The Record of Unusual Creatures
chapter-647

Chapter 647: After Dusk

The Denizens of the Stars—that was what the humans called these mysterious beings from deep space. In Holletta, the ancient mage emperors called them “allies from the stars”. These mysterious beings had their own name for their race. However, due to their unusual language and vocabulary structure, ordinary races had difficulty in accurately translating the name of the race, literally or figuratively. So, those who had met this mysterious race had chosen to call them according to their own customary way.

The image of the Denizens of the Stars was an amorphous beam of bright light where stars and lightning abound. Some believed that the most primitive and purest light of the universe formed these creatures, which represented purity and the light of the world. They either possessed weird technologies, which no human could ever comprehend, or just magic, which they used to create all sorts of miracles. Some people even believed that the Denizens of the Stars possessed some kind of power beyond the physical world, thus they could affect fate, karma and things like that. The Denizens of the Stars initially established communication with humans on the planet through a spiritual connection. They then came to the planet through a strange optical phenomenon beyond the laws of Physics. They soon demonstrated their incredible power, strength, and quality.

The Denizens of the Stars had warned the locals of the First Born’s awakening and informed them of a catastrophe beyond their imagination, which could overturn the entire universe. At first, the humans on the planet did not believe in these warnings, but the Denizens of the Stars quickly proved everything through a series of precise predictions and the excavation of the First Born’s tentacles from deep underground. They helped the indigenous people on the planet prepare for the catastrophe. This included coming up with plans to go up against the First Born and a special shield to protect the planet once the sun exploded—all these things came from the hands of the unique and glorious creatures.

“That’s to say, they came to this planet from the deep universe, gave you an early warning, guided you to transform the planet into an ark, helped you kick the First Born into the sun and blew it up, and also helped you build a planetary shield—all things that were beyond what your science and technology could do,” said Hao Ren after he listened to the narrative of the ark’s host. His brows were knitted together. “…Yet, they still failed. The Denizens of the Stars did not know that the First Born’s soul could continue to survive after the death of its body and have the capacity to destroy the entire ecosystem. So, what happened to the Denizens of the Stars?”

“They went back into the light,” the ark’s host replied with a monotoned voice and showed a visual of the planet’s last moment on a nearby machine. Hao Ren saw a thin and dim red glow shrouding the planet as the distant sun expanded rapidly before shattering into dust. People on the planet seemed to be holding a celebration. However, when the sun expanded to a third of the sky, the celebrating crowd began to fall down one after another.

At this time, a few strange lights burst out from the crowd. Dots of light were in what seemed like twisted lightning and jelly, reminding one of the interior of a house. The lights shuddered violently towards the sky before they eventually disappeared into huge beams of light.

Those lights were the Denizens of the Stars. Hao Ren believed that the last beams of light were their last moments before their death.

The allies from the stars—the ancient people of Holletta believed that these mysterious creatures from the deep universe would help them against the First Born, as they seemed to possess powers beyond the normal mortal race; at least, they had the means to kill the First Born’s flesh. However, it turned out that such level of strength was still not enough, and the Denizens of the Stars died on the ark planet.

The visual froze at the scene where the light beams disappeared. Vivian looked at the screen thoughtfully. “This light-like race was like a rescuer in space. Although their aerospace technology was very advanced and they could probably protect themselves from the First Born’s attacks, in terms of helping other races, I’m afraid, they were less than successful.”

Hao Ren sighed and asked the ark’s host several questions. The truth of the incident had finally come to light.

The original plan of the Denizens of the Stars and the planet’s indigenous peoples was to escape with the ark after they had used the sun to destroy the First Born. Then, they would find a habitable zone for the planet. However, on the day they were about to set sail, the civilization was exterminated all of sudden. For more than 10,000 years, the planet quietly slept in its home galaxy, dead. But there were still other “living” things on the planet—the machines left behind by the humans still waited silently in the darkness. They had never forgotten the purpose of their existence; they had never given up on the 10,000-year-old ancient plan.

During the planet’s 10,000-year slumber, the ark’s host kept its operations minimal while it scanned the planet repeatedly for signs of life—it continuously searched for survivors on the planet under the guidance of the established procedures. Even if only one person survived, it was significant to the ark’s existence.

If it had been humans, they would have given up long ago. But these machines, from the day they were created, had never known the meaning of giving up.

Now, all was clear to Vivian. “The Nangongs restarted the ark’s sailing protocol?”

The ark’s host replied in an affirmative manner.

“So, the TV, newspapers, s, names of people and places… All these details of human society were just a simulation?”

The ark’s host responded with a sentence, “The civilization of the creator must live on.”

Hao Ren felt that the host’s understanding of “civilization” seemed to be a little problematic, but he did not know if he was in any position to correct the “problem”. The machine before him was only using its programmed logic to accomplish its mission. It may not have really understood what a civilization was and what the creators wanted to preserve. No AI could understand the abstract will of humans. The ark’s host did not understand all of these things.

However, it carried out its old directives stubbornly for 10,000 years—by the way of a machine.

“So, you’re not going to let the people in the city leave.” Hao Ren sighed. “But, you also know that we’re not your creators—it doesn’t make much sense for you to take us with you.”

The ark’s host remained silent for a long while before it repeated the same sentence with an emotionless voice, “The civilization of the creator must live on.”

“What’s your next plan?” asked Vivian. “You got us to come here. This proves that you’re also hesitant. You actually understand that you can’t continue to maintain this stalemate—it’s an illusion. It’s meaningless.”

Hao Ren also stared at the supercomputer in the center of the rotunda. Although he could not see any emotions in the host’s steel body, he could vaguely feel that the AI was now as confused as a human. Something that did not belong to its system was prompting it to seek change.

After a long silence, the ark’s host asked, “Where are you from?”

“You have antennae on the surface, right? Point them to space where there’s a silver-white spaceship,” Hao Ren said, connecting to the MDT telepathically. “MDT, start a transmission to the planet. Tell it about the Space Administration.”

The lights on the ark’s host flickered as it listened quietly to the broadcast from space. Hao Ren and Vivian waited patiently next to it. A few minutes later, a human sigh came from the host. “Now I understand.”

Half an hour later, Hao Ren and the others were back on board the Petrachelys in space.

He only brought back two things from the ark planet.

One of them was a square, black metal box, which was half-a-man tall. It was a library containing most of the information on the ark’s civilization. The ark’s host had tried its best to understand what civilization meant and eventually developed the necessary database, hoping that someday, someone would take it to a faraway place. Just like most civilizations when they were faced with extinction, the ark chose to leave a message behind. It was the only way to commemorate its creator.

The other thing was a foot-high transparent jar filled with some greyish-green substance. This was the second thing the ark’s host hoped that Hao Ren would take away: they were mosses, which had been scraped off the condensation tubes.

It was a sample of organic life on the planet.

The ark explained, “Some of the creator-scholars had extrapolated the failure of the entire plan and envisioned some alternatives: if they couldn’t keep humans, they would save some animals. If they couldn’t keep animals, they would save some plants. If all of them could not be saved, they would save some cells. Please take these samples away. Let them survive and spread out, then my mission will be completed.”

The Petrachelys, shrouded in a blue glow, slowly left the ark planet’s orbit. The greyish-white, rogue planet slowly disappeared from their view.

In the ark’s sanctuary, lights began to dim as the day was now over. After dusk, another civilization would fall into the darkness for good. Unmanned vehicles slowly parked themselves on the side of the streets, while robots stopped working and began to shut down one after another. On the electronic billboards of buildings, a uniformed and middle-aged man with gray hair looked at the empty city, delivering his last good night greeting to his world. “Citizens, the sanctuary will soon be closed. Thank you, everyone. Goodbye.”

When the space warp obscured the last light in space, everyone began to turn their gazes away from the holographic image. Rollie curiously looked at the black metal box, which Hao Ren had brought back with him. She went up to it and pushed her head against the box. “It’s so heavy.”

Hao Ren sighed. “Yes, heavy indeed.”