Due to the cooldown of Bai Luan's arbitrary door, Screwllum and Herta stayed on Beta Star for a period of time.
To pass the time, they first built a super-strong signal transmitting station for Beta Star, allowing its inhabitants to connect to the Star Net.
Screwllum then used this signal to pinpoint Beta Star's coordinates, preparing to return later by spaceship.
Thanks to this signal tower, Inspiration Shroom could occasionally video call Xiu through its vehicle.
Inspiration Shroom really wanted to visit Beta Star; it hadn't seen much snow before.
However, Beta Star's current ecosystem was truly unfriendly to Inspiration Shroom, to the point where it might die if it wasn't careful.
Xiu assured Inspiration Shroom that he would notify it immediately once the shipping lane was opened.
Then he remotely built a small snowman for Inspiration Shroom.
Looking at the snowman, Inspiration Shroom expressed the following sentiment:
"When I can go there, I'll definitely build a mushroom myself."
For Xiu, if being on the Space Station was learning for employment, then being on Beta Star was finding stable work.
Yes, very stable, the kind of stability where if he wanted to leave, 882 would chase him and tie him back.
This was not kidnapping.
However, the mechanical engineers of Herta Space Station were heartbroken; their ceiling-level work was gone.
Their sacred tradition, gone…
From now on, they could only recall it in their memories.
But once they learned about a planet full of intelligent mechanical lifeforms, Inspiration Shroom wasn't the only one who wanted to visit Beta Star.
Screwllum spent the remaining time talking with 756, 343, and Xiu for a long time.
Bai Luan didn't know what they specifically talked about, but he felt it must have been very pleasant.
He could distinctly feel that Screwllum's friendliness towards him had significantly increased.
While they were chatting, Bai Luan was watching 882 throw trash.
It was very stress-relieving.
Such a large tank was effortlessly lifted by 882, then thrown out with a whoosh, and landed with a clang.
Just like throwing pebbles into a river when he was a child.
Bai Luan sat quietly to the side, watching 882 throw things out, feeling a sense of peace and laziness.
It was like the feeling of returning to one's cozy little home after an adventure, lying in bed and being lazy.
"How does it feel to be a savior of civilization for once?"
At some point, Herta came to Bai Luan's side.
She took out her scepter, made it float in the air to serve as her seat, and then sat on it.
"I… am not a savior, at most, I'm a good person who helped them."
"Is that so? I didn't expect you to be quite modest."
"No…"
Bai Luan pouted and grumbled:
"Who dares to be arrogant in front of you all?"
"That's true."
Then Herta looked at Bai Luan and asked:
"Is there anything on this planet that would interest me?"
"Hmm… As far as I know, no."
"Boring."
Herta casually pulled out a mirror, connecting her consciousness to the Herta Puppet in the laboratory.
"Call me when it's time to leave."
"Alright~"
Indeed, there was nothing on this planet that interested Herta.
Herta's trip this time was essentially accompanying Screwllum and himself.
Bai Luan looked at Herta, smiled, and said:
"Thank you, Ms. Herta."
Then Herta, who had been looking at the mirror, turned her head to Bai Luan.
"Who thanks secretly?"
"No… I thought you…"
"Your attention wasn't here? Who told you a genius can't multitask?"
Hearing this, Bai Luan sighed helplessly, raised both hands, and said:
"I've been caught by you, Ms. Herta, please let me off this time…"
Listening to Bai Luan's resigned and hopeless tone, Herta chuckled softly and withdrew her gaze.
Time passed bit by bit, and soon the cooldown of the arbitrary door was over.
Screwllum's long talk with 756, 343, and Xiu also ended.
Judging by the duration of their conversation, it must have been very pleasant.
Bai Luan had even piled up a bunch of small snowmen around him out of boredom.
756 and 343 both learned of Screwllum's identity.
Now, when they looked at Bai Luan, it was like they were seeing a General.
You actually managed to bring the current leader of inorganic lifeforms to help us with construction, you truly make me cry with gratitude.
Looking at them, Bai Luan's mind seemed to play the corresponding BGM.
You came from the depths of winter, exchanging it for a city of pure white snow, I want to eat Cantonese cuisine~~~
Oh no, the surrounding snow is about to melt from the General's radiance.
Bai Luan tugged at Herta and said:
"Ms. Herta, we can go back now."
Herta snapped out of her thoughts in the laboratory, then her attention was drawn to the small snowmen Bai Luan had piled up.
Bai Luan had piled up Herta, Screwllum, Xiu, 343, 882, and 756 separately.
Each snowman, though very small, perfectly captured the characteristics of each person, allowing these small snowmen to be identified at a glance.
A detail fanatic.
Herta glanced at them and asked:
"Why didn't you pile yourself?"
"I'm used to leaving myself for last. Now it seems there isn't much time. The time of two geniuses is very precious, isn't it?"
Screwllum was the first to state his position.
"Wouldn't it be a pity not to leave your snowman on this planet? There's no need to worry about my schedule; there's still enough free time for one snowman."
Bai Luan looked at Herta.
Feeling Bai Luan's gaze, Herta smiled and said:
"What? Do you expect me to say no?"
"Thank you, thank you all."
Bai Luan squatted down and, under everyone's gaze, fashioned his own snowman.
Soon, Bai Luan's chibi snowman was finished and placed among the pile of snowmen by Bai Luan.
"Here, they should be able to last a long time, right?"
Bai Luan glanced at the pile of snowmen.
『Curio: Carefully Piled Small Snowmen』
『Snowmen made with care will never melt』
"Perhaps…"
He showed a smile and stood up.
"They will never melt."
Bai Luan looked up at the sky.
The sky was hazy, and he didn't know if it was day or night.
"Before I leave, there's one more thing I want to do."
Bai Luan's mecha hand began to transform, gradually becoming a cannon muzzle.
Energy began to focus in the muzzle, charging up, and Bai Luan raised his arm high, aiming the muzzle at the sky.
Here… many intelligent machines haven't seen the starry sky, have they?
Hopefully, behind the clouds, there will be a beautiful starry sky.
A blue energy cannon, compressed to its extreme, blasted out from Bai Luan's mecha muzzle.
Like rising fireworks, it slowly ascended into the sky.
343 looked up, gazing at the ascending energy cannon, just as it had once gazed at those spaceships.
The energy cannon disappeared into the hazy sky, then violently burst open, and the gray mist above the entire city was cleared away by this single shot.
Everyone was drawn by the loud bang and looked up…
They saw a gap appear in the hazy sky.
And in that gap, there was a…
Brilliantly splendid starry sky.
All the intelligent machines looking up at the sky, a thought flashed through their minds simultaneously.
How beautiful…
This was the first time intelligent mechanical beings experienced the feeling of beauty.
343 stared blankly at that starry sky.
Back then, when it looked up at spaceships, it could only envy the humans on board who could see scenery it couldn't.
Now, as it looked up at that beam of energy, that energy beam allowed it to see the starry sky it couldn't see back then.
This small starry sky left a small mark in the hearts of all intelligent mechanical lifeforms.
Bai Luan's nanobots surged, transforming back into his arm, and he put away his weapon.
"Next time… you'll have to see the starry sky for yourselves."
343 looked at Bai Luan; both were weapons, some humans used them for destruction, but you, you used it to help us see the starry sky.
"I believe that after this time, none of us will forget this short but brilliant starry sky."
Bai Luan's lips curved into a smile of contentment.
The arbitrary door appeared silently behind him, opening automatically, and through the door, the Herta Space Station on the other side could be seen.
Herta was the first to get up, without any lingering attachment, stepping into the door and returning to the Space Station.
Screwllum nodded slightly to 756, 343, and Xiu, leaving a gentle synthesized farewell message:
"I look forward to our reunion among the stars."
Immediately, his elegant metallic body also stepped through the door.
Finally, it was Bai Luan.
He stepped through the door, his hand gripping the cold doorknob, and before closing the door, he took one last look at this awakening steel land.
He looked at the intelligent mechanical lifeforms bathed in starlight, and at that forcibly torn open window to the future.
At the point where their gazes met, a thousand words condensed into two simple words, yet they carried the heaviest of expectations:
"Keep it up."
"We will."
Bai Luan nodded with satisfaction, closed the door, and then the arbitrary door disappeared from its original spot.
The gap forcibly blasted open by Bai Luan began to be filled by the surrounding gray mist, gradually covering that starry sky.
But 343 believed that it would still encounter that beautiful starry sky again.
Finally, it looked at the small snowmen Bai Luan had left behind.
"I think we should build a museum to house these little things."