Chapter 189: Out of Contact

“Are all parents in the whole world—no, the whole universe—really the same?”

“Even alien parents favor discipline with the stick, huh, got it.”

“As everyone knows, ‘A filial child is born from the stick.’ Take Aili, for example—she went from a bratty little girl to a proper young lady.”

“Are you talking about a normal stick? Answer me!”

“These holy bullet comments… I really need to control you guys.”

Randall’s Father tossed aside the stone stick, then turned to look at Lin Zhen with an embarrassed smile.

“Sorry you had to see that. Randall is just too naughty.”

“I used to be like that too,” Lin Zhen replied with a faint smile.

That was a lie.

For as long as he could remember, he had never seen his own parents, having always lived with his grandparents.

Even as a child, he had to go scavenging with his grandfather to earn money for the family.

When he got older, and his grandfather grew even more frail, he was left to venture into the junk hills alone.

Still, this kind of family harmony—scenes he occasionally glimpsed—would find their way into his dreams.

He envied it.

“Um, um…”

Randall’s Father waved at Lin Zhen again, and Randall quietly reminded him, “Lin Sizhen.”

“Right, Lin Sizhen!”

The man gave a slightly sheepish grin.

“You’ve just arrived in Ochre City and probably don’t know your way around. Why don’t you stay at our place for a while?”

“Thank you,” Lin Zhen replied with a smile.

Gaining a stable identity and residence in the Underground World would allow him, during these two months of assessment, to use the hunt for the Star Core as a cover while secretly gathering his companions and constructing a spaceship—this had been his reason for following Randall on this path in the first place.

Now that he could stay at Randall’s house, those goals were as good as achieved.

He was eager for it—why would he refuse?

“Randall, take your friend to the room—the guest room at the very bottom.”

“Yes, Dad.”

Randall led Lin Zhen down the spiral stairs in the room, heading all the way to the building’s lowest floor.

It was strange. The Underground World had no sunlight, and by rights, it should have been pitch black.

But it wasn’t. The Underground World, while not as bright as a sunny day, was certainly not dim either—it resembled that middling state between overcast and clear.

And as Lin Zhen walked along, he hadn’t seen a single lamp.

Was this also the work of the Star Core? But there wasn’t a single plant here!

Lin Zhen tucked the question away for now.

He didn’t plan to ask Randall directly—after all, for someone who’d grown up underground, this probably wasn’t a mystery, and answers would be easy to come by.

“My dad really is grateful to you!”

Once they reached the lowest level, Randall stopped in front of a clay door and turned back to Lin Zhen.

“Why do you say that?” Lin Zhen asked.

“Because this room was meant for my uncle. He’s a high official in the Royal Army. Except for him, you’re the first guest to ever stay here.”

A high official in the Royal Army…

Lin Zhen’s eyes flickered.

“In that case, maybe it’s not appropriate for me to stay here? How about you give me a different room?”

“It’s fine. Since my dad offered it, it’s not a problem. Besides, my uncle’s a nice guy, he won’t mind.”

Click!

Randall opened the door, and Lin Zhen stepped inside.

“I’ll be careful, try to keep everything the way it is.”

“No need to be so careful!” Randall waved his hand. “It’s getting late, see you tomorrow?”

“See you tomorrow!” Lin Zhen cast a covert glance around. There was no sign whatsoever that it was late.

Looks like he had a lot to learn here.

After Randall left, Lin Zhen closed the door and took a good look around the room.

Not much furniture, no windows—empty and plain, not at all like a room for a high official.

The bed was so hard it hurt to sit on.

He pulled back the thin quilt on top, revealing a slab of hard rock underneath.

Lin Zhen was momentarily stunned.

“Green elves sleep on wooden boards, yellow elves sleep on stone—guess it’s all reversed, huh?”

“A pair of star-crossed lovers, aren’t they?”

“Take your tragic lovers and go eat dirt!”

The bed was uncomfortable, but Lin Zhen had slept in worse places—he could manage.

He pulled up the covers and lay down to rest.

***

Hours later, Lin Zhen suddenly opened his eyes and sat up in bed.

The collar on his neck and the watch on his wrist were now both coated in a matte membrane.

This was a material that could block out almost all signals, combined with the thick surface layers of the Underground World.

Lin Zhen was confident—not even the Battle Camp could receive a signal from here.

Which meant, as far as the Commandants of the Battle Camp were concerned, he was now officially out of contact.

But Lin Zhen had no intention of making it obvious, or letting them know he was trying to escape.

This was just a test—a test of how tight their surveillance really was.

“While I wait for the Battle Camp to try to contact me, I might as well try building the frame of the escape spaceship.”

Whether in the Battle Camp Base or the assessment site, stealing a spaceship was too difficult.

So in the end, Lin Zhen decided to build one himself!

Yes, from scratch—he would build a spaceship that could cross from the negative universe to the positive, all on his own.

It was a crazy idea, but not impossible.

Lin Zhen didn’t need to know the advanced theory, only the structure and circuitry of a palm-sized spaceship.

He didn’t need complex machine tools or processing centers.

With the Metal Reconstruction ability, he could shape metal parts and lay circuits hundreds of times more intricate than what ordinary tools could manage.

He didn’t need a complicated spaceship.

This craft would carry only seven people, with just enough function to make a positive-negative warp.

As long as it could get them back to the positive universe, that would be enough.

If things went smoothly, they wouldn’t even need to mount any weapons.

Right now, he wanted to try using his ability to build a basic spaceship framework.

In his mind, Lin Zhen had already simulated every step of the ship’s construction countless times.

At the Base, the doctors watched him too closely—he never got the chance.

Only during team battles, while repairing spaceships, could he hone his skills.

So this was actually his first real attempt.

Yet strangely, Lin Zhen felt confident he could do it!

The perfect awakening had made his ability even stronger, and Chicha had transmitted to him a complete set of spaceship principles and structural diagrams.

His companions believed in him—he believed in them. He had no reason to fail, and couldn’t afford to!

Lin Zhen knelt down on one knee, letting the Mimicry fade from his body.

The thick scale armor melted into flowing iron, drifting like mist around him.

He pressed his right hand to the ground, closed his eyes, and began to sense the metal underground.

Lin Zhen’s ability couldn’t conjure things out of nothing.

But he also couldn’t liquefy and carry all the metal needed for a spaceship on his body—that was impossible.