Discussion

"How about it?"

"Don't worry, it's no big deal." Warwick said smugly. With the technological gap and the help of technology, the Rat-folk's internal network defenses were as good as useless in front of him.

"Warwick, assign us permissions too. Everyone, follow the division of labor we just did and check your respective categories." Although the Captain delegated command to Warwick, in the end, Bianca was the one actually in charge.

Then, the intense work began. These team members had already studied the Rat-folk's written language and speech beforehand, so they had no trouble looking at the Rat-folk's intranet.

Several hours later.

"This is really strange," Amina muttered to herself in confusion. She was in charge of researching the history of the Rat-folk.

"What's wrong? Is there a problem?" Bianca asked.

"The history of the Rat-folk is unusually short. According to their own historical records, nearly a thousand years ago, a fireball fell from the sky and wiped out the carnivorous species that were at the top of the food chain at the time. Meanwhile, a species at the bottom called the Fat-Tail Rat seized the opportunity to rise and became the Rat-folk we know today."

Although no one knew the specifics of what Amina said, everyone had some guesses. This was because the Epoch Clan's monitoring mechanism was that for star systems where no life had arisen, personnel would be dispatched every five thousand years to record and update the data of that star system. For star systems where intelligent life had arisen, records would be made every thousand years. And for star systems where primitive civilizations had arisen, equipment would be installed, and regular monitoring would begin, with "treasure" ships being deployed as needed and at the right time.

Don't think it's too long. You have to understand that it may take billions of years for a star system to give rise to life, and even with life, it may take hundreds of millions of years for intelligence to develop, and even with intelligence, it's unknown how long it will take for civilization to emerge. Considering the distances between stars and the span of time, the Epoch Clan's monitoring mechanism is still quite scientific.

"Was that fireball a large meteorite?"

"That's right. I just applied for authorization, connected to my race's database, and checked the records from back then. Quite coincidentally, the once-in-a-millennium surveillance was scheduled just before that meteorite struck Origin Star. The surveillance personnel at the time discovered the meteorite, but adhering to the principle of not interfering too much, they did not stop it from happening. According to records, reptiles once ruled Origin Star. After the meteorite impact, the ecological environment changed, and a large number of reptiles became extinct. However, they did not observe it much, but simply recorded these circumstances and left." Amina said, looking at the data in front of her.

"Then our clan's records seem to match the Rat-folk's records?"

"That's right. Less than a thousand years have passed, yet the remains of those reptiles are remarkably well-preserved, and the landscape altered by the meteorite impact remains intact. Although the Rat-folk's technology isn't advanced, analyzing the causes and consequences based on this information shouldn't be a problem."

"So your question is that their history is too short? That's true. A normal race takes at least tens of thousands of years to go from ignorance to civilization. But the Rat-folk have gone from food to the present in less than a thousand years. This is definitely not the result of natural evolution."

Amina shook her head. As someone in charge of historical research and an expert in biological evolution, she had already pondered these obvious questions and naturally wouldn't bring them up again now. "What puzzles me is that the Rat-folk recorded the meteorite impact as divine punishment. And both online forums and official websites record it this way."

Upon hearing her words, everyone frowned slightly, pondering the key point.

Wright scratched his head, utterly disgusted by this cryptic behavior. "What's so strange about it?"

"I understand!" a member named Yate interjected. "In their early, ignorant stages, a race is prone to developing primitive worship. However, with continuous progress, they realize that these are all illusions. Some civilizations abandon this kind of worship and begin to believe more in science, believing that everything in the universe can be explained by science. If they don't understand it now, it's just that their technological level hasn't reached that point yet. Other civilizations, in the process of development, elevate this primitive worship to the level of a spiritual totem, using it to constantly remind and restrain themselves."

"Which type of Rat-folk?" Wright couldn't help but ask.

Yate raised his hand to signal Wright to calm down. An expert in history and religion, he explained the answer to the question in his own words, "Normally, the Rat-folk should be the first type. Because their evolution was so rapid, so fast that they might not even have had time to develop primitive worship before they escaped the stage of ignorance. But the reality is quite the opposite. Their statements are fine on informal forums, but official information is more authoritative, and such misleading statements shouldn't be used. According to the Rat-folk, they believe in the existence of God."

"How is that possible!" Wright exclaimed.

"Now you know what's strange, right?"

Warwick scratched his head and said, "Rat-folk are inherently abnormal; we can't use common sense to explain this."

"Indeed, but Yate's analysis is still valuable. Have you ever thought that if the Rat-folk's period of ignorance was short, yet both the common people and the government now acknowledge the existence of gods, perhaps the gods they record are real?" Amina analyzed.

"The Rat-folk have great reverence for their gods; I can tell from their interactions," a female team member suddenly spoke up. She was an expert in social relations, and her statement likely indicated that she had discovered something on the internal network.

"Could these so-called gods be the Zerg? As a biological civilization, the Zerg should have no problem doing this. The reason why the Rat-folk don't know about the Zerg might be because of the different names. We call Zerg, and they call them gods?" Wright suggested.

"Hmm, what you said is very likely, I'm starting to look at you with new respect." Amina exclaimed dramatically, and after receiving a disdainful gesture from Wright, she continued, "But where did the Zerg come from? When I checked the surveillance records just now, I looked through the records from a thousand years ago, including all the records from the previous fifty thousand years, and there was absolutely no information about the Zerg."

The topic circled back to where it started, and everyone fell into deep thought.

The Zerg have only appeared within the last thousand years, seemingly around the same time as the Rat-folk. What Wright said is very likely true. But if the Zerg created the Rat-folk, then where did the Zerg come from?

However, at this moment, the social relations expert spoke again, "I have carefully studied the vocabulary related to the Rat-folk. They have extremely accurate and detailed distinctions in some adjectives. And their god, in their understanding, is an individual, not a race. This is a concept that is very difficult to confuse."