"I've told you everything I know."
The chief leaned back on the chair. She seemed to be thirsty after speaking so much. After taking a sip of the tree juice, she looked at us quietly. "This is the history of the tree elves and the secrets of this planet."
Sandora went straight to the point. "What did the general of the Empire give you? A piece of information? How do we extract it? "
"It's recorded in the navigation system of the planet. The navigator has the authority to open the system, but we don't know how to read it. Perhaps you have a way. But before that, we have to wake up all of the tree elves. The general told us that the core database can only be read in one go. After the data is extracted, all of the systems of the planet will be rebooted and everything will be deleted. During this process, the life support system will stop working. "
I thought of the hundreds of millions of dormant pods in the upper mantle. This was a huge project.
"Then let's start now," Sandora said. Then, she looked out of the window. The window of the small wooden house was very narrow. From our position, we could only see a small part of the village, two mushroom tree houses and a few tree elves walking past. "These tree elves who are dreaming will have memories of the time of their dream when they wake up, right?"
"That's right, these new memories that are constantly being replenished are the key to slowing down the dissipation of our souls. Tree Elves need to continuously receive new information in order to survive. This lock has been written into our genes." The Great Chief nodded. "The scholars of our tribe have researched this and believe that this is caused by the special learning method of Tree Elves."
Sandora nodded and didn't say anything else.
I didn't know how the chief was able to communicate with the planet's operating system. She suddenly disappeared from our sight. After a few minutes, the work of waking up all of the hibernating crew members began. The research team that remained in the mantle sent news that the energy flow in all the hives had increased and some of the dormant pods had spiritual reactions for the first time. This was the tree elves that had been extracted from the database and were gradually returning to their own bodies. Based on the current construction speed, I'm afraid it will take a few days to complete, but we don't want to wait any longer. I think this project may be limited by the bandwidth of the Green Star internal network and its information processing capacity. The former can't be changed, but the latter should be able to be helped by the Schilling mainframe. After all, it's all equipment made by the Empire. The mass-produced Bubble should be able to connect to the Green Star system, right?
Sandora agreed with my suggestion. After the patriarch appeared, we asked her to open up all the systems on the Green Star. The interference inside the Green Star was still in effect. Until now, we had not found the core operation of the last fortress of the old Empire.
The old lady agreed readily. "Of course, this is originally your thing. The control room is in the middle of the mantle. There are some flying machines left in the oasis from tens of thousands of years ago. They are prepared for special situations, but I'm afraid I can't go with you. I'm a projection with limited mass and can't leave the oasis. You will meet me at the destination."
We got up and set off. But before we bid farewell to the old lady, Liliana suddenly looked outside curiously. In the distance, the huge green mountain range was slowly undulating at a speed that was almost invisible to the naked eye. The huge vine that occupied the entire oasis was the only real living thing on the planet.
"What exactly is that? I saw that it occupied the entire planet. All the vines are from the same plant," Liliana asked. "The life force is very strong, but it seems to be very old."
"That is not a vine, it is a tree. It had no choice but to change its form in order to survive in the earth's core. It is our Mother Tree," the patriarch's face turned gloomy. "There are many Mother Trees in the home of the Tree Elves. It is said that they are plants planted by God at the beginning of Genesis. All the Tree Elves are born from the pods of the Mother Tree. When we left our home … Err, when we left with our home, we could only take one Mother Tree. It has already grown for tens of thousands of years and is too old … Even now, we have not been able to collect its seeds. It seems that after leaving our home world, the Mother Tree has lost its ability to reproduce."
I was stunned. Previously, I thought that the story of Green Calyx saying that she plucked it from the tree was not credible and that it was just a 'plot' set up in the dream. I never thought that it was actually true. The Tree Elves really grew from the tree?
This didn't make sense! They were just ordinary humans, not energy lifeforms, and definitely not divine creatures. How could a plant give birth to such a high-level animal like the Tree Elves? If Darwin was here, he would probably be able to dig a hole and bury himself alive!
However, Liliana revealed a thoughtful expression. After a moment, she tugged on the corner of my clothes and said, "Boss, it is true. This thing has a little divine aura, but it is too weak. If I didn't sense it carefully, I wouldn't be able to sense it. The birth of this race is really interesting. Their Mother Tree actually came from the God Realm."
"Is there a problem?" The chief couldn't help but ask when she saw us mumbling to each other. This could only mean that the last batch of the Old Empire's spawn had not been in contact with the Empire for too long. According to the ruthless and terrifying style of the Old Empire, the old spawn (especially those who had survived from the Old Empire era until now) would not dare to interrupt the Empire's speech. Although the laws of the Old Empire didn't care about this, when it came to deterrence, it was something that could shine brightly just by standing there. Who would dare to make a ruckus in front of two Cybertronians?
"No, it's nothing. Bring us to see those aircrafts."
Originally, I wanted to drive 700 billion to operate the core, but I heard that the security system of the Green Star had long since malfunctioned. The control area could only recognize registered transportation vehicles. If I drove 700 billion, I would probably be shot down. The security cannons wouldn't be able to recognize new faces, even if they had the common recognition algorithm of the Old Empire.
What was left on the oasis were a few transport aircrafts that were no longer in their former glory. Although the Empire's creations were usually still usable after tens of thousands of years, they were all in a completely sealed ruin. The ones on the oasis obviously didn't meet the preservation requirements, so they were directly parked in a large forest that was isolated from human habitation. The only thing the tree elves could do was to build a few hangars that were seriously substandard. As no one knew how to maintain these aircrafts, they were in a sorry state. Fortunately, the system was still working. After Sandora fiddled with the power core for a while, the transport aircrafts started up normally. There was a set of redundant power modules that had malfunctioned, but she managed to eat it.
The Green Star wasn't a true planetary battleship, but it wasn't a space fortress either. Compared to the former, it lacked weapons, and compared to the latter, it lacked defense. The Green Star was more like a temporary amalgamation. This last creation of the Old Empire was rough and lacked planning. The great patriarch said that the last part of its modification was personally carried out by the Empire's engineers. (Also, this thing took a whole two years to modify!) This was even more inconceivable. It could only be said that when disaster struck, it was probably too late to do anything. The general of the Old Empire who ordered the Green Star to set sail that day could only hurriedly stuff whatever he could use into this planet that didn't even know how to classify, urging it to retreat immediately. Therefore, when we found a command center in the mantle that had extremely illogical functions and relied on a set of temporarily added energy furnaces to provide energy, it didn't seem all that surprising.
The control center of the Green Star was located in the northern hemisphere, in the middle of the mantle layer. A tunnel that extended from the center of the planet for thousands of kilometers was the only way to reach the control center.
The design and current state of the control center made people sigh. It was located in a hexagonal cylindrical cavity that was wrapped in interstellar alloy armor. It was a grayish-black building with an independent obelisk. This building used anti-gravity equipment to levitate in the center of the cavity. It was about a kilometer long, and the base of the building was surrounded by a few half-kilometer long light beams that were connected to the data terminal on the cavity. This was a very common interface. Sandora could tell at a glance that this thing was directly built from a planet's surface command center. The last batch of engineers probably didn't have the time to create a new starship core, so they could only put the command center from an unknown colonial planet in the whole thing. The general interface of the surface command center was limited, so most of the operating modules of the Green Star relied on the automatic operation of the local equipment. This control center obviously lacked the necessary maintenance. After working continuously for tens of thousands of years, a portion of its interface light beams were already intermittent. The Tree Elves didn't learn how to repair their bridge. The door of the control center was already open, and we found a small docking port next to its base. The automatic response of the docking port had failed, so Sandora had no choice but to use a more intense landing method — — I mean, before we crashed into it, she still insisted that it would be a safe landing.
"I dare to bet that those Tree Elves have never used these transport planes before. They didn't even know that the transport plane was supposed to land on apron number three." Sandora muttered as she used her claws to cut open the cabin door of the transport plane that couldn't be opened due to the malfunction.
I helped my sister and Lin Xue down. Shallow Shallow had already jumped to the ground by herself. The gravity here was very normal, so it felt good to have my feet on the ground. I couldn't help but jump on the ground. "There's no other way. They started to modify the planet after the war, but halfway through the modification, they were chased out of the original world by the Imperial Army. How much time did they have to learn? Moreover, there wasn't a military department in the old Empire. 80% of the emperors couldn't be bothered to teach their vassal races how to control psionic energy."
Sandora quickly found the entrance to the control center. It was located at a corner of the obelisk. Not far from the entrance was a teleportation device that was still working. All the teleportation devices in the control center had already locked onto a single route, so there wasn't much choice. After passing through the entrance, we arrived at the control center of the Green Star — — or rather, the observation hall of the navigators.
The spacious circular hall was brightly lit. Finally, we saw the familiar facilities of the Empire. The facilities here seemed to be in good condition. Although the tree elves didn't know how to repair them, they at least knew how to clean the control stations. More than ten navigators in light green uniforms were already lined up in front of the teleportation device. They were a bunch of old men and women.
Even if the Tree Elves had a long lifespan, most of the navigators were no longer young when they set off. Moreover, they couldn't stay in the hibernation cabin all the time during the journey. Working in the normal flow of time for a long time made these navigators grow old.
I recognized one of them at first glance. It was an old lady with a kind face. We had just met on Oasis Planet. She was the leader of the Imperial Army. She wasn't wearing an ancient coarse robe. Instead, she was wearing a clean spaceship uniform with a green leaf and vine emblem on her chest. She bowed to us in greeting but didn't perform the Empire's military salute. They hadn't even gotten used to the days of being a member of the Empire before they were sent on a journey. After tens of thousands of years, they had probably forgotten what the Imperial Army salute looked like.
"There are more than a hundred navigators and most of them are in hibernation mode. Every shift, there are only fifteen navigators who are awake." The leader briefly introduced the current situation of the navigators. While she was speaking, a white-haired old man suddenly walked over while trembling. He looked at us with a curious expression. Then, he said loudly, "Oh, we finally meet again. We have waited for a long time … We couldn't see the situation outside, so we waited in this room … Cough cough … Is the mission over? When can the spaceship stop? I haven't seen the sun for a long time … "
A voice suddenly interrupted his rambling. It was another navigator. "Elder, you need to rest. Leave this place to us."
The old man nodded and turned around to return to his seat. The Great Tribe Leader explained to us, "This is the oldest elder of the Tree Elves. He used to be our leader. When the planet first set sail, he was the first generation captain. However, the current captain and leader have already been replaced by younger navigators. The elder still remains in the navigator group, but he no longer holds any specific responsibilities."
The old man who had just sat down suddenly thought of something. He shouted from afar, "Remember, wait for everyone to wake up before opening the database! The general told me, don't get it wrong! The general wants to come back to get his things! Who are these strangers?! "
The old man seemed to be confused. Very quickly, he forgot our identity and even asked the people around him why he was here. The other navigators were helpless and could only bring the first generation captain away. The leader said softly, "The elder is sometimes not very clear-headed. Three thousand years ago, he personally brought people to observe the working and control principles of the fourth smelting furnace. When he came back, he contracted a very serious radiation sickness. After that, he was relieved of all his positions. However, we must let him come to the control room. When the time is right, he will come here and no one can stop him. However, we can still bring him out when he is not clear-headed. After all, it doesn't conform to the rules to let him stay here. "
Liliana touched my arm. "Boss, I will research a treatment plan. However, the effects might not be great. He is too old. Even if he is granted eternal life, it will be too late."
From the terminal in the hall, we could check the current operation situation of the Green Star. We could also check the progress of the life support system in the mantle. The planet's operation situation wasn't optimistic. Many of the facilities were damaged. It was already a miracle that these hastily assembled things could operate normally for tens of thousands of years. If we hadn't discovered it in time, the energy flow would have become chaotic in a few hundred years at most. Following that, the life support system would be in danger. We also found the database used to record the key information. It was embedded into the operating system of the Green Star. It lived and died with the planet. Once the database was activated, the Green Star would enter standby mode. The engine would stop (of course, the engine had already been destroyed), the life support system would stop working, and all weapons and defense systems would go offline. Fortunately, the 'oasis' system at the center of the planet was independently powered. Otherwise, the latter would have been burned to ashes by the mantle.
The three mass produced mainframes from the City of Shadows arrived at work within a few minutes. They found the main computer room of the Green Star. Most of the computing cores manufactured in the old Empire were equipped with interfaces to work in parallel with other similar equipment. This saved us a lot of trouble. After the three mainframes were installed in the computer room of the Green Star, the activation speed of the hibernation pods increased significantly. Yes, it was a shocking speed. Originally, it would have taken two to three days to fully activate. However, after the mainframes arrived, one-third of the hibernation pods were activated in just half an hour!
It seemed that the limitation of the bandwidth on this task wasn't as big as we had imagined.
Of course, this was only the activation. In other words, the souls of the tree elves had to be re-injected into the hibernation pods from the database. At the same time, the hibernation pods would be separated from the overall life support system of the Green Star. They would then rely on their own energy reserves to carry out the follow-up operations (awakening the physical body, reactivating the soul). This follow-up operation would probably take a few days. After all, the population here was in the hundreds of millions.
After the souls of the tree elves had entered the hibernation pods, we would be able to activate the core database of the Green Star. This process was very fast. It was estimated to be completed in an hour.
The virtual world formed by mass projection on the Oasis automatically entered the shutdown process when the hibernation pods had been activated to 50%. We watched the entire process from the monitor. The forest and grassland gradually lost their colors. The villages of various sizes trembled and turned into a two-dimensional background image. The 'villagers' had already disappeared before this. (Perhaps in this virtual world, they should be called 'offline'?). They were first sent back to the database before being re-injected into their physical bodies.
In the end, the severely unrealistic forest started to disappear. Very soon, the lush green oasis shed its disguise.
It turned into a lonely planet with a radius of 1500 kilometers. The surface of the planet was covered with brown rocks and soil. The only thing left on the planet was the 'Mother Tree' of the tree elves. A large patch of greyish-green vines covered 70% of the planet's surface.
It was already impossible to tell that it was a 'tree'.
"I never thought that it would already be so old …"
The big tribe leader accompanied us. During the entire process, he didn't say a single word. Only now did he break the silence. "Without the Mother Tree, the tree elves will not be able to reproduce. During the voyage, we can still rely on the hibernation pods to preserve our species, but …"
"It's alright. I have an idea."
I smiled warmly, revealing a reassuring expression. Then, I took out Jingle, who was hugging a button and sleeping soundly, from the pocket of my shirt. "She will let you have a new Mother Tree."
The big tribe leader's eyes were filled with surprise. "Are we going to plant her?"
"…"
It's not like you can't understand it that way!
The hibernation pods that had just been activated couldn't be opened immediately. The living beings inside had been in hibernation for too long. The hibernation pods needed time for the sleeping beings inside to reconnect with their souls. However, the hibernation pods were using their own backup energy source. They had already separated from the Green Star's system and no longer affected our operation of the database. Thus, these hibernation pods were handed over to the engineering team to be handled. At this moment, Sandora had already ordered for the database to be opened. As the main systems of the Green Star were shut down one by one, this one-time use database revealed to us the secret that it had kept for tens of thousands of years.
It turned out to be a letter. It came from a sender that we had never expected.
The Emperor of the Empire, Halland.
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