Chapter 2
Shi Nuo looked away from the sky.
He turned and went back inside, closing the sturdy, heavy metal door behind him.
The distinct mechanical click of the lock engaging was the source of his sense of security at night.
The living room was too large and empty, so he went into his room.
Because the living and dining rooms occupied most of the first floor, the other rooms were relatively small, typically intended for servants’ quarters and storage. Judging by the scale of the house, the owner’s room should be on the second floor or above.
Shi Nuo had chosen a sunny room for himself. It was much smaller than the bedroom he had at home, but the smaller size was good; it wasn’t too spacious, and he felt less afraid living alone.
Closing the bedroom door, he stood behind it for a long time, gripping the doorknob, before coming back to his senses.
Sunlight streamed in through the window, falling on the bed and warming the bedding and pillows.
He lay on the bed, covering his eyes with his arm. Soon, a small patch of the fabric on his sleeve became damp.
Shi Nuo made no sound. His tears stopped quickly. He turned over, pressing his face against the pillow, his hand beside his face. His slightly reddened eyes were filled with confusion and helplessness.
It wasn’t until the sunlight dimmed that he realized it was afternoon, and hunger returned with his awareness.
Going to the kitchen, he took out a nutrient solution and drank it on the spot. Shi Nuo threw the empty tube into the processor, which hummed softly as it crushed and decomposed the tube.
The feeling of fullness would last for twenty-four hours. He had thirty nutrient solutions that had been left on the planet with him, enough to last a month as emergency rations.
Shi Nuo opened the built-in refrigerator again, and a wave of cold air hit his face.
The fresh meat was gone. There were five pieces of frozen meat left, enough vegetables and fruits for about twenty days, half a canister of rice (about five or six pounds), and a few small bags of dried vegetables and meat. If he was frugal, he might be able to stretch it to forty or fifty days.
All the supplies combined were only enough for a little over two months. What would he do after two months?
Shi Nuo closed the cabinet door and scanned the kitchen. The countertops were spotless. There really wasn’t anything extra. He had searched the basement before, and apart from some miscellaneous items, there was no food.
He looked out the window. The only way was to find something to eat outside.
This planet was an undeveloped resource planet, so there should be a lot of edible plants. As long as he could find edible wild vegetables and fruits, he wouldn’t starve to death.
As for small edible animals, Shi Nuo thought for a moment. With his current abilities, he probably couldn’t even catch a rabbit, so he had to give up on that idea for now.
It was a bit late today. He would go out tomorrow morning.
Every afternoon, as the sun began to set, a vague fear always arose in his heart, and he only wanted to stay indoors. If he lingered outside for too long, it would get dark.
Back in the bedroom, Shi Nuo removed the thin quilt and sheets from the bed, along with the pillow, and carried them to the laundry room next door, stuffing them into the washing machine.
Just as he was about to close the machine door, he hesitated and took off his pullover pajamas and pants, stuffing them in as well.
Without new supplies being delivered, the laundry detergent would run out eventually. His pajamas and bedding could be washed together.
Half a month after arriving here, he rarely left the house, and there was no one to reprimand him for his impropriety, so he often wore his pajamas.
His slender, fair body was revealed, almost flawless, his skin white and delicate. His legs were straight, his waist slim. He was thin but not gaunt, with perfect proportions, fragile yet incredibly beautiful.
His face was also excessively beautiful, with pale pink lips, a delicate nose, and clear eyes. When he tilted his head slightly, his small, delicate Adam’s apple would be exposed. His eyes held a mixture of fear and melancholy, giving him a somewhat timid appearance.
Returning to the bedroom, Shi Nuo went into the bathroom to shower.
There was no dedicated small washing machine here, so he had to hand-wash and air-dry his underwear.
After rinsing off the soap suds, Shi Nuo reached up and fumbled on the wall, turning off the water and then activating the hot air button.
Hot air blew from the ceiling and the walls, quickly drying the water on his body and hair. He changed into clean clothes and came out.
The sun was slanting in but hadn’t yet set.
The light shone in through the west window, soft and dazzling.
Shi Nuo spread out clean sheets and took another thin quilt and pillow from the closet. The window was open for ventilation, and the breeze blew in, gently swaying the closed sheer curtains and drapes.
This room had large windows, both on the south and west sides, allowing plenty of light.
The window glass appeared seamless, transparent and smooth, without any frames to divide it, providing a good view of the outside. In reality, it could be opened, but the frames were concealed.
The glass was a special type of crystal, strong and resistant to extreme weather, a common material used on many planets.
After making the bed, Shi Nuo closed the window slightly, drew the sheer curtains, sat down against the headboard, and opened his optical brain to look something up.
The bed was placed in the corner against the wall, the headboard facing the south wall, the inner side of the bed against the wall under the west window.
The width of the headboard was the same as the south wall, reaching the edge of the south window.
On the other side of the south window, by the window, there was a small desk and a chair. The desktop was clean, with only a water glass on it.
The bed wasn’t large, just wide enough for two people to squeeze in.
The entire room was extremely simple, with a bed, a desk, and chairs by the window, and nothing else.
There was about a meter of space between the bathroom and the foot of the bed, and the closet was built into the wall opposite the bed.
Several light blue virtual screens appeared in front of Shi Nuo. This was information and records he had retrieved from the house’s intelligent system.
When the house was built, the surrounding environment had been surveyed, and some plants and animals had been recorded, with a few marked as edible.
He hadn’t downloaded the Interstellar Plant Encyclopedia to his optical brain, and the tidal storm hadn’t ended yet. The signal was intermittent, making it difficult to look anything up on the star network. Fortunately, he had found these records.
There were no large wild animals within two or three hundred meters of the house. After going outside, Shi Nuo activated his optical brain’s short-range scanning function, making sure there were no threats within ten meters of him before relaxing.
Wild vegetables were relatively easy to find. After circling the house, he discovered two types of edible wild vegetables.
One had red stems and dark green leaves, and the other had round, green leaves.
He carefully compared them with the photos on his optical brain, making sure the stem color, the vein patterns on the front and back of the leaves, and the shape and color of the petals were all the same before daring to dig them up by the roots.
He was very cautious. He dug up two whole plants first and returned to the house to use an identification device in the basement to determine if they were edible.
This device was attached to the water purification system and was likely used to detect and record various microorganisms in the water.
He had read the system information last night. This was actually an all-purpose identifier. In addition to microorganisms in water, it could also identify many herbaceous plants and even meats.
The all-purpose identifier felt substantial, and at a glance, he knew it was expensive. Shi Nuo wasn’t too surprised when he saw the Elvis family’s industrial logo on the side of the device.
Resource planets usually had development plans. The people who came here to build the house probably also had exploration and survey tasks, which was why the intelligent system’s database contained records of some of the plants and animals in the vicinity.
His optical brain vibrated slightly, and a pop-up screen displayed the identification results: non-toxic, entirely edible, a previously recorded plant.
Shi Nuo was relieved. He put the second type of wild vegetable in, and the result was the same. He hadn’t made a mistake.
Carrying a small bucket, he went out. The sunlight at eight o’clock wasn’t too intense, and the wind blew constantly, rustling the trees.
Lush greenery surrounded the house, untrimmed and unplanned, with wild grass growing freely.
There were traces of felled trees near the house, clearing space for the villa, but after so many years, new saplings had grown tall.
Further away from the house, to the east and north, were forests of varying density. These were the directions Shi Nuo didn’t dare to look at night, afraid that some monster might emerge from within.
Fortunately, he had never heard any strange cries, nor had he seen any wild animals during the day. He figured that the location must have been carefully chosen, and this area should be free of dangerous or medium to large-sized creatures.
Shi Nuo wasn’t very brave. He didn’t dare go out too late or too early. He only ventured out to look for food after the sun had risen and the sky was bright.
He searched through the grass, avoiding the knee-high patches, afraid that snakes, insects, rats, or ants might be hiding inside.
Sometimes, he would scan the area with his optical brain and see thermal imaging indicating the presence of small creatures, and he would make a wide detour, only venturing into areas with low-lying vegetation.
Fortunately, these two types of wild vegetables were relatively abundant, and it didn’t take long for him to fill his bucket.
The harvest made Shi Nuo inexplicably happy. The uneven road, covered with grass and clumps of earth, didn’t seem difficult to walk on. This was the first time he had found food in the wild on his own.
Returning to the house, he didn’t immediately go inside. He looked down at the soil and grass clippings clinging to his shoes.
He placed the bucket outside the door, opened the door, reached in for the small stool inside, and then sat outside to clean the vegetables.
He pinched off the old-looking roots covered with soil. He removed the old and damaged leaves.
This experience was entirely new to him.
As a minor noble family, the Shi family wasn’t particularly prominent among the larger families, but they had some money.
Shi Nuo had never done housework in his life. There were robots and servants, and everything he needed was placed before him. He didn’t even have to open the refrigerator himself, let alone do something as unseemly as digging wild vegetables and getting his hands dirty.
It was only after arriving here that he learned to clean and tidy his room himself.
Actually, it wasn’t that difficult. Handheld cleaning devices were commonplace now. With the handheld cleaning, mopping, and quick-drying machine left in the house, he only needed to pick it up and sweep the floor and windows.
Tidying up was even easier. Besides necessities, he didn’t have many belongings.
As for cooking and washing dishes, there was no automatic dishwasher here, so he had to wash them by hand.
Although it was a bit difficult at first, he wasn’t too clumsy with his hands. He wasn’t a small child either. He was twenty-two years old and had some basic life skills. Although he didn’t usually do chores, he had seen others do them.
He had watched wilderness survival videos on the star network and was now very grateful that he had. At least he wasn’t completely clueless.
He placed the cleaned vegetables on the ground, root to root, tip to tip, neatly arranged, the two types of wild vegetables in separate piles.
After cleaning them all, Shi Nuo turned the bucket upside down, patted the bottom to shake out the soil, then placed the red-stemmed vegetables inside, hooked the bucket handle on his wrist, freeing his hands to pick up the other pile of round-leaf vegetables.
He stepped on the heels of his shoes to remove them and then entered the house.
After rinsing the vegetables several times, cleaning every single one, Shi Nuo stood at the counter, staring blankly at the two basins of wild vegetables.
Digging and washing the vegetables was simple, but when it came to actually preparing them, he was a bit lost.
Boil them and then make a cold salad?
Recalling the videos he had watched, Shi Nuo finally had some ideas.
He put the blanched vegetables on a plate. The round-leaf vegetables tasted alright, not astringent or fishy, with a slightly sweet aftertaste.
But after taking a bite of the red-stemmed vegetables, Shi Nuo’s expression contorted in pain, and he quickly spat it out.
Sour.
Especially the stems. Biting into them released a burst of sour juice.
After rinsing his mouth, Shi Nuo looked at the red-stemmed vegetables with a troubled expression. He didn’t know how long he would have to survive alone, and these were confirmed edible vegetables, and there were plenty of them in the wild.
He picked up another stem with his chopsticks. This time, he only tasted two leaves. They weren’t sour, but they didn’t have much flavor either, just the taste of ordinary green leaves.
After a few more bites, he decided to only eat the leaves in the future and discard the stems.
After excitedly digging up wild vegetables for a few days, and using the identifier to discover two other edible varieties – one with tender tips that tasted good after a simple boil, and another with thick leaves from a vine that took several attempts to cook properly (he found that boiling them for more than fifteen minutes made them less tough and suitable for shredding) – he became bolder in his explorations, venturing further from the house to search for food.
This sense of novelty suddenly dissipated when he looked up and saw birds flying in the sky.
The flat wilderness stretched out like a green ocean, vast and boundless.
The trees were sparse, and the grass was incredibly lush. A few small red berries hung on plants in the grass, swaying in the wind.
Shi Nuo carried his small bucket. The sky was blue and vast, a flock of birds soared, and distant green mountains stretched into the distance.
He suddenly realized clearly that he was alone on this planet, with no idea when, or if, he would be brought back to civilized society.
Perhaps never.
A strong wind blew, billowing his clothes.
The undulating green grass swayed and flattened against the ground.
There were no human voices, no humming of machines.
Gusts of wind blew continuously, and the only sound was the rustling of grass and trees.
A profound silence enveloped the world.
Shi Nuo stared blankly, and when he came back to his senses, his eyes were filled with fear. He lowered his head, picked up the bucket, and walked back.
The strong wind howled, blowing past Shi Nuo’s clothes, across the desolate wilderness.
The wind swept past the Omega, picking up a wisp of his pheromones and carrying them far away, across rivers and lakes, drifting to a remote, secluded forest.
On a giant rock, a sleeping white beast opened its eyes.
