Within Xiao Yu’s fleet, and in the hearts of all intelligent lifeforms under his command, Xiao Yu was the supreme existence, his status far surpassed even that of emperors from the feudal era. While a feudal emperor held the power of life and death over his subjects, he could not control every aspect of their lives.
Xiao Yu, however, did just that. His control was total. Their food came from Xiao Yu, their entertainment came from Xiao Yu, their housing came from Xiao Yu…
Everything they had was given by Xiao Yu. And because his governance policies were relatively moderate, there was essentially no conflict between Xiao Yu and the intelligent lifeforms under his rule. All of them believed their current lives were good. Under such circumstances, Xiao Yu’s prestige had reached an unsurpassed height.
“Y-You… Thank you. Thank you so much.” Feili gradually recovered from her shock, though her mind still struggled to catch up. Xiao Yu’s arrival had brought her far too many surprises. Aside from expressing thanks, she didn’t know what else to say.
“Today, I’ve brought a gift for the two of you.” Xiao Yu said with a smile. “Let this gift serve as my congratulatory present.”
He extended his palm. With a flash of light, the glow faded to reveal a black robe in his hand.
“Is… is this real? The Master is truly going to bestow such an immense honor upon Senya?”
“This is unbelievable. Senya’s still so young, and yet he’s being granted this kind of honor?”
“The Luka species’ long-standing dominance may finally be broken. Species Number Two might now become a force capable of contending with the Luka.”
“This is a Chief Scientist’s robe, crafted by my own hands. Senya, come here.” said Xiao Yu.
At present, under Xiao Yu’s command, there were a total of three Chief Scientists, Luka Two of the psychosocial sciences division; Luka Three of the natural sciences under the science and technology division; and Luka Four of the life sciences under the same division. All three possessed a Chief Scientist’s robe, a symbol of their highest honor. Now, a new member was joining their ranks.
Senya, full of emotion, stepped forward to Xiao Yu’s side. Xiao Yu’s projected figure unfolded the black robe and personally draped it over Senya’s shoulders. Senya first gave Xiao Yu a deep bow, then raised both arms high, as if to present his honor to the guests.
“Lord Five! Lord Five!”
At that moment, thunderous applause erupted from the crowd. Countless people clapped and cheered, celebrating the birth of yet another Chief Scientist.
“Master, thank you. This is the best gift I’ve ever received.” Senya said, bowing once more to express his respect.
Xiao Yu gave a slight wave of his hand, then turned to face the crowd of more than 19,000 scientists. His expression had turned serious.
“As you’ve all seen, during the recent small universe expedition, Senya made an enormous contribution to our successful escape. In a sense, Senya saved all of us, our fleet, our lives. I have never been stingy with rewards. Whether in terms of honor or material reward, I do not withhold. However, earning these rewards from me is not easy. Senya’s accomplishments are plain for all to see. I believe no one here will disagree with the honors I have bestowed upon him.”
“I hope that going forward, everyone can take Senya, no, from now on, we should address him as Lord Five, as your role model.” Xiao Yu said with a smile. “Let everyone strive, like Lord Five, to advance our technology and contribute to our progress. Becoming a Level 5 Civilization is not the end of our journey. It is merely a small milestone in our path to becoming stronger. In the future, we will become a Level 6 Civilization. Eventually, even the vast Milky Way will not be able to constrain our steps. We will become a Level 7 Civilization, or something even mightier.”
“I know that all of you have a tragic past. Your mother civilizations were destroyed. You yourselves were treated as commodities, bought and sold over and over again, without dignity, without identity, living in constant uncertainty, in daily fear and anxiety. I believe no one would ever want to experience that again. So strive, strive to become stronger. Only when we ourselves are strong will we no longer fear this dark, cold, starry sky. From now on, I will continue to uphold the same policy, if you make mistakes, I will punish you; if you make contributions, I will reward you.”
“Alright, that’s enough. Today is Lord Five’s wedding day. As the officiant, I still have something to do.” Xiao Yu smiled, then turned to look at Senya. “Senya, do you take this woman before you as your wife, to never leave her, never betray her, and to love her forever as you love yourself?”
Holding Feili’s hand, Senya solemnly declared, “I do!”
“Good… very good. Feili, do you take this man before you as your husband, to be his wife, to stand by him through all circumstances, and never abandon him?”
Feili’s face turned a radiant red. She gazed at Senya with deep affection and softly said, “I… I do!”
“Very well. I hereby pronounce Senya of Species Number Two and Feili of Species Number Two as husband and wife. May you forever be in love, forever in bliss. Here and now, I, Xiao Yu, as the supreme leader of the fleet, sincerely bless you both.”
“Thank you. Thank you, sir.” Feili and Senya bowed deeply to Xiao Yu together.
It was only then that the thunderous applause erupted from the audience. This scene was instantly transmitted to every corner of the Home Forty One. Except for the Dwarf Race, all intelligent lifeforms saw it. Countless cheers and shrieks rang out, most people offered their blessings to this perfect couple. At the same time, a smaller group, upon hearing Xiao Yu announce Senya and Feili as husband and wife, erupted into angry curses or sorrowful sobbing.
“Wuu… Senya, why didn’t you wait for me? I would have done even better than Feili…”
“Damn it all, this is so unfair! I protest strongly! Master, you just announced their marriage like that? This isn’t fair to us! Sisters, let’s all storm the wedding! Let’s take Senya back!”
Some rejoiced, others grieved. This wedding touched the hearts of everyone.
Xiao Yu naturally knew all of this, but just as naturally, he paid it no mind. After finishing his duties, he smiled, said his goodbyes to Senya, Luka Two, and the other scientists, and gradually let his figure fade away.
“Alright, this matter is now settled. The future holds countless journeys waiting for me. Time to lift my spirits and press on with all I’ve got!”
The new star system had already been reached. It was a young red dwarf star, and the entire system was teeming with the leftover debris from the star’s formation, crashing about energetically, a very lively system.
“What a great place.” Xiao Yu murmured with a hint of admiration. “Five planets in total. Hmm… let’s number them according to their distance from the primary star, Planets One through Five.”
This star system was extremely active. Precisely because of this activity, life was impossible. Of course, Alien Beasts were an exception, who could say what bizarre conditions were needed for their birth? But at the very least, ordinary life could not exist here. An active star system meant frequent collision events. Incidents like the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet impact on Jupiter that once captured the attention of all Earthlings, here, such events were common. And impacts like the one that caused the extinction of Earth’s dinosaurs, a ten-kilometer-class asteroid strike, occurred here every two to three months on average.
These were two rocky planets covered in scars. With no atmosphere, there was no wind, and without wind, the most powerful agent for reshaping terrain was absent. Thus, the countless craters on their surfaces were perfectly preserved, as if silently recounting their tragic pasts.
But such conditions were necessary. Xiao Yu had performed a simple estimate, these two planets, each with about half of Earth’s mass, were increasing their mass by over one hundred billion tons per day. Where was this mass coming from? Naturally, from asteroid impacts.
During the early stages of the solar system’s evolution, Earth had undergone a similar phase. It was entirely possible that in ancient times, Earth had no atmosphere. Perhaps it was due to comet impacts that large quantities of gas were delivered, along with vigorous geological activity that released gases from the Earth’s interior, together forming today’s atmosphere.
And beyond the atmosphere, there was water. Hydrogen and oxygen combined to form the most miraculous substance in the universe, but early Earth contained very little water. Xiao Yu believed that a large portion of the seawater from Earth’s era came from cometary impacts.
In other words, every drop of water consumed by humans during the Earth era may have been billions of years old, its origin possibly a cold, distant comet that one day struck Earth and became part of it.
Asteroid impacts brought both destruction and life. Xiao Yu even believed that the seeds of early life on Earth, simple organic compounds, might have originated from such impacts. If this hypothesis were ever proven, it would raise a very intriguing reality.
Earth was not the mother of humanity. At best, it was a stepmother. All lifeforms on Earth would be, quite literally, Children of Comets.