Moon's Cocoon

Li Aoz followed Mirrid down the mountain, a smile on his face, looking completely in control.

Just as I expected! Just as I expected!

The situation Qualia-Direction is actually quite easy to explain. It doesn't truly despise or scorn human life. On the contrary, it cares a great deal about the lives of these mortal beings, perhaps more than Li Aoz, or any human leader.

However, for some reason, the Qualia-Direction seemed unable to resist the void, or rather, it was unable to take care of every life under the invasion of the void. Instead of sprinkling Qualia Rain, it had to take away more lives with its own hands.

In the end, it discovered that the people on the Dragon Satellite were actively trying to save themselves, even without its help, and were constantly battling against the Qualia Rain it painstakingly brought down.

This kind of intention is good, but if the execution goes wrong, it can lead to disaster. There are many such cases in history where the more you want to protect everyone, the more you end up having to end the lives of a group of people.

For humans, there's nothing to worry about. After all, a person only lives once, and if they can live, they'll try to live a little longer.

But for a near-immortal being, on par with Entropy, who could survive peacefully in a world after thermal silence even if Long-lived Species in this universe—this kind of thing seems to be an extremely strong shock to its dignity and existence.

The Qualia-Direction could not imagine that it, as the Origin Species, had accumulated wisdom over countless years and possessed infinite life, yet it had to watch helplessly as people not only failed to appreciate its protection but also hurled insults and curses at it.

As a realist and Deified Person, Li Aoz was situated in the gap between man and god, and Li Aoz could easily understand this kind of thinking.

To put it bluntly: You might feel incredibly capable and invincible, but reality hits you hard. Not only will you encounter various problems and obstacles, but you'll also be ridiculed with, "You think you're worthy of calling yourself Qualia-Direction?" Some graduates from prestigious universities excel academically, but once they enter the workforce and face the complexities of the professional world, their prestigious background doesn't necessarily provide a significant advantage. Instead, they might face mockery and have their status used against them.

You think you're a top student who defied fate with your intelligence, but when you face real privileged children, you'll only be mocked as a "small-town exam-taker."

This is probably the mentality of the Qualia-Direction. Perhaps at the beginning, when it came to the Dragon Satellite, it was overjoyed to find that there was no interference from the Daoist path here. It felt as if it had found a paradise and decided to rest and recuperate here in peace, spending its endless lifespan.

Unexpectedly, the void launched a brutal invasion, accelerating the Dragon Satellite from a primitive slave kingdom into the Industrial Era in just eighty years. It tried its best to protect the entire planet, monitor the world, and prevent the Star Abyss from encroaching on this land, while also sprinkling Qualia Rain to purify the human world.

However, for some reason, perhaps because of its limited strength, or perhaps because of injuries, Qualia-Direction did not have the ability to sweep across the entire universe like Entropy Jun.

Finally, faced with the endless void, it was left heartbroken and could only settle down in a corner, opening a kindergarten in its own little corner, waiting for the void to swallow everything up, and it would continue to drift in the universe as usual.

Is it sad? Actually, it is somewhat sad, especially since Li Aoz has gradually entered the ranks of the Long-lived Species. He has become less concerned about the pure need for survival and has gradually come to understand this idea, and is able to resonate with it to some extent.

Perhaps it's a common ailment among Long-lived Species, but these strange creatures are becoming increasingly impractical. The longer they live, the less capable they become of taking concrete action.

Some Long-lived Species forget to eat, and when they taste the food from their hometown again, they will weep with joy and be moved for a long time.

Some people forget the joys and sorrows of reality, and even when they see their children and grandchildren crying and complaining to them, they cannot feel any empathy.

Some creatures even forget how to breathe because they live so long, and end up suffocating to death.

But for the Qualia-Direction Origin Species, the concepts of 'life' and 'death' did not even exist when they were born.

They have no concept of death; they just watch as these little ones, who were lively and energetic just a moment ago, bowing and exchanging sweet words with them, become old and frail in the blink of an eye.

Who could bear this? Rather than enduring the long years, the Long-lived Species yearned to witness the moment of brilliance; they wanted to personally control this period of time.

Li Aoz was gradually able to empathize with him, but that didn't mean he could now approve of his actions.

"Sir Mirrid, I have a question for you."

As they walked side by side, Li Aoz suddenly asked.

"If you keep asking those pointless conceptual questions, I think you can just give up. No matter how many times you ask, my answer will always be 'the void is irreversible.' No matter how you resist, the void's fate is already sealed, and it's meaningless no matter what you do."

"Mirrid said calmly."

"No, I didn't mean to ask you that. I also know that there's no way to change your perception of the world."

Li Aoz raised his head and pointed to the sky. "What I meant to say is—I just realized that your planet doesn't have a moon!"

"... The Yue Liang?" Mirrid turned his head in surprise, looking at Li Aoz. "What's that?"

"It's a satellite of a planet. Dragon Satellite revolves around the sun and also rotates on its own. In my birthplace, the planet also has satellites that revolve around it, influencing the tides. It doesn't emit light like the sun, but at night it reflects the sun's light, not so dazzling, nor very warm, but rather with a calm coolness."

Li Aoz patiently explained.

"Yeah?"

Mirrid nodded slightly, pondered for a moment, and said, "I'm sorry, I can't imagine such a thing. Dragon Satellite is a lonely planet. It has no satellites to accompany it, and the day and night are only separated by changes in the clouds in the void—our world is full of forests, without oceans or tides, only slightly larger... lakes."

"So you think the moon is meaningless?"

Mirrid rested his chin on his hand, thought for a moment, and said:

"It's hard for me to explain... but everything ultimately leads to nothingness."

"No, you don't need to hesitate so much, because the moon is meaningless to you."

Li Aoz said:

"The moon, which you have never seen before, is essential to us. Without the moon, the tidal system would be chaotic, the oceans would engulf our planet, our days would be very long, there would be no seasons, and a great deal of life would be affected."

"Hmm... I think I understand some of it."

Mirrid was slightly moved. After a moment of contemplation, she said:

"But from what you're saying, I always feel that even without this system called the Moon, people can still live their lives just the same, right?"

"Yes, of course I will survive. Life always finds a way out."

Li Aoz raised his hand and said calmly:

"But we will lose a lot of cultural heritage. The world will definitely become monotonous and boring. There will be no colorful changing seasons, no surging tides, no waves that stop boats, no sunrise and sunset. At night, we will only be able to find our way with lanterns, instead of strolling under the moon."

"This is just a minor loss."

"I think this is not a loss, but a regret."

Li Aoz looked up at the gloomy purple sky shrouded in thick fog and said softly, "Throughout history, the moon has carried a significant portion of the beautiful aspirations in our culture. We imagine that even if we are separated by vast distances, when the moonlight falls, we can all gaze at the same ray of moonlight. Even if we are in different places, we can still miss and remember each other because of the same moon."

"Without the moon, I think everything else is irrelevant. But if one day, a little girl named ' Yueyue ' or ' Luna ' tugs at her grandfather's sleeve and innocently asks him, 'Grandpa, what does my name mean?' then the old man will be moved."

"The existence of objects is meaningless in itself; perhaps everything is destined to return to nothingness—but only when their existence disappears will the wishes they carried and the shared dreams they shared form an everlasting regret."

"It is precisely this sense of regret that makes people feel so sorry for it, and that makes them want to cherish everything they have."

Mirrid stared at him.

The Qualia Rain outside the umbrella continued to fall.

"Even if it's a regret, it still sounds beautiful."

She opened her mouth, her purple eyes brightened, and she whispered:

"I also really want to see the moon."

[Romanticism triumphs: +6.3%]

The title comes from the ending theme of "Mobile Suit Gundam Turn A", "The Cocoon of the Moon's Cocoon".