The wind was howling.
The turbulence in the upper atmosphere had now been transmitted to the surface. The howling wind passed through the ravines of the metal ruins, bringing with it all kinds of strange and terrifying whistling sounds. The wind had no direction, sometimes left and sometimes right, sometimes strong and sometimes weak, as if countless pairs of invisible hands were ravaging the earth. The lighter metal fragments were blown down from the high ground above, whistling through the air in a parabola and smashing in the distance.
The wind had not yet reached the energy level that Sandora had warned. It could only be called a gale, not a hurricane. But since people had taken shelter here a few minutes ago, the rapid increase in the wind was obvious to all. Most people's attention was focused on the howling wind outside, and many people looked worried. Some people's eyes showed some regret: they did not bring more things when they left home, and by now, some people had realized that the hurricane might really damage the houses in the town.
It was about a kilometer away from the town, not far. The shelter was located below the high ground of the metal station. It was the bow of an Expedition Class Battleship that had been broken in two. It was tilted into the ground, and the broken armor plate extended out to form a cliff. There was a very wide space under the cliff, and the broken shield that protruded from the ground was connected to the wreckage, forming a semi-cave that was closed on three sides, enough to accommodate hundreds of people hiding here.
After two days of observation, we had roughly understood the "terrain" around the metal station. Unexpectedly, we found the wreckage of three battleships in such a small place. The Eternal-class mothership was the main part of the land, and the "cliff" behind us, which was the expedition battleship that had been broken in half, was probably the result of a self-destruct attack that caused the battleship to violently crash into the Eternal-class mothership that had taken on the responsibility of the land. The remaining pieces of the expedition battleship that were raised above the ground also happened to form a high ground, which was the main work area of the metal station, a place that resembled a junkyard. Only a few hundred meters away, there was a Borderland-class Fortress Battleship that may have also launched a suicide attack. It may have dealt the most fatal blow to the Eternal-class Mothership that we were standing on. Seventy to eighty percent of its main body had vaporized in the explosion, and below it was the Eternal-class Mothership's Galactic Main Cannon Energy Restrain Device that had been completely smashed.
We analyzed the symbols on the wreckage and found that they were from two forces. Of course, I knew that was nonsense.
The Eternal-level mothership that had crashed on the ruined planet after suffering a series of suicidal attacks was Veska's spaceship. There was a symbol on the lid of its condenser. The expeditionary battleship behind us, which had transformed into a metallic plateau, and the border spaceship that looked like a round hill a few hundred meters away, had a symbol that no one recognized: a golden ring.
There was no record of this ring in the Empire's current database.
As expected, Pandora and Sandora, two former warmongers (in fact, Pandora was still a warmonger, and she had no intention of changing in this life), had limited knowledge of their colleagues in the faraway Empire. They could not recognize which Emperor the symbol belonged to at all, and could only temporarily store the symbol and the data about the wreckage that the other scouts had collected in the database. Perhaps one day, we would know who was so powerful that they had almost wiped out Visca's Army of Destruction in this place …
The residents who had evacuated from the town were all gathered in this spacious shelter. Due to the semi-enclosed, cave-like terrain, everyone was not afraid of the violent wind. The howling wind wreaked havoc outside the entrance of the cave, but few people could directly rush into the cave. However, this little bit of safety did not seem to be able to completely calm the emotions of the townspeople.
Barnard showed his qualities as a mayor at such a time. Before he left, he had people transport a lot of equipment, including lighting equipment and some psionic crystals that looked old but were still full of energy, using the only hover car in town to transport metal waste. Then, he began to instruct the people to complete this temporary and crude shelter.
The town's technical workers used these things to brighten up the cave and set up some heaters where the people gathered. There were no street lights outside the cave, and the fusion reactor in the sky was completely destroyed. The outside world was so dark that one could not even see their fingers in front of them, and the temperature was dropping rapidly. Without these facilities, the townspeople who had hidden in here would probably not be able to hold on for a while.
The burly man named Tieke led the strong young men of the town to work at the entrance of the cave. They used large metal plates that could be seen everywhere to set up layers of barriers near the entrance of the cave. Those large metal plates were marked with "emergency spare parts" in Schilling. Perhaps they came from the material warehouse in the wreckage of the spaceship. These processed alloys were generally used to repair the lining armor when the spaceship suffered sudden structural damage, and the spaceship's own recovery speed could not keep up with the speed of structural damage. They were light but extremely strong. Although they did not contain any technological content, they were very suitable for building defenses when the necessary equipment was lacking, such as repairing the battleship's lining that had been pierced by artillery or setting up wind barriers at the large air vents.
The two-meter-tall metal plates were supported on the ground by strong metal pillars, layer by layer weakening the wind that occasionally blew in from the entrance of the cave. At the same time, they could effectively block the metal fragments that were thrown in. They were definitely strong enough to withstand the Empire's artillery, and the metal plates would not be damaged by any strong wind. However, they were not indestructible. Tieke did not have the material fusion generator that Schilling technicians often used, so he could not fuse the metal plates with the metal ground. Therefore, he could only use simple welding torches or even rivets to do the work. It was like using star gold to build a tank, but unfortunately, every piece of armor on the tank was glued together with 502 …
"It's better than nothing."
Icetis glanced at the wind barrier at the entrance of the cave and said calmly, "Although they do not have the experience to deal with it, which resulted in a lot of loopholes, they did a really good job."
I glanced at Icetis and did not say a word.
Previously, she had mentioned something in a very relaxed tone, which was that she was preparing to 'register' the natives of this world. Of course, in more professional terms, she wanted to re-register the life sequence of this world that had already been removed from the list of life in the Temple of the Goddess of Life. And to do that, the first step was to give a score to the life sequence that was about to be registered.
Just now, I did not pay much attention to what Icetis said. This gangster big sister didn't look like someone who would do proper work. Perhaps what she said was true, but most likely it was just a casual formality. How many of the matters of the Protoss were reliable?
But now, it seemed that this matter was really quite proper.
Icetis had been observing everyone's reaction, and on the ground beside her, Jingle was spreading out a huge notebook, holding a golden pen and scribbling continuously. The two goddesses seemed to be working together.
"What are you guys doing?"
Shallow Shallow asked curiously as she looked at Jingle's scribbling.
"Observing, recording, scoring." Icetis yawned. "Jingle is a God within the Temple of the Goddess of Life. She is responsible for submitting the observations to the Temple, and the method is written in this notebook. You can say that it is Jingle's working notebook."
"Working notebook? There's this too?" I was shocked. I pointed at the notebook that was as tall as two Jingle's stacked together, and there was a gigantic drawing of a lollipop on it.
"This is the record of the tributes that the Temple of the Goddess of Life has received!"
Jingle hugged the gigantic golden pen and scribbled on the paper. She even had the time to raise her head to answer my question. "Ah Jun, look, lollipop. There's even a 1000 behind it, but the word lollipop is too tiring to write …"
We: "…"
"See, at least it's something related to her daily work. Enjoying the offerings of believers is also a God's daily routine. Of course, this is mainly to prevent extravagance and waste, as well as public funds for eating and drinking."
I broke out in a cold sweat as I watched Jingle painstakingly scribbling on the notebook. A portion of it was indecipherable at first glance, while the other portion was indecipherable. I suddenly felt that the Goddess of Life was quite an incredible individual. She was actually able to communicate with her subordinates using such symbols. The natives of this world were rather pitiful. Their entire race's registration form in the Temple of the Goddess of Life was actually with this face — it was equivalent to applying for an identity card, only to discover that the face was mosaic and the words below were handwritten with a watercolor pen.
"You guys are evaluating an entire race like this? Isn't that a little too careless? "
My elder sister was a very meticulous person. Even though she knew that these Gods were unreliable, she still habitually worried about them. After all, no matter how you looked at it, evaluating an entire race sounded quite serious. I wondered if the Gods would make the mortals retake the test in 2012 just because they didn't pass the overall test …
On the other hand, I curiously picked up Dingdang's golden pen and looked at it. This thing really didn't match the little fellow's figure. This little idiot definitely listened to the salesman's lies and bought this cheap item from the special market. When he bought it, he forgot that his figure was a sore point. Jingle hung on the tip of the pen and maintained the posture of writing rapidly. Only when she discovered that she was no longer able to reach the paper did she start waving her hands in protest.
"This is very troublesome to explain." Icetis lazily looked at the silent and busy townspeople. "In short, you only need to know one thing: When the Gods' test officially begins, the mortals who are being tested will effectively represent the quality of the entire race. We will distort the truth and their individual actions within a certain range. The final conclusion will be correct. If these 162 people can safely survive the hurricane, then their entire race will also have the same quality."
Sandora was busy eating. At this moment, she raised her head and added, "Regardless of the interference conditions, 'obtaining the correct score' is an established fact. Even if Icetis chooses to conduct the test on a baby, that baby will also represent the entire race. Back then, I discussed this with her. It is said that this is a talent that the Father God bestowed upon all Protoss. It is called the Absolute Test."
Icetis was delighted. "In other words, the Gods can judge anything that is lower than their own level and obtain the correct conclusion. Our judgment of the mortal world has never been wrong!"
I thought for a while and suddenly looked at Jingle sadly. "In other words, in the various tests in the God Realm, the only reason you fail is because you are not strong enough. Even if you write a cheat sheet, bribe the examiners, bribe the examiners, and collude with your comrades, you will definitely not get a score if you don't know the questions, right?"
Before I finished, Jingle burst into tears. She probably won't be able to graduate in this lifetime.
It was the job of the Gods like Icetis and Jingle to rebuild the records of the races that had already been erased from the Church of Life. Let them continue with their work. Right now, Sandora and I didn't have anything to do for the time being, so we observed the busy crowd with interest.
Water Drop sat next to us hugging her knees. She was the only child at the front of the cave. The other children were hiding at the back. Because they couldn't help, they were chased into the depths of the cave by the adults. However, Water Drop insisted on staying with us. This seemingly weak little girl was very stubborn on this issue. The adults didn't have the extra energy to deal with a little girl like her, so they let her be.
"Will Brother be okay?"
Water Drop looked at the cave entrance not far away in fear. It was pitch-black outside. The powerful spotlights that were temporarily set up on both sides of the cave entrance shot out two beams of light with a limited range. In the beam of light, we could only see the silhouette of metal fragments or other objects being swept by the strong wind. Listening to the increasingly violent wind outside, the nine-year-old girl inevitably revealed a look of fear.
"He has arrived at another town safely. With Barnard's token and the growing wind around as evidence, the people there have already started to move." I opened a holographic screen in mid-air and pointed at the information on it. "But it should be said that they are very lucky. The Heavy Gate Town is built on the cargo hold of a derelict cargo spaceship. There is a very large garage below it. The door of the garage can still be used. They are safer hiding underground than here. Oh right, I will connect you to Glick's video call. "
Water Drop was relieved and looked at the screen in mid-air with surprise. Then, a small window suddenly popped up below the screen. The little girl was so scared that she almost screamed. After seeing clearly that it was Glick's image, Water Drop revealed a surprised expression. "Brother!"
"Ah, Water Drop, have you reached the bottom of the cliff?"
The background behind Glick was the alloy ground in mid-air. It seemed that he was standing at the entrance of the Heavy Gate Town's underground garage and was about to go down.
"Yes, we are under the cliff. There is a very big hole here!" Water Drop said happily. Her voice also attracted the attention of many adults around. They looked at the holographic screen in front of Water Drop with very surprised eyes. Some people even forgot their work for a moment. Old Barnard hurriedly came over and asked loudly, "Glick, did anything happen on the way?"
"Of course not, I am a natural crew member!" Glick's face was full of excitement. It seemed that he had finally flown a spaceship as he wished. Even though it was just a one-man fighter, and he only knew how to use the autopilot mode, which did not require any manual operation, this experience made the little boy, who had been influenced by his father since he was young, very excited. "The wind here is so strong! Wow, a car was blown away just now! But I have already gone down to the garage, and there are still people calling me little hero … What about you guys? Is the wind strong? "
"Listen to the movement outside and you will know."
Although there were many layers of wind barriers, the sharp whistling of the wind blowing through the hole could not be stopped. Glick listened for a while and stuck out his tongue. "It seems that the wind over there is stronger than here … Ah, the door of the garage is about to close. I still have to go down and talk to them about flying the spaceship. I'll hang up first."
Glick hurriedly ended the communication. After the offline message popped up on the screen, Water Drop pouted discontentedly, while Barnard smiled helplessly. "Just like his father, he wanted to be a hero. This time his dream came true."
At this moment, a low roar that was different from before suddenly came from afar, interrupting everyone's conversation.
It was like a series of continuous muffled thunder, a bit like thousands of horses and horses galloping. The loud sound made people's eardrums slightly hurt. Even sitting on the ground, they could feel the slight vibration of the ground. The roar was also mixed with a sharp whistling sound, like the sound of tearing steel.
A hurricane was coming.
Just as Sandora had warned, the atmosphere had formed an unprecedentedly huge wind tunnel due to the severe uneven heating in local areas. On Earth, the sun that was one astronomical unit away from the planet could cause a destructive tornado if the sun's radiation was slightly uneven (this was one of the causes of meteorological disasters such as tornadoes, but not all). But here, the sun was only three thousand kilometers away from the ground. The uneven heating was not distributed to the whole world, but only in a small area. How turbulent would the air be in this small area?
The super storm outside the cave told us the answer.
"Rumble … rumble … rumble …"
The sound of the wind was no longer whistling, but like a ten-million-ton bomb exploding on the ground. The turbulence of the entire atmosphere had finally been compressed to an area only a hundred meters above the ground. In this wind zone, cyclones that were moving at a speed of thousands of kilometers per hour chased each other, collided, converged, merged, and flowed ceaselessly between the jagged steel wreckage. The ground was shaking, and even the cliff behind us emitted a teeth-numbing sound of metal friction. That was the sound of the giant pile of garbage on the metal station moving horizontally under the influence of the wind.
It was still pitch-black outside the cave. We could only see through the light beams of the spotlights that countless strange-shaped objects were crazily shuttling in the distance, pushed by the hurricane. Occasionally, bright flashes could be seen in the darkness. Those were the light produced by the violent collision of metal shards, or the remnants of the metal station's lighting equipment that had been blown off the cliff.
The townspeople at the front of the cave immediately retreated in horror. Panicked whispers came from the crowd, and the sound of crying came from where the children gathered in the distance. Water Drop, who was next to us, grabbed her elder sister's arm.
"Calm down! Don't panic! " Bernard's voice rang out. He walked to the brightest spot so that everyone could see him. "The alloy cliff is very sturdy. As long as we don't get close to the entrance of the cave, we will be fine! The wind can't pour directly into such an airless space. Tieke, are the wind barriers reliable? "
"The ones closest to the exit might have been blown away, but the ones inside are absolutely fine!"
"Alright, everyone retreat, retreat to the innermost part of the cave. That way, even if the wind blows in, we won't be swept away. Protect the children in the middle, and the adults stay outside. Try to stand against the wall!"
The hurricane was getting stronger.
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