The Main Thing Was That He Felt Sorry for the Truck

"Until your body is fully healed--"

Jiang Xueming climbed down from the vehicle frame and shouted loudly.

"--I'll give you time to think it over carefully, to recall what's going on with the carnivorous Canaanites that appeared in this sea area. If these things are also considered your people, then the seventy-odd lives lost on the Shichuan can be used as a pretext for war, and you can declare war on Ming De."

Just over 700 meters away from the fossil forest is the foundation of the new station. Further away, layers of low hills and slopes rise all the way up, and the zigzagging railway tracks extend to even higher ground. This is the passageway that Our Holy Mother spent a lot of money to excavate more than a hundred years ago.

"You must think this through." Xue Ming found a nearby rocky hollow to sit down. The drainage ditch platform was covered in damp dew, but he didn't mind the dirt. He stared intently at the gradually healing body of the Holy Mother.

The blue blood on the road resembled worms, churning up dirt and gravel, rolling through the gaps in the cement, and slowly flowing back to its source.

"In just a few years, you'll be able to get a decent job. Let me tell you something."

Xue Ming took out his cigarette case, put a Marlboro in his mouth, and chatted with his neighbor about stock prices and funds in a very friendly manner.

"This platform is in Edinburgh. If it's successfully completed, it will make it so much easier for passengers to get to Sky Dome Station. How far is London from Edinburgh?"

He gestured, drawing a non-existent "circle," trying to clearly depict the structure of the Earth.

"Do you know what this means? In the past, we had to bypass the molten layer of the wise giant Mimir/Mim, bypass the great gold mine, and transfer all over the intricate network of railways. The journey from the Nine Realms to the Heavenly Dome was extremely long, and it was much easier to just fly to London."

"This site is very important, Our Holy Mother, this site is extremely important."

Xue Ming discussed the matter with Canaan while exhaling smoke.

"Based on my personal experience, what I saw at the Hedland Hotel—I don't know if researchers conducted a detailed investigation of that '<The Starry Night>' painting, but I think they definitely did. As for what to do with the painting afterward, I didn't ask any further questions."

"But this is right in front of us. You actually already knew this back when Van Gogh went to be treated for mental illness—"

"--You know, you understand this, you've known it for a long time."

Xue Ming's tone became serious, and he flicked his cigarette ash more forcefully.

"A portion of your people has been transformed into monsters."

Canaan finally regained her human form. After being subjected to the Dump Truck Iaijutsu, she turned into three pieces of flesh of different sizes. Having just recovered a little strength, she immediately got up and involuntarily waved the tentacles inside her clothes, trying to test whether her limbs were fully functional.

She couldn't speak, and Jiang Xueming, unsure of what the woman was thinking, continued talking.

"So what exactly have the linguists and translators at the Research Station been talking to you about these past few years? I'm really curious, I'm really curious." Xue Ming started to get angry. He just felt it was absurd. "Such important things, right here on your territory, there's a species with an extremely high kill rate against humans. They're your people, living in this ocean. Don't you know anything about this?"

"Did you forget to tell the people at the Research Station about this? Or did you simply not want to tell them? Are you deliberately hiding it?"

"This isn't a matter of just a day or two, Our Holy Mother. From the moment she finished writing 'The <The Starry Night>' until today, more than a hundred years have passed."

"No myth, historical legend, or modern biological discovery records anything about your carnivorous tribe. They are well hidden. Perhaps there are still some reclusive and strange people in the mortal world above us who fear sunlight and electricity, live in the wilderness, and only go out once every few years. They may have long been controlled by your carnivorous tribe and have become walking corpses."

Since you can't speak now, I'll just tell you about the situation at this station, and you'll have to think about it carefully.

"If you're able to speak up later, don't play the victim or act innocent with me. This is about actions, not intentions."

"There were more than seventy crew members on board the Shichuan, and now only two conscious survivors remain."

"The Tengzhen, as part of the search and rescue team, lost another group of elite rescuers. At least one unlucky soul lost an arm underwater—this is just what I witnessed firsthand."

"If the people on the Shichuan can't escape the control of the Canaan creatures, they're truly dead and will never come back to life."

Jiang Xueming stubbed out his cigarette and stomped on it. "So many lives lost. If we're going to follow the Madness Butterfly Sect's procedure, it's to skip the trial and kill them on the spot."

The Holy Mother made no comment. Her skirt was torn, revealing dozens of supple tentacles. She slowly crawled back into the Western-style building, changed into more presentable clothes, and brought out a magnetic writing board from her workroom. She wanted to talk to Jiang Xueming about this matter.

"Regarding these disobedient clans," Canaan, rolling up a magnet, its thick tentacles clinging to a chair as she sat down in front of Xue Ming, continuously writing new Chinese characters. "I don't understand their living conditions."

Jiang Xueming scoffed, "Fine! Very well, you live here—watching the sea every day. More than a thousand meters below the shore, these monsters are eating people, and you say you don't know! They're calling you 'Mother'!"

"Don't rush, I know you're in a hurry, but don't rush." Holy Mother pulled the scroll, quickly writing new words, "Nameless hero, before your bloodlust cloud your judgment, I want to talk to you about these clans."

The writing board is illustrated with pictures and text, depicting two different [individuals]: the golden egg and the Holy Mother.

"Nine years ago, when the station was conducting a large-scale exploration and development of the Fang Feng, I told many humans about this—that there are some deadly and dangerous creatures in this ocean, who are indeed my people, and who call me their mother."

"But I know very little about their life forms. When we left the sailboat, we had to do everything we could to cope with the Earth's geomagnetism and the intense sunlight. Once we went from being a [collective] to being [individual], unless we had another close-range spiritual exchange of essence, I couldn't perceive their existence, let alone know their thoughts."

"In your eyes, Fang Feng is a blessed land, and we are an alien species, an invader. If we do not show aggression, then we must make way for humans; if we do show aggression, then our race will be wiped out—I understand this very well, so I understand where your anger comes from."

The Holy Mother painted a lifelike, bristly-haired Xue Ming, along with a speeding dump truck leaving a trail of afterimages and a flying octopus monster, all representing herself.

"Including the incident where you hit me with your car, sending me flying eighteen meters and shattering me into three pieces, perhaps this adds another epic chapter to the human world—a righteous warrior driving a steel behemoth, crushing an evil sea monster."

"But have you ever considered that for these highly aggressive clans, the world of Homo sapiens was already terrifying enough, forcing them to evolve in the direction of 'demons'?"

As she wrote these words, the Holy Mother's body visibly trembled; she could feel the chilling murderous aura emanating from Jiang Xueming.

"I will no longer speak for these clans, but only for myself—suppose that a hundred, a thousand, a million Earthlings came to a completely unfamiliar alien planet, where the environment is unsuitable for Earthlings to live in, and they had to adapt to local customs and change themselves, adopting the habits of native creatures."

"These Earthlings become fragile and irritable; the pressures and fears of survival fill them with aggression, and some have even turned into demons. You learn of this and then come to question me, a pioneer, about my guilt. Is that fair?"

Jiang Xueming immediately said without hesitation, "Don't rush to protest your innocence. I know what you mean. The situation between us has become very delicate and dangerous— Holy Mother, let's get back to the previous topic. Since you said you told the people at the Research Station everything exactly as it happened, why did they continue to conduct exploration operations in the deep water area?"

"Because humans are such arrogant creatures." Our Holy Mother wrote slowly, stroke by stroke. "In the mortal world, there are countless examples of people who, knowing full well the danger to their lives, still choose to climb mountains, conduct airplane experiments, or create liquid bombs."

"No matter how many times your researchers ask, I will repeat the same answer as many times as I want."

"When I say this and that, when I say the ocean is dangerous, you should be able to feel that intense spiritual pressure, right? It's like a breathing mountain, a man-eating dragon—no matter how much you threaten or intimidate, you can't stop the exploration team's nuclear submarine."

"You believe in diving equipment, you believe in industrial products, you believe in the power of humankind to overcome nature."

"How many people are involved in the exploration plan for Fang Feng? How many are looking forward to it? It is the livelihood of millions of people, whether underground or above ground. New living areas, new transportation hubs, new jobs, wealth and honor, top-level achievements in scientific research and engineering—these things are too important to you."

"As for my casual remarks about 'life-threatening danger' as an outsider, it seems ridiculous. You all firmly believed from the beginning that you could overcome difficulties and complete the mission. There were even sailors who risked their lives to write their wills and carry out exploration work without hesitation. These people valued honor more than life itself."

"I am guilty, I have committed this transgression." Our Holy Mother suddenly paused, trying to organize her thoughts. She had learned Chinese from many humans, but it was still somewhat rusty. "Because I do not have the ability to defeat your arrogance—I cannot."

"You tell me to judge by actions, not intentions? Well, if you can salvage the Shichuan, perhaps I can turn these Homo sapiens who have been transformed into Canaanite parasites back to their original forms—they will become very weak, suffer from serious illnesses for several years, the kind that no Universal Elixir can cure, they will be physically weak and mentally deranged, and neuralgia will accompany them for life."

Jiang Xueming understood the implication. "Have you had this kind of surgery before?"

A drawing appeared on the writing board.

--They are bright red sunflowers.

Canaan wrote this.

"Otherwise, where did 'The <The Starry Night>' come from? Before Vincent van Gogh suffered from mental illness, he was just a frustrated painter who had to use his life to paint the canvas with bright and distorted colors in order to gain the appreciation of Homo sapiens society—this in itself is very much like a sacrificial ritual. As his friend, I really can't understand this kind of art. Why do people only start to regret it after beautiful things have died?"

"My husband and I separated the Canaanite life within him, but he wasn't satisfied and wanted to turn these elements into paintings. What happened next is clear to everyone—he passed away."

"Tsk," Jiang Xueming didn't know what to say. This really fit the crazy atmosphere before the new major station was completed.

Nine years ago, it was an era of competing for existing resources, an era of rampant Madness Butterfly, a world where people preyed on each other. Jobs at the train station were hard to find, and talent was even harder to find. After leaving Glorious Road, various schools of thought were scrambling to recruit people, but most of the industries that could actually make money were related to the Madness Butterfly's human flesh business.

A new, major station leading to the mundane world—just a set of PowerPoint slides, a concept, or a passionate roadshow can fill people with hope and courage, making them willing to risk their lives to come to unknown lands to build cities.

Human greatness lies in courage, and so does human folly.

"This is a complex puzzle." Seeing that Xue Ming had stopped speaking, but the rustling sound of writing continued, the Holy Mother said, "It's not something you need to worry about, Nameless One—you are the weapon of Ming De. If you can't solve this puzzle, you might as well pass it on to your leader."

"You'd better tell the truth." Jiang Xueming hunched over, propped himself up on his knees, and pointed a finger at Canaan's face—at the featureless, thick-skinned creature. "I'll inform the engineering station and the BOSS, and tell them the truth about this. There's one more thing."

"Is it [the afterlife]?" Before Jiang Xueming could finish speaking, Our Holy Mother drew a strange octopus altar. "If you want to talk about this [afterlife] church, I want to sever ties with them and distance myself from them—just as you said."

The tentacles lashed out, pointing towards the new station facilities.

"This place will become more and more prosperous. I will not bring about my own destruction and follow in the footsteps of the Madness Butterfly Sect."

"People need idols, religion, and gods—but the idea of putting a physical body on a pedestal seems meaningless to me. In the Homo sapiens worldview, gods are generally dead, and I don't want to die."

"It's not about that, although your thoughts are similar to my deductions." Jiang Xueming shook his head, then nodded, "But your own stance is different."

Our Holy Mother: "Do you have any other requests for me to make?"

Jiang Xueming took out two briefcases--

"--The boss wants to discuss business with you, but also considers personal relationships. He's giving you a chance at connection."

He tore off the yellow sheepskin from the edges of the box, revealing the silver clasps. Before he could even open it, the Holy Mother, as if she had seen a ghost, trembled all over her tentacles, which sometimes coalesced into human form and sometimes turned into a bristling starfish. She couldn't even hold onto her writing board.

Jiang Xueming then explained.

"There are two of the BOSS's bones inside. The people in the Arcane Library can't render them harmless in a short time, nor can they utilize this powerful psionic catalyst. If we use it rashly—"

At this point, Xue Ming stuck out her tongue and made a face.

"--I might become Chang Ghost, and then my wife and children will all have to suffer the consequences."

"As for what kind of 'Chang Ghost' it is, it's hard to say. The worst-case scenario is that it becomes a broken record."

"Given my temperament, I'd either seek out the remnants of the Madness Butterfly Sect to boost my KDA and become a monster-slaying machine."

"Or they'd just squat by the small fishpond and keep fishing, fishing, fishing, until the pond dries up, and they wouldn't be able to move their legs even after hundreds of years."

"You might even see me drooling over a vise every day in the workshop, repeatedly disassembling and reassembling dump trucks."

"Who knows? The worst-case scenario is that Ming De, and Lekaihua will be able to retain some consciousness, but I will also have to say goodbye to the life of Homo sapiens and will have to accompany the BOSS forever."

"The boss said you could handle these two tough guys—so I figured Ming De must have prepared a reward for asking you to do this."

Jiang Xueming glanced at the new station, the meaning of which was self-evident.

Two minutes later, under the spiritual pressure of the Ming De Holy Mother, she finally transformed back into human form. Her tentacles swept away the two suitcases. This visitor from outer space didn't write any other words, but simply silently accepted the task.

As she walked towards the Western-style building, taking the trunk back to her observatory, she left a line of writing on the beach.

Come back in a hundred days.

Xue Ming did not leave immediately, because Our Holy Mother returned after putting her things away.

She waved to Jiang Xueming, rushing around as if she had something very important to say, looking anxious and worried, like someone who had forgotten their keys when leaving the house.

Xue Ming asked, puzzled, "Is there something else?"

Our Holy Mother wrote beside the aqueduct platform, "You came here wanting me to do you a favor, didn't you?"

Xue Ming: "Ah."

Our Holy Mother: "Alright then, let's catch up first. Come, come, come, come over here, stand over here."

Xue Ming stood on the road.

Our Holy Mother is trying to climb onto the dump truck.

Xue Ming immediately called a halt.

"No, no, no, no, I'm sorry, young people act impulsively. It's not that I didn't want you to drive like that, I just didn't want to hurt my car."