17. Lu Mingfe’s Decision [Modern Warship in a Cultivation World]

"Officer Nolan," Imogen said, her eyes fixed on Lu Mingfe. "Translate for him, precisely." She took a slow, steadying breath, her gaze unwavering.

"We have reached a decision. It is time he understood the truth of our situation."She paused, letting the weight of her words settle in the room before delivering the line that would change everything.

"Tell him... we are not of this world."

Officer Nolan nodded and began, his expression serious. “Given the opportunity, you would naturally want to find out the truth about us, wouldn't you?”

“Are you willing to disclose the truth about your people and your ship?” Lu Mingfe asked, immediately grasping the gravity of Nolan’s offer. Nolan nodded, looking straight at the young man. “Yes. What I am saying is that the choice to know, or not to know, is entirely yours.”

“Why are you letting me decide that?” Lu Mingfe questioned, his mind racing to dissect their intentions. “What happens after I know your origin… and who you truly are?”

“Be prepared for the consequences,” Officer Nolan replied instantly, the gravity of the military oath clear in his voice. “Do you mean to say I won’t be leaving this ship alive, then?” Lu Mingfe asked with a firm voice, testing the boundary.

Officer Nolan countered without flinching. “You have been warned. You will know too much about us and this ship. Once we divulge, you will have to share the same fate as all of us… whatever that might be. I am asking you to prepare yourself if you wish to know.”

A heavy silence descended once more, stretching for long, tense minutes. Lu Mingfe’s eyes scanned the room, the glowing screens showing maps of unknown stars, the determined faces of the crew, the cold, unyielding metal that surrounded them. Finally, his gaze settled on Jessica, who stood with her recorder held tightly, her expression a mixture of anxiety and hope.

He thought of the strange, canned food, the humming "cold boxes," the language of gestures and confused smiles, the sheer, impossible speed of this metal leviathan, and the weapon that killed Netherfins with a single, sky-born strike. Nothing fit. Nothing made sense within the logic of his world.

“When you all rescued me… Lu Mingfe of the Falling Star Sect of the Absolution Alliance ceased to exist,” Lu Mingfe answered, his words echoing in the tense room as they were translated for Imogen and Pax.

“I am but a survivor rescued by the kindness of wanderers who drift aimlessly searching for home,” Lu Mingfe said, a clear, settled acceptance visible in his eyes.

“Aren’t you afraid of how your fate will turn out if you follow us?” Jessica asked, seeing this profound willingness to surrender his past identity.

“The purpose of one’s life… a life as particularly insignificant as mine is… is to learn and understand the unknown, isn’t it?” Lu Mingfe answered with quiet determination. “I have no family left to speak of, and my superiors would have already written me off as dead. There is but not much for me to return to.”

"Very well," Officer Nolan said, his tone shifting from that of a negotiator to that of a lecturer, a teller of an impossible history. "Then listen, and understand. The story I tell you is our reality."

Officer Nolan began with the foundation. "We are from a world called Earth. It is a planet, like this one, with vast oceans and continents, but with only a single, silver moon in its sky. Our world is governed not by Qi, but by laws of physics we have spent centuries unraveling. We have no cultivators. Our strength comes from technology: machines, electronics, and engineering."

Lu Mingfe listened, his brow furrowed, as Nolan spoke of nations spanning the globe, connected by instant communication devices and vehicles that traversed land, sea, and air at speeds he could scarcely conceive. He described cities of glass and steel that touched the clouds, and a global network of "satellites", man-made stars in the void, that allowed them to see any spot on their planet or speak to anyone across vast distances.

_______

After more than half an hour of explaining the impossible, from satellites and global nations to nuclear power and the Anomaly.

"The ship you are on," Officer Nolan finally finished, gesturing to the walls around them, "is the pinnacle of this technology. The DDC-00 UNSC Event Horizon. It is a warship, yes, but also a mobile base and a home. It is powered by a controlled reaction more powerful than ten thousand of your primitive boilers, allowing us to sail for years without needing fuel. The water you drink is created from the sea itself. The light that banishes the darkness comes not from flame or Qi, but from captured lightning."

Lu Mingfe was left reeling.

“You just appeared in this world?” Lu Mingfe questioned, facing the four. Their expressions were totally serious, conveying a complete lack of deception. He found it increasingly hard to believe this was any sort of elaborate plan or trap; his expression was now a mixture of profound disbelief and dawning realization.

Everything does connect, he thought. The strange devices, the inherent bizarreness of every instrument on this ship, which was now clearly otherworldly from its very foundation. The weird, singular "firework" weaponry, their genuine obliviousness to common sense like Qi and Spirit Beasts, and even the geography of the world: it all suddenly fit a single, terrifying explanation.

Imogen gave a brief nod, and the main screen displayed footage of Earth: a rapid montage of cities, oceans, and people from movies and television shows brought aboard by the crew. Lu Mingfe watched the screen, his eyes wide with shock, yet a profound understanding dawned within them.

Pax subtly took a few pictures of him, documenting the moment the barrier of normalcy cracked in his expression. “This… this must be some sort of illusion, right?” Lu Mingfe whispered. “There is only one moon, the people… the world is nothing like the mortal realm.”

Finally, he inhaled deeply, as if trying to force the spiraling emotions in his heart into a firm, inner seal. No one truly understood the mental turmoil he was experiencing, but the young man certainly seemed grateful to be alive. That fact remained certain for Pax, Imogen, Officer Nolan, and Jessica; there was no deliberate intention of malice toward them in his eyes.

"If knowing this... has bound my fate to this ship," Lu Mingfe said, his voice firming with resolve, "then I accept that bond." He turned to Jessica, a bittersweet smile touching his lips, and spoke words heavy with an ancient, personal meaning she could not yet fully grasp. "If your fate is bound to this ship, there is no other path for me but to accept this, as my honor deems it."

He had given her the dagger. His life was hers. Where her path led, his would follow. He turned fully to face Imogen and executed another deep, respectful bow. "I will help you," he declared. "To the Captain: I think getting supplies is possible."

The sudden, pragmatic shift cut through the heavy atmosphere like a knife. Everyone was taken aback.

"When I followed Miss, sorry, Reporter Jessica into the kitchen," he explained, looking at the four of them, "I observed the soldiers were rationing the weird food in containers you had. So, that means supplies are your biggest concern, right?"