Chapter 651 – Crystal’s Memory
Chapter 651 – Crystal’s Memory
The flames seeped into the crystal, spreading and flowing rapidly between the three-dimensional structures inside the crystal that were as thin as a hair and so complex as to be dazzling, and along with the infusion of flames, Duncan’s consciousness gradually began to sink.
He felt himself entering an empty, silent, cold and soundless place.
As if it were a corner that had been forgotten for endless years, an inexplicable sense of isolation and loneliness passed along the flames almost instantly, and immediately afterward, he felt light appear in his field of vision-intense, almost unrecognizable in scale, icy light.
He opened his eyes and realized that he was standing on a huge black stone floating in the void, while an almost terrifying golden blazing sun burned silently in front of his eyes, the flames on the surface of that blazing sun churning, the amazing structure of the sunbursts rising in the void, and then slowly descending again, in silence.
Yet this blazing sun produced no heat – even at such close proximity, Duncan didn’t feel the ghastly heat that the sunlight was supposed to bring when it shone down on his body; it just burned silently and coldly, seeming to be a scene that had simply been recorded as an …… The image.
The Black Sun? Seeing Him again?
Duncan frowned slightly, subconsciously thought so, but immediately after, he realized that the round of heatless golden sun is not the same as the “black sun” that he had seen before – it does not have those strange and horrible tentacle structure in the depths of the shell, and also cannot see the dying pale eyeball. The dying pale eyeballs, and more importantly …… this round of “sun” did not try to call for help.
It is the image record of a real star!
Duncan quickly reacted, and then, his eyes finally shifted away from the cold sun, began to notice the “black boulder” under his feet.
It was a huge man-made object!
Its surface is flat, and you can see that it is obviously man-made processed grooves scars, seemingly like a stone in the material of the hidden luster of the metal, some of those grooves “node” position can be seen in the use of unknown raised structure, as if it is made of strange crystals to create and become.
Duncan’s eyes along the edge of the boulder to extend outward, and look to the golden sun around the vast darkness of the void – he saw more “nodes”, “nodes”, “nodes”, “nodes”, “nodes”, “nodes”.
He saw more “monoliths” – countless huge black artifacts like “monoliths” floating around the golden sun, floating in the boundless darkness, arranged in a neat array like a wall. In this viewpoint, he finally saw more details of their sun-oriented side – the precisely cut crystal surface layer reflected the sunlight on one side of the monolith, and there seemed to be a precise and complicated mechanical device under the crystal, which seemed to be used to adjust the angle of the crystal array, and the whole structure looked as if it was designed to collect the sun. …… as if it was designed to collect the energy released by the sun?
Duncan stared blankly at the array of “monoliths” floating around the sun, watching them form a large, loose spherical shell in the darkness, surrounding the star in the center, and then noticed the vague, force-field-like distortions of light between each of the floating devices. Outside this amazing “spherical shell” structure, in the depths of the infinite darkness, there seemed to be more shadowy shadows that were too far away and too disturbed by the sunlight to be seen.
What is it?
A distant planet? A habitation site in space? A giant spaceship? Or the ……
The …… control center used to maintain and control this amazing Dyson Sphere?
It took an unknown amount of time before Duncan pulled his gaze back from the massive array of spherical shells in space, long after he realized what he was seeing.
What …… was stored in the crystal device left behind by the Children of the Sun was not some dark forbidden truth or corrupted knowledge of the ancient gods, but …… an ancient Dyson Sphere structure.
Duncan narrowed his eyes slightly.
No, these were the dark forbidden truths and the corrupting knowledge of the ancient gods – to the Deep Ages, to the wreckage left behind by other universes, to everything founded under other mathematical systems, a Dyson Sphere supported by, and crafted from, the parameters of an alien universe was the ultimate corruption and contamination.
After recovering from his shock, Duncan stepped towards the edge of the black “monolith” beneath his feet, recalling in his mind the New Hope he had seen crashed on this world.
Did that ship also become the “pollution” of this world? After the crash …… what had become of it?
He stood at the edge of the Stellar Fusion Device and looked down.
The craggy mechanical shell and the endless darkness in the distance met his eyes.
Duncan knew that there was no “up” or “down” here, and that the gravitational pull of the distant star pointed to the only “down”, but his senses still told him that the black device under his feet was the down side, and that standing on it was like standing on the outer shell of the device, as if he were standing on the outer shell of a star. But his senses still told him that the black device under his feet was the bottom, and that he was standing on the outer shell of the device as if he were standing on the ground – neither falling into the endless space of the universe, nor being captured and sucked away by the sun’s gravity.
This dislocation between what he knew intellectually and what he actually felt helped to remind him that this was just an illusion recorded inside the Profane Prototype.
What about the depths of this record? Was there something more?
Duncan sensed his flames, and he maneuvered them deeper into the crystal, letting his consciousness sink even further.
The brilliant golden blazing sun and the amazing Dyson sphere structure in front of him disappeared.
Boundless darkness filled his vision from all sides.
Unlike what was expected, he did not see a scene from the demise of the civilization that had created the Dyson Sphere, did not see another World Rush – he seemed to have skipped right over the process to the dark chaos that followed the silence of all things.
And after lingering in this dark chaos for who knows how long, just as Duncan was almost doubting that there was really no more information in this crystal, some shimmering light suddenly appeared in his field of vision!
A few rays of light appeared, the shimmering light seems to have a vague form, some huge, some strange, some twisted and not shaped, he simply can not see the real outline of those shimmering light, but he heard …… the “voice”. Those voices resounded directly in his mind –
“…… The degree of compatibility is seriously lower than expected, and that ‘King of Dreamland’ has also failed …… We must adjust the program ……”
“It is impossible for the shelter to preserve everyone …… The survival conditions of some entities are too harsh, and it is too difficult to preserve them …… while ensuring the others.”
“…… draw up a list of those outside the list ……”
“Who will make this decision? How will the criteria for the list be developed?”
“…… first determines the compatibility threshold, and then the simulation ……LH-01 evolves a scheme to create a stabilizing anchor that will maximize the assurance of… . but still needs to drop a portion of ……”
This was followed by a confusing noise that seemed to be missing from the corresponding records, Duncan was dizzy from the noise, but soon he heard clear information emerge from the noise again-
“…… The entities in this part of the list are too difficult to withstand conversion, and the cost of preservation is too high …… It will have to be abandoned.”
“…… There’s still three percent redundancy, can make some more adjustments ……”
“…… They must survive in a specific stellar environment, and to other entities their sunlight is highly toxic ……LH-01’s program can’t meet this requirement… …Time is running out.
“…… Give them up.”
Boom!
A disembodied boom shattered all sound, shattered the infinite darkness, and Duncan felt himself touching the very bottom of this message – no more intelligence surfaced, and in a roar and dizziness, his consciousness was rapidly withdrawn from the depths of the crystal.
He opened his eyes to see the familiar cabin in front of him, and the pale golden crystal was lying in the palm of his hand, rapidly turning into a pile of ash as it burned under the ethereal green flames.
The information contained in the crystal had been drained, and the “blasphemous archetype”, which should not have existed in the realm of reality, had lost its stability.
Duncan rubbed his hands together, and the last remaining bit of ash in his hands immediately melted into the air.
He raised his head and met the goathead’s gaze.
“What do you see?” Goathead asked rather nervously.
“…… They were given up for dead, and what was recorded in that Book of Blasphemy has once again been confirmed.”
Duncan did not hide anything, he told the goat head in front of him all the information he had seen and heard in the depths of the crystal and told him everything.
Of course, he didn’t explain the details of the “Dyson Sphere” and the like – that part of the story couldn’t be clarified in an instant.
After he finished speaking, there was a long silence in the captain’s cabin.
After an unknown period of time, the goat’s head suddenly moved, its tone a bit complicated: “…… In that Book of Blasphemy, it is written that in the Third Long Night, there were ‘clans’ that were banished into the darkness ……”
Duncan nodded softly, he certainly remembered that part of the description, “It was also written there that the clans banished into the darkness did not die – they gradually twisted and turned in the long banishment into …… more dangerous things.”
Goathead pondered for a moment, then suddenly asked, “What do you think of this? Would you find those Sun Children’s actions …… justifiable today?”
“There is no point in discussing right and wrong in such matters,” Duncan shook his head instead, “The world is not made by justice – I do not know exactly what state the world was in after the Great Annihilation, before the beginning of the Age of the Deep, and do not know what state it was in when the attempts were made. I don’t know what state it was in after the Great Annihilation, before the beginning of the Age of the Deep, and I don’t know how many other options and trade-offs the ‘kings’ who tried to build the Asylum had made, and it would be foolishly shortsighted to comment on the trade-offs of those who came before us and paved the way from the comfort of the era, especially from where we are now. …… any form of ‘sympathy’ is neither justified nor necessary.”
“…… You are correct.” Goathead said softly after a moment of silence.
Duncan didn’t say anything else, he just nodded softly, and then his eyes fell on the small ‘sun’ that Vanna had gotten from the giant.
(End of chapter)