Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 978: Is this the first gift you received?
"Hydrogen and Uranus began to move downward, and Caduceus and Phaedorum were in a line. In the star field formed by the intersection of Frost, Floating Leaves, and White Grass, obvious tidal fluctuations can be observed. Those lights seem to be gathering and drawing the shape of a hexagram."

On the top floor of the windmill tower, Linger shifted his gaze from the astronomical telescope to the apprehensive Miss Angel, and nodded to her: "It is indeed the astronomical phenomenon we have been waiting for. Thank you for your hard work, Yieta."

Captain Gloria, who was supervising the scene, also clicked her hat and gave her an approving look: "Well done, Ieta. From now on, you are the chief navigator of our ship."

Upon hearing this, Yieta was both happy and worried. She was happy that her efforts were not in vain as she finally got the captain's promise of promotion and salary increase. But she was worried that the promotion was not that impressive. Although she was given the title of chief, she was nothing more than a navigator. Without sufficient power, she would be unable to curb the ambitions of certain villains with ulterior motives who were plotting day and night to replace her.

Oh, it would be great if I could be appointed as the vice-captain. Then I could capture Alice directly... Oops, I almost said what was in my mind!
Miss Angel quickly covered her mouth and glanced around quickly, very alert.

However, the person she was on guard against was not at the scene and was still locked up in a small dark room. He was not allowed to go out until the task was completed, and even the three meals a day were delivered to him by the boss's wife. For this reason, she repeatedly accused Lingge of being a bloodless capitalist and claimed that she wanted to launch a proletarian revolution. Unfortunately, she was not very popular and did not receive a positive response from the masses.

It was her own fault. The tape was already 99% complete, and she just needed to fill in some details. But the guy insisted that he wanted to make a flawless masterpiece to wash away the shame of making a shitty work, so he was nitpicking and arguing over the last 1% of progress, and refused to compromise. Lingge couldn't stand it anymore, so he told her that he would do it. He thought the game editor Alice used was easy, and anyone with hands would be fine. I would help you with the things you couldn't make up your mind about.

Then Alice bared her teeth and threatened him like a wild beast whose territory had been invaded, saying that you must have bad intentions, and you might want to take this opportunity to steal my title of "genius game producer". I, Alice, have been smart all my life, so how could I fall for your trick? Leave quickly, don't stay here to disturb my mind, do you really think I dare not bite you?
Lingge was a little afraid of catching rabies, so he chose to obey.

It is a good thing to strive for perfection in your work, but it seems a bit abnormal for Alice. The young man only hopes that she can really make a flawless masterpiece and slap him in the face with a super robot. Don't be like the conceptual god Yuanrang Dazun summoned by Rochelle, who looks very powerful but was crushed by the earth witch Feiyemente with one shot.

Now, let’s get back to business.

Linger borrowed a few sheets of white paper from Yieta, wrote down the current coordinates, movement speed and movement trajectory of the constellations, and then gave them to Xino for calculation. After filling up 27 sheets of manuscript paper and using up half a bottle of ink, the beautiful mathematical genius girl from Sumya National University provided him with an accurate time point: "At this speed, the large hexagram will be completely formed at noon tomorrow, and it will last for two hours. I estimate it will be from 11 am to 1 pm."

Tomorrow's noon? This should be the best option among the several time periods that Ling Ge had expected. After all, at noon, the sun is strong and the stars are dim, so many movements are covered up. Unless the most accurate astronomical telescope is used for observation, no one knows what is happening in the distant universe. However, among the dozens of countries in the northern Ashok Mountains, none of them are willing to invest heavily in astronomy.

"Well," Ling Ge turned around and said to his companions, "We can start preparing."

The preparation mentioned here refers to psychological preparation. After all, the destination has long been determined, the departure date has also been set, and the only tool for navigation is Yunjingkong Island, and the island is not short of supplies and tools for long-term navigation. They have everything, which is completely different from the lonely Sheng Tumi in the past, but Sheng Tumi embarked on this journey with a firm belief and returned with a full load. Therefore, they also need a belief or awareness as a weather vane for the next journey.

Whether you can successfully reach the Temple of Heaven, and what you see and hear after arriving there, will profoundly change the fate of the planet beneath your feet.

Only by keeping this in mind can they face all unknown challenges in the distant universe with full armor.

After hearing Lingge's words, everyone's expressions became serious. Even the most carefree Miss Angel felt much more depressed. She actually liked the feeling of riding a whale and traveling around, but unfortunately, every journey has an end.

Will this be the last leg of the journey?

She asked herself this question, but got no answer.

At this time, Gloria next to him suddenly muttered quietly: "How dare Ling Ge steal the captain's limelight! It's my right as the captain to give orders to the crew. How can he, a mere boatswain, be qualified?"

"Pfft!"

Although she knew it was wrong, Yieta couldn't help laughing out loud, and her sad mood was immediately dispelled.

But because of this inappropriate laugh, everyone's attention was focused on her.

"Uh, this..." Facing the gazes of everyone, the thin-skinned Miss Angel was obviously unable to bear it and her face flushed instantly. She almost wanted to bury herself with her wings, but doing so would only make her more embarrassed, so she hesitated for a long time before squeezing out a sentence: "Actually, I've been prepared for a long time..."

A sentence Alice once said came to her mind uncontrollably. Miss Angel didn't know where she got the courage from. She suddenly closed her eyes, clenched her palms, and waved her hands upwards, looking like she was cheering: "Our goal is the sea of ​​stars -"

Silence everywhere.

"Eh?" Did I say something weird?

Yieta opened her eyes carefully, only to find that everyone was looking at her with indescribable complicated looks. Saint Xia Liya's look was full of love and concern, and a hint of worry, as if she was worried about her silly sister's IQ.

After a moment of silence, Lingge clapped his hands and said, "Well, Yieta said it very well, let's disband first."

Everyone responded, and then walked past the almost petrified Miss Angel in small groups. The abominable little bat and the little goblin even made a very funny gesture as they walked by, shouting, "Our goal is the sea of ​​stars -- Hahaha!!!"

The two men rolled on the ground holding their stomachs and laughing wildly. The last one was grabbed by the collar by the countess, and the other was picked up by the proprietress and taken away.

Miss Angel stood there blankly, as if she had lost her soul. When everyone left, a mournful cry that shook the heavens and the earth came from the white windmill.

……

The news that Yunjing Sky Island was about to fly into space somehow reached the Wusu tribe. Early the next morning, Songtaya climbed to the top of Mount Osor and asked Lingge about it. She got a positive answer from him. "Are you leaving so soon?"

In the field where primroses are in full bloom, the little girl squatted on the ridge, staring at Lingge who was adjusting the astronomical telescope, and muttered, "It's not even two months yet."

Perhaps because she lacked playmates of the same age in the tribe, she felt very fond of these outsiders with whom she had only spent a short time, and was reluctant to leave when they said goodbye.

"In fact, it has been delayed for a long time. I didn't expect to spend so much time on calculating the formula at the beginning."

As Lingge spoke, he used a telescope to observe the sky above his head. Perhaps it was the goddess's blessing, the weather today was exceptionally clear, with no sign of snow, allowing him to see across a long distance and clearly observe that at the edge of the visible star field, the constellations of Hou Feng and Tian Gong had moved to their lowest points in history, and the straight line formed by the constellations of Serpent and Phaeton began to form an angle with the fixed silver moon. A standard hexagram was taking shape, but due to the lack of the red moon and the blue moon, some blocks were incomplete, but it was harmless.

He nodded with satisfaction, then gave up his seat and handed the adjusted astronomical telescope to a professional, Saint Shallia. It was 10:30 in the morning, and there was still half an hour before Xino's calculation results came out. In the next few hours, the shepherdess would stay in front of the astronomical telescope, observing the changes in the stars at any time to prevent unexpected situations.

The reason why we chose the primrose field as the observation site is that it is the best place in the entire Yunjingkong Island, except for the windmill tower room of Yieta. You ask why we didn’t choose the windmill tower room directly for observation? Of course, after what happened yesterday, the thin-skinned Miss Angel was still hiding in her bed like an ostrich. Anyone who entered would be driven out by her, even Sister Xiaoxia was no exception.

Well, if it was Alice, it would probably be more than just being kicked out, but she was still working overtime in the small dark room and had no time to care about anything else.

Except for the golden maid, almost everyone on the Cloud Whale Sky Island gathered at the primrose field, wanting to witness the historic moment of the Sky Island flying into space. When Lingge and Songtaya were talking, they could hear noisy sounds coming from behind, including but not limited to the voice of the proprietress warmly inviting everyone to come and have snacks, the voice of the bartender promoting her masterpiece in the crowd, the voice of Shemy riding on the head of the lamb and shouting "I am a knight of the Levileye family", and the sound of the potted band performing live...

These guys are just here for a picnic, right?
The corner of Ling'er's mouth twitched slightly, but he knew that everyone was just using this method to relieve tension, so he didn't take it to heart. He simply turned his head away, thinking that out of sight, out of mind, he continued to talk to Sontaya: "But how did you know we were leaving today? I don't think I have told Chief Wilhelm about this yet, right?"

He had promised the man that he would let Songtaya witness their flight into space, so he naturally did not want to break his promise. But Songtaya came uninvited without waiting for him to notify her. Could it be that there was also a strange person in the Wusu tribe, and that Elder Aina could tell fortunes?

"Oh, you asked that."

It would have been better if she hadn't said anything. Once she did, Songtaya puffed up her cheeks and looked angry. "It was all because of that Leticia. She came to our tribe early in the morning to show off and said some ugly words to mock me. Ah, that damn guy, what kind of journey to the universe? It's all thanks to others. What's so great about that!"

She was so angry that her teeth itched. When Linger saw her reaction, he guessed what Leticia had said. It seemed that the little bat was quite concerned about this matter. She was willing to give up playing with Metien and run to inform her. Although the method she used was a bit too childish, it always reminded Linger of those boys in St. Lowood National School who liked to get their attention by bullying girls.

"What are you thinking about?" Songtaya looked at him suspiciously.

"Nothing." Ling Ge changed the subject: "So you are still a little envious, right? Otherwise you wouldn't be sitting here chatting with me, but would go find Leticia and quarrel with her."

"Ugh!" The mountain girl's cheeks, which had just deflated, suddenly bulged up again. She thought angrily, it would be fine if you knew it, but why did you have to say it out loud? You don't even give me any face!
"Actually, you still have time to reconsider it." Ling Ge suddenly said, "In this half hour, before we set off."

Songtaya was stunned for a moment, and it took her a while to realize what he was referring to. She looked a little hesitant, but still shook her head slowly: "No, I am from the Xiatuoto people, and the Xiatuoto people will never leave their snowy mountains!"

She looked around and curled her lips: "If there was a snowy mountain on your island, I could change my mind."

This was obviously a joke, so Linger didn't take it seriously. He just tried his best to persuade her one last time. If Songtaya still thought the same, he would respect her, just like when Saint Shalia invited the young man to embark on the journey but was rejected, she still respected his opinion - but after the shepherdess asked for the second time, the young man agreed.

Not all destinies are the same.

"Oh, right, Lingge!" Songtaya suddenly called his name. When the young man turned around, she took something out of her pocket and handed it to him. There was a golden bell tied on the girl's wrist, which rang lightly with her movements: "Dad said that this bell is a gift from you to me, so I want to give you a gift too. This is an amulet polished with mountain bluestone. It is said that the wearer can be blessed by the father of the mountain. I searched for a long time before I found such a perfect shape in the mountains!"

The girl's tone was somewhat proud. Lingge took the amulet and felt a cool touch. It was a piece of icy and crystal stone with a faint green hue. The shape was just as Songtaya said, a perfect oval, polished without any edges or corners. There was a hole in the middle, through which a thin rope could be passed. It could be hung around the neck as a necklace, or wrapped around the wrist as a bracelet.

Linger stared at the bluestone amulet silently for a long time before accepting it under Songtaya's impatient urging, and then said thank you. The girl waved her hand to indicate that you're welcome, and at the same time, she was a little curious: "What were you thinking about just now? Were you moved by the amulet I polished with great care?"

"Do not."

Ling Ge answered concisely.

In fact, he just suddenly remembered that this seemed to be the first time he received a gift from someone other than Mr. Yanke and Metien, and it was before he was about to go on a long journey.

Amulet?

What a beautiful wish.

“Lingge!” Not far away, a shepherdess’ voice came from the hustle and bustle: “The star map is almost taking shape!”

So, the time to leave came.

Give me some meow