Even as they docked with the space station and boarded it, Zhang Lan remained pale. He walked into the space station, supported by Reed, and Johnny, seeing him, couldn't help but tease, "Hey, little guy, look?"
Zhang Lan subconsciously followed Johnny's finger and looked out the window. He could see a corner of Earth, with the white atmosphere dotted with azure blue seawater, a truly beautiful sight. Then—
"Ugh!" Zhang Lan retched, collapsing like a noodle onto Reed. This made Susan glare at Johnny, who awkwardly chuckled and scurried off to catch up with Ben, who was ahead.
"Is he alright?" Susan walked over, her pretty brows furrowed, clearly concerned about Zhang Lan.
"Susan, I'm fine. Reed, don't worry about me, you have more important things to do," Zhang Lan's weak voice said, looking at the beautiful Susan. He felt slightly better but dared not look out the window again.
"Alright, then you sit here and rest for a bit." Reed helped Zhang Lan to sit by the aisle.
As they spoke, everyone had already entered the cosmic space station, the one with the protective shield. Although it couldn't defend against energy storms.
"From here, we can monitor the approaching cloud and conduct observation experiments," Susan said, pointing at the space shield.
"Is this safe?" Ben's primary concern.
"The shield on the space station should keep everyone safe," Reed replied, not entirely certain.
"Should?" Ben keenly picked up on the keyword and looked back at the pale Zhang Lan. He suddenly had an ominous premonition.
"What's wrong, Ben? Getting old, a bit paranoid?" A defiant man interjected. In this space station, the only one left was naturally Victor, the future big boss.
"Let's start moving the samples. Get your work clothes ready, Ben," Reed said, changing the subject.
Victor, watching with interest, couldn't help but say, "I see you're still doing this heavy lifting. Maybe you should be in the lab; fieldwork never suited you."
Ben was annoyed by this and turned back to Victor, saying, "He gives the orders, I do the work, got it?"
"That'll keep you busy." Victor chuckled dismissively at his words, then immediately leveraged his home-field advantage: "If possible, Susan and I have something we'd like to discuss privately."
This made Reed's expression a bit unnatural, but he had no choice and could only say, "Of course," then turned and left.
It was then that Victor noticed Zhang Lan slumped to the side, his expression becoming even stranger.
"Little assistant, are you afraid of heights?" Victor wasn't sure. "Where did Reed find an assistant like this?"
"That's none of your business, Victor." Zhang Lan had rested for a while and felt a bit better. He struggled to stand up. "Victor, I'm not Reed. You'll be busy with what's coming next."
Zhang Lan, after all, wasn't truly just a small assistant. He gave a pointed warning and then walked outside. After all, this space shield wasn't as useful as imagined, and besides, he had come specifically for the energy storm.
As he passed Susan, he whispered, "Victor is going to propose to you, but I believe Reed will stop him."
Then, ignoring Susan's reaction, he walked towards the lounge outside, still feeling a bit weak in the legs.
In the lounge, Reed was also busy preparing, separated from the control room by only one door.
"Lan, I don't understand. Why did you come? What can you do in this state?"
"No, I don't need to do anything. You'll know soon enough, it won't be long." Zhang Lan licked his lips, staring at an alloy wall as if he could see through it. "It'll be as simple as taking a bath."
Reed was puzzled by his words but continued with his work, no longer paying attention to Zhang Lan.
Meanwhile, outside, Johnny and Ben were discussing the possibility of Susan and Reed rekindling their old flame, unaware that Victor was already preparing to propose to Susan.
Reed, who was monitoring the instruments, finally noticed something was wrong. He operated the instruments to recalculate the arrival time of the energy storm, and the result was—
"Storm arrival in 9 minutes and 51 seconds."
"This is impossible," Reed said incredulously. "It should be another seven hours."
Inside the space station, Victor held a gift box containing the engagement ring.
"Consider this your promotion. I'm about to say the four words that will change my life," Victor said passionately. He sensed that Susan still had feelings for Reed, and he needed to force her to choose.
As long as he said those four words.
"The cloud is accelerating," Reed's voice abruptly cut in. "It'll be here in a few minutes, not a few hours."
This sudden change startled Victor, who retracted the hand holding the ring and gave a helpless look at Susan, who had been pleasantly surprised.
"Victor, we must stop the operation." Reed seemed unaware that he was ruining someone's moment.
"Reed, calm down. We came all this way; we're not going to panic over a small problem," Victor seized the opportunity to lecture him. "Close the shield."
"But Ben is still out there," Reed said gravely.
"Then bring him in!" Victor commanded impatiently. "We have a mission here, hurry up!"
Ben, working outside, also saw the energy storm approaching in the distance, illuminating the surrounding dark cosmos. It was clear that it meant trouble.
"Ben, come back!" Johnny, who had been bickering with Ben, shouted.
At this moment, the energy storm had already reached the space station, and Zhang Lan could feel the violent tremors.
"I can't go back, guys," Ben said in despair.
"Jump over!" In the critical moment, Johnny was unusually calm. "It's the only way now."
Ben instinctively jumped towards the hatch. Shortly after he jumped, the spot where he had been standing was ravaged by the energy storm that followed close behind.
Meanwhile, inside the space station, Victor began to close the shield—it was important to note that the shield's protective range was not large, covering only the observation deck.
Susan argued with him, the 感動 she felt during Victor's proposal instantly vanished, and she ran alone towards the outside of the shield.
"What are you going to do? I can't even help them, what can you do?"
"At least I tried," Susan said, running out without looking back.
Victor hesitated for only a moment before resolutely pressing the button to close the shield—there were plenty of women, he could find another one.
On the other side, Ben also entered the cabin at the critical moment, and Johnny, who had been bickering with him, also cooperated perfectly, closing the hatch just as Ben's body entered.
Without this protective filter, no one knew if direct exposure to the energy storm would allow them to survive.
Before Ben and the others could catch their breath, the energy storm, treating the space station's steel structure as nothing, shot straight through, passing over everyone's bodies. A very small portion remained within their bodies, but most of it passed through again, continuing its advance.
The cleansing of this energy storm, like ocean waves, came one after another, causing everyone to fall unconscious.
Only one person was an exception: Zhang Lan.
He was extremely pale, and all around him, bright yellow light raged. However, the light near Zhang Lan seemed to disappear into thin air, absorbed inexplicably before it could enter his body. In this dazzling energy storm, a clear path was inexplicably carved out.
Zhang Lan paid no mind, his eyes fixed on one spot. In his vision, which only he could see, a set of numbers was flickering—it was his system mission, a golden finger he had almost forgotten, which had never flickered in all these years.
"Effort Before Adulthood: Please charge the system before the host reaches the legal age of adulthood to meet the system's startup conditions."
—Current Completion: 0 / 100
—Current Completion: 7 / 100
—Current Completion: 14 / 100
—Current Completion: 21 / 100"
"Ding! Congratulations, Host, for completing the mission 'Effort Before Adulthood.' Reward has been issued, please check."
"Beep! System restarting, please wait."
During the system restart, the system's mysterious gravitational pull also disappeared, and the raging energy storm instantly engulfed Zhang Lan. Due to the system's passive attraction before, Zhang Lan was exposed to far more energy than the other five, including Ben.
"Beep! System startup complete. Detectable energy found. Energy absorption in progress."
As this system sound rang out, it was as if a rallying horn had been blown. The energy storm that had previously passed by Zhang Lan from a distance was now attracted, rushing towards him in droves, rooting itself deeply within his body.
The feeling of being cleansed by the energy storm was not painful. It felt like being submerged in seawater for a long time, then leaping towards the sky.
Although his nose couldn't breathe, his cells, as if suffocated for a long time, greedily absorbed the energy entering Zhang Lan's body. However, only a small portion was absorbed; most of it, like with Susan and the other four, was about to pass through his body, but at the moment it left Zhang Lan's body, it instantly vanished.
This was absorbed by the system.
When Zhang Lan heard this, he finally closed his eyes with relief. He had wanted to sleep for a long time; it felt so comfortable.
The golden finger finally opened. The author himself is also quite tipsy. Thanks to the readers who have stuck around. As a new author with a new work, there will certainly be flaws in the early stages, but it will get much better later. I hope everyone will cherish this young seedling.