“By that time, humans will no longer rejoice in individual gains, because there will be no difference in feeling between one’s own profit and the profit of others.”
“They will not be saddened by personal losses, nor will they fear death, because there will be no difference in feeling between one’s own survival and the survival of others.”
The universe was still flowing outside the broad porthole, on the bridge of the starship, Bishop Laurent smiled at Jiang Jianming.
“Only tranquility,” he said dreamily, “That will be the eternal paradise.”
Jiang Jianming suddenly lowered his head and chuckled, shaking his head.
“No more joy or sadness, no more individual will?”
His eyes sharpened, “Bishop Laurent, at that time, are those you ‘redeem’ still truly human?”
“You want to ask about real humans?”
Laurent raised his eyebrows, patted Jiang Jianming’s shoulder, “Your Highness the Crown Princess, Colonel Jiang, I regret to tell you.”
“Humans – real humans, have already been extinct.”
“As early as five hundred years ago, when the first black wave radiation broke out, everything was destined.”
Jiang Jianming’s pupils shrank slightly, but before he could react, a voice suddenly came from behind.
“Chaos.”
In the empty and wide bridge, this sound suddenly rang out, the effect was almost like a ghost. Jiang Jianming turned his head abruptly, almost subconsciously reaching for his gun, his fingers moved before he remembered he didn’t bring any weapons.
But he also saw the owner of the voice–
A handsome man stood there, his age unclear from his appearance alone, wearing a long white robe, barefoot, with no other accessories on his body… He seemed to have walked out of an ancient mural, no normal person in this era would dress like this.
And he had a contradictory temperament that was hard to describe. At first glance, this person seemed to be the embodiment of gentleness in the world, every inch of his features filled with peace and tolerance.
But after a long look, it’s a bit creepy. It’s a kind of indifferent peace, an emotionless tolerance, there’s no emotion in his eyes, even though the man was smiling at the moment.
Laurent bowed, “Your Excellency, the Archbishop.”
Jiang Jianming’s back suddenly cooled.
He thought: Where did this person come from?
He entered the enemy ship alone, no matter how calm he appeared on the surface, his senses were all tense. But this man in white seemed to appear out of thin air, he didn’t feel any footsteps or breath at all…!
The non-human feeling on the other party was too strong. If Jiang Jianming was still half-doubtful when he heard Laurent talk about the “Archbishop being summoned by crystal particles”, he now had eighty percent certainty.
At least, this man in white was definitely not a human being in the normal sense.
“Chaos, you’ve worked hard these days.”
The man in white came over, he first brushed Laurent’s forehead with his fingertips, then turned to Jiang Jianming, “As for you, Colonel Jiang…I think, I should come and meet you in person.”
He was gentle in demeanor, lightly touching his chest with his finger, “I am Gaius, the Archbishop of the Crystal Cult. There is no distinction between surname and name, just Gaius.”
Jiang Jianming lowered his eyes and said in a perfunctory manner, “Imperial Military, Jiang Jianming.”
After he finished speaking, he calmly stopped moving. Archbishop Gaius came to him with a smile, reached out his hands around his neck.
Undoubtedly, this was a move that could strangle a person’s life gate. Jiang Jianming stood there without changing his expression, until Gaius’s hands touched his neck and then withdrew…there was a miniature listening device between his fingers.
Laurent’s face darkened on the side, he guessed that Jiang Jianming would bring a listening device, but he didn’t expect this person to bring two pairs…!
And this thing, it was unknown what new technology was used, all kinds of scanning checkpoints inside their starship didn’t detect it at all.
But then, this listening device seemed to receive some signal, flashed twice and then suddenly exploded in a small way, smoking and breaking down.
“…”
Gaius looked at the listening device in his palm, then looked at Jiang Jianming, there was no anger on his face, “The listening device self-destructed… Is this a strategy you came up with? If so, you are indeed a wise man.”
Jiang Jianming kept his face calm and remained silent.
Before he left, he set up a small program on the listening device. Once the listening device was discovered, the program would self-destruct immediately.
The reason was simple.
No communication, no threat.
Under what circumstances will kidnappers harm hostages? When they propose conditions to the hostage’s relatives, and the conditions are rejected.
But if, let the kidnappers not contact the hostage’s family at all, even the opportunity to propose conditions does not exist, then harming the hostage becomes a meaningless act, and the threat itself does not exist.
–Of course, the above is his wording when he tried to persuade His Highness Ryann.
What Jiang Jianming really thought was, even if you really want to torture me for fun, as long as the Imperial side can’t see it, and the Little Highness can’t see it, the problem is not big.
The scrapped listening device was casually thrown into a nearby garbage recycling bin by Gaius.
The Archbishop in white turned around, “I heard you just talking about the story of the extinction of the old humans.”
“There’s an old saying, ‘If you hear the truth in the morning, you can die in the evening.’ Colonel Jiang, you should be a person who is willing to pursue wisdom and truth.”
Gaius smiled and said, “About the crystal particles and the ultimate we hope for, Chaos, you should tell him more.”
Upon hearing this, Laurent looked up, his expression somewhat surprised, but still obedient, “Yes, Your Excellency, the Archbishop.”
Under Gaius’s gaze, Laurent brought Jiang Jianming to the large computer next to him, called up the virtual screen, and opened windows filled with research data.
Most of the time records were from eighty or ninety years ago, during the old empire period, and all the content was about the research and discussion of crystal particles.
Jiang Jianming looked down in order.
Laurent spoke unhurriedly by his side.
The content of the talk was history, starting from the very beginning.
The time went back to the end of the old Blue Mother Star era, AD 2121.
The black wave radiation erupted from somewhere in the distant universe, bringing a kind of material that humans had never encountered before, which was later called crystal particles.
In the nearly five hundred years since then, the human scientific community had recognized: species that perfectly integrate with crystal particles are successful evolutionary new crystal species; species that cannot perfectly integrate are gene-deficient residual crystal species.
“But this is actually wrong.”
Laurent cast his gaze towards the universe outside the starship and continued gently, “Crystal particles are a form of life that is far beyond our cognition.”
“First of all, we all know that the instinct of life is to reproduce, but crystal particles themselves do not have the ability to reproduce.”
“Its reproduction relies entirely on implantation, or parasitism on other life forms. The wording is not important. You can understand this meaning.”
“Crystal particles gather in the Crystal Nest, spread with the eruption of the black wave radiation, and look for hosts in the vast universe.”
“Once successfully implanted, it will induce the host’s genes to change. The so-called new crystal species are species that are fully implanted; the so-called remnant crystal species are species that are not fully implanted, but are already in a semi-implanted state. The host species that are implanted will complete the reproduction for the crystal particles…”
“…Wait.” Jiang Jianming suddenly closed his eyes and pressed his temples, his temples throbbing, “The host completes the reproduction for the crystal particles?”
Laurent: “Yes, when we humans give birth to offspring, the part of the crystal particles contained in the newborn baby is the offspring that the crystal particles use us to reproduce.”
“This parasitic state will last for a cycle, until the crystal particles that complete the new round of population expansion are called by the Crystal Nest, return to their hometown, gather stronger power, and re-erupt a new wave of black wave radiation.”
“——And crystal chaos is the process of crystal particles parasitic in the human body actively peeling off from the host’s flesh and responding to the call to return to the Crystal Nest. Of course, the host cannot withstand this peeling, and the death of the flesh is inevitable.”
Laurent suddenly stretched out his hands, the light above his head illuminating the shattered crystals condensed at his wrist, “In the end, the moment when all the crystal particles complete the return is also the time when all human bodies perish, we call it… the ultimate.”
Jiang Jianming’s face was pale, his heart was beating violently, and a chill ran through his body.
With a light swipe of his finger, the windows under his palm slid in turn.
——The black wave radiation descended, the crystal particles enveloped the Blue Mother Star for thirty-three years, historically known as the “Thirty-Three Black Nights”, and ninety percent of the original old humans died.
In the face of the massive invasion of crystal particles, humans retreated steadily and disintegrated.
——The era of natural selection, the era of great differentiation has arrived. The old humans have been completely extinct, and all that remains are the new humans and the remnant humans, struggling to survive on this ravaged planet.
——After the base melee, the old empire was established. The crystal chaos began to erupt, and scientists discovered this desperate reality for the first time.
The great tyrant Odin established a research base, trying to peel off the crystal particles from the human body, but all the experiments ended in failure.
“So,” Jiang Jianming’s Adam’s apple moved, he hoarsely said, “Is this a war of racial invasion in the universe?”
Archbishop Gaius looked at him, his expression calm. “Yes.”
“…” Jiang Jianming closed his eyes, letting his palm slide down from the screen.
At this moment, it seemed as if every cell in his body had grown eyeballs, quietly staring at him, or whispering to each other, laughing.
The crystal particles are there, lodging in every part of his bones, blood, organs, and senses. Today’s human society can no longer be separated from the crystal particles. They have been with him since he was born as an embryo, and will inevitably accompany him to death.
His thoughts seemed to turn into a piece of glass, suddenly shattered. In countless fragments, three years ago, the underage Crown Prince Ryann was looking at him with a painful gaze, with a desert-like space-time between the two.
The young crown prince opened his lips, and his melodious voice clearly said:
“Jiang, I love you.”
“But there are things more important than loving you here.”
Then he turned around, the platinum luster of his curly hair was messed up by the wind, and the stars covered the figure that was leaving.
After the starlight dissipated, what was left was a large area of dirty blood inside the L-Crown of Golden Dawn.
Jiang Jianming slowly opened his eyes, his pupils were frighteningly black.
“What is the demand of your Crystal Cult?”
Gaius smiled, but there was no emotion in his eyes. “Completely purge this inferior race of humans, eliminate all pain and sadness, and personally welcome…the ultimate arrival.”
****
Imperial Space Station Golden Sun Wheel Starship Fleet, flagship Athena.
When Ryann got off the mech, his face was so ugly that it scared the soldiers who came to greet him and they froze in place.
Jiang Jianming’s listening device was discovered over there, and the Archbishop of the Crystal Cult was right next to him…
No matter how many truths about the crystal particles were said, it couldn’t compare to the anxiety this fact brought to the crown prince.
Thinking back now, Ryann felt ridiculous: Was he crazy to let Jiang Jianming go alone into the enemy’s starship?
Although Jiang Jianming confidently told him that it would be fine, what if something went wrong… what if!?
Ryann quickened his pace, he gritted his teeth in frustration, raised his hand and poked the wrist device, calling the intelligence with a complicated expression. “Dog.”
The wrist device was left by Jiang Jianming, and Seth Henry indeed “woofed”.
“What trump card does your master have?”
[Woof! The question is beyond the scope of the knowledge base, Seth Henry doesn’t know woof woof!]
“You don’t know? Haven’t you been with him all the time?”
[Woof! The question is beyond the scope of the knowledge base, Seth Henry doesn’t know woof woof!]
“…Useless.” Ryann coldly clicked his tongue and turned off the intelligence’s voice.
With Jiang Jianming not by his side, he had actually fallen to the point of talking to a dog… and not even a real dog, but a fake one.
This is definitely the last indulgence, His Highness thought to himself. As long as Jiang Jianming can come back alive this time, he really considers locking him up in a box.
So the next thing he has to do is…
Win this battle.
Upon arriving at the command room of the starship, several senior generals of the Golden Sun Wheel, led by Celine, were already waiting. Of course, more than ninety percent of them were in the form of projections.
The automatic door opened, the crown prince’s face was as cold as water, he walked all the way to the circular virtual screen, as usual, he first quickly scanned the star map, and went over the layout of the enemy and their formation.
“Your Highness, the longer the enemy stays in the empire, the higher the probability of being invaded by alien creatures as the high-dimensional blockade barrier cannot be closed.”
Celine stepped forward and bowed, “We must fight quickly and decisively, and expel the enemies as soon as possible.”
Several generals also agreed, their faces full of worry and anxiety.
Ryann hummed, signaling Celine to continue.
“According to my idea.”
Celine emphasized, “Now that the high-dimensional blockade barrier is ineffective, the enemy can warp, but on the other hand, we can too.”
“Please order the military headquarters, the three fortresses of the Silver Big Dipper to immediately reinforce the Imperial Space Station. The Silver Big Dipper has been fighting with alien creatures for many years, and its combat experience is not comparable to that of the Golden Sun Wheel. With their troops, they will surely be able to expel the foreign enemies in the shortest time!”
“…”
Ryann stared at the distribution of the fleet on the star map, and spoke without turning his head, “Admiral Celine, do you think you are very smart?”
Celine’s face changed.
The crown prince lightly patted the control panel, “The Lava Space Pirate Group is still watching in the Far Star, a large number of troops from the Silver Big Dipper warp back to the empire, will they just watch?”
“Three military fortresses, don’t want? From the front line of the fortress all the way to the space territory within the empire, don’t want?”
