Chapter 648 Back Then
The others camped on the shaft and kept communication open, while Hao Ren and Vivian entered the dark and deep ancient cave together.
The light coming from above soon became only a small bright spot, and the bottom was not visible at all. Vivian hugged Hao Ren's waist from behind and descended smoothly and quickly, while Hao Ren held a silver-white spear in one hand and a lamp in the other to illuminate the way forward. He looked at the steel supports and guide rails flying by beside him, and the sound of the wind when Vivian's bat wings flapped echoed in his ears: "It's been a long time since we last flew together."
"Yeah, I've been following you all day long to run around in weird places, either in space or in the water. I almost forgot how to use my wings," Vivian's voice came from above. She adjusted slightly as she spoke. The angle of the wings, gliding in a spiral manner in this wide shaft, "I still remember that you seemed to be airsick when you went to the sky with me for the first time? Oh... you can't call it airsick, just count me out."
"Don't make trouble, I was mainly shocked at that time. You dragged me to the sky without saying a word. How can ordinary people pass by this?" Hao Ren said while moving slightly, feeling the soft sound coming from behind. The touch made it a little difficult for him to concentrate. Vivian noticed this immediately and laughed: "Why, I've flown together so many times, I still don't feel used to it."
Hao Ren curled his lips: "No matter what, you are a beautiful girl, okay?"
"...I usually never think about this. You know I usually have difficulty filling my stomach." Vivian blinked and suddenly saw a faint light in front of her. "Landlord, it seems that the front is fast." It’s over!”
After a moment, the two landed lightly on a ring-shaped alloy platform. This platform is surrounded by a circle along the surrounding shaft walls. In the center is a hollow with a radius of several meters, and a dark red light is coming from below the hollow. Hao Ren went over and leaned on the railing to take a look, and was shocked to find that there was hot magma underneath.
"That can't be the center of the earth..." Vivian also took a look, her eyes widened in shock, "We have reached such a deep place?"
"It's not necessarily the center of the earth, but it should be very close." Hao Ren looked at the slowly surging dim red light. The planet's internal energy had declined, and the magma lake near the earth's core also looked a little weak. But the magma lake still makes the scene at the bottom of the shaft like hell. If some kind of insulation technology is not still in effect, I am afraid that the entire metal platform will melt down. "This should be the energy source of the entire system. In the core of the earth Exchanging heat with the surface...is a huge undertaking."
"Those old guys on earth should really come here and take a look..." Vivian sighed, "Why do I feel so light on my feet?"
Hao Ren walked a few steps on the spot: "The gravity has weakened. We have reached the deepest point of the entire system. The gravity here is probably less than one-fifth of that on the surface. Let's look for it. There should be an entrance, a data terminal, nearby. The scan revealed that there is a hollow structure similar to a control center here."
Vivian raised her hand and pointed to the opposite side of the ring platform: "You mean that one?"
Hao Ren looked up and saw a thick gate with reflective metallic luster standing quietly opposite the platform. There was a weak light flashing next to the gate, as if just to prove that the system behind the gate was still alive.
The two came to the gate. Hao Ren looked at the control panels with flashing lights next to the door. He exhaled: "We are already here, which is enough to prove our sincerity. Do we still need to close the door and refuse customers at this time?"
It seemed that no one on this planet should respond to his words, but the gate still moved in response. Amidst the "chichi" sound of the airlock deflating, the circular gate first retreated, and then rolled to the side. open. Hao Ren and Vivian stepped into it.
They walked through a long security passage and finally arrived at a rotunda.
A huge cylindrical device with a surface covered with pipes was placed in the center of the hall. Its height extends to the dome more than ten meters high, while dim light flows in its outer pipes. Countless thick cables extend from the bottom of the cylindrical device, spreading like vines on the floor of the hall, connecting to a circle of machines around the hall. There are no formal lights in the hall. It is entirely the light emitted by the machines themselves that provides illumination, allowing people to clearly see the figures of these ancient devices in the dim light and shadow. A low, complex buzz echoed around, like an inorganic breathing sound.
Hao Ren looked at the cylindrical device in front of him. This should be the Ark main unit. He could feel that this was the heart of the entire planet, and countless things—abstract and invisible things—spread from here to the entire planet outside. He took a deep breath: "I'm here, why don't you speak?"
The machines were silent for a few seconds, and a low and emotionless synthesized voice sounded from the depths of the cylindrical device: "My mission is to manage the Ark and bring the creators safely to a new home. I was created and they gave me Give me thought, give me logic, give me goals...The purpose of the entire system is to allow civilization on this planet to survive. This is the only thing I know and what I should do."
Hao Ren looked at the host as if he were looking at a living person: "What exactly is happening here?"
“Before the Ark sailed, civilization became extinct.”
A screen on the wall of the hall flickered brightly, and a crystal-clear aqua blue planet shining in space appeared on the screen. Immediately afterwards, the sun in the corner of the screen exploded, and strong solar material blew across the surface of the planet. However, under the influence of some kind of powerful shield, the planet seemed to survive intact. However, after successfully resisting the solar explosion, the planet Something abnormal happened on the surface. Hao Ren did not see the essence of the disaster. He only saw that the lights on the entire planet decreased and went out at a speed visible to the naked eye, and then became completely silent.
After that, time passed, the sun cooled, the planet froze, and a paleness covered the planet's surface. The entire world just lost its life, and artificial lights have not turned on since then.
Vivian turned to look at the host: "Who did it?"
"An indescribable creature, the creators call it a natural disaster," the synthesized voice of the Ark host sounded again, and the screen flashed, a huge, strange thing that seemed to have countless tentacles, roots, plants, and pieces of flesh mixed together. Something appeared in the center of the screen. Its weirdness was indescribable. Only a sense of terror that seemed to evoke biological instincts spread out from those constantly twisting roots. "It destroyed the civilization on the Ark after its death."
As expected, the eldest son appeared on the screen. However, Hao Ren was shocked after hearing the words of the Ark host: "After death? Did you kill it?"
"It burst to the surface from deep underground, but the creators, with the help of the Star Folk, succeeded in detaching the creature from the planet and pushing it into the sun - which the Star Folk then detonated. The creature's flesh. The body was destroyed in the flames of the star, but... something incomprehensible remained on the planet. It eventually destroyed the entire civilization."
"Something incomprehensible?" Hao Ren felt a little confused until Vivian next to him reminded him softly: "Similar things happened in Tanagus."
Hao Ren suddenly realized: "Is it the soul of the eldest son?!"
The Ark host remained silent, as if it couldn't understand what "soul" meant, and Hao Ren had already guessed what the truth was:
Although the native people of this planet do not have a higher technical level than the other Second Sons, with the help of the "People of the Starry Sky", they have indeed achieved a feat that the other Second Sons have never achieved: they succeeded at the expense of their own sun. Destroyed the physical body of the eldest son. However, this feat failed to save the fate of their entire civilization - after the death of the eldest son's body, he still used his soul to kill everyone on the planet!
However, this soul should have dissipated. The Giant Turtle Yantai's induction radar did not scan the planet for the signal residue of the eldest son. It is precisely because it has dissipated that no one has ever found any evidence of the eldest son's existence.
Hao Ren figured out the joints, sighed slightly, and then looked at the Ark host seriously: "Who are the people of the starry sky?"