Interstellar Survival: Invasion

"I'm fine. I was only a bit excited," said Dodo, confusing all of us.

"So Dodo, did you find anything?" I asked.

Instead of answering my question, Dodo asked, "Sarje, do you have any special elements in your iron staff?" 

"I'm not sure, but this staff has been passed down from my ancestors. It is very durable. My grandpa once told me that its materials were from Lasha Valley on Planet Eternal," said Sarje.

"Jack, are there any special ores in  Lasha Valley?" asked Dodo through the communicator.

"Lasha Valley is one of the areas where an element called soft can be found. The empire uses this element to make their steel more pliable and tough," answered Jack.

"Do we have any of this material in Skyhawk's cargo?" asked Dodo.

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"We have a lot among our reserve maintenance materials. Feel free to use it," said Jack.

Meanwhile, the rest of us were still completely confused, not knowing what Dodo was trying to do.

"Canyue, with my laser probe, I found that the flashing points actually connect into an arc. The flashing points can only be discovered when they are covered by shade and come in contact with materials containing the soft element. I intend to join all the flashing points and see what pattern I can find," said Dodo.

"Shade? With such a large space and three stars above us, how are we supposed to block the light from the three stars?" asked Zhang Bao'er.

"Easy," said Dodo before pointing at Skyhawk.

I instantly understood what Dodo meant. Skyhawk was big enough to provide the shade we needed. I immediately nodded and approved Dodo's plan. With my approval, Dodo quickly contacted Skyhawk. Then, the battleship soared into the sky and hovered above us, covering the three stars and creating a massive shadow on the ground.

At the same time, a small transport ship descended from Skyhawk's bottom. Before long, it landed ahead of us. Dozens of sturdy Wargod soldiers, each carrying a big steel plate, walked out.

"Excellent. This is what I want to see. Sarje's staff is just too small for what I need," said Dodo, looking quite excited.

"Dodo, what are you going to do next?" I asked, still not fully understanding Dodo's arrangements.

Dodo did not answer. Rather, they drew a green circle on the ground with the laser probe.

"Warriors, please carry your plates and stand along this line," said Dodo.

The Wargod soldiers moved and stood on the green line that formed a circle.

Then, a peculiar scene unfolded before our eyes. From the steel plates held by the soldiers standing in a circle, 12 dazzling flashes appeared. These flashes had been created by the soft element in the plates.

"What is this? Is this a password to go underground?" asked Zhang Bao'er excitedly.

In fact, the entire fleet became excited because of this discovery. After an intense discussion, everyone slowly calmed down. The 12 flashes were mere projections that had appeared on our own steel plates. We still hadn't found anything from the planet's ground. Thus, after the bout of excitement, everyone sank into deep thought.

"Dodo, what is this circle? Also, what is the meaning behind the circular arrangement of the flashing points?" asked Old Du.

"I'm searching my database for something similar," said Dodo.

About 15 minutes later, Dodo looked up and said, "According to the shape formed by the flashing points, the angle, and the distance between them, this diagram resembles a clock from Blue."

"Clock?" I was surprised.

"Canyue, why are you so shocked?" asked Zhang Bao'er curiously.

"If I remember right, there are 48 hours in a day on Eternal. Twelve points representing 24 hours proves that this thing is a reference to Blue's, or the league's, method of displaying time. But what is it doing here?" I muttered, causing everyone to sink into thought.

Suddenly, Master Crystal suggested through the communicator, "Dodo, have them keep searching the planet's surface. See if there's any new discovery."

After hearing Master Crystal's suggestion, Dodo immediately had the Wargod warriors who were holding the steel plates that didn't cause flashes to search around in the shade. Sure enough, there was soon a new discovery.

New flashing points had appeared on some of the steel plates. In order to search for more flashing points in the diagram, Zhang Xingxing ordered all the ships in our unit to soar into the sky and create an even larger shadow.

Ultimately, we confirmed that a circle formed of flashing points would appear every kilometer. The circles were arranged in a straight line, and it was likely that they would actually run around the entire planet. Finally, our scouting party had made a big breakthrough. Everyone became excited. Kelly's unit had also made a similar discovery by replicating what we did.

"Why would Blue's method of displaying time appear here? I don't understand the meaning of these flashes," said Zhang Xingxing.

"Puzzle. I believe these diagrams might represent some sort of puzzle," I said.

"I agree," said Old Du. "So long as we can solve the puzzle, we will be able to unveil this place's secret. But we still don't know how to solve this puzzle."

"There are so many points, but there is nothing on each of these clocks to indicate the time. If this really signifies Blue's system of measuring time, there should also be an hour hand and a minute hand on each clock," said Zhang Xingxing.

"Yeah. Maybe that's the solution to the puzzle. We just need to find a way to discover the hour and minute hands," said Old Du.

"For an Eternal construct to be locked with Blue's clock, the designer of the lock must be a Blueling," said Baron Sisse.

"The man in black. He was once here. Perhaps he had helped design this system," said Zhang Bao'er.

'I have suspected this since long ago; I have just been silent about it,' I thought to myself.

 "Can this be a clock puzzle? I once downloaded some theories regarding clock puzzles during my astronomy training," said Old Du.

"I also know those theories. From what we know, these clocks do resemble the clock puzzles we know about," said Kelly through the communicator.

The knowledge regarding clock puzzles was not a part of the standard knowledge-download package. Zhang Bao'er and I did not really pay more for the additional knowledge. Thus, when Old Du started talking about clock puzzles, we felt like we were listening to a completely alien language.

"What do you know? Just say it." Surprisingly, Dodo was the one to urge Old Du. It seemed that the android had not downloaded the relevant knowledge, either.

"The clock puzzle is a secret of time that one can solve by using the clock's surface. While solving the puzzle, the hour and minute hands do not exist. The person solving the puzzle must install the hands themselves to solve the puzzle," said Old Du.

"Secret of time? What do you mean?" asked Zhang Bao'er blankly.

"In short, the ability to predict the future. If you can solve the clock puzzle, you will be able to transcend time and obtain the secret of time," said Old Du.

"That sounds way too mystical. Also, isn't that basically fortune-telling? Has anyone ever solved the so-called clock puzzle before?" questioned Zhang Bao'er.

"History is filled with prophets. Some conspiracy theorists believed that these prophets had actually solved the clock puzzle. That was how they were able to make accurate predictions of the future or obtain knowledge ahead of their time. For example, individuals such as Jules Verne, Albert Einstein, Edison, and some other great inventors and prophets were actually related to the clock puzzle. Of course, this is merely a conspiracy theory. That is why the clock puzzle is not part of the standard download package," said Old Du, explaining why we weren't given the same knowledge.

"No wonder. Something that will create doubt in the great scientists and theorists will not be freely available for commoners like us," said Zhang Bao'er.

"Let us put aside history for now. Old Du, can you solve the clock puzzle?" asked Zhang Bao'er.

"I once learned the theories concerning the clock puzzle. I can try, but I might also need Kelly's help," said Old Du.

Zhang Xingxing directly ordered, "You and Kelly will start working together to solve the puzzle. Let me know if you need anything."

"According to Old Du's theory, the clock puzzle can let one get a glimpse of the future. What we need to do now is assign a default value to these handless clocks. In accordance with the default value, we will find some patterns to these clocks and figure out the secret behind them," said Kelly.

"What should we assign as the default value?" asked Old Du.

"Old Du, I intend to set zero o'clock as X, our default value. But theoretically, we need a variable to help assign X with different values," said Kelly.

"That is fine, but what should we use as the variable?" asked Old Du, sinking into thought.