There were crowds of people under the sacred tree, with devout faces facing the golden crown. People prayed in silent languages that only they could understand each other.
That huge spiritual energy formed a network.
Although they did not have real face-to-face communication with the Tree of Insof, the spiritual energy that brought tens of thousands of people together was also comparable to the existence of gods.
They sensed Him.
And is becoming Him.
Dora, who was leading everyone in prayer, suddenly opened her eyes and slowly stood up from the tangled tree roots.
Sakwe, who took over as chief, appointed her as the new chief priest. She did not refuse, but made an appointment with Sakwe.
She will lead the believers in the forest to pray for a period of time until the fourteenth sunset.
"...The elves of light have already built their nests in the crown of the tree. As long as you continue to pray devoutly, the golden color wrapped around the crown of the tree will not go out."
The so-called light elves are the "fireflies" in the forest.
Although the Doma tribe has not yet figured out the principle behind this, when these elves gather together, they will indeed bring prosperity visible to the naked eye.
Looking at Dora standing up, Saqui, who was leaning on crutches, walked to her side with trembling steps.
From priest to chief, he has experienced too much in the past few months, and the wrinkles on his face have become more and more vicissitudes of life.
"Is the time up?" The old man looked into the girl's eyes, with a trace of reluctance in his voice.
She is the most talented temple maid among the young people of the Doma tribe, and she is also the one he most hopes will inherit his legacy.
He even thought about passing on the position of chief to her when his life span comes to an end, so that she can lead the tribe to continue to prosper in this forest.
Pity……
Why did the ancestor take her away?
Looking at the old man with reluctant eyes, Dora nodded slightly and said in a soft voice.
"The ancestor is calling me. The day of departure has come, and I will say goodbye to you."
Saqui sighed softly.
"When are you coming back."
Dora answered truthfully.
"Maybe I won't come back again."
The ancestors said that when you go to heaven, you must abide by the rules of heaven.
After leaving here, she is no longer a Doma, or even a Gaia.
Sakwe nodded, but in the end he did not say those words of reluctance, but only blessed him.
"farewell."
Dora nodded and said her heartfelt thanks.
"Thank you for your blessing... Also, I have something to give to you."
As she spoke, she reached into her arms, took out a thinly-cut wooden stick and handed it to Sagui's hand.
Sagui was stunned for a moment, then saw rows of tiny tadpoles carved on the wooden stick.
"...This is?" His face was full of confusion, and he looked up at Dora.
Dora said softly.
"This is our writing, the most precious knowledge that our pioneers did not have time to hand over to us... Now I have tried to complete it, but it is not vivid and perfect enough. As for the perfect work, it depends on you."
"From now on, our history will be engraved on stone slabs with it."
She believed that the old man could understand it, just like she could understand the symbols written by her ancestors.
This is the ability given to them by spiritual energy.
What they had to do was to hand over the things they could understand through spiritual energy to those tribesmen who did not master spiritual energy... until they finally found a way to stably awaken spiritual energy.
Saqui solemnly took the wooden stick from Dora's hand and put it in his arms.
"I will spend the rest of my life doing this, I promise you."
Dora said nothing, just gave the old man a hug, and then turned and left without looking back.
The prayer and sacrificial activities are coming to an end, and a new chief priest will be elected next.
The priests and temple maids who were lying under the roots of the tree looked curiously at Sakwe standing on the roots of the tree, waiting quietly for him to speak.
Seeing that he was silent for a long time, an elder from the tribe walked up to him and asked in a low voice.
"Where did she go?"
Saqui answered slowly.
"another world."
"Another...another world?" The elder was stunned, that was beyond his understanding.
Saqui actually couldn't imagine what kind of world that was, so he could only try to understand it from a few words in the past.
"That is a world of infinite prosperity, and all good people will go there in the end. She saved the forest, the ancestor took her away, and she ascended... We should bless her."
Ascension...
This word first appeared in the culture of the Doma people.
With countless good wishes, this word is destined to be passed down from generation to generation by the people living in this forest.
Not only Doma City celebrated her ascension, but the tribes in the forest also held grand sacrificial ceremonies for her.
From now on, there is one more festival on the forest people's calendar.
The day Dora leaves this land will be called Ascension Day by the people on this land...
As a coincidence, on the day Dora left this world, the Qiu tribe who had fled to the mountains finally came out of the mountains under the leadership of Qiu Ling.
They were hungry and bruised, but luckily they didn't get lost or give up hope.
The sound of the rolling tide hit everyone's eardrums, and they finally saw the sea mentioned by their ancestors!
"ocean!"
Qiu Ling, who rushed to the beach, was as excited as a child and yelled at the stunned tribesmen behind him.
"It's the prophesied sea!"
The vast and endless blue shocked pairs of confused pupils, and there was no need to express the shock in people's hearts with words.
At this moment, even the hesitant people believed in the infinitely fertile land mentioned by the leader——
"We need to establish a foothold here and collect food! And salt! Prepare to travel to a wider world! Believe me, as long as we continue to follow the prophecy, there will be more fertile land waiting for us ahead!"
Qiu Ling shouted energetically, calling some tribesmen to go to the nearby woods to cut wood, and another group of people to search for berries nearby.
And he himself sat on the beach, thinking about how to get something edible from the sea.
The sun rose and set, and a day passed in the blink of an eye.
Although he didn't get any fish from the sea, the clever Qiu Ling didn't catch anything.
He successfully grilled a crab!
This is probably the first time that the "upright apes" on this planet have tasted the delicious taste of crabs.
And there is almost an inexhaustible supply of these delicious little guys on this rich beach!
The smoke from cooking smoke floated into the air, and the Qiu people set up a bonfire beside the coastline.
This place is separated from the forest people's territory by a whole mountain of mountains, so it is impossible for people in the forest to see it.
They finally no longer had to worry about the fire attracting pursuers, and they could finally eat cooked food.
The people resting around the bonfire sang songs to celebrate victory and carved the legend of their leader's conquest of the ocean on the stone tablets they took away from the Forbidden Forest Valley.
This journey will be longer than all of them imagined, and the epic that can be engraved on stone will be longer than all of them imagined.
In this process, they will discover new texts, new words, and new information recording carriers and communication tools.
Some people may be left behind, voluntarily or forced to stay in villages established along the way.
But most people will follow their leader and move on to the end of the world to find their legendary home...
…
After bidding farewell to her family, Dora went back to her tree hole to bring some belongings and gifts from her tribe, and then headed to the scientific research ship parked on the outskirts of Doma City.
When she arrived near the research ship, Ye Shi, who was wearing power armor, was dismantling the solar panels and drone charging piles previously deployed outside the research ship.
"Do these things also need to be dismantled?" Walking to the side of the silver machine, Dora leaned down and asked curiously.
"of course."
After moving the last packed storage box, Ye Shi smiled and replied.
"Otherwise, if your people dig these things out in thousands of years, it will be hard to explain where they came from."
Dora said puzzled.
"Can't you just tell them?"
Ye Shi shook his head.
"It's not yet time, and... some things are not as simple as you think."
In a sense, human civilization has paid the price for the harebrained Third Contact Plan. The new alliance will probably pursue non-interventionism for a long time and let these indigenous people operate in their own way in their own homeland.
Carry out natural evolution.
As long as they don't blow up their own homes, the Alliance will probably no longer interfere in their internal affairs.
"Let those troublesome things be left to the guys who like to ask for trouble. We are ready to set off."
After carrying the last box back to the research ship, Ye Shi stood at the cabin door and waved to her.
The latter followed anxiously and followed the hatch into the interior of the scientific research ship.
The silver-white walls were like works of art, and everything she saw made her feel incredible and novel.
"You... usually live here?"
"How is that possible?" Ye Shi couldn't help laughing, "This is called a scientific research ship. Jiang Xuezhou should explain it to you."
Dora nodded blankly.
Another ancestor did tell her that this was a kind of ship that could fly in the sky.
But what is a boat?
For the tribes in the forest, the furthest they have ever been is the mountains in the east.
Although there are some wider rivers in the forest, they usually control the growth of plants to form bridges across the rivers, so let alone boats, there is no concept of bridges.
In a sense, although spiritual power has given them a lot, it also limits them a lot.
It's hard to say whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. We can only make further observations before drawing a conclusion.
At this time, Jiang Xuezhou's voice came from the communication channel, startling Dora who was looking left and right at the seat of the scientific research ship.
"Ye Shi! Are you guys ready? When ready, I will let the scientific research ship take off."
"It's ok."
Ye Shi made a done gesture towards the camera, and then motioned Dora to follow his example and fasten her seat belt.
"Is this... okay?"
The tight feeling of restraint on her body made Dora feel very uncomfortable, but she still endured it honestly and did not unbuckle her seat belt.
"That's right, that's all."
Seeing her "uncomfortable" look, Ye Shi wanted to help her, but thinking of a jealous jar still floating in the sky, he could only silently pretend not to see it.
Just bear with it.
Anyway, it will be fine in a while.
A soft electronic prompt sounded from the communication channel, and light blue text scrolled and flashed from the holographic display.
It seems that Jiang Xuezhou was really bored during his retreat, and he even made this kind of reminder for passengers to take off.
Ye Shi rested the back of his head on the safety seat and took a deep breath.
finally--
I'm going home!
[The spacecraft has entered the take-off preparation stage, passengers are asked to sit in their seats and keep their seat belts closed——]
【5......】
【4......】
【3...2...1——】
【Engine starts.】
At the same time as the electronic beep fell, a huge thrust came from under the seat, pushing the scientific research ship towards the sky.
The violent shaking shocked Dora, but seeing Ye Shiyi's calm face and eyes closed, she quickly felt at ease.
The spacecraft has been running for a while and has reached the edge of the clouds.
At this time, Ye Shi, who was leaning on the safety seat, opened his eyes.
"Actually, this scientific research ship has never been so shaking before... By the way, are you curious about what the forest you used to live in looked like?"
Dora nodded hurriedly.
"I want to see."
Ye Shi stretched out his index finger and lightly scratched it in the air, and the light blue holographic screen quickly projected the image below the scientific research ship in the center of the screen.
Watching the emerald green forest shrink into a curved surface, and the sun that had already set on the top of the mountain was "tugged" back to the edge of the horizon, Dora opened her eyes in disbelief in surprise, and her shocked expression had already
Can't be described in words.
Ye Shi did not disturb her, but just let her watch the forest getting smaller and smaller, and finally the edges were blurred by the thick atmosphere.
The two of them were silent all the way.
The scientific research ship with the anti-gravity device turned on accelerated close to the edge of the atmosphere, jumped into the deep universe like a dragonfly leaping from the water, and slowly headed towards the Orion missile hovering in the synchronous orbit.
cruiser.
Looking at the majestic steel fortress, Dora's eyes were so wide that she wanted to move out of her eye sockets, and she exclaimed.
"Heavenly Palace!"
"Another Heavenly Palace... Speaking of which, this Heavenly Palace has some connection with yours." Ye Shi said with a smile, and his thoughts couldn't help but drift back to two hundred years ago.
Who would have thought that Orion and Gemini, which perished together two centuries ago, would eventually reunite in this way.
After passing through the broken hull, the Gemini successfully landed inside the Orion.
Seeing Ye Shi undoing her seat belt, Dora imitated his actions and took off her seat belt, and then ran to open the door impatiently, but as soon as she reached the door, she was pulled back by Ye Shi.
"Don't get excited, put on this 'space suit'." As she said that, Ye Shi threw an extravehicular space suit into her hands.
Then he told her how to put it on and use her voice to check the integrity of the device.
Finally making the final preparations, he evacuated the air in the cabin and then opened the hatch of the scientific research ship.
Seeing Ye Shi standing at the door, Jiang Xuezhou, who had already been waiting at the cabin door, could no longer control the longing in his heart and rushed forward with tears in his eyes.
"Ye ten!"
The round aerospace helmet hit her chin, and Ye Shi grimaced in pain, but he still held back his complaints and patted her back.
"Sorry for the waitting."
Dora, who was standing next to the scientific research ship, stared blankly at the ancestors hugging each other, and then moved her gaze to the robot with a round belly.
The robot raised its arm and took the initiative to say hello to her.
"Hello."
It was just a simple greeting, but Dora was stunned on the spot, and even had a frightened expression on her face.
Noticing her reaction, Jiang Xuezhou jumped off Ye Shi's shoulders, coughed slightly and said.
"It's called Little Koala...it's the child of an engineer on this starship."
"Little... koala?"
Dora stared blankly at the little koala, and it took a long time to squeeze out a stammering human couplet from her mouth, "Why...I can't feel your soul."
"Hmm... why?" Xiao Xiangxiang didn't seem to care much about this problem, and touched his non-existent chin with his inflexible robotic hand, "Maybe it's because I'm not a human."
"It seems that psychic energy is only useful to organic matter..." Jiang Xuezhou touched his chin and nodded thoughtfully, "It's interesting... I wonder if bionic people have such a thing."
"Bionic man?" Dora tilted her head, showing a confused expression.
To be honest, she didn't even understand what a "robot" or even a "machine" was, she just thought it was some kind of powerful magic.
Looking at Dora who looked confused, Jiang Xuezhou introduced generously.
"A robot that is basically not much different from humans. Not only is it highly simulated in appearance, it can even think like humans... Don't worry, I will leave the meaning of some proper nouns to you. Hey, let's talk first.
What are your thoughts? How did it feel when you came to heaven for the first time? Is it the same as you imagined?"
When he said this, Jiang Xuezhou's eyes showed a look of interest, and when he came closer, he looked like he had discovered some interesting specimen.
Dora smiled sheepishly, turned her gaze to the side window, and after a moment she expressed her thoughts.
"To be honest...it's incredible."
"for example?"
"For example...it's so dark."
Withdrawing her gaze from the deep and dark sky, Dora looked again at the ancestor wearing a round helmet and thick clothes, and said sheepishly, "I thought the stars in the sky would be brighter... You
Do you usually live here?"
"Of course not, we live on another star five light years away," Ye Shi added with a smile and explained patiently, "As for Hei... that's because we are too close to this star.
, the light of other stars will not be visible, just stay away."
Dora nodded blankly and turned his attention to the emerald green planet.
It turns out that she has always lived on a star, and the star she lives on is just one of the thousands of stars in the sky.
"What does five light years mean?"
"It means that light takes five years to travel... Ah, by the way, this year is the earth year, not the year here." Ye Shi suddenly remembered that the revolution period here is different from that of the earth, so he added later
One sentence.
"So that's it..."
Dora was silent for a long time without speaking, and suddenly she let out a soft sigh, "I didn't expect that the forest we live in is so small, and we didn't realize at all that the earth under our feet is spherical... I
I always thought it was flat.”
Jiang Xuezhou said jokingly.
"It's normal that you don't understand it. If nothing else happens, it will take you hundreds of years or even one or two thousand years to figure it out."
Dora didn't speak, just stared at the emerald green planet, half filled with joy of knowing the truth, half with worry.
Those problems that she could neither understand nor figure out were all solved the moment she stepped onto the starry sky.
However, what makes her sad is that her people will have to walk in this maze for a long, long time...
Not only her people, but also the Qiu people who left the forest.
She remembered that the boy's name was Qiu Ling. He vowed to use his feet to measure the earth under his feet. She didn't know where he had gone.
If the world is a ball, wouldn't it mean that there is no so-called "edge of the world" at all?
He has been doing something that is destined to be fruitless from the beginning, and will probably continue on this road until the end of his life.
This is too pitiful...
Looking at Dora who had been silent, Ye Shi casually expressed concern.
"what are you thinking about?"
Dora was silent for a while, looked at the two ancestors, and said with a hint of confusion in her voice.
"I'm wondering... why can't we tell them all this. Including that the world is big, that we live on stars, and that the ground is round..."
Ye Shi and Jiang Xuezhou looked at each other.
There was a subtle expression on the latter's face, he stretched out his hand to scratch his helmet, and said after a moment.
"Do you feel that you have been kept in the dark?"
Dora said quickly.
"I haven't thought about it this way, I just thought... we might be able to join you. Although we are still ignorant and weak at the moment, we can learn from you, and one day we will definitely be able to help you."
Jiang Xuezhou said patiently.
"Actually, we have considered the issue you mentioned, but it is too early to talk about it now."
Dora asked blankly.
"Why?"
"How should I explain why?" Jiang Xuezhou had a headache and turned to Ye Shi for help.
Seeing that Jiang Xuezhou couldn't continue making up, Ye Shi thought for a while, looked into Dora's eyes and answered.
"Because... the universe is darker than you think. You just happened to see the beam of light that caught your eye, so you misunderstood that the entire universe is bright, but it is not."
"If I say that our world is not as beautiful as you imagined, we also have problems that make us troubled, and I am sure that you will not be able to solve these problems, just like you will not be able to digest the technology we have given you... You
Are you sure it's really a good thing to bring your people to join us completely?"
Dora was speechless for a moment.
This is indeed beyond her knowledge.
And she was at a loss to discover that the reality seemed to be like this. She had not even arrived in the world of her ancestors, and she already felt disappointed just as she stood in the sky.
It may not necessarily be a good thing to have the ancestor come.
On this point, the ancestor saw it much further than she did.
"... It is actually possible for you to give birth to your own civilization, and even inspire us to solve the problems we both share. But if you plan to skip these steps and become us directly... I think this will be a problem for both of us.
Probably not a good thing."
Looking at Dora who seemed to have figured it out, Ye Shi continued.
"You can go to our world with this question. When you get to the wasteland, you will naturally understand what I mean."
"In addition, at that time, someone will discuss with you the issue of how the two worlds should get along..."