Chapter 338 - Chapter 338: Ultimate Reality
Chapter 338: Ultimate Reality
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Their genes began to boil, and the memories in the depths of their bloodline began to surge into everyone’s hearts.
Countless illusionary scenes appeared in front of them. Most of them were shattered scenes. They could not tell what was displayed at all, as if they came from another world.
However, there was only one thing that was fixed, and that was the scenery of the World Tree.
Almost everyone could see the shadow of the World Tree in their eyes, as if it was this huge tree that gave birth to the life of the world.
The mythical scene stunned the citizens of the entire Lightchaser Civilization. Everyone was shocked and bewildered.
Many people even suspected that there was something wrong with the chip in their bodies that made them hallucinate.
The Lightchaser Leader, who was in the Homeship’s Scientific Assembly, also had the same illusion. At this moment, he understood that it was very likely that their origin was the Firechaser.
He knew that there was indeed a World Tree in their history.
At that time, they were still indigenous, and various theories were making rapid progress.
They had naturally researched the World Tree which was the size of several cities. In the end, according to the popular unique origin theory, they believed that it was the first plant born from the primordial organic soup, which was why it was so huge.
However, the era of the giant tree was very short. It seemed that when Lightchaser had just formed a civilization, the giant tree had shrunk.
Just like the melting glaciers on ordinary planets that had been destroyed by ecology, the giant trees were also dying for unknown reasons.
Their scientists had also tried to save it, but in the end, the giant tree had completely disappeared from the planet and had only become a record in history.
The era had changed countless times, and the memories of the giant tree were gradually forgotten.
In their dealings with the Firechaser, they did not associate the giant tree with the Firechaser.
After all, in their memories, the World Tree and the Firechaser had no similarities at all. Even if they were both plant lifeforms, the terrifying translucent appearance of the Firechaser could not be compared to the green World Tree.
However, the illusion now proved its origin.
“But, what’s with these hallucinations? And…”
A scientist in the parliament beat his head in frustration. The increasingly intense hallucinations didn’t make him feel pain, but the feeling of plant buds growing in his bones was the most uncomfortable.
Another scientist recalled a theory related to genetics.
“This… Could it be that Firechaser wants to use us to rebirth?”
That theory believed that genes preserved memories. As long as a person’s genes could be perfectly replicated, that person would be able to revive from the dead in the soul sense.
The basis of this theory was memory determines the soul, and this understanding was generally applicable in the civilization of Lightchaser.
If there was indeed a fragment of the Firechaser’s genes in their bodies, then in their opinion, it was very likely that this was a backup plan left behind by the Firechaser to allow them to survive the dimensional erosion.
The abnormality in their bodies was the best proof.
“Could it be that the disaster that happened on Dawn Star is what we’re doing now?”
Some scientists linked the feeling of budding in their bodies to the disaster on the Dawn Star Homeship. Of course, they knew about the situation of the spaceship that was parasitized by plants. The biggest doubt was that almost all the corpses were missing.
They believed that the bodies had been digested by the plants, but the truth might be worse than they had guessed. The plants might be their former brethren, but they were their brethren after being reborn from the cocoon of the Firechaser.
Almost everyone was certain that all of this was a scheme of the Firechaser. Their goal was to use their bodies to be reborn and escape the pain of dimensional erosion.
However, there were still people present who did not think so.
H
…The plants on the Dawn Star did not display the intelligence that they should have after rebirth. Is this considered a failure?”
“In addition, this galaxy doesn’t only have the World Tree in our history. According to the information provided by the Administrator, the origin of all life here comes from the Firechaser. In that case, why didn’t they undergo rebirth earlier?”
Even though they were the only ones left in the war of civilizations, he remembered very clearly that no civilization had shown signs of dimensional erosion. If the Firechaser had only treated them as experimental samples, they would have been confirmed to be fine and would have been directly resurrected from everyone’s bodies.
However, such a thing did not happen. Instead, they participated in this civilizational war like normal civilizations. Logically speaking, the decrease in the number of such creatures did not meet the requirements of the Firechaser to revive at all.
“Besides…”
The Lightchaser Leader recalled their ancient history and the origin of their civilization’s name.
Although the Firechaser, who still had some rationality left, chased them away seriously, they did not seem to think that they had been offended. Instead, they seemed to understand that they were about to lose their intelligence and did this to prevent hurting native civilizations like them.
Even after completely losing its rationality, the Firechaser did not attack everywhere like a lunatic. Instead, they restrained themselves within the civilization and did not move as if he was obeying his survival instincts until the battle royale.
In fact, they had never been malicious by the Firechaser. Could it be that everything was a lie for the sake of resurrection?
Suddenly, the illusion in front of the Lightchaser Leader changed. He arrived on the Dawn Star Homeship. It was covered in plants and looked like a primitive planet.
He had a feeling that the place was summoning him over.
Then, he ignored the sprouting feeling in his body and rushed out of the parliament. From the mobile spaceport on the Homeship, he left the Homeship in a spaceship and headed to the Dawn Star alone.
After that, all the Lightchaser citizens broke away from the strange hallucinations and the germinating feeling in their bodies. They looked around in surprise and quickly cast their gazes at the landmark building of the Scientific Assembly, hoping that the government could give them an explanation.
The scientists in the parliament realized that their leader was gone and quickly searched for him.
At this moment, the Lightchaser Leader was already halfway there. He also felt the abnormality in his body dissipating, and he was even more certain that the Firechaser was not trying to revive itself.
The only thing he did not understand now was why the other party wanted to summon him.
The spaceship was moving forward, and Li Wenyuan, who was five million light-years away, was also thinking about what had just happened.
Although no one had time to explain to him in the illusion, he could still determine what had happened through words.
Similarly, he did not think that this was a backup plan left behind by the Firechaser for resurrection.
The reason was not much different from what the Lightchaser Leader had thought, but there was another point. He did not think that the Firechaser would fall to such a state just to survive.
Even if the worst-case scenario was that civilization was the norm in interstellar space, Li Wenyuan also understood that there were really pioneers in the universe.
The Firechaser’s original intention was to accelerate the Cradle civilization’s growth. Would they abandon their original beliefs as pioneers for their own survival?
The Piloting Lighthouse flashed slightly as a certain string of useless codes hidden in the dimensions creation device that he had transmitted began to work.
Under the influence of the extremely weak signal, a camera in the spaceship that the Lightchaser Leader was on also turned unplanned, directly facing the Lightchaser Leader who was driving the spaceship.
Time passed quietly.
The Lightchaser Leader had reached the Dawn Star Homeship. He was alone with the ship.
After landing in an open area without vegetation, he took the protective suit, hesitated for a moment, and hung it back in the cabin. In the end, he entered this plant world without any protection.
The spaceship was filled with a refreshing aura that was completely different from the Dawn Song. It was difficult for him to describe the feeling of this aura. He only felt that even his brain seemed to have become much clearer.
The panic of coming here alone gradually subsided. He seemed to hear the sound of plants breathing, but there was only silence as far as the eye could see.
As soon as he saw the tall tower covered in vegetation like a World Tree, he understood his destination.
Without any hesitation, he headed there. Along the way, no plants stopped him. The semi-transparent plants in the expedition team’s log were quiet and not aggressive at all.
Even when the Lightchaser Leader actively touch these plants, they automatically shrink back, instead of preying on them by touch, as described in the report.
Everything looked so beautiful. Other than the lack of vitality, no flaws could be found here.
The Lightchaser Leader even had the illusion that such a world was the best.
Here, there was no desire for survival or anxiety about impending danger. There seemed to be only eternal silence.
He shook his head and expelled this illusion from his heart. He focused his attention on the plant tower in front of him again.
There were no stars outside the Homeship, and the artificial sun inside the Homeship had long been extinguished. Logically speaking, this place should be pitch-black, but the translucent plants could emit a faint fluorescent light in the darkness. Under the overlapping of countless plants, the interior of the Homeship was actually as bright as day.
Not only that, but the vegetation on his path would also flicker, as if it was guiding him.
Under such circumstances, he easily arrived beside the World Tree.
The tower that was not originally connected to the top of the spaceship also had a large area of treetops surrounded by plants. It seemed to have become the support core of the entire spaceship.
At the entrance of the tower, translucent plants were still entrenched there, but the entrance was not sealed. The fluorescent lights seemed to be urging him to enter.
Stepping on the roots of the plants that were a little weak, the Lightchaser Leader stepped onto the tower step by step.
He was not an engineer, but he walked to the top of the tower with ease. Other than the fluorescent light showing him the way, he also saw traces left behind by someone along the way.
It seemed that someone had been here before him. After thinking for a moment, he remembered who it might be.
He had also read the report of the expedition and knew that a Solar Engineer had chosen to sacrifice himself to buy time for the team.
From the transcript of the captain of the expedition team, he knew that the Solar Engineer had escaped into the tower and had a strange behavior when he entered.
This anomaly was now infinitely magnified, and it also let the Lightchaser Leader know who might have left behind the traces.
Finally, he arrived at the top of the tower. There was a viewing platform here, and from here, he could see the full view of the city inside the Homeship.
The steel firmament of the past was nowhere to be seen. Only vegetation covered this world.
Although it was uninhabited and there were no signs of animal activity, the fluorescent vegetation seemed to represent a new life after the apocalypse.
“…I’m here..”