Chapter 138 We're Here

The others set up camp above the shaft and maintained communication, while Hao Ren and Vivian entered the dark, deep ancient cave.

The light from above quickly became a small point, and the bottom was nowhere in sight. Vivian hugged Hao Ren's waist from behind, descending steadily and quickly, while Hao Ren held a silver-white spear in one hand and a lamp in the other to illuminate the way forward. He looked at the steel supports and rails flashing past, the wind from Vivian's bat wings echoing in his ears, "It's been a while since we flew together."

"Yeah, I've been running around with you to strange places all day, either in space or underwater. I almost forgot how to use my wings," Vivian's voice came from above. As she spoke, she slightly adjusted the angle of her wings, gliding in a spiral pattern in the wide shaft. "I remember you were even airsick the first time you flew with me? Oh... well, not airsick exactly, more like Vivian-sick."

"Don't be silly. I was just startled. You dragged me into the sky without a word. Ordinary people can't handle that," Hao Ren said, shifting his body slightly. The soft touch from behind made it a little difficult for him to concentrate. Vivian immediately noticed this and giggled. "What, after flying together so many times, you're still not used to it?"

Hao Ren curled his lips. "You're a pretty girl, after all."

"... I never really thought about that. You know, I have trouble just filling my stomach," Vivian blinked. Just then, she suddenly saw a faint light ahead. "Landlord, it looks like we're almost at the bottom!"

A moment later, the two landed lightly on a circular alloy platform. The platform surrounded the shaft walls, with a hole several meters in radius in the center. A dim red light came from below the hole. Hao Ren went over, held onto the railing, and peered down. He was surprised to find that there was hot magma below.

"That's not the Earth's core, is it..." Vivian also leaned over and looked, her eyes widening in astonishment. "We've gone this deep?"

"It's not necessarily the Earth's core, but it should be close," Hao Ren said, looking at the slowly surging dim red light. The planet's internal energy was waning, and the magma lake near the core seemed weak, but the magma lake still made the scene at the bottom of the shaft look like hell. If some kind of thermal insulation technology wasn't still in effect, the entire metal platform would probably have melted. "This should be the energy source of the entire system. Heat exchange between the core and the surface... it's a huge project."

"Those old guys on Earth should come and see this..." Vivian sighed. "Why do I feel so light on my feet?"

Hao Ren took a few steps. "Gravity is reduced. We've reached the deepest part of the system. The gravity here is only about one-fifth of the surface. Let's look around. There should be an entrance nearby. The data terminal scanned a hollow structure similar to a control center here."

Vivian pointed to the opposite side of the circular platform. "You mean that?"

Hao Ren looked up and saw a thick gate reflecting metallic light standing quietly on the opposite side of the platform. A faint light flickered next to the gate, seemingly only to prove that the system behind the gate was still functioning.

The two came to the gate. Hao Ren looked at the control panel with flashing lights next to the door. He took a breath. "We've come this far, which is enough to prove our sincerity. Are you still going to close the door and refuse guests?"

It seemed that no one on this planet should have responded to his words, but the gate still moved. With a "hiss" of the airlock releasing air, the circular gate first retreated, then rolled to the side with a clatter. Hao Ren and Vivian stepped inside.

They walked through a long safety passage and finally arrived at a circular hall.

A huge, cylindrical device covered with pipes was placed in the center of the hall. Its height extended all the way to the dome, which was more than ten meters high, and dim streams of light flowed through the pipes on its surface. Countless thick cables extended from the bottom of the cylindrical device, spreading across the floor of the hall like vines, connecting to a circle of machines around the hall. There were no formal lights in the hall. The light emitted by these machines themselves provided illumination, allowing people to see the figures of these ancient devices in the dim light. A low, complex hum echoed around, like an inorganic breath.

Hao Ren looked at the cylindrical device in front of him. This should be the Ark's main unit. He could feel that this was the heart of the entire planet, and countless things—abstract and invisible things—spread from here to the entire planet outside. He took a deep breath. "I'm here. Aren't you going to speak?"

The machines were silent for a few seconds. A low, emotionless synthesized voice sounded from deep within the cylindrical device. "My mission is to manage the Ark and safely bring the creators to a new home. I was created. They gave me thoughts, gave me logic, gave me goals... The entire system exists to allow the civilization on this planet to survive. This is the only thing I know, the only thing I should do."

Hao Ren looked at the main unit, as if looking at a living person. "What exactly happened here?"

"Before the Ark set sail, the civilization was destroyed."

A screen on the wall of the hall flickered brightly, and a crystal-clear, sparkling blue planet appeared on the screen. Immediately afterward, the sun in the corner of the screen exploded. Strong solar material swept across the surface of the planet, but under the protection of some powerful shield, the planet seemed to have survived intact. However, after successfully resisting the solar flare, something abnormal happened on the planet's surface. Hao Ren did not see the nature of the disaster, but only saw the lights on the entire planet decrease and extinguish at a speed visible to the naked eye, and then completely fall silent.

After that, time passed, the sun cooled, the planet froze, and a pale white covered the planet's surface. The entire world lost its vitality, and artificial lights never shone again.

Vivian turned to look at the main unit. "Who did it?"

"An indescribable being. The creators called it the Scourge," the Ark's main unit's synthesized voice sounded again. The screen flashed, and a huge, bizarre thing that seemed to be a mixture of countless tentacles, roots, plants, and flesh appeared in the center of the screen. Its strangeness was difficult to describe. Only a sense of terror that seemed to evoke biological instincts permeated from the constantly twisting roots. "It destroyed the civilization on the Ark after it died."

The thing that appeared on the screen was indeed the First Born. However, Hao Ren was shocked after hearing the Ark's main unit's words. "After it died? You killed it?"

"It rushed out of the ground, but the creators, with the help of the Starry Sky People, successfully separated the creature from the planet and pushed it into the sun. Then the Starry Sky People detonated the sun. The creature's flesh was reduced to ashes in the flames of the star, but... something incomprehensible remained on the planet. It eventually destroyed the entire civilization."

"Something incomprehensible?" Hao Ren felt a little confused until Vivian whispered a reminder, "Something similar happened on Tanagus."

Hao Ren suddenly realized. "It's the First Born's soul?!"

The Ark's main unit did not say anything, as if it could not understand what "soul" meant. Hao Ren had already guessed what the truth was back then:

Although the technology level of the natives of this planet did not exceed that of other Second Born, with the help of the "Starry Sky People," they did achieve a feat that other Second Born had never accomplished: they sacrificed their own sun to successfully destroy the First Born's flesh. However, this feat did not save the fate of their entire civilization. After its flesh died, the First Born still used its soul to kill everyone on this planet!

However, this soul should have dissipated. The Petrified Tortoise's sensing radar did not scan any residual signals of the First Born on the planet. It was precisely because it had dissipated that people had never found evidence of the First Born's existence.

Hao Ren understood the key points, sighed slightly, and then looked seriously at the Ark's main unit. "Who are the Starry Sky People?"