Chapter 521: The Origin of the Ghost Clan |
The moment the voice appeared, Ju Ling wasted no time and fired a shot.
However, after that initial sound, there was nothing. The bullet remained suspended in front of a spherical barrier, unable to progress any further.
Not only Ju Ling, but Lily's supernatural abilities were also unleashed, and Yun Ru's Earthbreaker came crashing down. Yet, all three of their attacks were blocked.
"It seems like our three guests are a bit tense. Don't worry; I won't harm you," the voice from within the sphere sounded gentle, seemingly unconcerned about their impudence.
Yun Ru stared closely at the sphere. It appeared to be an ordinary metal sphere, except for the fact that it could hover in mid-air, which was quite peculiar.
"What are you, an artificial intelligence or the consciousness of a Qiluo Civilization individual?" Yun Ru inquired directly.
The sphere swayed lazily in the air, and its voice carried a hint of surprise. "You all seem to know about the Qiluo Civilization. It appears you didn't accidentally stumble in here. I must say, I'm quite intrigued. How did you breach the spatial barrier outside?"
Yun Ru pondered for a moment. "So, that's called a spatial barrier, huh? Regardless of what it is, as long as it exceeds a certain energy threshold, it will vanish."
"You're not wrong in theory, but surpassing the energy threshold of a spatial barrier is not something you few are capable of," the sphere seemed perplexed, emitting occasional faint glimmers.
"You haven't answered my question yet," Yun Ru reminded.
The sphere seemed to recall and cleared its throat before replying, "You can call me Taru. I'm an ordinary researcher from the Qiluo Civilization."
Yun Ru remained noncommittal. How could an ordinary researcher have survived until now?
Keep in mind that within the Earth's sanctuaries, not even a surviving consciousness existed. To claim that there was no such technology in the core Earth region was hardly plausible.
This researcher raised questions.
Without the need for further words, Ju Ling and Lily had remained cautious of the sphere from the beginning.
"So, Taru, why are you the only one left here? Where are the others?" Yun Ru asked nonchalantly.
"Before I tell you, would you mind hearing a story?" Taru began without waiting for Yun Ru and her companions to respond.
Initially, they were among the first humans to migrate to Yan Yun Star after the Qiluo Civilization discovered it. At that time, Yan Yun Star had no sentient lifeforms. They adhered to the principles of the Qiluo Civilization, refraining from actively invading planets with sentient life and not interfering with the natural development of planets devoid of sentience. At most, they extracted some specimens for their experiments.
For a short time, there were no issues. However, as centuries passed, some individuals began to harbor ulterior motives. One person proposed that they could try to promote the evolution of life on Yan Yun Star, in the hope of witnessing sentient life during their lifetime.
Initially, this proposal was rejected, but after several centuries, it resurfaced and, frustratingly, gained a slight advantage.
Most of the people here were relatively innocent researchers, interested solely in scientific pursuits, unaware of the implications of this research. Moreover, at the time, the Qiluo Civilization was primarily focused on achieving high-ranking status among humans, making a planet like Yan Yun Star, devoid of sentient life, easily overlooked. No one outside knew what was happening here.
This research continued for over a thousand years. With each generation of researchers' efforts, they eventually succeeded in accelerating the evolution of a quadrupedal primate, using various methods, until it became a... Ghost Clan!
Yes, the Ghost Clan was not a natural race born on Yan Yun Star but rather an artificial creation of the Qiluo Civilization. In general, such races were referred to as sub-human races.
In other words, they were roughly similar to humans but had internal differences, all classified as sub-human races.
The successful emergence of the Ghost Clan made them realize that they had become creators themselves. These researchers were excited to the point of madness.
They immediately embarked on the next phase of their research, which was to create Ghost Clan individuals of different genders and allow them to reproduce naturally on Yan Yun Star, while their task was to observe their daily lives.
However, the first generation of Ghost Clan members lacked intelligence and were far inferior in physical constitution compared to the native beasts. They could not survive independently on Yan Yun Star without covert assistance.
They realized that this approach was unsustainable and adopted a different plan—casting a wide net.
They created a large number of Ghost Clan individuals, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, and released them directly onto Yan Yun Star, allowing them to fend for themselves. They could even create an entirely new Ghost Clan from a single cell, and the deaths of these Ghost Clan members did not matter to them.
The Qiluo Civilization's technology was far superior to that of the Red Alert Base, and their cloning technology had overcome many limitations, almost becoming a perfect technology. The cloned individuals had the same lifespan and characteristics as the originals, making it impossible to distinguish between them.
Taru was one of the researchers involved in the plan. At first, he was somewhat opposed to the plan, but when it succeeded, he was delighted. However, gradually, he felt that something was amiss. Some people who had previously been close to him were distancing themselves from him. He couldn't understand it and wondered if he had alienated those around him.
Then, one evening, he overheard a secret.
Many researchers were no longer who they used to be; they were all clones!
The moment Taru heard this secret, he was nearly frightened to death. He finally sensed that something was wrong. Clones were identical to their originals in every aspect except for one—they couldn't replicate memories!
Memories resided in the human soul, and even with the Qiluo Civilization's capabilities, they couldn't interfere with the soul. At most, they could only tamper with consciousness.
However, every citizen of the Qiluo Civilization was implanted with a chip from birth. This chip could assist them in their research and, most importantly, protect their consciousness!
As long as the consciousness survived, with the Qiluo Civilization's technology, they could completely create a new body and resurrect themselves!
In other words, death was not the end within the Qiluo Civilization.
It might sound impressive, not having to fear death, but in reality, no one wanted to die even once. (To be continued)
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