Chapter 1009: The Insov Tree

Chapter 1009: The Yinsuo Tree

Two hundred years of history cannot be summed up in a few words, especially when the survivors on this planet have not only forgotten the language of the Human Federation but have even lost their written script.

Yet what astonished Night Ten was that, even though these forest dwellers were practically illiterate, they still recorded their culture and history in their own way.

Those were cracks etched into the roots of the sacred tree, angular lines that covered every inch of the "temple" walls.

Like murals.

At first, Night Ten thought those lines were natural patterns, until he saw with his own eyes that the angular markings slowly grew by one line as he arrived.

It seemed to happen simultaneously, making it hard to tell which came first.

Like the strange phenomenon he encountered in the hyperspace channel...

"The sacred tree is the Yinsuo Tree, the mother of all things. Its roots spread throughout the entire forest, the whole world, even forming our world... And the sacred tree above our heads is merely the part exposed to the outside, or a sprout that has broken through the soil."

Dora spoke of the sacred tree in a gentle voice.

Night Ten was astonished to find that, as he continued conversing with her, her proficiency in the Human Federation language was improving at an incredible speed, even more astonishing than that old man named Saqu.

If there were levels to "psychic power," that old man might be around level 10, while she was at least level 30.

Of course, it might also be because young people learn faster.

"I think I understand... If you compare it to a higher-dimensional being, then the sacred tree we see is just one of its projections in the three-dimensional world, and there are other parts in dimensions we cannot see. Is that what you mean?"

Dora was taken aback, seemingly not understanding at first, but soon she caught on and smiled, nodding gently.

"That is the original explanation."

Night Ten was puzzled.

"The original explanation?"

Dora nodded softly, her voice serene.

"Dimensions are a very ancient word for us. Long, long ago, you or your people taught us this... how to understand the existence of the Yinsuo Tree, how to call upon it, how to feed it, and become its branches."

Night Ten roughly understood what she meant.

That is, the survivors from the Gemini-class missile cruiser or the colony, in the period after the end of the Three-Year War, discovered the existence of the "Yinsuo Tree," mastered the ability to communicate with it, explained it using the physical theories of the Human Federation, and then passed on the digested knowledge to their descendants.

But what was puzzling was why they didn't keep the name Gaia but instead invented a new proper noun to distinguish it from the original.

Were they implying that Gaia was dead?

Or that it had evolved into something else?

Or perhaps the Human Federation's initial understanding of Gaia was flawed, and they had revised the original theory.

Seeing that the Ancestor remained silent, Dora turned her gaze to the wall formed by the roots of the tree before them.

The fireflies floating around her, as if drawn by an unknown force, drifted slowly forward.

They gathered into a cluster in the air, like an index finger resting on a page, stopping at the first line of the opening passage.

"In the long years, we found a new way of life. Later, we walked into the forest, abandoning everything from before and starting anew. Since the Second Judgment Day, we have used the growth marks on the sacred tree's roots to record the teachings of the sacred tree and the events of the past."

The Second Judgment Day?

Night Ten frowned slightly, puzzled.

"Wouldn't these abstract patterns cause deviations in the recording of information?"

"No," Dora shook her head, continuing in a gentle tone. "Symbols are just forms. We can connect with the past through an invisible bond."

Hearing this, Night Ten was utterly shocked.

Good heavens.

He had only managed to establish contact with the crew of the Orion-class missile cruiser, who were also in the hyperspace channel, under extremely coincidental circumstances.

Yet these people were born with this ability?

But that couldn't be right.

If they could connect with the past, transfer future technology to the past, and then have it act back on the future, wouldn't that be like stepping on the left foot to lift the right foot and fly?

However, the situation he saw was clearly not like that.

At least according to the Doma tribe's own description, their technological level as forest dwellers was far inferior to that of the neighboring "Valley People."

As if sensing Night Ten's confusion, Dora continued in a soft voice.

"The information that can be transmitted is limited. It must be about the same beliefs, the same doubts, and the same questions being pondered. Therefore, when such a connection is established between different times, the information we obtain from the past tends to be more concrete, while the revelations from the future tend to be abstract."

As the conversation progressed, her understanding of the language seemed to grow, and she could even articulate concepts that Night Ten himself didn't fully grasp.

After hearing her statement, Night Ten sincerely praised her.

"Even so, that's quite impressive."

Receiving the Ancestor's affirmation, a joyful smile appeared on Dora's face, and she continued in a cheerful tone.

"These are the laws we discovered after you left... As you can see, we have not stopped exploring."

Night Ten nodded and continued asking.

"Is this a special ability unique to the Doma tribe? Or... does everyone have it?"

"All the tribes in the forest are like this," Dora said in a gentle voice. "Although we have not yet found a way to awaken this ability in everyone, as long as we live under the sacred tree, tribesmen with similar abilities will continue to emerge from our community. At least fifteen or sixteen, at most forty or fifty. I am one of them."

Night Ten suddenly realized that his initial impression of them was inaccurate.

He had originally thought that the appearance of these special abilities hindered their understanding of the universe they inhabited, but now it seemed the opposite was true—

Their vision was not obscured by an invisible hand; rather, standing on the shoulders of giants, they saw farther, even touching upon parts of the universe that he and even the prosperous era of the Human Federation had not fully understood.

Communicating with plants to accelerate their growth, communicating with the past to recover lost technology, even establishing contact with parallel timelines to gain revelations from the future... These people might actually be far more impressive than he had imagined!

It was just that their starting point was much lower.

Admittedly, this "convenient ability" hindered their discovery of natural sciences.

However, once they established a relatively mature scientific research system through years of observing nature, this enhanced perception might instead become a catalyst for accelerating their breakthroughs in science and technology, making those coincidental "flashes of insight" occur more frequently.

And not just in the scientific field.

In politics, economics, culture, military, industry... and a series of other fields, this ability had the potential to be a catalyst.

This talent was utterly amazing!

The more Night Ten thought about it, the more shocked he became, even entertaining the thought that "this child must not be allowed to live," but then he suddenly snapped back to reality.

Speaking of stepping outside the game's own settings and framework, weren't "players" essentially similar beings?

In fact, the existence of players had indeed driven the prosperity of the Alliance in science, politics, economics, culture, military, and many other fields—explosively so!

Under the influence of "players" like them, the Alliance had achieved in just a few short years what other survivor factions might take decades or even longer to accomplish.

Realizing this, Night Ten was utterly stunned.

Good heavens.

The amazing one was actually myself?!

Dora looked at the suddenly silent Ancestor with a puzzled expression, blinking her expressive eyes curiously.

He was always like this.

He would suddenly fall silent mid-sentence, or stand there lost in his own world, as if communicating with someone unseen.

But she did not have to wait long; soon the Ancestor standing before the temple’s “fresco” seemed to come back to himself, looking at her earnestly as he spoke.

“Thank you… these materials are very important to us.”

“We have always heeded your teachings and never slackened in our communion with the Sacred Tree.” Dora bowed her head respectfully, a joyful smile blooming on her face.

In the time that followed, Ye Shi asked many more questions.

Especially about the origins of the various tribes in the forest, the feud between the forest tribes and the valley tribes—the so-called “cursed people”—and what exactly was meant by “those who came from the sky.”

And to these trivial inquiries, the temple attendant named Dora patiently answered each one.

According to her, all who lived on this land were children spared by the grace of the Ynsov Tree.

Before that, in what was called the “Old Era,” this planet once belonged to the “Ancestors” who came from the sky.

Back then, people had all kinds of skin colors, different beliefs, and spoke nearly the same Old Era language, living in a paradise beyond imagination today…

Until the first “Day of Judgment” descended, countless blazing suns fell from the sky, turning the prosperous surface world into charcoal, utterly destroying everything of the Old Era. Only a few young children on the entire land survived by chance.

Just as the world was sinking into despair, the branches of the Ynsov Tree broke through the soil, stretching the first tender shoot toward the gray sky.

No one knew where it came from, or perhaps it had always been there, living beneath people’s feet.

But it had slept for so long that it had forgotten the concept of time, only recently awakened.

Facing the dying world, compassionate, it performed a miracle, granting its followers green skin so they could bask in the sun for sustenance, surviving those years without food.

And not only that.

Under the effect of its miracle, the dead world gradually revived, and in just two decades, it turned the entire planet from an endless wasteland into a forest.

A new era began.

The survivors of the Day of Judgment, for some reason, forgot everything of the past, including the writing and history of the Old Era.

Even the memory of the Day of Judgment and the “Ancestors” came only from the narration of the Ynsov Tree.

Of course, all this happened later.

People in the early days of the new era were not yet aware of the existence of the “Ynsov Tree.” Those with changed skin barely survived, but they lived more like animals.

Thus, Dora called this earliest period the “Barbaric Era.”

Back then, people were like beasts, the only difference from primitive animals being their somewhat distinctive cries.

Hearing this, Ye Shi couldn’t help but break out in a cold sweat.

It was clear these people had no memory of the Three-Year War or what came before, so they still looked at the “Ancestors” with a layer of worship.

If they knew that the so-called “Day of Judgment” was actually the neutron streams fired by the red-eyed United Aerospace Force, he wondered if they would still gaze at their Earthly compatriots with such adoration.

But on the other hand, Ye Shi was now almost certain that these “little green men” were transformed Earthlings.

The “Ynsov Tree” had probably altered their genes, giving them photosynthesis or something similar to survive the harshest times.

But then again, was photosynthesis really something humans could achieve?!

On Earth, he had only heard of certain nudibranchs capable of photosynthesis, like some sea slugs… but even those sea slugs did it with the help of algal cells, not entirely on their own.

However, these little green men clearly didn’t rely solely on photosynthesis either; they still needed to eat.

Ye Shi suddenly felt a desire to borrow some DNA from the girl before him for research.

No ulterior motive.

Pure curiosity.

Unaware of the strange thoughts occupying the Ancestor’s mind, Dora looked at Ye Shi and continued.

“In the third decade after that, the fiftieth year of the Barbaric Era, we saw the Ancestors again. They appeared suddenly, seventeen of them, wearing armor like yours and speaking the same language.”

“They helped us a great deal, taught us to make fire, to hunt, and most crucially… with their help, we realized our difference from all other things, ignited the spark of civilization, and discovered the existence of the Ynsov Tree.”

“They helped you find the Ynsov Tree?” Ye Shi looked at her in surprise, puzzled by this information.

These seventeen must be the crew of the Gemini?

The crew of the Orion were dead, that was certain; these could only be the living from the other side.

If he remembered correctly, the crew of the Gemini missile cruiser were supposed to be “extreme conservatives.” Would they actually take the initiative to help these surface survivors seek aid from something resembling “Gaia”?

That would be a miracle.

Of course, it wasn’t entirely impossible; perhaps not everyone on the Gemini was an extreme conservative.

Moreover, they called their discovery on this planet the “Ynsov Tree,” likely acknowledging its difference from Gaia.

Or maybe they just wanted to use the Ynsov Tree’s power to pull these nearly feral compatriots down from the trees.

But still, Ye Shi hadn’t expected the seventeen surviving crew members to drift in the sky for thirty years before landing.

He and Jiang Xuezhou had always thought the “Gemini crash” and the “Orion incident” happened around the same time, even simultaneously.

Feeling he was getting closer to the truth of history, Ye Shi couldn’t help but press on.

“And then?”

Dora continued her narration unhurriedly.

“Then, with the help of the Ynsov Tree, we came to understand each other, and with their aid, we gradually mastered the means to communicate with the Ynsov Tree and all things in the world, perfecting our own language.”

“That was the first time we recognized our own existence and our place in the world… In your words, we covered in just ten years a path that would have taken a thousand years, and so we called that period the ‘Awakening Era.’”

Awakening Era, huh.

Ye Shi had thought she would use the term “Prosperity Era.”

Facing the sharp, angular growth rings on the wall, a look of nostalgia flickered in Dora’s eyes.

Those luminous eyes seemed to truly return to that era, the “Prosperity Era” that belonged to the people living on this land.

“Those were wonderful times. Back then, we all lived in the Forbidden Forest Valley. And it was then that the Ynsov Tree told us we came from a star in the sky, where our ancestors dwell. We had quarreled over some matters, leading to the Day of Judgment, but the future was bright, and one day we would meet again.”

“But it didn’t last long… In the second decade of the Awakening Era, our Ancestors had a serious disagreement, and that disagreement ultimately caused the prophesied Day of Judgment to come again.”

As she said this, a faint sadness crossed Dora’s face. She sighed softly and continued.

“Some of the Ancestors left the Forbidden Forest Valley, heading deep into the forest, while the rest stayed with us. Not long after, a burning palace fell from the sky, destroying the sacred tree in the valley—the branch of the Ynsov Tree left on the surface.”

“Our misfortune began. The forest caught fire, flames consumed everything, thousands died in the fire, and only a handful survived… Then those who had left the Forbidden Forest returned with weapons, seized the holy land from us, and imprisoned, sacrificed, and exiled the rest of us.”

“But fortunately, only the branch of the Ynsov Tree was burned. Its children had already foreseen the danger through the mists of time, and those of us who left the Forbidden Forest Valley built new homes in the wider forest.”

“In contrast, the holy land the cursed people took from us became a cage for them. Without the sacred tree’s protection, they could barely move in the forest; everything in the forest was their enemy. To survive, they had to compete with birds and beasts for wild grass seeds, hiding in cold stones to eke out an existence…”

Hearing this, Ye Shi couldn’t help but swallow.

“You don’t hate us?”

“Why would we hate you?”

Dora looked at Ye Shi with a puzzled expression, then continued in a gentle voice.

“Without you, we might never have realized our difference from beasts, nor would we live in prosperity and abundance today. And the Ynsov Tree has repeatedly warned us that we should learn from the memories of the past, not let the disasters that have already happened repeat themselves.”

Staring blankly at Dora, Ye Shi felt a sudden pang of shame in his heart, and for a moment he didn't know how to face that innocent gaze.

Perhaps Jiang Xuezhou was right.

He had indeed messed things up.

There had clearly been better choices before him, yet without hesitation he had picked the worst one.

Even if, in his view, all he had done was turn a blind eye.

In his subconscious, he only wanted to inherit the near-infinite power of the United Era, but he had unconsciously forgotten the comrades who once fought alongside him—what they had handed him was not just the "ship key" to the Orion-class missile cruiser, but also the responsibilities they had once shouldered.

They trusted him, and that was why they had placed this starship in his hands.

Fortunately, however, it wasn't too late when he realized this.

There was still a chance to make amends.

"...I might have done something wrong." Ye Shi took a deep breath, looking at Dora's confused face, and said in a serious tone, "Can you get in touch with those sinners in the valley?"

Dora was stunned, staring at him in bewilderment.

"Get in touch with the sinners...? Why?"

She couldn't understand.

Since the Progenitor had chosen them, why go looking for their enemies?

"I want to talk to them."

Looking at that face full of confusion, Ye Shi said earnestly.

"Maybe I can help you settle this two-hundred-year-old grudge and bring the whole affair to a more satisfactory conclusion—"

In fact, there were many ways.

Especially as the "Progenitor."

At worst, he could coax Jiang Xuezhou a little, bow his head and admit his mistake, and get her to play along with him as a fake prophet once more.

He believed in her kindness—she surely wouldn't refuse!

Dora looked at him blankly, her lips moving as if to say something.

But just then, a voice, respectful yet not lacking in authority, drifted over from behind them.

"It's already too late, revered Progenitor. There's nothing to discuss between us and the sinners."

"You dare defy my will?" Ye Shi's face fell, and he shamelessly uttered these words that even he found cringey.

Yet this cringey, explosive line seemed to have some effect.

Before "mortals," the "deity" indeed still carried some divine majesty.

Even if this mortal was no ordinary mortal.

Standing at the entrance of the temple, Tun Nan was silent for a moment, then slowly spoke again.

"I dare not defy your will, but for the sake of your children's future... please take a nap."

Heh.

That sounded sweeter than it was true.

Ye Shi let out a cold laugh, his right hand already at his waist, drawing his pistol.

This guy was refusing a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit.

He admitted these folks had some tricks—like that green crystal spear, like that mystical "psychic ability."

But expecting to deal with his "cannons and guns" with such petty tricks was still a bit of a pipe dream.

Of course, he didn't intend to do anything to that "Little A-Guang," let alone off him—but teaching him a lesson was still necessary.

He could accept Brother Guang riding on his neck, but who the hell did you think you were?

Yet just as Ye Shi was thinking this, he heard Jiu Jiu's voice coming through the door.

"Bro, I ate your takeout!"

"Hehehe... since you can't hear anyway, I'll leave you a chicken bone."

His head felt heavy, Ye Shi's expression changed abruptly, and before his eyes appeared the icon [Connection Abnormal].

"What the hell?!"

Disconnected?!

You can't do this to me!