Droplets of condensed mist dripped onto moss-covered boulders, rusted alloy plates groaned and creaked, and rustling sounds in the shadows resembled wild beasts grinding their teeth.
Holding the "everburning" torch in his hand, Qiu Ling walked cautiously through the compartments in the wreckage of the missile cruiser Gemini, checking every corner and explorable area.
A full week had passed since he had entered these ruins under the Progenitor's guidance.
Over the course of that week, he had searched almost every piece of fractured wreckage scattered across the forest, yet he still hadn't found the legendary "sacred relic."
Truth be told, had it not been for his devotion to the Progenitor, he would have begun to doubt whether that so-called relic even existed.
For as long as he could remember, he had heard the clan elders say that this palace fallen from the heavens had existed since the dawn of the Awakening Era.
Back then, the Forbidden Forest hadn't been as perilous as it was now. Clan members would occasionally visit the "Heavenly Palace" to pay homage to their ancestors. It wasn't until wild beasts around the area grew more numerous and increasingly dangerous that they moved their rites to the nearby mountains.
Logically speaking, if a sacred relic really were here, the ancestors of the State of Qiu should have discovered it long ago; it wouldn't have waited until now.
"Nothing here either..."
Having checked the final compartment, Qiu Ling crawled out from beneath the blackened alloy plating, climbed to the exterior of the wreckage, and set the silver metal disc on his knees, devoutly awaiting the Progenitor's instructions.
Yet this time, even the Progenitor, who had guided him forward all along, couldn't help but sound a touch despondent.
"Where on earth could it have gone..."
Logically, this was impossible.
All the wreckage was right here; it couldn't be that only the reactor was missing.
No—
That wasn't entirely impossible either.
According to the report Ye Shi had submitted, after the Second Day of Judgment recorded in the Doma City temple, the "Sinners," led by a portion of the Gemini's crew, had fought their way back into the Forbidden Forest valley, driving the survivors who had awakened psionics out into the forest beyond the valley.
Sensing the despondency on the other end of the communication channel, Qiu Ling hurried to offer comfort.
"Please don't lose heart. There is still one last ruin left... Perhaps the relic you seek is there!"
He was actually anxious inside as well. After all, by this time his clansmen had already clashed with the "Apostates" in the forest.
Under the leadership of a chieftain named Tunnan, the Apostates originally scattered throughout the forest were united as never before.
They claimed to have received the Progenitor's decree—not only to reclaim the sacred relic for the Progenitor, but also to reclaim the holy ground lost at the dawn of the Awakening Era!
Their vast, surging army had already crossed the streams and deployed into battle formation around the Qiu Ridge he had once patrolled.
Qiu Ling's kin and brethren were all there, along with reinforcements who had hurried over from other clans.
If not for the search for this sacred relic, he would have loved nothing more than to grab the "divine bow" bestowed upon him by the Progenitor, mount his wild lizard, and charge back to the front lines to defend his homeland...
Looking at the youth whose face was filled with confidence, Jiang Xuezhou was at a loss for words for a moment.
She naturally knew there was one last piece of "wreckage" left unexplored, yet there was no way a reactor could possibly be there.
If you asked why, it was because that was the missile cruiser's bridge, the signal source of the black box...
It was probably the place farthest from the reactor.
She had originally planned to find the reactor and remaining helium-3 stockpiles first, resolving the fuel worries for the trip home before finding a way to retrieve the black box.
After all, if they couldn't get back, retrieving the black box would be utterly meaningless.
"You're right. It's not time to give up yet." Taking a deep breath, she pulled herself together. "I'll leave the final ruin to you... First, try to find an entrance into the ruins. A helper will arrive in a couple of days to assist you."
Qiu Ling respectfully accepted the order. "As you command."
...
The bridge of the missile cruiser Gemini was wedged against the flank of a mountain. Its semicircular steel structure was completely flipped upside down, leaning tilted against the mountainside.
Because of this bizarre posture, the entire ruin's entrance was suspended high in midair; without some rock-climbing skill, climbing in was virtually impossible.
Gaining entry to the ruin was difficult enough, let alone exploring inside.
Corridors that once ran horizontally had all turned into slanted shafts.
Add to that the Progenitor's assertion that this was the least likely place for the relic to be, and Qiu Ling had not made this most remote piece of wreckage his initial priority.
Now, however, it seemed that the place least likely to yield anything had become their final hope.
Following vines dangling down the sheer alloy wall, Qiu Ling managed, after a tense but safe climb, to reach the entrance to the Gemini's bridge wreckage.
A flock of carnivorous birds had nested inside the pitch-black opening. Seeing an intruder clambering up, they squawked and lunged forward, tearing and snapping with talons and sharp beaks.
Caught off guard, Qiu Ling nearly tumbled from the opening. Fortunately, the beam projected by the silver metal disc startled the birds, allowing him to seize the moment and roll into the cave-like hole. He then pulled out the burning fuel rod and swung it around, driving the carnivorous birds away.
Watching the flock squawk and fly off, Qiu Ling finally let out a sigh of relief.
Those beasts would definitely return.
Not daring to linger at the entrance, he took out the rope bestowed by the Progenitor, anchored it to a sturdy spot, vaulted down into the corridor that stood upright like a steep chute, and began exploring toward the interior of the bridge.
The scene here was a complete shambles.
A massive amount of debris blocked the entrance, forcing him to clear the blocking wreckage by any means possible while rappelling down.
Yet while engaged in this work, he happened upon a few suspicious details.
At the bottom of the shaft lay the remains of a heap of black charcoal.
Someone had built a fire here!
"There are traces of someone living here..."
Qiu Ling extended an index finger, pinched a bit of charcoal residue, rubbed it between his finger and thumb, and frowned slightly.
"It was left a very long time ago."
As for exactly how long ago, he couldn't tell.
Just then, the silver metal disc hanging at his chest emitted a pale blue beam, scanning the debris on the ground for a moment before sweeping across the surroundings.
After a brief wait, the Progenitor's voice drifted into his ears.
"It was left in the early Awakening Era. Likely shortly after the Gemini... this palace crashed through the atmosphere."
A look of astonishment crossed Qiu Ling's face; he hadn't expected the Progenitor to possess such divine prowess.
His surprise was brief, however, as his attention was quickly drawn to a half-open alloy door off to the side.
A propped wooden stave braced the door panel, forming a handy latching mechanism.
He pressed the wooden stave down, slid sideways through the crack, and stepped into the room. Holding up his "everburning" torch, he glanced around and was quickly astounded by the layout inside.
The upside-down room had been converted into living quarters. There were wooden tables, chairs, and beds... shaped just like the ones in their tribe!
And far more refined than what they made!
Perhaps the furnishings in their tribe had actually been copied from here!
"...This was the Progenitor's home," Qiu Ling muttered to himself. Moving his light source, he soon noticed the alloy wall beside him, covered in withered vines.
Rows of characters were etched into the rust-mottled alloy wall, but regrettably, he couldn't read what was written.
Not only could he not read them, but up in synchronous orbit, Jiang Xuezhou, seated before her terminal, couldn't read them either.
The passage of time had blurred and warped the writing, leaving only scratchy markings resembling ghostly scribbles... Perhaps it wasn't the Human Alliance language at all, but rather abstract patterns or inherently meaningless doodles.
"What does this say?"
Qiu Ling asked in a low voice, but the silver disc hanging from his chest offered no reply.
It seemed there were things even the Progenitor didn't know.
Just then, a gentle voice suddenly came from behind him.
"I saw Him."
Startled by the sudden voice, Qiu Ling whipped around, only to see a girl about his age standing at the entrance he had just passed through.
"Who is it?"
"Dora."
"How did you get in—" Qiu Ling cut himself off mid-sentence, narrowing his eyes as he glared at her. "You're an Apostate."
Dora gazed at him unblinkingly without a word.
Just as the atmosphere between them grew stiff, a soft cough drifted from the silver metal disc hanging on Qiu Ling's chest.
"Don't get agitated. I told her to come."
The tense atmosphere relaxed slightly.
Though he hadn't fully lowered his guard, Qiu Ling did release the dagger he had gripped.
Dora averted her gaze from him and looked toward the wall behind him.
Tracing the rust-mottled grooves to find the first line of the poem, she continued in a voice like sleep-talk:
"I wander in a maze without exit, finding no path forward. Until I lift my head and look toward the heavens."
"A pair of unseen eyes hides behind the clouds, meeting my gaze for a long time. At last I see Him, as though gazing upon ever-shifting clouds, and the clouds gaze back at me, as though gazing upon a mural come to life."
"Astonishment shows upon both our faces."
Qiu Ling stared at her blankly, completely bewildered.
"What are you saying?"
Dora said in a serene voice:
"That is a message left by a Progenitor. I can read the symbols he left behind."
"Strung together, these characters form a poem... Perhaps the poet meant to say: He is the clouds in the sky, and we are the mural on the wall."
Qiu Ling swallowed hard, feeling his scalp tingle.
He had heard clan elders say that the Apostates in the forest were worshippers of the "Tree of Ein Sof," and with the help of that tree, they could perform occult, mystifying tricks.
But that was the extent of their ability.
No matter how rich their spiritual world was, it could not make up for the Apostates' material shortcomings.
Even if these people could speak to trees, they couldn't withstand the fire and blades of the State of Qiu.
Relying on the methods handed down by the Progenitor, the State of Qiu's power was thriving day by day!
Sooner or later, they would restore the glory before the Savage Era and return to that era of limitless prosperity of days gone by!
And when that time came, these Apostates would probably still be living in the trees!
Still...
He had to admit she had real skill.
Even if she could speak the "tongue of beasts," climbing up here was no easy feat.
While Qiu Ling was thinking this, Dora walked over to the mural and felt along the wall with her index finger, soon locating the next stanza of the poem.
"We were both astonished; we were never meant to meet, yet by strange coincidence our paths crossed."
"He smiled and told me the exit was not far ahead, but stepping through would be in vain, for a new maze lay before me, stretching to the ends of the world, and I had little time left."
"I asked Him how I might float in the heavens like Him; I begged Him to grant me more time, but He laughed heartily and departed."
"This meeting has consumed all the time of my life. Both He and I know we shall never meet again."
Having read to the end of the poem, Dora paused before the mural, a hint of confusion touching her face.
"The poet... Qiu Shiye... Fifth Tribe?"
"What does that mean?" Qiu Ling asked urgently.
Dora shook her head. "I don't know... Perhaps the Progenitor's name?"
As she spoke, she looked toward the silver disc in her hand.
Yet the silver disc made no sound, as if stunned by the story she had translated.
Progenitors were mostly rather slow to respond, often trailing off into silence mid-conversation. Having experienced this before, she waited patiently.
By contrast, the boy standing across from her couldn't wait.
Only then did he notice that she carried something similar to his own—the glowing treasure bestowed by the Progenitor.
None of that mattered right now, however; what Qiu Ling cared about was the meaning of this message.
Especially after hearing the Progenitor's surname, he could not simply brush it aside.
"I mean the poem! What did he want to say? That the maze's exit is at the ends of the world? So we must search beyond the valley?"
A trace of sorrow surfaced between Dora's brows.
"I don't know... I think perhaps the poem itself is what the Progenitor wanted to express. He wanted to say he is a figure in a painting, and He is the cloud in the sky. He has uncertain, countless futures, yet cannot see the path ahead. He can see everything, yet can do nothing, only drifting in the heavens and watching in silence."
Pausing, she added:
"You are too obsessed with a single outcome. Not everything has only one explanation."
Qiu Ling stared at her in a daze, incomprehension still written across his face.
In his understanding, everything had an exact and unerring set of laws, and even unfathomable things followed their own unfathomable rules. Moreover, with their study, the "unfathomable" parts would sooner or later become clear.
Yet this girl told him there was no single explanation.
Perhaps this was precisely why they could never reconcile with the Apostates; their very perception of the world was fundamentally divergent.
"Perhaps. But I think I understand now why, after so many seasons, we still cannot comprehend one another..."
Qiu Ling sighed softly, his expression suddenly tinged with relief.
Gazing at the indecipherable mural covering the wall, he stayed silent for a moment before speaking.
"...At least, we finally understand the revelation left by the Progenitor."
Pausing, he drew his gaze back from the mural and looked at the girl named Dora.
"I will lead my people to the ends of the world to explore more distant lands... The holy ground is of no use to us anymore. I will return it to you."
This was something he had suddenly remembered.
Long, long ago, when the Forbidden Forest was not yet as treacherous as today, the clans of the State of Qiu would journey to these ruins each year on the Second Day of Judgment to honor their ancestors.
And the Senate had taken shape during those ancestral rites.
From then on, an unwritten legend circulated through the State of Qiu.
Their ancestor, the Progenitor surnamed Qiu, had left behind a parable meant for them in the ruins.
Whoever could unravel that parable would become the leader of the State of Qiu—the "King" who commanded the hundred clans!
Now, guided here by the Progenitor, and with the Senate having witnessed the miracles performed by the silver metal disc in his hands,
once he walked out of here carrying the message from the mural, he would be the undisputed King of the State of Qiu!
"But where is the end of the world?"
Dora looked at Qiu Ling, a subtle hint of pity in her crescent-shaped eyes.
"Since the Progenitor came from the heavens, even if you measure the earth with your feet, there is still the world beyond the earth... a place your feet can never reach, no matter what."
To spend an entire lifetime pursuing a meaningless task seemed pitiful to her.
In truth, they had another choice: to accept one another and become one family again.
Yet that was merely her thought.
What seemed meaningless to her was not necessarily so to others.
Besides, he had recognized reality as well.
They were destined to be different.
"Then I will walk to the end of my lifespan, to wherever my feet can carry me," Qiu Ling smiled faintly, replying without hesitation. "As for the world beyond the earth, my children and grandchildren will see it for me."
That was his destiny.
And the destiny of all "Qiu People."
They were born to go farther, to seek the ends of the world!
Just like their ancestor.
The world he wouldn't have the chance to see, he and his descendants would see for him!
Dora stared blankly at the youth before her and ultimately said no more.
Just as she herself had said, not everything had a single interpretation.
All things possessed their own laws of operation, but whether something held "meaning" was decided by people.
What he had grasped was his own "meaning," and that was the very "self" the Qiu People had long sought in vain.
Suddenly, she could no longer see his future.
Without realizing when it happened, the bond connecting them had quietly vanished.
Qiu Ling looked solemnly at the girl before him and inclined his head slightly.
In this forest and valley, that was the highest form of courtesy short of kneeling.
"Thank you for telling me my ancestor's name, and the words on the gravestone... We will not meet again."
With that, he took off the silver metal disc hanging around his neck and gently set it down on a table nearby.
He had fulfilled his promise, having searched the final ruin in the entire forest.
If it wasn't here, it only meant the sacred relic had never been here from the start.
As for now, he had to save his people and lead them out of this valley!
Dora watched his departing figure until he vanished behind the half-closed door.
Her intuition told her that perhaps things were not so absolute, and their descendants would meet again.
However, that would be thousands of years from now...
...
In synchronous orbit, on the bridge of the missile cruiser Orion, Jiang Xuezhou took a deep breath before the terminal, falling silent for a long time.
"Fifth Tribe..."
Fifth Tribe, my foot...
That clearly meant the "Fifth Department"!
As for that Qiu Shiye, he was probably a physicist from the Fifth Department, just like Wu Xinghuan on the Orion.
Only, the former was clearly far more decisive and driven. He had not only led a band of unawakened primitives to burn down the first "sacred tree," but had nearly driven the psionically awakened natives—who supported the other faction of crew members—to extinction.
The guy was an absolute madman!
The Gemini might very well have been brought down by him just to destroy that "sacred tree"!
Of course, he might not have truly intended to wipe out the psionics entirely, since quite a few "Apostates" had escaped into the forest and developed into today's forest tribes.
If he had truly wanted to slaughter them to the last, he wouldn't even have needed to issue explicit orders; turning a blind eye would have been enough.
Given the cruelty and savagery of primitives, they wouldn't have left a single survivor.
Even in early slavery, slaves were used less as labor and more as human sacrifices and living offerings.
As for what the locals called the "Second Day of Judgment," "you come from the heavens"... and the series of prophecies from the Tree of Ein Sof, they were likely all "spoilers" He whispered to those who could hear Him.
Naturally, limited by their worldview, that was all the primitives could understand.
Jiang Xuezhou still remembered that Ye Shi's report mentioned how the Gemini's crew had explicitly explained Him using dimensional theory.
Yet because the primitives couldn't comprehend the concept of dimensions, they had actively discarded those overly advanced theories and instead reverted to primitive worship and the abstract idea of a "higher being" to understand the Tree of Ein Sof.
This could already serve as a textbook case of failed enlightenment.
"Clouds in the sky, paintings on the wall... so abstract. Did he mean that He is a higher-dimensional being? Or did he simply mean that He is an outsider..."
Thinking of an elderly man huddled in the ruins, carving poetry into steel plates with a green crystal, Jiang Xuezhou suddenly felt a pang of sympathy for him.
In the final moments of his life, he had probably gone mad, even forgetting his identity as a physicist.
Then again, perhaps this message was never intended for "Earthlings" to begin with, but for locals who would visit these ruins in the future—or even the descendants of the psionics he had driven into the forest.
The fact that this poem was not written in the Human Alliance language at all was the most direct evidence.
Perhaps it stemmed from remorse after a sudden awakening, or perhaps from helplessness and compromise with reality. In any case, there was nothing wrong with his choice. After all, from his perspective, the situation back on Earth might not have been any more optimistic than here on Gaia.
Jiang Xuezhou tried to extrapolate from his point of view.
The seventeen crew members who left the Gemini were clearly opposed to the "Final War" plan.
From their vantage point, the "Final War" plan had likely already succeeded; the Gemini crew, having anticipated the Orion's moves, had uploaded a virus to the Orion's shipboard servers, shuffling Earth's ecosystem.
No one could have imagined that an obscure electrical engineer would pull the breaker at the critical moment, putting the "Final War" plan on hold for 215 years.
Extrapolating this way, from Dr. Qiu Shiye's perspective, the little green men on the planet Gaia were humanity's sole remaining bloodline in this universe.
He could only use easier-to-understand pictograms, near the end of his life, to leave the insights he had spent a lifetime unraveling for future archaeologists.
Reconstructing this buried history left Jiang Xuezhou with mixed emotions.
She had successfully recovered Dr. Qiu Shiye's research findings, but the crucial reactor was gone.
"...Did someone haul it away? That makes no sense," Jiang Xuezhou muttered under her breath, staring at the display on her holographic screen.
The boy named Qiu Ling had already departed, and she hadn't spoken up to stop him.
Because there was no longer any need.
Since he was determined to lead his people away, this prehistoric war between primitives would likely end soon.
The Forest People would return to their sacred ground to proclaim victory, and the Valley People would embark on their migration carrying the Progenitor's parable. This planet was vast, and both of their futures were bright.
Next, Tunnan would probably apologize to Ye Shi in person and then scour the entire forest to find the missing reactor and its helium-3 reserves for them.
If they couldn't find it in the end, they could only prepare to spend the rest of their lives on this unfamiliar planet.
They couldn't very well expect primitives to refine helium-3 for them.
"Respected Progenitor... what should we do now?" Standing before the silver metal disc, Dora's face was filled with confusion and hesitation.
She vaguely sensed that she had helped her tribe avoid a bloodbath, even reclaiming their sacred ground without shedding a drop of blood.
Yet there was still so much she didn't understand.
Including that poem.
Including the mural and the clouds described in the poem.
Sitting before her terminal, Jiang Xuezhou picked up her coffee cup, took a sip, and chose not to say much to her.
Sometimes being too clever wasn't a good thing.
Someone like the boy Qiu Ling was great—just clever enough, understanding just enough from the mural.
That was the best possible outcome.
"Don't overthink things. As primitives, just do what primitives are supposed to do. If you insist on getting some advice, you'd better spend some time studying astronomy and figuring out a calendar, then work on your language and invent a writing system."
"Even if you're dead set on abandoning writing and language later, you'd better invent them first. Otherwise, before you figure out a stable way to awaken psionics, you might get wiped out by competitors on this very same planet."
Though, had she spoken too much?
These were things they should have synthesized on their own through the twists and turns of history.
Still, saying this now hardly mattered.
Jiang Xuezhou cleared her throat softly, cutting off Dora's train of thought.
"...Let's not dwell on that. Pass a message to your chieftain for me. Tell him the Arrow of Judgment is notched to the string. If he doesn't want to see Doma City's sacred tree reduced to ashes in flames, he must hold his forces for seven days and let the 'Sinners' leave... This is his punishment for his arrogance in imprisoning a Progenitor."
She couldn't actually launch a neutron torpedo at a crowd of innocent civilians, but a little strategic intimidation was totally fine.
The people in the valley were going to evacuate anyway, and weighing the pros and cons, Tunnan would have no reason to take the risk.
Dora committed the advice to memory and hurriedly asked, "Could you... take me to the heavens?"
She knew it was a presumptuous request, yet she couldn't help asking.
The future king of the Qiu People had gleaned the mission belonging to the Qiu from that poem; she, too, had gleaned her own.
They were to journey to the ends of the world, conquer the maze beneath their feet, and seek its exit.
And the children of the Tree of Ein Sof were to go to the heavens, becoming the clouds drifting above the maze.
Hearing the pleading voice, Jiang Xuezhou yawned.
She could guess what Dora was thinking.
The little girl had likely committed a metaphysical blunder, mistaking the Progenitor from the heavens for the clouds in the poem.
In truth, they weren't.
They, too, were people in the maze; they had merely walked farther, so far that to a primitive like her, they seemed to stand upon the clouds.
Earth had no "Tree of Ein Sof," and whether it ever would was anyone's guess. But at least in the future Jiang Xuezhou could foresee, the wastelander inheritors of the Human Alliance would most likely pour their energies into the material maze.
However, if she genuinely wished it, taking her back to Earth might not be a bad choice.
At the very least, it would help the reborn human civilization understand dimensions beyond their own, as well as new laws they had never known.
At this thought, Jiang Xuezhou felt a stir in her heart, a mischievous grin spreading across her face.
Since it was something already decided, why not take this chance to test a certain someone?
"Ahem, getting to the heavens isn't so simple... But seeing your sincerity, I'll be merciful and show you a path."
"The Progenitor imprisoned by your chieftain is actually an extraordinary figure. He can decide who gets to leave the mortal realm."
"If you truly want to go to the heavens, go beg him!"
Chapter 1013