Escape from Paradise (XV)
The vast nest was covered with dense spiders, with countless hairy limbs rustling on the ground, and their compound eyes patrolling everywhere like dim and turbid searchlights in the dark night, trying to find the delicious prey hidden in the population.
A thin rope hung from a spider cocoon not far from the center, with a person tied to the end of the rope. She fell down unsteadily, and when she was almost at the bottom, she accidentally stepped on a big spider that was passing by.
"Sorry." Xu Wei smiled.
Just like a drop of blood falling into a school of sharks, spiders from all directions rushed towards her like a tide, and their excited howls seemed to overturn the roof of their nests.
The swarm of spiders that were rushing towards them suddenly stopped, and the spiders that were still crawling bumped into the spiders in front of them, stumbled, and fell upside down. Countless hairy limbs waved upwards helplessly, occasionally stabbing into the bodies and eyes of their own kind, and for a moment, body fluids and mucus splashed everywhere, and the screams of pain became louder and louder.
The spiders that had not yet been tripped began to do radio gymnastics in an orderly manner.
"It's really spectacular." Ever since the original singing mode was enabled, the male voice in my head rarely sang along passionately, and instead commented on the dancing of the controlled monster from time to time. "I didn't expect that such a weak creature could give birth to something that is several times its own size."
Xu Wei found a relatively safe place to stay, carefully avoiding the waving front claws.
She had chatted with him several times, her tone relaxed: "Weak, are you sure? They are a huge group, and if all the people crawled out, they wouldn't be enough for them to eat."
The man's tone was cheerful: "Of course, compared to my kind, you are all so weak and cute."
Finally, when the other party took the initiative to bring up the topic of "himself", Xu Wei lowered his eyes and asked: "So what is your group?"
He chuckled: "There is no need to understand me. Just like the poor Earth can never get out of the Milky Way, knowing it will only make you feel terrified all day long."
“Ignorance is sometimes bliss.”
Xu Wei was unwilling to accept the result: "So you are from an interstellar civilization?"
"Oh..." he sighed, "Your thoughts are just like your race, pitiful and lovely. I can't help but pity you, little girl."
"Are you more powerful than interstellar civilization?"
He laughed: "Amazing? That's not an appropriate word."
"But you appeared in something created by an interstellar civilization and became part of my...skills. You...were trapped by them?"
There was a noise coming from the other side, and his voice was suddenly deafening, but the tone became unclear, like chanting, or some unknown mysterious music. A great dizziness swept over me, as if a giant was whispering behind me.
"What?" Xu Wei shook his head, trying to get rid of this strange feeling of dizziness.
He returned to normal, and said calmly: "Given the differences between the species, I forgive your offense. Perhaps your brain has been polluted by that guy."
"Sorry... I'm not very good at speaking," Xu Wei tried to control the panic that suddenly arose in her heart because of his words. "That guy... are you referring to the legendary evil spirit?"
The evil ghost card almost deprived her of consciousness and may have caused unknowable pollution to her.
"You call it a demon? Perhaps, for the Earth, it is."
Xu Wei sensitively realized that the evil ghost he was talking about was not the same thing she mentioned.
She pondered for a moment, and a more horrifying idea came to her mind.
She tried to be humble, but couldn't suppress the trembling in her throat: "Can I ask? I mean, the 'evil ghost' is a certain creature related to the fate of our earth. It is 'it' that caused the disaster on earth, not the interstellar civilization?"
"It seems that trying to observe humans is not a wrong choice," he said happily, "Of course, they are not interstellar civilizations. They have not reached the level of 'it' yet. The boundless pollution can prove this."
Xu Wei fell into a deeper state of confusion. All this seemed to be completely contrary to her understanding since entering the game, but it was strangely consistent with the facts she saw.
"But interstellar civilizations have also joined in, issuing judgment games on Earth, setting laws and requiring players to pass levels..."
"Yeah, they put a lot of effort into it."
She hesitated, but her face was increasingly filled with panic.
When she encountered "it" in the hotel, the front desk responded that "you will die if you go there"; Mao Ting once seriously told her about the polluting power of "it", and the "white house" could not completely purify the pollution. This was an existence that even interstellar civilizations were helpless against...
Humans can purify themselves from some of the pollution.
Players... The system urged them to clear the game... The trial game...
Taoist Jiang...Glorious Warrior...
Even the marker pen allowed her to find characters that did not belong to this copy world, but it did not allow her to reveal it to anyone else, including the system.
Xu Wei still remembers the name of the mission that came with the marker pen - Interstellar Redemption.
All the questions finally converged into a straight but terrifying solid line.
Her thoughts were turbulent, but at a certain moment they settled down and fell into a strange calm, like the surface of a lake before a storm.
"It" brought disaster to the Earth, and interstellar civilizations that are weaker than "it" still have to wade into the muddy waters of the Earth...
It can drive an advanced civilization to go to great lengths to plan and promulgate a trial game, urging humans who can purify pollution to pass the dungeon -
It is a matter of life and death.
"So, the goals of interstellar civilization and humans are the same?" She seemed to be asking, but also seemed to be stating.
They are most likely saving themselves through humans.
In other words, "it" has arrived before humans noticed it, bringing disaster to the Earth. At the same time, higher-level interstellar civilizations are also seriously threatened. Humans who can purify pollution are the natural nemesis of "it", but for some reason - perhaps a series of objective factors such as the level of technology and the progress of civilization, humans cannot purify "it" alone. Therefore, interstellar civilizations have created the trial game, using copies as a medium to build a more convenient and efficient stage for humans.
The ultimate goal is to eliminate "it".
"It seems you have figured it out."
That's why the game staff are so afraid of "it", and the system divides players into "consumables" and "high potential" to work together to pass the level, and even... Taoist Jiang and the spherical people, these alien creatures trapped in the copy, perhaps represent the past when interstellar civilizations fought a desperate battle with "it".
As witnesses of the battle, they still survived in the dungeon. So, what about those who did not survive? In other words, the warriors who survived but were contaminated and stripped of their consciousness, and could no longer wake up, and could only wander around the dungeon like zombies...
The more Xu Wei thought about it, the more frightened he became. He quickly stopped thinking and hurriedly asked, "Why are you telling me this, here and now?"
Under her feet was the wet, mucus-mixed ground of the lair, and she was surrounded by a swarm of dancing spiders. Her teammates above were waiting for her to react. This was not a good place to tell secrets.
"Did you see them?" he did not answer directly.
"Who? Spider?"
"They are 'it', branching out into countless tiny individuals, each with its own independent killing consciousness, devouring and killing each other, and multiplying infinitely. These simple consciousnesses, like threads, can eventually converge into a huge, vast connected organism like a sea of stars."
He sighed: "I have stood at the end of the stars and watched this magnificent scene. If you could witness that moment, you would be extremely surprised. This is a natural and vast beauty, worthy of the masterpiece of the universe. In this respect, I am not as good as 'it'."
Xu Wei processed his words: "You mean this group of spiders, or all the monsters in the game, are 'it's' clones, but the clones have self-awareness and are unaware of 'it's' existence?"
"Your ability to understand is beyond my expectations, but there are still some minor deviations," he said, "It's existence is no secret. Individuals are crazy about it and worship it as a god."
Xu Wei was silent.
A creature as huge as the sea of stars was divided into independent individuals by interstellar civilization, trapped in the judgment game, and handed over to human players in the copy to be slaughtered one by one.
At the moment of life and death, two civilizations that had never intersected united, divided the work and cooperated, and fought a desperate battle with the behemoth from deep space.
The game system seems ridiculous, but the underlying theme is actually salvation and destruction.
"We still have a little time, little girl, you can ask me another question." He suddenly spoke.
Xu Wei developed a strong curiosity about his identity.
When asked before whether he was trapped in a skill, he suddenly raised his voice and his tone afterwards sounded as if he was offended. Combined with his judgment of interstellar civilization, Xu Wei judged that he held a contemptuous attitude towards both humans and interstellar civilization.
If he hadn't gone through so much trouble just to find an inexplicable opportunity to say nonsense to her, then he might very well be a life form more advanced than interstellar civilization.
In addition, he seemed to have a contradictory attitude towards the existence of "it". He appreciated its uniqueness, but also showed a hint of fear. He was a person who could not stand being questioned, but he could say in front of Xu Wei, a creature at the bottom of the society, that he was inferior to "it".
Xu Wei's fingers rubbed unconsciously.
It is very likely that he is on the same level as "it", or even lower than "it".
Then the purpose of his revealing this information to himself is worth speculating. It is not ruled out that he is just looking for a way to have fun, but there is another more likely speculation -
His group may also be threatened by "it".
Perhaps because the crisis is still far away, or for some other special reason, he does not have the same strong sense of crisis as the interstellar civilization, but still chooses to intervene in what is happening on Earth.
Are humans the only group in the universe that can purify "it"? Or are humans the closest group of purifiers to these advanced civilizations? Even simpler, he just discovered this battlefield and decided to do something to follow the trend.
But it's all based on the information he says is true.
Maybe it’s just an illusion created by some blind box toy.
So, hurry up, one last question.
Xu Wei looked up at the pitch-black space above his head, as if this would allow him to look into the eyes of the man in the void.
“Can you see the future of Earth?”
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