Chapter 28 — ILK Chapter 28

Wu Jianing ate until she was covered in sweat, her little lips bright red. Every few moments, she would take a massive gulp of the Pineapple Plum Iced Tea to fight the spice.

In contrast, Lin Changli would take a bite of the chicken giblets and then silently reach for the iced tea, elegantly draining the entire glass. One second, he would posture as if he were done with the spicy food, focusing solely on the sweet and sour ribs; the next, he couldn't help but pick up two more pieces of gizzard. It wasn't that he didn't like it—he just couldn't handle the heat.

Sang Ye watched him with a hint of sympathy. To be unable to eat spicy food was a true tragedy in life; one would miss out on so many delicacies. But watching him sit there so obediently, his features gentle, he looked like a harmless young man. Thinking back to the warnings from the Emperor and others, she began to think he was "not as advertised." He doesn't seem that cruel.

If those Guides who had been scared away or had their mental landscapes scorched by him were here, they would surely shake her head to see how much water was sloshing around inside.

The Parasol Tree swayed in her pocket dimension, signaling Sang Ye to come in. She knew what it was excited about. The spiritual food she sent out provided feedback that helped her dimension upgrade—this was Sang Ye’s "catalyst." If she were still in the cultivation world, such an opportunity would be hard to find.

In the past few days, her dimension had finally manifested the pond she had been longing for. Behind the Parasol Tree, a clear, crystalline body of water stretched out, waiting for her to release fry into it. The pond continued to grow until it stabilized into a small lake of about three hundred square meters. It was a self-sustaining ecosystem; the water could be diverted to irrigate the fields.

Sang Ye planned to convert part of the fields into rice paddies during the next upgrade and release crab larvae into them. That way, she could harvest fresh rice and crabs full of roe. Only with living water could the larvae grow.

Should I raise fish now? she wondered. She had been eating a lot of fish lately, and the stock in her ring was still plentiful. Fish fry are actually quite difficult to raise in extremely clean water. As the saying goes, "water that is too clear has no fish"—meaning without aquatic plants, microorganisms, and a complex underwater environment, fish cannot obtain the nutrients they need to grow.

But Crawfish were different. They needed clean, living water and the right temperature. If the water was even slightly off, they would immediately "drop dead for you." Using crawfish larvae to test the waters was the perfect choice. While it was unlikely to fail in the dimension’s constant temperature and flowing water, Sang Ye wanted to see if she could raise them within the base.

The base reservoir provided living water. She could dig a pond next to her existing fields, divert water from the reservoir, and plant a ring of low shrubs around the edge to provide shade from the artificial sun. But the base’s weather was completely unpredictable. According to the adjutant, the weather control was randomly simulated by the Central AI. Humans had only programmed in known, harmless weather patterns. Sometimes, there were even auroras.

Sang Ye’s mind raced. She immediately asked who had the authority to control the Central AI.

The adjutant replied, "In theory, no one. To change Eve’s directives, one needs three master keys. And we don't even know who holds them."

Eve was the name of the AI. Her authority ranged from controlling domestic robots to remote-controlling warships, so her access was closed to everyone. Eve had been running stably for thousands of years, evolving since her birth. The Zerg had once tried to steal her keys and code, nearly causing total annihilation; since then, her host servers had been hidden in a military fortress on the Capital Star, reportedly buried in the planet's core and guarded by elite troops.

"However, the base's version of Eve is a sub-system," the adjutant continued. "Because of Black Tower’s unique nature, her authority is very limited here, mostly restricted to domestic tasks. These robots are all controlled by her. So you don't need three keys, just a string of source code. But General Asu doesn't seem to know it; she hates the heat, yet high-temperature weather keeps appearing randomly lately." If she knew the code, she would have changed it.

Sang Ye remembered this and looked up at the young man sitting across from her. "Do you know the source code for the base's Eve?"

Lin Changli looked back at her calmly, a piece of rib still on his fork. "Why do you ask?"

"To change the weather at the base."

"?" Lin Changli was puzzled. "Just for the weather?"

The woman before him clearly didn't understand what asking for Eve’s source code implied, nor how sensitive and dangerous a topic it was. Yet she told him it was just to change the weather.

"I want to raise crawfish in the base," Sang Ye said with the frankness of the ignorant. "They can't survive in extreme heat or cold. They're very fragile."

"Crawfish?" Lin Changli frowned. "What is that?"

"..." Looking at his ignorant eyes, Sang Ye pulled a brilliant smile and lied through her teeth. "It’s sweet. Sweeter than the cake you just ate. Very delicious."

Lin Changli looked at her skeptically for a moment. "Really?"

"Believe it or not. If you don't, you just won't get to taste it." Sang Ye was sure he would take the bait.

Sure enough, after a moment’s hesitation, he replied, "I know the source code. What weather do you want?"

"Keep it at about 25°C. The sun shouldn't be too fierce, and there should be intermittent wind to cool things down," Sang Ye explained. "Crawfish live in the water and love to dig burrows. The water temperature is naturally lower than the surface, so the base temperature can't be too low, but it shouldn't be too high either, or they'll be boiled alive."

Hearing her complex demands, Lin Changli nodded. "I'll go adjust it later."

Only then did Sang Ye ask, "It won't affect you, will it?" Even if the AI was just a glorified assistant.

Lin Changli gave a half-smile. "You're only asking that now?"

"Well, you're agreeing to hack an AI just for a meal," Sang Ye retorted, not backing down.

Lin Changli had no response to that. "Don't worry," he said, his tone unreadable. "The Empire would never grant access to Eve on Black Tower, a planet full of rioting Sentinels. Especially not to me."

Wu Jianing blinked her big eyes, watching the two of them interact. They looked nothing like people who had only met yesterday.

After the meal, they left the cleanup to the robots. Lin Changli left the West Building first, and Sang Ye took Jianing out for a walk.

The soil in the small garden had originally been ten centimeters below ground level, but now it had "grown" to be flush with the surface. If the spiritual energy in the soil isn't exhausted, it replicates and grows; with Jianing frequently circling the plot, it was expanding rapidly. Jianing’s robot tirelessly removed the surrounding pavement, exposing more ground. Sang Ye realized that the soil from her dimension was covering the base’s gray, dead wasteland with a layer of vibrant black earth, spreading downward as well.

With the help of an excavator—an old one scrapped from mining but perfect for digging—she excavated a deep pit for the pond. The contrast between the black soil and the wasteland was striking. The black soil wouldn't stop spreading until its spiritual energy was spent; then it would rest, accumulate more, and continue.

Sang Ye didn't move the surrounding dirt. Instead, she dug up more from her dimension to plaster a thick layer onto the bottom and sides of the pond. She then had the robot dig a canal from the reservoir to the pond and connected a giant pipe from the pond to the wastewater treatment station. With check valves and flow controllers on the canal and fine mesh on the drainage pipe to prevent larvae from escaping, a simple crawfish pond was complete.

Sang Ye was mimicking her old environment as best she could. She had always "lived off the mountain and the water," with plenty of natural ponds in the Shifang Grotto mountains. This was the first time she had dug one herself. As she finished and rested, she felt the temperature drop; the sun’s light dimmed to a comfortable level. She released the larvae and planted a ring of shrubs around the edge for shade. Between the thick black soil and the depth, they had plenty of room to burrow.

Everything was perfect. But since the excavator was already running, Sang Ye decided to see if she could create a hot spring. She used hot-spring stones to wall off an irregular area and paved the bottom with warm jade so it wouldn't feel cold even without water.

Jianing was already happily chasing the crawfish larvae around the pond. When she ran east, they darted west; when she ran south, they darted north. Finally, she cornered them in a small nook, looking for all the world like a little mountain queen.

Sang Ye pulled a leather bag from her storage ring containing several hot-spring stones. Small inside the bag, they weighed nearly a hundred catties each once removed. She aimed the "eye" of the stones toward the pool; a touch on the back would automatically release water. She built the hot spring on the westernmost edge of the garden, right by the cliff, so one could soak while admiring the magnificent Tide Sea. The outlet connected directly to the cliff face; when the drain was opened, the water would cascade down the rock.

Outside the shield was cold wind and rain; inside was the warmth of blue jade and rising steam. Sang Ye had asked Lin Changli for a twenty-day window. With the aid of spiritual energy, twenty days was enough for the crawfish to complete a cycle. Once Eve switched the weather back, she could watch the snow from the comfort of the hot spring.

Her Master used to say she was someone who could find enjoyment anywhere, and it seemed he was right. After being adopted, she had chosen the treehouse with the best view and the most spiritual energy in Shifang Grotto, later learning it was where her Grandmaster had lived. She had transformed it into exactly what she wanted. She had been raised free and brave.

For the rest of the garden, she didn't want to plant only vegetables; the land's capacity was finite and needed rest. She planted a ring of Parasol Trees around the perimeter—branches from her own spiritual essence that could feed energy back into the earth. Near the trees, she planted four osmanthus trees; their scent would fill the air. Given the base's erratic climate, the West Building would likely smell of osmanthus daily.

Closest to the building, she planted roses. She didn't want to waste the ancient meats in the warehouse; once thawed, she used them as fertilizer. Roses fed with meat were always more delicate and beautiful. On the remaining wasteland, she planted turf so she could nap in the garden.

One person's strength is limited, but with machines, things are different. When Lin Changli returned to the West Building, he was met with a transformed garden. Lush trees, the sound of flowing water, and the scent of fresh earth and an inexplicable, heart-refreshing fragrance. He walked silently through the garden to find Sang Ye and Jianing with two small homemade rods, pretending to fish for the tiny larvae. Beside them was a tray with the leftover Sacher Torte and two glasses of orange juice.

They had been "tormenting" the crawfish all afternoon. Life could indeed be spent this way, peaceful and warm. The turbulent years seemed far away from him.

The sharp-eyed Jianing saw him. "The Marshal is back! Sister, are you cohabiting with him?"

From context, Sang Ye understood what she meant. She leaned down mysteriously. "Well, if I don't cohabit with him, I have nowhere else to go. The base only lets me live here." Their "whisper" reached Lin Changli’s ears clearly, but he had to pretend he hadn't heard.

He walked over, his eyes full of inquiry. "How did you make this happen?" The base didn't import greenery, and many of these plants he had never seen before. "Where did they come from?"

Sang Ye wasn't afraid. She smiled brightly. "Guess."

Lin Changli wouldn't guess; she wasn't going anywhere, so there was plenty of time to study her. But as he leaned down to investigate and she looked up to answer, with the chubby little Jianing staring at them, the "warm" scene gave the rotating Wu Huansheng and Mu An quite a mental shock. They looked like an odd yet harmonious family of three.

"MOMMY! DADDY!!!" Jianing was the first to break the character, scrambling up and racing toward them like a nimble little piglet. Wu Huansheng caught the heavy child. "Mommy, you were gone so long! I missed you!"

Wu Huansheng hoisted her up. "I missed you too. Ningning, you've gained weight! I heard from Lodas (the adjutant) that you've been eating midnight snacks every night?"

After their reunion, the family walked over to Sang Ye and Lin Changli. They saluted the Marshal, who gave a cool nod.

Mu An smiled warmly at Sang Ye. "Thank you for looking after Ningning. She looks so much healthier. We are truly grateful."

Sang Ye scratched her head, a bit embarrassed. Her care for Jianing wasn't entirely selfless; after all, the girl's presence made the black soil and plants grow rapidly. "How are the Sentinels in the Snow Mountain?" she asked. From her spiritual feedback, the results should be excellent.

"Extremely effective," Mu An, as a Guide, shared happily. "We provided three meals a day, and the Sentinels are much more stable. Before coming back, I ran tests; many have improved their stability rank to B!"

"Oh, by the way," Mu An remembered. "A Sentinel came back with us. She specifically asked to see you. Will you meet her?"

"What?" Sang Ye was confused. "See me?"

"Yes. Her name is Rong Cheng. She's been on Black Tower a long time and has stayed at almost every sub-base."

Sang Ye heard nothing after that. The name Rong Cheng took a tight grip on her soul.