Ronald glanced at the television with some concern, then turned to Qingmu and said:
"Now that you have regained your memories, you should know that the universe will eventually face heat death! Gaia created life hoping that its evolution would surpass the speed of the universe's heat death, that life, formed by the combination of spirit and matter, would spread throughout the universe over vast periods of time and across countless galaxies, and that it would break through the edge of the universe and shatter its isolation before the universe's heat death."
"That's a good idea," Qingmu said. "You already mentioned it in the fake will Ramla left behind."
"But that's a mistake!" Ronald Cohen exclaimed, as agitated as a politician arguing in parliament. "The rate of life's evolution simply cannot exceed the rate of cosmic heat death. On the contrary, the spread of civilization will exacerbate the heat death of the universe, accelerating its destruction!"
"How do you know? It's just a hypothetical situation. What if it succeeds?" Qingmu said.
Ronald said, "The current level of human civilization on Earth is not immediately apparent, but once it develops into what humans call Type II civilization, this acceleration of heat death will become very obvious. Among the life forms created by Gaia, several civilizations have already surpassed Type II, and without exception, they have all embarked on the path of accelerating the destruction of the universe. Their energy demand is enormous; wherever they go, destruction is imminent. If they live in a star system, they will seize the energy of that star system to facilitate their spread. When they spread to the entire Milky Way, the energy of the Milky Way will inevitably be depleted. Life needs to constantly obtain negative entropy from the outside world to maintain its low entropy, and its accelerating effect on the heat death of the universe becomes increasingly apparent as the level of civilization increases."
Gaia reclaimed their right to life, not to destroy, but to save! To save the galaxy, to save the entire universe! And Gaia didn't kill anyone; she simply reclaimed her scattered consciousness, allowing the runaway children to return home."
"You're got the makings of a politician!" Qingmu sighed. "Development and survival can always be reconciled; at worst, we can start over. Just as Earth can repair its own ecosystem, so can galaxies and the universe. The universe will never die; heat death is just one of its states. If we have to destroy all life to balance the duration of heat death, then what's the point of whether the universe is in heat death or not? Gaia wasn't saving the universe; it was just saving itself!"
He didn't want to argue with Ronald, so before the other could retort, he changed the subject, "You take sacrifice too lightly. To achieve your own goals, you'll sacrifice anything, including lives! In Ramla, just to put on a show to lure us in and get us to open all the altars for you, you sacrificed the lives of an entire ship of soldiers. I bet they didn't even know they died because of your conspiracy, did they?"
"That's not important," Ronald said expressionlessly. "What's important is that the altar has been activated, and you've awakened—our leader!"
The word "leader" sent chills down Qingmu's spine. He carefully examined his consciousness and found no trace of it in his mind, which reassured him considerably.
"I can figure out how you managed to evade our eyes on that ship, but I can't imagine where you were when we were hiding in that spacetime bubble inside the hangar, or how you managed to escape the Spacetime Stasis Zone," Qingmu asked.
Ronald said, "My goal was achieved when you had wiped out all the Itza People. That's why I returned before you activated the altar."
How did you get back?
Qingmu was extremely curious. He was able to return entirely by luck. The willow Bi Shenghua had given him had formed a mysterious connection with the willow trees in Wuzhong, creating a spatial passage under the influence of the energy when the altar was activated. He still couldn't fully understand the principle behind it, but Ronald certainly didn't have such an opportunity.
Ronald Cohen smiled and said, "Why don't you think I should take that half of the Soul of Fire from Earth to Ramla?"
Qingmu suddenly realized, "You returned using the Soul of Fire? You planned this all along?"
"That's right, this is something I've been planning for a long time. Actually, I was already planning this before the research vessel went to the South Pacific, but the plan went wrong, and Arthur Stone almost completely ruined it several times. Moreover, this guy is very difficult to deal with, which forced me to make significant adjustments and sacrifice more comrades. In the end, I also included Arthur Stone in the whole plan. Fortunately, the result was not bad, and your cooperation in Ramla was perfect."
I created a passage between the Dream Corridor and the Half- Soul of Fire to make it easier for me to find my way back. Guided by the Soul of Fire, I quickly located the Tuoxiao Tribe and activated the Altar of Fire. You already know everything that happened after that; even what your sister saw, I think you can guess."
"Now that you've told me everything, aren't you afraid I'll stop this?" Qingmu looked up at the sky. "There are still two altars that haven't been activated!"
Ronald shook his head. "You won't, and it's too late. Returning to Ramla won't be easy. Even if you go back through the Holy Land, you'll only reach the Altar of Wood, where your spiritual mark is. But without the other Sacred Staff, you can't locate the other altars in Ramla. If you try to find them by luck, by the time you do, they'll have already activated the remaining altars. So, we'd better just wait patiently on Earth until all the altars are activated, the passage between Earth and Gaia will be fully open, and then we can truly welcome Gaia's arrival!"
Qingmu knew Ronald was right. It would indeed be difficult to rejoin the main force if they returned to Ramla now. Meanwhile, Situ should have already found the Altar of Stone. If it weren't for the time difference and relativistic effects between Earth and Ramla, the altar would have been activated long ago.
But if everything is truly so certain, what are Ronald and the others worried about? Why did he try to stop Selina? Furthermore, the Soul of Ice has yet to be seen, and the Itza People of the Chayak Tribe haven't shown themselves either, while the corresponding Earthly Holy Land of Ice must be related to the Wolf Family. If Ramla can handle everything, why are they trying to find clues to the Holy Land in Old Wolf's dreams?
Qingmu thought of Huang Liang. He already knew about Huang Liang's general situation over the past few years from Saladin, but he didn't know about the relationship between Huang Liang and Selina, let alone that Huang Liang had already gone north with Hong Kui and was now searching for the Holy Land of his dreams in the snowstorm of Alaska.
Selina's televised address had lasted for half an hour. She looked somewhat weak, as if speaking had exhausted all her strength. Qingmu knew that this was because she had poured her thoughts and her yearning for freedom into her spirit, spreading them all over the world through the Saladin network.
Although this Mental Power became insignificant after it dissipated, it added immeasurable charm to the speech. If it weren't for this, no matter how reasonable or passionate her speech was, it wouldn't have had the same impact later on. People wouldn't have remembered this "voice of God" forever and rediscovered the value of freedom, thus profoundly influencing the future systems of human society.
Many years later, humanity recreated the Statue of Liberty based on Selina to commemorate this speech.
But at that moment, the door to the room where Selina was on TV opened.
A cloaked figure walked in silently and stood behind Selina. Through the lens, people could vaguely see a withered, the Mummy -like face beneath the cloak. He stretched out an equally withered hand, like a zombie blowing cold air on an old woman's neck.
Even through the television screen, people could still feel the chill emanating from that person.