With a skeptical heart, the young man carrying the bow and arrow ignited the "fuel rod" granted by the Ancestors and groped his way into the interior of the starship wreckage.
The silver disk in his hand projected a faint blue light forward.
Tiny particles of light gathered in the air to form an arrow-shaped icon, guiding him onward.
anwhile, Jiang Xuezhou, sitting in the bridge of the Orion Missile Cruiser, was munching on a compressed biscuit while remotely directing the native young man.
The whole process was like playing a first-person perspective RPG ga.
If Night Ten were here, she would surely complain about it.
Not just first-person; when necessary, she could make the "drone" in the young man’s hand fly back, switching to a third-person view.
Just as Jiang Xuezhou was enjoying the ga, the ship’s server suddenly received a ssage, appearing as a pop-up on the holographic screen in front of her.
[Investigation Report on "Tree of Yenshof," Forest People Tribe, and the unique "Psychic Ability" of the locals]
Upon seeing this pop-up, Jiang Xuezhou’s eyes lit up, and she gently coughed, speaking into the communication channel.
"I’m out of power—what I an is, my magic is not enough; you explore on your own for a while. Rember to mark the explored areas when you co out for a break from the ruins, and place the silver tal disk in the sunlight."
Qiu Ridge: "?"
Jiang Xuezhou, having dropped this line, didn’t wait for the native young man’s response, and eagerly clicked on the investigation report uploaded by Night Ten.
In the report, Night Ten detailed the explanation of the Doma Tribe Temple Maiden about the "Tree of Yenshof," and the series of events that occurred during the "Era of Wilderness" and "Era of Awakening."
[For so reason, the locals forgot the language and history of the Human Alliance Era. My speculation is that most of those who survived the war were children whose traits were not fully developed, or even newborn infants. Gaia, or rather the Tree of Yenshof, altered the genes of these children, granting them the ability to perform photosynthesis under specific circumstances, allowing them to survive the aftermath of the war. However, without parents, the transmission of civilization and knowledge was interrupted.]
[Conversely, that gene modification granted so of the surviving newborns the special ability of "ntal induction," henceforth referred to as "Spiritual Energy."]
[Through this special ability, they can directly communicate with each other using ntal induction, communicate with other living beings in nature, communicate with the Tree of Yenshof, and even connect the past and the future.]
[This special ability accelerated the civilization process of the locals to so extent, even though they were not aware of the existence of this special ability. Boosted by "Spiritual Energy," they quickly invented a new language, forming a large tribal community through the cohesive power of the new language and culture.]
[The tiline arrived at the Awakening Era, with the landing of surviving crew mbers of the Gemini Missile Cruiser as a watershed. With the assistance of 17 Gemini crew mbers, the local survivors fully comprehended the "Spiritual Energy" talent and truly recognized the existence of the Tree of Yenshof, interpreting it as so higher-dinsional existence using dinsional theory.]
[With the help of the Tree of Yenshof, the locals relearned the forgotten history and summarized past mories as the Era of Wilderness, calling the mories after "becoming aware of the existence of myself and it" as the Era of Awakening, until the arrival of the second judgent day.]
[Regarding the Tree of Yenshof, the Gemini’s crew had disagreents. So people left the forest with the "Sinners" who seemingly couldn’t sense the Tree of Yenshof, while the rest stayed in the Forbidden Forest Valley with the believers of the Tree of Yenshof, living and recuperating under the original Sacred Tree sprout—naly the Tree of Yenshof.]
[The exact cause of the disagreent among Gemini crew mbers is not clearly recorded in the temple mural. The history visible through the temple mural by the temple maiden seems not to include this part.]
[According to her words, the foundation of "Spiritual Energy" induction must be built on mutual recognition, and the information that can be exchanged must also be concepts understood by both parties. My understanding is... this spiritual energy is like a teleprompter in both hands, and thus when the connection is established between the past and the present, the present can transmit more information to the past, but relatively has less influence on the future. The past receives less information from the present, but relatively makes more impact on future decisions based on the known information.]
[This is quite similar to our encounter in the "Hyperspace Passage," but not entirely the sa.]
[However, although establishing a "Psychic channel" with Gemini crew mbers seems unlikely, I can still make rough speculations based on limited information: their argunt might be related to whether to continue assisting the locals in awakening and whether to take the Gemini back to the Solar System. Ultimately, this argunt also concluded with the crash of the Gemini Missile Cruiser into the atmosphere, forcing the forest people to leave the Forbidden Forest Valley, surrendering their ancestral sacred land to the current Valley people.]
"I see... no wonder the forest people call the valley people sinners, and the valley people call the forr ’defectors.’" Jiang Xuezhou’s lips curled into a smile of admiration as she read the report from start to finish.
Especially the word "report," which greatly satisfied her desire for conquest, easing her temper significantly.
"Hmm, not bad, not bad; it seems this guy is not just staring at the fat at, but working diligently."
Returning to the report itself.
This defector, does it refer to those who betrayed the United Human?
Although the term United Human has been replaced by "Ancestors" in the "Qiu people’s" culture, just as the concept of "dinsions" has been replaced by "higher existence" in forest people’s culture, the hatred between the two has been passed down through generations.
To this day, the Forbidden Forest Valley remains both the forest people’s sacred land and old sha.
It must be said, it was truly a bad idea for Night Ten to stir up this war out of ignorance.
And this little cleverness might eventually backfire on him.
The Ancestors’ palace destroyed the forest people’s Sacred Tree, and although they still respected the Ancestors, they clearly revered the "Tree of Yenshof" more.
If there was a conflict between the two, or combined with other factors like territory, secular prestige, and property, she didn’t even need to think to guess that the group of forest people would definitely stand on the side of the "Tree of Yenshof" without hesitation.
"Even if the Qiu people returned the ’Sacred object,’ the forest people probably wouldn’t let it go... When that ti cos, if that guy can’t get over his conscience and wants to hit the brakes, he might end up pleasing neither side."
Although Night Ten had complained about her being a "saint" more than once, she could actually feel that he was not really cold-blooded, just occasionally a bit clever and impulsive.
If this war really starts, once he sees the scene of corpses strewn everywhere and realizes these people are also descendants of humans, he might start regretting again.
This constantly changing mind, saying he wants it at one mont and then doesn’t the next, one mont thinking it’s too weak and then too cruel, is actually a sign of immaturity, and it cos at a cost.
Of course, her complaints weren’t to say she was much more mature herself.
Especially in terms of honest expression...
"Spiritual energy... sounds like a really convenient ability. If only I could awaken that special ability too."
Leaning back on her office chair, Jiang Xuezhou sighed softly and tapped her index finger on the holographic screen.
"Forget it... better remind that guy."
In consideration of him admitting his mistake...
As Jiang Xuezhou thought about this, a line of pale blue text suddenly appeared in the window.
Looking at the pop-up in the holographic screen, Jiang Xuezhou’s face instantly changed, and she reflexively jumped up from her chair.
"Connection lost?!"
What’s going on?!
...
The official forum of "Wasteland OL" featured a hot topic discussing a world five light years away, and the title of the post was exactly what Jiang Xuezhou saw on the ship’s server—
[Investigation Report on the "Tree of Yenshof", Forest People Tribe, and the Locals’ Unique "Psychic Abilities"]
Quit smoking: "Holy crap, psychic energy?!"
Mosquito: "Mind over matter!!! (screaming)"
Gno King Riches: "Fast forward to the end of the reincarnation. (funny)"
Elena: "Life is fifty years, right? I signed it on behalf of the Alliance. (funny)"
Edge Shoveling: "Damn, your s are getting harder to understand. (terrified)"
Not only Edge Shoveling, even Night Ten didn’t get it this ti, maybe because he hasn’t awakened any spiritual energy, and didn’t establish a "psychic channel" with these bastards.
But looking at the warm-hearted replies, his original anxiety seed to ease a lot.
Fang Chang had the sa suspicion as him, he might have fallen for so kind of hypnosis trick.
It’s not so particularly outrageous ability, just a hypnosis effect through psychological suggestion.
Not to ntion the "psychic energy" settings in the Ga, even in reality without "psychic energy", similar situations exist.
Fang Chang: "... Based on your description, those little green n can understand parts of the United Human language and even Chinese through psychic energy, so it’s also possible to hypnotize you with similar principles."
Night Ten: "They can even do hypnosis? (bitter smile)"
Fang Chang: "At least a mind interference device can do that, I feel psychic energy is sothing similar, so it should also be possible, right?"
Mole on the run: "Speaking of which, I rember that the mind interference device doesn’t have much effect on ntally active creatures?"
Wild Wind: "I rember the specific explanation should be, the higher the ntal level, the less influence, the more specific the information received."
Debt Giant Eye: "Goodness, you guys are secretly roasting Night Ten again. (manual funny)"
Night Ten: "??"
Fang Chang: "Similar doesn’t an exactly the sa, the signals from the mind interference device are after all chanically simulated, and there should be a difference from true ’psychic energy’ talent. I tend to think it’s because your guard was too low and those natives took advantage, don’t take it to heart too much. (smile)"
Night Ten: "Get lost!"
Looking at this bunch of guys who can’t speak anything nice, Ye Wei wished he could roll his eyes to the sky.
At this mont, his peripheral vision glanced at the helt he had set aside, he took a deep breath and finally picked it up.
It had been five or six hours since he got disconnected, if it were hypnosis, he should have woken up by now.
Let’s try again...
Thinking so, for the Nth ti, he put the helt on his head, then mustered all his strength to extend his consciousness into the pitch-black domain, trying to find a way through that darkness.
This was the "technique" he found after countless attempts to log back on.
When the in-ga body falls unconscious but isn’t comatose, by putting on the Ga Helt and trying to extend his consciousness to the surrounding darkness, he can vaguely perceive the status of the in-ga character.
For instance, now he felt a warm and comforting touch emanating from the back of his head.
The warm feeling beca increasingly clear, hinting that the seal of the [Connection Abnormality] seed to be loosening.
Feeling a rush of hope, Night Ten imagined himself as a tadpole, struggling to swim through the impenetrable darkness.
It was at this mont, a gleam of light finally appeared before his eyes, getting brighter and brighter!
In the next instant, he suddenly opened his eyes, waking up from his slumber.
At that very mont, two plump fruits leaped into his sight.
"You’re awake?"
A gentle voice ca from above his head.
Kneeling on the ground, Dora slightly bent over, a serene smile appeared over those abundant peaks.
By the glow of the fireflies, Night Ten saw that gentle and beautiful face.
It seed his head was resting on her lap.
At this realization, Night Ten felt no emotional ripples in his heart, let alone to admire that serene smile, instead, his face changed dramatically and he blurted out a "What the hell".
These natives—
They stole his power armor?!
For him at this mont, nothing seed more terrifying.
Dora slightly tilted her head, seemingly unable to fully comprehend the complex aning behind "What the hell", but she did understand the reason behind the shock in his eyes.
"The chief removed your armor, he hopes you’ll stay here... until it’s all over."
She paused for a mont and continued in not-so-perfect United Human language.
"Doma City ant no offense, we... will return the object from the heavens to you unscathed once everything ends, apologize, and... offer you compensation."
Before she finished speaking, Night Ten had already bolted upright from her lap, landing his feet on the ground.
The temple was still the sa temple.
But there was now a Table on the ground and two chairs, plus a bed woven from vines.
"How did you guys know how to unlock power armor?"
Looking at the vigilant expression of the Ancestors, Dora maintained her kneeling posture and spoke in a gentle voice.
"It’s what you... told us."
What I told you?
Night Ten was montarily confused, but quickly realized that the "you" referred to the "Ancestors"!
They established contact through spiritual energy with the past "Ancestors" — so or soone among those 17 crew mbers!
Thinking of the encounters in the hyperspace passage, Night Ten imdiately understood what had happened.
Without a mont’s hesitation, he grabbed a sharp stone, took a step forward, and pressed it against Dora’s neck, threatening her in a cold voice.
"Take away from here!"
Looking at the nacing Night Ten, Dora said nothing, and quietly closed her eyes.
The leader had instructed her to fulfill all his demands, which naturally included dying for him.
She would have no complaints.
Seeing her ready to sacrifice herself, Night Ten suddenly lost his temper.
What’s the point of killing her?
This person is just a maid.
Tunnan wouldn’t care, and might even send another maid for him to vent his anger.
Talking about human rights in the primitive tribe is a foolish thing; there, the difference between people and items is just that people can speak.
Those who command spiritual energy are rely more expensive items.
At this mont, Night Ten felt as if he had punched into a piece of cotton, grinding his teeth for a while, and finally threw the stone in his hand fiercely against the temple wall.
The root-entwined wall made a dull "thud", but left no trace.
There’s no tal nearby.
If there were, he might even manage to blast this wall to pieces with one shot.
Of course, this wasn’t his only skill.
Apart from the railgun, he could also deliver a shock to this damned tree with electrical therapy.
Yet expecting to carbonize a sacred tree as tall as a skyscraper with that little electricity is quite unrealistic.
People outside wouldn’t just wait.
Even if the natives might not understand what electricity is, once they realize he caused trouble, they might use their old thod to put him back to sleep, and maybe even sustain continuous spells.
After waiting for a long ti without the arrival of death, Dora slowly opened her eyes and looked at the solo brooding "Ancestor".
A gentle trace of concern appeared on her face, and she spoke in a very soft voice.
"You are a... kind person, you don’t bear to kill , even though you could."
Night Ten glanced at her, gave a self-deprecating chuckle, and said hoarsely.
"Is this what they say about good people not being rewarded..."
Alright.
He couldn’t really be considered a good person; perhaps saying good and evil will be rewarded is more accurate.
Looking intently at him, Dora continued in a soft voice.
"Why don’t you want to follow the leader’s orders... we’re not planning to harm you, and were intending to help you."
"Help ?" Night Ten sneered, sarcastically responding, "This is how you help ?"
Dora gently nodded, softly continuing.
"The tribes in the forest are gathering, we will soon unite again, to reclaim the sacred object in the sky from the sinners and return it to you. Our leader also said, to satisfy all your demands... except for leaving here, you can do anything to ."
Looking at that obedient and charming face, Night Ten coldly replied.
"I’m not interested..."
Besides, he couldn’t really do anything.
Bah.
Even if he could, he wouldn’t.
Unlike Debt Giant Eye, he’s a man of principle, and has always been.
Seeing Night Ten unmoved, Dora did not force herself, just quietly waited there.
Ti passed, second by second.
As ti went on, Night Ten beca increasingly anxious.
The biggest problem now is that he didn’t know what’s happening outside, maybe war mobilization is underway, or possibly the exterminating battle between Forest people and Valley people has already begun.
Not to ntion he’s been lying there for so long, he didn’t even know what’s going on with Jiang Xuezhou.
He actually worried more about her, especially fearing she’d do sothing irrational.
What to do?
Night Ten’s mind spun rapidly, countless thoughts flashing through his brain in just a few minutes.
As he paced back and forth before the temple mural, Dora suddenly spoke again with her gentle voice.
"Is there sothing I can do for you?"
Not thinking this person could really help him, Night Ten impatiently tossed out a remark.
"What can you do for ?"
Dora replied respectfully.
"Anything."
Night Ten chuckled coldly.
"Release then?"
Dora softly replied.
"Except that."
Night Ten pursed his lips.
"Then visit Forbidden Forest Valley for ."
He said this casually, not really expecting her to go.
Besides, what’s the use of going?
A temple maiden, could she really diate between two tribes on his behalf?
Not to ntion that he’s not certain if he possesses such capability himself.
Yet to Night Ten’s surprise, Dora gently nodded and stood up.
"If it is for you, I am willing to go there."
Night Ten was stunned.
He turned to look at Dora, eyes intently fixed on her clear and pure eyes, only managing to squeeze out a sentence after a long pause.
"Are you serious?"
Dora nodded again, speaking in a gentle voice.
"You can’t leave, you’ll just be sent back by the leader’s n outside with a flick of his finger, even if I want to help you leave, you can’t get out of this temple..."
She paused, looking into Night Ten’s eyes, and continued in a sincere tone.
"But I can leave... the leader instructed to fulfill all your demands, I will do anything for you."
The sincere voice carried a hint of cunning.
Clearly, she realized that by doing so she might betray the leader’s real intentions.
But Dora believed that the Ancestor before her was a kind-hearted person.
Besides, she had believed so since the mont she first saw him.
Even if not every word he said was true.
"I can feel you are serious, you truly wish to assist us through difficult tis, treating us as your children... just as it was at the beginning of the Awakening era."
"We... are actually all the sa."
Night Ten blankly stared at the serene and devout face, suddenly recalling what Jiang Xuezhou had told him before—
They can understand things beyond language!
Even things language cannot express...
In a certain sense, "psychic ability" is indeed a handy skill.
The bridge connecting hearts, greatly reducing the trust costs within their community.
If a counter-example must be found, Poluo Province might be one, where the actual cohesion among people is forever just poles apart from the imagined cohesion.
As for a positive example, Giant Stone City might count as half, which is already a unique miracle on the wasteland.
Such incredible levels of cohesion, not even the Alliance has achieved.
Perhaps only by narrowing the "valuation range" to players who’ve completed newbie tasks can a similar situation be found...
Night Ten felt a myriad of emotions.
Looking at the earnest face, he finally made up his mind and decided to entrust his hopes to her.
Which in truth was also as it should be.
Just like the crew of the Orion entrusted him with the control of the starship—
Though the mistake started because of him, ultimately it belonged to the locals and their fate.
"I need you to help with sothing..."
"For the survivors living in the forest, and the survivors living in the valley...
"And for all living beings on this land!"
Reviews
All reviews (0)