Chapter 1531 It’s Like a Dream

"Return record?" I was stunned by the news brought by Green Star. I repeated it subconsciously. Then I suddenly reacted and rushed in front of the elf girl. "That means escaping from the polluted old empire on Green Star." It returned again after that? But the record of this return cannot be found in the voyage log, and it was deleted by someone!?"

"I can't confirm it in such detail yet," Lu'e seemed startled by my excited attitude, and her neck suddenly shrank: In addition to being particularly "brave" when chasing Lilina, this elf girl is very Timid, "The memory of the mother tree is a very vague thing, just like racial consciousness. After we ordinary elves read it twice during the cycle of life and death, the record becomes even vaguer, so we can only roughly determine it." The Green Star returned briefly after leaving the contaminated area. I don’t know whether it was an order from the planet’s core or whether it was pulled by some other force. In addition, it is not certain whether the planet’s voyage log has been modified... There is no trace on the log. , but there is no record of this return flight, but I can’t find the deletion record, and I haven’t found any misplacements or gaps in the log.”

Seeing me frowning and lost in thought, Green Calyx carefully added: "Mother Tree's memory is very vague, and she doesn't even have the time of that return voyage, so there is no way to backtrack the date of the log based on time."

Seeing the nervous look on this elf girl's face, I smiled and waved to her: "Relax, relax, I'm just a little surprised by your news... After successfully escaping, you returned to the Ark in the Empire District. You guys are definitely The first of all time. Zadom, you are Harlan’s general. You should have been present when the Green Star was transformed?"

In the old empire era, the tree elves were Haran's dependents, but there was little time for the two to get to know each other much: shortly after the tree elves were discovered by the empire and rated as a "highly intelligent race with development potential", there was a catastrophe. , these long ears were sent to the ark before they even had time to fight a battle behind Haran, and there weren’t many stories between them. Therefore, the old relationship between the two is often forgotten by me accidentally. But they themselves will not forget that after Haran was incorporated into the new empire, the tree elves quickly recognized and became close to their former benefactor. Now that I see that Zadom is also at the scene, I know that he was also attracted by Lu'e's intelligence, and he probably wanted to help with the investigation.

"It's certain that there wasn't a problem with a certain predetermined program or the automatic navigation device," Zadom nodded. Although he was the general in charge of the battle and theoretically not the designer and builder of the Green Star, it was a chaotic time. Harlan The person who can provide the final protection to the tree elves by keeping his subordinates awake is such a soldier. Therefore, he also knows the situation of Green Star quite well. "The experts who were responsible for writing the navigation program and I went to the site to see it. There was no fault in the core of the planet itself, and there was no background program. But there is really no way to determine whether the voyage log has been manipulated." Outsiders have tried their best to find evidence of its sudden return tens of thousands of years ago: it cannot prove that it existed, and it cannot prove that it did not. From my personal point of view... the sudden return of the Ark that has escaped from the Empire Zone is unbelievable."

"The memory of the mother tree is unmistakable!" Green Calyx said quietly but firmly. In the minds of all tree elves, the mother tree has an extraordinary status. If you have to choose one between the voyage log and the mother tree. If you believe it. She would rather choose the mother tree.

Although the original life memory is not as accurate as the voyage log.

"I also believe in the memory of the mother tree," I half-raised my right hand to Zadom to show my support for the green calyx. "After all, no one has any reason to do this in the memory of a plant that has 'dead' back then. This It’s meaningless. No one in the entire void will benefit from this. I believe that the Green Star’s voyage log has been deleted by someone, and the deletion method is clever and leaves no traces, but the person who did it obviously did not expect that the mother tree would have such a magical racial memory. Characteristics. The weird talents of mortals are things that even gods can occasionally be confused about."

"Well, some experts do have the same idea." Zadom did not stick to his own intuition, but chose to believe the experts, and then he looked a little regretful. "It's a pity that all the scientists who helped the tree elves build the planetary core are dead. Otherwise, we should be able to better analyze the planetary fortress."

"When the Green Star set sail, there was no one else on it except the tree elves, right?" I thought about possible explanations for this "return" and looked at Zadom curiously, "Including the Xiling apostle, not listed The advanced AI that goes into the navigation system, and anyone else.”

"No," Zadom said resolutely, "The abyss spreads through the spiritual network, so no Xiling apostle is allowed to board the Ark, and we cannot spread the pollution. This is His Majesty Haran's death order, and I believe no one has violated it. .”

"But what if the polluted apostles boarded the ark without others noticing?" I frowned, "The polluters do not accept the old orders."

This time Zadom paused, and it seemed that he was also shaken by this conjecture, but in the end he shook his head: "It's also impossible. First, when the Green Star set sail, we conducted detailed inspections and confirmed that the planet There are no people outside the list. The second point is that the contaminated apostles are different from the fallen apostles who were born later. The former were chaotic creatures that were completely crazy and were born in the early stages of the disaster, while the latter were born after a long period of time and had a violent temperament. Changed but still sane creatures. Your Majesty, you also know that the fallen apostles were partially purified under the influence of the void creatures, which was not the case in the early stages of the disaster, and those chaotic creatures... They don't know how to be patient, and they can't wait for the Ark to fly. They don't have the brains to go out for a while and wipe out all the normal apostles in the empire before returning."

Things seem to have reached a deadlock. The intelligence we currently have is far from being able to explain the problem of Green Star's return, so I no longer dwell on its cause, but focus on its results: "Green Calyx, have you found any hidden dangers or damage on the planet?" Traces? Or... um, 'physical problems' of the tree elf itself?"

During the long drift of the Green Star, the tree elves relied on sleeping in the dormant cabin to survive so many years. Therefore, the Green Star's rash return to the abyss is likely to leave some negative effects, and these negative effects may remain. They may not have discovered it yet within the body of the dormant tree elf.

"Nothing unusual has been found yet," Lu'e shook his head. "There is some damage to the planet's structure, but every damage can be found in the log, and it must have occurred during the drifting process. The tree elf's physical condition is not bad either. Problem. We can receive blessings and revelations directly from the goddess of life. God’s eyes can see through everything. We found no problem after large-scale prayers.”

Due to their innate affinity, the tree elves began to believe in Ding Dong on a large scale, but after hearing Lv E's words of certainty, I couldn't help but look down at my breast pocket and listen to the faint "click, click, click" coming from me. It sounded like Dingdang was secretly nibbling candy bars. I was too lazy to teach her not to eat from other people's pockets.

I wanted to say something, but in the end I didn't say it: In the professional field, Dingdang is really not that bad, and early warning of the abyss and its derivative effects is the innate ability of the Gods. It has nothing to do with intelligence. If Lu E says there is no problem, then it really means there is no problem.

"That is to say, except for the memory of the mother tree, there are no traces related to the return voyage in the voyage log, the planet itself, and the tree elves..." I frowned, and then suddenly remembered something, "In the early days of the Green Star's voyage, When the planet fortress was in good condition, the tree elves had not collectively entered a deep sleep. At that time, you controlled the planet manually and often came to live on the surface of the Green Star. During this period, the Green Star did not 'return' unless you all All the memories have been tampered with."

Lu'e nodded, and Zadom next to him also showed an unsurprising look of agreement. Apparently both of them had already considered this issue.

"That is to say, the 'return' occurred after the Green Star environment deteriorated," I concluded with a nod. "The environment of the Green Star deteriorated, and the tree elves had to start sleeping in batches, and soon the whole family broke away from the real world and lived in the virtual world. At this time, your planet suddenly returned to the Empire Zone once, because everyone was asleep , so no one knows about this...wait. There should be someone else who knows!"

"Yes, the 'navigator' should know," Lv'e bit her lower lip, "This is also our biggest problem: during the tens of thousands of years of navigation, although most of the people have entered the virtual world, the planet has always been monitored. Yes, although the number of navigators is not large, they have never missed duty, and no matter how short the Green Star return time is, it is impossible for those navigators to ignore it... This cannot be explained."

"Have you asked the navigators? What did they say?" I raised my head and looked at Zadom.

"There is no gain. The pilot confirmed that there is always someone on duty during the Green Star voyage, and there are several pilots supervising each other at any time. They use this method to prevent someone from falling into mental disorder, and all pilots are basically insane at the same time. It's impossible," Zadom shook his head. "No one remembers any return record of the Green Star. After the planet fortress left the contaminated area, it fled deep into the void, avoiding all imperial colonies and settlements in accordance with the preset procedures. In a world with abyssal reactions, the personal logs of the navigators also confirm this. In addition, the personal logs of the navigators have two copies, one is kept privately, and the other is placed in the database for everyone to check and keep at any time. This It is also to prevent someone from going insane and not being discovered in time. Tree elves are a very cautious race."

During the long drift of the Green Star, the tree elves have been living in a closed underground space for a long time, with fewer and fewer resources, and the spacecraft equipment is getting older and older, which has brought them huge psychological pressure, and in this situation Next, they formulated a virtual world survival plan in time and built something like a "Projection Paradise" in the center of the earth. This is enough to show that these long-eared creatures have the tough and cautious characteristics. So as the navigators are the most elite among the tree elves, the records they leave behind should be authentic and credible, and have not been deleted due to insanity. At the same time, considering that the tree elves back then had not yet had time to master the operating skills taught by the empire, and they themselves could not fully control the Green Star, the situation of the navigators losing their minds and sailing back was further ruled out.

"Unless there was a fallen emperor like Sandora who took action and directly distorted all the memories of the entire planet, including the brains of the personnel and the data disks of the AI." I glanced at Zadom, but I also knew this conjecture. The possibility is even less likely, not to mention whether there is such a fallen emperor who can catch up with Green Star. Even if there is, what is his motive?

Let the escaped Ark of Exile return to the contaminated area and then release it without any damage or trouble, just to scare archaeologists a few years later? If there really was a fallen emperor who thought like this, I would see something cute in him...

After thinking for a long time, it seems that I can't find any explanation from the existing information, although it seems that Green Star has not left any hidden dangers due to this "return". But after all, it is a matter related to the collapse of the old empire and should not be taken lightly.

So I twitched the corner of my mouth and made a decision: "Take me to the mother tree to see the situation."

Anyway, I don’t have much to do at the moment. The advanced stuff in the deep-diving project is not something that a layman like me can understand. While Sandora and a group of experts are busy working, as the leader of the empire, I have to pretend to be diligent and caring for the people... …

"The memory of the mother tree can only be restored when the tree elves are in the cycle of life and death..." Green Calyx subconsciously reminded her, and then seemed to have just reacted, "Oh, by the way, you should not have this restriction."

I smiled, but considering that I wasn't sure if I could communicate with the Mother Tree, and the Ding Dong in my pocket was an idiot who couldn't even express his thoughts clearly. I decided to call over a guy with a clever mind. So I called out in my mental connection, and the next moment a gleaming portal appeared next to me, and a little girl in a princess dress jumped out of it almost rolling on her feet: "Boss, boss, please call me. ?! Lilina asked excitedly, are you going to sleep with me?"

I knew there would be no good things to say about this guy, but with Lu E's presence, it seemed that there was no need to use a basket to deal with this girl. I picked up Lilina's collar and turned her to the tree elf girl in front of me: "Look who this is. ?”

Lu'e looked at the "Messenger of Life" whom she admired so much in surprise, while Lilina's whole body bounced up in the air as if she had been electrocuted: "Old, old, old...Boss! We can't arrange marriages! And my orientation is normal, Boss! Boss, you Put me down, put me down..."

I threw Lilina to Green Calyx and opened the portal to the Mother Tree: "Let's go."

The vast expanse of heaven and earth. Boundless green ripples wantonly, thick vines and fresh green leaves are intertwined and covered under the feet. From the layers of vines, not even a trace of soil color can be seen, as if the earth is a plant. Plants are like the earth: The Mother Tree is the second most magnificent plant I have ever seen after the World Tree, and if it were not for the fact that it could not carry the divine brilliance like the World Tree, this plant could cover a planet. "Giant Vine" might even be ranked first: at least it's big.

Although the name is "Mother Tree", this is a name inherited from the tree elf culture. In my eyes, this plant is more like a combination of vines and shrubs... But this classification is not correct, because it will also grow tree-like plant branches at certain "nodes". This is from another world. plant. There is no way to classify them using common sense from humans.

With the development of the empire in various fields, especially the cooperation between the Space and Time Administration and the Ministry of Military Command, the understanding of each race has become more and more in-depth. Many races related to the empire have received a lot of benefits, and the family members who have the closest relationship with the empire have gained a lot of benefits. Nature is the biggest beneficiary: Not only was the tree elf's mother tree resurrected and reshaped by the power of the goddess of life, she also received a new "flower pot" about half a year ago, which is the special space dedicated to the tree elf. It is mounted under the name of the shadow space. It is an independent space-time similar to the shadow space, but smaller in scale. I sometimes jokingly call this place the "Beijing Office" of the tree elves in the capital of the empire. As a mission, it spreads throughout the empire every day. A race of diplomats with a lot of trivial matters to deal with, they deserve a larger residence in the shadow space.

Other servant armies also have their own stations in the shadow space, which are not limited to the shadow city. Some of them are assigned to a colonial star, and some also get a small alien space like the tree elves. But in general, the alien tree elves The spatial scale is the largest.

There are also some tree elf villages and towns on the nearby vines. They built houses directly on the branches of the mother tree to serve as offices, but they came here to communicate with the mother tree, so they did not disturb the locals.

Even if I am not an expert in the power of life, I can still feel the rich vitality in all directions here. I tried to spread my spiritual power and communicate with the green earth under my feet, but as I expected: all I got was some vague energy. Feedback that is vague, as if talking in sleep.

High-level spiritual power can indeed read the memory of the mother tree across races, but I can't read this strange "language". This should require more essential communication.

Lilina finally got my permission and broke away from Lu'e's arms. She was as embarrassed as a doll that had been played with. She looked at me with resentment, then sat down on the spot and started talking to her mother. comminicate.

I took out Ding Dong from my pocket, found a small gap between the nearest vines, and stuffed the small thing into it: "Communicate with this plant and see what happened to the Green Star's return that year."

I have already told the little guy about the return of the Green Star through a spiritual connection, otherwise this guy who was busy stealing candy from the beginning to the end would not know what happened.

Dingdang looked around drowsily, and then he realized what he was doing, with a happy look on his face: "Haha! Dingdang's leaves!"

...She finally remembered that her mother's tree was saved with her leaves.

A brisk sound of rushing was carried to everyone's ears by the breeze. It seemed that the mother tree had also sensed the approach of the goddess of life and was happily welcoming everyone.

"It's strange..." Lilina did it faster than Dingdang, but after communicating with the mother tree, there was only more confusion on her face, "I have 'seen' the memory of this plant with my own eyes, and I have also seen it. The scene of the Green Star returning home, but it feels... blurry and distorted, more like a dream."

I was stunned for a moment: Dreaming?

Why would a starship that had escaped from a contaminated area dream of returning to the old empire? ?