At the customs office of the civilian starport, we met the boss of the ship on the "Grass Ark" and the tree elf observer stationed by the empire here: it was this observer who reported the ghost ship parts.
This civilian starport has a large number of modular customs offices. Every ship that docks here for more than a week can apply for such a free office, which is used to handle official business and hand over various intelligence with the imperial management department. Of course, it can also
Used as a place for business negotiations: Many "special" merchant ships traveling in the macro world complete their trading activities directly at the star port. They run from one star port to another, and the warehouses are always filled with long-term moving goods.
They are middlemen and transporters of goods in the world, and they never leave their spaceships or set foot on any planet except during outages. This kind of businessmen from other worlds call themselves "starship dealers", and their slogan is "We
We don't produce resources, we are just porters of nature." - But these starship merchants have nothing to do with these forest spirits. I am very curious about the significance of these forest spirits applying for such an office. Although they meet the application conditions, as businessmen
, they have no goods, no information to hand over, and no need to receive any business partners. Such an office seems to have no meaning for such a group of lonely businessmen.
To my question, the boss of the merchant ship who looked just like any other mimosa responded very shamelessly: "It's all in vain anyway. My ship and cargo are ruined. Why don't you allow me to take advantage of it?"
"
At that time, I felt that these first batch of enthusiastic merchants who started trading in the macro world were probably all printed from the same mold: I saw the shadow of the peddler queen of the Fialli Empire in this mimosa.
Shandora was learning about the ghost ship with the tree elf who was the observer, and I curiously observed the boss of the Lin Jingship in front of me: I have had feelings for this race since the last time I saw the nagging Mimosa in Shadow City.
I became interested, and then I also learned about the ins and outs of this group of forest elves in various online resident communities in Shadow City. As a result, the more I learned about them, the more curious I became: How did this strange race come into being?
The forest elves are a new race from the edge of the macro world. Official exchanges with the empire were less than a year ago. And before this month, they were engaged in short-term trade in remote areas and had never been exposed in the interior of the empire.
Enough. These perennial herbaceous plants possess civilized intelligence and a higher level of scientific and technological civilization. They have thoroughly studied their own universe, but they do not yet know how to escape from their own world. Therefore, forest spirits like the "Herb Ark"
Caravans all rely on purchasing spaceships from other civilizations or applying for public inter-border gates to complete self-guided tours. This seems to be a plant, but in fact, it is a strange race composed of plants and mechanical parts that makes people who know them for the first time.
They were all puzzled. Even in the Shadow City, where weird races are already commonplace, the Lin Jing aroused a lot of curiosity when it first appeared, because according to normal logic, such a creature has not been able to evolve natural limbs so far.
(or other functions that enable them to move) and communication organs cannot start on the road to becoming a higher civilization: they cannot make the first tools, nor can they form the first classes and conscious groups. Break away.
Without the assistance of those mechanical components, the forest elves can only rely on their own roots to carry out extremely slow and limited actions. They will also lose the ability to speak, and even if they communicate with their own kind, they can only rely on inefficient and vague plant pheromones to communicate.
In other words, the forest elves who lose those mechanical limbs and auxiliary plug-ins will become creatures that are just a little more advanced than plants: they will still retain the ability to think, but they cannot move or speak. No one knows what is spinning under their enlarged petioles.
What a clever little idea.
This point has not changed throughout the entire evolutionary history of forest elves: they have never been able to break away from their mechanical bodies.
So how did they start on the evolutionary road to becoming a higher civilization? Or to put it more directly: how did they obtain the first mechanical prosthetic limb and pass this mechanical prosthetic limb to the next generation?
The reason for this is strange and rare: the original wood spirits were actually just pets created by another race.
"We call them 'fathers'," Boss Lin Jingchuan jumped up and down on his desk. His voice, posture, appearance and various habits seemed to me to be the same as the mimosa I saw two days ago.
There is no difference, "This title is exclusive to the Creator, because forest elves are hermaphrodites and there is no concept of parents in our race. The title 'Father' comes from the Creator's civilization. They are very intelligent and were the first to be born on our planet.
Bonfire - oh, a great civilization. They discovered the forest spirits and planted us in the corners of their walls: initially just to improve the air in their houses. Then one of the greatest scientists among these great people had a whim.
, connected the electrodes and decoding equipment to the Lin Jing in his home, that was a historic day: the great Lin Jing - we call him the eldest son, this title also comes from the creator - he said to the scientists: Thank you.
, to express gratitude for watering every day, these two words were displayed on the display screen of 'Father', so someone finally discovered Lin Jing's thinking ability. Then after a long time, the 'Fathers' mastered it.
We have all the techniques to communicate normally with the forest spirits, and know that we have been thinking silently for the past few hundred years. Although that kind of thinking is very primitive, close to sleep talking and slow thinking hallucinations, the 'fathers' still seem very happy.
"
When I heard this, I couldn't help but interrupt the other party: "Speaking of which, your creator doesn't have any conspiracy theories or anything like that? For example, he is worried that another intelligent race appearing on his planet will compete with him for his territory - there is no such thing as a conspiracy theory on the earth.
There are many similar stories.”
"Oh. Yes, but this idea soon proved to be a joke," Lin Jingchuan boss spread out his branches vividly, imitating the movements of human hands, "Lin Jing needs to be planted in the soil, our favorite thing
It is just the right amount of watering and sunshine. We don't need any wealth in the hands of the 'fathers'. On the contrary, the forest spirit is an indispensable plant on the planet of the 'fathers'. The gases that the 'fathers' breathe have hundreds of
Eighty-five percent of the difference comes from the forest elves. The two races will not plunder any of the other's treasures. The waste that neither of us uses is the other's survival resource. Smart people know that we have no need to compete - I know what you are saying.
What kind of place is the earth? Do people on earth worry that too much food and air will occupy their living space?"
Me: "...That's true."
"In short, the 'fathers' transformed the Lin Jing," the ship's boss ran quickly on the table with his short legs. "They improved the Lin Jing's intelligence and gave us equipment that can more easily output thoughts: sensors.
Plug-in, and then installed mechanical multi-functional limbs for us: they can be used as both legs and hands. The Lin Jing and the 'fathers' lived happily together, and it was a good life."
I originally just casually asked the other person about the ins and outs of this strange race, but I didn’t expect the story to be so interesting. I couldn’t help but urge him to continue: “Then what? Where is your creator?”
Boss Lin Jingchuan's mood suddenly dropped, and even the leaves drooped listlessly on the table: "Here comes a group of bandits, bandits from five light years away. They are a group of guys who do all kinds of evil among the stars, gnawing away like pests
The resources of each planet, these bandits invaded the planet of the 'fathers', and after a fierce battle, they won."
"The 'Fathers' were genetically annihilated by bandits, and they all perished after a generation. But the forest elves survived. This is because when the war was about to collapse, the 'Fathers' modified all the databases, and they erased
Forest spirits have traces of advanced intelligence, and then let us disguise ourselves as household pets and natural plants with simple thinking abilities. The bandits did not expect this, and they also need smart servants like forest spirits to help them improve.
The atmosphere of the planet was so strong that the forest spirit survived."
Nowadays, the forest elves are not only still alive, but have also become one of the active races in the macro world, which shows that they have finally killed their enemies, but how did these weak-looking plants take revenge? Especially the era mentioned by the ship boss
, the forest elves don’t have any weapons in their hands, this revenge seems too unbelievable to me.
"It took a long time," Lin Jingchuan boss jumped on the spot, "Seven hundred years, we spent seven hundred years preparing for revenge. We have no weapons, no base, no place to hide. We can't even hide.
Showing high intelligence in front of the robbers: only in this way can they continue to relax their vigilance. On the surface, the forest elves have nothing, but we have a way to get revenge - evolution and plant pheromones. The forest elves can perform basic communication through plant pheromones.
We can even exchange our own genetic fragments or cooperate to create new chemicals. We can control the direction of our own evolution and produce toxins through purposeful and subtle mutations from generation to generation. It took us five hundred years to slowly change ourselves.
Let your own organelles begin to secrete a seemingly harmless small molecule compound - those bandits have superb interstellar navigation technology and weapons technology, but their biochemistry and genetic technology are only average. This is a perfect opportunity.
."
I have been completely attracted by the story of the forest elves. I didn’t expect that these seemingly soft and weak plants actually have such a history. However, I still can’t imagine how they let themselves evolve toxins to complete their revenge: The goal of the forest elves should be
It's not just as simple as poisoning a few enemies, this is racial hatred, and they need larger-scale results.
"It's simple," the ship's boss said seriously (if folding all the leaves means seriousness), "we make ourselves nutritious, easy to digest, and cater to the tastes of those robbers."
I was stunned.
"In the next two hundred years, forest spirits became a delicacy that bandits competed to taste, and we also evolved some other gadgets to make ourselves look like medicines with health care effects. The bandits were addicted to them, and every one of them
People are addicted to this, and eventually the forest elves become their complete obsession: the toxin accumulates in their bodies, takes three generations to take effect slowly, and then explodes. Those stupid people never thought that the revenge of plants could be tolerated for so long.
So it has nothing to do with the food they have eaten for two hundred years: they have lost their fertility and gradually lost their ability to think logically. Those bandits tried to use cloning to continue their race, but as long as they still eat, they cannot escape these
Toxin, in the end those who could manipulate the cloning equipment also died, and the only ones who came out of the culture chamber were monkeys scratching their toes and drooling - Lin Jing spent seven hundred years preparing, and finally spent three hundred years appreciating
All of this, this is our story."
You can guess what happened after that: we survived like this, and used the mechanical limbs left by our 'fathers' to continue civilization. Every new forest elf must accept this transformation. The mechanical limbs accompany everyone
The life of the forest elf. Praise the 'father' and the eldest son. From now on, no one dares to underestimate the forest elf: once the revenge of the plant begins, it will not end."
I stared blankly at Lin Jing, the boss of the ship, who had a cheerful tone and didn't seem to be worried at all. I suddenly understood what was going on with these creatures who could still think "it's a little bit cheap" even after the ship was damaged and its cargo was destroyed.
: They will not be sad, will not be in trouble, and will not be knocked down by any short-term difficulties. Yes, for such a tolerant and patient race, they will always be energetic and open every leaf of their own.
It is enough to welcome the sun.
"Here, it is a tradition for ship bosses from different worlds to introduce to each other the glorious history of their races and civilizations." At this time, Sandora's conversation with the tree elf observer also came to an end. The tall and thin tree elf
He turned around and said, it turned out that he had also heard the conversation here just now, "The story of the forest elves is the most exciting one, but the only problem is that these forest elves like to tell these stories to others too much: I have listened to these stories for six times.
Once again, you must be willing for me to carry one backwards for you..."
I:"……"
Okay. You can imagine this. After all, the Mimosa I met two days ago is a guy who doesn't distinguish between simplified and traditional speech. The way of thinking of Lin Jing seems to be different from other races. Once they communicate with others, they will
List everything that comes to your mind without prioritizing it. When you first come into contact with it, you will feel that the forest spirits are hospitable and easy to communicate with. However, after being in contact for a long time, you will feel that these perennial herbaceous plants are a bit noisy. But after all, I am also the same as the Star Domain one.
Those who have spoken to each other expressed their acceptance of Lin Jing's somewhat talkative nature. After all, they just talk a little too much. The one in Star Territory has almost reached the point where a mouth can circulate endlessly...
"Let's talk business first." I turned my attention away from Lin Jing's matter. Seeing the relaxed look on Sandora's face, I knew that the ghost ship matter was basically settled. "The part was confirmed to have fallen off the ghost ship.
Is it there?”
"Sure, that's it." Sandora said, handing over a small cylindrical metal object. This thing was less than a foot long and about the thickness of an egg. Moreover, one end was broken, and its size was larger than I expected.
It's still small: When I first heard that the ghost ship collision debris was found on the "Grass and Trees Ark", I thought it was so big.
"I just identified it. This is a common external sensor on the imperial spacecraft. The manufacturing age is in line with expectations. It is a relic from the heyday of the old empire." Sandora said as she handed the sensor to Xiaoxue, "
Through this thing, coupled with Xiaoxue's prophecy ability, we should be able to determine where the ghost ship will appear next."
"My mother should be more prudent in this matter." Xiaoxue took the metal pillar and muttered.
"Your mother has just come back from a business trip. Let her rest for two days." I glanced sideways at this picky little naughty child. "And you are almost developing rice bugs at home. If you don't move around, I'm worried that you will get rusty in front of the TV."
Xiaoxue grinned at me, and finally grabbed the broken sensor probe and closed her eyes to concentrate. She would retrace the information of this item and find other components that had spent more than 100,000 years with it.
This is a process that is difficult for others to understand. If you have to explain it, it is equivalent to taking a leaf and going to the forest to find the tree it once belonged to. This is a task that sounds impossible, but you must know that what is born in the void
Everything is in a huge ocean of information, and there is no exception. The prophet's eyes can look down at all the derivatives spreading out from the stairs of the void: although a ghost ship can be teased out from such a massive amount of information,
The arrival of the boat seems a bit unbelievable, but Xiaoxue has her own special method.
Sandora and I waited silently for a few minutes. During this period, the Lin Jingchuan boss ran to chat with the observer. Finally, Xiaoxue suddenly opened her eyes: "Found it."
"Where is it?" Sandora and I said in unison.
"Three days later, in the outer world of the capital, over a red dwarf star more than three million light years away from the earth," Xiaoxue returned the metal pillar to Sandora, "Ghost ships do not always appear in the macro world.
Around the waterway, occasionally it will drift to a desolate place, but its stay time in these desolate areas is usually very short, so short that even the empire's radar station has no time to scan them. This time the ghost ship will be there.
Stay there for three seconds.”
Three seconds...this is really short enough.
Shandora didn't care much: "That's enough. Let's send people to set up a siege first. Three seconds is enough for the gravity trap to start. Xiaoxue, is that ship armed?"
"It's unarmed," Xiaoxue shook her head, "but it's hard to say whether there are any inside the ship. There's too much information jumped at once, and it looks blurry."
Shandora and I waved our hands indifferently: It's good to be able to locate the location and time of the ghost ship's upcoming appearance. Xiaoxue, a naughty kid, is unambiguous in getting down to business.
At this time, the Lin Jingchuan boss had once again grabbed the Star Port Observer and was chatting enthusiastically: "Hey, let me tell you about my adventure back then..."
I suddenly felt that it would be better to leave this place as soon as possible... Could these forest spirits believe in the Dragon God?