"Does a planet have a brain?"
Lin Sanjiu was shocked. She stood rooted to the ground, not knowing how to react. After a few questions and answers, the underground cavity quieted down again. Now, there was only a drop of liquid dripping into the puddle of water. The echoes slowly faded away.
Silvan, who was standing not far away, tilted his head slightly, revealing the side of his straight nose. He looked down, avoiding Queen's gaze. "I understand now. How much nutrients do you need to grow? Maybe we can help you. "
"No need."
The voice that seemed to be pressing down on her soul filled her mind. It was hard to describe the queen's tone when she spoke. Lin Sanjiu couldn't even tell if it had a tone or not.
"As a steak, you should act like a steak."
Lin Sanjiu's body trembled when she heard that. She immediately raised her head. She would never forget those words. In her homeworld, it was Ren Nan who said those words to her. That was how she started her first day as a posthuman.
That was definitely not a coincidence.
She opened her mouth and realized that her lips were trembling slightly. "Silvan, I … I've heard this from someone else before. I suspect that it can intercept some of the information in our brain. "
"Is it your memory?" Silvan raised his voice slightly, but before he could finish his question, the queen's voice came back down again.
"You will always be on this side of the glass, watching other people's lives … Parallel lines that will never intersect."
The sentence was unfamiliar. Obviously, it did not come from her memory. When Lin Sanjiu raised her head, she saw Silvan turn his head away.
After the queen said that, there was no more movement in the cavity. It seemed to have given up on the attack of the purplish-black worms. It just remained silent. Lin Sanjiu raised her head and looked at Caster. The humanoid Special Item met Lin Sanjiu's gaze and quickly understood what Lin Sanjiu meant.
Caster studied the brain behind them for a while and shook her head.
She did not say anything, which meant that the queen did not do anything.
Just like that, in the cavity that was unknown how many meters deep underground, the two of them stood stiffly with their backs facing the mountain-like brain. Neither of them moved, and neither of them made a sound.
What was the queen trying to do?
"You are right," Silvan suddenly broke the silence. Unlike his usual casual and intimate tone, he sounded really angry at this moment. His voice was cold and deep. "It can indeed access our memories. But now, it should only be catching some fragments. "
That sentence really did belong to him.
"How did it do it?" Lin Sanjiu's nails dug deep into her palms. "Why … Could it be that we are infected by the parasite? Can parasites do that? "
"Have you heard of Toxoplasma gondii?" The blonde man replied in a low voice, "It is carried in the body of the cat, but it does not affect the cat itself. Instead, the rats infected with Toxoplasma gondii will lose their fear of the cat … They will even swagger in front of the cat, not knowing how to escape."
The queen behind him was still silent, as if she did not exist. If Lin Sanjiu didn't know that she wouldn't be so lucky, she would have suspected that it was planning to let them go.
"I've heard of it … Are you saying that the parasite we're infected with is similar to Toxoplasma gondii?"
"Yes, but it is much more powerful than it." Silvan pondered as he answered, "Once this parasite invades our brain, it can immediately split into three new sources of infection and drive us to spread it out. It seems like the first thing to be affected and destroyed is our emotional center. "
"So, even though we still have our rationality, we are no longer afraid or suspicious," Lin Sanjiu added. Then, Lin Sanjiu added, "The information about Shambhala must have entered our brains through the parasites, right?" "Yeah.
The blonde man nodded. "That is the only reason."
The louder their voices were, the quieter the queen behind them seemed. The "brain" was so huge that it was barely visible from the light. Most of its body had blended into the darkness … Lin Sanjiu imagined that it was like a ghost behind their heads, listening to their every word.
"That parasite has probably invaded our hippocampus, the place where we store our memories." Silvan raised his hand and tapped his temple. He still did not turn his head. "That is why it can touch our memories."
"I get it now." Lin Sanjiu couldn't help exhaling. "It somehow managed to read our fragmented memories and … passed them on to the queen." At this point, she pondered for a few seconds before she finally found a suitable analogy. "It's like … like a Bluetooth transmission!"
"Yes," Silvan nodded. He seemed to want to say something, but he suddenly stopped. He thought for a while before he spoke again. His voice sounded a little erratic, "Yes … But I'm not as optimistic as you. I think the queen's goal is not to read our fragmented memories. "
"You mean?"
"I suddenly can't remember what I want to say." The blonde man shook his head. "Her goal is very clear. She wants to absorb our brains as nutrients. There are so many people who have come to Shambhala, but I'm afraid there are very few who can fight against their own will like you and me … Since she has encountered such a rare situation, I think she must be thinking of a new way to deal with us. "
"Is she planning to attack our hippocampus?"
This time, she did not hear Silvan's reply even after a long time had passed. He stood straight in front of her as if he was stunned. Lin Sanjiu called him a few times before he suddenly snapped out of his daze. "What did you say?"
"What … What's wrong?" Lin Sanjiu was stunned. She asked in a low voice, "Can you continue?"
"Continue what?" Silvan seemed a little confused. "Why isn't the queen moving?"
"I don't know," she mumbled. "Oh yeah, what did you say just now …?"
She clearly remembered that she was thinking about something just now, but in the blink of an eye, she forgot what she was thinking about. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't remember it.
"I forgot," Silvan said, enunciating each word.
Lin Sanjiu also forgot.
"This is too much of a coincidence. This isn't normal," she mumbled. "Are we talking about why the queen isn't moving?"
It was just a conversation that happened half a minute ago, but now, it was like a thread that had fallen into the water, drifting into the depths of her mind. No matter how hard she tried, she could only grab air.
"No, no," the hoarse voice of an elderly woman drew both of their gazes to Caster. Her long and pointy nose drooped down, glinting with sweat in the dim light. "Have you forgotten? You were talking about the hippocampus and the memory. How could you forget it so quickly? "
The sudden realization was like a ray of moonlight that shone down on Lin Sanjiu's mind. Just as it lit up her mind, it was swallowed by dark clouds, leaving her with nothing but fog.
Almost as soon as Caster's voice trailed off, Lin Sanjiu forgot again.
It seemed like Silvan was in the same situation.
"I vaguely remember that we were talking about how the counterattack didn't work," he said in a low voice. "Do you have any item that can automatically attack without any control?"
Lin Sanjiu heard Mrs. Manas's voice faintly pass through her mind, but before she could hear it clearly, it had already drifted away.
'What is she trying to remind me of this time?'
"I do," Lin Sanjiu answered hastily without much time to think. The artist had been called out twice in such a short period of time, and he seemed to be at a loss. However, this time, his target was clear. Lin Sanjiu pointed behind her, and he immediately grabbed his bucket and brush and ran to the front of Silvan. He set up his easel and sat down.
The light in the hollow was dim, and all the details were drowned in a haze. Therefore, he painted very quickly. The moment he stopped, a strong gust of wind blew through the hollow and rushed into the blank space on the canvas. The wind kept hitting something behind him, hitting something that looked like a soft shell. Even with the queen's size, she was being pulled by the suction force of the canvas. She was probably fighting against the suction force, as the ground kept crashing against it. Heavy tremors came one after another.
However, Silvan did not move.
"I have a feeling that we have forgotten something important …" His voice was so soft that it was almost inaudible in the midst of the queen's tremors. As he spoke, he glanced at the large blank space in the middle of the canvas, and he suddenly froze.
"Lin," he suddenly raised his voice and pointed at the canvas, "Can you see it? Beside this blank space, which is under the queen's feet, there seems to be a person lying on the ground. "
Lin Sanjiu was shocked. She squinted her eyes and looked at the canvas. However, the artist had run too far away to capture the full view, so she could not see anything. Silvan lowered his head and looked for a few seconds before he let out a long sigh. "It's Meme!"
'Sh * t!' The thought rose in her mind.
The queen had been attracted to the canvas. It was struggling and rolling behind it, causing the hollow to shake and dust to rise. Meme was too close to it. If the brain rolled even a little bit, no matter if he was dead or alive, all that would be left behind would be a pile of flesh and blood.
"I will bring him back." Silvan swung his arm. The crescent-shaped silver light and Caster disappeared together. What replaced them was a waist-high metal cylinder on the ground. Stunned, Lin Sanjiu quickly called out, "Wait, don't turn around!"
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