Great, we're doomed now!

"This is a mine, why..."

The communication channel was noisy; everyone was stunned by the steel giant buried deep underground and didn't even notice the two beautiful girls who seemed out of place in their surroundings walking over.

“It is indeed Barbatos. It looks like it has been modified several times, but the frame number can prove it.” The maid used a detector to analyze the reactor’s wavelength and reconfirmed the identity of the machine in front of her.

Lucy narrowed her eyes: "Barbatos was missing for half a century, and it was unearthed as soon as we arrived... Is it really that much of a coincidence?"

Even though strange things have been happening to Ye Shou all along, this time it's still a bit too "fateful".

"It's not that simple."

Ye Shou lightly jumped and placed his hand on the cockpit canopy, where pale golden ripples penetrated the armor and went deep inside.

The miners were curious about what Ye Shou was doing, but dared not step forward to stop him—they had virtually no human rights, and if anything happened, they would often be the ones to suffer.

Olga's expression changed abruptly after Mikazuki explained what had just happened. She stared intently at Ye Shou's back, lost in thought.

After a moment of silence, Ye Shou opened his eyes. The sound of latches clattering came from inside the Gundam, as if something had been automatically triggered.

Click, hiss—!

The scorching, dusty air rushed towards him, but he paid no attention, his gaze fixed intently on the scene.

Inside the cockpit, a corpse dressed in a spacesuit sat quietly. Through the blurred mask, it was clear the pilot had become a mummified corpse. It seemed they had encountered an accident in outer space, but somehow ended up on Titan and were buried by geological activity.

A flicker of pity crossed Ye Shou's eyes the instant he saw the corpse:

He did not use the Holy Grail Mark!

Ye Shou was attracted by the faint fluctuations of the mark!

For pilots, if the life support system is damaged, even if they consume the life energy in their mark, it will only prolong their lives for a few minutes before they are still killed by the harsh environment.

However, people are often irrational when faced with the threat of death, and they will desperately grasp at any hope. This is why a large number of traces have been consumed and lost in the past three hundred years, and now even a single "inner ring" spot cannot be gathered.

But the pilot of Barbatos resisted the temptation in his dying moments, choosing not to prolong his life for a moment, but instead sending the message into the future—

His spiritual power was absorbed by the [Holy Grail Mark] and remained on his corpse. Over half a century, it has merged with the body, forming something similar to a machine soul.

The flesh will decay, but as the decisive weapon in the Calamity War, the Gundam frame can be preserved for decades or even centuries. Nothing is more suitable for communication than this.

He probably hoped that members of the Legion would come to Titan and discover Barbatos through the mutual resonance between the Marks.

However, he disappeared in space. Ordinary inheritors cannot sense things from a distance. After all, human spiritual power is limited, and it is impossible to penetrate the barriers of space and mineral veins to discover Barbatos beneath the earth.

Ye Shou, however, was different. His immense soul energy naturally had a wide reach, even reaching Barbatos in the mining area. Driven by his machine spirit, Barbatos attempted to activate the semi-permanent reactor, disrupting the already fragile mineral structure around it.

Then the scene I just witnessed happened.

This is no coincidence, but a miracle that has been achieved after half a century of perseverance!

But the fact that Sanming and the regimental commander were there... did indeed seem somewhat like fate.

The main characters are really unlucky. The timeline has changed, but they are still oppressed child laborers. The environment on Titan is even worse than that on Mars!

McGillis, however, avoided the tragedy of being a child molestation...

Ye Shou glanced at the miners who had gathered, and recognized several familiar faces, though they were mostly covered in mud and grime.

But the key point is Barbatos's pilot. Whether it was his loyalty to the Tower of Babel or something else that kept him going for so long is unknown...

No! Perhaps there is another way.

Two tiny but dazzling golden lights shone from the pilot's gray mask. A hand gently rested on it, and the entire cockpit and surrounding environment warmed up. Even the miners who stepped out of the cockpit could clearly feel it—this was different from the heat dissipation caused by the reactor radiation; it was like sunlight from a lamp…

However, they couldn't be sure, because none of them had actually used a sunlight lamp.

Sparkling particles of light escaped from the corpses and the Gundam skeleton, drawn together by an invisible force to gather around Ye Shou, merging into a dim ball of light the size of an infant's fist in his palm.

Wow~

A mark vaguely appeared in the center of the light, and a faint mental fluctuation entered Ye Shou's mind. This obsession, which had been dormant in solitude for who knows how long, was somewhat alarmed after sensing the changes in the outside world, but was quickly surrounded by an indescribable sense of security. It instinctively wanted to get closer to Ye Shou, and then fell silent again—it was too fragile.

This can't even be called a remnant soul; it's merely an echo of will, with no possibility of resurrection. It relies on the machine soul itself, and if separated, it could dissipate at any moment, unable to withstand even a strong gust of wind.

Ye Shou stared at the halo of light, a thought suddenly occurring to him:

A soft golden light, like the sun, slowly emerged in the void, invisible to the naked eye. The silhouette of a figure holding a sword was positioned in the center, and the light split off to both sides like flowing water, revealing rippled passages leading to unknown destinations.

A faint light shone down, and the halo on the palm automatically rose, seemingly becoming more solid, and was slowly guided into the passage. As the "door" closed again, even those who couldn't see the Stand could hear a voice resembling a hymn.

"Varied--"

They listened carefully but found no trace of anything. They could only look at each other blankly, completely unaware of what had happened.

Only Mikazuki and Olga vaguely saw what looked like water ripples in the sky... but they weren't sure, it might have been caused by the high temperature evaporation.

The two women who witnessed the whole thing frowned slightly.

They were also mark holders, so they recognized at a glance that it was Ye Shou's stand-in, [Prosperous Country], but... it was not quite the same as what they remembered.

Stands are the manifestation of spiritual power. Does the state of the [Prosperous Country] reflect changes in Ye Shou's spirit? This made them feel a little worried.

—Actually, Ye Shou didn't know what was going on either.

He used his Stand to touch the Prism Tower in the Ruins of R'lyeh, thus transforming into the Giant of Light. After defeating Gatanothor and returning to human form, he discovered that he could still use his Stand, but he had become like a mummy, unable to move, as if he were wrapped in an invisible cocoon.

The Holy Grail Mark functioned without issue, but the Flame Sword could no longer be wielded, and an additional "domain" had inexplicably appeared.

It was an independent dimensional space connected to the Stand, but it couldn't store items like the Collector, nor could it absorb and store energy like the Tyrant form. It had been completely silent for so long, and I wondered what its purpose was.

But just now, he felt pity for the Barbatos pilot and tried to fix its last remaining spirit, truly making it a machine soul, so that it could live forever in this form... But the [Prosperous Country] suddenly reacted, re-established a connection with Ye Shou, and guided it into the domain.

To be honest, Ye Shou was quite uneasy because it looked a bit like the "Human Emperor's Banner".

If he truly extracts the power of other souls for his own use, Ye Shou definitely cannot continue developing the Stand, otherwise the Giant of Light form will be in big trouble!

Fortunately, after doing all this, Ye Shou carefully sensed it and found that the aura representing the pilot's remaining spirit in that golden dimensional domain was not "absorbed," but rather quietly fell into a deep sleep in a corner. Judging from the faint fluctuations it emitted, it was in a very peaceful and comfortable environment.

There were no signs of digesting it yet... Ye Shou felt relieved.

"It appears to be caused by a malfunction in the life support system."

Ye Shou stepped out of the cockpit, nimbly jumped to the ground, and gave Liuli and Lucy a wink.

The miners looked at each other; most of them were young and didn't know what to do. In the end, Olga stepped forward.

"This is Franco Machinery's mining area. May I ask who you are and whether you have permission to enter?"

"We are investigators from the Tower of Babel, here to conduct environmental monitoring and surveys on residents' well-being—"

"I am very happy."

Life is getting better and better.

"It's much better than before."

"Life is so hopeful."

Before Liuli could finish speaking, the miners blurted it out as if by reflex, their Alaya consciousnesses flickering with an inconspicuous red light in the dim environment.

"..."

The maid's eyelids twitched.

As the head of the Jiushi Group, she actually fits the definition of a "capitalist" better than Ye Shou. She is a purely rational person in the business world and distinguishes employees based on the value they create.

But even someone as cold as her couldn't hold back at this moment...

Lucy felt a surge of warmth: this familiar taste was just right!

Ye Shou frowned slightly, but quickly relaxed: "Barbatos is the property of the Tower of Babel. Since it was discovered in your mining area, you shall carry out the excavation and transportation work. I will stay here to supervise you."

"Transferring? Why should we listen to that—"

Olga raised his hand to stop his companion from speaking disrespectfully. He had a feeling that something big had just happened. Although he didn't know Ye Shou's identity, he could guess that this was a big shot they couldn't afford to offend.

"Calm down. Even the boss probably doesn't want to clash with the Tower of Babel. This mine might not even be worth as much as a Gundam frame... Anyway, we'll have to put in the effort. This big shot from Earth might even give us a tip."

-

When the people from the Tower of Babel arrived, the miners secured the surrounding structure while slowly excavating Barbatos as a whole. Seeing the Gundam, which had been missing for half a century, reappear in the world, everyone showed expressions of amazement.

Those few who knew Ye Shou's identity were initially excited, believing it to be some kind of revelation, but their excitement quickly turned to horror.

Ye Shou even drove a mobile engineering vehicle and mingled among the miners to carry out the excavation work!

Not only that, he even had to stay behind to participate in the moving work, and transporting the Gundam out of this winding and narrow tunnel was no easy task; it would take at least a day or two.

They certainly couldn't let that happen. It was already hard to imagine someone as distinguished as Ye Shou entering a filthy mine, let alone personally participating in the labor. Someone volunteered to stay behind in his place, but Ye Shou smiled and declined.

Finally, Ruri and Lucy, carrying the simple coffin containing the pilot's remains, left the mine with the others to carry out their original investigation mission, while Ye Shou stayed with the "protagonist group".

...After a day of work, everyone gradually went from being distant and fearful of this "big shot" with his face covered to being able to communicate normally.

They found that Ye Shou was completely different from the leaders they usually encountered. He didn't have that domineering feeling; on the contrary, he was humble and polite, and even when facing people of low status like them, he showed no arrogance.

He would often take the initiative to ask questions, such as the difficulties and precautions of mining operations, as well as the current situation of Titan... There were many things the miners couldn't say, but their impression of Ye Shou changed greatly.

They are a relatively closed group and rarely accept outsiders, but Ye Shou used his actions to work together, eat together, and complain together, which allowed him to fully integrate into the group.

"You really are a strange person. You could have stayed at the boss's hotel, but you insisted on coming with us."

As they walked out of the mining area, Olga injected herself with anti-radiation medication and led Ye Shou to their dormitory. Mikazuki, as always, was taciturn, occasionally taking out some kind of round protein block from his pocket to chew on as a snack.

Three hundred years ago, when Ye Shou saw that the first Barbatos pilot was Asian, he thought that he was related to Mikazuki by blood or that he used the first pilot's Alaya consciousness, which is consistent with the setting of many Japanese works.

But now it seems that this was just a coincidence: the previous generation of pilots died in an accident and had no chance to leave offspring on Titan, and the Alaya consciousness remained unmoved on the corpse.

"Since you insist on coming along, I won't stop you, but be prepared. The adult laborers live next door to us, and they're like mad dogs. If they bother you, make sure you say you're the boss's guest, otherwise... We've arrived. Welcome to the [Askelara District]!"

"Ashelat?"

"'People covered in dust'—that's us."

Titan is basically a giant factory. Everyone has their own industrial complex and team. Even 'consumables' like us have our own group names... for easy management."

"Because he's a miner, that's why he's called 'Ashelat'?"

"I don't know what language this is, but that's what the boss said."

We work as miners, but we're actually hired as mine guards.

"why is that?"

"Regular miners usually have additional medical subsidies and death insurance, but if strictly enforced according to regulations, it can even cost more than buying a new employee... Guards are different. Titan has dedicated clone guards. According to the law, their wages and benefits can be reduced to the minimum, and they don't even need to register their names in the system. They are completely the private property of their master."

Olga pointed to the rows of drab, gray-clad motorized engineers and said with a self-deprecating laugh, "Don't let our appearance fool you, we're officially a knightly order... Ha! A knightly order covered in gray!"