Chapter 1012: I See You

Chapter 1012: I See You

Outside the city of Dorma, a vast throng of forest folk gathered beneath the towering trees.

They wore armor woven from vines and wood, and held spears inlaid with emerald crystals, standing majestically on roots that coiled and undulated like mountain ranges.

The young warriors of all the forest tribes had assembled here—the fiercest hunters and fighters in the entire woodland.

Gazing into the distance—

That surging sea of humanity numbered no less than thirty thousand, if not twenty!

Since the first Day of Judgment, never had such a massive army been raised on this land.

And in the tribal era, before writing was invented, such an enormous multitude was beyond imagination.

Beholding the endless tide of troops, Tun Nan felt his heart surge with excitement.

Urged on by the ebb and flow of his emotions, he stood on high, opened his powerful throat, and shouted with fervor to the tiger-like army that stretched like a forest.

“Children of the forest—!”

“The guilty ones have not only burned our sacred tree and stolen the holy soil granted by the Tree of Insov, but they have also audaciously taken the heavenly treasure, plundering the sacred relic that belongs to our ancestors!”

“To spare the forest from disaster and to avert the coming of the Third Judgment, we must reclaim the sacred relic from their hands! Reclaim our holy land! And for our descendants, once and for all, eradicate the root of this calamity!”

“The grudges from the dawn of the Awakening Era must now be settled!”

The deafening roar shook the entire forest, and stirred the hearts of every forest dweller present.

It was another gift bestowed upon him by the Tree of Insov—

The power to stir men’s hearts!

Every pair of eyes fixed on him blazed with boiling battle lust, and they answered their common leader with resounding cries.

“Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!”

Hearing the thunderous shouts, the chieftains of the various tribes, standing among the crowd, sensed something amiss, yet they kept their faces grim and raised no objections, nor said much.

Tun Nan was right.

They had tolerated the guilty ones time and again, only to be met with ever-increasing encroachments.

So why not settle old and new scores together, and rid themselves of all troubles once and for all?

As for whether Tun Nan harbored other ambitions…

In the face of the threat of the Third Judgment, those could be set aside for now.

At least at this moment, they needed a leader who could guide them to victory!

Facing the surging tide of people, Saqu, as a priest, stood behind Tun Nan.

For some reason, he suddenly regretted having welcomed the Progenitor into their tribe.

Perhaps the calamity had never come from the sacred relic that fell from the sky; on the contrary, it was the Progenitor himself, who came to earth seeking the relic and trying to help the people below avoid disaster.

But it was too late to say anything now.

Saqu sighed inwardly, watching the young men howling like wild beasts.

The Tree of Insov might not have granted them only blessings.

For instance, now, someone was using the bridge that linked them all, turning everyone into beasts…

…

Outside Dorma, the wind and clouds churned; within the city, surrounded by towering trees, a bleak and somber atmosphere prevailed.

For the people of Dorma, still in their tribal era, war and hunting differed little in essence—only the target of the hunt changed.

The men were responsible for fighting, while women, children, and the elderly handled logistics.

Led by the priests and priestesses, the tribesfolk in the city bound sharp crystals to sticks of varying lengths.

The guilty ones in the valley were skilled with bows, arrows, and swords, and had tamed wild lizards—irritable and dull-witted—through brutal means. Javelins and spears were the best counter to them.

Besides this, many priests who had awakened “psychic power” prayed in the “orchard.”

That was a branch of the sacred tree’s roots, a place where the tree stored nutrients and incubated seeds, and also the granary of Dorma.

Through prayer, they hastened the ripening of fruits that hung from the roots, and with the help of children, picked them into baskets, mixed them with the roots of other plants, ground them into powder, and sun-dried them into nutrient-rich, sugary dry rations.

These dry rations were military provisions.

Under the chieftain’s will, the entire Dorma tribe had transformed from producing economic crops to preparing for war almost overnight, without causing the slightest upheaval.

And this was one of the social traits that “psychic power” bestowed upon the forest tribes.

Power in society was almost entirely monopolized by those who had awakened psychic power, and these awakened ones were linked by spiritual bonds.

In a sense, the Alliance shared similar traits, though the form differed, and the “residents of Vault 404” did not monopolize all power and resources within the Alliance.

But such profound sociological insights were still too advanced for Dorma.

Driven back into the trees by the neutron plume, they had only recently descended. To put it kindly, they were simple-minded; to put it bluntly, not very bright—at best, they served as subjects for study.

Yet being not so bright had its advantages.

Though Tun Nan had a flash of inspiration and hit upon the idea of “using the Progenitor to command the tribes,” he had not yet grasped that the “Tree of Insov” could also be used to consolidate power.

Indeed, not only the revered Tree of Insov, but his respect for the Progenitor was ingrained in his bones.

Even if that Progenitor had lost his value in life, Tun Nan only thought to imprison him, not to commit the treason of killing him.

In other words, he had his limits, and once you have limits, you can never become a Zaid.

It wasn’t just Tun Nan.

Among his people, aside from those swept up in fanaticism, there were still those who held a pure faith in the Progenitor.

These people were willing to give their lives for what they believed, not because they inherently disbelieved the scriptures they recited.

And precisely because of this, even as the flames of zeal threatened to engulf the entire forest, their internal corrective mechanisms still functioned.

And they functioned for the good.

At the roots of the sacred tree, at the entrance to the temple.

Seeing the priestess ascending the steps, the guards on either side tightened their grip on their spears.

One of the guards, bare-chested, stepped forward and asked in a deep, rumbling voice.

“Has the Progenitor awakened?”

The question was not uttered in the forest tongue, but in a higher language granted by the Tree of Insov.

To outsiders, it sounded like a series of short or long bird calls.

But every psychic awakener who shared the same cultural background could understand what those calls meant.

Dora replied in a gentle voice.

“He has awakened.”

The guard captain continued. “Does he have any commands?”

Dora continued in a soft voice.

"He doesn't like the tribe's food and wants the wild fruits from the south, and they must be picked by my own hands."

The south was the direction away from the forbidden forest valley.

Though dangerous beasts roamed there, they could not usually harm a temple maiden who could communicate with the Insov Tree.

Communication built on the mind could hardly lie; the guard asked no further questions, merely nodded respectfully and stepped aside.

The chieftain had ordered:

As long as the Progenitor did not leave the temple, every request must be fulfilled as much as possible.

As long as they could do it,

and it did not threaten the safety of the entire temple...

Dora nodded slightly, passed through a group of guards, and headed straight for the southern gate of the tribe.

There was not a shred of falsehood in her words.

She just hadn't finished speaking.

...

At the same moment Dora left the temple, Ye Shi, sitting inside, held his breath and focused on the temple entrance, listening carefully for footsteps through the dark corridor.

Fortunately, the fading footsteps did not return but vanished at the temple's entrance.

Ye Shi exhaled in relief, finally relaxing his tense nerves, and lay down on the bed woven from vines.

"Now it's up to her."

He had given Dora many tasks.

Besides picking berries in the south, she was also to find a silver-gray research ship.

He wasn't sure how to describe his vehicle, since neither its shape nor coordinates had any equivalent in the Doma tribe's culture, nor any "reference" to aid understanding.

But fortunately, Dora's special ability of "telepathy" came into play; she established a mental connection with him as he gestured wildly, and through the mist of the ocean of consciousness, she saw that research ship.

It was exactly a place she had been!

Ye Shi didn't know what exactly she meant by "seeing," but as long as she understood his meaning, it was fine.

Once she got near the research ship, she could contact Jiang Xuezhou, let her know his situation, and get her to come up with some clever ideas.

Whether choosing a new prophet to end the war, or using the Progenitor's name to broker negotiations between the Qiu people and the forest people, there was plenty of room for maneuver.

If all else failed, he could think of a way to rescue himself.

Unveiling Tun Nan's conspiracy with his own hands also seemed like a good idea.

In any case, Ye Shi believed Jiang Xuezhou would make the right choice.

In the hyperspace lanes where they couldn't observe each other, they had cooperated just as seamlessly as today.

"But come to think of it... why does it feel like there's nothing for me to do again?"

Lying flat on the bed, Ye Shi stared at the fireflies hovering above, pondering the series of events that might follow, and suddenly realized he was once again in the awkward position of being "banned." He couldn't help but complain.

Back in the hyperspace lane, he had at least carried the team, but this time it seemed he could do nothing.

He even had a vague illusion that he was now in a position similar to Luo Yi's.

Though everything started with him, it was destined to be solved by those who came after.

The temple maiden named Dora was the one he had chosen.

And intuition told Ye Shi that there might be similar figures in places he couldn't see—protagonists either chosen by fate or swept along by it.

This would be a holy war waged in the name of the "Progenitor" and the "Insov Tree."

He wondered how people thousands of years later would describe this epic.

Just as Ye Shi was thinking this, a faint creaking sound came from above his head.

It sounded like the sole of a leather boot stepping on a wooden floor, yet to his ears it was like a harsh mockery.

Of course, perhaps that was just his imagination.

The being making the sound might not have meant to mock; its words even carried a hint of admiration.

"...You little ones are truly amusing; you never bore me."

Ye Shi's face twisted in shock; he sprang up from the bed as if electrocuted, looking around suspiciously.

"Who?"

The voice vanished instantly, as if it had never been.

Just as Ye Shi began to doubt whether he had imagined it, the creaking sound, laden with complex meaning, drifted into his ears again.

Or rather, directly into his mind.

"Oh? You can hear my voice?"

The voice seemed slightly surprised.

Ye Shi was about to retort when he suddenly felt a squirming beneath him.

The vine-woven bed seemed to come alive, twisting its tendrils upward, wrapping around his ankles and then his legs.

Startled, Ye Shi was about to release an electric current.

But the slow, unhurried voice, as if anticipating his reaction, drifted into his mind again.

"Don't be nervous; I won't hurt you... I'm just curious. Let me have a good look."

The vines continued to grow upward, covering his entire body in just a few breaths.

Surprisingly, though the vines had rough bark, they did not hurt him.

"Your body... has a familiar scent. A bit like my children, but not quite the same... Hmm..."

The slow voice seemed lost in thought, and after a long pause, it continued slowly.

"I see. I think I understand... You finally accepted them."

"Not bad, not bad. You've become a little more enlightened... Though it's all the same, the process might be different."

It spoke to itself, as if seeing things far in the future.

But for some reason, it hadn't seen everything; there were still blind spots.

Listening to that murmuring soliloquy, Ye Shi felt a chill run down his spine, his hands and feet turning cold.

It had awakened!

And it had noticed him!

That was what Ye Shi feared most, even more than the bloody conflict between the two tribes.

After all, the only thing on the entire planet that could truly threaten them seemed to be that indescribable existence.

Ye Shi thought he had been very careful, but he never expected to be exposed in the end.

But when had it all started?

From what It said, It seemed to have been observing all this for a long time now...

To make sense of the situation at hand, he steeled himself, swallowed hard, and forced calm into his voice.

"Are you Gaia? Or... the Insov Tree?"

"Are you talking about me?"

That parched voice let out a soft chuckle, then continued slowly.

"Your names for me are always changing, yet I am what I am... Hmm, how should I explain this to you?"

That equivocal answer plunged Ye Shi into a moment of confusion.

Even bewilderment.

He had thought Gaia would hate him to the bone, but never expected It harbored no such intention at all.

It seemed utterly indifferent to what had happened before.

Even though the three-year war had nearly killed this planet outright...

"In truth, Gaia or the Insov Tree... they are both me, and yet not me. But to explain it to you in detail—the difficulty is no less than your 'trying to make that girl named Dora understand what a research vessel is.'"

"Not that I look down on you, but your grasp of 'psionics' is inferior even to the children living in this forest—though your 'clever ones' seem to have already begun using this ability, and in a systematic, large-scale way... Heh."

That voice carried a faint, elusive mockery.

This was probably the first time he had truly heard "mockery" in Its tone, as if they had done something even more tedious than self-destruction.

Yes.

In Its eyes, their self-destruction would have been far more interesting.

It gradually lost interest and spoke lazily.

"I won't bother with thankless and meaningless tasks. If you're curious, go find that answer which holds no meaning for you yourselves... After all, it's not like you've never succeeded before."

"Keep it up, you foolish materialists."

The vines coiled around him slowly receded, turning back into a flat bed.

Everything was as if nothing had happened.

As if the bed coming alive had been his illusion, like everything he had seen in the hyperspace lane.

Yet even so, the sensation of being bound still lingered clearly on his skin and hair.

Ye Shi jumped off the bed without a word, alertly scanning his surroundings.

At last, he found the source of that voice!

It was never really a "voice" at all, nor did any single note exist.

From the very beginning, it was a pure consciousness—and its origin was the "murals" on the temple walls!

The moment he tried to understand those characters, he became aware of Its existence and established a connection with It—

That was the ability granted by his Perception attribute!

He perceived Its existence!

The thoughts in his mind gradually cleared, and a sudden realization surged in Ye Shi's heart. He looked toward a certain direction in the temple—a spot on the murals.

It was an unfounded intuition: he felt someone watching him, whispering behind his back, saying things that were easy for them to say.

No, perhaps it wasn't one person—

But a crowd!

Almost instinctively, he muttered under his breath.

"...I see you."