“You’re really smart—at least, you didn’t think I was one of your so-called immortals. Hmm, you’re better than that Henry Wood.” That voice sounded approving. Smart? Not really. Don’t all aliens talk like this? I’ve read plenty of fantasy novels.

Henry Wood, isn’t that me? No, no. I’m not Henry Wood, I just swapped identities with him for now—I’m impersonating him.

“So, which star system are you from?” My tone was a bit excited; after all, meeting an alien is a once-in-a-lifetime event.

“Very far, very far away—so far you can’t even imagine.” That voice sounded a bit lonely, and it had actually mastered the human way of speaking quite well.

But that answer was obviously unsatisfactory to me. I immediately asked again, “Can you show your true form and let me see?”

“That… better not.” The voice was clearly embarrassed: “We’ve done that before, and ended up scaring one of your kind to death. I might even get punished for it when I go back.”

Damn, these guys must look pretty bad. If those ancient people saw them, maybe they’d think they were monsters.

“In that case, I’ll save my request for later.” My mind was working quickly, and I asked calmly, “So, tell me, why did you bring me onto your spaceship?”

“Spaceship?” The person was clearly confused.

“You don’t understand ‘spaceship’? How about starship, or aircraft carrier?” I explained, then impatiently added, “I mean the thing you use to fly around between the stars.”

“Oh, I get it. Haha, you’re really interesting. You actually know about our Zhouyuan, which can travel between the stars.” The person seemed quite happy—after all, it’s rare to meet someone who doesn’t think they’re a god or a monster. Then he continued, “We brought you up—onto the spaceship—because we wanted to make up for our mistake.”

“Your mistake?” I thought for a moment, then suddenly realized, “The thing with Henry Wood—was that your doing?”

“It’s really shameful, to be honest.” The voice paused, then continued, “I might as well tell you the whole story from the beginning. I’m a researcher, here on your Sky Blue Star to observe and study. I don’t know if you understand what I mean?”

“Yeah, I understand perfectly.” I continued, “So you call our Earth ‘Sky Blue Star’?”

“Earth? So you’ve already named your planet?” The person sounded a bit surprised, but then said, “The name ‘Earth’ isn’t very fitting. The surface of this planet is mostly water, and its main color is sky blue.”

“I know all that.” I lazily waved my hand. “Go on with what you were saying.”

“Alright. After I arrived on Sky Blue Star—oh, I mean Earth—I began a thousand-Earth-year observation. Of course, all our observations were done without you Earthlings knowing. Recently, since our time was almost up, I took the risk of entering your society directly as a living being for the final investigation.” The voice suddenly sighed, “Your species is really unfriendly. They called me a monster and wanted to kill me. I started running away, but your kind just wouldn’t give up until they killed me. In the end, I was seriously injured, my life hanging by a thread. Luckily, that Earthling named Henry Wood saved me.”

Heh, those ancient people were really something—daring to hunt down a technologically advanced alien. They almost killed it, too.

“With technology as advanced as yours, how could you be seriously injured by a bunch of Earthlings?” I asked, puzzled.

“There are some very powerful individuals among you Earthlings.” The voice seemed to tremble a bit. “Even with the best protective armor, I couldn’t withstand about a hundred of those strong ones.”

Powerful individuals? Cultivators? Martial artists? A string of thoughts flashed through my mind.

“After Henry Wood saved me, of course I had to repay him. So I agreed to one of his requests.” The person suddenly sounded a bit puzzled. “His request was actually for us to help him escape from the pinnacle of power.”

“So that’s why he ran to my era.” I could pretty much guess what happened next. “Then he dragged me over to be emperor, while he went off to enjoy himself.”

“That’s exactly right.” The voice continued, “So I invited you here, hoping to give you some reasonable compensation. After all, you’re a victim, and the one who started all this was me.”

Perfect. I was secretly excited—wasn’t this just an open invitation to extort them? But there was still one question I had to ask: “Everything else makes sense, but why does Henry Wood look exactly like me? Except for that birthmark on the chest.”

“That’s simple—that was Henry Wood’s request. He didn’t want his father’s kingdom to collapse as soon as he left.” The voice sighed bitterly, “We looked for a lot of people, but none of them fit. Until you appeared.”

Heh, I don’t find Henry Wood so annoying anymore. The guy actually has pretty good taste.