“Achoo!”
Lu Zhou was sitting on a bed next to a computer in the underground laboratory at the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study.
A drone with a small screen flew over, as if it were scared by the sneeze.
[Master, have you caught a cold? Do you need Xiao Ai to check your body?]
“No, I’m fine.” Lu Zhou muttered to himself in a quiet voice, “I guess someone is talking about me behind my back… Let’s continue.”
[Ok. Q( ́・ω・`)]
Even though Xiao Ai was still a little worried, Lu Zhou’s words were an order. The robotic arm connected to the wall handed Lu Zhou a virtual reality helmet.
Lu Zhou reached out and grabbed the helmet. He put it on carefully, then lay back on the soft mattress.
Technology was getting more and more advanced. He still remembered when the Phantom System was launched, the VR helmets launched by major manufacturers were cumbersome, and they looked like motorcycle helmets.
But now, Huawei, Xiaomi, and other companies had launched their own ultra-thin high-end helmets. Wearing them did not feel uncomfortable at all.
After setting the activation time of the neural interface device, Lu Zhou closed his eyes and muttered “system” in his heart. He soon entered a pure white space…
…
The memory began.
When Lu Zhou opened his eyes again, he was on a grassland.
However, this was completely different from the grasslands on Earth.
The grass here was blue, like an endless ocean, swaying in the wind. The grass formed a sharp contrast with the orange sky, and there was breathtaking energy in the air.
On the other side of the skyline, there was a red gaseous planet that was countless times larger than the sun. It occupied one-third of the sky.
The person standing on this grassland was motionless, like they were waiting for something. They looked at everything quietly, as if to engrave the beauty of the scene in his mind…
He could not move his limbs, but his senses were still normal. Lu Zhou was attached to this body like a spirit. He instantly knew what was going on.
The Earth-like planet under his feet should be a moon of a gaseous planet.
Judging by the terrain, the geological activities of the entire planet seemed to be stable. In addition, the ecosystem on this planet should be much simpler than Earth, and there were no traces of intelligent development.
Suddenly, the wind started to become noisy.
When Lu Zhou felt the strong wind, he couldn’t help but close his eyes.
The moment he closed his eyes, a memory that did not belong to him poured into his mind like a flood.
He stood in an ancient Romanesque ring arena, and he defeated an opponent with an iron blade in his hand.
Blood splattered everywhere.
A man who looked like a referee stood in front of him. The referee raised his hands amid the cheers of the audience and declared his victory.
After that, the scene changed again. This time he was not in an arena; he was in a spacious hall.
A man dressed like a Servant of God put a stone emitting a green light on his forehead, muttering a language that even the civilization that The Observer belonged to could not translate. He then placed the stone in his palm.
From the memory fragments, Lu Zhou roughly figured out who was the owner of this memory and what happened before the memory.
Start with the most important point. This memory did belong to the Calan civilization. It belonged to a group that looked like cats, which was named the Puck civilization.
Their bodies were covered with fur and were between one meter and one meter fifty in height. They had flexible claws, strong feet, and upright animal ears. They looked like large cats walking upright, just without a tail.
It took a long time for them to enter the industrial age because of the lack of metal minerals on the parent planet. Their civilization was formed during the iron age.
Entering the industrial age as a single civilization had advantages and disadvantages.
Its advantage lied in the fact that the conflicts within civilization ended in the cold weapon era. Even if there were several regime changes and rises during the period, evolution had been able to smoothly resolve the small local conflicts.
The industrial machinery of the Puck civilization had never entered the military field in a real sense.
Even though there were conflicts in their civilization, their conflicts were completely different from human civilization.
For example, they were more inclined to solve problems through old fashioned weapon duels, as opposed to negotiation.
They were more inclined to advocate for honor than to regard morality as a restraint for behavior.
Their short average life expectancy made them look down on life and death, and they believed in reincarnation and the afterlife… even though their science had never really proved these two things.
Lu Zhou noticed when experiencing the memory fragments that there were a huge clergy and aristocracy in the Puck civilization.
The spiritual leader of the clergy—a profession called the prophet—played an even more important role than the king in the rise and fall of the entire civilization.
They were filled with idealism and authoritarianism. Their level of science and technology was probably in the early and mid-interstellar age. Their development ideas were completely different from the Calan Empire.
Supported by their high cultural identity and the concept of unity, they seemed to have no concept of capital punishment. Even before they mastered faster than light communication, the colony and the parent star maintained an unimaginable unity.
Instead of building homes, they tended to live alone. They were more inclined to migrate to distant and empty habitable planets and do everything possible to occupy more land, even if it was an undeveloped wasteland.
Just like the Calan people who liked to breathe the metallic air around the world, Pucks, who were as lonely as cats, could spend a whole day on the empty prairie.
The grassland planet under his feet was one of the hundreds of colonized planets in the Puck civilization.
The body that Lu Zhou was in was a warrior called “Noir”. Just a few days ago, he defeated his opponent in a duel in the name of God’s choice, becoming the Chosen.
The prophet played an important role in the historical process of the Puck civilization. The Chosen was the right-hand man of the Prophet.
The Prophet saw the future through a psychic ritual. The Prophet told the Chosen what the “future arrangement” was and instructed the Chosen to fulfill this mission.
In fact, when experiencing this memory, Lu Zhou doubted the rigor of this ritual and whether the future could really be predicted by this unreliable method.
However, the Puck civilization seemed to believe in this.
Even though there were only a few times in their history where the Chosen did the “right things” that benefited the civilization…
From this perspective, these fluffy aliens seemed to be ignorant of history.
However, as far as technology was concerned, these furry aliens seemed to be much more advanced than human civilization. Lu Zhou was in no position to look down on them…
He heard footsteps coming from behind.
The Puck opened his eyes and looked back. He saw a soft beam of light falling from the clouds as a figure slowly appeared.
Gravitational rays?
Anti-gravity?
Or… some other kind of technology?
Lu Zhou didn’t know what kind of magical technology these Pucks used to travel between high orbits and the planet’s surface. Lu Zhou looked at the elderly Puck that appeared from the beam of light. He tried to find clues from the scattered memory fragments.
However, something strange happened.
Even though there was a memory of this old puck in Noir’s memory, his name was nowhere to be seen.
Lu Zhou was surprised by this strange situation. The elderly “cat man” suddenly spoke.
“Congratulations, warrior named Noir.”
Noir humbly lowered his head and spoke.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me. Everything is the will of the spirit of the universe.”
The old Puck smiled and carefully examined the face of the young Puck in front of him. He nodded lightly and said, “Under its guidance, the bravest of our civilization has come before me. A long time ago, I was shaken by psionic rituals and oracles, but now, I am convinced that all of this is the best arrangement.”
Noir did not speak. He maintained a humble attitude. He waited for the old man in front of him to tell the prophecy belonging to the Chosen.
This was the usual convention.
However, this time, the old man didn’t seem to intend to say a lot. After looking at him for a long time, he vaguely summarized the whole prophecy.
“The natural disaster is approaching, and no one will be spared. There is a flame from the border to the holy land… Your task is to go to the center of this galaxy and find the way out of our civilization.”
Surprised by the prophecy, Noir asked in a hurry, “How do I find it—”
“Shh.”
A dry paw pressed against Noir’s lips as the old man interrupted Noir’s question. He looked at him and said, “When you get there, you will naturally know what to do… It’s your destiny.”
Noir nodded silently and did not speak.
Seeing the young man in front of him listening to his words, the old man’s face showed a smile of approval.
“The spacecraft and luggage are ready.
“May you be able to find a glimpse of hope in the middle of this galaxy.”
The old man suddenly stopped talking.
After a short silence, he spoke in a relieved tone.
“Even if you don’t find it, you don’t have to blame yourself.
“Your genes, your blood, your bones, your culture, and your language. Everything is proof that we existed. Even if the great holy land is finally swept by this catastrophe of the universe, we will not be forgotten.”
“The holy land being swept? How could that be possible! The natural disaster… Did you see something? No… I shouldn’t have asked this.”
Noir raised his head suddenly and gently placed his right fist on his chest. He looked firmly at the old man in front of him and promised, “I will reach the center of this galaxy and find a way to resolve the crisis!”
The old man just smiled softly.
“Don’t be so confident. This is a journey of hundreds of thousands of light-years. This is not just a threat from the universe itself. You may meet many travelers who are also inspired by the universe. Among them, there are many who are stronger than us. Not all travelers have good intentions. It is not easy to survive.
“However, I believe in you.”
His pupils were filled with kindness.
As if he were looking at his child, the old man looked at him carefully, like he wanted to remember this last moment forever.
Noir did the same. The two looked at each other, letting the wind on the grassland blow gently.
They didn’t know how long this journey would take.
Even after reaching the end, there might be no chance to come back here again.
However, Lu Zhou wasn’t concerned about the sentimental moment.
Because all of his attention was completely focused on the prediction about natural disasters.
However, just as Lu Zhou was thinking hard about the clues on the natural disaster, he suddenly saw a touch of sharpness from the old man’s eyes.
The sharpness wasn’t easy to detect, but its existence was so conspicuous and full of violations.
His gaze was like a sharp blade; it pierced deep into his bones.
Lu Zhou was a little confused about the change in the plot.
Lu Zhou wondered why the old man suddenly looked at this “Chosen one” with sharp eyes. A strange feeling suddenly crawled on his scalp.
It was difficult to describe exactly what this feeling was and where it came from.
Lu Zhou tried to read some clues from the old man’s eyes. A terrifying thought suddenly flashed in his mind.
The old man…
Is staring at me!
