Droplets of condensed mist dripped onto moss-covered rocks, causing the rusty alloy panels to creak, and the rustling sounds in the shadows resembled beasts gnawing.

In Qiu Ridge's hand was the "Everlasting" torch, cautiously walking through the cabin wreckage of the Gemini Missile Cruiser, inspecting every corner and the areas available for exploration.

Ever since he stepped into these ruins under the guidance of the Ancestors, a whole week had passed.

During this week, he had searched almost every piece of scattered wreckage in this forest, yet he still hadn't found that legendary "Sacred artifact."

To be honest.

If it weren't for his devout reverence for the Ancestors, he couldn't help but begin to doubt whether the so-called sacred artifact truly existed.

Since he could remember, he had heard the elders in his tribe say that this palace, which fell from the sky, had existed since the beginning of the Awakening Era.

Back then, the Forbidden Forest was not as dangerous as it is now, and occasionally, people from the tribe would go to the "Heavenly Palace" to worship the ancestors, until the wildlife around grew in number and became increasingly dangerous, prompting them to move the worship place to the nearby mountain.

Logically speaking, if there really was a sacred artifact here, the ancestors of the Qiu Kingdom should have discovered it long ago, there was no reason to wait until now.

"Here, there's nothing either..."

After examining the last section of the cabin, Qiu Ridge crawled out from under the pitch-black alloy panel, climbed outside the wreckage, and placed the silver metal disc on his knee, devoutly awaiting the Ancestors' instructions.

Yet this time, even the voice of the Ancestors, which had always guided him forward, carried a hint of frustration.

"Where on earth could it be..."

Logically, it's impossible.

All the wreckage is here; it's impossible for the reactor alone to be missing.

No—

It's not that there's no possibility.

According to the report submitted by Night Ten, after the Second Judgment Day recorded in the Doma City Temple, the "Sinners," led by some Gemini Crew members, fought back to the Forbidden Forest Valley, expelling the survivors who had awakened their spiritual energy to the forest outside the valley.

Feeling the dejection on the other end of the communication channel, Qiu Ridge hurriedly consoled.

"Please don't be disheartened; there's still one last site left... possibly the sacred artifact you're searching for is there!"

He was also quite anxious in his heart, after all, his people were already clashing with the "defectors" in the forest.

Led by a chieftain named Tunnan, those scattered defectors in the forest were united like never before.

They claimed to have received the Ancestors' command, not only to reclaim the sacred artifact for the Ancestors but also to retake the sacred land lost at the dawn of the Awakening Era!

A massive army had already crossed the stream, forming around the Qiu Ridge area he once patrolled.

The people and brothers of Qiu Ridge's tribe were all there, including reinforcements from other clans.

If it weren't for the search for that sacred artifact, he would have wanted to immediately grab the "Divine Bow" granted by the Ancestors, ride his Wild Lizard, and rush back to the front lines to defend his home...

Looking at the young man whose face was full of confidence, Jiang Xuezhou remained speechless against time.

She certainly knew there was one last piece of "wreckage" remaining unexplored, but there couldn't possibly be a reactor in that place.

If you ask why, it's because that's the missile cruiser's bridge, the signal source of the black box...

That is probably the farthest place from the reactor.

She intended to retrieve the black box after finding the reactor and securing the remaining helium-3 inventory, resolving the concerns about fuel for going home.

After all, if you can't go back, recovering the black box would be meaningless.

"You're right, it's not time to give up yet." She took a deep breath, regaining her spirit, "I'll leave the last site to you... First, try to find an entrance into the ruins, and in a couple of days, someone will come to assist you."

Qiu Ridge respectfully replied.

"Understood."

...

The bridge of the Gemini Missile Cruiser was stuck to the side of a mountain, the entire semicircular steel structure completely overturned, leaning against the mountain.

Due to this odd position, the entire entrance to the ruins was suspended in mid-air, making it nearly impossible to climb in without some rock climbing skills.

Entering this ruin was already quite difficult, let alone exploring inside.

The horizontal corridors had all turned into slanting wells.

Moreover, as the Ancestors said, it was the least probable area to harbor the sacred artifact, so Qiu Ridge had not considered this most remote wreckage as his primary exploration target.

Yet now it seems that this most unlikely place might just become their last hope.

Using the vines hanging from the steep alloy wall, Qiu Ridge endured some thrilling climbs and finally reached the entrance of the Gemini bridge wreckage.

A flock of carnivorous birds had nested in this pitch-black opening. Seeing an intruder climbing up, they cawed and swooped down, tearing with claws and sharp beaks.

Caught unprepared, Qiu Ridge nearly fell from the opening. Fortunately, the light projected by the silver metal disc startled the birds, allowing him to seize the opportunity to roll into the hole, then drew a burning fuel rod and swung it, driving away the flock of carnivorous birds.

Watching the cawing birds fly away, Qiu Ridge finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Those beasts would surely come back.

He dared not linger long at the entrance, pulling out the rope bestowed by the Ancestors, he hung it up at a solid spot, then flipped into the slopelike upright corridor, exploring towards the interior of the bridge.

The situation here was a mess.

A lot of debris blocked the entrance, forcing him to descend while trying every means to clear the debris blocking the entrance.

However, during his task, he inadvertently discovered some suspicious details.

At the end of the shaft lay a pile of dark black charcoal.

Someone had lit a fire here!

"There are traces of someone's life here..."

Qiu Ridge pinched a cluster of charcoal residue with his index finger, rubbing it with his thumb, frowning slightly.

"It was left a long time ago."

As for exactly how long ago, he couldn't determine.

At this moment, the silver metal disc hanging on his chest emitted a faint blue beam, scanning the debris on the ground, then scanning the surroundings.

After a brief wait, the voice of the Ancestors drifted into his ears.

"It was left early in the Awakening Era. It should have been right after the Gemini... this palace crashed into the atmosphere."

Qiu Ridge's face showed surprise, not expecting the Ancestors to have such miraculous abilities.

But he was only surprised for a short while before his attention was quickly drawn to a half-open alloy door nearby.

A horizontally lying wooden stick supported the door panel, forming a convenient toggle structure.

He pressed down on the stick, then squeezed through the door gap sideways, entering the room's interior, holding the "Everlasting" torch to look around, soon being shocked by the layout inside.

This inverted room has been transformed into a living area, with wooden tables, chairs, and beds... shaped just like those in their tribe!

And much more refined than what they made!

Perhaps the objects from their tribe were actually learned from here!

"... This is the home of the ancestors." Qiu Ridge murmured to himself, moving the light in his hand and soon noticed the alloy wall covered in withered vines beside him.

Only to see that the rusted alloy walls were engraved with rows of text, yet unfortunately, he couldn't understand what was written.

Not to mention he couldn't understand it.

Even Jiang Xuezhou, sitting at the terminal on the synchronous orbit, couldn't understand it either.

The baptism of time had already rendered those characters blurred and distorted, the remaining scribbles akin to ghostly symbols... Perhaps it's not in the United Humanity's language at all, but some abstract pattern or inherently meaningless doodle.

"What's written here?"

Qiu Ridge asked softly, yet the silver disk hanging on his chest didn't respond.

It seems that even the ancestors had things they didn't know.

But just then, a gentle voice suddenly came from behind him.

"I saw Him."

Startled by the sudden voice, Qiu Ridge turned around abruptly, only to see a girl of similar age standing at the entrance he had previously passed through.

"Who?"

"Dora."

"How did you get in—" Qiu Ridge's words were suddenly halted as he squinted at her, "You're a defector."

Dora stared intently at him without speaking.

As the atmosphere between the two gradually stiffened, the silver metal disk hanging on Qiu Ridge's chest suddenly let out a light cough.

"Don't be agitated, I invited her."

The tense atmosphere relaxed a bit.

Though he hadn't completely let his guard down, Qiu Ridge indeed released his grip on the dagger he had already held.

Dora shifted her gaze from him to the wall behind him.

Following the rusted patterns, she found the first line of the poem and continued to recite softly like a dream.

"I wander in a maze without an exit, unable to find where to go. Until I look up, towards the sky."

"A pair of unseen eyes hide behind the clouds, staring at me for a long time. I finally saw Him, like gazing at the ever-changing clouds, while the clouds gaze at me, like looking at a living mural."

"Both of our faces showed surprise."

Qiu Ridge stared blankly at her, a look of confusion on his face.

"What are you talking about?"

Dora said in a tranquil voice.

"That's the message left by the ancestors, I can understand the symbols he left."

"These characters should form a poem... The poet might want to say that He is the cloud in the sky, we are the mural on the wall."

Qiu Ridge slowly swallowed his saliva, feeling a tingling sensation on his scalp.

He had heard from the elders in the tribe that the defectors in the forest were believers of the "Tree of Yenshof." And with the help of that tree, they could do some supernatural things.

But their abilities were just that.

No matter how rich their spiritual world was, it couldn't compensate for the defectors' shortcomings in the material realm.

Even if these fellows could talk to trees, they wouldn't withstand the fire and swords of Qiu Kingdom.

With the method left by the ancestors, Qiu Kingdom's national strength was thriving!

Sooner or later, they will be able to restore the prosperity before the Wasteland Era and return to the infinitely flourishing olden days!

And by then, these defectors will still be living on the trees!

However...

He had to admit this guy had some skills.

Even if he could "speak beast language," climbing up here wasn't easy.

As Qiu Ridge was thinking, Dora walked to the mural and reached out to fumble on the wall, soon finding the next section of the poem.

"We are all surprised, we wouldn't have met, yet by some mistake, we did."

"He smiled and told me, the exit is not far ahead, but it's useless to cross it, because there's another maze ahead, extending all the way to the end of the world, and I only have a little time left."

"I asked Him how I could float in the sky like Him, I pleaded Him to give me more time, but He laughed and left."

"This encounter had exhausted a lifetime's worth of time, both He and I knew we wouldn't meet again."

Having read the poem to the end, Dora paused for a while, showing a hint of puzzlement on her face.

"Poet, Qiu Shiye... Fifth tribe?"

"What does it mean?" Qiu Ridge asked urgently.

Dora shook her head.

"I don't know... Maybe it's the name of the ancestors?"

While saying this, she looked at the silver disk in her hand.

However, the silver disk did not make a sound, seemingly shaken by the story she translated.

Ancestors are often rather dull, always losing sound mid-speech, something she was already accustomed to, so she patiently waited.

But in contrast, the young man opposite her couldn't wait any longer.

Only then did he notice that she was also carrying something similar to him - the glowing treasure bestowed by the ancestors.

But these weren't the focus, Qiu Ridge was more concerned with the meaning of this message.

Especially when he heard the surname of that ancestor, he couldn't ignore it.

"I mean this poem! What exactly is he trying to express, is the exit of the maze at the end of the world? So we must search beyond the valley?"

Dora's brows furrowed slightly in worry.

"I don't know... I think perhaps the whole poem itself is what the ancestors wanted to express. He wants to say he is the person in the painting, He is the cloud in the sky. He has an uncertain and actually innumerable future, yet can't see the road ahead. He can see everything, but can do nothing, only floating in the sky and watching quietly."

Pausing for a moment, she continued.

"You are too obsessed with the sole result, not every matter has a single explanation."

Qiu Ridge stared at her, still wearing an expression of incomprehension.

In his understanding, everything in the world follows a set of precise laws, and even the inscrutable has its own rules.

And as they delve deeper, the part that is inscrutable will eventually become clearer.

Yet, this person told him that there is no singular explanation.

Perhaps this is why they and the defectors cannot reconcile, as their fundamental understanding of the world is inherently different.

"Perhaps, but I think I understand why, after so many years, we still can't understand each other..."

Qiu Ridge sighed softly, and a touch of relief suddenly appeared on his face.

Looking at the wall full of incomprehensible murals, he remained silent for a while before speaking.

"...But at least, we finally understand the revelations left by our Ancestors."

He paused, withdrawing his gaze from the mural and looking at the girl named Dora.

"I will lead my tribe to the end of the world, to explore farther lands... The Sacred Land is of no use to us anymore, and I will return it to you."

That was something he suddenly remembered.

A long time ago, before the Forbidden Forest became as perilous as it is now, every second Judgment Day of the year, the clans of the Qiu Kingdom would come to this relic to honor their ancestors.

And the Senate, it was during these ancestral rites that it was formed.

Since then, an unwritten legend has been passed down in the Qiu Kingdom.

Their ancestor, the Ancestor with the surname Qiu, left a prophecy for them in the relic.

Whoever could decipher that prophecy would become the leader of the Qiu Kingdom! The "King" who rules all tribes!

Now, under the guidance of the Ancestors, he has come here, and the Senate has witnessed the miracles shown by the silver metal disc in his hand.

Once he leaves here with the information from the murals, he will be the undisputed king of the Qiu Kingdom!

"But where is the end of the world?"

Dora looked at Qiu Ridge, her crescent-shaped eyes carrying a trace of gentle reluctance.

"Since the Ancestors came from the heavens, even if you measure the Earth with your steps, there are worlds beyond the Earth... which you can't reach just by walking."

To devote one's whole life to something so seemingly pointless seemed pitiful to her.

In truth, there was another choice: to accept one another, to become a family again.

However, this was merely her thought.

What seemed meaningless to her might not be so to others.

Moreover, he recognized the reality.

They were destined to be different.

"Then I will walk to the end of my lifespan, to where I can go," Qiu Ridge said with a faint smile, without hesitation, continuing, "As for the worlds beyond, my descendants will see them for me."

This was his destiny.

It was the destiny of all "Qiu people."

They were born to travel to distant lands, to seek the world's end!

Just like their Ancestors.

The world he could not see, he and his descendants would see in his stead!

Dora silently observed the boy before her, ultimately saying nothing more.

As she had said herself, not everything has a singular understanding.

Everything operates under its own rules, but whether it has "meaning" is for people to decide.

What he understood was his "meaning," and that was the "self" that the "Qiu people" had long sought but never found.

Suddenly, she could no longer see his future.

Unbeknownst to her, the connection between them had quietly disappeared.

Qiu Ridge looked solemnly at the girl in front of him and nodded slightly.

That was the highest courtesy in this forest and valley, apart from bowing.

"Thank you for telling me my Ancestor's name, and the words on the tombstone... We will not meet again."

After speaking, he removed the silver metal disc hanging around his neck and gently placed it on the table beside him.

He had fulfilled his promise, searching the entire Silent Forest for the last relic.

If it was not here, it could only mean that the Sacred object was never here from the start.

As for now, he must save his people and lead them out of this valley!

Dora watched his back until he disappeared behind the half-open door.

Her intuition told her that things might not be so absolute, and their descendants would meet again.

But that would be countless millennia in the future...

...

In synchronous orbit, on the bridge of the Orion Missile Cruiser, Jiang Xuezhou, sitting in front of the terminal, took a deep breath and remained silent for a long time.

"The fifth tribe..."

What fifth tribe...

It was clearly "Five Departments"!

As for that Qiu Shiye, perhaps he was like Wu Xinghuan of the Orion, a physicist of the Five Departments.

Only the former's actions were clearly much stronger; not only did he lead a group of Primitive Men without awakened Spiritual Energy to burn down the first "Sacred Tree," but he also nearly wiped out the Spiritually Awakened Ones supporting another group of crew members.

This guy was definitely a madman!

The Gemini might have been crashed by him to destroy that "Sacred Tree"!

Of course, he might not have intended to truly wipe out those Spiritually Awakened Ones, since many "defectors" had fled into the forest and developed into today's forest tribes.

If he had truly intended to exterminate them, he would not have needed to give specific orders; he could have merely turned a blind eye.

With the cruelty and savagery of the Primitive Men, it was impossible for them to leave any survivors.

Even in the early days of slavery, slaves were not primarily used as labor but as human sacrifices and living offerings.

As for the local people's so-called "Second Judgment Day," "You come from the sky"… and other prophecies from the Tree of Yenshof, they were probably all "spoilers" told by It to those who could hear Its whispers.

Of course, limited by their perspectives, those primitive humans could only understand so much.

Jiang Xuezhou remembered that Night Ten's report mentioned that the crew of the Gemini had clearly explained it using dimensional theory.

However, since those primitives couldn't understand the concept of dimensions, they voluntarily abandoned those overly advanced theories and instead used primitive worship and more abstract concepts of "higher existence" to understand the Tree of Yenshof.

This has already become a typical case of failed enlightenment.

"The clouds in the sky, the paintings on the wall... So abstract, was he trying to express that it was a higher-dimensional being? Or just that it was an outsider..."

Thinking of an old man curled up in the ruins, writing poems on a steel plate with a green crystal, Jiang Xuezhou suddenly felt some sympathy for the guy.

In the last moments of his life, he probably went crazy, even forgetting he was a physicist.

Of course, this information might not even have been left for the "Earth people" but for the locals who would visit these ruins later — or even for the descendants of those spiritual energy Awakeners he once drove into the forest.

The poem not being written in the United Human language is the most direct evidence.

Perhaps it was out of repentance after a sudden realization, or perhaps it was due to helplessness and compromise with reality. In any case, his choice was understandable since, from his perspective, the situation on Earth might not be any more optimistic than here on Gaia.

Jiang Xuezhou tried to deduce it from his perspective.

The 17 crew members who left the Gemini were clearly against the "End War" plan.

And from their perspective, the "End War" plan might have already succeeded. The Gemini crew, who "predicted Orion's prediction," had uploaded the virus to Orion's shipboard server, reshuffling Earth's ecosystem.

No one could have imagined that an unknown electrical engineer would pull the switch at the last moment, delaying the "End War" plan by 215 years.

If this deduction is correct, then from Dr. Qiu Shiye's standpoint, the little green people on Gaia planet are the only bloodline humanity has left in this universe.

He could only use more understandable pictograms to leave the information he spent his whole life deciphering to future archaeologists before his life ended.

Revisiting this buried history left Jiang Xuezhou with a complex mood.

She managed to recover Dr. Qiu Shiye's research results, but the most crucial reactor was missing.

"... Did they move that thing away? That's too strange."

Staring at the image on the holographic screen, Jiang Xuezhou murmured to herself.

The youth named Qiu Ling had already left, and she did not try to stop him.

Because there was no need.

Since he was determined to leave with his tribesmen, this prehistoric war of the primitives would presumably come to an end soon.

The Forest People would return to their Sacred Land to declare victory, and the Valley People would embark on a migration journey with the Ancestor's parable. This planet is vast, and their futures are bright.

Next, Tunnan would probably personally apologize to Night Ten and then scour the entire forest for the missing reactor and the helium-3 reserves on it.

If they still couldn't find it in the end, they would just have to prepare to spend their remaining days on this unfamiliar planet.

They couldn't count on primitives to refine helium-3 for them.

"Honorable Ancestor... What should we do now?" Dora, standing in front of the silver metal disc, was full of confusion and hesitation.

She vaguely sensed that she might have successfully helped her tribe avoid a bloodied conclusion and even reclaimed their Sacred Land without bloodshed.

But there were still too many things she didn't understand.

Including that poem.

Including the murals and clouds described in that poem.

Sitting in front of the terminal, Jiang Xuezhou took a sip of her coffee but didn't say much to her.

Sometimes being too smart isn't necessarily a good thing.

Like that youth named Qiu Ling, it's just right — smart enough, and he grasped just the right amount from those murals.

That's the best outcome.

"You all don't think too much; primitives should do what primitives do. If I have one piece of advice for you, it would be to spend some time researching astronomy, figuring out a calendar, and then thinking about your language and creating some writing."

"Even if you've decided to abandon writing and language in the future, I think it's best to invent them first. Otherwise, before you find a stable method to awaken spiritual energy, you might get eliminated by competitors on this same planet."

Did I say too much?

This should have been something they concluded themselves from the twists of history.

But now it seems these words have no significant meaning.

Jiang Xuezhou lightly coughed, interrupting Dora's thoughts.

"...Enough of that, do me a favor and tell your leader. Say the Judgment Arrow is already on the bowstring. If he doesn't want to see Doma City's Sacred Tree turn to ashes in the flames, hold off for seven days and let those 'sinners' leave... This is the punishment for his arrogant captivity of the Ancestor."

She could never actually fire neutron torpedoes at a group of innocent civilians, but strategic intimidation was no problem.

The people in the valley were going to withdraw anyway, and Tunnan had no need to take such risks after weighing the pros and cons.

Dora noted this advice and hurriedly continued to ask.

"Can... you take me to the sky?"

She knew this was a presumptuous request, but she couldn't help but bring it up.

The future king of the Qiu people had grasped the Qiu people's mission from that poem, and she had also grasped something for herself.

They were to go to the world's end, conquer the maze beneath their feet, and find the exit of the maze.

While the children of the Tree of Yenshof were to go to the sky and become the clouds floating above the maze.

Hearing that pleading voice, Jiang Xuezhou yawned.

She could guess what Dora was thinking.

This little girl probably committed a metaphysical error, mistaking the ancestor from the sky as the cloud mentioned in the poem.

But actually, it wasn't the case at all.

They were also people of the maze, just that they had gone further, so, as a primitive, it seemed like they were standing in the clouds.

There was no "Tree of Yenshof" on Earth, and whether there would be one in the future, no one knew. But at least in the foreseeable future, the Waste Land Wanderers who inherited the United Human's legacy would likely put more energy into the material maze.

However, if she herself had that desire, taking her back to Earth might be a good choice.

At least, this could help the reborn human civilization understand other dimensions beyond itself and the new rules they originally didn't know.

Thinking of this, Jiang Xuezhou felt a slight stir within and showed a mischievous smile.

Since it's a decided matter, why not test someone at this opportunity?

"Ahem, going to the sky isn't that easy... but in light of your sincerity, I'll mercifully point you in the right direction."

"That ancestor imprisoned by your chieftain is actually quite an extraordinary figure. He can decide who to take away from the mortal world."

"If you truly want to go to the sky, just go and ask him for help!"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.