A Discovery in Columbia

"Okay, brother."

The girl's voice was as light as a dandelion seed in flight, carrying a hint of barely concealed joy.

After hanging up the phone, Ernesto began to ponder his own future, Bolivar's future, and where his homeland was headed. Would Columbia and Iberia really be so kind as to offer a helping hand without resorting to any underhanded tactics?

He couldn't believe it, yet he had no other power to rely on, and without external intervention, it was far too difficult to change Bolivar's current situation.

All the problems can be boiled down to one fundamental issue: insufficient time.

Iberia doesn't have a decade or two to recover its former glory, Kjerag doesn't have decades to slowly change, Bolivar doesn't have decades to take control of his own destiny, Sarkaz and Sankta don't have hundreds of years to settle millennia-old scores.

Mizuki knew this very well, so he picked up the Emperor and placed him on the cupboard.

"So, it's a preliminary success?"

"Yes, it can be considered a success so far, but why am I the one going to the meeting? You're clearly their partner."

The "they" that the Emperor refers to are Columbia, who evolved through the collaboration between Mizuki and Friston, opening a new path and glimpsing the opportunity for Terra's continuation. No one is more suitable to be Columbia's representative than him.

"The Columbia military knows they're still studying my cells. Wouldn't it look strange if I stood there as a representative of Columbia?"

Mizuki handed the Emperor an egg roll, then picked up a small bowl, ladled out a spoonful of soup, and tasted it; it was quite delicious.

"If I were to step in, this meeting would likely fall through. Besides, I'm all alone; how could I possibly represent any faction with no one to rely on?"

The Emperor rolled his eyes, then took a bite of his omelet. He wasn't stupid. Mizuki was indeed helpless, because he himself could be considered the most powerful figure in all of Terra right now. No power? With a single order, he could send hundreds of thousands of Sea Siren to Sami to participate in the war. No other country in Terra could mobilize at that speed.

But Mizuki was indeed not suitable to be at that meeting; he was afraid he would burst out laughing, since he was the very reason the meeting was initiated.

"Currently, the biggest problem still lies with Bolivar."

"No, the biggest problem is the lack of trust between us." Mizuki shook her head. "Although a preliminary alliance has been established, this relationship currently only exists verbally and in writing, and it cannot be considered valid until it is actually publicly announced."

Moreover, even if all countries announce this event and behave themselves in recent years, various conflicts and conspiracies will still be inevitable until they fully consider themselves as part of the "Terra people" as a whole. Mizuki has even foreseen what will happen then.

"Mutual recognition among representatives doesn't mean that the forces behind them will approve; I still need to do something."

Mizuki put down the kitchen knife in her hand, thought for a moment, and finally decided to put some pressure on the Terra's wonderful life, at least to scare them a little.

What are you planning to do?

"Let the Terra gain a more complete understanding of this world, and let Seaborn out for a spin."

Trying to travel through Bolivar to Sami is a risky endeavor, as Columbia is in between, and a large-scale movement of the Seaborn would certainly cause some degree of panic.

To prevent this panic from causing the Demons on the Icefield front to grow stronger and the defenses to collapse, Mizuki needs to deploy more combat power to Sami's side. If necessary, he may need to personally take to the field.

Even now, the main reason why Mizuki hasn't shown herself in Sami is because she's worried about provoking the Warp, which has become somewhat active. While the Sea of Life can prevent outsiders from seeing this place directly, the Warp rift borders Terra, and if Mizuki makes any big noise the Warp detects traces of the Sea of Life, it would be very disadvantageous.

This is a crucial stage in his fusion with the Sea of Life. If that guy from the Warp catches up with him at this critical juncture, he will only have one choice left.

"Are you sure you don't want to destroy Terra?"

As one of the Beast Lords, the Emperor knew quite a bit about Seaborn, and Eis from Mizuki's statement, it meant that Seaborn was now able to freely go ashore.

Given Seaborn's irrational adaptability to the environment and his fearless, species-obsessed nature, destruction is likely to be the fate of Terra.

"No, the goal of the Seaborn is the continuation of the species, not expansion and destruction, which means that most of the time they are more willing to listen to me."

"And what about the rare times?"

"If they get beaten up, you can't just forbid them from fighting back, can you?"

The Emperor thought about it and realized that if the Bolivar and Columbia saw hundreds of millions of Seaborn densely packed in front of them, they would either be too scared to move or open fire. The former would be fine, but the latter would truly be no one's fault but their own.

So, should he feel regretful or pop open champagne and shout it out? Bolivar and Columbia aren't exactly good people either.

"You don't seem to consider yourself a part of Terra?"

"I find it hard to see myself as a normal person. My current state can't even be described as living in a way that most people understand. As for being a part of Terra... I'm observing it from a completely different perspective now."

Only by living on this land can one consider oneself a part of it, but Mizuki was more like a traveler from beginning to end. He had no fixed abode, no destination in his journey, and wandering around Terra was more like a job, including terraforming the planet.

His connection to Terra is the people who live on this land, and it is for this reason that he chose to protect the planet.

"However, I love the people who live on this planet."

The Emperor stared intently at Mizuki for a long time before taking the cake and disappearing from the spot. He still needed to inform the Columbia side to prepare to go to Bolivar. Weren't there some people in the military who still harboring resentment about what happened in Bolivar back then? Let them settle that mess themselves.

As for Mizuki? He had also been keeping a close eye on the developments in Columbia, especially the research facilities under Trimount, which gathered 80% of Columbia's top elite scholars. He was very curious about what they could possibly research.

Those involved see things clearly, while bystanders are often confused. Some things that Mizuki takes for granted might reveal information that he himself hadn't even noticed through the perspectives of these people. Mizuki was well aware of this.

More than a month has passed since the last time, and Columbia's research on his cells has gradually deepened. They have obtained a lot, but there has been no discovery that would move Mizuki.

"Izumik."

Mizuki's thoughts were interrupted by a call. He looked down and saw the palm-sized Siren No. 1 swimming in the pork rib soup he had made, and even took a sip.

Why are you here?

"I'm here to give you a work report. The sisters have suppressed the Demons and brought the contamination of the Warp to a preliminary stage. Should we advance to the edge of the ice plains?"

"No need, just maintain the status quo. The activity in the Warp has reached a threshold... It's probably related to TA's gradual approach. Getting too close to that door would be very dangerous."

Even with that door sealed, Mizuki dared not say he could rest easy. If it weren't for the fact that he had no way to further control the entire Sea of Life, he would have already gone to Sami, or even actively entered the Warp.

Mizuki reached out and let Siren No. 1 jump onto the spoon. Shuiyue poked her cheek, and Siren No. 1 cooperated by rubbing her fingers against his. But Mizuki sensed that her first thought was actually to spray the rib soup on her face.

Hmm, this rebellious brat needs to be dealt with sooner or later. Let Lemuen handle it; she's definitely familiar with this.

"Izumik, there's something I don't understand. If you really believe this meeting can unite them, then why don't you let us participate? Besides... expecting the current Terra to unite is far too idealistic."

Such thoughts are generally unthinkable for Sea Siren. Sea Siren exist by relying on the Sea of Life, which means they live by relying on the Mizuki. Their obedience to the Mizuki is deeper than their own, and very few Sea Siren would question the Mizuki.

But they knew very well that Mizuki would never get angry over something like this; he was simply letting Siren No. 1 sit on his shoulders.

"Yes, that's too idealistic... But think about it, in this already terrible world, if there isn't a single idealist left, then it's not far from destruction."

People always laugh at those who have ideals, thinking they are impractical, but who wants to live in a world full of pessimism and discontent?

Mizuki knew that Siren No. 1 wasn't really talking about the Terra Alliance Council; Mizuki working too hard.

Controlling the pollution brought by the Sea of Life, monitoring the entire Terra to prevent a catastrophe, guarding against threats from the stars, and preparing to face the terrifying shadow from the Warp —all these responsibilities fell on Mizuki's shoulders alone.

"I have to protect it. If Terra is the first civilization born in the universe, then our universe is probably still very desolate. Protecting it is just so that we won't be too bored in the future."

"You're the boss, we all listen to you, but what's that old saying from the Great Yan again... 'As long as the green hills remain, there's no fear of a mountain not being burned'?"

"Setting fire to a mountain will land you in jail."

Mizuki flicked Siren No. 1's head, picked her up, and threw her back into the pot.

"Go, notify the Brood and the Origin of Life. It's time to go to Sami. Also, send someone to check out that pit in the north. How's Aegir's Matrix?"

"It's now confirmed that Aegir has lost control of the Matrix, which is most likely something left behind by Old Civilization, but... we haven't found any trace of it in the sea, so it might be hidden in some phase dimension."

"I'll go ask Gladiia later. You... why don't you stay for a meal? There's no rush to do it anyway."

Are you sure you're not going to eat me?

Siren No. 1 flicked her tail in the soup pot; if someone saw that, they might really treat her as food.

"I think I'll go first; I'm too big to eat anything."

Siren No. 1 is so small it's barely enough to fill a tooth gap; she could get full after drinking the soup. Since Mizuki has assigned a task, she should go and get busy first. It's a shift, so she can find a volcano to sip some soup.

Seeing that the soup in the pot had returned to its original amount, Mizuki was about to taste it to see if there was anything wrong when she suddenly looked up.

"This is really... exactly what I wished for came true."

Chapter 240 The Discovery of Columbia

"Mr. Locken, take a look at this!!"

In the afternoon, Loken Williams, who was focused on his research, encountered some difficulties. Due to another evolution of the Mizuki, the optical equipment could no longer detect the presence of E Cells, which made the progress of the entire research extremely slow. Loken and his colleagues had to increase their workload.

Fortunately, although they have disappeared from the range of optical equipment, E Cells and assimilated living tissues can still be observed with the naked eye, and external influences still have an effect on E Cells.

"Any discoveries?"

"Yes." The panting researcher handed the report in his hand to William. "We previously discovered that E Cells have a significant restraining effect on Originium, so we wanted to test whether Originium has a restraining effect on E Cells."

"Through testing, we discovered that the activity of E Cells increases with the increase of surrounding Originium, which confirms our previous hypothesis that each E Cells can survive independently, possesses instincts, and may even have a certain degree of intelligence, although it may be somewhat indifferent to us."

The word "indifferent" perfectly describes these cells being studied. If it weren't for their mysterious connection with Originium, the researchers probably wouldn't have discovered that these cells could actually survive independently.

Each cell is an independent individual, but when they come together, they are integrated into a completely new individual. Despite having instincts and consciousness, they are like asleep, ignoring everyone. Only when they encounter Originium do they become as happy as if they have been starving for three days and have heard that it is time to eat.

"And then?" As he got older, his thinking and reaction speed were slightly affected. The key point was that William himself required the researchers to record the entire process of each experiment, including how long it took to go out to get a glass of water and wash his hands, so it was a bit slow to flip through the pages.

"We had always thought that E Cells and Originium were mutually restraining, until yesterday when the Rhine Lab Research Team from Sami sent back their findings in Sami."

Rhine Lab and even the whole of Columbia have been exploring and developing the Sami Northern Ice Fields, so they occasionally discover strange things from the Sami. But this time, the discovery from the Sami brought them unexpected joy.

"Rootless Flowers?"

Loken adjusted his glasses, turned to the page on the information about the Rootless Flowers, and saw a number.

Project No.: Rhine--092

Project Rating: Extremely Dangerous (Contact is prohibited below Level 3 clearance)

Project recovery measures: This project must be sealed and preserved; a general-purpose specimen box is sufficient.

Project Description: Rhine-092 is a brightly colored, Rootless Flowers, discovered and sealed deep within the Sami Icefield by Director Mariam. While sealed, Rhine-092 reverts to transparency or white and grayish-black. Once the box is opened, Rhine-092 becomes aware of the expanded space. It re-cognizes its surroundings, fixes its position, and assimilates the surrounding space, both living and non-living things. The assimilated objects will exhibit irregular characteristics. It can assimilate everything within a 45-cubic-meter area centered on itself in just a few minutes.

Rhine-092 cannot be recorded by optical imaging equipment. According to the Aegir who accompanied Director Mariam, named Mizuki, the project belongs to Terra, but not to the world we know. It changes its appearance depending on the observer's perspective and mindset. Hmm... that blue-haired Aegir kid seems to know a lot about this. He said that the reason Rhine-092 appears in three completely different colors when it is sealed is because it actually exists in three states simultaneously, but we can only observe one at a time. When everyone closes their eyes and then opens them again, Rhine-092's color does indeed have a chance to become grayish-black, white, and transparent, and it is affected by the observer.

If his descriptions are all correct, then Sami may be even more mysterious than we think.

Appendix: This project has a conflicting relationship with Originium. If you wish to activate this project, please prepare sufficient Active Originium. The Aegir participated in the Icefield Expedition have left with Director Muelsyse, and there is currently no news of them.

After reading the file, Loken continued flipping through it. He knew that Sami held many mysteries waiting to be explored, but the appearance of the Rootless Flowers was indeed a pleasant surprise. If he weren't so old and hadn't been secretly released from prison, he probably would have gone to Sami as well.

Unbeknownst to Loken, while he was reviewing the report, Mizuki was also sharing this information with him. Although the water vapor in the research institute was not ideal for providing vision, Mizuki could make it adhere to the documents and then display the corresponding text in front of Mizuki based on the embossed texture of the paper.

From an outsider's perspective, it looked like Mizuki was daydreaming, but on Rhodes Island, the spilled water in front of the Doctor, Kal'tsit, and the others was turning into pages of text on the table.

Mizuki truly hadn't expected such a coincidence. He actually saw his name on Columbia's research report, and Mariam... He remembered that Mariam was the head of Magellan's subject, and also her mentor. But Mizuki didn't recall ever having any contact with her, or even going on an expedition to the ice field with this Director Mariam. At least in terms of the logical connection between his memories and the timeline, there shouldn't be such a gap.

His condition was extremely unstable at the time, and his memory loss was deepening. When he was searching for Susie's clan with Muelsyse, he had already forgotten Susie. Under such circumstances, he was still able to go on an investigation with others before that... No, there was no such time. He went with Muelsyse to find people only because it happened to be on the way.

Something seemed off, but Mizuki wasn't worried; she simply listened to what would be said next.

"When Project Rhine-092 was transported here, we discovered that the Active Originium and E Cells originally intended for the experiment exhibited astonishing activity. If the E Cells hadn't been able to suppress the Originium, we might have had to spend some time dealing with an Originium explosion."

"It was during this process that our equipment captured a very crucial piece of information."

The researcher in charge of the report glanced at it and noticed that Loken was still looking at the data reports from various experiments. The old man waved his hand, signaling him to continue.

"We discovered that when facing Rhine-092, the frequencies of E Cells and Originium are the same."

This conclusion caused Mizuki to abruptly stop chopping vegetables, and the water-shaped script in front of the Doctor, Kal'tsit, and Amash also abruptly halted, before completely disintegrating into a puddle of water.

This sudden turn of events left the Doctor, Kal'tsit, and the other two completely bewildered, their immediate concern being that something had happened to Mizuki.

"What's wrong? Is the signal bad?"

The water on the table condensed together, forming a miniature Mizuki the size of a palm. This miniature Mizuki was clearly a bit confused, not understanding what had happened. After communicating with the Sea of Life, its eyes flashed with a lot of bewilderment.

"It's not that the signal is bad, it's that the entity itself is blocking all information transmission... According to him, there might be contamination."

"The pollution is truly unbearable to look at."

The Doctor, somewhat annoyed, picked up the mini version of Mizuki and put it back in the water glass. Mizuki and her Mizuki were not equivalent at all in her eyes. This little guy was at most kept as a pet. His main job was to act as a messenger and protect the Doctor's safety. At present, no one on Rhodes Island except Kal'tsit and Amash knew what the water in the glass that the Doctor had been refusing to drink was.

This complaint was merely verbal. The Doctor knew very well that Mizuki wasn't worried about pollution at all; she simply didn't want him and Kal'tsit to hear what was coming next. It seemed that Columbia's long-term research on him had indeed yielded some valuable information.

What bothered the Doctor the most was that sentence: When facing Rhine--092, the frequency of E Cells and Originium was the same.

The amount of information in that sentence was unsettling. Something stirred within the Doctor's mind; she felt she'd heard something similar somewhere before—what was it again...?

[Doctor, look! When faced with the contamination and collapse of the Warp, the cells and Originium of this organism exhibit the same frequency, which means our research is on the right track! As long as they...]

It was a girl with long black hair, clenching her hands tightly and saying something happily. The Doctor knew she was Priestess, but he couldn't hear what she was saying next.

All she saw were two incubation chambers behind Priestess, one codenamed Deep Blue and the other codenamed Will.

"Our previous assumptions were somewhat flawed. Not only do E Cells possess considerable autonomy, but Originium itself does as well. However, Originium's information transmission pattern is more difficult to understand; it only transmits observable wavelengths when stimulated by E Cells."

Now that things have come to this point, if Loken still doesn't understand, then he doesn't deserve his title and the position of director of this research institute.

"So, you've discovered that E Cells and Originium are not inherently opposed?"

"Yes, at least the wavelengths they emitted when dealing with Rhine-092 prove this point. If I had to describe it, it would be like two fighting tigers discovering an extra leopard, and instinctively choosing to deal with the leopard first."

This description is quite apt. Loken silently flipped through the last page of the data report and finally couldn't help but nod.