Chapter 351: The Broadcast of Strange Tales
Now that he knew there was likely an illegal research facility on the planet, the squad leader naturally didn’t dare to spread his people too thin.
So, the number of warriors sent out to explore was reduced from thirty to ten.
Fearing they might be ambushed, the squad leader gave them repeated instructions before letting them leave.
But he still felt uneasy and worried incessantly after they departed.
Logically, the last thing they should do right now was split up. After all, their numbers were few, and they were on someone else’s turf.
But they had to find a relatively safe place to settle, and then send someone in the escape pod to find reinforcements.
As for why they didn’t all just leave together, it was because the escape pod’s power might not last until the next planet. It was a complete gamble.
The warriors could take that gamble, but he would never dare to let Jiang Qin take such a risk.
Staying here only posed a potential danger, but if everyone left in the escape pod, they risked total annihilation.
He could still distinguish which risk was greater.
...
Dr. A had naturally seen the ten male Beastmen who had broken away from the group, but he had no interest in them whatsoever.
If he wanted to make a move, he could easily kill them. However, that would alert the others, and the loss would outweigh the gain.
After all, even if those ten were no match for him, they could still send out a signal before they died.
So he let them wander around his territory as if it were their own backyard.
With no obstacles in their way, the warriors who left in the Flying Car quickly found a place where they could temporarily set up.
However, out of caution, the squad leader took some men to scout the area one more time before piloting the escape pod to the temporary settlement.
Only after they had settled in did he hurry to send three warriors—all in peak physical condition and skilled in setting up signal relays—to leave in the escape pod and find a way to contact rescuers.
And all of this was witnessed by Dr. A, who was spying on them.
The corner of his mouth lifted into a slight smile as he calmly issued a command to his Light Computer.
"Destroy that escape pod."
As for the rest of them... he was in no hurry. He would let them relax for a night.
***
The city at night was as dazzling and colorful as ever.
It seemed no different from any other day.
Even though the Interstellar situation was grim, the scheduled TV series still premiered.
After all, some things were beyond the control of ordinary people.
The only thing they could do, it seemed, was to eat well, have fun, and live every day to the fullest before they died.
So, most people went to work as usual, wallowed in despair as usual, and stayed up late waiting for their show as usual.
The long-awaited *Strange Tales* was finally about to air.
Around 8:40 PM, everyone was already eagerly tuning into the broadcast station.
The major bars were, too.
Their big screens usually didn’t show any programs. They were only used when a TV series bearing Jiang Qin’s name was airing.
After all, in the Interstellar era, only her works were capable of being loved by everyone.
Other people’s works, while popular, rarely achieved universal appeal.
So, to avoid dissatisfying too many customers, they usually didn’t broadcast TV series, not even the current blockbusters.
....
At exactly nine o’clock, *Strange Tales* officially began.
The first story arc was about Lu Pan helping Zhu Erdan’s wife by swapping her head.
For the Interstellar People, who had never encountered this kind of supernatural genre, it felt like a whole new world had been opened up to them.
It turned out that ancient humans had not only Martial Arts, but also Immortals and ghosts!
And they knew incredible Spells!!
It was so incredible it made them question their own reality.
The recent Interstellar war, in particular, gave them many new ideas.
Whenever people encounter hardship, they always look for something to believe in. Before, everyone believed in the powerful experts within the Federation.
Now that they realized even those experts were just human, they wanted to believe in gods. The problem was, they didn’t know which gods to believe in.
But *Strange Tales* broadened their horizons.
After watching the first three episodes, almost everyone paid for early access to finish the entire story arc, binge-watching straight through until dawn.
Even the bars stayed open all night.
Everyone watched while drinking Inhibitors, grinding their teeth in hatred at Zhu Erdan, who turned bad later on. When they saw the ending, they were still left with an unsatisfying, frustrating feeling.
Even when they started work, they were still in a bit of a daze.
So they just took out their Light Computers to slack off.
Sure enough, two of the trending topics were about Jiang Qin.
One was that the spaceship Jiang Qin was on had gone missing and still hadn’t been found.
The other, naturally, was about *Strange Tales*.
Federation people were used to it, and even Imperial people were getting accustomed to it.
Whenever Jiang Qin had a new work, it was guaranteed to be a trending topic. So, Xiao Ting, finding it perfectly normal, opened the trending list and started commenting.
[I’m so mad! Why did everyone else get a resolution, but Zhu Erdan’s wife died in childbirth?
She’s the biggest victim in history.]
[Totally unfair. The young couple, Zhang Xiaoman and her husband, were resurrected, Zhu Erdan got a son, and Lu Pan was reincarnated as a human. Only she died.]
[This just shows that in ancient times, women’s lives were truly at the bottom of society.]
[All I care about is, is there really an Underworld after people die? Are there gods like King Yan?
If it’s real, how can I see ghosts?
How do you take the civil service exam for the Underworld? If you pass, can you learn Spells?]
[If you want answers, you have to go find the missing Jiang Qin!! Who would know the answers besides the author?]
Wen Jiaqi immediately revealed a book from her family’s collection.
It also contained fragmented legends about gods, ghosts, and demons.
The first sentence she revealed was: "No being is permitted to become a spirit after the nation’s founding."
According to legend, this was a temporary agreement reached between the Human Clan and the Demon Clan thousands of years ago.
[So, *Strange Tales* isn’t entirely fictional? There are similar records of it?]
[Right now, my desire to search for Jiang Qin in space has reached its peak.]
[If we’ve lost Jiang Qin, we’ll probably never get the answers, and we’ll never hear good songs or see good shows again!!]
[An S-level female is inherently important.]
[Well, I’m not doing much lately anyway. Might as well take a trip through space.]
...
Wen Jiaqi hadn’t expected such a fortunate turn of events!
’Was this what they called an unintentional act bearing fruit?’
In any case, the result was a good one.
With the addition of people mobilized through various connections, space was now bustling with activity.
Someone even started a general store out of a spaceship, hawking goods in the vicinity.
This undoubtedly increased Yuan Ling’s workload considerably.
In his search of the black holes, many of his machines had been lost. However, the rewards were also great.
In any case, he hadn’t found any spaceship wreckage in the black holes he had searched so far.
He could only keep searching, looking even farther out. He kept at it, on and on, until today, when he finally found a clue.
"Long Hao, come look at this! Quick!"
Long Hao hurried over to take a look.
On the screen showing the feed from the machine, a mass of tree roots was floating in space.
Most importantly, there were many Light Computers on it!!