Zorm was finally torn apart amid tremor and explosion.
The death of the First Born led to the end of the planet a few hours in earlier than expected. The underground tentacles released all their raw energy as a powerful force from the ancient times swept across the planet. Under the watchful eyes of the drones and the inspector, a burst of bright light began from the equator of Zorm, and the red light spread along the cracks on the surface before the planet shattered into millions of pieces and fell towards the sun. All that happened I just a minute.
In the sea of debris, there was a faint dot that blown out from the core of the planet. The dot burst into a flash a light before disappeared entirely.
It was the core energy station of the people of Zorm. The last relic of the civilisation had now gone forever.
The drones on the orbit did not give a hang about the scene. They had carried out the command and were now packing up. The drones under the control of a mother drone disa.s.sembled the radio dish—just like how they did the a.s.sembly but in a reverse order—and left the place through the s.p.a.ce doors. The silvery white inspector s.p.a.cecraft was still hovering on the original orbit of Zorm, facing its nose toward the sun as it watched the planet that was once a cradle of life finis.h.i.+ng its final journey. After the last fragment of the planet vaporised in the sun, the Petrachelys turned around, a silvery-white, rectangular object flas.h.i.+ng in lights came out of the hatch on its belly and began to go around the sun in the original orbit of Zorm.
Everything that the civilisation had ever created had vanished. They did not have the ability to build their own monument. So the little monument commemorating the cradle that once hosted life was launched on behalf of the people of Zorm in memorial of their former home.
After accomplis.h.i.+ng this last task, the Petrachelys opened up a s.p.a.ce door and jumped into the curvature s.p.a.ce bubble.
The s.p.a.cecraft left the darkness behind and came before the CARS that glimmered in s.p.a.ce. Hao Ren ordered the s.p.a.cecraft to dock at the Sky Bridge 1 and connect the on-board main computer to the CARS main host. He just wanted to see for himself the data transfer was fine despite the drone cl.u.s.ters had given him the confirmation earlier.
"The database is up. The soul of the one-point-six billion Zormese and the friendly First Born are all intact," the MDT reported. "The human souls are currently in frozen state. It is best not to wake them up before we could create a suitable virtual world for them. The soul of the First Born seemed a little exhausted but it is in good shape. You should be able to ask it questions soon."
"I want to see it now," Hao Ren said as he watched the door on the sky bridge connecting the main structure of CARS slowly slid opened. He lowered his head and said to the MDT, "Is the communication link ready? We don"t need to go through Nolan this time, do we?"
"No, we don"t. We are using our own database now. I have created an administrator account, you will get clearer communication link with the First Born."
"Good. Oh, by the way, please let the giant know that I will see him in a while. Vivian, Lily, and others, you can come along if you want since there is not much to do here on the s.p.a.cecraft. But MDT, you will have to stay on board and provide remote support."
As Hao Ren was leaving the flight deck, the MDT suddenly said, "I still need to remind you that during the mission, you have violated a total of sixteen safety protocols, especially the last one. If not for lack of authority, I would have revoked your pilot license..."
Hao Ren shrugged it off without even looking back. "h.e.l.l yeah, I didn"t even have a pilot license."
Then as they left flight deck. Rollie got Lil Pea out from her pot, placed her on her head and trotted following from behind. "Big Boss Cat! Have I not been a good girl this time? Where is my little dried fish?" the silly cat said.
The central hall of the CARS was still the same as before, it was radiating with lights, solemnity and luxury. The crystal was exuding an elegant, mysterious yet cold and alienated atmosphere. Hao Ren let Rollie play with Lil Pea while he came to the crystal hill in the centre.
The crystal hill emanated with light when it sensed its master"s presence as the host computer called up a new database named "Zorm". Hao Ren was looking at a hologram of the scene of clear blue sky, clear water, and white clouds. It was so beautiful that it was almost unreal. Endless gra.s.sland was dotted with lakes and rivers that reflected the blue sky above in them. It looked like a dreamland.
"This is what the home was like," a slightly neutral voice sounded in the hall. "That"s Mother"s garden. It is beautiful. Mother always likes it."
Hao Ren was startled slightly before he realised it was the First Born. They had a new connection in CARS. He could now hear the First Born"s voice very clearly.
Then he remembered where he had heard the same voice.
When he was still in the virtual world of Zorm, travelling to the ruins of the north and crossing the Grey River with the Grey Fox mercenaries, he had heard a voice talking to him while he was half-awake. It was the exact voice!
"Was that you?" Hao Ren asked in surprise. "You spoke to me when I was near the Grey River?"
"Yes. It was me," said the First Born. It was very candid. "I knew you were coming from the outside world and I feared that your spirit would die in my dream, so I wanted to warn you."
"Oh, I see," said Hao Ren. It was a surprise. It sounded incredible to him. "I didn"t know that. If I did, we would have talked and the situation wouldn"t have become so critical."
The First Born did not respond; it seemed it could reply to a "hypothetical question," or maybe it was just simply not interested in the conversation.
Hao Ren s.h.i.+fted his attention on the hologram. It showed the memory of the First Born in Zorm; it was a lush world before the disaster. Looking at the beautiful, almost fairy-tale world, Hao Ren could not imagine this planet was the one that had turned into h.e.l.l under the grilling fire of the sun. In hesitation, he asked, "Are you going to rebuild it in the virtual world, or—"
"I just want to see it," said the First Born. The reply was plain and simple. "I used to take good care of the garden, so I want to keep these pictures and show Mother when she comes back."
Hao Ren was startled a little. He then steered away the conversation. "I still don"t quite understand how I got into your dreams. When I first got in, I didn"t make any connection with you, I was just sleeping. Do you know what was going on?"
"I think... you have something that resonates with me, and that"s probably the reason."
The reply was unexpected. Hao Ren was just thinking of avoiding conversation about its Mother, he did not want to face the heavy topic of the fall of the G.o.ddess of Creation just yet. "Resonance? What kind of resonance? I had tried to bring my friends into the virtual world but failed. Do you know what was going on?"
"I don"t know about others, but you…" the First Born paused. "You must have lifeblood in your body. I can feel that you are similar to me. I don"t know why you look like you are but… are you also a guardian that Mother has created?"
Hao Ren froze. He exchanged a look with Vivian. "The lifeblood is flowing in my body? Really?" he asked.
Vivian blinked and said, "Well, I didn"t know that."
What the First Born said had baffled them all. Hao Ren felt that there might be some misunderstanding here, probably a sequel of two thousand years of sunbathing. At this time, Lily"s eyes flickered as something suddenly cross her mind. "Oh yes! I"m afraid the lifeblood is indeed in your body! Have you forgot about the Branding Ritual in Holletta? You have absorbed the lifeblood in your body!"
The incident crossed his mind but Hao Ren immediately felt something did not add up. "Didn"t we find lifeblood dissipating very quickly? It should not have remained in my body."
Vivian"s brows knit together. "That"s just on the material level. Physically, the lifeblood had indeed gone, but I"m afraid there was something more than physical… perhaps it had interfered you spiritually, such as it let you walk into the dream of the First Born."
Hao Ren placed his hand on his chest instinctively. "d.a.m.n... it sounds very creepy," he said.
The conversation continued for a while before the First Born suddenly asked, "I"ve already answered you many questions. Can you tell me where Mother is now?"