“May I ask, can everyone around here see the black hole?”
Gu Jiaqi looked around again and keenly noticed that quite a few more people had been secretly deployed here. She could even sense quite a number of people with relatively strong mental power.
All she could say was that the ancients were not necessarily weak. They simply had not realized that this kind of power could be used.
Zhong Hua nodded. “Yes. Everyone here can see it.”
Gu Jiaqi asked, “Could you gather a few more people and have them come here?”
Although Zhong Hua was puzzled, he still ordered everyone who was currently able to move to come here. The military’s assembly speed was no joke. Everyone lined up in neat formation, actually managing not to move an inch.
Gu Jiaqi was momentarily speechless.
Were these clones?
After taking a moment to recover, she said to Zhong Hua, “Have everyone face the black hole and release their emotions.”
Zhong Hua echoed, “Release their emotions?”
“Basically, something like sending the black hole good wishes. Positive emotions.”
Zhong Hua fell silent.
Old Tao beside him also fell silent.
The soldiers who heard her were equally speechless.
Had she been playing too many games? Was she trying to cast a long-range spell here?
The moment Gu Jiaqi saw their expressions, she knew they had definitely misunderstood. But she herself was not certain whether her idea was correct, so she simply said with some seriousness, “Vice Minister Zhong, I am absolutely not joking. Please have everyone here do this.”
As the saying went, since everyone was already here, they might as well give it a try.
“Everyone, eyes on this vortex. Send it your blessings. The more sincere, the better!”
At Zhong Hua’s command, not a single person questioned it. Every one of them turned their gaze toward the black hole in perfect unison.
Gu Jiaqi also stared at the black hole, silently using her mental power to guide everyone present, having them extend their mental power toward it and imbue it with positive energy.
After five or six minutes, everyone saw the black hole slowly become rounder. It had been square, and although the change was only slight, it was obvious. The “long-range spell” Gu Jiaqi had asked everyone to perform really worked!
“Planet Lord Gu?” Zhong Hua was naturally stunned as well. Looking at the black hole, which had undergone a slight change, he exclaimed in disbelief.
Gu Jiaqi had Xiao Hong check the time. Ten minutes had already passed since they began their “spellcasting.” Gu Jiaqi narrowed her eyes.
“Vice Minister Zhong, you can have everyone stop now.”
At her words, Zhong Hua told everyone to stop. They had not felt anything while they were doing it, but the moment they relaxed, everyone suddenly felt a throbbing pain in their temples, along with a slight sense of nausea and the urge to vomit.
Some of the sentinels were even more surprised. They stared at this black hole all the time, sometimes for even longer periods, yet they had never experienced anything like this.
But Gu Jiaqi did not explain anything to them. She merely told Zhong Hua, “Have everyone go take a short nap. Otherwise, they won’t have any energy for the rest of the day.”
Seeing the puzzled look in Zhong Hua’s eyes, Gu Jiaqi gestured for him to find somewhere they could talk. There were too many people here, after all, and she did not know whether what she was about to say could be discussed in front of everyone.
Zhong Hua immediately arranged for everyone to return and rest for a while, then he and Old Tao led Gu Jiaqi into the temporary mobile prefabricated building beside them.
Sitting on an ancient steel chair, Gu Jiaqi found it rather novel. She ran her fingers over its cool surface. It was actually quite comfortable.
“Xiao Huang, pour some tea for Planet Lord Gu,” Zhong Hua instructed the young soldier beside him.
After the tea was poured, Gu Jiaqi picked up the white porcelain teacup and examined it again.
Ceramics really are beautiful.
“Is this tea? It really has such a peculiar fragrance!” Having never seen much of the world, Gu Jiaqi was genuinely seeing tea for the first time. In the interstellar era, people had to guard against radiation even when eating, let alone drinking tea.
Old Tao said kindly, “Yes. This is Ning City’s specialty white tea. It’s sweet on the palate and very good.”
Zhong Hua said, “This is Old Tao, Tao Guoqi. He’s also the strategist of our base.”
Gu Jiaqi greeted Old Tao. When she learned that he was only sixty years old, she was quite surprised. Sixty was still young, yet he was already being called old.
As she thought this, Gu Jiaqi took a sip. It was supposed to be sweet, but it was not particularly sweet. The flavor was indeed very refreshing.
“This is delicious. I’ve never had tea before!” Gu Jiaqi smiled at Old Tao beside her, making her goodwill quite obvious.
“Vice Minister Zhong, could you bring me some white tea next time?” Even if she could not sell it, keeping some for herself to drink would be quite nice.
A hint of a smile also appeared on Zhong Hua’s face. “Of course.”
He gave a look to the side, and Xiao Huang immediately understood. He ran outside, while Gu Jiaqi pretended not to notice.
After finishing her tea, Gu Jiaqi began discussing the serious matter.
“I don’t know what conditions are required for these black holes to form. In my world, we call our black hole the Mother Black Hole, while the one on your side is the Child Black Hole. I’ve already experimented with the Mother Black Hole. That hole isn’t affected by any factors, so I mistakenly assumed that the black hole on your side wouldn’t be affected either. But as it turns out, that’s not the case.”
Gu Jiaqi slowly voiced her speculation. “I suspect that the black hole on your side is affected by mental power. Mr. Nan told me before that in your world, some people can see the black hole while others can’t. I suspected then that the black hole had certain conditions for selecting people. Now it seems that the condition for selection is mental power.”
At this, Zhong Hua seemed to want to say something, but he frowned and said nothing, merely gesturing for Gu Jiaqi to continue.
“I know you may want to say that your world has no such concept as mental power. But the fact that you don’t have such a concept doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. It’s like how you haven’t proven the existence of extraterrestrials, yet to you, I am an extraterrestrial. Mental power exists. All of you, myself included, are using it unconsciously.”
Gu Jiaqi took a sip of tea. “In my world, mental power can be used for both defense and offense. Offensive applications can further be divided into direct attacks and attacks that involve planting something covertly. In your terms, one is a frontal charge, while the other is an ambush from the shadows.”
“To put it another way, mental power also has positive and negative aspects. The black hole should be affected by this. The so-called bombs you’re worried about are actually unlikely to damage the black hole. What’s truly frightening is people.”
By this point, her explanation was essentially clear. Zhong Hua said thoughtfully, “So what happened today was because that violent criminal unconsciously used negative mental power to attack the black hole, causing this abnormal change?”
Old Tao stroked his chin and added, “And the so-called blessings from us and our soldiers were a form of positive maintenance. But compared with an attack, this maintenance seems to put us at quite a disadvantage!”
Exactly. A single attack of negative energy from one violent criminal had been enough to reduce the black hole by so much, while hundreds of people working together to bless it had only managed to restore a tiny amount.
This was also what worried Gu Jiaqi. “It seems that way for now. And maintenance is extremely difficult. You need someone with powerful mental strength to maintain it continuously. Just now, I was guiding all of you and directing your mental power toward the black hole. If I hadn’t been here, there’s a very good chance you would have been doing it all for nothing.”
The moment Gu Jiaqi finished speaking, the three people present fell silent. Gu Jiaqi could not possibly stay here forever to help them maintain it. On top of that, there was a significant risk that the black hole could be deliberately attacked again. The situation was not looking good.
Just as the three of them sat there deep in thought, someone walked in from outside. The three looked up and saw that it was Nan Qingchuan returning. There was still a trace of ease on his face, but the moment he saw Gu Jiaqi here, he clearly froze.
“…Planet Lord Gu?” Nan Qingchuan could hardly believe his eyes. Gu Jiaqi had never told him that she could come here.
“Hi, Mr. Nan.” Seeing his stunned expression, Gu Jiaqi found it rather amusing. She raised an arm and gave him a small wave.
Seeing the teasing look on Gu Jiaqi’s face, Nan Qingchuan became even more flustered. “…Hello.”
Unexpectedly, the three people in the room all burst out laughing at his response, breaking the gloomy atmosphere from earlier.
What are you laughing at?
After a moment, Old Tao held back his laughter and said, “Xiao Nan! I’ve never heard of anyone greeting someone with their left hand.”
Only then did Nan Qingchuan realize that he had just waved with his left hand. It looked rather awkward.
Almost foolishly endearing.
After teasing Nan Qingchuan a little, Gu Jiaqi stood up and said, “Vice Minister Zhong, sitting here thinking about it won’t solve the problem. I’ll head back first. I’m sure you’ll protect your black hole properly. I’ll also find a way to help you purchase some defensive weapons.”
Zhong Hua smiled. “Thank you, Planet Lord Gu.”
At that moment, Zhong Hua’s guard, Xiao Huang, also returned. He was carrying two boxes. Gu Jiaqi took a look and saw that the packaging said white tea.
“Planet Lord Gu, take this white tea back and have some first. I’ll have Xiao Nan bring you more later,” Zhong Hua said cheerfully.
Gu Jiaqi nodded and did not refuse. “All right!”
And so, Gu Jiaqi carried the two boxes of white tea and gestured to Nan Qingchuan. He immediately led her out of the prefabricated building.
“Mr. Nan, were you surprised to see me here?” Gu Jiaqi asked “casually” as they walked.
Nan Qingchuan walked upright, his expression unchanged. “I was very surprised because Planet Lord Gu never told me that you could travel through black holes.”
Gu Jiaqi stared at him for a moment without saying anything.
If I told you, you’d probably be on guard every night against this extraterrestrial invading your planet.
It was not until they returned to Latt Star that Gu Jiaqi spoke again. “I forgot to tell your superior about this earlier, so you can pass it on for me. I hope our next transaction will be a big one. After all, it must be tiring for you to run back and forth making trades every day.”
Nan Qingchuan nodded. Looking at Gu Jiaqi’s exceptionally amiable face, he turned around and headed back.
Of course, Gu Jiaqi was not being that considerate and kind. She simply felt that making one big deal each time might reduce the chances of being woken up in the middle of her sleep in the future.
Looking at the sky over Latt Star as it slowly brightened, Gu Jiaqi stretched lazily and opened StarNet to purchase the most advanced civilian mental power detector.
“Nan Qingchuan is a promising one,” she muttered as she left the black hole.