Chapter 1 The Reconstruction of Tanagous

As the Purgatory Planet welcomed its first ray of sunshine from the depths of winter, and the people of the Solar Dynasty greeted the revival of their civilization, another planet was also undergoing reconstruction under the light of the new world's star. This was the planet Tanagous, located in the Dream Plane.

A ray of morning light slanted down from the sky, casting a layer of even more dazzling pale gold onto the golden city of Alamanda. The giant Mu Lu stood on Alamanda's towering city walls, gazing at the garden he had just begun to tend to after resuming his mission as a guardian. The vast wilderness outside the city had undergone great changes compared to before. Newborn, low-lying vegetation could be seen growing vigorously among the undulating gullies that covered the surface, and more new plants had appeared on the distant, enormous tentacles of the Firstborn. Originally, only a few kinds of primitive organisms with strong vitality remained in this world after the cataclysm, but now the number of its lifeforms was increasing at a rate of doubling every day. Every day when he came to this city wall, he would see that this world was different from the day before. This change could not help but remind him of the time ten thousand years ago—although his mother was no longer here, the prosperous world she had created was finally blooming again here.

Mu Lu turned his gaze to the west, and from that direction, he could feel the surging power of life. He took a step towards it, instantly crossing a distance of more than ten kilometers, and arrived at a crimson lake.

This place was about fifteen kilometers from Alamanda and was the most important "Source Spring" nearby. It was originally a huge pit six kilometers wide, which had collapsed due to tentacle activity after the Firstborn on this planet had lost control. Until a few months ago, it was still a terrifying cave occupied by several tentacles, devoid of any signs of life. But now, it had become a beautiful red lake, surrounded by a large expanse of vibrant trees and lawns. One of the primordial blood (yuanxue) containers launched from the Crystal Core Research Station landed in this deep pit. Zhuom catalyzed the primordial blood, filling the entire pit to serve as a pool for cultivating life. Now, the original Firstborn tentacles in the deep pit had been dissolved into the original life matter, and a large number of seeds and embryos were born in that lake every day.

Mu Lu strolled to the lakeside, placed the long staff in his hand on the nearby beach, and then bent down to check the state of the lake water. A group of strange animals with long ears, like elk, ran out from behind nearby bushes, curiously circling around Mu Lu's huge body and licking Mu Lu's staff. After the staff came into contact with the lake water, it was also infected with the breath of life. Some sweet-smelling flowers bloomed at the end of the staff, and the little animals could not resist this taste.

A breeze blew, stirring up layers of ripples on the blood-colored lake. Some crystal-clear, seed-like things floated up from the lake water and flew towards the nearby jungle. Mu Lu watched those seeds with a smile, knowing that another species had been successfully restored.

Looking up at the sky, a faint red spot could be seen flickering in the night sky that was about to completely disappear. That was the Crystal Core Research Station floating in orbit, and the red light was emitted by the "Ark of Life."

Zhuom watched over this planet in space and remotely controlled the surface primordial blood system to replicate and integrate the ecosystem. This was a system designed with the help of Hao Ren, and it seemed to be running well, which made Mu Lu look at that human who called himself an inspector in a different light.

Not only wild animals lived near the "Source Spring," but also human settlements.

After leaving the lake, Mu Lu did not walk far before he saw a large open space across the forest. There were many simple houses built of wooden planks, stones, and synthetic materials in this open space, neatly planned to form a circular small town. Although the houses themselves were primitive, it could be seen at a glance from the architectural planning that this was a layout that could only be designed with high-end urban construction theory. With the development of time, this place could form a prosperous city.

This settlement was built around a silver-white tower facility. The tower facility looked quite sophisticated and advanced, completely different from the surrounding primitive houses. There was no doubt that it was not integrated with the surrounding town: it was one of the signal broadcasting towers originally built on this planet.

Now, this high tower was also the wireless transmitter of the Firstborn Zhuom, acting as some kind of tentacle.

In the central square of the town, there was also a red pond, built next to the high tower. Although it was much smaller, the red liquid inside was undoubtedly also primordial blood. The primordial blood in that pond was surging all the time, and several dedicated staff members were watching over it.

When Mu Lu came to the side of the town, he happened to see the liquid in that pond suddenly bulge, and then a bewildered man crawled out of it, covered with life matter that looked like seaweed. The staff members waiting around immediately stepped forward to help this man up, clean his body, and put on a simple shirt, and then took him to the high tower in the center of the town.

The man who had just "born" from the pond was obviously not awake, and he did not even have complete intelligence. After being dressed blankly, he was brought to the side of the silver-white tower like an animal. A staff member dragged his arm and made him put his hand on a metal plate at the base of the alloy tower. After convulsing in an electric shock-like moment, the man's eyes finally gradually regained the light of wisdom.

He looked down at himself, then at the surrounding town, and asked the people next to him in a hoarse voice, "Is it all over?"

"It's just beginning," the staff member who had been holding his arm smiled. "What's your name?"

"Ulanov, identification code is xxxxxx," the man said, touching his face. His breathing was a little heavy, and he seemed a little unaccustomed to the real air after just coming from the virtual world. "I seem to have had a very, very long nightmare."

"That's normal, you'll recover soon," the staff member recorded on a form, casually talking to Ulanov. "Memory reorganization takes about twelve hours, during which there will be slight dizziness and trance, but before that, you must first complete registration. Your occupation?"

"Engineer, mechanical... precision mechanical direction."

"Oh, then it seems you can't do your old job for the time being. We don't know when we can build the first steam lathe. You can go to the technical restoration research department first. If that doesn't work, then help build houses. We need a lot of houses. Do you remember your family?"

"I have a wife, her code before hibernation was xxxxxx."

"She is scheduled to enter the real world in a week. You can wait for her outside first."

The staff member asked Ulanov a few questions, and finally handed him a form: "Take this and report to the social adaptation department first, which is the blue-roofed house over there. Someone will tell you about the current situation of this world and the construction progress of our town. I hope you can recover and start working as soon as possible. We now need more strong adult men to produce the necessities of life—after all, we can't always rely on autonomous machines and synthetic factories. The inspector's quota for us is limited."

"Strong, strong," Ulanov nodded, muttering to himself. He looked at his healthy limbs, and a happy look slowly appeared on his face. Then he suddenly noticed the giant watching over here in the distance. "Oh, what is that?!"

"That's Mu Lu, the guardian of this planet. Don't be afraid, he's friendly," the staff member pushed Ulanov. "Report to the social adaptation department first, you still have a lot to learn."

Mu Lu withdrew his gaze from the town. He had initially examined these Zhuom people with stern eyes, but now he no longer had any prejudice against these humans. The fact proved that these hardworking "Secondborn" who knew how to respect the laws of nature were still different from those rebellious sons, and there was no need to be harsh on them.

There were many such settlements on this planet, and they were increasing every day. The factories and autonomous machines left by Hao Ren on this planet were now helping to maintain the initial life of these people, but the production activities of these factories would decrease year by year, and the society of the Zhuom people still had to be maintained by themselves.

As for Mu Lu, he did not interfere in anything. He just wandered around in the wilderness of this planet, observing and protecting the ecosystem here.

After finishing a period of inspection, Mu Lu came to the ruins of an abandoned city near the North Pole. There was a Tanarian observatory here, where he could see the best starry sky, suitable for contemplation. Mu Lu sat down on the observatory and began to meditate as he did every day. This was a habit he had ten thousand years ago. This kind of meditation could allow the guardians to communicate spiritually and listen to the voice of their mother. Although the guardian's spiritual network had collapsed, he still took up this habit again, even if only as a spiritual sustenance.

The spiritual world was empty, and he could not hear any response from his brothers and sisters. It was like this every day.

But today, things seemed to be changing a bit. As Mu Lu was about to end his meditation, he suddenly heard a sound.

A signal from the depths of the universe.