Chapter 1 The Progress of Things

Things progressed more smoothly than expected. Hao Ren felt that the information he had obtained in this short half hour was more than he had gathered in the past few months of struggling in the Dream Plane. However, the truth revealed by this information was not so pleasant.

A shocking conspiracy ten thousand years ago created everything that exists today. If he hadn't heard it with his own ears, he probably wouldn't have believed that any race could be so daring: to brazenly murder the creator of all living beings, and even collude to steal the religious beliefs of the entire universe. Mortals may have many paths to pursue divine power, but without a doubt, the group of crazy murderers ten thousand years ago chose the worst path.

After listening to this piece of history, Lily drooped her head and thought for a long time, suddenly realizing that there seemed to be a loophole: "Hey, wait a minute. If the goddess really asked for help and the mortals refused to help back then, there should be a record of it, right? When we went to the Ark and Tanagus planets, we didn't seem to find any relevant information, and neither did Ior."

"The sirens of Ior are native species, not created by the goddess," Hao Ren immediately realized this after hearing Lily's words, "But what you said about those two places is true... Moreover, not only is there no record of that incident, but there doesn't even seem to be any goddess worship!"

Hao Ren had already extracted the databases of Tanagus and Ark, so he was very familiar with the cultural history of these two civilizations. He knew that the planet Tanagus only had a vague, ancient legend about the creator of life, and the Ark had no religion in the conventional sense after entering the space age. The databases of these two planets didn't mention anything about the murder that happened ten thousand years ago—although it wasn't something glorious enough to be recorded in history books, there should at least be some clues.

After hearing Lily and Hao Ren's conversation, the giant simply said: "Indeed, some races really didn't hear the mother's call for help—because they have completely forgotten who created them, and even denounced their creator as a ridiculous story. These people have lost the ability to listen to the mother's voice."

Hao Ren suddenly remembered an extremely important sentence in the sacred典 of the Radiant Church: Those who forget the gods will also lose the qualifications to listen to revelations.

"Okay, they really didn't hear it, which can perhaps be considered ingratitude, but is ingratitude a crime punishable by extinction?" Nangong Wudi, who had been silent all this time, couldn't help but speak at this moment. He looked up at the giant, "At least it's not a capital crime, right? They simply don't know what happened in the depths of the universe, so why should they be exterminated?"

The giant looked down at the group of small creatures in front of him, and suddenly pointed to his head: "Haven't you noticed that I am different from my other brothers and sisters?"

"Oh right, I almost forgot to ask about this!" Hao Ren immediately reacted, "You know that some of your compatriots have become... that, right?"

The giant's voice was calm at this time: "How many guardians like me, who still retain some humanity, do you think there are? Anger and despair have made my brothers and sisters abandon all humanity and reason, even abandoning the forms given to us by the mother, just to correct the mistakes of this universe. In the eyes of my compatriots, the birth of those mortals is the greatest sin. Mortals are greedy, short-sighted, fickle, and cunning. A little temptation can make them kill their own mother, and they will spread their foolishness like a virus. This virus-like phenomenon must be corrected. My compatriots believe that all mortal races must be destroyed—before they commit a second evil."

"You mean your compatriots have all gone mad, including the First Born and the brain monsters, so they indiscriminately destroy all species," Hao Ren looked into the giant's eyes, "But you are different from them, right?"

The giant didn't say anything, seemingly acknowledging this statement.

"No wonder. So far, I have tried to communicate with those 'First Born beings,' which you call the 'Primal Guardians,' many times, but I haven't succeeded even once," Hao Ren sighed, "I knew they were completely crazy. I'm very lucky today to have met someone like you who hasn't gone mad... but you still want to destroy Holletta?"

The giant immediately became agitated upon hearing this: "The mortals on this planet are guilty, they deserve to die! They are one of the rebellious sons who watched their mother being killed and did nothing!"

Everyone suddenly remembered the words that the Pope said when they saw his lingering soul before. At that time, those words sounded inexplicable, but now they seemed to have an explanation.

The Pope must have found out something before he died!

"But you let them go in the end?" Vivian frowned, "Why? Because of a human's self-sacrifice?"

The giant lowered his shoulders: "I don't have to answer you."

"It's because you feel embarrassed to answer, right? I can tell, you also have human emotions, which is good. At least you haven't become a monster like your brothers and sisters," Vivian suddenly smiled, "You are different from the First Born and those brain monsters. You actually know that such blind revenge is meaningless, especially since those rebellious sons from back then are actually all dead. Now, those who are left are either their descendants or simply passers-by who have nothing to do with them, so there is even less meaning in revenge. I guess the Pope must have negotiated with you before he died, and you stopped because of his advice?"

The giant stared at Vivian, with some anger on his face: "How dare you evaluate the beliefs of a Primal Guardian?!"

"I didn't say you are not loyal to the Creation Goddess, I'm just saying that you are more like a rational, living person," Vivian shook her head, "Is it bad to have reason and emotion? Although these two things always produce unexpected changes when mixed together, they are precisely the characteristics of sentient beings. To be honest, I can understand the mutations that have occurred in the First Born and the brain monsters, and even admire and sympathize with their current state, but I absolutely do not agree with them. Extremism and uncontrollability are not good things."

The giant sneered: "It was these two things that allowed those damned rebellious sons to murder the mother."

"Anyway, you shouldn't hate all mortals because of this," Hao Ren said with a wry smile, "Okay, I know you don't want to talk about this topic. Can I ask what happened to those rebellious guys back then? Did they really become gods as they wished?"

The giant finally showed a relieved expression at this time: "Hmph, they got their due punishment. Their stupid ladder of life was simply a product of delirium, and their minds were not worthy of bearing the mother's power at all—after the creator of life fell, those rebellious sons suffered the law of racial extinction. The entire species, no matter where they were hiding in the universe, disappeared in an instant."

"According to this, the race that took action back then is all dead?" Izhaks was extremely surprised, "Then what about the Goddess Planet?"

The giant glanced at him warily, then smiled indifferently: "Don't think about getting any ideas about it. No one can reach that place. The mother's residence is in a position you cannot understand. If it weren't for those rebellious sons stealing the mother's secrets back then, they wouldn't have been able to approach that space. After the mother died, that battlefield has been forever exiled to the deepest depths of the most chaotic origin of the universe. No one can find it."

Lily blurted out: "In other words, you can't go back either?"

The giant chose silence again, this time tacitly acknowledging it.

After a moment of silence, Hao Ren raised his head: "I have another question."

"You have many questions," the giant glanced at him indifferently, "I didn't expect to answer so many questions for you... Speak, while I still have patience."

"There's no way, it's too difficult to find someone who can communicate," Hao Ren shook his head, "Why have you maintained your sanity and not mutated?"

The giant was silent for a moment, and finally spoke with an almost tragic tone: "Perhaps there are other Primal Guardians who have maintained their reason like me, because the mother gave us a mission at the last moment before she fell!"

Several people spoke in unison: "Mission?"

"She asked us to activate the safety protocols of the life seeds. Before the Great Collapse came, she saw the situation of the guardians collapsing and mutating. She told us to quickly activate the safety locks to prevent a larger-scale ecological extinction," the giant said, suddenly smashing the crystal ground with all his strength. The last few words were almost roared out, "I still remember it now. Her last words were 'Go save them'!"