We met the ship boss on the "Grass Ark" and the tree elf observer stationed here by the empire at the customs office of the civilian star port: this observer reported the parts of the ghost ship.
This civilian star port has a large number of modular customs offices. Every spaceship that docks here for more than a week can apply for such a free office, which is used to handle official business and transfer various information with the empire management department. Of course, it can also Used as a place for business negotiations: Many "special" merchant ships that travel through the macro world complete trade activities directly on the star port. They run from one star port to another, and their warehouses are always filled with the goods that are in the long-term flow. They are middlemen and transporters, and they never leave their spaceship or set foot on any planet except during the outage period. . This kind of alien merchants call themselves "Starship Dao Lord" and their slogan is "We don't produce resources, we are just porters of nature" - but these starship merchants have nothing to do with these forest elves, I am curious about these forest elves What's the point of applying for such an office? Although they meet the application requirements, as businessmen, they have no goods, no information to hand over, and no need to receive any business partners. Such an office seems to have nothing for such a group of poor businessmen. significance.
To my question, the boss of the merchant ship who looked no different from other mimosas replied shamelessly: "Anyway, it's not for nothing, my ship and cargo are all gone, why don't you allow me to take advantage of it here? "
At that time, I felt that the first batch of profiteers who started trading in the macro world were all printed from the same mold: I saw the shadow of the hawker queen of the Fiali Empire from this mimosa.
Sandora is learning about the ghost ship with the tree elf who is the observer, and I am curiously observing the boss of the forest spirit ship in front of me: since I saw the nagging mimosa last time in Shadow City, I have a feeling for this race. I became interested, and then I also learned about the ins and outs of this group of forest spirits in various online resident communities in Shadow City. As a result, the more I learned, the more curious I became: How did this strange race come into being
Lin Jing is a new race from the edge of the macro world. It was less than a year ago that they had official exchanges with the empire. Before this month, they were all engaged in short-term trade in remote areas, and they had never been exposed in the empire area. face to face. These perennial herbaceous plants have civilized intelligence and a higher level of technological civilization. They have studied their own universe thoroughly, but they still don't know how to jump out of their own world. Self-guided tours are completed by purchasing spaceships from other civilizations or applying for public portals. This kind of strange race that looks like a plant, but is actually composed of plants and mechanical parts confuses people who know them for the first time. The first appearance also aroused the curiosity of many people, because according to normal logic, such a race that has not yet been able to evolve natural limbs (or other functions that allow them to have mobility) and communication organs is impossible Started on the road to becoming a higher civilization: they could not make the first tool, nor could they form the first class and conscious group. Without the assistance of those mechanical components, forest spirits can only rely on their roots to carry out extremely slow and limited actions, and they will also lose their language ability. Even if they communicate with their own race, they can only rely on inefficient and vague plant pheromone communication. In other words, forest elves who lose those mechanical limbs and auxiliary plug-ins will become creatures that are only a little higher than plants: they still retain the ability to think, but they cannot move, cannot speak, and no one knows about their swollen petioles What a clever little idea going on down there.
This has not changed throughout the evolutionary history of Lin Jing: they have always been unable to escape from their mechanical bodies.
So how exactly did they get started on the evolutionary path to becoming a higher civilization? Or to put it bluntly: how did they get the first mechanical prosthetic and pass it on to the next generation
The reason for this is strange and rare: the original spirits were really just pets created by another race.
"We call them 'Father'" Boss Lin Jingchuan jumped up and down on the desk briskly, his voice, posture, appearance and various habits, in my opinion, are not the same as the mimosa I saw two days ago Any difference" This title is exclusive to the creator, because the forest spirit is hermaphrodite, and there is no concept of parents in our race, the name 'father' comes from the civilization of the creator. They are very intelligent, and the first to light bonfires on our planet— Oh, a great civilization. They found forest spirits, and planted us in their corners: at first only to improve the air in their houses. Then one of the greatest scientists of these great men, on a whim, put electrodes It was a historic day on Lin Jing, who was connected to the decoding equipment in his home: that also great Lin Jing—we call him the eldest son, this name also comes from the creator—he said to the scientist: Thank you, in this way Thank you for watering every day, these two words are displayed on the screen of 'Father', so someone finally discovered Lin Jing's thinking ability. After a long time, the 'fathers' mastered the normal communication with Lin Jing and knowing that we have been silently thinking for the past few hundred years, primitive though it is, verging on somniloquy and sluggish thinking hallucinations, the 'fathers' still seem delighted."
I couldn't help but interrupted the other party when I heard this: "By the way, your creators don't have any conspiracy theories or anything? For example, they are worried that another intelligent race that will appear on their planet will compete with them. Lots of stories like that."
"Oh, yes, but this idea soon proved to be a joke." The boss of Lin Jingchuan spread his branches very figuratively, imitating the movement of human beings spreading their hands "Lin Jing needs to be planted in the soil, our favorite thing is just right We don't need any wealth in the hands of 'fathers', on the contrary, forest spirits are indispensable plants on the planet of 'fathers', and 100% of the gas breathed by 'fathers' Eighty-five is from Lin Jing, the two races will not plunder each other’s treasures, the waste we don’t use is the other’s survival resources, smart people know that we don’t need to compete—I know what you mean by the earth place, will people on earth worry that too much food and air will crowd out their living space?"
Me: "...that's true."
"In short, the 'fathers' transformed Lin Jing." The short legs of the boss of the boat ran quickly on the table. Then we were fitted with mechanical multifunctional [limbs]: they could serve as legs as well as hands. Lin Jing and the 'fathers' lived happily together, and it was a good day."
I was just casually asking the other party about the ins and outs of this strange race, but I didn't expect this story to be so interesting, so I couldn't help urging him to continue: "And then? Where is your creator?"
Boss Lin Jingchuan's mood suddenly sank, and even the leaves hung listlessly on the table: "A group of bandits came, bandits five light-years away. They are a group of guys who do all kinds of evil among the stars. Resources from planet to planet, these bandits invaded the planets of the 'fathers', and after a fierce battle, they won."
"The 'fathers' were genetically wiped out by the bandits, and they all died after a generation, but Lin Jing survived. This is because when the war was about to collapse, the 'fathers' modified all the databases, and they erased Lin Jing has traces of advanced intelligence, and then let us pretend to be family pets and plants in nature with simple thinking ability. The robbers did not think of this, and they also need smart servants like Lin Jing to help them The atmosphere of the planet, so Lin Jing survived."
Now the forest elves are not only still alive, but also become one of the active races in the macro world, which shows that they still killed their enemies after all, but how did these seemingly weak plants take revenge? Especially in the era mentioned by the boss of the ship, the forest elves did not have any weapons in their hands. This kind of revenge is really incredible to me.
"It took a long time" the boss of Lin Jingchuan jumped on the spot "Seven hundred years, we have spent seven hundred years preparing for revenge. We have no weapons, no bases, no place to hide, not even the robbers Showing high intelligence in front of them: Only in this way can they continue to relax their vigilance. On the surface, the forest spirits seem to have nothing, but we have a way of revenge—evolution and plant pheromones. Forest spirits can use plant pheromones for basic communication, and even exchange their own Genetic fragments or cooperate to create new chemical substances, we can control the direction of our evolution, and let ourselves produce toxins through purposeful and subtle mutations from generation to generation. It took us five hundred years to slowly change ourselves and make our organelles To start secreting a seemingly innocuous small molecular compound—those bandits have superb interstellar navigation and weapons technology, but their biochemical and genetic technology is only average, this is the perfect opportunity."
I have been completely attracted by the story of the spirit of the forest. I didn’t expect that these seemingly weak plants have such a history. However, I still can’t imagine how they let themselves evolve toxins to complete their revenge: the goal of the spirit of the forest should be It's not just as simple as poisoning a few enemies, this is racial hatred, and they need a larger-scale victory.
"It's very simple," said the ship's boss seriously (if gathering all the leaves means seriousness), "We make ourselves nutritious, easy to digest, and cater to the tastes of those robbers."
I was dumbfounded.
"For the next two hundred years, the forest essence became a delicacy that the robbers scrambled to taste, and we also evolved some other gadgets to make ourselves look like [medicine] with health effects, and the robbers were addicted to it , everyone is addicted to it, and eventually forest spirits become their national [people] staple food: the toxin accumulates in their [body], takes three generations to take effect slowly, and then erupts once, those stupid things can't think of plants Revenge can endure for so long, so it has nothing to do with the food that I have eaten for two hundred years: they lose their fertility, and gradually lose the ability to think logically. Those robbers try to use cloning to continue their race, but as long as they eat Things can’t escape these toxins. In the end, those who can manipulate the cloning equipment also died, and only the monkeys drooling on their toes came out of the training chamber—Lin Jing spent seven hundred years preparing, and finally used three Appreciating all of this for a hundred years, this is our story."
You can guess what happened after that: we survived like this, and continued civilization with the mechanical limbs left by the 'fathers'. Every newborn forest spirit must accept this transformation, the mechanical The body accompanies each Lin Jing's life. Praise the 'father', praise the eldest son, and no one dares to underestimate the Lin Jing: once the plant's revenge begins, it will not end. "
I stared blankly at the boss of the ship Lin Jing, who seemed to have no worries at all, with a cheerful tone, and suddenly understood what was going on with these creatures who could still think of "a little bit of cheapness" after the ship was destroyed. : They will not be sad, they will not be in trouble, they will not be overwhelmed by any short-term difficulties, yes, for such a tolerant and patient race, they only need to be full of energy forever and open every cluster of leaves It is enough to meet the sun.
"In this place, it is a tradition for ship bosses from different worlds to introduce the glorious history of their race and civilization to each other." At this time, the conversation between Sandora and the tree elf observer also came to an end, and the tall and thin tree elf turned Turning around, it turns out that he also heard the conversation here just now. "The story of Lin Jing is the most exciting one, but the only problem is that these Lin Jing like to tell others: I have heard their stories six times. If you want me to recite it backwards for you..."
I:"… "
Well, you can imagine this point. After all, the Mimosa that I met two days ago is a guy who doesn’t distinguish between simple and traditional. Lin Jing’s way of thinking seems to be different from other races. Once they communicate with others, they will I will list all the content that comes to my mind regardless of priority. When you first contact with it, you will feel that Lin Jing is hospitable and easy to communicate with, but after a long time of contact, you will feel that these perennial herbs are a bit noisy. But no matter what, I also talked to that broken reminder from Starfield, and I can accept Lin Jing's slightly talkative nature. The degree of self-circulation...
"Let's talk about the business first." I turned my attention away from Lin Jing's matter, and seeing the relaxed look on Sandora's face, I knew that the matter of the ghost ship was basically settled. "That part is confirmed to have fallen from the ghost ship." gone?"
"Sure, this is it." Sandora said, and handed over a small cylindrical metal object. This object is less than a foot long, thick and thin like an egg, and one end is still broken. Its size is larger than I expected. It's still small: When I first heard that the ghost ship crash debris was found on the "Grass Ark", I thought it was a big thing.
"I just identified it. This is an external sensor that is common on imperial spaceships. Its manufacturing age is in line with expectations. It is a relic from the heyday of the old empire." Sandora said while handing the sensor to Xiaoxue. Things, combined with Xiaoxue's prophecy ability, should be able to pinpoint where the ghost ship will appear next time."
"My mother should be safer in doing this." Xiaoxue took the metal pillar and muttered.
"Your mother just came back from a business trip, let her rest for two days." I squinted at this picky brat, "And you are almost growing rice bugs at home. If you don't move around, I'm worried that you will be rusted in front of the TV."
Xiaoxue grinned at me, and finally grabbed the broken sensor probe and closed her eyes to concentrate. She will go back to the information thread of this item and find other components that have spent more than 100,000 years with it. It is a process that is difficult for others to understand. If you have to explain it, it is equivalent to taking a leaf and going to the forest to find the tree it once belonged to. This sounds like an impossible task, but you must know that everything born in the void is in a huge ocean of information, and there is no exception. The eyes of the prophet can look down on all the things from the step below the void. Derivatives that spread out: Although it seems a bit unbelievable to sort out a ghost ship from such a huge amount of information, Xiaoxue has her own special method.
Sandora and I waited silently for a few minutes, during which the boss of Lin Jingchuan ran to chat with the observer, and finally Xiaoxue suddenly opened her eyes: "I found it."
"Where is it?" Sandora and I said in unison.
"Three days later, in the watch world of the capital, over a red dwarf star more than three million light-years away from the earth." Xiaoxue returned the metal pillar to Sandora. Yes, occasionally it will drift to a desolate place, but its stay in these desolate places is usually very short, so short that even the radar station of the empire has no time to scan them. This time the ghost ship will stop there Three seconds."
Three seconds... This is really short enough.
Sandora didn't care much: "That's enough, let's send people over to set up a siege net first, and three seconds is enough for the gravitational well to start up. Xiaoxue, is that ship armed?"
"Not armed." Xiaoxue shook her head, "But it's hard to say whether there are any in the boat. There are too many information to jump at once, and it looks vague."
Sandora and I waved our hands indifferently: It's not bad to be able to locate the location and time of the ghost ship's upcoming appearance, but this brat Xiaoxue is unambiguous when he gets down to business.
At this time, the boss of Lin Jingchuan had already grabbed the star port observer again, and was chattering enthusiastically: "Hey, let me tell you about my adventures back then..."
I suddenly felt that it would be better to leave this place earlier... Could it be that these forest spirits believe in the Dragon God?