Chapter 33.2: Big Fish
But Yuan Ben had already been in the Outer City Third Temple for several days. Everything he experienced matched what the records described.
Every member of the clergy did their utmost to treat patients. Even in an apocalyptic environment, patients who couldn’t afford treatment with points were still cared for. Every deacon maintained an exceptionally kind attitude—it was clear they truly cared for every patient.
And the patients did not deceive the hospital either. They did not, for example, lie about having no points in order to receive free aid…
Wait—no.
This was the Outer City. Most residents here weren’t even Blue Sea natives. By logic, they shouldn’t believe in oaths at all. So why did the Temple still feel as orderly and peaceful as if it were in the Inner City?
Based on everything Yuan Ben had seen before, a medical system with clergy this kind might actually be taken advantage of.
Especially after the apocalypse—people were often restless, full of pent-up frustration, looking for a way to vent. With clergy being so gentle, wouldn’t they become easy targets?
He went to ask the deacon.
The deacon’s tone remained calm and gentle:
“Oh, that. A while ago there were some off-worlders who clearly had enough points but still tried to make the hospital bear the cost of their treatment. Some people also tried to bully young priests, or insult deacons and white-robed bishops… there were even cases of people attacking doctors with knives.”
She looked at Yuan Ben, who—by Blue Sea standards—was quite short, and patted his shoulder reassuringly.
“But you don’t need to worry. That problem has already been resolved.”
After just reading through a series of Temple history records that could only be described as “sacred acts of sacrifice,” and having witnessed similar incident handling procedures in the hospital, Yuan Ben’s first reaction was:
“How did you resolve it? Did you persuade them?”
The deacon looked at him, slightly puzzled.
“Why would we persuade them? We just expelled them from the city. Oh, right—the one who used a knife was beaten until he had multiple fractures before being expelled.”
Yuan Ben was startled.
“But isn’t it said that God loves all people?”
“Yes,” the deacon replied. “God loves all people, because all people love God.”
She patted his shoulder again.
“Those who do not love God—how could they even be counted among ‘all people’?”
The Temple’s regulations were posted on the walls, and since this was the Outer City, they were even broadcast repeatedly in multiple languages over loudspeakers.
Under such conditions, anyone still causing trouble in the Temple was simply not needed by Blue Sea.
The gentleness and tolerance of the clergy was never meant for people like that.
The deacon picked up her bag.
“Alright, I’m off work. See you tomorrow. May Our God watch over you.”
She left, and Yuan Ben remained standing there, stunned.
He was on the night shift today, so after dinner he would return to work—giving him plenty of time to slowly think things through.
This place… this place truly felt like every doctor’s dream environment.
Doctors fulfilled their duties, doing everything in their power to save lives. The hospital arranged everything properly so that doctors didn’t have to handle unrelated work, and it naturally accepted poor patients and treated them without discrimination.
And as for the patients—
They carried a kind of devout sincerity, as if they had arrived at the place closest to the divine. They trusted the doctors, treated them kindly, and did not have to worry about encountering incompetent physicians or doctors who failed to give their full effort during treatment.
The doctors, in turn, could devote themselves entirely to their work while also receiving the patients’ trust. Their superiors were also friendly in temperament, because God loved all people—and the clergy were, of course, included among “all people.” Thus every member of the clergy tried to be as kind to others as possible.
High salaries, plus various subsidies.
And if medical disputes ever occurred, the “hospital” would automatically side with the doctors.
Good heavens.
—Am I already dead? Did I die back in my hometown village, and all of this is just my imagination in my final moments?
Yuan Ben pinched himself hard and let out a cry of pain.
A passing white-robed bishop heard the sound and immediately came over, leaning in.
“What happened? Do you need help?”
The automatic translator on Yuan Ben’s phone rendered it into Velvet Star language. He quickly waved his hands.
“No, no, I just accidentally pinched myself.”
The white-robed bishop nodded, his gaze falling on the bruise forming on Yuan Ben’s arm, then looking at his unusually frail body compared to his own.
“May Our God watch over you,” he said.
“Thank you,” Yuan Ben replied.
But for some reason, he felt that the bishop’s gaze was strange—not like he was looking at a colleague, but more like he was looking at a patient.
The bishop left reassured, thinking as he walked:
Why do these off-worlders keep pinching themselves?
He had seen it so many times already.
People would be standing or sitting normally, then suddenly pinch themselves hard for no reason. And after it hurt, they would even start laughing.
Poor off-worlders.
“May the glory of Our God help them.”
Inside the room, Yuan Ben’s phone chimed with a notification.
He looked down and saw that his points account had received a new deposit.
Because he was on the night shift today, his daily salary had been multiplied by three.
Oh, God.
Yuan Ben looked toward the courtyard where the sacred statue of the Creator God stood, and thought from the depths of his heart:
— I really think I’ve come to like it here.
—
“The rate of new believers has increased these past few days.”
Cheng Qisheng received another faint believer connection. After glancing at it, she found it was a new deacon working in the outer city.
Although the connection was very weak, she knew that once this deacon passed the crystal test and became a true Blue Sea resident, this faint link would soon grow much stronger.
So far, this is the process for most offworld believers.
She wondered whether this little long-tendril baby could also become a believer.
Cheng Qisheng’s gaze fell on the little long-tendril child in the kindergarten.
After arriving in Blue Sea, the little long-tendril baby was immediately sent to the temple for a full medical examination. The results showed that, at least for now, it could not be separated from its water bucket.
Young long-tendril individuals likely need to remain immersed in water at all times, and they also have a kind of “imprinting” instinct. It had already treated the observation team that escorted it back as family, refusing to leave them and able to recognize their scent.
It couldn’t speak, only opening and closing its whiskers to produce “bo-bo” sounds. It didn’t cry or make a fuss either, but once the observation team left its field of vision, it would struggle out of the bucket and, weak and clumsy, crawl across the ground with its whiskers, searching everywhere for its “family.”
So Cheng Qisheng, who had originally planned to find a couple to adopt and raise the long-tendril child, changed her plan and assigned the observation team to take turns raising it.
—A monthly caregiving allowance would be transferred to their accounts on schedule.
The little long-tendril one was currently in class.
While the other children sat obediently behind desks, it sat obediently in a water bucket, trying to imitate them by shaping its whiskers into hand-like forms, one large eye staring intently at the screen.
In truth, Cheng Qisheng knew it didn’t understand at all.
The long-tendril civilization communicates differently from humans. The temple’s conclusion was that their communication method likely relies on direct whisker-to-whisker contact.
Once the whiskers are connected, long-tendril individuals can communicate through consciousness in their minds. Even if the whiskers are later separated, the communication can still continue.
In other words, the long-tendril civilization is born with a built-in communication network. Connecting whiskers is equivalent to adding a “friend.” Once connected, as long as they are on the same planet, they can communicate normally.
There are pros and cons. The advantage is that the leader of the long-tendril civilization can connect its whiskers with every individual once, and then when it issues commands, the entire civilization can hear them instantly.
The disadvantage is that this makes it very difficult for the long-tendril civilization to communicate with other civilizations, and it cannot easily absorb or integrate others, since there is no shared language.
From Aether’s memories, even during its most prosperous period, alliances between long-tendril civilizations still required speaking through safe cities in order to communicate with other city lords.
No wonder.
No wonder that old long-tendril being, despite being a long-lived species and already in its old age stage, still could not integrate into other safe cities.
They are born with their own language and do not communicate through spoken words at all; their bodies naturally reject the languages of other civilizations.
Moreover, their vision is also different from that of humans. Although they have eyes, they mainly perceive their surroundings through their whiskers. In their perception, the world is rich and vividly colorful.
What humans see as a single color, long-tendril individuals may perceive as hundreds or even thousands of variations.
Many objects—such as a table—appear to humans as simple and rectangular, but to long-tendril beings it might look like a flowing ellipse, or even resemble a waterfall.
Because of this, they cannot express their thoughts through painting either.
The little long-tendril one can imitate those around it, but it does not understand what those actions mean.
It may take a very long time—until it, like the old long-tendril one, forcibly suppresses its innate civilizational language and changes its mode of expression—before it can vaguely learn to speak the languages of other civilizations.
——For humans, it would be like an ordinary human child needing to learn how to grow sharp teeth and a massive body like a lion.
Cheng Qisheng asked, “How long does the temple estimate it will take?”
Aether reported seriously, “Based on the lifespan of the long-tendril civilization, if things go quickly, it may take around 700 years. If slowly, it may only happen when it reaches old age.”
Cheng Qisheng: “……”
At this moment, she really missed the time flow on Dark Star.
Aether promptly offered some good news:
“The seed of the long-tendril civilization grows very quickly. It is expected to sprout its first leaf within three months.”
“Good.” Cheng Qisheng glanced at the steadily growing red seed and already began looking forward to the Blue Sea spacecraft.
“Have the Technology Institute study the whiskers of the long-tendril civilization and see if we can replicate them.”
Holding a dumbbell, Cheng Qisheng slowly lifted it, then slowly, very slowly lowered it again.
She had reached Tier 3; the constraints on her body had loosened another layer. Now her speech speed was normal again, and her movements were slightly faster than before.
“If they cannot learn our language, then we will learn theirs. Who knows whether the ship’s activation method requires whiskers?”
Better to prepare in advance—it never hurts.
Aether responded, “Understood. I’ve recorded it for the city lord and will transmit it to the Technology Institute immediately.”
Cheng Qisheng set the dumbbell down slowly, went to the bathroom to wash her face, and looked at her increasingly healthy complexion in the mirror with satisfaction as she dried off the water droplets.
Then she unboxed a new delivery and pulled out a fishing rod.
She returned to the corridor and opened a door.
Before her lay a pond.
2,400 square meters—this was the expanded size of the city lord’s residence after Blue Sea Safe City reached Tier 3.
Now, her home included a 150-square-meter study, a 1,100-square-meter botanical garden, and a 2,400-square-meter pond.
In the pond, fish and shrimp swim freely, and small frogs croak here and there.
Some of the fish and shrimp come from Blue Sea, while others were purchased by Cheng Qisheng herself.
It looks like nothing more than an ordinary pond—except for the fact that it is located on top of a high-rise building in the city.
At this point, Cheng Qisheng had truly achieved self-sufficiency.
She had even seriously considered raising some ducks in the pond, but ultimately gave up because she didn’t want to accidentally step on duck droppings.
2,400 square meters is large for a room, but for a pond it is only medium or small in scale.
Next time she advanced a tier, she could try expanding the expansion area directly into the pond itself.
For now, her real-world environment showed no signs of disaster, but as a city lord of a safe city who daily saw apocalyptic scenes and dealt with other city lords whose original worlds had already been destroyed, Cheng Qisheng still maintained a strong sense of crisis awareness.
At present, she already had enough living space—vegetables, fruit trees, and fish meat—sufficient to meet basic needs.
Still, who would ever complain about having more resources?
Although she did not raise ducks for now, she regularly bought fertilized duck eggs, goose eggs, and chicken eggs in case of emergencies.
—The planet she currently lived on showed no signs of disaster yet, which allowed Cheng Qisheng to enter a relatively relaxed period of leisure.
She slowly set up a chair, pulled a fan inside as usual, and sat there eating chilled watermelon straight from the refrigerator. She listened to the chirping of insects and watched the fishing float ripple on the water.
It was relaxation, but also training her reflexes.
—Whoosh!
The float suddenly plunged downward. Cheng Qisheng controlled herself and reacted as quickly as possible, grabbing the fishing rod and pulling it up with force.
Her movements were slow, but her strength was great; lifting the fishing rod felt no different from lifting a twig.
Soon, a roughly ten-jin carp was pulled up, thrashing on the ground.
Cheng Qisheng looked at it with satisfaction.
“Red-braised fish for dinner today?”
Aether floated above her head and projected a virtual screen.
“Understood, City Lord. I have retrieved multiple red-braised fish cooking tutorials for you.”
Cheng Qisheng carried the fish into the kitchen and slowly followed the cooking tutorial retrieved by the AI, working at an unhurried pace.
A plate of red-braised fish was served on the table. She took a small bite.
Mm… not bad. Quite delicious.
Very good—after reaching Tier 3 as a transcendent, her movements in the kitchen had become noticeably faster. At last, she could cook without burning the food.
While savoring the fish, Cheng Qisheng issued a command to Blue Sea.
—“All residents have returned. Prepare to set off.”
Now that the safe city had stabilized at Tier 3, it was time to take this opportunity for the residents to spread out and operate more actively, stimulating their transcendent potential through combat.
Cheng Qisheng had Aether project a hand-drawn map and looked at the marked location.
Yunbula Nation—the largest granary of the Velvet Star world.
—That “big fish” would surely be very delicious as well.
