Chapter 76: Merchandise Gifts

Chapter 76 Bonus Merchandise

"Will this bonus merchandise be a hair regrowth guide or scissors made of Qianjun alloy?" Sheng Qingquan couldn't help but speculate.

"Either one seems very practical."

Others nodded silently in agreement. Exactly.

The jellyfish folks might be bad, but the method of growing hair is innocent. If used properly, it wouldn’t drain the user's vitality or fundamentally change the hair's nature. Plus, it could help everyone avoid baldness.

If limited to the early stages, wouldn’t this be the holy grail of hair regrowth?

Qianjun alloy has its merits too. It’s clearly a new type of metal. Even if it might have major flaws, its hardness is undeniably excellent and could be useful in many applications.

As long as it doesn’t involve the jellyfish’s fragile physique, anything would do.

After all, aside from other humans on Tianlan Star, Sheng Qingquan’s physical condition was hard-won through surviving disaster after disaster. Even if others drank the pixies' Wildflower Honey, they didn’t achieve the same results.

If they were suddenly sabotaged by the bonus merchandise and set back to their starting point, not just Sheng Qingquan—they'd all be sick with frustration.

The staff hadn’t forgotten that when the novel merchandise feature was first introduced, it was mentioned that the gifts might not always be useful—they could even be completely useless.

Who knew... would they "draw the short straw" this time?

*...*

Just as everyone felt somewhat uneasy, Sheng Qingquan noticed that what landed in his hand was a tiny, intricately made model.

At first glance, it looked a bit like the neatly arranged, kid-friendly Kinder Eggs on supermarket shelves.

Before Sheng Qingquan could react, the top half of the eggshell automatically opened, revealing an array of tiny, meticulously arranged items inside.

It resembled a miniature diorama by a master craftsman, but everyone knew it wasn’t.

"So, what is this?"

The moment Sheng Qingquan felt puzzled, a mechanical voice spoke up.

"Binding successful. Welcome as the pilot of FlightGen-3. I am the ship’s AI, 333. Would you like to board FlightGen-3 and begin your journey?"

"So this egg… is a flying vehicle—no, a spaceship?" Sheng Qingquan instinctively asked.

"Correct. FlightGen-3 is the third-generation spaceship independently developed by the Blueglow Clan. Capable of prolonged interstellar travel, it boasts robust defensive functions, resistance to minor cosmic particle explosions and dark matter invasions… It has an extensive detection range and excellent early-warning capabilities, effectively avoiding most black holes…"

The mechanical voice went on, but Sheng Qingquan couldn’t follow most of it—except for one thing.

"So it’s not from the jellyfish clan but the Blueglow Clan."

But this was a spaceship! Sheng Qingquan was ecstatic.

"A spaceship… a real-deal spaceship…"

*Now this is what you call hitting the jackpot!*

Sheng Qingquan’s eyes sparkled as he gazed at the tiny model, his gaze turning tender enough to melt steel.

He stopped caring that it resembled a Kinder Egg. So what if it looked like an egg? That didn’t stop it from being way cooler than any egg.

Although Sheng Qingquan already had a mecha that could fly in space for a limited time, he had never dared to venture out recklessly. He always felt unsafe.

But a spaceship was different. No matter its appearance, the word "spaceship" just sounded more legit when it came to navigation.

Tianlanxing wasn’t without spaceships—manned spacecraft had existed for a long time. Otherwise, how could the space stations on the moon have been built? People couldn’t just magically appear there!

But Sheng Qingquan knew all too well that not all spaceships were the same.

This ship looked straight out of an interstellar sci-fi flick. Compared to Tianlanxing’s current manned spacecraft, its functions were far more advanced and powerful.

So… could he actually go into space and take a look?

Sheng Qingquan was itching to give it a shot.

But reason quickly suppressed this impulse.

You could tell how dangerous space was just by looking at how slow Tianlanxing’s space exploration had progressed over the years.

Besides, he didn’t know this ship inside out yet. He shouldn’t risk his life out of momentary curiosity.

If something really went wrong in space, even the authorities would have a hard time saving him.

His logical side knew this better than anyone, yet emotionally, his curiosity was off the charts.

Just as Sheng Qingquan was torn between logic and curiosity—

The robotic voice piped up again.

"Detected a ship from the same source nearby. Requesting permission to initiate docking?"

Another spaceship?!

Everyone instantly tensed up.

Including Sheng Qingquan, they all snapped back to reality and finally remembered what they had overlooked.

Every time the "golden finger" gave out novel merch, they were always related to stories—and for such items to appear, they had to exist in the story first.

Moreover, knowing how fragile that jellyfish was, it obviously couldn’t have muscled its way across space.

Its ride here was obvious.

"There’s no new novel, so it’s definitely not some new threat."

"The ship detected by 333 can only be the one the jellyfish used to get here."

"But how was it detected?" Sheng Qingquan’s first thought after calming down was this.

Knowing how that jellyfish operated, if it wanted to monopolize the benefits, it wouldn’t have left its spaceship parked out in the open without any disguise. Wouldn’t that just invite trouble?!

"Is it related to the 'same source' thing?" Sheng Qingquan hadn’t missed the term the ship’s computer had just used. He had a feeling this was the key.

"Every vessel produced by the Lanying Clan has a unique identification code. That vessel shares the same code as this one. It’s as if there’s another version of me onboard—like my chip code was duplicated." The emotionless mechanical voice somehow managed to sound confused.

Still, it continued answering Sheng Qingquan’s question: "That’s why, even if the other vessel is well-disguised, I can still detect it."

"Makes sense. It’s like recognizing yourself. Like how you’d still recognize yourself in old skinny pics... Same logic. No matter how different you look, you know it’s you."

Though he didn’t understand why there were two identical ships—even with identical computers—Sheng Qingquan had learned not to overthink these things.

He will find out eventually if it’s meant for him to know.

There was another spaceship outside. To avoid revealing his wealth code, he had personally handled everything with the giant jellyfish, which made it easy to guess that there was no one else on the ship. However, Sheng Qingquan still didn’t dare to make the decision himself and quickly relayed the situation.

The Great Leader received the message soon after. Knowing that AI 333 was still on standby and that every moment the external spaceship lingered posed an additional risk, the Great Leader didn’t hesitate and made a quick decision.

"Initiate docking request," Sheng Qingquan ordered.

"Calling... calling... no response. Repeating call... calling... no response."

"No response at all. Should we attempt a forced takeover?"

"Yes."

"Forced takeover in progress... takeover successful."

"Control of the spaceship has been obtained. We can send personnel to take over."

As he spoke, 333 projected a virtual screen showing the location of the other spaceship.

It was just outside Tianlan Planet, not far away.

But even so, it was still in outer space. Saying it was close was only relative.

To take over quickly, they would have to fly a spaceship over.

Fortunately, they already had a spaceship. On Tianlan Planet, although no one knew how to pilot a spaceship, the mechs had intelligent modes, and the spaceship could be entrusted to the AI for autonomous navigation.

As the owner of the spaceship, Sheng Qingquan successfully argued for a spot, on the condition that he carry his mech with him and be ready to pilot it away if the situation turned unfavorable.

The main issue was that everyone realized without Captain Sheng Qingquan, they couldn't command Unit 333 to act at all. They had no choice but to accept the outcome.

Fortunately, after rigorous training and drinking Wildflower Honey to enhance their physical condition, they could now barely control the backup mechs.

To this end, the authorities sparingly allocated some of the parts Sheng Qingquan had crafted, assembling them into makeshift mechs to equip a ten-person mech squad.

The most dangerous missions were always assigned to them. They were the ones who had set the ambush for the giant jellyfish before, and now they were the ones boarding this spacecraft.

If any insurmountable danger arose, they would be the first to hold the line, buying time, even if just by dragging it out, to ensure Sheng Qingquan's survival.

Unaware of the others' resolve, Sheng Qingquan piloted the spacecraft to the desert.

In the desert, after the spacecraft expanded, Sheng Qingquan and the mech squad entered it together.

Activating stealth mode, the spacecraft automatically ascended, heading toward the location of the other ship.

Breaking through the clouds and exiting the atmosphere, the spacecraft gave only a slight shudder—less than the bumpiness of an airplane entering the stratosphere—before it emerged in space.

Through the cockpit screen, the universe revealed itself before Sheng Qingquan's eyes.

Even though he remembered the purpose of this mission, at this moment, he was utterly mesmerized.

Colorful nebulae filled his view, resembling glowing seaweed at night, rising and falling with each cosmic tide.

Or like the bioluminescent fish, shrimp, and plankton of the deep sea, changing formations as one—scattering, gathering, swirling in synchronized motion as they hunted collectively.

Like fireflies flickering in the night sky, their lights pulsing in and out, dreamlike, yet infinitely richer and more dazzling than anything earthly.

All metaphors fall short before this breathtaking beauty, seeming dull and inadequate.

Sheng Qingquan had never felt his language so limited, utterly incapable of capturing its magnificence.

Beyond the cosmos, Sheng Qingquan could still gaze back at Tianlan Star.

The blue planet floated in the darkness, a view he’d seen many times before in satellite photos. But standing here now and witnessing it firsthand, the awe it inspired was beyond anything a photograph could convey.

If photos just lacked depth, Sheng Qingquan had owned globes—large ones bigger than basketballs, and tiny, palm-sized miniatures.

But the feeling was still worlds apart.

It was like the difference between looking at carved temple statues and seeing a god appear before your eyes—utterly beyond comparison.

The sensation of his soul being shaken, his heart trembling, left Sheng Qingquan speechless.

The others were just as awestruck.

Only two staff members with astronaut backgrounds managed to stay somewhat calm.

"Beautiful, isn’t it?" one of them asked softly.

"It truly is," the others nodded, as if snapped out of it.

Even so, they couldn’t pull themselves away, spellbound by the beauty. It wasn’t until the AI alerted them to the appearance of another ship ahead that they reluctantly refocused.

With the help of their own AI, 333, the opposing ship’s unmanned AI, lacking orders from its master, barely fought back against 333’s takeover.

The hijacking went smoothly.

After driving their mechs over, they boarded the ship, whose door slid open at just the right moment. Tianlan Star officially took control of the vessel, and with the AI’s assistance, conducted a thorough inspection.

They ensured the ship’s tracking was disabled, ruling out all risks—that it wouldn’t periodically send signals to the Blueglow Clan or elsewhere, and that no other lifeforms were aboard. Only then did the squad leader bind the ship’s AI and order it to return to Tianlan Star.

While checking for risks, the crew also discovered a stash of drugs labeled "Special Hair Growth Formula" in the ship’s lower hold.

Clearly, these were the substances the giant jellyfish had used to target the people of Tianlan Star.

Fortunately, the issue was resolved early. While everyone gained thick hair, its fundamental properties remained largely unchanged.

Without further doses, this might actually be a good thing.

At least no one was bald anymore!

Hair restoration without side effects—wasn’t that a wonderful thing?

Initially, Sheng Qingquan had worried that when the effects wore off and people’s hair reverted, the disappointment might be crushing. Now, there was no need for concern—this result was the best possible.

Thanks for the ‘gift,’ giant jellyfish.

His gratitude was so profound it defied words. After returning to Tianlan Star and still under observation, Sheng Qingquan asked the quarantine zone’s chef for a plate of jellyfish salad and ate it with deep gratitude, expressing his thanks to the jellyfish in the most tangible way.

By the time Sheng Qingquan returned to Yunteng City, the employees of the Yuan Family Scissors Factory, who had been sent on an off-the-grid trip, had long since returned to work, looking refreshed.

Everything was back on track. As the weather grew colder, Sheng Qingquan preferred staying indoors. Mostly, he was still caught up in the memories from his earlier "journey," leaving everything else feeling lackluster in comparison.

Tianlan Star had no shortage of beauty, but even the most stunning landscapes grow familiar after twenty-odd years. The thrill of that first look can never be matched.

It would probably take some more time to get back to normal.

That day, Sheng Qingquan was killing time at home gaming. Just as he was about to finish off the enemy's health bar, his character suddenly froze.

The entire screen locked up, and a spinning wheel appeared in the middle, turning endlessly.

"Internet down?"

Just as Sheng Qingquan was about to check the broadband, he heard shouts of frustration coming from outside the window.

"Damn it, my file hasn't finished downloading!"

"Ahhh, I was right in the middle of a video at the climax, and now it's cut off!"

"The new anime episode just loaded, and I didn’t even get to click on it—how is the internet gone already?"

"My novel—it’s killing me! What did the author write in the next chapter? It must be a smut scene. Given the plot direction, not writing it would be criminal. It’s definitely a smut scene. Seriously, the website didn’t censor me, but real life had to go and cut my internet..."

Shouts of complaint rang out throughout the neighborhood.

"Seems like it's not just one or two households."

"The whole neighborhood's internet is down. What the hell? Did the neighborhood hub malfunction?"