Chapter 15

As Chenxi and Jinyi grew closer, their starship was also nearing its destination.

Meanwhile, the largest space base of the machine race, located at the intersection of the inner and outer universes, is now bustling with activity like never before.

It's fair to say that the madness of the machine race at the base closest to Earth back then is matched by the elation of the base next to this wormhole.

After all, they are humans, and humans are coming towards them.

They will soon be able to see the human boy Chen Xi, which makes them very happy.

Because of this news, and because of the base's unique geographical location, almost every machine race that could travel and arrive in time, both from the inner and outer universes, has gathered here. Now, this largest space base in both the inner and outer universes is quite crowded, with starships densely packed around its edges, making it impossible to find a suitable starport to dock. Meanwhile, new starships arrive daily through the wormhole not far from the base, and starships from all directions in the inner universe are constantly converging here. It's clear that the current congestion is not yet at its peak.

Although those who arrived at the base early cannot see the human boy yet, the atmosphere of anticipation and the knowing that the person they want to see is getting closer to them every day still fills them with a sense of happiness.

Meanwhile, social media platforms on the StarNet have been extremely active lately, and the most enviable accounts are those with coordinates showing they are located at the Sky Screen Base. The Sky Screen Base, the name of the largest space base of the machine race next to the wormhole, is meant to be a protective barrier, like a net covering the sky. It is the first line of defense in the inner universe, and the strongest barrier urgently built upon the discovery of the wormhole, precisely to prevent potential invasion by powerful extraterrestrial enemies.

Although their subsequent exploration in outer space was somewhat unexpected, none of the base's defensive capabilities were ever used. Instead, their territory in outer space expanded, and now, on the other side of the wormhole, within their sphere of influence, they have established new lines of defense—one, two, three, four, five…

Leaving those aside for now, in short, the most enviable group in the entire StarNet right now is the machine race located at the Sky Screen Base. The last group to be so envied was the machine race that carried out missions in Earth's special protected areas.

On this day, a satellite image suddenly appeared on the StarNet, showing a cold, steel-structured building. Its menacing and chilling appearance made one wonder what kind of evil and terrifying demon king lived inside.

The caption for this picture reads: "Finally got this picture done!! Reliable sources say this is the house built for my adorable Chenxi, save it now!! Otherwise, that idiot mastermind will find out!!"

Below this post, one reply after another appeared rapidly.

Really? I've saved the image, thank you!

Whether it's true or not, I'll save it first, just in case!

—Oh my god, does my adorable Chenxi like this style? Ahhh! Screaming, it's so cute!

I've never seen this building before. I checked the pixels and found no signs of compositing, so I'll take it for now and save it.

Thank you, OP! You're such a kind person! By the way, is this building located in the central area where the mainframe lives? Ah, I really want to see it with my own eyes.

—Don't even think about it upstairs. They won't let you in to the central area just like that. And as usual, let me just say, you bastard idiot mastermind!!

The next instant, the post that broke the news disappeared from the platform without a trace.

The machine race members who were having a heated discussion in the building were momentarily stunned. Then, countless posts asking questions popped up on the platform, and the popularity soared even higher.

—What happened? Was that really true? That leak was true?! So it got shut down??

—Was it because there were too many people criticizing the mastermind that it got blocked?

—Aren't there plenty of posts criticizing the mastermind on various platforms lately? Look at how quickly they've been banned. Anyway, I believe I've seen some real leaks, so I'm clutching my saved pictures and grinning like an idiot.

Holy crap, the person upstairs shared something, come check this out!!

Please share!

...

While the StarNet was bustling with activity and the machine race in the Sky Screen Base was filled with jubilation and anticipation, not all machine races in the world were happy. The most unhappy of all were those machine races dispatched to carry out missions in outer space, who could not easily return.

The longer those machine races have left to carry out their missions in the outer universe, and the farther they are from the inner universe, the more unhappy they become.

As a result, in the vast star system in outer space recently occupied by the intelligent races, the high-ranking members of various intelligent races under their jurisdiction have recently discovered that the intelligent races responsible for supervising their races are not in a good mood.

Although they had never seen those cold, seemingly emotionless Sogdians in a good mood before, this time their behavior was far too obvious. The chilling aura emanating from them was several times stronger than before, and sometimes they could even see a hint of annoyance in the Sogdians' dangerous, cold, dark red eyes. It was as if they were some kind of eyesore, and their very presence was extremely unpleasant.

This terrified all the races, who became extremely docile and obedient, not daring to do anything unnecessary.

Even some normally unruly races became unusually quiet at this time.

After all, no one wanted to challenge the cannons of the Chilean starships at this time.

Isn't it good to be alive?

...

Amidst this atmosphere of completely opposite emotions between the inner and outer universes, the starship carrying Chenxi finally arrived at the Tianping Base.

This time, Chenxi sensed that they might have arrived at their destination even before Jin Yi notified her.

The reason is simple: just a few tens of minutes ago, his starscape wall was replaced by a dense array of starships, replacing the originally empty and beautiful starry sky.

Chen Xi couldn't help but walk to the Starscape Wall. Looking at the endless starship fleet outside, he was overwhelmed with awe. His daily hour of study had given him a much deeper understanding of the present era. At the very least, he knew that the machine race now had more than 500 billion people. How much was 500 billion? For Chen Xi, whose total population of all Earth had never reached 10 billion, this was an enormous number.

Today was the first time he had seen a scene that gave him a direct experience of such a vast race. However, why hadn't he seen the base yet?

Chenxi, who had been curious about the space base for a long time, couldn't help but stand on tiptoe and look into the distance, but still couldn't see anything that looked like a base.

At that moment, there was a gentle knock on the door, and then Jin Yi pushed the door open and walked in.

Jin Yi, who had just entered, immediately noticed Chen Xi's bare feet. He walked over familiarly, picked her up, and reached out to touch her fair little feet.

"Haha, it itches, but it's not cold. The temperature is set high today, so it's not cold at all."

The temperature he felt in his hand confirmed that Chen Xi was right, so Jin Yi remained silent.

Chen Xi looked at Jin Yi curiously and said, "Are we almost at the base? I haven't seen the base yet."

Jin Yi said, "We'll be at the base in three hours and twenty-two minutes. You can take a nap first."

Three hours? Chen Xi's eyes widened in astonishment. He couldn't help but look at the Starscape Wall again. There were still three hours to go. Knowing the speed of starships, he found it unbelievable. If there was still so much time, how could there be so many starships outside?

Understanding what Chenxi was thinking, Jin Yi explained, "They are waiting here so that they can see our starship."

"I saw... a starship?"

“Well, the space base we’re going to is about the size of several planets combined, and we’ll only dock at one of the starports. So even if they all wait at the base, very few of them will actually see our starship land. So they simply wait outside the base.” Jin Yi was very clear about the thoughts of those machine races.

Chen Xi opened his mouth, but suddenly didn't know what to say, because he suddenly realized that he seemed to have underestimated everyone's enthusiasm for him, the only human being.

Instead of sleeping and resting, Chen Xi stayed in his room, occasionally glancing up at the Starscape Wall. On his 2-in-1 tablet, he saw the relevant content he had searched for, and the most popular content was the live streams from the machine races on the starships outside.

As the live stream showed his starship getting closer and closer, and the comments below were refreshing rapidly, leaving only afterimages, Chen Xi couldn't help but smile knowingly.

...

Meanwhile, in the central area of ​​the Tianping Base, in the core control room, a figure who had been sitting there for who knows how many years quietly opened his eyes.

As if something was making him happy, a slight smile appeared in his usually indifferent golden eyes.

After a long while, a beautiful, heavenly voice rang out, "Let's go, let's go greet my baby."

As soon as he finished speaking, the figure that could hold the attention of all living beings left the spot where he had sat for decades without moving, the loose hem of his robe gently brushing against the exquisitely carved armrest.

...

Three hours passed in the blink of an eye, but knowing that so many people were waiting for him at the base, Chen Xi couldn't help but feel a little nervous. He even couldn't help but wonder what he would do if he saw a huge crowd of machine races after he got off the starship. He had never dealt with that kind of scene before.

However, Chen Xi's nervousness, as if he were about to give a speech, did not last long, because after seeing the fully enclosed aircraft he was traveling in, he realized that he did not actually have to face those machine races directly.

It has to be said that at that moment, he breathed a sigh of relief.

And so, accompanied by Jin Yi, Chen Xi boarded the fully enclosed aircraft, which was then guarded by combat aircraft in front and behind, and the group flew out of the starship's exit.

After leaving the starship, a wider view clearly came into Chenxi's eyes. Because there was no atmosphere, there was a vast and clear starry sky above, while below was a flat "continent".

This "continent" is entirely made of metal. To maximize its utilization, it is filled with skyscrapers, floating bridges, and countless other incredible, futuristic buildings that exude a sense of space and science fiction. But all of this is nothing compared to the densely packed, waving machine race that occupies every road, every bridge, every window, and the top of every building.

Wherever his aircraft passed, he could feel all the gazes below following his aircraft.

Looking down from the aircraft, it was practically a sea of ​​hands.

His aircraft flew along, and he watched this scene the whole way.

Shock is not enough to describe Chenxi's feelings at this moment.

He remained silent for a long time the entire way.

After the aircraft had been flying for an unknown period of time, he suddenly noticed a clear boundary in the area ahead. Beyond a certain line, the streets and buildings were empty again, and the scene that had been filled with machine races was no longer there.

Chen Xi suddenly understood something. He looked down at the machine race, which was still huddled together, waving its arms frantically at his aircraft. He looked down at the two-in-one tablet in his hand, which was broadcasting live the aircraft he was riding. However, because the aircraft was made of opaque material, the image he saw in the live broadcast was just a silver-gray, and he could not see any figures at all.

Thinking of all the shy and reserved machine races he had ever encountered, and all the efforts they had made just to catch a glimpse of him, Chen Xi suddenly felt a surge of inexplicable impulse. Before he could even process it, he had already asked, "Can the windows of this aircraft become transparent?"

Jin Yi understood Chen Xi's meaning and, after confirming it again, switched the aircraft's protection mode. As a result, the aircraft's originally silver-gray, opaque windows became transparent.

Chen Xi tentatively pressed himself against the window, and in that instant, he could feel all the machines below freeze, and then the next moment, they waved even more frantically.

Chen Xi smiled at the window and waved to them before leaving the window. At that moment, the aircraft flew into the central area, and the machine race outside quickly disappeared behind them.

Chen Xi had just responded to the robot race's enthusiasm and was in a good mood. He snuggled up to Jin Yi and even hummed a song as he prepared to go to his new residence.

...