Blue Star (1)
Al and Joe remained engrossed in their conversation for a long time. After the clouds above the forest quieted down, Mi silently stared at the invisible dome above. She whispered, "I hope we'll have a chance to meet. Maybe you could buy me a cup of tea then." The clouds slowly resumed their gentle tumbling, as if responding to Mi's thoughts or mocking her wishful thinking.
Mi didn't disturb El and Joe; she went to the valley alone. Every now and then, wisps of smoke would rise from the valley, and Mi could even imagine what delicious food was being cooked beneath those wisps.
"Mi, do you still want to continue?" Al and Joe finally parted ways. Al found Mi in front of the valley and said, "I don't know if I can continue teaching you."
How can I get out?
"You must become a witch first before you can go out."
"Become a witch? Aren't I a witch already?"
"At the very least, you must learn the skills of a shaman, acquire a shamanic body, and distinguish yourself from humans."
“You’re right, I haven’t accepted the identity of a witch yet.” Mi shook her head indifferently. “You said I’m human, and I identify with that more. I know what you mean, go on.”
"This is not good for your witch development."
“Who knows,” Mi looked into the depths of the forest. “Who can completely escape their birth? You see, you’ve still created a human form. And I, most likely, will still be my original form.”
“Okay, I’m glad you understand.” El raised her hand to comfort Mi, then let it fall slumped down. Joe picked up El’s hand and gently stroked it. El smiled at Joe and continued, “Actually, I don’t know how to teach you. Your ideas are so different.”
"Let's start with people. At least as I understand it now, I am a person."
“Alright,” El and the other two strolled along the riverbank. “You humans are the most bloodthirsty species I have ever seen, both in the early stages of evolution and now. I think you might not even have external forces to help you wipe each other out.”
“We humans?” Mi turned to look at El. “You have indeed completed the transformation of your identity.”
"Humans were once a part of me, but that was a long time ago, and I've forgotten what it's like to be human."
"Really?" Mi stared at the grass in front of him. "Some people say that wolves eat sheep, and sheep eating grass is their nature. But wolves stop when they're full, and sheep leave when they're full. But what are people doing?"
"Humans are also doing everything they can to survive." Al thought for a moment. "Humans live in groups, cooperate, and build storage rooms to preserve food as much as possible."
"Use every means possible?" Mi gave a strange laugh. "You mean the endless cycle of division and reunion, the never-ending battles and killings among humans?"
"The struggle for food is an instinct. Killing among animals, herbivores eat the life of plants, which is also killing. The desire to survive inevitably leads to killing; this is the fate of carbon-based life."
“You’re right, I feel like I’ve been saying you’re right all along,” Mi gave a strange laugh. She asked, “Humans have learned to cooperate in order to preserve their own food and to steal food from others. But animal groups also cooperate, so why is it so prevalent among humans?”
"I have no idea."
“No, you know, you just don’t want to admit it.” Mi stood up. “You said that Earth has gone through several periods of slumber. In Earth’s history of more than four billion years, there have been incredibly powerful Tyrannosaurus Rex. As the creatures grew larger and larger, they did not perish. You see, different variables have been added time and time again, but the result does not seem to satisfy the guys up there.”
“The Earth is like a lump of clay molded by a child, or perhaps it was a game played by a group of children. They molded a lump of clay, then thought it was too boring, so they put in a single cell—no, maybe many cells, some on mountains, some in the sea, some in the air. They discovered that only the cells in the ocean survived, so they recorded that water is essential for life.” Mi lay down, staring into the void: “Now it’s my turn to tell you the story of Earth.”
“Yes, Earth didn’t exist from the beginning.” Al and Joe sat down as well. “But who has such a big hand that they could mold such a large planet?”
“Oh, please don’t worry about that. The size of a species is relative. You think Earth is huge because I’m tiny. Let’s look at it from another angle. An ant would definitely think I’m a giant, that I could easily make a lump of mud to sustain an entire ant.” Mi turned to look at El, who was silent. Mi continued, “But cells are so bored living only in the ocean, so they started moving clumps of mud on Earth. The carbon-based life form that was introduced initially refused to evolve, at most just combining things as you said. So these people added something else: oxygen. Perhaps they added more than just oxygen, but oxygen played the most crucial role, so they recorded it again: oxygen is essential for life.”
After thinking for a moment, El said, "There are many planets with life. Water is indeed necessary, but oxygen is not necessarily. Some life forms do not breathe oxygen."
“That makes sense,” Mi nodded and continued, “They certainly wouldn’t just create one Blue Star. Blue Star needs oxygen, but what about White Star and Black Star? They definitely need different things. Is there oxygen here? Witches from different planets live here, so oxygen doesn’t seem to be a necessity for them.”
“Uh, you’re right.” El stumbled for a moment, and this time it was El’s turn to ponder.
"With oxygen, life forms began to change. These life forms began to prey on each other, and killing became the norm. Some creatures gained more energy and grew larger and larger, which pleased them greatly. Life began to live on land, and even birds appeared. The air also became a habitat. There were giant whales in the ocean and giant dinosaurs on land. Dominators appeared in different regions." Mi sighed, "But then they got tired of it. Or perhaps it wasn't tired of it, but just a few pebbles thrown down by some child. The Earth suffered a devastating blow, and large numbers of species began to die."
“Killing is necessary for survival, food—” El said with difficulty, “the process of obtaining food is the process of killing.”
“You said the first gods were different groups, initially just cooperating to form different groups,” Mi continued indifferently, “who started hunting first?”
“I don’t know,” El said through gritted teeth.
“Weren’t you all observing human progress? How could you not know? Such an important thing wasn’t recorded.” Mi shook his head. “Let me imagine. Those children, those observers, those guys who created different planets, weren’t peace lovers. A large number of life forms appeared on Earth, and different life forms appeared on different planets. Maybe some child wanted to play with these created life forms, so they joined this world they created. Then they found that these life forms were not very obedient. Or maybe they weren’t obedient, but they just thought these life forms tasted good. Maybe they needed energy. In short, once the killing started, it was imitated. You know, so-called genetic inheritance is actually imitation. How different is imitation from copying?”
Al and Joe exchanged a glance, neither of them knowing what to say.
“Actually, even if killing is for survival, it’s still limited. After all, not many species are so full that they kill purely for fun.” Mi turned to look at El and Joe, who were dazed and incredulous. Mi smiled, preparing to unleash her ultimate weapon: “The giant land and sky overlords of Blue Star all disappeared, only the big guys hiding in the ocean escaped. The species on Blue Star began to govern themselves, carving out their own territories and establishing their own habitats. Then they got bored, and at this time, one of the observers joined in, and a new species appeared. They expanded faster than any other species and quickly became the overlords of Blue Star—that was humans.”
Mi stared at El and Joe, who both looked bewildered. Mi continued, "Now that humans have appeared on Earth, they are no longer just animals. Throughout Earth's evolution, humans have been the species that has repeatedly driven other species to extinction. Humans not only kill other species, but they also kill each other. Hands and teeth are not enough, clubs and knives are not enough. Now, humans possess weapons capable of destroying Earth many times over."
"You mean because of the witch?" El stood up as well, trembling, unsure of what to say.
“I don’t know. All I know is that Earth is no longer repeating the same cycle over and over again. The emergence of humans on Earth must have introduced some new variable.” Mi’s voice was cold. She continued, “All of this was observed by the creatures outside the box, so I came here.”
"What do you mean?" El looked around in a panic.
“Look, the changes brought about by this new variable are too great, they’ve terrified them.” Mi chuckled, whispering like a demon, “So these clay-molding guys, these guys who started experiment after experiment, they didn’t want the experiment to fail. So they banded together and locked up this last variable, locked it up in this—” Mi looked around before continuing, “This Witch Forest, there’s nothing here but witches, the witches have been ostracized, the witches have been locked up.”
“We can all go out, only you, only you, you are still a newborn witch, this place is for the protection of newborn witches,” El said incoherently. “This place is free.”
“Freedom?” Mi said softly. “I don’t know what force brought me here. I only know that this place is like a prison. They don’t care about my wishes at all. They locked me up here without any trial.”
“Don’t worry, you’re so smart, you’ll be out soon,” Joe reassured Mi.
“I’m not worried. I’m just a human, imprisoned here by some unknown means. I don’t know how long I’ve been here. I think the observers outside must have gotten bored, so they added variables to this forest, like giving me a guide, just like the guide who led humanity out of their habitat.” Mi gave another strange laugh and continued, “El, why are you so convinced that you are a witch? You’ve been human since the moment you were born. Or perhaps you really are a witch, always high above, observing the entire evolutionary process of life alongside those players. But why were witches later kicked out of the observer camp?”
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