Tonight, Alice joins the hunt.

Moreover, the reason he appeared here at this time was simply because he saw Cheng Xiao sitting there smoking and came over to chat for a bit!

[We need to notify Alice and the others to handle this... What the hell is going on? I remember Cheng Xiao was perfectly fine not long ago. He was perfectly normal before taking on the project to protect Luo Ji... no, he was perfectly normal even before this assassination attempt!]

Even those who go astray should have the right to go astray. A primary school student who has only mastered the four basic arithmetic operations is not qualified to read mathematical conjectures until he vomits blood!

[Could it be that Luo Ji has a problem? Or did Chang'e tamper with the original protagonist?]

His mind raced, and a topic he hadn't originally intended to mention was casually brought up. He also immediately sent information about Cheng Xiao's changes to the now-rebuilt Grand Library.

“It’s already good that you think that way,” Zhang Jie said, glancing at the door of the medical room not far away. “I actually think this operation was stupid, but this is all we can do… Besides, in the original story, Luo Ji was assassinated immediately after leaving the Wallfacer meeting. We’re just recreating the original story.”

"The script has clearly been changed, but we're still recreating the original story here?" Cheng Xiao shook his head and smiled bitterly, flicking his cigarette ash. The falling ash was instantly neutralized by invisible devourers before it even touched the ground—it was a swarm of nanobots, hidden in the air in small clusters. And they were given special attention in the area where the reincarnators were located.

Patchouli had been watching this place the entire time—or rather, she had already cast a part of her gaze here before Zhang Jie sent the message. Even though she didn't show herself, express her opinion, or make any sound, her will remained constantly overseeing the second echelon of reincarnators in the Central Continent Team. She ensured they could provide support immediately if needed, and also ensured they wouldn't cause chaos due to momentary whims or biases.

Normally, she doesn't make her presence known, nor does she let others notice her. But once she reveals a clear trace, it means she's paying more attention to the area and has expressed some opinion to the reincarnation members who are able to notice her presence.

Instead of communicating or replying, they use these subtle methods to hint. This act of hinting itself may also carry some meaning.

Cheng Xiao didn't notice this change because his vision, thinking, wisdom, and reaction ability were not yet at that level. Zhang Jie, however, did notice the change, and he smiled wryly and nodded slightly, with a hint of a micrometer, to indicate that he was aware of it.

Things may be more complicated than I thought, and I need to take some risks and test the waters.

Zhang Jie tugged at his captain's coat—his current identity was the captain of the starship 'Tang'—and after a few seconds of organizing his thoughts, he briefly informed his other, more mature companions of his situation via a private channel through the mental link.

A faint breeze stirred in the air. Some shallow shadows shifted slightly, and sparks flew from inside some sealed electrical appliances.

“First, for us reincarnators who haven’t unlocked the fourth-tier genetic lock, we don’t actually have access to the script level. Second, for the Main God, the script for this world has never been changed from beginning to end.” He pointed to the reincarnator’s wristwatch on his wrist, showing Cheng Xiao the words on it. “Haven’t you noticed yet? Our team’s mission from start to finish has been to send Earth to the Samsung System… For the Main God, this world has always been a wandering Earth.”

"Then what did we do before?" — Cheng Xiao was referring to the reshaping of the planet.

"What we changed before was just Chang'e's script. Yes, the one who could crush the sun with a single slap. From beginning to end, all she wanted was to change the script of this world from The Wandering Earth to The Three-Body Problem. What we did was actually to further process the script of The Three-Body Problem, turning it into The Wandering Star, which is extremely similar to The Wandering Earth in terms of theme and content."

'What's the point of this?'—Cheng Xiao didn't ask this question.

“And we didn’t actually succeed, because we couldn’t. That self-proclaimed Chang’e has the ability to flip the table and start over. And our every move is actually under her observation.” He looked at the end of the corridor—there was no one there, but he seemed to be looking at someone. As if some uninvited guest, invisible to the naked eye, was standing there.

This is a secret that cannot be spoken aloud, yet both Chang'e and the Reincarnator know it in their hearts. If this secret has value, then Chang'e, who is watching here, might react—like the swarms of nanobots that Patchouli has placed all over the world to monitor all changes, it might just be a message to extraordinary beings, but for those below the extraordinary level, it could be a fatal reaction.

He did not receive the reaction he expected.

Then the shadows faded again, and the electrical appliances stopped sparking. But whether it was his imagination or not, Zhang Jie felt as if someone really did walk over from the other side of the corridor and stop beside them.

One second, two seconds.

Nothing happened; perhaps it was just his imagination. After all, he hadn't unlocked the fourth-order gene lock yet, so the possibility of hallucinations or illusions wasn't zero.

"You mean..." Cheng Xiao, who hadn't sensed anything, seemed to understand.

"Chang'e's interference in this world has never stopped. Even if the characters and settings have changed, the story is still the same story... Even if we don't do what we did today, I guess Luo Ji will be assassinated due to some accident or coincidence. Because this is what he was destined to experience. Even if we don't do anything, Chang'e will push something similar to happen."

Is that so?

“That’s right, exactly.” Zhang Jie replied, secretly examining the guy in front of him and everything around him, but he didn’t find any changes that were expected or unexpected—nothing at all. It was as if everything was just his imagination.

“So…” Zhang Jie hesitated for a moment, “you should now understand whether what we’ve done was right or wrong, and what attitude we should have towards it.”

“I understand.” Cheng Xiao nodded, as if it were just a simple act of guidance. “Thank you for your guidance, Brother Zhang Jie. I have absolutely no more doubts now.”

He stood up, and just then, a green light appeared on the door to the medical room behind him—Luo Ji had woken up.

Chapter Twenty-Eight: The Struggling Fish

When Cheng Xiao and the captain of the 'Tang' arrived with gifts and a large group of renowned experts, Luo Ji was initially flattered—first flattered, then lost in thought. But as the crowd swarmed in and then dispersed, leaving him with a quiet space to ponder, a sense of confusion resurfaced deep within him.

Did I really do anything meaningful? Did I really do anything of value? Did my pronouncements, my research into cosmic sociology (which I didn't actually dedicate much effort to), truly possess such immense importance that it warranted aliens sending multiple assassination attempts against me?

In the past, Luo Ji might have considered himself exceptionally gifted. He was simply that strong, that capable, and worthy of the world's attention—well, perhaps not so arrogant. But he would have been determined to shoulder the blame that had come his way. However, now, he felt something was slightly off.

Is cosmic sociology a profound field of study? No, not at all. Because when Luo Ji wrote it, it had no research subject, no reference material whatsoever. It's simply a conclusion drawn by a hot-blooded young professor from outdated data through a biased analysis. There's no evidence to prove it's wrong, nor is there any evidence to prove it's right.

Cheng Xiao's reasoning did have some merit, but it was essentially putting the cart before the horse—was he crucial simply because aliens attacked him? Then why would aliens attack him in the first place?

Perhaps I am actually a philosopher. Because my way of thinking is what they fear?

Luo Ji thought to himself. But upon examining his own heart, he ultimately concluded that he was merely an ordinary and mediocre scholar. Putting aside other matters, at least when compared to masters of philosophy like Nietzsche, Hegel, and Gongsun Long, he was nothing more than a mediocre individual. While there is certainly the possibility of instant success in the realm of thought, most of the time, the accumulation of years is a prerequisite for a flash of inspiration.

A young scholar, not yet thirty, who has never experienced a major war, nor endured years of hardship, who has neither reached the pinnacle of the world nor fallen to the depths of hell, whose greatest setback was a heartbreak and whose greatest success was a single academic paper—isn't it all predictable how brilliantly his intellectual fire could ignite?

His fingers moved, counting from one to ten, then back to one. His wounds healed with time, and the 'sea urchin' outside the projection window gradually transformed into irregularly shaped 'cheese'. Perhaps in less than seven days, Iapetus would become a true gray moon.

—The Earth is not lacking in wise men who can manipulate celestial bodies as if they were toys. So, naturally, the Earth is also not lacking in philosophers who can produce results in the sociology of the universe.

As Luo Ji prepared to leave the medical room and begin fulfilling his responsibilities as a researcher in the 'Star Research' project team, he finally realized the 'incongruous' nature of the attacks he had suffered.

—【There was no murderous intent.】

................................................

Cheng Xiao was disappointed, or rather, not just Cheng Xiao. The other reincarnators behind Cheng Xiao, who had held expectations for Luo Ji as an individual, were also disappointed. The assassination attempt had not stirred any alarm or fighting spirit in Luo Ji; on the contrary, his heart and spirit had been completely shattered by it.

Luo Ji's experimental group became the worst group in the entire Star Research Project. This was because its leader had become an absolute incompetent. From the day he left the medical ward, Luo Ji spent seventy percent of his day drinking and playing video games. The remaining thirty percent was spent, depending on the situation, sleeping or engaging in some unspeakable nighttime activities.

Cheng Xiao initially tried to dissuade him, but his patience quickly ran out. Ah, yes, he was indeed a fan of Luo Ji. But the Luo Ji he admired was the Swordholder who single-handedly suppressed the Trisolaran civilization for decades in the original story, not the good-for-nothing indulging in wine and women he was now. After his patience ran out, he asked Alice to bring in an automated robot with the same appearance as him to take over his current duties, thus saving his precious time to devote to other areas that were more worthy of his attention.

For reasons unknown, Chu Xuan did not revoke Luo Ji's position as head of the research group. He did not see him, ignored him, but also did not let him leave the moon, Io, which was gradually being transformed into a gray moon. He simply kept Luo Ji in the research center specifically assigned to him. Occasionally, he would send some immature or unpromising researchers there to kill time. Over time, Luo Ji's research group acquired a rather unpleasant reputation. Only those abandoned scholars were sent there to pass the time.

This was not a short process, but a long period—the transformation of the Gray Moon took only seven days, and on the seventh day, Earth entered Saturn's gravitational pull. Everyone living on the Gray Moon could clearly see the narrow, elongated zigzag line that Saturn's gravity ripped through the cosmic darkness, pulling Earth apart. Then everyone witnessed the greatest spectacle they had ever observed in their lives.

Saturn, right before everyone's eyes, has dented a crater over 100 million square kilometers in area. Its rings are disrupted, and when the gray moon derails and merges with the white and dark moons in outer space, the resulting gravitational waves are like a mischievous child as tall as Saturn kicking its surface with tremendous force.

From then on, nothing in the solar system could pose any threat to Earth. Jupiter and Saturn, the two largest gravitational sources besides the Sun, both collapsed under the completed March system. Earth's speed and stability were greatly enhanced by the addition of the Gray Moon. And if it could accelerate at full speed, Earth might reach its destination less than a hundred years ahead of schedule.

However, Earth did not accelerate; on the contrary, the World Government slowed it down. After all, traversing the void is a long journey, and in the past, due to insufficient technological reserves, there was nothing that could be done. Now that the technological level has caught up, it is only natural to stockpile sufficient materials before traversing the void.

Earth spent a month orbiting outside Saturn, during which time it extracted a large amount of ring material and formed it into twelve small moons, which it then stored. These moons will orbit below the March system and maintain a uniform speed and altitude under the interference of the gravitational well.

Six months later, Earth reached Uranus. Approximately one ton of precious minerals were destructively mined, transforming into eighteen small satellites confined to Earth's edge. Only Uranus, resembling a honeycomb, remained alone in its place.

A year later, Neptune's appearance bore a striking resemblance to a famous mobile phone brand from an older generation. The number of reserve asteroids orbiting Earth increased from thirty to forty-nine. The Trisolaran civilization, whose existence had been announced a year prior, launched several teardrop-shaped strong interaction probes toward Earth—they destroyed the Old Twenty-Four Histories fleet sent to intercept them within a minute. Then, while attempting to bombard Earth, they were captured by a shifting gravitational well and imprisoned in the void.

Earth was thus stuck in space for a month and three weeks. On the fiftieth day, Chu Xuan's Star Research Project team cracked part of the mystery of strong interaction materials—the droplets were captured and then disassembled. Some were left in the Star Research laboratory as experimental materials. Others were transported to the military's manufacturing plants to build a new planetary defense fleet. Regardless of the outcome, the Trisolaran civilization did not release another batch of droplets to Earth.

And so, Earth continued its journey through the void. And exactly two years after the founding of Star Research, Earth approached Pluto.

..........................................

"Now, we're announcing a new batch of top young scholars who will soon be departing for Gray Moon. They will be adding fresh blood to the Star Research Project team, the guardians of Earth, who have dedicated themselves to the peace and well-being of the planet's people for the past two years. The list is now being announced—Bai Ping, Zhuang Yan, Cheng Xin… Click."

Luo Ji lifted his foot off the bed and snapped his fingers with his big toe to shut down the incessant live broadcast on the wall. He slowly stretched, his gaze shifting to the side, where he saw a number starting with 'fifteen' on the floating clock.

I just woke up. It's a weekday, 3 PM. Perfect.

He picked up his personal terminal beside his pillow… As always, it was overflowing with missed calls. That's the downside of AI systems; even though everyone knew he would never be at the office on time, the machine would still send him a reminder message every fifteen minutes after detecting his physical condition and location—he raised his hand and deleted those AI messages with a single click. The cluttered contact list immediately dwindled to just a couple of small messages, becoming clean and tidy.

He rubbed his eyes and carefully examined the last remaining name.

“'The new project deputy'... It's been three weeks, and she still hasn't given up.” Luo Ji tilted his head, his spine making a series of creaking noises. He slowly got out of bed, his gaze sweeping over the messy surroundings.

The area under the bed was a mess, the bed itself was a mess, there were bills next to the bed, and water stains stretched from the bathroom to the door at the foot of the bed.

Ah, very good, excellent. That's the advantage of being able to keep accounts. Clean, decisive, and leaving no loose ends—after two years, Graymoon is no longer just home to a group of detached scholars and heavily armed soldiers responsible for security. After escaping Saturn's gravitational pull, Graymoon has been gradually transformed into a gigantic high-tech research and development zone capable of housing hundreds of millions of people. And with the influx of people, such a large area naturally cannot only house soldiers and scholars. Certain... professions that can provide specific services to specific groups when they have specific needs have naturally developed and grown quietly.

Luo Ji liked this place, even though it had confined him for two years. But not having to work, wielding considerable power, having plenty of money, and enjoying advanced information technology meant those two years weren't exactly hardship. After all, Earth had been far too peaceful during that time. Aliens were kept at bay by the gravitational well and light-years away, and all minor forces on Earth were easily suppressed in their infancy by the World Government with overwhelming force. This led to the booming development of information and entertainment culture. In other words, with internet and money, you had everything.

Does Luo Ji have internet access? Yes, he lives in a residential area for top scientists. Everything there is top-notch and free.

Is Luo Ji rich? Yes, he's the project manager of the Star Research Project, capable of leading a single research project and possessing a 30-square-kilometer research center. He has access to the world's most advanced equipment, receives a salary absolutely befitting his position, and can instantly mobilize a division of guards for his use or acquire over 10 billion credits within five seconds simply by submitting a report. All he needs to do afterward is reply with "project failed," and it's all done without any problems.

He was rich, powerful, and influential, and no matter how reckless he acted, someone would always bail him out. After two years of this lifestyle, Luo Ji was still just an ordinary, reclusive guy who spent his days finding amusement online or enjoying a night out in real life—he was somewhat impressed with himself. However, staying in his room all day was ultimately not good for his health.

After a few seconds of thought, he decided to go to the research center today—after all, he had to go out and wander around every month anyway. Today was also about time to do his monthly tasks.

Very well, let's do it. Fifteen minutes later, Luo Ji, having tidied his clothes a bit, left looking impeccably dressed. Naturally, as the research director in charge of a single project at the Star Research Institute, he was entitled to live in a mobile villa that could be moved at will. And when he finished grooming himself and stepped out of the room, his research center was already in front of him.

The security guard saluted him, but he ignored him. Busy or feigningly busy staff cast surprised or feigned-surprised glances at him, but he paid them no heed—what a joke! This research center's reputation was ruined long ago; anyone with connections in Graymoon knew it was practically a retirement home. Everyone here was a pro at slacking off!

Don't think he didn't see that the bespectacled guy pretending to be coding was watching Zhan Lan's concert just a second ago!

[However, there should still be one person who doesn't slack off, or rather, is too proud to slack off... This new project deputy has been sending follow-up messages for three weeks. Hopefully, she's not like Cheng Xiao and his group. Tsk, those guys secretly plotting something, I think I last saw him a month ago.]

[Forget it, it doesn't matter. If the sky falls, the tall ones will hold it up. It's not my turn to be that tall one yet.]

He thought to himself, and without saying hello, he simply pushed open the solid wooden door with 'Deputy Supervisor - Luo Ye' written on it.

....................................

I really wanted to do a monthly poll... but never mind, I won't start a new one, I'll just set up a poll. I'm planning to write some side stories soon.

First, a fictional confrontation: throw the current Central Continent Team into the battlefield of the original Resident Evil 2 to fight a team battle against the original Demon Team.

Second, the running group records: go back several hundred years and read Alice and Patchouli's records as investigators.

Third, let's imagine a fictional future. Since we've always been confined to the world of movies, what if we let a storyline take us to the world of anime, whether it's a mainstream or niche series? We might even land on the moon!

Anyway, let's keep throwing...

Section Twenty-Nine: Leaves Fall Silently

When the door opened, what came into Luo Ji's view was an ordinary and unremarkable woman.

She was very young, at least outwardly appearing to be only in her early twenties, or even under twenty—which wasn't really a problem in this era, as there were all sorts of skincare products that could easily prolong a woman's youth. However, aside from this youthful appearance, this woman named Luo Ye had almost no distinguishing features.

Her figure was lackluster, with little curves in her chest and hips. She was neither tall nor short, and would hardly stand out in a group photo. Her eyes might be bright, but a pair of old-fashioned non-prescription glasses completely ruined her air of mystery. Perhaps her impeccably tailored women's suit was the only redeeming feature. But Luo Ji could tell at a glance that it was nothing more than a cheap, mass-produced suit costing two thousand yuan.

Rather than a scholar, her image was more like that of a secret agent conforming to popular cinematic aesthetics. Of course, this is just popular aesthetics; the essence remains different. When Luo Ji pushed open the door, she was processing a top-secret internal document. As Luo Ji entered the room, she looked up and adjusted her glasses.

"Director Luo Ji?" she asked, her voice neither clear nor pleasant. She was just an ordinary young female teacher, with a grade A in Chinese.

[...Is he just an ordinary person? And has nothing to do with those who are watching him?]

"Yes, I am Luo Ji." The intruder who pushed open the door replied nonchalantly, "This should be the first time you and I have met, Deputy Director Luo Ye. I won't bother with formalities. There must be a reason why you've been sending me messages asking me to come work at the research center. Let's get straight to the point."

“There are some documents that need your processing,” Luo Ye replied, then emphasized in a flat tone, “Some very special documents.”

"Just this kind of thing? You could have just sent it to my email. Why keep calling me over?" Luo Ji frowned, his words revealing his strong dissatisfaction. "Besides, if I don't come, can't you just send them to my house? It's not a big deal, and there aren't any top-secret files in our research center... Can't you even be a little more flexible?"

If she were an ordinary person with no connections and only focused on self-interest, she would definitely be somewhat flustered. If she had other connections and motives, she could certainly act flawlessly as long as she didn't intend to reveal them. And if she were a genuine scholar, she might exhibit some unexpected behavior.

“These documents are special,” Luo Ye replied calmly—a reaction that slightly surprised Luo Ji—she raised her hand and adjusted her glasses. Then she took a sealed file folder from the file shelf beside her.

It wasn't marked either Top Secret or Confidential; it was just a well-sealed file folder.

Luo Ji instinctively took it.