Alien Relic Hunter

"In fact, after the disappointment of the Centaur constellation, humans have already given up the idea of ​​​​looking for habitable star systems... We first used the resources collected in the Centaur constellation to create an enhanced version of the atmosphere, and used gravity enhancement devices. The entire enhanced atmosphere is firmly attached to the surface of the earth... The thick radiation clouds you see now are actually the 'remnants' of this atmospheric system.

"Immediately afterwards, we used the energy generated by the fusion reaction to create sixteen artificial satellites that can radiate light and heat to the surface of the earth... or, in other words, artificial suns... which appeared in ancient myths and stories. The sight of ten suns hanging in the sky at the same time. In that era, anyone in any position in the daytime hemisphere could see more than eight 'suns' in the sky when they raised their heads.

"After nearly ten thousand years of hard work, we have finally transformed the earth's surface into a state that can barely support human survival. This entire system, including a strengthened atmosphere and an artificial sun, has been named 'New Eden'. People began to gradually move out It took more than a thousand years for us to go underground and live on the surface. We finally restored the surface of the earth to what it was before... or even better.

"But the earth's journey of drifting among the stars is not over. One reason is that maintaining sixteen artificial suns requires a large amount of resources. If it stays in one space, sooner or later the resources in the nearby celestial bodies will be exhausted. We must wander while collecting resources to meet the huge needs of the 'New Eden System'... and another reason is that we still hold on to a glimmer of hope. If we can really find a suitable star, maybe..."

"Then this star in this galaxy now is the...'home' you have found?"

"No, this 'sun' is like an artificial light source in a greenhouse... Can you understand what I mean?" the hive master sighed.

"Alfa civilization... the earth civilization in this time and space... was kept in captivity by that existence?" Ke Lan no longer knew how many deep breaths he took... there were many speculations that he only dared to come up with when he was thinking wildly. All of them have been confirmed one by one... This can no longer be described by the word "crazy".

If possible, he would rather this was just a dream. After waking up from the dream, he found himself still lying on the single folding bed in that small residence, with the box of lemon-flavored soda that had expired for who knows how many months stuffed under the bed.

"During interstellar drift, there are many unstable factors. Among them, the greatest threat to the earth is asteroids and meteorites. Whether these celestial bodies fall on the earth's surface or hit the artificial sun, they are enough to cause catastrophic consequences... In order to This kind of risk was eliminated in advance, and a large number of engineering and mining ships were transformed into warships... Coupled with newly designed and built warships, in fifty years, a super army with more than 100,000 warships and hundreds of millions of soldiers was formed. The fleet was built, and at that time, everyone thought that the earth's civilization had entered a golden age, and that our military power was enough to roam the interstellar world...until, until we mistakenly entered the battlefield between gods."

"The...battlefield between gods." Ke Lan knew that the "great god" believed in by the Alpha civilization has been at war with other "different gods", but just like what is written in fantasy novels, the general boss They are all restricted by mysterious things like "laws" and cannot take action personally. Those who fight are basically their respective subordinates. As the spokespersons of the gods, those "familia" became the main force in the war between the gods.

"What we broke into was only the edge of the battlefield... That area of ​​space can't even be regarded as a battlefield between gods... If we use human descriptions of war to describe it, it is just the weakest family under the two gods. A small friction between them." The hive master said, "But even so, the aftermath of the friction still destroyed the New Eden system. The entire space fleet was wiped out, countless humans died, and many who survived Most of them were eroded, their cognition was distorted, and their bodies mutated into monsters... We call this incident the 'first disaster'."

"So, the 'disaster' that the hive civilization calls is the second time?"

The master of the nest did not directly answer Ke Lan's question, but continued talking to himself: "It's just the aftermath... Those creatures didn't even notice that a wandering planet broke into the area where they were fighting... Maybe They noticed it, but they didn't care at all... With their technology or strength, just sending a child can destroy the entire earth and wipe out the civilization we are proud of from this world."

"But fortunately, they didn't do that...otherwise, there wouldn't be any subsequent stories." The hive master continued, "During the first disaster, a fierce battle broke out on the earth. Those who have not mutated among them have to aim their weapons at those "common people" who have lost their human form and humanity. At the same time, they must always beware of the mutations that may break out at any time in their companions fighting side by side... This war is like a biological crisis. , but memes that spread erosion are far more difficult to guard against than viruses. When the last corroded corpse is eliminated, the remaining human population is already less than the number of permanent residents in the previous block of the Ark. Human civilization has truly come to an end. The edge of extinction.

"Due to the destruction of the 'New Eden System', the surface once again became unsuitable for human survival, and the survivors had to once again open the remaining underground cities - 90% of the underground cities in the Wandering Era were demolished and blocked, and only one The city has been preserved as a historical relic and museum, but fortunately the number of survivors is smaller than the population of the underground city, so the tragedy of life and death determined by drawing lots like before the brake era has not happened again."

"The survivors restarted the dungeon. Is this the origin of the hive civilization?" Ke Lan asked.

"Yes, since then, we have officially entered the 'Ice Era'... but the first disaster did not end there."

"Those who survived have also been eroded, right." Ke Lan instantly understood the hidden meaning of the other party's words, "After all, cognition is pollution. How can it have any impact if you have fought with that kind of monster?" None."

"Yes, those who returned to the underground city, that is, the first generation of hive residents, almost all of them were eroded, but their erosion progress was slower, and there was no obvious mutation at the end of the war... But as these people continue to recall fragments from the war period, coupled with the effects of nightmares, hallucinations, and PTSD, some of these people continue to have erosion levels that exceed the critical value... The demise of human civilization seems to be a foregone conclusion, can it still be Fewer and fewer people stay awake for long periods of time...In the fourth year of the Ice Age, the survivors have to make a difficult decision."

"What decision?"

"All the survivors committed suicide, leaving only the screened fertilized eggs, and let the fully automatic cultivation equipment take care of these fertilized eggs and embryos, and implant the history and knowledge of human civilization into the babies' brains... let these The newborns have to shoulder the responsibility of continuing the fire. As for the information related to the disaster, all the information related to the disaster has been sealed as top secret. Only the controller of each hive city, that is, people like me, are qualified to know." The master of the nest city said, "Many people think that the master of the nest city is like an emperor, but in fact, the body and consciousness are under surveillance all the time. Once the degree of erosion exceeds the threshold, I will He was immediately wiped out and replaced by a new 'new person' who came out of the breeding equipment. According to records, I should be the 1,400th controller of this hive city. When turnover was most frequent, I could even be replaced in one day. Several times...some individuals have even been super-eclipsed when their memories were implanted."

"It seems that the hive controller is really a high-risk profession...just like the symbiote." Ke Lan said, "In this way, it seems understandable that the undead crew will strictly guard against this information...but they There seems to be no such elimination mechanism. Except for Chiron, I suspect that there are many other members whose erosion levels have exceeded the dangerous threshold, but they chose to hide it..."

"Except for me and the other controllers of the hive city, the other hive city residents have no idea what happened in the last era. They even thought that humans lived underground from the beginning..."

"Then why do you still send exploration teams to the surface? Aren't you afraid that they will bring the 'forbidden knowledge' back to the nest?" Ke Lan asked.

"When we entered the underground city in a hurry, a lot of supplies and equipment were left on the surface. If we only relied on the supplies stored in the hive, we wouldn't be able to hold on for that long. Just like the relic hunters on the Ark, we also need to send people Retrieve those legacies of the past era..."

"Can't we use robots? Wouldn't that be more efficient than humans?"

"In the early days of the Ice Age, we did send robots to carry supplies on the ground, but as the population of the hive gradually increased, managers found that the cost of humans was far lower than that of robots... because the AI ​​of robots would also be used Erosion, even some programs without intelligence, can develop intelligence under erosion. As a large number of robots searching for supplies never returned, subsequent exploration reports even mentioned the discovery of large mechanical monsters on the surface... …Corroded corpses will perish after their souls and bodies are completely absorbed by that being. However, the mechanical monsters born from erosion have no souls. Like Nieto, they will not be absorbed or destroyed by that being. They will always wander around. On the ground, hunt anything that isn't eroded.

With the help of self-healing programs written into the chips, they will continue to search for energy and materials in the relics of the previous era, carry out self-repair and transformation... More robots will be sent out, and such immortal mechanical monsters on the ground will There will be more and more, and the difficulty of subsequent exploration operations will increase exponentially, so in the middle of the Ice Age, it has been replaced by full manpower exploration. The exploration teams sent to the surface are also completely prohibited from carrying intelligent electronic devices... Even all the electronic devices in the bottom nest have been removed to prevent mechanical monsters on the surface from invading the nest through these electronic devices. "

"So that's it... Then how did it cause the second disaster?"

"The reason why the first disaster came was because people witnessed the war between the gods' families, and the reason why the second disaster came was because in the universe where the earth is, one of the families was attacked by a hostile alien god. The family members were completely wiped out, and that existence needed to find a new family member. At this time, its sight happened to sweep across the earth - this drifting planet with life."

"So the humans in the hive civilization were chosen by that existence to be their own dependents and became Alpha people?" Ke Lan asked.

"It's not that easy to become a member of that existence..." The master of the nest city let out a self-deprecating chuckle, "Human civilization is far from qualified... That existence just left a thought on the earth. I don’t care anymore... This idea is like nuclear radiation, but compared to nuclear radiation that only affects the physical body, its impact on consciousness and cognition is more critical..."

Ke Lan took a breath and said: "This should be... regarded as free-range development. Just throw a little catalyst on the earth. If humans can catalyze it and become a powerful enough civilization, they will be absorbed into that existence. If the clan is exterminated, just pretend that nothing happened. Anyway, there are many civilizations in the universe that are more powerful than ours; and if we are stuck in the middle between the two, neither superior nor inferior..."

"It will be absorbed by that being as nourishment." The master of the nest city followed Ke Lan's words, "Although the soul and body of the entire human civilization are not even mosquito legs to that being, they still talk about it. It's better than...I don't know how many civilizations that existence has devoured before it has such a powerful power."

"Have the Alphas succeeded in evolving or failed?" Ke Lan asked again, "With their technological level... they shouldn't be as good as those of the Familia, right?"

"Not only can't compare, it's simply far behind." The hive master sighed again, "Many hives were destroyed in the second disaster, and only a few people in the hives survived. Over the years, they gradually became like the Alpha people...but they are still far away from that existing Familia... According to calculations by scholars of the Alpha Civilization, the chance of them successfully evolving into a Familia is zero...it's not possible that it is zero. Almost zero, but, just zero... The ultimate destination of the entire civilization is to become the nourishment of that existence and be swallowed up. Moreover, even if a miracle happens and successfully becomes a dependent, it will only change from nourishment to a war between gods. Cannon fodder... In a war of that level, the Familia are being exterminated every moment... A weak Familia cannot even survive a war."