Benjamin Foster looked around, feeling that he had convinced everyone with reason, so he maintained his concerned-for-the-nation tone, dismissed the meeting, and prepared for the opening ceremony. He found a secluded spot and quickly checked his appearance in the corner glass—broad shoulders, narrow waist, impeccably formal attire, hair slicked back without a strand out of place, a forehead worthy of an interstellar beauty contest, and a set of handsome, well-defined features. Truly, he was a dashing gentleman.

Next, the handsome gentleman practiced his smile in the glass for a moment, trying out the “no teeth, just a hint of a smirk” subtle smile, the “eight teeth” standard smile, and the reserved smile that was somewhere in between, showing just one edge of a tooth.

Each of the three smiles had its own merits and was perfect in its own way. The handsome Lu was struck by indecision. After a rigorous comparison, although he really wanted to show off his bright, honest white teeth, he felt that being more reserved was more fitting for a principal, so he reluctantly settled for the third option.

Once everything was ready, he adopted his most nonchalant demeanor, turned around the teaching building, and headed toward the auditorium.

Stepping over the threshold of the auditorium, Benjamin Foster put one hand in his pocket, nodded in greeting to everyone who acknowledged him, but his mind wandered: “Is he coming or not?”

On this beautiful planet full of bumpkins, probably only Benjamin Foster had the discernment to know that Luke was not human, because the average IQ of the local artificial intelligences was probably less than eighty—it was truly hard to see Luke as the same species as them.

Benjamin Foster also knew that Clark was not from the Eight Star Systems, and definitely not an interstellar pirate from beyond—Benjamin Foster had grown up around the One-Eyed Eagle and had seen plenty of space pirates. Those people were like wandering vultures, with a kind of ferocity born of hardship and desperation. Clark was nothing like them.

The day before, when they talked about “Eden,” Luke had tried twice to correct his assumptions about the First Star System, but both times Clark had interrupted. Benjamin Foster had actually just pretended not to notice. The reason he and Clark could be friends was precisely because they both knew when to turn a blind eye.

Benjamin Foster had met Clark while running away from home. At that time, he had drifted near Beijing Beta Star, still undecided about whether to land, when he came across a drifting bottle… no, an ecological pod.

At the time, it had no markings, quietly spinning outside the lifeless artificial atmosphere of Beijing Beta Star, so exquisite it seemed like a visitor from another dimension. The minimalist shell design was enough to turn any researcher into a stalker. Benjamin Foster, drooling, followed the mysterious ecological pod around Beijing Beta Star for three full orbits. Even though he knew that fishing for unknown objects in space was a niche form of suicide, he couldn’t help but take the risk.

The entire salvage operation lasted nearly three hours. After hauling it in, Benjamin Foster discovered that the ecological pod was equipped with a strict encryption system—if forced open, it would immediately trigger a nuclear self-destruct, destroying everything.

What was inside this exquisite ecological pod might have been a huge secret, or perhaps a deadly virus. Either way, it was dangerous. Any normal person would have put it back where they found it and stayed far away.

But Young Master Foster was clearly not a normal person.

As a scientist with a penchant for trouble, Young Master Foster wasn’t particularly curious about what was inside the pod, nor did he want to look. But he fell in love at first sight with the pod’s provocative encryption system, immediately forgetting his poetry and distant dreams, and enthusiastically engaged in a battle of wits with the encryption. After more than two months and many close calls, he finally defeated this “Sphinx.”

In his excitement, Benjamin Foster downed two bottles of whiskey and wrote a grand interstellar travel journal to record his feat. By the time he finished, he was quite drunk, and in a careless stumble, he accidentally opened the ecological pod. Pandora’s box burst open, and Benjamin Foster’s drunkenness nearly evaporated along with his gallbladder.

He rubbed his eyes, then rubbed them again, and sat dazed on the floor for five minutes, making sure he wasn’t hallucinating—

Inside the ecological pod was a person… alive.

Benjamin Foster quickly popped a handful of hangover pills and went to check on the person inside. He found that the person’s vital signs had dropped to the bare minimum, with a mechanical hand attached to his arm like an ornament—probably some kind of artificial intelligence, but with insufficient power to activate.

Low vital signs can preserve life in extreme environments, but over time, they cause irreversible damage. Benjamin Foster had no idea how long this “Sleeping Beauty” had been in hibernation and was afraid he might die in his sleep, so he pulled out his entire set of medical equipment. However, the drugs this “visitor from beyond” used to lower his vital signs were not among the common types, and the medical equipment couldn’t identify them. Benjamin Foster wasn’t a doctor and didn’t dare use the wrong stimulant, so he could only give him daily nutrient infusions and try to wake him with microcurrents.

On the third day, “Sleeping Beauty’s” eyelids fluttered slightly. Benjamin Foster tried talking to him, but got no response.

With nothing better to do, Benjamin Foster grabbed a stack of books and started reading aloud by “Sleeping Beauty’s” ear, from “Advanced Mecha Design Theory” to “A Brief History of Earth,” and finally a raunchy little story featuring dozens of fairies brawling—this time, his audience finally couldn’t take it anymore and opened his eyes.