Watching the child point at the black hole with her trembling little finger, Gu Jiaqi asked uncertainly, “You came out of there?”
The child nodded, seemingly unable to speak.
Gu Jiaqi looked at the black hole before her, which was about as tall as she was, and fell into thought.
She could consider herself fairly well-traveled. During her years of fighting the Zerg, Gu Jiaqi had seen many Zerg black holes suddenly appear. Those black holes would devour everything they came into contact with, making them extremely terrifying.
However, those had appeared at the edge of the galaxy, where the emergence of black holes was perfectly normal. Although her planet was somewhat remote, it was still countless light-years away from the edge of the galaxy. For a black hole like this to appear here was simply too strange. What was even more bizarre was that this black hole had not swallowed up the planet. Instead, it could actually let people come out of it. Gu Jiaqi had truly never encountered anything like this before.
“You really came out of here?” she asked again.
The child before her nodded shyly.
Gu Jiaqi said, “Then can you go back inside?”
It wasn’t that she didn’t believe the child. It was just that this was far too unbelievable.
Unexpectedly, the child’s expression suddenly changed.
She looked terrified, her face turning pale as her body began to tremble.
Gu Jiaqi hadn’t expected a single sentence to frighten the child this badly. She currently had no medical pod on hand, so she had no way to treat her. She was too poor.
However, as Gu Jiaqi looked at the child, who had regained her strength, she became increasingly convinced that there was something unusual about her.
Although the child was young, her actions were very precise. She probably wasn’t lying. Besides, Gu Jiaqi had been standing here for so long without being sucked into the black hole, which meant that this black hole definitely wasn’t an ordinary one.
Perhaps this black hole led somewhere else.
A moment later, looking at the little girl who had been washed completely clean and was now staring at her pitifully, Gu Jiaqi worriedly rubbed her temples.
When the child had just emerged from the black hole, she had knelt down, hugged Gu Jiaqi’s leg, and silently shed tears. After Gu Jiaqi questioned her, she had clung to her thigh, wanting to stay here.
Gu Jiaqi was utterly helpless. She herself didn’t even want to stay on this crappy garbage planet. She had been planning to become a bounty hunter and make some money.
She truly had no idea how to raise a child. Besides, she only had thirty nutrient solutions left. No, twenty-nine now. She could barely support herself, so how was she supposed to keep a child like this alive?
But faced with such a miserable little girl, yes, the one with the black-smudged face and filthy clothes was a little girl, she couldn’t possibly force her to go back, nor could she bring herself to hurt her. If this had been an adult, she could have thrown her back without hesitation, but a child. As a retired soldier, she couldn’t bring herself to do something like that.
Besides, having lost her parents at a young age, how could Gu Jiaqi not understand the same kind of insecurity this little girl felt?
She took out the clothes she had worn as a child and gave them to the little girl. After being washed clean, the child looked even more adorable. Although she was a little thin and frail, her bright, round eyes and soft, rosy cheeks were truly endearing.
“I’m Gu Jiaqi. My name is Jiaqi, as in ‘a beautiful time like a dream.’ What’s your name?”
The little girl couldn’t speak. She blinked and drew a vertical line with her finger on the back of Gu Jiaqi’s hand.
“Your name is Xiaoshu?” Gu Jiaqi ventured.
The child shook her head, then nodded, and finally smiled.
Gu Jiaqi understood what she meant. “Then I’ll call you Xiaoshu.”
“Xiaoshu, you came from behind that pitch-black black hole. Can you tell me what kind of place is on the other side? I’ll ask you questions, and you can just nod or shake your head.”
Gu Jiaqi had to figure out this black hole. After all, everything on the planet belonged to her. If this black hole posed any danger, she would have to find a way to deal with it. The interstellar world might not have the means to completely seal off a black hole, but there were still ways to disrupt a black hole’s magnetic field. At the very least, it was worth a try.
When Xiaoshu nodded, Gu Jiaqi began asking questions one by one.
“Is the other side of this hole a normal human world?”
Although Xiaoshu didn’t quite understand the word “human,” she thought for a moment before nodding.
“Besides you, have any other people seen this hole and come through it?”
Xiaoshu shook her head vigorously.
“How are you so sure no one else has seen it?” Gu Jiaqi asked, intrigued by her determined expression.
Xiaoshu then used her hand to draw a circle in the air, filling the middle with many wavy lines.
Gu Jiaqi guessed, “Do you mean the other side is a place with a lot of water?”
Xiaoshu nodded. Gu Jiaqi understood. Xiaoshu had probably fallen into the water by accident and somehow ended up falling through the hole.
Gu Jiaqi looked at the “bedsheet” Xiaoshu had taken off. In fact, it was clothing. Although Gu Jiaqi had loved playing with weapons since childhood, she had still learned basic history. These should be the clothes worn by ancient humans back when humanity still lived on Ancient Blue Star.
“Xiaoshu, did everyone in the place you came from wear clothes like this?”
Xiaoshu nodded. She pointed at her hair and tried hard to gesture at something, but realized she couldn’t convey it with her hands. She lowered her head dejectedly.
Gu Jiaqi said, “You mean your hair wasn’t always this messy either?”
Xiaoshu nodded and shyly touched her long hair, which had already dried.
Gu Jiaqi had truly never seen a child who was this easily embarrassed. Empire children began being gradually exposed to the StarNet from infancy, learning all kinds of subjects and general knowledge, so it was rare to see one this timid, unless it was simply her innate personality.
“Xiaoshu, do people in your world all wear their hair like this?”
Gu Jiaqi immediately went onto the StarNet and searched for hairstyles worn by ancient East Asians. They were extremely elaborate.
Xiaoshu had never seen such a miraculous virtual screen before. Her mouth fell open in astonishment. After a while, she pointed at one of the hairstyles.
Gu Jiaqi took a look. It was an incredibly elaborate hairstyle, adorned with all kinds of glittering ornaments.
Although Gu Jiaqi was also Asian, she could fully appreciate the beauty of these hairstyles. But she truly found them intimidating. They were far too complicated.
“Xiaoshu, Big Sister really doesn’t know how to do this hairstyle. Big Sister, how about I tie your hair in a ponytail instead?”
There was nothing else Gu Jiaqi could do. Her own hair had always been shaved into a crew cut before. It was only after deciding to retire that she used a hair-growth agent and let it grow this long.
Xiaoshu obediently nodded, making Gu Jiaqi’s heart soften. She decided that if she ever had the chance in the future, she would definitely have a child, regardless of whether the man or the woman gave birth.
A few years ago, the Empire had stipulated that men and women had equal reproductive rights, with couples deciding for themselves which partner would give birth.
Gu Jiaqi patted Xiaoshu’s head and tied her hair into a ponytail.
“Since you can’t go back, come build a home with Big Sister. Big Sister may be poor, but I can still keep you fed.”
As for this black hole, Gu Jiaqi still had to study it some more.
…
Nan Qingchuan was an ordinary armed police squad leader in the Ming Country. Today, an indiscriminate assault had occurred on the busiest street in Ning City. His squad had immediately been dispatched and successfully apprehended the suspect, who claimed that he had attacked people with a knife because he was emotionally unstable.
However, according to the suspect’s own statement, he had an accomplice who was currently nearby looking for potential victims. After handing the injured at the scene over to medical personnel, the armed police squad split up to search for suspicious individuals.
Nan Qingchuan was responsible for the edge of a park that was usually deserted but packed with people late at night. Looking out, he saw that the plaza was practically filled with middle-aged and elderly women dancing.
He stood a full 1.94 meters tall. With an armed police helmet on his head and a gun in his arms, he was impossible to miss. Some passersby around him even took out their phones to record him.
Nan Qingchuan had no time to bother with the onlookers. He vigilantly scanned his surroundings. Then, at the edge of the plaza, he spotted a man whose movements and manner seemed very strange.
The man was carrying a bag and kept cautiously looking around, his hand constantly feeling around inside it. Based on his experience, Nan Qingchuan analyzed the situation. Someone behaving this suspiciously was very likely an antisocial individual preparing to commit a crime in a crowded area.
He took out his radio and told his teammates where he was. The two teammates nearby immediately said they were coming to support him. Nan Qingchuan then cautiously took two steps forward. He wanted to get closer to the suspect to prevent him from suddenly attacking the surrounding crowd.
At that moment, his excessive height became a source of frustration. Not only did it make him conspicuous, but it had also caused a small commotion nearby. Nan Qingchuan decided to act immediately. He couldn’t keep all these onlookers under control by himself.
Fortunately, there was a flower bed planted with boxwood trees ahead. He planned to hide behind it first and wait for an opportunity to act.
However, just as he ran two steps and ducked behind the flower bed, the scene before his eyes suddenly changed.
Nan Qingchuan stared blankly at the towering tree that had suddenly appeared. There wasn’t a single leaf on it. It stood before him like a pitch-black iron rod.
“What happened?” Nan Qingchuan instinctively took a step back.
The familiar plaza was still in front of him. Even the suspicious man was still standing where he had been.
Nan Qingchuan was stunned.
Had he just hallucinated?
The voice of one of his comrades came through his earpiece. Nan Qingchuan immediately snapped back to his senses. “I’m at the landscaped flower bed in the southwest!”
“Is it the man wearing the blue shirt and gray pants?” his teammate asked.
“Yes.” Nan Qingchuan’s attention immediately returned to the mission. As an experienced veteran, he knew that the first thing he needed to do was deal with the visible danger in front of him.
He shook his head and focused, keeping his eyes fixed on the man ahead. The man seemed to be getting a little excited.
Seeing that the man was already reaching into his bag to take something out, Nan Qingchuan thought, Can’t wait any longer! His grip tightened around his baton.
At the command, Nan Qingchuan suddenly lunged forward, calculating that he could pin the suspicious man down within ten seconds.
However, in the next second, he once again saw the strange forest.
Nan Qingchuan looked at the ground beneath his feet, then surveyed his surroundings. It was a very real forest. The only strange thing was that the trees looked a little odd.
This time, he had walked a little farther out of sheer momentum. When he turned around, he saw a mass of black smoke.
This was the direction he had just come from.
Nan Qingchuan swallowed and stared intently at the black smoke.
The pounding of his heart made it clear that he wasn’t dreaming, and there was no way he could be dreaming.
His psychological resilience was extremely strong, so he couldn’t possibly be hallucinating either, unless someone from another country had secretly injected him with some kind of virus.
But all his memories from yesterday until now were perfectly clear. No one had had the opportunity to do such a thing.
Nan Qingchuan was still worried about the suspicious man who could hurt someone at any moment, so he decided to give it a try.
He gritted his teeth and charged straight toward the black smoke.
“Don’t move!”
Nan Qingchuan heard the voice of his teammate, Xiao Liu. With a quick glance, he saw that Xiao Liu had already tackled the suspicious man he had just been watching. The man was clutching a kitchen knife and struggling desperately.
Nan Qingchuan instinctively looked back toward the area beside the flower bed. This time, he noticed something was wrong.
What was that black, vortex-like thing in the grass? Because it was dark and the area was also a blind spot beneath the streetlights, he hadn’t noticed it at first.
Nan Qingchuan frowned. He could be certain that there was nothing wrong with his mental state and that he was psychologically sound. What had just happened absolutely hadn’t been a dream.
“Captain, we’ve got him! Let’s go!”