Suppressing the guesses in his heart, Fang Er nodded with great certainty at the old man.
"That's right, I'll use this to settle the bill!"
Upon hearing this, the old man was overjoyed. "Sir, if your raw spirit jade is exchanged for crystallized jade, how about eight thousand?"
Fang Er didn't understand the market price for this item and didn't bother to haggle, so he readily agreed.
The old man then asked, "So sir, would you like it credited to your crystal lock, or would you prefer to take the crystallized jade?"
Crystal lock might be something like a bank card, which Fang Er didn't have, so he could only ask for the crystallized jade.
After deducting the three thousand seven hundred needed for the books from the eight thousand, the old man had the shop assistant retrieve four thousand three hundred pieces of crystallized jade.
The so-called crystallized jade was something about the size of a soybean, appearing warm and smooth, likely cut from some kind of jade.
Four thousand three hundred pieces wasn't a lot; a small cloth bag could hold them.
After the transaction was complete, the old man thoughtfully had the shop assistant help deliver the books to their lodging.
After closing the door, Fang Er and Xi Tong, the couple, began to pore over the books frantically.
Their minds were connected; any content one of them read could be instantly extracted from the other's memory, saving them a lot of effort.
With hundreds of books as thick as the Kangxi Dictionary, the two of them, holed up in their room, spent nearly ten days to finish reading them.
But these ten days gave them a basic understanding of Fenshui Star and Kunlun Star!
For instance, Kunlun Star was divided into five continents, with the central one, Kunlun Province, being the seat of the Yanhuang people's governance.
The other four continents were named, according to their geographical locations, as East Divine Continent, Southern Continent, West He Continent, and North Lu Continent.
Besides these five continents, countless islands were scattered across the deep oceans.
And the entire sphere of influence of the Yanhuang tribe actually covered all regions within approximately 50 light-years centered on Kunlun Star!
This was almost unbelievable!
Planets like Fenshui Star were merely one of countless affiliated planets for the Yanhuang tribe!
After reading this information, the couple came to only one conclusion!
That is, it was as difficult as reaching heaven to extract and take away Earth's star core from Kunlun Star!
[How about we talk to the higher-ups of the Yanhuang tribe and have all humans from Earth immigrate here?]
[The Yanhuang tribe has so many planets suitable for human reproduction, they shouldn't refuse our request, right?]
[After all, the humans on Earth are their descendants!]
"Impossible!"
Fang Er indeed rejected this suggestion.
It wasn't that he worried the Yanhuang tribe would refuse, but rather that the humans on Earth would never agree to migrate!
One's homeland is hard to leave. If there had been such a possibility, no one would have stayed behind when the Yanhuang tribe first left Earth!
Even when faced with life-threatening dangers, there would always be some people who couldn't bear to leave their homes!
Xi Tong rubbed his temples with a worried expression.
[Then what do we do? We can't just be stuck here, can we?]
Fang Er stood up, stretched, and squinted at the sun outside the window. "We'll take it one step at a time. First, let's find a way to get onto Kunlun Star!"
But then Xi Tong raised another question that was almost unsolvable.
[What about oxygen? How do we solve that?]
Fang Er's face immediately fell upon hearing this.
The Yanhuang tribe had migrated here over forty billion years ago. Over the years of reproduction and development, Kunlun Star alone could no longer accommodate the ever-increasing population.
This also led to the less privileged and powerless lower-ranking individuals being forced to relocate to other planets!
This was also one of the reasons why, despite Fenshui Star's atmosphere containing about 18% oxygen, people still lived there!
Guan Jieyan and the others from the Green Ox Trading Company were originally from Kunlun Star. Although the oxygen here was like a slow poison to them, the lifespan lost was almost negligible under the temptation of wealth!
But Fang Er and the others were different!
Guan Jieyan could move freely in both Kunlun Star and Fenshui Star's environments, but if they went to Kunlun Star, they would need to rely on respirators to survive!
For the Yanhuang tribe on Kunlun Star, those Yanhuang descendants who could not adapt to the oxygen-free environment were not qualified to set foot on Kunlun Star!
Therefore, this was a dead end!
If they used respirators, once discovered or reported, they would be expelled from Kunlun Star in minutes!
But without respirators, they couldn't survive on Kunlun Star at all!
Suddenly, Fang Er's eyes lit up, as if he had thought of something.
"Let's go! We'll head back to the ship first!"
Putting all the books into the spatial warehouse, the two of them returned to the spaceship together.
Survival without oxygen was determined by human physiology.
But...
The human body could be modified, or rather, influenced!
Upon returning to the spaceship, Fang Er immediately called Wang Xuance and Sun Simiao together and explained his idea.
His idea was quite simple: Wang Xuance's brainwaves could influence the minute details of the human body.
And Sun Simiao was a master physician. With the two of them working together, perhaps they could really solve this problem!
After speaking, he pointed to a small bottle in front of him.
"This is nutrient fluid from the ship's hibernation pod. Perhaps it can be modified!"
This nutrient fluid could allow people to remain in a dormant state during long interstellar voyages and also ensure the health of those in hibernation. Once adapted, the human body could immerse itself in it, and as they breathed, this nutrient fluid would be inhaled into the lungs, providing sufficient oxygen.
What needed to be done now was to remove the hypnotic substances from this fluid, increase the oxygen content, and change its consistency.
Sun Simiao pondered for a moment and then nodded slightly. "We can give it a try. Give me three days!"
Wang Xuance also nodded. "Your Highness, rest assured, once the old man has made the product, I will personally test it!"
Three days later, Sun Simiao and Wang Xuance brought a jelly-like substance that jiggled, looking even more enticing than a jelly dessert.
Fang Er curiously picked up the jelly and asked, "Is this what you've made?"
Sun Simiao nodded. "That's right!"
"Besides removing unnecessary components, I've also added some herbs that can invigorate the spirit, boost qi, and strengthen the bones."
"By inhaling this substance into the lungs through the mouth, it should be enough to sustain the body's oxygen consumption for half an hour!"
"Your Highness, let me demonstrate!"
Wang Xuance picked up the jelly, put it into his mouth, and took a deep breath.
The jelly, along with the outside air, was rapidly inhaled into his lungs.
Fang Er had initially worried that he might choke, but Wang Xuance acted as if nothing had happened.
After inhaling the jelly into his lungs, he even took out two cotton balls and plugged his nostrils.
As time passed, and seeing Wang Xuance's face not change color due to lack of oxygen, Fang Er was overjoyed.
"Excellent!"
"Half an hour, that's enough!"
"Hurry up and produce enough for two people to last for a month!"