"Return record?" I was stunned by the ssage brought by Lu E, subconsciously repeating it, before I suddenly reacted and rushed to the elf girl, "So after Green Star escaped from the polluted Old Empire Zone, it returned once? But this return record can’t be found in the voyage log; it has been deleted by soone!?"
"Can’t be determined that specifically yet," Lu E seed startled by my intense attitude, her neck shrinking suddenly: except for behaving particularly ’brave’ when chasing Lilina, this elf girl is quite timid, "The mory of the Mother Tree is a very vague thing, like species consciousness, after being re-read during the life and death cycles by ordinary elves like us, the record becos even more blurred, so we can only roughly determine that Green Star made a brief return after leaving the polluted zone. Whether it was a command from the planet’s core or pulled by so other force is unknown. Besides, we can’t confirm whether the planet’s voyage log has been altered... there are no traces on the log, just missing this return record, but there’s no deleted record found, and no misplacent or missing parts in the log."
Seeing frowning and falling into contemplation, Lu E cautiously added, "The mory of the Mother Tree is very vague, without even the ti of that return, so there’s no way to deduce the date in the log based on ti either."
Seeing the elf girl’s nervous look, I smiled and waved to her, "Relax, relax, I was just a bit surprised by your ssage... after successfully escaping, the returning ark to the Empire Zone, you are definitely the unprecedented first. Zhadom, you were Harlan’s general, you should have been there when Green Star was transford back in the day?"
In the Old Empire Era, the Tree Elves were Harlan’s clan, but there was hardly any mutual understanding between them: soon after the Tree Elves were discovered by the Empire and rated as "developable high intelligence species," a catastrophe struck. These long-eared ones didn’t even have the chance to follow Harlan to fight a battle before being sent onto the ark; there are hardly any stories between them, so their old relationship is often accidentally forgotten by . But they themselves won’t forget, after Harlan was absorbed into the New Empire side, the Tree Elves quickly reunited with their forr patron and bonded closely. Seeing Zhadom on the scene now, I know he is also attracted by Lu E’s information, probably wanting to help investigate it.
"It’s certain that it’s not a problem with so predetermined program or automatic navigation device," Zhadom nodded, though as a general responsible for combat, theoretically not part of the design and construction personnel of Green Star back then, but during that chaotic ti, the military personnel who stayed clear-minded and provided the final protection for the Tree Elves were people like him, so he is quite familiar with Green Star’s situation, "I and the experts responsible for writing the navigation program went to the site, the star’s core itself has no malfunction, nor any background program. But it’s indeed impossible to confirm whether the voyage log was tampered with externally, nor can evidence be found of its unexpected return several tens of thousands of years ago: can’t prove it happened, nor prove it didn’t. Personally, I find the ark suddenly returning after escaping the Empire Zone unbelievable."
"The mory of the Mother Tree cannot be wrong!" Lu E said softly but firmly. In the hearts of all Tree Elves, the Mother Tree holds an unparalleled status, if forced to choose between the voyage log and the Mother Tree, she would rather believe the Mother Tree.
Although that primitive life-mory isn’t as precise as the voyage log.
"I also trust the mory of the Mother Tree," I raised my right hand slightly to Zhadom to show support for Lu E, "After all, no one has any reason to tamper with the mory of a plant that was ’dead’ back then, it’s pointless, no one in the entire Void would benefit from it. I am more inclined to believe that Green Star’s voyage log was altered, and the altering thods were so skillful as to leave no trace, but the perpetrator clearly didn’t anticipate the magical characteristic of species mory within the Mother Tree. Mortal’s peculiar talents are things that can occasionally confuse even the gods."
"Yes, so experts indeed also have this thought," Zhadom didn’t insist on his own intuition but chose to trust the experts, he then showed a bit of regret on his face, "What a pity that the scientists who helped build the star core for the Tree Elves all died back then, otherwise they should be able to analyze that planet fortress better."
"When Green Star sailed, were there only Tree Elves onboard, no one else, right?" I pondered the possible explanations for this "return" while curiously looking at Zhadom, "Including Xyrin Apostle, high-level AI not included in the navigation system, and anyone else."
"No," Zhadom said resolutely, "The Abyss spreads through the spiritual network, so no Xyrin Apostle is allowed onboard the ark, we cannot let the pollution spread. This was a strict order from Lord Harlan, and I believe no one disobeyed."
"But what if a contaminated Apostle boarded the ark while no one noticed?" I frowned, "Polluters refuse to follow old commands."
This ti, Zhadom paused, seemingly shaken by this hypothesis as well, but eventually he shook his head: "It’s equally impossible. First, when the Green Star set sail, we conducted a detailed inspection and confird there was no one on the planet who wasn’t on the list. Second, the polluted Angel Envoys and the later-born Fallen Apostles are different. The forr are insane chaotic creatures that erged in the early stages of the disaster, while the latter are creatures with drastically changed personalities but still rational, appearing much later. As you know, Your Majesty, Fallen Apostles are partially purified under the influence of Void Creature’s power. This wasn’t the case in the early disaster, and those chaotic creatures... they don’t understand patience. It’s impossible for them to wait until the Ark has flown for so ti, and the normal Angel Envoys in the Old Empire Zone are completely wiped out before returning. They don’t have the brains for that."
The situation seed to have reached an impasse, and the intelligence we currently have is far from explaining the issue of the Green Star’s return. So I no longer dwelled on its cause but instead focused on its results: "Lu E, have you discovered any hidden dangers or signs of damage on the planet? Or anything about the Tree Elves themselves... uh, ’bodily issues’?"
During the long drift of the Green Star, the Tree Elves relied on hibernating in sleep chambers to endure all these years, so the Green Star’s sudden return to the Abyss Zone may have left so negative impact. These negative impacts could possibly remain within the Tree Elves who are in a dormant state, and they may not have realized it until now.
"We haven’t noticed anything abnormal," Lu E shook his head. "The planet’s structure has so damage, but every piece of damage can be found in the logs, confirming it occurred during the drift. The physical condition of the Tree Elves also has no issues. We can directly receive Blessings and Revelations from the Life Goddess. The eyes of the gods can see through everything, and after large-scale prayers, we haven’t found any problems."
Due to inherent affinity, the Tree Elves massively believe in Dingdang. But hearing the assured words from Lu E, I couldn’t help but lower my head to look at the pocket in front of my chest, listening to the faint crunching sounds — it’s Dingdang quietly nibbling sugar cubes. I’ve given up educating her not to eat things from other people’s pockets.
I wanted to say sothing but ended up not speaking: in the professional domain, Dingdang indeed doesn’t typically fall short. Moreover, warning about the Abyss and its derivative effects is a Talent Ability of the Divine Race, unrelated to intelligence. If Lu E says there’s no problem, then there probably really isn’t a problem.
"So, aside from the mories of the Mother Tree, we can’t find any traces related to the return in the Voyage Log, the planet itself, or the Tree Elves..." I frowned, then suddenly rembered sothing. "In the early stages of the Green Star’s voyage, when the Planet Fortress was in good condition, the Tree Elves hadn’t collectively entered slumber yet. At that ti, you were manually controlling the planet, and frequently living on the surface of the Green Star during this period, the Green Star didn’t ’return’—unless the mories of your entire Race were tampered with."
Lu E nodded, and Zhadom beside him also showed an unsurprised agreeing expression, clearly indicating both had already considered this issue.
"Which ans the ’return’ occurred after the deterioration of the Green Star’s environnt," I nodded, concluding. "The environnt of the Green Star deteriorated, forcing the Tree Elves to begin entering slumber in batches. Soon after, the whole Race detached from the real world, living in the virtual world. During this ti, your planet suddenly returned to the Imperial District once. Because everyone was asleep, no one knew about this... wait, soone must have known!"
"Yes, the ’Navigators’ should know," Lu E bit his lower lip. "That’s our biggest problem: throughout the tens of thousands of years of voyage, though most of the people entered the virtual world, the planet has always been monitored. Although there aren’t many Navigators, they never missed a shift, and as brief as the Green Star’s return may have been, it couldn’t have been overlooked by those Navigators... It’s inexplicable."
"Have you asked the Navigators? What did they say?" I raised my head and looked at Zhadom.
"No leads, the Navigators confird that there was always soone on duty during the Green Star’s voyage, and multiple Navigators supervised each other at all tis — this thod was used to prevent anyone from falling into ntal disorder, and it’s practically impossible for all Navigators to beco ntally disturbed simultaneously," Zhadom shook his head. "No one rembers any return record of the Green Star. The Planet Fortress escaped deeper into the Void as per the preset program, avoiding all Imperial Colonization Stars and worlds with Abyss reaction, which was confird by the Navigators’ personal logs. Additionally, each Navigator keeps two personal logs, one privately and one in the database for anyone to inspect and manage at any ti, which also prevents any unattended cases of ntal disorder. The Tree Elves are a very cautious Race."
During the long drift of the Green Star, the Tree Elves lived for a long ti in enclosed underground spaces, the resources kept diminishing, and the spaceship equipnt kept aging, which imposed considerable psychological pressure on them. Yet, under such circumstances, they tily devised a Virtual Reality Survival Plan and constructed sothing like a "Projection Paradise" at the Earth’s Core, which adequately demonstrates the resilient and cautious character of these long-eared beings. Thus, for the Navigators, who are the most elite among the Tree Elves, the records they left behind should be genuine and credible, and not altered due to ntal breakdown. Also considering that, at that ti, the Tree Elves hadn’t yet mastered the operational Skills imparted by the Empire, they couldn’t have entirely controlled the Green Star themselves, which further ruled out the possibility of Navigators’ ntal malfunctions leading to a return voyage.
"Unless there was a Fallen Emperor like Sandora who directly distorted the entire planet’s mories, including people’s brains and the AI’s data disks," I glanced at Zhadom, but I knew this speculation was even less likely. Not to ntion, there’s no such Fallen Emperor who could happen to catch up with the Green Star; even if there were, what would be their motive?
To have the exiled ark return to the Polluted Zone for a spin and run away again without any damage, leaving no trouble, just to scare archaeologists years later? If there were such a Fallen Emperor, I could even see so kind of charm in them...
After thinking hard, it seed that there was no explanation from the existing data. Although it currently seems that the Green Star has not left any hidden dangers due to this "return journey," it is, after all, related to the Old Empire’s collapse, and can’t be taken lightly in any case.
So I decided with a slight twitch of my mouth: "Take to see the Mother Tree."
Anyway, I don’t have much to do currently, and the deep dive project’s high-level tasks are beyond an amateur like . While Sandora and a team of experts are busy, as the leader of the Empire, I should at least pretend to be diligent...
"The mories of the Mother Tree can only be accessed when the Tree Elves go through the cycle of life and death..." Lu E unconsciously reminded, then seed to realize, "Oh right, you shouldn’t have this limitation."
I smiled but, considering that I wasn’t sure I could communicate with the Mother Tree, and that Dingdang in my pocket couldn’t even articulate her own thoughts, decided to call over a bright and reliable person. So I sent a ntal call, and the next mont, a shimring teleportation gate appeared beside . A little girl in a princess dress tumbled out, "Boss, boss, you called for ?! Lilina said, heart racing, is this about serving in bed?"
I knew nothing good would co out of her mouth, but with Lu E present, dealing with the girl didn’t seem to require a big deal. I picked Lilina up by the collar and turned her toward the Tree Elf girl, "See who this is?"
Lu E looked at the "Life ssenger" she greatly admired with delight, while Lilina, seeming as if she got an electric shock, bounced around in midair, "B-b-b... Boss! You can’t arrange a marriage! And my orientation is very normal, Boss! Please put down, put down..."
I tossed Lilina to Lu E and opened a teleportation gate to the Mother Tree, "Let’s go."
In the vast and boundless world, the endless greenery spread out wantonly. Thick vines and lush green leaves intertwined and spread beneath our feet, with even a trace of soil color invisible from the layers of vines, as if the earth was plants and plants were the earth: the Mother Tree was the second most magnificent plant I’d seen, apart from the World Tree, and if it weren’t for its lack of divine glow like the World Tree, this "giant vine" that could cover a planet might even take first place: at least the scale is large.
Although it’s called the "Mother Tree," this is a term inherited from Tree Elf culture, and in my view, this plant is more like a combination of vine and shrub... but this categorization is also incorrect because it also grows tree-like branches at certain "nodes," which is a type of plant from the Otherworld that cannot be classified using human common sense.
With the Empire’s developnt in various fields, especially the cooperation between the Ti-Space Administration and the Military Integration Departnt, a deeper understanding of various races has been gained, and many races related to the Empire have benefited. The Tree Elves, the most closely related clan, have benefitted the most: the Mother Tree of the Tree Elves not only underwent resurrection and reconstruction with the power of the Life Goddess but also received a new "flower pot" about half a year ago—this special space allocated to the Tree Elves that we see before us. It’s mounted under the Shadow Space, resembling the Shadow Space but smaller in scale. I sotis jokingly call this the Tree Elves’ "Beijing Office" in the Imperial Capital—a place where a diplomatic race with tasks all over the Empire and nurous daily chores deserves more residency space in the Shadow Space.
Other Servant Armies also have their bases in the Shadow Space, not limited to Shadow City. So are allocated to a Colonization Star, while others, like the Tree Elves, received small Other Spaces, but in general, the scale of the Tree Elves’ Other Space is the largest.
There are also so Tree Elf towns on nearby vines, where they built houses directly on the Mother Tree’s branches as offices, but I didn’t disturb the locals since I ca here to communicate with the Mother Tree.
Even though I’m not an expert in Life Power, I can feel the abundance of vitality here, so I tried to extend my spiritual power to communicate with the green land below, but as expected, I received only vague, dreamlike feedback.
High-order spiritual power can indeed read the Mother Tree’s mories across races, but I couldn’t understand this peculiar "language," which should require more essential communication.
Lilina, finally permitted, broke free from Lu E’s embrace, looking as disheveled as a worn-out doll. She glanced at with a face full of resentnt before sitting down to start communicating with the Mother Tree.
I took Dingdang out of my pocket and found a small crevice among the nearest vines, stuffing the little thing inside: "Communicate with this plant, see what happened with the Green Star’s return journey back then."
I had already inford the little guy about the Green Star’s return via a spiritual connection. Otherwise, this creature, busy devouring candies from start to finish, wouldn’t have known what was going on.
Dingdang looked around, finally realizing, and squealed in delight, "Ah! Dingdang’s leaves!"
...At least she still rembered that the Mother Tree was revived using her leaves.
A cheerful rustling sound reached everyone’s ears with the breeze, as if the Mother Tree also sensed the approach of the Life Goddess and was welcoming everyone joyfully.
"How odd..." As expected, Lilina solved the issue faster than Dingdang, but her face was filled with even more confusion after communicating with the Mother Tree, "I have ’seen’ the plant’s mory myself, and seen the scene of the Green Star’s return journey, but it feels... vague, distorted, more like dreaming."
I was taken aback: dreaming?
Why would a starship that has already escaped the Polluted Zone dream of returning to the Old Empire!? (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, feel free to visit Qidian (qidian) to vote for recomndations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read at m.qidian.)
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