Chapter 1 Something Interesting

Indeed, after carefully observing the artificial architectural ruins floating in the void, Hao Ren also thought of the magnificent and ancient temples in the Corpus space, filled with a mysterious aura, but he dared not draw such a conclusion.

Because the architectural remnants in front of him were only somewhat similar in style to the temples of Corpus, but in detail, there were obvious differences between the two: the temples of Corpus were built of mysterious substances beyond human understanding, those divine products personally blessed by the Goddess of Creation did not belong to any known material in the world, while the temple in space was obviously built of megaliths, and the patterns inlaid on it were ordinary materials that the scanning device of the Petrified Tortoise could analyze. Besides, the regulations of the two temples were not completely the same. The ratio of the four spires to the central building, the shape of the spires, and the style of some architectural accessories all showed differences.

But in any case, their consistency in general style was obvious, and there was no doubt about that: this artificial building was connected to the temple of the Goddess of Creation.

"Things are getting interesting..." Hao Ren said, stroking his chin while letting Nolan release more probes to carefully scan this not-so-small building, "The style of the Goddess of Creation... Well, this place is indeed very likely to have traces of the Goddess of Creation, but this thing in front of us is obviously a mortal creation, which is a bit interesting."

Lily scratched her head: "What do you mean? Can't humans build temples?"

Hao Ren glanced at the husky girl: "At least so far, all the mortal races who once believed in the Goddess of Creation don't know what the temples on the Founding Star look like, and they can't restore this 'style' either. The Goddess Temples of Holletta, the ancient temples in the Tanagrus database, the artificial temples in Zorm's memory... They are all things created by various races based on their understanding and imagination of the goddess, because no mortal race has ever really seen the scenery on the Founding Star. But this... although the style is still a bit off, it can be regarded as a high-quality replica."

Hao Ren's words were quickly echoed by Mu Lu, the guardian giant, who said in the communicator: "Our mother is not keen on establishing religion, so the goddess beliefs of various mortal races are actually spontaneous actions generated under the influence of bloodline memory. The temples they build are strange and diverse, and the descriptions of the goddess's image are also wildly imaginative. The proportion of children who truly have the opportunity and ability to reach the Founding Star to admire the divine light in all the 'younger sons' is very, very small—even if there are, they must have developed to a fairly high level, and they will no longer use stones to build temples."

"Perhaps it's just their culture?" Hao Ren raised his eyebrows. "Some quite advanced races still insist on building houses with earth and stone. It's their tradition."

Mu Lu shook his head: "I don't remember such a race."

"Then it must be a coincidence," Lily nodded seriously, "Maybe they were born with an aesthetic sense quite close to the Goddess of Creation, and they happened to build houses that looked like the ones on the Founding Star."

Vivian glanced at Lily: "Do you know how low that probability is?"

Lily: "..."

"Even if you count all the hairs on your tail as digits after the decimal point, it might not be enough."

"Bat, how dare you insult my tail! I'm going to duel you after you finish cooking!"

"Can you two be quiet," Hao Ren glanced at the two troublemakers and turned to Nolan, "Prepare for projection transmission, I want to go inside and see for myself."

Before the ship spirit could speak, Lily had already jumped up with her hand raised: "I'll go too, I'll go too!"

Hao Ren rolled his eyes. He was not surprised at all by this situation. In fact, he had already prepared to bring the dog girl with him when he decided to go in person: under any circumstances, you can't suppress a husky's desire to go for a ride...

"The others don't need to come along for now," Hao Ren looked around, "The probe has already scanned the structure of the building. The space inside is not large, and there are no dangerous energy reactions. Lily and I can go and take a look. If there is any situation, I will send you a signal."

Vivian actually wanted to go along a bit, but she was not a willful girl, so after hearing Hao Ren's arrangement, she just nodded: "Be careful. Also, big dog, protect the landlord."

Lily waved her hands and tail carelessly: "Don't worry, don't worry, the landlord is more powerful than me now, he can definitely protect me."

Everyone: "..."

"Can you at least play the role of a loyal dog," Vivian sighed helplessly, putting her hand to her forehead, "At least you could help guard the house before, why are you so useless now..."

However, at this time, Lily could no longer hear Vivian's nagging behind her: the super-active husky girl followed Hao Ren, and had already happily arrived at the transfer preparation room near the bridge.

The next moment, she and Hao Ren were directly sent to the front of the floating temple by the space projection device.

After getting closer, Hao Ren realized even more that this seemingly dilapidated stone building actually had a quite magnificent scale and an astonishing degree of refinement.

Although it was built with primitive stone materials and could not be compared with the true abodes of the gods in Corpus, this temple built by mortals was still extraordinary. The exquisite reliefs and inlays on the outer walls of the building reflected the careful craftsmanship of the artisans, and the tall and magnificent main body of the building showed the hard work and efforts of the builders. Just looking at such ruins, Hao Ren could imagine that the people who built this thing in the past must have completed this great project with a very high sense of pride and responsibility.

But in addition to sighing, he felt a sense of weirdness.

Because such an artificial building was floating alone in the vast space, its style looked like a religious temple from some medieval era, but now it was bathing in starlight in the universe, and around it was a material vacuum spanning 10,000 light years.

Such a temple floating in the void could not help but give people a strange feeling.

After Hao Ren and Lily adjusted from the brief dislocation of the teleportation, they followed the guidance information previously sent by the scanning probe to find the path to enter this strange building. They soon saw the entrance where the No. 1 probe entered:

There was a narrow opening on the front of the main body of the building, which led to the interior.

"This looks like it should be a window," Hao Ren said casually as he passed through the opening, "The lower half of the building is gone, the formal gate must be in the lower half."

Lily followed Hao Ren, floating around with curiosity in her eyes: "Landlord, how many years do you think this thing has been floating in this place?"

"God knows, I haven't measured it yet, but I guess it's another ten thousand years," Hao Ren shrugged, "Anyway, these old antiques in the Dream Plane basically became 'ruins' ten thousand years ago."

The inside of the temple was, of course, pitch black. The cold starlight from distant space seemed too weak here, and the vacuum environment in the temple also prevented light from scattering, but a small bright spot flew past Hao Ren's eyes and quickly became brighter. The soft halo spread around, instantly making the place as bright as day.

That was the probe that had previously flown into the building. This little thing had a photon generator, which could serve as a good light source in this situation.

Hao Ren pulled Lily along and floated forward.

The interior of the main building was a large, empty space without complex walls and corridors. You could basically see through it at a glance. Hao Ren saw that there were four stone bridges extending from the surrounding walls in this magnificent hall. The stone bridges connected to a large circular platform in the center, which was suspended in mid-air in the hall. On it, you could see religious objects such as small pillars, pulpits, and statues. Above this suspended circular platform, the dome of the hall was open, and the circular giant skylight was covered with complex hollow patterns. Behind the hollow, the distant starlight was faintly visible.

When this building was still on the surface, every time a religious leader preached on the circular platform, he would be bathed in sacred light.

"There must have been many people worshiping here," Lily also saw the circular platform. As a literary dog, she could imagine the scene even more than Hao Ren, "This circular platform is prepared for the preacher, and the believers listen to the lecture in the hall below. I guess this thing's skylight must have had a rain shelter design back then, otherwise the bishop would be screwed if it rained..."

Indeed, the literary dog's imagination was much higher than Hao Ren's.

Hao Ren floated towards the circular platform. On the way, he looked down and saw a thick darkness below. The building was neatly cut off by that darkness, as if it had been swallowed by something.

Immediately, he was attracted by that darkness.

This building was cut off in the middle, and it should have been connected up and down. He should have seen the starlight on the other side when he looked down, so why was there such an abnormal shadow?!

He immediately pulled Lily's tail: "Let's go down and take a look."

"Awoo."