Council of Elders (2)

"You were once human, and now you're witches?" Mi looked at the men and women before him. They all looked human, except for slight differences in skin color and race. These people were witches now? What kind of witches? Did they know magic? Mi carefully examined these people. They didn't have the wide cloaks and tattered wizard hats that belonged to witches, nor did they have wands.

"Yes, child, were you born a man or a woman? Do you want to become a male witch or a female witch?" The beautiful woman who called herself the Second Elder did not receive an answer, so she asked again.

"Do I want to be a male wizard or a female wizard?" Mi Nannan repeated the Second Elder's question. She was stumped; she didn't know how she got here, or even what she looked like. She cautiously pressed further, "Can you see me?"

“Oh, of course, you’re very cute,” the pretty woman continued. “Like a newly opened flower bud, both beautiful and adorable.”

"Second sister, don't always be like this." The stern Third Elder beside her stopped her again. The Third Elder said to Mi, "You need to follow your guiding witch to learn how to become a witch and how to shape your body. Right now, you are just a mess, and we can't even see what you look like."

Chaos—Mi felt she'd heard the word somewhere before, but she put it aside: "Excuse me, have you always been in this forest?"

“Yes, child. We are recuperating here.” The white-haired elder spoke again, pointing to the purple flowers on the giant tree: “Those are dormant flowers; we have always lived here.”

"Are you human? Or were you ever human?" Mi looked at the group of humanoid figures in front of him and felt an indescribable sense of unease once again.

“Yes, we were once human,” the white-haired elder said gently. “I was once a man.”

"Are you a male wizard now?" Mi asked cautiously.

“Child, witches have no gender,” the First Elder said, echoing the serious words of the Third Elder.

Why is this place called the Witch Forest?

“Well, actually this place was originally called the Witch Forest. It was these people—” The white-haired elder looked around at the group of women in front of him and pointed to the many women in front of him, saying, “These people called this place the Witch Forest.”

Mi fell silent. The Witch Forest, or the Forest of Witches, was just a name casually uttered by these people. Was the "witch" they spoke of merely a name they made up? Why had these people come here?

Mi didn't know what she should do or believe. It was all so absurd. If she was going to the world of wizards, why didn't they let her travel into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry? Mi looked up. Where was the owl? Where was the wand? These people didn't have wands. How were they going to cast spells? They weren't even wearing the same wizarding robes.

“You’re a man,” Mi carefully chose her words, “why did you come here?”

“Child, I can tell you what happened to me,” the elder said to Mi with a smile, like a kind old grandfather. “But everything about this forest, about how to become a witch, still needs your guidance. Although we are old, we have not completed the transformation into witches and cannot give you any guidance.”

"Oh, okay, I'd like to hear more." Mi tried to sit up straighter. This was clearly a forest where women made up the majority of the population, and the old man was quite tolerant of women, allowing them to call this place the Witch Forest.

"I come from the planet Kabla." The Grand Elder was lost in memories. Kabla was a small nebula in the universe, inhabited by the peaceful Kabla people.

The Kable people are gentle and hardworking. Although Kable lacks rich mineral resources, thus avoiding the covetousness of neighboring large stars, and possesses no advanced technology, the Kable people are not worried. They are poor but happy. Even though they cannot engage in interstellar tourism and can only smell the polluted air left behind by large spaceships passing by, the Kable people simply strive to plant more plants to purify the air.

Mi looked at the Grand Elder, who was an alien. Mi tried hard to understand every word the Grand Elder said: "You live in a high-tech era? What is interstellar travel? From one planet to another? Do the people there all look like you?"

“Men are pretty much like me, but I’m old now, child.” The elder looked at Mi kindly and continued, “The women of Kabla are gentle and lovely.” The elder looked around at the women; none of them were as lovely as the women of Kabla.

"Please continue." Mi couldn't help but be impolite to an old man with a white beard.

“My wife was the most beautiful woman on the planet Cabrera,” the elder’s tone suddenly changed, and he became sad and his voice became somber: “She gave her life to give birth to my lovely little Rebecca.”

"Huh?" Mi didn't know what kind of race that was, where women had to give their lives to have children.

"Don't scare her, your wife is having a difficult childbirth." The beautiful Second Elder interrupted the First Elder.

"With such advanced technology where you live, do women still experience difficult childbirth?" Mi hesitated for a moment, then asked softly, "Don't you have hospitals or C-sections?"

Will the interstellar era still face difficulties in its development? What, then, is the ultimate purpose of scientific advancement?

“Women have difficult childbirths in every era,” said the youngest dark-haired youth. “Doctors are not omnipotent.”

Mi nodded in agreement. Childbirth has always been a life-or-death ordeal for women, but she still couldn't help asking, "We have interstellar travel now, don't we have artificial wombs?" Mi found it hard to believe that humans could already travel between planets, so why should women still have to bear the burden of childbirth?

"What is an artificial womb?" the beautiful Second Elder asked with great interest. "What is that, and what is it used for?"

Mi looked around; these people came from different eras. She spread her arms and explained, "The uterus is an organ inside a woman's belly, where babies develop and grow. When science advances enough, it will create a box so that babies can grow in the box instead of inside a woman's belly."

"Huh, there are such good things?" The Second Elder turned to look at Mi curiously. "Come on, tell me properly, how are babies put into boxes before they are born?"

"Huh?" Mi didn't know how to continue. She looked at the Grand Elder and the black-haired youth. They seemed to understand. It seemed that artificial wombs existed on Planet Kabla, but these women hadn't had a chance to enjoy this high technology.

After thinking for a moment, Mi said, "You know, before a child becomes a child, it needs a sperm from the father and an egg from the mother to have a child, right?"

"What is sperm, and what is an egg? Can we take them out?" The Second Elder kept asking one question after another.

“Yes, it’s possible. Sperm and eggs are very small, but there are ways to retrieve them from the body. Egg retrieval is a bit more complicated. There are many sperm in what a man ejaculates.” Mi had the illusion that she was giving a biology lesson to a group of old fogies. She continued, “When sperm and egg combine, they form a small embryo, which is called a test-tube baby.”

"So that means a child can be born without a man and woman being together, without a woman's womb?" The Second Elder found everything Mi said completely unbelievable.

“Of course, carrying a child and giving birth is a long and arduous process. If there were artificial wombs, men could give birth too.” Mi waved her arms and gestured to a small box: “Think about it, it doesn’t matter whether a man or a woman carries a box containing a baby. Maybe with advanced technology, artificial wombs won’t need to be carried, just like a chicken farm with a baby breeding base.”

"Nonsense! Of course women have to give birth!" The elder suddenly became angry and shouted, "What else can women do if they don't give birth?"

Mi looked around. This planet, Kabla, must be an interstellar society. They strongly resist artificial wombs; are they perhaps guardians of the laws of nature? Some people just stick to tradition. Genetically modified food is considered outrageous in their eyes, and chemical fertilizers and pesticides are no good either. They believe organic food is best—pure, natural, green, and healthy. Even with artificial wombs, it's still better for children to be born from a woman's womb.

The beautiful Second Elder and the stern Third Elder looked at him dismissively: "Elder, don't think you can say that just because you were here first."

The Second Elder turned to Mi Tiantian and smiled, "Don't listen to this old fogey. Women can do whatever they want, and witches especially can do whatever they want. Tell me again—"

The First Elder interrupted the Second Elder again, saying sternly, "If women didn't give birth, no one would exist, and the world would have died out long ago. Where would there be any witches then?"

“Well,” Mi tried to comfort the angry old man, “I’ve heard that many planets are uninhabited. Besides, you’re not human either; you’re witches, aren’t you?”

Mi looked at everyone. These people from different places were no longer human, yet they were still worried about the survival of humanity. Mi pondered the elder's words: Without women, would there be no witches? Do witches have genders?

“Even if no one exists, this world won’t die out, and so can the witch.” The beautiful Second Elder suddenly became sad. She tilted her head back, finished the wine in her cup, and smiled apologetically at Mi. The Second Elder was truly beautiful; her slender eyes were full of wisdom, as if she could see through everyone’s thoughts. Mi couldn’t help but wave to the Second Elder.

"Aren't you always the best at flattering men? Why are you saying such things?" The Third Elder looked at her with suspicion.

"That's because I need to get money from men's pockets. Otherwise, do you think I'd bother with them?" The Second Elder suddenly pulled out a very retro and ornate pipe. She glanced at the Third Elder, her eyes full of unspoken words and captivating charm. She smiled at Mi, "Child, men can bring you not only wealth, but also happiness. Let me tell you, that kind of happiness can't be bought with any amount of money."

"You?" The Third Elder glared at her. She stood up and walked to the other side before saying, "A woman's reputation is ruined by people like you."

"What honor can a woman who can't understand a woman's happiness have to talk about?" The Second Elder blew a long smoke ring toward the Third Elder. "You're not even a woman, so what are you talking about a woman's honor?"

"Me? How am I not a woman?" The stern Third Elder trembled with anger. "I am a woman who is even inferior to men."

"Hahaha, hello, you're so capable. Your man can't even hold his head up in front of you. Can he get hard for even a second in front of you? Can he give you a child?" The Second Elder laughed loudly, then turned to Mi: "You said that artificial womb, does it really exist? That women can have children without men? I mean, they can have children without that."

"I think so," Mi said uncertainly, glancing at the black-haired youth.

The black-haired youth nodded to the crowd: "But the artificial womb also needs to be nourished by human blood."

"Just a little bit of blood?" The Second Elder looked at the black-haired youth, and only turned to the Third Elder after the youth nodded: "Wouldn't it be great if Weiyuan Star also had an artificial uterus?"

“You’re overthinking things again,” the Third Elder sighed, reaching for the Second Elder’s pipe. “Don’t act like this in front of the newborn witch.”

"What's wrong with how I look?" The Second Elder snorted. She walked over to Mi and squeezed in a space. She raised her arm to put her arm around Mi, but when she saw that Mi was just a blurry mess, she lowered her arm and whispered in her ear, "You told me about this wonderful thing called an artificial womb, and I'll tell you some tips on how women can enjoy themselves the most."

The Second Elder suddenly began imparting her bedroom arts, even possessing unique insights into how to control a man's expression. Everyone fell silent. Qiao blushed deeply, clutching the hem of her dress, too ashamed to look up. The First Elder and the black-haired youth, clearly having heard this countless times, sat upright as if they heard nothing. Only the Second Elder's blush-inducing voice filled the forest.