Chapter 618: The White Cat’s Monologue

1.

I am Albus, and I come from a planet hundreds of billions of light-years away from Terra.

If planets were to be classified, those that have developed order and civilization but cannot explore outer space are First Level Civilizations.

Planets like Terra, which can conduct preliminary exploration of outer space, are Second Level Civilizations.

My home world, however, was a Third Level Civilization: capable of waging interplanetary war and having achieved a rudimentary understanding of the essence of cosmic time and space.

Unfortunately, in an ever-changing universe, the only constant is that "all things must come to an end." My home world was no exception and could not escape the end of its lifespan.

So, in its final days, my home world’s ruling class dismantled the planet, transcribing it into cosmic code and forging it into all sorts of systems:

There was the "Civilization System" to record our history, the "War God System" to command our offensive capabilities, the "Energy System" to preserve our power... and I, I am the "Space System," the record of my home world’s mountains and landscapes.

The moment before my home world fell, I was released. Like countless other systems, we drifted aimlessly through the cosmos as wisps of energy.

The universe is vast. In the eons that followed, I witnessed several interplanetary wars, watched innumerable stars collapse, and nearly got swallowed by a black hole a few times.

Just as I was about to leave the Milky Way Galaxy, I suddenly saw a blue planet—it was enveloped in water vapor, an exact mirror of my home world at its birth.

Out of longing for my home, I plunged headfirst into this new world without a second thought, landing in a vast ocean...

2.

To conserve energy, I went dormant for three billion years. When I awoke, I was no longer in the ocean.

Three billion years of tectonic shifts had transformed the world. The seas had given way to mountains. I found myself lying on a hillside, and nourished by Terra’s energy, my body had condensed into a block of white granite.

The next second, I saw a little girl with a face like a white dumpling. She was standing beside me, patting my body with a curious hand.

This was the first high-level intelligent life form I had seen on this planet.

As the rulers of their planet, the high-level intelligent beings of my home world had evolved past the need for limbs, and their brains accounted for half their body mass.

But this little girl was different. Her head was small, yet her limbs were long and slender. Her eyes were recessed, unable to rotate 360 degrees, and she only had two nostrils.

’All in all, a bit ugly...’

3.

Later, I learned that this white dumpling’s name was Melody Summers. She lived with her family in the village at the foot of the mountain.

Perhaps because entertainment was scarce in the village, she often came up the mountain to play with her friends. Sometimes they would run all over the hills, and other times they would climb onto my body and play house.

During the day, I would watch them play. At night, when all was quiet and they had gone home to rest, I would slip away.

I would let my spirit roam across the land, observing the country’s mountains and rivers, learning its history and knowledge.

The more I learned about this planet, the more it reminded me of my home world. So, I decided to stay for a while, to accompany this planet until its end...

4.

To my long-lived existence, a human lifetime is but a fleeting moment.

The little white dumpling slowly grew up. She left me, just like her friends, to go away for school and start her adult life.

After she left, I suddenly felt terribly bored, so I decided to take a short nap...

5.

When I woke again, a woman had awakened me.

Her name was Sylvia Lancaster. By a twist of fate, she activated me, and we became bound together.

Only then did I realize that this planet had already endured three years of natural disasters and turmoil...

Of course, these "natural disasters" were only disasters from the perspective of the planet’s inhabitants. The planet itself had many years left; to it, this was less than a common cold.

Since I was bound to a host, I decided to guide her properly. I taught her how to farm, hoping she would accumulate enough energy to unlock new areas.

But she told me that as a rich young lady, farming was out of the question. She would never farm in her life; she had her pride and her principles.

So, she forged her own path and began to buy and sell the stream water from my space.

’Fine, let her do as she pleases...’

6.

But then, I saw my white dumpling by her side.

The white dumpling didn’t seem to be doing well. She was often bullied by my host.

In the dead of night, I would float to the white dumpling’s side in my spirit form. I saw her there, blaming herself almost every night for the tragic deaths of her family. Then, during the day, she would let my host and the host’s family exploit her in a self-punishing way, as if trying to alleviate her guilt.

Seeing her like this twisted my entire system. If I were to look at it from a human perspective, I think the feeling would be heartache and sorrow.

My heart ached for the white dumpling, but there was nothing I could do...

Watching my host bustle about, hauling water day in and day out, was getting on my nerves. She wasn’t paying me any mind anyway, so I figured I might as well take a nap...

7.

I shouldn’t have slept. Because when I woke up, something had happened to my white dumpling.

I watched with my own eyes as her so-called family secretly disposed of her body. They even cursed her, saying she shouldn’t have resisted because her resistance might bring trouble to the family.

Afterward, I watched them cheerfully discuss plans to hold a wedding banquet for my host, while also celebrating the comeback of The Lancaster Company.

No one was sad about the white dumpling’s death. Only one night, I saw her biological mother standing alone on the balcony, shedding a few tears as she looked in the direction where the body had been dumped.

At that moment, I suddenly found it all utterly disgusting.

Seizing the opportunity while Sylvia Lancaster was in my space and temporarily unable to control me, I transformed into a giant white beast and effortlessly killed them all.

On Terra, there’s a saying: "a life for a life." They killed my white dumpling, so it was only right that they pay with their own lives.

And then, at the cost of half my energy, I made a deal with my good friend, the Time System. I reset time, bringing this planet back to before any of this had happened.

’I hope I can save her this time...’

8.

"White?... White!"

Melody Summers gently poked the white cat’s head. "What are you spacing out for?" she asked, puzzled. "Did you hear what I just said?"

Right now, Melody Summers was standing before The Trading Floor at Odyssey Station. At her feet were piles of food: self-heating hot pots, all kinds of ready-to-eat meal packets, and crate after crate of honey peaches, satsuma oranges, cherries, and strawberries...

"Let’s set sail first. We still have to move all this food to the room upstairs later," Melody Summers said with a grin as she peeled a satsuma orange.

"My mom’s working overtime this week, my uncle and aunt took Ian Summers back to my aunt’s hometown, Nina Summers was sent on a business trip, and my grandma and Miss Lowell took my younger aunt to Mount Anworth to relax..."

"I’m home alone this week, so that Interstellar Seven-day Tour I spent a billion to redeem last month can finally be used!"

"...The list of destinations includes a tour around the outskirts of the Andromeda Galaxy. I’ve heard of it in a documentary before... but the prompt says it’s pretty far, so I don’t know if we’ll have enough time..."

"Oh, right! We definitely have to go to the planet that developed the Far Sea Secret Medicine. I want to see what such an incredible planet looks like!"

"Hmm... and if we have time at the end, let’s make a trip to the Ore Star. It’ll be a good chance to swing by and beat up Felix Ford..."

Melody Summers popped the satsuma into her mouth as she spoke, her face alight with excitement. "Anyway, time is precious. Let’s get going!"

The white cat nodded and replied cheerfully:

[Yes, Host!]

[Voyager-class vessel launch sequence initiated...]

[Destination: Andromeda Galaxy. And we’re off!]