Chapter 934 — The Second Invitation

Gao Yang was not at all surprised by Little Pony... by Metzenn's second visit. Ever since he had first declined the "invitation" from that dragon deity, he had known it would not end so easily. A god inviting a mortal could not be a mere whim; there was no chance that it would simply lapse after he casually turned it down—the gods were patient, and they did not mind waiting a moment.

His only surprise was that the second invitation had come so soon, before even a single winter had passed.

He nodded to the agent before him and asked casually, "Does your 'god' have something new to say this time?"

"She says you may still refuse, or postpone the visit as circumstances require—this is merely a friendly invitation," Metzenn said gravely, her manner growing cautious whenever the topic touched on her deity. "She also asked me to relay one additional sentence."

"One sentence?" Gao Yang showed a flicker of curiosity. "What sentence?"

Metzenn lowered her head. "...Not all gods depart as harmlessly as the Goddess of Magic did. What binds gods and men is not merely a single chain."

Gao Yang's expression turned grave in an instant.

He had in fact already resolved to refuse again, for no matter how he looked at it, he had no spare capacity now to travel to distant Talrond for an appointment, and he was even less inclined to take such an enormous risk—yet the words Metzenn relayed stirred an unexpected ripple in his heart. The first half of the sentence was easy enough; of course he knew not all gods departed as harmlessly as the Goddess of Magic. One need not look far—the God of War over in Typhon was plainly in no mood to leave quietly. But the second half of that sentence...

Not merely a single chain... There was clearly a deeper meaning in that.

Gao Yang frowned slightly, his face thoughtful, while Metzenn offered a faint smile. "You may take your time considering. Our god has not required you to answer quickly."

Gao Yang laughed. "And if I consider for a whole year without giving a definite answer?"

"Then consider for a year," Metzenn said with perfect composure. "I can find somewhere nearby to stay."

Gao Yang was speechless for a moment, then shook his head with a helpless laugh. "...Long-lived races really are patient. You and your god both."

"So do you intend to consider for a year?" Metzenn asked curiously. "If so, I shall go look for lodgings shortly."

"Wait a moment, let me think first." Gao Yang waved a hand, signaling Metzenn not to leave just yet, then narrowed his eyes slightly as his mind began racing.

This was already the second invitation from that mysterious "Dragon God"... and a second invitation at such a brief interval. Though the other party's manner seemed patient enough, two invitations in succession were themselves enough to say something...

That deity seemed eager to meet him. As a god, she had even reached the point of setting aside a certain dignity—if the standards by which one judged mortal conduct applied equally to gods, then Gao Yang could be nearly certain that the "Dragon God's" attitude toward him was not merely "a desire to talk out of curiosity."

But the crux was this: a "god," a god who ruled the dragon race—what reason could she have to insist on meeting him, the ruler of the human world? Gao Yang did not think he and she had any prior connection, and he truly could not imagine what about him was worth her attention—unless it had to do with the satellite system behind him, and with the "Voyager" fleet behind that satellite system.

So should he really go?

Gao Yang weighed the pros and cons swiftly in his mind. From the standpoint of reason, he felt it was absolutely not appropriate for him to undertake a long journey at this moment—a journey fraught with risk besides—but a certain vague intuition, together with the message the Dragon God had asked Metzenn to relay, was shaking his resolve. He had a faint sense that... this seemed to be a pivotal choice, pivotal both for himself and for that "Dragon God," a choice that concerned the future.

This choice could not be judged by reason and appearances alone.

The "intuition" of a Legendary powerhouse had to be taken seriously; Gao Yang had not forgotten that. So after a moment's thought he exhaled softly and began checking his other "cards."

He emptied his mind and gathered his focus, trying to stretch his senses endlessly toward the high sky, to let his consciousness rise free of its present shell and commune with that "other pair of eyes" out among the stars. His spirit climbed higher and higher, his senses gradually departing from the five senses of a man, and at last, after crossing a certain threshold, something thundered in his mind and the vision before him had already changed.

He had not entered the perspective of a "satellite," but had linked directly to "Skyvault Station," positioned above the equator.

This was a rather draining operation. He still remembered the "incident" of mental exhaustion after he had once carelessly lost track of time and stayed connected too long, so this time, the moment the link was established, he began counting time in his mind while drawing on remembered methods to invoke the few remaining commands in Skyvault Station, checking the satellites and space stations linked to it one by one, checking those steel tombstones forgotten for a million years.

A miniature holographic projection representing all the orbital facilities in space surfaced "before Gao Yang's eyes." One flickering model after another was orbiting the planet, and beside nearly ninety-nine percent of those miniature models floated red warning markers, indicating that the corresponding equipment had gone offline or was on the verge of breaking apart and losing control due to severe damage.

His gaze traveled through that complex constellation of orbital facilities. Above the planet's north pole, he saw a space station and two small satellites crossing over the top of their orbits.

The planet itself was only a pale blue sphere in the schematic, upon which the continent of Talrond could not be seen—yet he knew that at every moment of every hour of every day, above every inch of that planet's land and sea there was in fact at least one orbital facility keeping watch. In a sense, even a god descended into the mortal world could not escape the "eyes" the Voyagers had left behind.

It was a pity these eyes were in poor condition.

Gao Yang sighed inwardly and began tentatively communicating with a surveillance satellite above the north pole—a satellite that gave him a strong sense of familiarity. If he guessed correctly, that satellite should have some kind of data link to his own "true body"; it might be the same model, or it might sit on the same channel. Among all these failed space facilities, ones that produced a similar "sense of familiarity" were the most likely to be brought back online.

At least that was what Gao Yang himself believed.

Yet after several consecutive calls, the satellite remained utterly unresponsive. The signal fed back from Skyvault Station offered only a few cold prompts: "Target system—offline/unresponsive. Action—retry/unresponsive. Facility abandoned—(some manner of garbled text)."

So it seemed there was no hope of using the surveillance satellites as a "cheat" to peer directly into conditions in Talrond... Fine ideas could go no further than being ideas.

Gao Yang abandoned the notion of rebooting the satellite and turned to testing other things about Skyvault Station, verifying more of his conjectures...

......

"What is he doing?" Metzenn watched with some curiosity as Gao Yang stood motionless in place for a long while, and could not resist asking Amber quietly, "Has he fallen asleep standing up?"