But within every star of this sea of stars, there clearly exists metallic substances.
He just needs to find them, then forcefully extract them with his abilities.
To find, and to extract.
But why can’t he find any?
Lin Zhen suddenly opened his eyes, staring at the ground in astonishment.
In his perception, this land was made entirely of pure soil and rock.
He couldn’t sense even a trace of metallic substance.
“This isn’t right!” Lin Zhen murmured.
Even if there was no iron ore beneath his feet, or any random metallic veins, there should still be metallic elements.
It couldn’t possibly be that he sensed none at all.
This defies science!
It’s impossible for the soil of any planet to lack metallic elements completely—it’s only a question of how much!
“Maybe it’s just that there’s none here by chance! I need to try elsewhere!”
Though Lin Zhen said this, he couldn’t help but recall the worst-case scenario.
What if this planet called Samira-21 truly had not a single trace of metallic element?
Never mind whether this was scientific or not.
The existence of the Negative Universe and Star Energy itself isn’t scientific.
Under the influence of a Star Core, for a planet to emerge that contains no metals, but is made entirely of Earth Element—such a thing isn’t impossible.
But if that’s truly the case, then he’s doomed, and his plan is doomed!
He can’t control dirt, and even if he could, what was he supposed to do—make a Spaceship out of mud and fly it into the sky?
“Oh no, I’m doomed.”
“This must be Bo Shi’s doing, deliberately choosing a planet with no metallic elements for the Survival Test.”
“Bo Shi probably doesn’t have that much authority, right?”
“If Prison Lin were the protagonist of a comedy manga, I’d honestly believe he could fly a mud Spaceship into the sky. Too bad he’s not.”
“Captain Lin Zhen, I’m announcing the launch has failed!”
“Yuan Yue from Kunming, Yunnan, is taking off under his real name.”
Lin Zhen took several deep breaths, forcing himself to calm down, then withdrew the floating black liquid around him and resumed his disguise.
He stood up, opened the door, went upstairs, and just happened to run into Randall, who was coming down.
“Lin S Zhen, where are you going?”
“Can’t sleep, just heading out for a walk.” Lin Zhen smiled.
“Want me to come with you?” Randall yawned.
“No need, I’ll be back soon.”
Lin Zhen had things on his mind.
He didn’t intend to let Randall tag along.
After gently refusing, he hurried upstairs and left through the main door.
Randall stood at the stairs, silently watching his back, shaking his head without a word.
Nothing. Still nothing!
For two full hours, Lin Zhen searched nearly all the areas near Randall’s house.
But still, he came up empty.
Just like his worst fear, it seemed this planet truly didn’t have metallic elements at all.
“How could this be!”
Refusing to accept it, Lin Zhen ran outside the City, but the results didn’t change at all.
Still nothing.
He returned to Randall’s house and flopped onto his bed in his room, sinking deep into thought.
Why would a planet have no metallic elements?
Or perhaps, was it just the underground world that lacked them?
Lin Zhen lifted his head, as if he could see right through and look at the “sky” of the underground world.
He recalled how, during his landing, he’d subconsciously probed the surroundings with his abilities.
He wanted to figure out if the entire planet was the same.
After recalling for a long while, he finally came to a conclusion.
Yes.
It was the same—this whole planet had no metals. He should’ve noticed it when he landed.
He just hadn’t paid attention, so he missed it.
At the same time, he thought of a solution.
Landing Pod!
The Landing Pod that had carried the trainees to this planet was made of multiple types of high-strength Signal Shielding Alloy.
Using those to build a Spaceship would likely be much simpler than using local materials.
But those Landing Pods were designed to have an automatic return function.
It had already been three days since landing.
If nothing went wrong, they had probably already returned and been recovered by the Warship.
Still, this was the best solution Lin Zhen could think of right now.
He had to try.
He waited until nightfall and suddenly noticed the indicator light on his Neck Collar flashing.
Immediately, he lifted the signal shield, and sure enough, received a message from the Battle Camp, demanding to know why his signal had been cut off for a whole day.
For the Battle Camp to contact a trainee during the Survival Test, it meant they were uneasy about Lin Zhen’s long disappearance.
It also showed that Lin Zhen’s alloy really could block the signal.
Test… successful.
Lin Zhen forced a smile and used a prepared excuse to persuade the person who contacted him.
Of course, maybe they weren’t convinced.
But right now Lin Zhen was at the Survival Test site.
He hadn’t been eliminated, nor had he broken any rules.
The rule-abiding Battle Camp, even if suspicious, couldn’t eliminate him outright or drag him back to the Warship for questioning.
Everyone in the Battle Camp followed the rules, so Lin Zhen simply took advantage of them!
“Next, I’ll have to return to the surface.”
Thinking this, Lin Zhen slowly lay down to sleep.
When Randall came to wake him up the next morning, he handed in his resignation.
He said he had some matters to take care of back home.
It would be a few days before he could return.
Randall was a little reluctant to see Lin Zhen leave, but still let him go and personally saw him out of the City.
Standing at the entrance to the City, Lin Zhen let out a silent sigh.
Randall had truly regarded him as a friend.
But from the very start, he’d only been using Randall, putting on an act.
His identity was fake, his feelings were fake.
But now, he did feel a bit of genuine friendship toward this native.
Yet for now, he couldn’t reveal his true origins or identity.
He couldn’t even tell Randall that, in just three months, their planet would meet its end.
A sense of guilt welled up in Lin Zhen’s heart as he turned and disappeared beyond the horizon.
“Sigh, Prison Lin really has it rough.”
“It’s all because the Battle Camp isn’t humane.”
“Is there any way Prison Lin could take Randall with him?”
“Randall has family, relatives—how could he possibly leave with Prison Lin?”
“Well then, maybe there’s a chance with Genbeier.”
“That’s true, and Xiao Xi is so kind…”
Click!
***
Elsewhere.
Yun Ruoxi rarely turned off her view of the anime, gazing at the lush plants in silence.
She kept feeling like Lin Zhen was hinting at her.
As if Lin Zhen’s inner monologue wasn’t meant for the audience, but for her.
But there’s no way Lin Zhen could see through her act.
So Yun Ruoxi knew it was just a coincidence, but she still felt inexplicably annoyed.
“Xiao Xi, what’s wrong?” The woman beside her noticed Yun Ruoxi’s distraction and asked curiously.
Yun Ruoxi quickly hid the gloom in her eyes, lifted her head, and smiled brightly:
“It’s nothing, A Jiu-jie.”
“That’s good, I thought you were having another episode… Since you’re fine, let’s keep moving.”
Zi Jiu smiled, “Let’s go find more companions!”