Ultimately, unable to sway Lei Ting’s personal will, the Human Union Council secretly sentenced him to two hundred thousand years of imprisonment in accordance with the law, stripped him of his position as Chairman, and allowed him to offset his sentence with work that only he could perform.
In truth, the original sentence would have been one hundred thousand years—a duration no normal person could survive—but according to the regulations, any punishment for a Chairman of the Human Union was doubled.
Before the sentencing, many had attempted to defend him on the grounds that "Lei Ting was not yet Chairman when the incidents occurred," but he had rejected every such argument.
If he were to accept a defense, it couldn't possibly be limited to just that one point.
Perhaps those past events truly had their reasons; perhaps those dead souls had already seen their grudges dissipate and no longer haunted him... but Lei Ting did not feel he should simply act as if nothing had happened and happily dive into a new life.
In fact, according to his wishes in his younger years, he might have stayed in prison until the end of time.
But thinking about it now, that would indeed be too much of a waste of his abilities.
Currently, the Human Union had mapped out a domain expansion, management, and utilization plan spanning two thousand years. Lei Ting and Evenheiler’s seedship would either remain hidden within these plans or roam the fringes, executing various missions to ensure the project’s smooth progress.
To the public, the Human Union’s official word was that "they have departed to travel the universe."
However, setting aside whether ordinary people believed it, among the high-level espers who had actually met them... not a single one bought it.
...
"...You two didn't even use a disguise!! Are you really being this half-hearted about it?!" the 'Dragon Slayer' slammed the table with such force that the tea rattled. "So, what exactly were you doing before to ensure no one recognized you along the way?!"
"Oh, do you know Earth? The human home planet. We went to investigate its phantom," Evenheiler said as he sipped his tea. "Or rather, he insisted on seeing it, and I went along as a tour guide to show him around."
"Show him what? Let me hear this." The Dragon Slayer raised an eyebrow, her curiosity piqued. "A phantom of the home planet? Since when do planets have phantoms?"
Besides, hadn't the human home planet exploded back then?
"Where to begin..." Evenheiler thought for a moment. "Let's just summarize.
"Actually, when Earth exploded back then, we hid a teleportation field in the ruins. It leads directly to a phantom Earth situated between the material realm and the 'Spirit’s Depths.' It was the work of one of our super-powered entities.
"That planet is linked to a rather significant plan—a long-term defense against certain external crises..."
Evenheiler thought about it and smiled easily.
"Anyway, it’s all in the past now, so there’s no harm in saying it." He raised his cup and took a sip of tea. "In short, that phantom Earth, 'Gaia,' is a generator. Because it's located at the outermost edge of the Milky Way, as long as it completes one full rotation with the galaxy, it can create a layer of defense for our entire galactic system.
"Once it is fully formed, the outside world will no longer be able to lock onto the Milky Way through the 'Spirit’s Depths' or any related means. For instance, the 'Star' civilization that previously threatened the entire galaxy, or the conceptual weapons left behind by the 'Kalligan'—they are all like that."
"...So that's how it is," the Dragon Slayer murmured to herself. "Someone is always trying to protect the galaxy... but the formation cycle for this thing is way too long, isn't it?
"Also, it—I mean that protective layer—what is it called?"
"The Atmosphere," Evenheiler said.
He leaned back in his chair with his legs crossed, looking at Lei Ting, who wore a silver ring around his left wrist, and then at the matching monitoring device on his own right wrist.
At this moment, he and the Dragon Slayer, whom they had encountered by chance in space, were having tea, while Lei Ting was busy in the distant orchard.
The man was obsessed with breeding and improving native fruit and vegetable varieties brought from Earth’s seed bank, striving to make them look better and taste better while maintaining their original flavor.
Several space travelers hitching a ride on their starship to the next spaceport were touring the activity area. They, or rather their children, were swarming around Lei Ting, leaving him startled and at a loss, terrified that he might accidentally hurt them.
Evenheiler watched him, then thought back to the state of their relationship when they first met.
He suddenly began to laugh, sounding so genuinely happy that the volume even startled the Dragon Slayer, who was used to seeing monsters that occupied entire planets.
Especially when Lei Ting personally went to pick fruit from a tree, the joy on Evenheiler’s face was almost overflowing.
The Dragon Slayer seemed blunt but was actually quite sharp. She saw the truth of the situation at a glance, rolled her eyes like a true single person, picked up her teacup, and left.
Evenheiler’s laughter gradually subsided. He leaned on the nearby railing, quietly watching Lei Ting and the children coming and going around him.
*See, no matter what, people still want to be close to you, Lei Ting,* he thought.
*Because the human subconscious notices many details, and when these details accumulate, they converge on the flip side of thought, pieced together by instinct into a fragmented 'truth.'*
*And for people, especially for children... it isn't a difficult task to feel close to a good person whose nature is even more tender and kind than mine.*
*Because you are worthy of being loved.*
Evenheiler calmed down for a moment, then started laughing uncontrollably again, to the point that even the busy Lei Ting took a moment to give him a confused look.
But the blonde man simply shook his head, having no intention of using a mental message to tell him the truth.
The past flowed through his mind, the joys, angers, sorrows, and delights of before vivid in his memory.
His memories traced back from childhood, frame by frame, segment by segment, engraved with his pain, despair, and regret. Looking at them now, however, it seemed there was no hurdle that couldn't be overcome.
By now, the orchard was lush with greenery, but he still remembered that in the first year of planting, the entire orchard had produced only a single fruit.
At that time, neither he nor Lei Ting had been discouraged. He had suggested making a specimen of that first fruit, hand-picked by Lei Ting, to keep in the command center as a memento.
But Lei Ting had simply shaken his head. He found a nearby planet with a decent environment that had yet to give birth to life, descended to its surface, and dropped the fruit by a water source.
Evenheiler still remembered his own words then: "Leaving it here might not serve any purpose."
And he also remembered what Lei Ting had said:
"Perhaps, Even," he had said. "But I want it to stay here, from now into every 'next moment' of a possible future."
Countless times and spaces, countless possibilities. Perhaps in one parallel world, this fruit would take root and sprout, growing into a towering tree—the very first tree on that planet.
Evenheiler still remembered what it looked like. Now, one of its many successors was being picked by Lei Ting and given to a child who didn't even reach his knees.
"This is called an 'apple.' Come, repeat after me: 'Ap—ple.'"
Good grief, he was even teaching lessons now.
Evenheiler listened for a while. After the man started counting through the orchard block by block, from apples to oranges to cantaloupes and even some obscure fruits, he finally couldn't take it anymore.
He lazily stood up and returned to the living quarters next to the command center. After changing into loungewear, he strolled to the gaming area, sank into a cushioned sofa, grabbed a pair of holographic glasses from the side, and started up a certain single-player game.
*Not having the Star Net is indeed quite inconvenient...*
Fortunately, a new public network was already being built through joint efforts.
Evenheiler hummed a little tune, immersed in the game. A long time later, Lei Ting walked in carrying a bag of snacks and drinks and sat down beside him.
"What's this?" Evenheiler asked through his glasses.
"The travelers gave them to me. Specialties from their planet. They said it was to thank me for making their children quiet for once." Lei Ting smiled, his expression a bit strange. "Supposedly, those kids usually can't stay quiet for more than three minutes on average, leaving their parents exhausted."
"To be honest, I really didn't expect you to be so popular with children."
"I'm popular with small animals, too. I'll show you later."
"Small animals? Do you mean Star Beasts?" Evenheiler countered.
After asking, he couldn't help himself and burst into laughter along with Lei Ting. In recent days, the number of Star Beast remnants the two of them had collectively "persecuted" was at least eight or ten.
Popular with Star Beasts?
That was a bit of a dark joke!
Amidst the joking, Lei Ting had already opened the snacks and drinks, placing them next to Evenheiler before putting on his own holographic glasses.
"What game are you playing?" he asked. "Want to link up?"
"Sure," Evenheiler replied brightly.
Shortly after, in the game titled *The Chosen*, two characters deliberately customized to look bizarre set out from a small hillside and began their adventure.
In deep space, the central control AI, which wasn't particularly intelligent, worked dutifully. The brightly lit starship passed before nebulae and moved beyond the ruins of war.
The reconstruction project for the Ring World was still ongoing. It was estimated to last nine hundred to fifteen hundred years, providing countless jobs for various civilizations throughout the galaxy.
The thousandth meeting for the preparatory work of the new Universal Joint Network Plan was being held. Today, the members kicked out of the meeting were several pale Fungal-folk who were trying to prove that an internal mycelium information network was the most perfect kind.
Within the Human Union, the new generation of the Council performed their respective duties. A certain former Vice Chairman, who had been forced into the position of Chairman due to his seniority, looked at the mountain of documents on his data pad, his blue-violet eyes filled with unshed tears.
In some god-forsaken place, Lei Li stared at a starry sky that was completely different from every star map in the ship's database, his mind in a state of sustainable blankness.
Beside him, a Luo Xi'an in civilian clothes from another world silently handed him a drink made by the ship's beverage dispenser.
He took it silently, took a sip, and then—"Pfft!!!"—sprayed it out.
On the other side, a Romu wearing a Human Union general's uniform from yet another world silently handed him a bottle of water, then tossed the mostly-full bottle of juice drink in his own hand into the recycler.
"This," Lei Li shrieked in agony, "what is this stuff?! Why is there a drink that tastes this bad?!"
"...Let me see," said the equally disgusted Luo Xi'an, silently lifting the bottle to carefully identify the words on it. "Fomalhaut... something or other? Tsk. The historical development on your side is a bit different from ours; even the characters are different..."
...
Well, regardless of what was happening in this time and space—or outside of it—right now.
Lei Ting and Evenheiler, who were currently gaming, couldn't be bothered to care.
They were arguing over what exactly was going on with the village in front of them, but while arguing, they were also fighting red-named NPCs and handing each other snacks they thought tasted good.
And outside the nearby viewport, the bright stars twinkled.
They watched over the travelers eternally...
This day, every day.
No matter where they were.
No matter where their hearts were inclined.
***
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Stars See Me [Interstellar] | Chapter 284 | Under Eternal Stars | Novela.app | Novela.app
