Chapter 30: Stored Data

Jon said he had left a gift for Angell.

At first, Angell didn't care much for the gift, until he opened the folder. Seeing it filled to the brim with documents, he finally understood just how precious the gift his mentor had left him truly was.

—Jon had transferred every piece of data stored in the chip within his mind into this folder.

Astronomy and geography, scientific items, literature and fiction, even some fringe cultures, music, recipes, and more could all be found within the folder.

Previously, Angell hadn't understood why his mentor was so erudite—not only knowing how to farm, build, and cook, but also possessing knowledge in various academic disciplines. Now he understood: it turned out that Earth's technological civilization possessed such capabilities!

Every human on Earth was bound to a parasitic chip at birth. A parasitic chip was equivalent to a computer without an internet connection; it could autonomously store various types of data and connect to the hippocampus of the brain's memory sea, ensuring nothing would ever be forgotten. Presumably, Jon had stored all sorts of information so that even if he traveled to another world, the flame of civilization would not be extinguished.

If it weren't for the fact that the parasitic chip in Jon's mind could not be transferred, he might have sent the chip itself. After all, the parasitic chip was bound to the brain and could not be lost, and because it connected to the brain's memory bank, it was equivalent to possessing the superpower of photographic memory.

However, it was the same even without a parasitic chip. With the holographic tablet, although the speed of absorbing knowledge points was slower since it couldn't directly connect to the hippocampus responsible for memory, as long as one was persistent, becoming learned was only a matter of time.

Thinking of this, Angell solemnly hid the holographic tablet close to his person. For him at this moment, this object was more valuable than anything else he possessed!

And so, with the holographic tablet, Angell's life underwent a massive change.

He spent almost all his days and nights immersed in the world of the holographic tablet, only putting it down when it needed to be recharged via solar power.

Angell did not immediately begin exploring the knowledge left by his mentor; instead, he scanned the several large crates of books he had purchased from Moon Sea City, one by one, and transferred them into the tablet. As Jon had said, for a scholar, knowledge is the most important thing. Therefore, Angell's first thought was to transfer the books into the tablet.

The scanning process was not easy. Although the holographic tablet had a camera for recording and photography, the files were ultimately in image format. While the system had a text-to-image conversion function, it was limited to Earth's languages. The official script of the Golden Sparrow Empire was not in the system.

Coupled with the fact that the system only supported Earth's languages, Angell could only temporarily store all the images in a folder, and in his spare time, translate them into Chinese versions one by one.

By the time he finished scanning all the books and completed the classification and organization, a week had passed.

Once Angell finished scanning the books, he had absolutely nothing left to do. Combined with the monotony of life at sea, and the fact that the Allen siblings were both practicing guidance methods and rarely visited him, Angell felt even more lonely and bored.

Thus, driven by a hint of curiosity, he began to explore the data within the holographic tablet.

At first, Angell read some treatises published by famous Earth scientists. Later, he discovered that the data in many papers was only useful within the cosmic environment of Earth, so he read them less frequently, instead absorbing only some of the underlying logic and methodologies.

Later, Angell's interests grew increasingly broad. Occasionally, for leisure, he would open the arts and entertainment folder to listen to Earth's music or read some "grassroots" novels that fell outside the realm of serious literature.

After reading many novels, Angell finally understood why his mentor had exclaimed in his letter, "Live a bit more sophisticatedly than the transmigration protagonists in novels."

Those cringeworthy lines like "If Heaven seeks to destroy me, I shall defy Heaven; if God seeks to block me, I shall slay God" made Angell feel a mysterious sense of embarrassment. However, some transmigration novels were quite to his taste, and he read them with great interest. At the very least, they were good for passing the time.

After reading much literature and fiction, Angell's curiosity about Earth grew even stronger. He wished he had the chance to visit the great metropolises of Earth to see what the prosperous and high-tech world looked like. At this moment, Angell did not know that the entertainment sub-folder contained tens of thousands of films and television works; any single urban drama could showcase the scenery of Earth to him. But that was a matter for later.

On this day, Angell reclassified the folders on the holographic tablet, dividing the data into "Earth Chapter" and "Current World Chapter." After reading one more chapter of *The Snows of Kilimanjaro*, he prepared to head out for a meal.

But before he could even reach the dining hall, a sharp whistle echoed throughout the entire ship.

The whistles came in succession—three long and two short. Angell immediately realized: this was the siren for a lockdown on the *Bauhinia*!

Realizing the meaning behind the whistle, Angell's expression turned instantly serious. He spun around abruptly and strode back. Moro had mentioned before boarding that once the ship was under lockdown, it was best for everyone to stay in their respective rooms.

On his way back, Angell noticed that most of the other Awakened had opened their cabin doors to converse and discuss, making various speculations about the lockdown.

Some said it was a sea beast attack, some said a storm was approaching, some said they had hit a reef, and others said the cloud whales in the sky were launching an attack on the *Bauhinia*... there were all sorts of guesses, but generally, none of them were good. Every face bore a faint trace of worry and fear.

In the vast ocean, fear is a common emotion. And what causes fear to accumulate infinitely is an unpredictable future.

Angell felt worry in his heart as well, but he understood that no amount of worrying would help. He currently lacked the ability to change his circumstances and could only silently pray that everything would go smoothly.

Upon returning to his cabin, Angell's first action was to open the small ventilation port.

Using this small window, he peered outside to assess the situation.

To Angell's disappointment, he could see nothing outside.

At some unknown point, a thick fog had rolled in, reducing visibility to less than ten meters.

The "unknown" always triggers boundless imagination in people. Angell was, after all, still a young man; no matter how mature and independent he usually acted, he began to feel uneasy at this moment.

He constantly reminded himself that the lockdown was caused by extreme fog and that everything would be fine once the fog cleared; but even he didn't believe that explanation. However, given the circumstances, he had no choice but to use the most optimistic speculation to calm his restless heart.

The hands of the wall clock shifted bit by bit.

Until nearly 4:00 PM, the thick fog outside still had not dissipated, and the *Bauhinia* had not sounded the "all clear" whistle.

Everything seemed unchanged.

But just then, a sudden change occurred.

(End of Chapter)