-brown small fish, only the size of a thumb, wagging their tails and swimming freely, looking very agile.
Su Xia asked, "See the fish?"
Sarah smiled and shook her head: "Captain, please use your metal ability to sense it."
"Huh? Bionic fish?"
According to what Sarah said, Su Xia carefully sensed it for a moment and was suddenly a little surprised.
Those small fish in front of the submarine are actually mechanical creations. However, if you only look at their appearance, you can't tell that they are mechanical life forms. They look more like natural creatures.
"Is this the submarine scout?" Su Xia asked.
"Yes." Sarah nodded. "This is the reconnaissance force that your Nautilus has. I released hundreds of them to serve as our eyes and observe everything around us."
If mechanical soldiers approach, these small fish will be the first to sense it.
Of course, the mechanical clan may also use the same method and mobilize bionic underwater animals to find Su Xia.
"This released fish is really good. It almost tricked me into it..."
Su Xia pondered for a moment, and suddenly asked: "Sarah, are there many bionic people in the starry sky? The real ones."
He actually didn't know much about the starry sky. He hadn't finished reading the book "120 Hours to Quickly Understand the Interstellar World" yet, nor had he watched the expansion packs that Hal prepared for him.
Sarah smiled and replied, "Yes, many civilizations have developed bionic technology."
"So, in those civilizations, finding a paper wife is a reality?"
"That's right."
Sarah smiled and said, "It can be customized according to your personal preferences. As long as it does not involve the issue of portrait rights, it can even be customized directly according to the image of the goddess in your mind."
"Sounds good." Su Xia's eyes flickered, and he thought of his own "narcissistic doll", which should be similar bionic technology.
A civilization that can develop advanced bionic technology must be much better than the Earth and this planet.
This made him feel that it would be easy to live in such a civilization.
However, Sarah said: "Captain, that civilized world is not as good as you think."
"Why?" Su Xia looked at her and asked.
"A virtual soul mate is only to make up for the spiritual emptiness in reality."
Sarah explained: "As technology develops, material life becomes better and better, but spiritual life becomes increasingly scarce. This is a trend shown by many civilizations."
"trend?"
Su Xia thought for a moment, his eyes flickering, and then asked, "What will this trend eventually turn into?"
"Captain, you seem to like reading science fiction works?" Sarah asked instead of answering directly.
"Um."
"Then you should have a general idea in your mind, Captain."
Sarah sighed softly and said , "That kind of civilization is full of loneliness, sadness, confusion and nothingness. It's like a dull and long dream. Everyone lives in a fog with no direction. The only thing they can see is the hazy and illusory neon lights in the fog."
She slowly stretched out her hand and waved it in front of her. A curtain of light appeared, projecting a cold and lonely world.
There are many such worlds in the starry sky.
Sarah seems to be more emotional than Hal, showing more complex emotions and having her own opinions on many things, like a real person.
In her eyes, science fiction and the future are mostly about loneliness.
In the civilization she describes, the emotions between people become increasingly indifferent, the spiritual world becomes lonely, and everyone is a shadow walking in the fog.
Many people are forgotten before they even have a chance to die.
“Most science fiction simply extends the pain and sorrow of the present into the future.”
She tilted her head to look at Su Xia with a strange look in her eyes and said these words.
Su Xia didn't notice her gaze. He lowered his head and thought for a moment. He felt that the topic had strayed a little and there was no point in thinking so far ahead now.
If he owns his own spaceship in the future, he can experience, feel and explore various civilizations like Dr. Aigar.
Su Xia suddenly thought of Dr. Aigar's female robot assistant, and looked up at Sarah and said, "If I have the opportunity to travel to the starry sky in the future, how about you be my assistant?"
"Of course."
Sarah smiled a soft, gentle laugh.
…
At this moment, in the remote southwestern mountainous area, next to the new oasis camp, the wreckage of the spacecraft is located.
Hal floated outside the rift, looking up at the starry sky, and murmured softly: "Captain, why haven't you come to see me for so long? Have you abandoned me? We agreed to travel the starry sky together."
On the side, Lan Guang laughed: "Hal, Commander Beifeng doesn't want you anymore, how about you recognize me as the captain?"
"Get out of here!"
Hal glanced at him sideways, his tone full of disdain.
At this moment, Hal has become more familiar with Xiong Wei, Lan Guang, Boss Shu, Cheng Pingan and others, and is not as indifferent to them as he was at the beginning.
During this period, Hal learned more information about the planet from them.
He originally thought that this was just an ordinary planet that was being transformed by psychic energy, but when he combined and analyzed a lot of information, he suddenly smelled a dangerous aura.
He looked as calm as ever, but his inner worries were growing.
"Undead, immortal bodies, psychic powers... Why do I feel like this planet is a testing ground for some big shot?"
Hal floated quietly outside the rift, analyzing continuously, the red dot flickering constantly, all the while looking at the starry sky above his head.
"Something is wrong. There is something wrong with this planet. We must leave as soon as possible, or else there will be a disaster..."
