The Dust of History

Before this, Bai Qiuran had always thought that the Prison system of the Machine Puppet was used to imprison the beasts used for research.

However, in the deepest part of this Prison, there is a being that is absolutely a sentient being belonging to the Material World.

Bai Qiuran peered into the Prison. The Prison was empty, with metal walls and a small bed on one wall. Not far from the bed was a toilet for Intelligent Lifeforms to use and a washbasin for simple cleaning. On the other side of the bed, in a dark corner, a thin figure was curled up.

Darkness concealed his appearance, but the Guardian Sequence Machine Puppet that Bai Qiuran currently controlling possessed powerful night vision, Bai Qiuran clearly see his features in the darkness.

With its blue skin, spiraled horns on its head, and a sickly tail, this was indeed a Blue-skinned People.

Perhaps Bai Qiuran had lingered at the Prison window for too long, because the light emanating from the eyes of this Machine Puppet body attracted the attention of the Blue-skinned People who usually stayed in the shadows, and he slowly spoke.

"Hey... you..."

His voice was extremely hoarse and intermittent, sounding as if he had suffered a lot, or as if he hadn't had the chance to speak for many years and had almost forgotten his mother tongue, needing to slowly recall it.

"Are you... new here? You... wouldn't have been... one of my compatriots in the past, would you?"

"Compatriots?"

Bai Qiuran stood at the Prison gate, thought for a moment, and replied, "Before the Ascension Ceremony, I was indeed your compatriot."

Tell me, my fellow countrymen, is our world still the same as it used to be, like a book?

The Blue-skinned People seemed to be very old, and his voice carried a sense of decay.

"Before? I don't know what it was like before."

Bai Qiuran considered her words, trying her best not to let the old man in blue discover any flaws in her statement.

"All I know is that right now, we live in a tall, magnificent, safe, and comfortable Mechanical City, commuted by Rail Transit, completely isolated from the dangerous wild animals in the Wilderness. We live a prosperous life, with a wide variety of goods in the shops available for our free use, and we don't have to worry about the future. We don't have to work or study; work is just a form of play for us. We can live a very good life without feeling tired or struggling."

"..."

The Blue-skinned Elder remained silent for a long time before asking, "So, how many people are still working at our research facilities in the field?"

"Research institution?"

Bai Qiuran feigned surprise.

"Isn't that the divine authority of the Machine God?"

"... Theocracy? Theocracy? Heh."

Upon hearing this, the Blue-skinned Elder suddenly leaned against the wall, slowly slid down, and sat down.

"Heaven has forsaken my race! Heaven truly intends to destroy my race!"

Heavenly Dao will not take the blame for this.

Bai Qiuran silently complained in her heart, then asked, "What do you mean by 'the heavens have forsaken our race'? Our race is clearly living in a paradise right now."

"What kind of paradise is this? Is a paradise given by others also a paradise?"

The Blue-skinned Elder shouted angrily, "Ignorant brat! A paradise that isn't earned through one's own hard work can't be considered a paradise at all!"

He yelled a string of insults at Bai Qiuran and Tang Ruowei, cursing the Machine God and the Machine Puppet, then sat down weakly, shaking his head and muttering to himself.

"Forget it, what can I say to you? Your thinking has definitely been Restraint by the Machine God."

"We are indeed loyal to the Machine God."

Bai Qiuran continued, "But sir, I'm also very interested in what you've said... Why would you say such a thing? I don't quite understand."

Are you interested in what I'm about to say?

Perhaps because he had been alone for a long time, the Blue-skinned Elder shrank his toes upon hearing Bai Qiuran's words, somewhat surprised.

A mechanical sound came from behind, and Bai Qiuran's Machine Puppet head shook up and down, nodding.

The Blue-skinned Elder was silent for a few seconds, then sighed, "Forget it, the situation can't get any worse. I'll tell you, if you want to report these [treasonous] words to the Machine God, then go ahead and report them."

He shifted his posture, facing the cell door, and said to Bai Qiuran standing outside the cell door, "If we don't choose the Ascension Ceremony, the average lifespan of our race is about three hundred to five hundred years. I think you probably don't know what our race was like before. Do you know what our world, our civilization, and our race were like before the Machine God's Descent?"

Bai Qiuran shook her head.

"Back then, our world and our race were not yet united. On the earth, on our Homeworld, we were divided into countless nations, fighting against each other, each wanting to annex the other and unify the entire race."

The Blue-skinned People Elder looked up at the dark prison cell.

"Back then, our material life was not as good as it is now. Indeed, war, poverty, and famine took the lives of many of our compatriots. Our rulers were not all wise; many countries gradually perished under the rule of incompetent or even malicious rulers."

"But one thing is different from now: back then, our minds were alive. We knew how our tools were made, how our history unfolded, and we established our own system to govern ourselves. We were aware of our shortcomings and were striving for our own development. Although we had many deficiencies, our race was constantly progressing."

The Blue-skinned Elder paused, then added, "Of course, what I'm talking about dates back about six or seven thousand years, and I myself didn't experience it."

"So how did you find out about these things?"

Bai Qiuran inquired.

"Because I learned about our history through some means."

The Blue-skinned Elder glanced at Bai Qiuran.

"Nowadays, no one in our race cares about, and no one knows, the history of our race."

"Have you verified this method?"

Bai Qiuran to ask.

"Of course, when I was still free, I also went out into the wilderness many times, and based on historical research, I discovered many Ruin that could corroborate that history."

The Blue-skinned Elder was getting impatient.

Do you really think I'm stupid?

"No."

Bai Qiuran said, "Please continue."

"Then, the Machine God arrived, bringing with it its Grand Warband, the dazzling Mechanical Heavenly Gods, and descended upon our world, using force and power to integrate our world in a very short time."

A strange light appeared in the Blue-skinned Elder's eyes.

"At first, our lives did improve. The Machine God was willing to share its technology with us, and some of us even voluntarily gave up our physical forms to Ascension to become members of the Mechanical Heavenly Gods Machine God, fighting for its Glory. But later, the Machine God's control over us became stricter. It abolished everything about our race—schools, the army, research institutions—imprisoned all the scholars among us with knowledge, and kept us like livestock."

"However, it didn't treat us like livestock."

Bai Qiuran had a general understanding of what the Blue-skinned Elder meant, but in order to get information out of him and to play the role of a confused Blue-skinned People, he continued to act.

Our people are still living well, aren't they?

"You don't understand. Didn't you hear me say that only a paradise earned through one's own hard work is a true paradise?"

The Blue-skinned Elder chuckled softly.

"Since you were on patrol tonight, you must have seen them, right? Those wild beasts locked up in front of my cell. Did you know that thousands of years ago, those beasts were all genuine civilized races?"