Chapter 258: Forerunner, Flood Demon and Disclosure
Ever since the metal relics of unknown meaning and purpose were unearthed in the colony of Methrein, Sui Bian realized that the race that built these relics was most likely the Forerunners.
Not only are the architectural styles similar, but when the team led by Lara Croft conducted research, they also had certain access rights and did not need to use blasting methods to penetrate deep into the ruins.
Currently, Umbrella has just started researching the ruins of Methrein.
Later, Shirley discovered a second ruins on the Harvest Star, and combined with the Covenant reconnaissance fleet that was "cooked" by the Retribution...
Especially the "long-necked jellyfish" captured by Gabriel and the others, Sui Bian was finally able to confirm that there was also a Forerunner race in this universe.
In other words, it once existed.
Because that "long-necked jellyfish" is not a creature in the traditional sense, but a half-machine, half-creature race created by the Forerunners, named "Huragok".
This race, which is docile by nature and loves tranquility and peace, was endowed with the talent of being proficient in machinery by the forerunners.
Good at repairs, finding objects, maintenance, map drawing and renovation, and other "engineering" related matters.
Therefore, they can be directly called "engineers".
However, the prophet who was the first to discover the Engineers treated them as slaves and squeezed their mechanical talents as much as possible to further expand the Covenant's military strength.
And the forerunners…
If Sui Bian's memory of his past life was correct, the Forerunners should have become the masters of the Milky Way between 150,000 and 60,000 years ago.
However, the galaxy he is in now is very different from the "Halo" he is familiar with.
First of all, what is the relationship between the ancient humans and forerunners of this universe and the pioneers who are infinitely close to the god-level civilization, and whether the pioneers exist.
Secondly, there is the super weapon named "Halo" built by the Forerunners, and the terrifying Zerg that the weapon targets -
Flood Demon.
The pioneers in "Halo" walked around the galaxy with flesh and blood bodies, spreading the fire of life, and created races including ancient humans, forerunners, prophets and other races.
The relationship between the Forerunners and the ancient humans was equivalent to that of "eldest brother" and "second brother", and a racial war broke out between the two sides every ten thousand years.
During the war, each had their own victory or defeat, and some were forced to join forces due to the attack of the Flood.
But the final result was that the Forerunners won, reducing the technology of ancient humans to the Stone Age and binding them to the Earth.
However, not long after the Forerunners became the overlords of the galaxy, they were faced with a full-scale invasion by the Flood, a biological weapon also created by the Forerunners.
Before the Ten Thousand Years War broke out.
The proud and arrogant forerunners were dissatisfied with the forerunners' intention to cultivate ancient humans to inherit the mantle, so they acted like a "father is kind and a son is filial", "successfully" attacked the forerunners, and took the opportunity to launch a war against the ancient humans.
But all the Forerunners destroyed was the Forerunner's body.
In order to teach the "eldest son" a lesson and test whether the "second son" has the ability to inherit the mantle, the Pioneer released a Flood in the galaxy that could swallow all intelligent life.
If an infectious spore appears on a planet and is not discovered and eliminated in time, then the planet can basically be declared hopeless.
The flood demon's devouring includes the body, memory, wisdom, and thinking of intelligent life.
The more it swallowed, the smarter the Flood became, until it formed a "corpse-brained beast" that was like the supreme commander.
One goes down and the other goes up.
Fighting the Flood in conventional ways will only provide them with a steady stream of food and allow them to evolve continuously.
So the Forerunners developed a super weapon that can be "erased with one click".
Its pulse speed can even violate the laws of physics and instantly wipe out all life in the galaxy, including the Forerunners' own halo.
Ignite the aura.
Everything returns to zero.
But the artificial intelligence left behind by the Forerunners began to work, and all the life samples that had been "backed up" in advance were redistributed throughout the galaxy.
There are humans who are both enemies and friends in the sample, but there is no precursor to them.
It may be atonement, or it may be internal factional disputes. Sui Bian in his previous life did not delve into the specific details.
His current galaxy is filled with all kinds of monsters, demons, and monsters, not to mention the alien space demons that are eyeing the physical universe. It is more complex and more sinister than the environment in "Halo".
Forerunners do exist.
But their relationship with humans and pioneers may be completely different, just like the hell plane of this world is different from the hell of "Doom".
That "man" is not a "hot man" who likes rabbits, but Ziegler's father who is waiting to come home.
Especially among his company employees, there is also a hunting goddess who has lived for nearly 30,000 years including her sleeping time.
Artemis and Sui Bian talked about the past of Olympus and the Titans. After calculation, the Greek gods have survived on the earth for at least 100,000 years.
During this period, they did not encounter the halo pulse that wiped out all life, nor did they encounter the Forerunner's artificial intelligence to reconstruct the life system on the earth.
As for why humans still have access to the Forerunner ruins, further investigation can only be done after they arrive at the Harvest Star.
Thought for a moment.
Sui Bian waved his left hand lightly and transferred the holographic screen in front of him to the center console. He also turned around and walked towards the center of the bridge.
Red and white are following behind.
And the White Queen, who looked almost the same as the Red Queen, and whose pupils flashed with a faint blue light, reported to her boss:
"Chairman, we will arrive at Harvest Star in three hours. Lara Croft's team, which has already set off, will arrive before us.
I was also trying to understand the language used by the enemy, and based on the tone of the enemy commander and my own understanding, I initially translated the video message sent by the enemy commander to the Punishment."
While saying this, they had already arrived at the side of the center console.
Sui Bian crossed his hands in front of him, looked at the dazzling star charts and information, and said, "What are you talking about?"
Hear the words.
Queen Bai's facial expression showed a somewhat solemn look, and her voice was also slightly heavy when she said: "The enemy commander calls himself Moore Linmir.
It says that there is a legacy of gods on Harvest Star, but the existence of humans has desecrated this legacy and the gods they admire.
In order to maintain the canon of the covenant, it and its troops will fulfill the extermination order issued by the empire and burn out all heretics on Harvest Star."
Speaking of this, Empress Bai also added: "Although most of the content is translated according to my understanding, it is not difficult to guess that they are a religious multi-ethnic United Empire, and they have officially declared war on us."
"Declaration of war? Haha, I couldn't ask for it." Leon, standing opposite the center console, echoed.
Leon, wearing the knight-type original power armor, maintained the same standing posture as his father, and said with disdain in his tone:
"If three enemies can lose to one, what right do they have to make a noise? Their empire can be used as a stepping stone, the beginning of the Great Crusade, and let the rubbish see what the real extermination order is."
"Haha." Sui Bian smiled lightly.
This time, he did not teach his son as usual, saying "don't be careless" and "stay alert".
Humanity at this stage is fully qualified to regard the Covenant as garbage.
When John conveyed to him through the Red Queen that with the presence of the Second Legion, Harvest Star would be safe and sound, Sui Bian didn't feel worried at all.
Because his second son and the Spartan Legion led by his second son are "professional counterparts" in dealing with the Covenant.
Thirty reservists who have just come of age can roam in the Covenant's combat aircraft carrier.
Not to mention that there are more than 7,000 adult Astartes in the Spartan Legion, equipped with Mjolnir and Terminators.
If the Covenant really dares to assemble multiple main fleets and invade the Harvest Star again, then John will easily take them away, saving the time and effort of going to the unknown space to search.
But Sui Bian still corrected his third son:
"It's not the Great Expedition, Leon. This time it's just a regular "counterattack war." After all, it was the other party that declared war on us first.
Moreover, just looking at the technological level and military strength displayed by the opponent, its territory should not exceed the Orion Cantilever, so it cannot be called a Great Expedition.
But this is an excellent opportunity to officially announce the existence of you and your brothers to the outside world. It is time for mankind as a whole to learn more about the truth."
"I will obey my father's arrangement." Leon responded respectfully, and then remained silent with an indifferent expression.
Sui Bian, on the other hand, looked to his right side with his peripheral vision and asked, "How does society view this incident?"
"Although the public only knows that Harvest Star is disconnected, without us announcing the details, the Internet and various media have already concluded that it is an invasion by alien races." Queen Bai replied.
"Well, you should get used to it." Sui Bian nodded to himself and ordered to Queen Bai:
"Inform the UEG and UNSC and ask them to properly publish the details about this invasion. Be sure to publicize the fact that the Harvest Star defeated the enemy fleet with extremely low casualties."
"OK."
"And..." Sui Bian continued:
"On various websites, forums and social software, use the company's official account to publish image materials of the First Legion fleet.
This includes Robert, the daily life of the Ultramarines and the auxiliary troops, as well as regular cooperative training.
Finally, we will release the helmet camera of the reservists led by Gabriel Angelos when they were performing a gang-hopping battle on an enemy ship.
We must avoid being too bloody, and discard the scene of the four-petal (elite) race being slaughtered by Angelos and the others, edit it appropriately, and control the length within four minutes. You are personally responsible for these, Queen White."
"Leave it to me." Queen Bai agreed happily.
But then, she said hesitantly: "Then Chairman, how should we respond to people's inquiries?"
"Silence, there is no need to deliberately write any copy when publishing." Sui Bian responded briefly.
"OK."
———————
…
Shortly after.
Within the solar system.
Revolving in the third orbit, Earth, the mother planet that gave birth to mankind, is more prosperous and powerful than ever before.
Far away from the earth, there are jump portals that frequently flash and emit blue light.
It shows that countless cargo ships, cruise ships and other ships are using fault tunnels to travel between the earth and various colonies.
In the Earth's short-range orbit, there are several times more electromagnetic defense platforms deployed than those on the Reach Star, as well as dozens of orbital elevators and transportation hubs larger than those on the Harvest Star.
The space debris originally produced in the mid-to-late 20th century and the early 21st century has long been cleaned up by human engineering ships and will no longer threaten civilian ships, space shuttles and space stations.
At this time.
After leaving the fault tunnel, a giant cruise ship did not choose to go to the nearest hub station. Instead, it adjusted its angle and entered the atmosphere directly.
Soon, it dropped to less than three thousand meters above the surface.
The cruise ship began to slow down and sail, so that tourists could still have an excellent view and take in the unique natural scenery of the earth before disembarking.
After all, this is the first time for most tourists to come to their home planet since they were born.
Below the cruise ship.
First there is a dense forest, and then there is the suburbs of a city. The community is composed of low-rise houses of different shapes.
Further forward, visitors can overlook the high-tech zone with factory buildings.
Looking into the distance, we see a city lined with huge buildings over 100 meters tall.
Its scale is far smaller than the urban areas in Arcadia, Reach or other colonies with a population of over 100 million.
But this is a unique urban form on earth, where the past, modernity and future combine.
The cruise ship passed slowly through the city.
If you look closely, you can find that this city retains many buildings that are over a hundred years old and serve as attractions for tourists to check in and enjoy.
However, there are a large number of people wearing "armor" and "fancy clothes" on the streets.
There are soldiers with a very sci-fi style, as well as warlocks holding staffs and wearing black robes.
Just like characters from games, comics, and movies that have come to reality, it directly raises the liveliness of the entire city to its peak.
In fact, these people played their favorite characters and traveled thousands of miles, even light-years away, to come to this city to participate in the annual "Electronic Entertainment Expo."
Today is August 11th, Atlantic time, and it is also the last day of the "exhibition", which makes the city's sidewalks very crowded.
There is only one city on earth that can be regarded as a "holy place" by players, Raccoon City.
Umbrella's headquarters building is located in the center of Raccoon City, surrounded by clock towers and churches that have a strong sense of the times.
Not far to the east of the headquarters building.
It is also the most prestigious university in the world and even the entire human territory with a history of more than half a century——
Umbrella University.
The entire campus is like a town, with all kinds of facilities. The most numerous buildings are probably science and technology buildings and laboratories.
Because funding is the least important thing to worry about.
at this time.
During the summer vacation, the campus is relatively deserted. Only students who choose to take summer classes are still shuttling between various buildings.
Students whose hometown is outside the solar system either relax by the artificial lake on campus or participate in "exhibitions", but most of them rest in the dormitory building.
suddenly…
"Go online! Go online quickly!"
“They are real!!”
Suddenly, several students shouted loudly, breaking the tranquility of the campus.
In a boys' dormitory with four upper bunks, three students were close to each other and gathered on the bottom bunk near the balcony.
The holographic screen displayed on the "crystal" computer placed on the table below the bed was playing a gang-hopping video edited by the white background and executed by Gabriel and the reservists.