What does it feel like to be entrusted with such an important task? Jiang Ling might have said "I don't know" in the past, but now she probably understands.

The experiment was scheduled for a few weeks later, so she had less preparation to do in advance, so she could still find time to go home, pack her personal belongings, and say goodbye to some old friends, new friends, and children—it wasn't a life-or-death farewell; she was confident she could protect herself.

Then, she and Lin Yi arrived at the front of the mothership, boarded a rail car, and reached the ice shield. Having suffered a major setback the previous time, the two of them took the express lane this time. Furthermore, they used their high-ranking status to "bully" others, effectively taking over the entire area to avoid further interruptions from uninvited guests.

Now they were lying under the transparent viewing dome, their bodies enveloped in the pitch-black night, their two pairs of pupils with different structures reflecting various stars.

These stars hold different meanings for different people, from astrology to astronomy. Throughout history, countless stargazers like these have emerged, imbuing them with their own understandings, transforming their own stories into the stories of the stars. Stargazing requires imagination, and not all the wise find joy in the starlight, because this joy stems from the human quest for self-discovery.

Jiang Ling's research on star clusters was relatively superficial. After all, she had only had a brief exposure to them during the astronaut crash course training on Earth, and her subsequent work was confined to her work, leaving her with few opportunities to relax her mind. However, this did not prevent her from finding several well-known star clusters on her retina.

Ahead of her was the Libra constellation, with a particularly bright red dwarf star nearby, because that was the direction the mothership was pointed. Calculating the time, perhaps in another 7,000 years, the Endless Galaxy would reach its first stop.

What would it be like to live on a super-Earth planet in the future that was tidally locked to its parent star? Jiang Ling no longer dared to imagine it.

With this star closest to her as the center, her gaze shifted outward, and Virgo and Scorpio also came into her sight.

Recalling the time when the twelve planetary immigrant motherships each set out to explore a zodiac constellation, only Virgo was not chosen. Now, looking at it, even after more than ten thousand years of travel without any noticeable changes, Jiang Ling finally understood why it was not needed—it was too large and too close, and the Milky Way was just an insignificant dot within it.

Across the way, in the constellation Scorpius, several stars were so bright they were visible to the naked eye under the unpolluted observation dome. Another mothership, orbiting toward it, frequently exchanged messages with the Infinite Galaxy. However, these conversations were extremely slow, each round of questions and answers lasting generations. Knowing the mothership's destination was immense, humans devoted their utmost care to every conversation they had with it.

Jiang Ling closed her eyes, and the starlight disappeared, replaced by the warmth from her right palm. She turned to look at Lin Yi and found that she was also staring at her.

"What's the matter?" she whispered. Her right hand, with its fingers clasped together, was gripped even tighter.

Lin Yi opened her red lips slightly: "No matter what happens, you are not allowed to leave this time!" She paused, "I won't leave either!"

"Did you know something?"

"No." She shook her head and smiled wickedly. "My authority isn't as high as yours, and your behavior is hard to predict, but after living together for so long, I know your heart very well. You're just a stuffy, nice guy! Do you think everything is your business? Doesn't helping someone depend solely on your ability—your perception of your own ability?" Lin Yi turned abruptly and pinned Jiang Ling down. Their eyes met, and the hard armor on her chest deformed the latter's fat. "You always quietly do something earth-shattering, then walk away after it's over, followed by a group of grinning people cleaning up your mess. Who do you think you are? Do you think everyone wants to eat your exhaust? Huh?"

As she spoke, she frantically attacked Jiang Ling's fatal weakness on the waist. The latter was instantly broken by the attack and burst into laughter.

"S-Stop scratching! Ahaha, hahahaha...Isn't it okay if I agree?"

Jiang Ling struggled with all her strength, but the chaotic force quickly lifted both of them off the ground where only microgravity existed, and they then floated around in the space under the dome.

As the two people's bodies rose, the white earth appeared. The distant horizon was slightly curved, and above it were some tiny ice crystal clouds floating near and far, reflecting the light, like freshly risen dough patted on a chopping board.

Clinging to the ice shield of the Endless Galaxy are automated machines that heat the solid ice to repair craters caused by meteorite impacts, extracting small amounts of resources along the way. Their heating method is so violent that water ice often sublimates at high temperatures, then slowly loses heat in the vacuum, eventually becoming the source of clouds.

Lin Yi let go of Jiang Ling, then hugged her into her arms again, forehead to forehead. "I submitted a transfer application to my superiors." She said, "My retirement life will be postponed again, but for you, it's worth it."

"I know. I saw your resume yesterday. After being reinstated, I can see a lot of things." Jiang Ling changed into a more comfortable position. "But the body the organization assigns you will definitely not be the one you have now. You know, I need to bring a lot of scientific instruments, and there won't be much quality to use on you."

“How much exactly can it be?”

"Well, actually, I went and tried to get it when I saw your resume, but you know, the scientific advisors at the Countermeasures Bureau are both pragmatic and crazy. Plus, the matter itself is important enough to benefit the country and the people, so using authority to kick people out doesn't seem very decent—you see…" Jiang Ling's eyes dodged, and finally she said the key point, "Less than two kilograms."

"A head weighs two kilograms? That's all you leave for me? Am I worth this much in your heart?" Lin Yi blinked and said pitifully.

"No, no, no, no, no!" Jiang Ling babbled incoherently, struggling to get up. "This, this, this, this, hasn't been decided yet. I can still talk about it. Yes, I can still go on the line with them. At most, I'll have to make a few more runs, or—woo! Woo woo?"

Lin Yi covered her mouth.

"It's okay. Senior Lin Ke recommended the sixteenth-generation body to me. It's the latest experimental model, and its appearance can be completely customized." She smiled charmingly. "It has a computing power one million times greater than the fourteenth-generation one, consumes one and a half times more energy, and is 95% smaller, weighing only eleven kilograms. Of course, it's also part of your experimental payload."