Chapter 48 Empathy Date
*
Planet BV-32II. 'Life Sphere' 97.12 E 21.35 N.
This is the wild wilderness of the horned lizard.
At this moment, it is a rare rainy day in three months. However, the horned lizards of this wasteland are not as happy as usual.
It lay listlessly under the protection of a thin polyethylene protective cloth, and licked its wound with its long forked tongue. Although this intensity of acid rain was nothing to the thick leather armor it had developed during its long evolution, it would still feel pain if it touched the exposed wound.
Roar—Ah, ah—
It howled twice and glanced sideways at the transparent mushroom-shaped safe house where Su Xi was. Although the dark armor that bound it had been forcibly taken away by its owner, the energy in its body was almost drained away, making it so weak that it could only stay obediently under the protection of the protective cloth provided by the humanoid creature.
Its intuition tells it that it is very safe for now.
But——it’s so hungry…
It glanced at the food reserves not far away, the dying land turtle and the newly hatched cub under it. The energy was too scarce, and swallowing it all would be useless... It glanced at the safe house where the humanoid creature was, and its scarlet tongue sniffed the air greedily a few times. It would be enough to swallow her...
But the lesson of being tied up, the pain of having my tailbone ripped off, and the vague sense of oppression from the higher-level on her body... I instinctively don't want to provoke her again!
Still——I'm so hungry!
Roar—Ah, ah—
In stark contrast to the hungry, painful, and damp situation of the wild horned lizard, the transparent mushroom-shaped safe house was warm, dry, and comfortable. There was only the very faint hum of the small air filter.
The robot in the shape of an amusement machine is moving the roller under the cylinder, spontaneously tidying up the environment and layout of the safe house.
Su Xi, standing at the edge of the transparent safe house, withdrew her gaze from the wild horned lizard. She took the milk tea that Xiguang gave her and squatted down. Her gentle gaze was parallel to the top of the cylindrical long-eared robot, and her free hand was rubbing the long rabbit ears.
Su Xi once again tried to persuade the AI robot that suddenly transformed into a 'strict law inspector': "Xiguang, I hope your 'humanized' algorithm can understand--"
"It's because of me that it has lost its ability to hunt. And with this rain, it's very likely to starve to death!"
"In this case, can't I intervene appropriately?"
"cannot!"
Xiguang's childish voice continued to firmly refuse, and the signal light on his abdomen flashed in a circle. Following the logic of her questioning, he continued to explain:
"I have already done an 'accident model' deduction for you. The fluctuations caused by the wormhole material ejection and the impact caused by your landing are at the same level as the daily disasters of this planet. They will not affect the evolution of this planet, but——"
"If you intervene again, whether it's giving it medication or feeding it, it will be considered an illegal operation of a 'higher civilization' interfering with a 'lower civilization'!"
"You just covered it with a tarp, which was the most appropriate thing to do."
Su Xi stood up slowly, still holding the milk tea in her hand. She looked out into the rain. For the first time, all five senses were present, she was conscious, and she increased her outward mental perception.
"I understand. This is the law of 'natural selection'..."
She murmured, maintaining a conversation and interactive perception with Xiguang while extending the tentacles of her mental power to explore outward.
A pale fluorescent light began to overflow from her body. Unlike the tiny strands before the advancement, it was an overflowing overall energy wave that began to spread out in all directions with her position as the center.
Su Xi held the warm milk tea in her hand, feeling the warmth in her palm while looking at the rain mist outside the safe house.
At the nearest place, she could clearly sense the extremely strong "hunger" signal of the wild horned lizard under the protective cloth, the "hunting" impulse that was willing but powerless...
Then, she continued to urge the light-colored mental power to extend outward in waves, continuing to follow the mood fluctuations of the wild horned lizard... It was extremely hungry and eager to hunt...
I saw it! It was the dead and stiff primitive land turtle, with its cubs crying and wailing...
I saw it! That extremely weak but extremely tragic emotion... a low-level creature... on the verge of death... the lingering residual bio-waves...
A kind of unwillingness to accept "life" that cannot be defined by "nature" or "instinct" - and a yearning for survival.
Mixed with the noisy and chaotic stories and fluctuations that have accumulated over tens of millions of years in this wasteland...
These mixed emotions deeply shook Su Xi's heart...
She was caught in a feeling of extreme sadness and magnificence.
But it was different from the 'mysterious feeling' produced by the human-machine link before her mental power was advanced. While using her mental power, she could still clearly sense the subtle noise of Xiguang moving around her. Xiguang continued to give examples of her serious and cute childish voice to persuade her.
"The universal rules of the universe do not interfere with the development of other natural life forms. Especially the evolution of civilizations below Class D..."
Xiguang emphasized his tone, and his cute and childish voice rang clearly in Suxi's ears, "Perhaps any slight interference of yours will affect the direction of the evolution tree, so the interstellar law has strict rules..."
"Laws?"
Su Xi heard an important keyword.
"Xiguang, tell me."
Su Xi, who was in a state of mysterious feeling, smiled and leaned forward gently. She looked at the flashing electronic screen simulated by the AI robot, and placed the energy drink in her hand on the tray held high by the Xiguang robotic arm.
The brown-haired girl leaned forward and asked softly, "Look carefully in your database and tell me—"
“Who makes the laws?”
That kind of narrative mixed with the noisy sounds of the wilderness, that kind of 'sorrowful' and 'magnificent' sense of mystery, continued to wash over her whole body over and over again while she asked the question.
She felt an emotion that was too high for a normal person, an urge to be both excited and tearful.
Su Xi knew that this emotion was very irrational, but she did not resist it.
This mysterious emotion made her want to lie down on the earth and listen to the heartbeat of this planet.
At this moment, she would not know that this irrational emotion, this psychological "shock", was due to her special mental power, which was in tune with the life waves of the wilderness, producing an "empathy" effect.
Empathy with the wilderness, empathy with life itself. Those lives that have died for thousands of years and struggled to survive for thousands of years.
Those lives that had just sprouted on the evolutionary tree of this planet were interrupted and suppressed by the special environment of the Great Wilderness Star Region.
"Xiguang, call up your management system interface."
"Hey?" Xiguang asked curiously in a cute childish voice, "What does sister want to do?"
But it did it anyway. "Please confirm login permission by voice."
"Suxi."
"Confirmed, you have landed." Xiguang lost his childish voice and restored the original cold mechanical voice of AI.
"Initial serial number NKD368497m intelligent computer, in the name of A-level management authority," Su Xi said clearly and firmly, "I require you to..."
*
Without any so-called "regulations" blocking his way, Su Xi put on a transparent protective awning, stepped out of the transparent safe house, and stepped into the misty rain filled with sulfuric acid smoke, the shining aurora on the distant horizon, and the hazy sky.
The light-colored fluorescent light formed a protective shield, with fine golden particles flowing through it.
She passed by where the wild horned lizard was lying on its side. The ten-meter-long wild beast was covered in a transparent rain cloth. The lack of energy made it so weak that it only had the strength to slightly twitch its hind legs, which were scarred and bloody from being tied up.
The scarlet eyes of the wild horned lizard rolled around and then dimmed. It saw the humanoid creature in front of it walking past it without even looking at it.
Ouch...
It uttered a low, feeble cry.
Through his half-closed eyes, he could vaguely see the humanoid creature shrouded in a faint fluorescent light walking further and further away.
It slammed its head back to the ground and closed its eyes.
Wait quietly for death.
*
Passing by the small mound where she had previously overlooked the plain, Su Xi first came to the nest of a female primitive land turtle that had already died stiffly.
The nest is on the shady side of a small hill, seven or eight meters below the horizon.
It was obvious that this female primitive land turtle had been dead for quite some time. Su Xi squatted down, then stretched out her hand to feel it. The lingering bioelectric wave that had deeply touched her seven or eight minutes ago had also completely dissipated.
Some of the chirping young land turtles had been suffocated by the corpses of the female land turtles that were guarding the nest tightly.
There were only seven or eight left alive. Two of the stronger ones, after gnawing on their own eggshells, even sucked the dark blue blood of the dead land turtles.
This is 'survival', which is both extremely beautiful and extremely cruel.
The rain mist was spreading, the dry ground had already been soaked and softened, and deep puddles of water gradually accumulated near the nest of the primitive land turtle.
Su Xi recalled the data retrieved from the Xiguang database. Although the primitive land turtles of this planet mainly live on land and lay eggs on land, they are not afraid of water regardless of whether they are young or adult.
The rain was getting heavier. The crackling rain washed the soft ground. Su Xi stood up and used her mental power to feel the terrain near the nest.
It seems that the current survival crisis facing this nest of primitive land turtle cubs is not hunger or the death of their guardians, but the fact that the small slope is about to collapse under the erosion of rain!
Whether it is the lower nest or the place where Su Xi is standing now, it will be buried by the sand and gravel sliding down the small slope!
Su Xi looked down at her hands. Compared with the last time she advanced, they were whiter and firmer.
"Let's try it!" she said to herself, "Let's see how far we can push the limit this time."
The rain was pouring down like the entire sky was pouring down. The sky was dark and the vision was hazy. In such extreme conditions, the colorful aurora on the distant horizon was also hidden.
The brown-haired girl first took off her thin transparent protective hood and gently placed it over the nest of the primitive land turtle.
Then she stood in the explored position, raised her head slightly, looked up at the dark and gray sky with her beautiful amber eyes, and sighed softly.
Close your eyes.
Relax the tight control and instantly withdraw the mental power back to the brain——
Then, the mental shield that was originally stretched out, the light fluorescent light flowing with beautiful golden sands - suddenly retracted!
Then, the extremely corrosive acid rain was about to pour down on her unprotected body and on her face as she looked up at the sky.
The whole process takes less than 30 milliseconds.
Just as the first drop of sulfuric acid rain, the sizzling, corrosive sulfuric acid raindrop, was about to fall on her forehead—
Su Xi's five senses were clearly aware of the sound of rain, her ears could hear the sound of rain, her nose could smell the slightly sour and pungent smell, her skin could feel the peculiar dampness of this corrosive sulfuric acid rain, and of course her vision was clear—
She closed her eyes.
A thicker mental wave burst out within half a millisecond! The sulfuric acid rain dripping half a meter away seemed to be solidified in the fluorescent spherical gelatinous substance!
In the scene within her sight, a drop of sulfuric acid rain hung above her long eyelashes. Su Xi blinked slightly, and Zizi——
Hmm. One or two eyelashes fluttered.
Su Xi blinked and began to squeeze out the foreign objects wrapped in the mental force field. This scene was like bubbles in a crystal ball starting to float up one by one, and being slowly squeezed out of the ball-shaped mental energy that was as thick as a concrete gel.
Then, the spiritual energy that was so thick that it almost solidified into gel suddenly spread out!
Following the selected and explored track, the entire land centered on her was wrapped in the pouring rain.
Boom! Boom!
The small earth slope that was about to collapse into a mudslide was blasted one by one according to the precise locations that had been explored!
Sand, gravel and soil mixed with trickling rain rushed down from the top of the slope more than 20 meters high with a majestic momentum, but automatically split apart when passing by the nest of Su Xi and the primitive land turtle.
Slowly, the rain subsided.
Su Xi picked up the transparent protective hood, put it on, and then gathered her outward mental power. She kicked and stomped carefully to avoid the puddles, and walked back to the transparent safe house with one foot deep and one foot shallow.
Xiguang's 'program self-check' should be completed soon.
*
The wild horned lizard was lying not far from the safe house. On the way back, she stopped.
Crouch down and observe it carefully.
The wild horned lizard rolled its eyelids and made a series of gurgling sounds from its throat, looking very irritated.
When you are dying of hunger, you can't eat the energy body that is delivered to your mouth?
Why send it over?!
"Ha!" Su Xi stroked its long horns that were turned outwards on their own initiative, and felt its emotions, and was amused, "You are such a bad-tempered guy."
Although the horns of the wild horned lizard are sturdy, their main function is not only to compete with other males during mating season, but also to communicate with the group over long distances through biological information waves.
Su Xi's palms were itchy from the fine bioelectric currents emanating from the horns in her hands. After the mental state similar to 'sudden enlightenment' she had in the transparent safe house not long ago, she could now feel the various emotions of this wild horned lizard without any hindrance, without using the mental link.
It's a very special experience.
After all, whether for the former humans on Earth or the interstellar humans who have generally developed spiritual power, the exchange of information is still mainly based on various sensory expressions, rather than creatures like this wild horned lizard, which are born to use their eyes and tails as signal transmitters on their horns to convey information and exchange emotions between groups.
Their emotional patterns are very different from those of humans.
At this moment, Su Xi felt it very clearly, but she found that human language was inadequate and it was difficult to describe it one by one with corresponding emotions such as joy, anger, sorrow, happiness, fear, and sadness.
"Yes," she murmured, "You are a very special being, I know."
"In addition to directly eating its flesh and blood to obtain energy," Su Xi said, remembering Xiguang knocking and picking at it, and analyzing its biological test and habit report, "maybe you can also eat pure energy?"
"Try it. If you feel uncomfortable, just shake your head."
"Can you shake your head?" Su Xi demonstrated. The horned lizard's head with horns shook violently, splashing mud raindrops everywhere.
"Okay, okay!" Su Xi helplessly raised her hand to wipe the dirty spots on her face, and then patted its head in praise, "I know, you are very smart!"
The wild horned lizard shook its head impatiently and made a muffled gurgling sound in its throat.
It urged her!
Su Xi smiled, then concentrated her mind, holding the long horns of the horned lizard in both hands, and the pale pink mental power slowly materialized in her hands.
After this advancement, she vaguely and instinctively knew the special features of her mental power.
Slightly lowering her beautiful eyes, Su Xi carefully extracted the substance as fine as gold sand. With her current ability, what she could extract was not much, only about three or four gold beads the size of fingernails.
With a light flick, the illusory spiritual energy almost materialized into a liquid golden substance, and under the guidance of Su Xi's thoughts, it slowly came into contact with the long horn of the wild horned lizard.
The golden light gradually spread over the long, ferocious horns and quickly sank into the cortex of the head.
Oh——oh——oh——
The wild horned lizard raised its head and howled with great joy!
Then, this wild monitor lizard, which was originally exhausted, dying, and lying down to die, excitedly circled and jumped in place!
A vigorous pounce!
Should I thank it for its rare intelligence as a wild animal to be considerate of its feeder? When it rolled over for the first time, it carefully avoided the position of the "feeder" Su Xi.
After her mental power improved, Su Xi became more sensitive to predicting crises. She retreated far away the moment she realized that something was wrong.
Then, in the gradually decreasing rain mist, the brown-haired girl wrapped herself tightly in a transparent protective hood, stood far away, and stared in amazement at a ten-meter-long wild horned lizard rolling around there, tearing at the rainproof cloth that originally covered its body, and rolling around like crazy!
That strange gait was like a cat that was both satisfied and crazy after inhaling cat mint... Su Xi's mind was filled with inappropriate images.
However, when such a huge 'cat' goes crazy, the ground seems to be able to feel the crazy tremors...
The rain gradually subsided.
Su Xi ignored the horned lizard that was running away like crazy. Before returning to the safe house, she passed by a slightly higher earth slope again. Standing on the top of the slope, she looked out into the plains beyond.
Then, he used his mental power to explore again.
The scene in the wilderness was very different from before the rain.
The corrosive raindrops fell to the ground, still making a sizzling sound. Some tiny insects from the ground crawled out of the ground to enjoy the hard-earned moisture of the raindrops, while some small reptiles a little further away began their daily activities of hunting and being hunted in the rain.
All of this was clearly visible in Su Xi's outward mental power. She tried to expand the detection range of her mental power to a higher level.
Looking down from mid-air, in the rain mist that was slowly stopping, the ground that was dry and rough half an hour ago now looked like a finely crafted Persian carpet, embroidered with large and gorgeous patterns by the rain.
However, the rare plants in the wilderness straightened their trunks and spread their leaves in the rain. There was even a kind of dry vine that lay on the ground, which suddenly swelled up like a saturated sponge as the rain fell!
Most of the plants here are reddish-brown, with only a few ferns clinging to the ground showing green.
Su Xi's mental power slowly retracted, gently caressing the green that lingered in her memory.
She blinked slightly and retracted the range of her mental power's 'horizon' that had been explored to the extreme. The extreme of plane exploration is about 39 hectares?
Su Xi suddenly remembered what Foxtail Sasaki had warned her about when she was in Arale, and what Pirelli had mocked her about, "Go find a teacher for formal training!"
For her now, this has become a very necessary and urgent need. From this advanced change, she instinctively knows that as her spiritual power advances, she can no longer grope around blindly. She must return to human society and enter a mature learning system in order to consolidate and improve.
Just as she was gazing into the distance with these thoughts running through her mind, she noticed the wild horned lizard running towards her from a distance.
The sturdy limbs with sharp claws scratched deep grooves in the soft mud soaked by rain. The tail claw with a broken tail sting was swung around happily without any care, splashing thick mud all over its body.
When it came closer, Su Xi reached out and carefully examined it. The wounds that had been caused by the dark insect's entanglement not long ago had healed at an astonishing speed.
Su Xi looked up. The wild monitor lizard, which was three and a half meters tall when standing normally, ran to Su Xi with great momentum and stood still! Then it half-drooped its eyelids, and a very dark light flashed in its blood-red eyes, just looking down at her!
Then, it opened its tightly closed bloody mouth towards Su Xi without any image!
*
The First Fortress. The time flow rate difference between it and the planet BV-32II is 5.2 times.
The clock now points to late night.
Administrative office.
Ah—yawn—
Albert dropped his feet high on the desk, ruffled his messy blond hair, and yawned without any image.
He had been working in such an overloaded state since he received Nadel's visit. He was entangled in various trivial matters and had hardly slept. At this moment, he especially missed his workaholic boss.
Although he knew that Fitzgerald was now in a desperate area of the universe from which there was no return, he shared Holderman's attitude and was not too worried.
What worries Albert is that he hasn't been back to Yindu for more than ten years. He has to go back by New Year's Day this year at the latest. He has a lot of things to report to the central government! Nadel is afraid that he can't make him crazy, so he makes a lot of impossible demands!
The resentment is dead——
At this moment, Chris opened the door and saw Albert in a state of disgrace.
After she had just finished briefing the mission in the simulated operations room, Mary and the others went about their respective duties to prepare for boarding the ship, and she needed to go to Albert in person to get a special pre-departure warrant.
She frowned and glanced at Albert, mocking him: "Why are you in such a bad state! Isn't it just that you haven't slept for three days? You are really bringing shame to the alpha gender!"
"Don't mention it!" Albert said weakly, "If you keep pretending to be so aggressive and go toe-to-toe with those people every day, you'll get exhausted!"
Albert handed her the encrypted warrant and said, "Good luck on your mission! I hope you can bring back the omega lady successfully this time."
"Of course!" Chris laughed, "I'm not as unreliable as someone else. When has anything I've done personally ever gone wrong?"
Seeing Chris's happy expression, Albert seemed abnormally worried.
"What's wrong?" Chris, who was about to leave, noticed the abnormal mood of his colleague and friend and asked politely.
However, what Albert said surprised her.
Albert said slowly, "I don't object to your decision this time, but I think it is inappropriate to make this decision just because of an omega."
"If we force Nader back to Yindu, we will be impeached when we return to Yindu, which will be very disadvantageous to us in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords."
Chris said, "Think about it from another angle. If His Royal Highness brings back the Crown Princess, then all the criticism will be suppressed. Isn't this the 'optimal solution' that you have been emphasizing?"
"I have said so before, and I still think so now," Albert said calmly, "but don't you think that as long as it is related to that omega, His Highness's style of behavior is very difficult to understand?"
"Is it hard to understand?" Chris frowned. "Your Highness has indicated to pull out all the stakes this time. Isn't that what we all like? Those flies have been annoying us for too long!"
"What are you worried about?"
"Who is it that keeps saying that internal affairs are too difficult, that Yindu's public opinion is too tough, and that Your Highness should quickly choose a crown princess?" Chris sneered. "It seems that it is going to happen, but you are the one who is singing the praises?"
Albert wiped his tired face, reminding himself that it was useless to get angry with Chris, who was so stubborn. He tried to speak to her calmly, "No matter from which angle, I hope that Your Highness will bring back a real candidate for the crown prince, not a rose in a star ring. The current situation of the empire is not suitable for another War of the Roses."
"The planet you were born on was one of the most affected by the War of the Roses. Don't you feel anything?"
Chris almost laughed out loud, "You know what? Sometimes I really feel like you're missing something! That's why I'm so scared!"
"Oh——" Albert said calmly, his eyes did not retreat, but he always smiled but when he frowned, he had a terrifying aura, "I'm short of a lot of stuff, do you want to try it?"
It seemed that the two were about to clash again.
Beep-beep--the emergency number on Chris's personal terminal rang.
Albert glanced at Chris, who was resting his hands on the desk, staring at him with angry eyes, and raised his chin to signal her to answer the call first. Chris suppressed his anger for the moment, saw that it was Mary's signal, and pressed the open button to speak.
Mary reported on the other end of the intercom, "Report! The whole team is complete. The expected number of people is 16, but the actual number is 15. Vulture was temporarily seconded by His Majesty's special envoy and cannot respond to the call."
"Please give me instructions!"
The two people who were glaring at each other looked at each other in tacit understanding after listening to Mary's latest situation report.
Well, we have a common enemy, so we can deal with the internal conflicts after we finish our business.
Albert said, "Leave that 'vulture' to me, and you can go with peace of mind."
"Whatever the reason," he added, "as long as His Highness requests a thorough cleanup, I will clear out everything else left in the First Fortress before you return, except for the ones you took away."
"Don't worry."
"Okay, I believe you." Chris said and turned away, leaving him with his back and the sound of a door slamming.
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