DITF Chapter 121.3

Once settled in the meeting room, Ning Kongran first glanced at Qiao Zhiya sitting obediently beside Chu Rong, then pushed over an antique box, explaining, “These are prophecies left by an elderly Hermit¹another term for Exoplanet Natives, specifically for people who didn’t want to join the modern society and information given by victims of human experiments, found after searching several hermits hideouts. They should contain secrets about the identity of the mastermind.”

Chu Rong took the box and opened it, revealing some manuscripts and notes inside. The texts were unfamiliar, and he furrowed his brow, then looked up at Ning Kongran.

“Unfortunately, because most of these hermits’ hideouts have been abandoned, the writings on these manuscripts are now unreadable to anyone,” Ning Kongran added, his expression turning somber. “Too many reclusive groups have been exterminated, and survivors are hard to find. Finding these was already lucky.”

The history of the Ning family’s human experiments went back a long way, initially targeting only Exoplanet Natives. The mastermind behind this was unknown, and had lived for an unknown length of time. Too many hermit groups had been quietly exterminated in places unknown to humans, and they had spent months searching all possible gathering places of hermits according to the information left by the victims of human experiments and hermits. However, without exception, all gathering places were empty and abandoned, some of which couldn’t even find traces of the recluses who had lived there.

They had spent months, and only found this small clue.

“Gathering places of hermits are difficult for even the military to find, but the Ning family and the mastermind have managed to do so frequently. We have to suspect that the mastermind was also an Exoplanet Native, and also successfully integrated into society and worked for a long time with Exoplanet Natives and indigenous people, learning a lot about the addresses of hermit groups.” 

Yun Huai also spoke, pointing to the badly damaged manuscript in the box, saying, “ “This language instruction manuscript has some lingua franca marks on it, showing that there was once a hermit gathering place, and the humans have tried to reach them, helping them integrate with the modern society.”

However, this was actually a trap, and all of those hermits were captured by the Ning family to use for human experimentation. 

Qiao Zhiya looked at the manuscripts with a solemn attitude. He imagined that those hermits were genuinely excited to learn the language, to join the greater society, and happily followed those humans. They thought they would usher in a new life, but they were actually going to die in a lab. It was just a pile of papers, but it choked the breath out of him. His heart felt uncomfortable, and his ears drooped down.

Chu Rong noticed this. He patted Qiao Zhiya’s head, trying to comfort him as he asked, “Why are you in this asteroid belt?”

“Because a hermit had predicted that the mastermind was in a place unreachable by humans at that time. I didn’t understand what his prophecy meant before, but after I found these manuscripts, I finally had an epiphany. The mastermind, that monster behind the scene, should be here, in the asteroid belt. Otherwise, where else is a place that is unreachable by humans?” Ning Kongran replied.

He then looked at the box again, a trace of heaviness appeared in his eyes. “In the past, I thought the mastermind was someone in the Ning family, I thought it was Ning Tianxing, and that thinking had led me astray. Had I been smarter, I would’ve discovered this earlier, and maybe… more people would’ve been saved.”

Yun Huai patted his shoulder, sighing deeply.

The atmosphere became gloomier. Qiao Zhiya kept his eyes glued on the manuscript, then when his gaze rested on a particularly familiar character on it, his ears perked up. He immediately got up and took the manuscript.

Everyone froze and looked at him.

“Qiao?” Chu Rong frowned as he called Qiao Zhiya, who suddenly started to rummage through the manuscript.

Qiao Zhiya was more and more shocked. He buried his head and took out a pile of papers with strange letters onto the table, compared it with the manuscript, and said, “This is the other half! Remember the encrypted text we found before? I found it hard to crack because it’s missing half of it, specifically the cracking method! So much of this manuscript text looks exactly the same as that encrypted text!” 

“Looks exactly the same?” Ning Kongran was confused. “I’ve read this manuscript, there is no…”

“Well, you do need to inverse and reflect the character, but it’s quite a straightforward encryption method. For example, look at this round letter, it looks the same as this one, as long as you inverse and reflect it!”

Qiao Zhiya interrupted his explanation with excitement, and ignored other things. He grabbed the flash of inspiration in his brain, took out the encrypted text and compared it with the pile of manuscripts in the box.

Ning Kongran still wanted to speak, but was stopped by Chu Rong.

“Don’t bother him.”

Chu Rong gestured for Ning Kongran and Yun Huai to rise, then reached out to gently touch Qiao Zhiya’s bowed head. Leaning down, he lightly kissed the top of his head. With that, he departed the small meeting room with Ning Kongran and Yun Huai.

Carefully closing the meeting room door behind them, Chu Rong looked at Ning Kongran and said, “Right now, it’s crucial to flush out the mastermind, find their lair. Identifying their identity is secondary. We need to slow down on that.”

Ning Kongran withdrew his gaze from the door and nodded. “I understand.”

Chu Rong said no more, calling over a few soldiers to guard the meeting room and attend to Qiao Zhiya’s needs. He then bid farewell to Ning Kongran and Yun Huai and returned to the command room.

Ning Kongran watched him leave, then glanced once more at the nearby meeting room door, which seemed so close yet inaccessible. He lowered his head, a self-deprecating expression crossing his eyes. After a few silent seconds, he murmured softly, “Uncle Yun, am I really useless…?”

Always relying on others, unable to help at critical moments.

“No, you’re just exhausted,” Yun Huai said, reaching out to grasp his shoulder and gently turning him away from the meeting room door.

Another week passed this way. The swarm of Zergs surrounding the flagship gradually dwindled, but the asteroid with the teleportation field seemed endless.

“We’re being led in circles.” Fan Xiangnan marked all known coordinates on the star map, forming an elliptical ring. Frowning, he said, “The teleportation coordinates we’ve tracked form a large oval.”

Chu Rong looked at the coordinates, his fingers tapping on the console as he pondered.

Qiao Zhiya had been busy deciphering the cipher book these days, so Qiao Yi temporarily took over the analysis of the coordinates. Now he could understand and speak basic common language without any pressure. When he heard Fan Xiangnan’s words, he said, “The monster is more meticulous than we imagined.”

Fan Xiangnan turned to Chu Rong and asked, “Commander, should we continue the search?”

The prolonged search without clear results had begun to wear down the soldiers mentally. Although the flagship was well stocked, staying in a confined space for an extended period was taking its toll on everyone.

Chu Rong withdrew his gaze and said, “Continue searching. The monster couldn’t possibly have teleportation fields covering the entire asteroid belt. Setting up these must have consumed a lot of his energy. This is his last defense line. We must break through it completely. Otherwise, even if we find him through other means, he can still use these teleportation fields to evade us.”

Fan Xiangnan, who had almost drilled into a corner, reacted to his words and raised his hand to pat his increasingly useless brain, tamed down the extra thoughts, and focused on the next search.

Three days later, several more asteroids were unearthed, and the coordinates marked on the star map formally formed an ellipse.

“The coordinates of this teleportation field point to the asteroid we first discovered,” Qiao put down the e-book in his hand, looked at Chu Rong, and said, “It’s a dead end. The circle we’ve been around is just a deception. The key asteroids have mostly been damaged by the monster in advance.”

Chu Rong’s face was as calm as water, saying, “The Zergs are indeed used to delay time… The monster’s nest should be near these coordinates, not far from us.”

But the asteroid belt was not flat, it was three-dimensional. Even if the area was circled, it will take too long to find them, exhausting everyone involved. They cannot afford this. 

Qiao Zhiya rushed in excitedly with the encrypted text and manuscript in his arms, only to find everyone with furrowed brows and serious expressions. His excitement faltered, and he anxiously asked, “What’s wrong with you all? Have you encountered some trouble?”

Chu Rong and Qiao Yi turned to look at him. Chu Rong stood up and approached, taking the documents from his hands and then explaining the current problem to him. 

Fan Xiangnan and Lin Zhen also turned to him — by now, the commander was becoming more accustomed to sharing everything with Qiao Zhiya.

After listening to Chu Rong’s account, Qiao Zhiya glanced at the circular coordinates on the star chart and exchanged a glance with his approaching father. He twitched his ears and said, “This is simple. We just need to draw another bloodline traction array to locate the monster.”

Upon hearing this, Qiao Yi’s eyes lit up with a hint of amusement, and he affectionately patted his head.

“But all the test subjects and teleportation devices have been completely destroyed. The asteroid teleportation field discovered these days has also been locally demolished, and we lack the catalyst needed for the array,” Chu Rong frowned, expressing his concerns.

He had considered this method before, but since they no longer possessed anything related to the monster, he had refrained from suggesting it. Furthermore, drawing the linking formation posed another problem: the monster was now wary. Would it still be effective?

“We have the catalyst,” Qiao Zhiya asserted confidently. He lowered his head and pulled out an isolation sphere from his storage ring, holding it out to Chu Rong. “It’s this. I remember you have one too.”

Chu Rong looked over and finally recalled what this item was.

When Long Ruifeng and Elder You were initially captured, there was a strange force continuously harassing their minds, preventing them from waking up. Later, when Qiao Zhiya went to the military headquarters to help, he discovered them and forced the force out, using two isolation spheres to contain it, taking one for himself.

At that time, he was uncertain about the origin of this force, but now he was quite sure — it was the monster’s power.

Although the monster hadn’t personally placed a mental lock on Long Ruifeng and Elder You, they had still injected a subtle controlling force through An Xei and Ning Tianxing into their minds.

“The disturbance caused by the bloodline teleportation array is too great. It will alarm the monster and provoke its interference and resistance. The same goes for other advanced arrays. But if we use the basic traction array with the trigger changed from blood to something else, the monster won’t be alarmed again.”

Qiao Zhiya explained, glancing at the star map and adding, “Although the pulling force of this method isn’t as strong as blood, we’re likely very close to the monster’s lair here. We only need a vague direction, so this amount of power is sufficient.”

“And even if this doesn’t work, there are other triggers,” Qiao Yi chimed in, reminding them, “That tall young man with the hood is a conscious ‘half-finished’ experimental subject. Apart from Feng-xiansheng’s blood, he might have another bloodline partially similar to the monster’s. Although the possibility is small, it’s not nonexistent.”

Impure bloodlines can’t be precisely located, but as Qiao Zhiya said, they’re likely very close to the monster’s lair, and all they need is a rough direction.

Moreover, the asteroid teleportation fields have already been cleared. They have no other concerns.

Chu Rong suddenly let out a shallow sigh, unable to resist reaching out to grasp Qiao Zhiya’s hand holding the isolation sphere. A slightly more obvious smile appeared on his face as his gaze slid over Qiao Zhiya and Qiao Yi. “Then let’s begin… Thank you.”

Qiao Zhiya was momentarily dazzled by his smile, then came back to himself, slightly shyly squeezing his hand back and giving a small smile.

True to their words, Qiao Yi took charge of the formation once again. Qiao Zhiya and Chu Rong took out the two isolation spheres and handed them to him, stepping aside. The tall young man who had been brought along with the flagship by the soldiers was kept ready as a backup.

The young man was somewhat uneasy. His world was pale and simple, and the recent stable life made him realize that the people around him weren’t bad, but he still felt very uneasy in isolation.

Qiao Zhiya had a good impression of him and noticed his discomfort, so he sent a bit of magic to comfort him. He smiled and took out a small doll, tossing it over — last time he had found out that this young man had a low intellect, couldn’t understand complex things, and was very naive, not a bad person.

The young man quickly reached out to catch the doll, turning it over and looking at it with a loving expression, then smiled foolishly at him.

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  another term for Exoplanet Natives, specifically for people who didn’t want to join the modern society