Chapter 226 Who destroyed Laputa?
call!
The air whistled past his ears as the golden figure crashed through a drifting cloud and soared directly above the rooftop garden.
Then, Mu En landed steadily on the grass with the two children, and the Gravity Control was removed.
While the weightlessness was exhilarating, the sudden return to solid ground was somewhat unsettling, Pazu and Sheeta nearly fell over as their legs buckled.
"Let's go." Mu En led the way forward.
The two people behind them looked up at the same time and were stunned by what they saw.
Baroque-style white buildings are scattered throughout the area, and stone paths are meticulously paved with various unusual patterns, winding their way into the depths of the garden.
Further away, a colossal palace, over a hundred meters high and more than five hundred meters in diameter, stands majestically. Its top is covered by a massive canopy of trees, with dense foliage enveloping the entire palace in greenery.
Nature and ruins blend together so perfectly that even the most accomplished bards would be speechless with admiration.
"Wow!" Pazu exclaimed, his mouth agape.
This hanging garden was like something out of a myth, a hundred times more beautiful than any place he had ever imagined.
A few small brown creatures suddenly darted out of the grass and whizzed past his feet. Pazu was so startled he almost jumped up, but after seeing what they looked like, he couldn't help but laugh out loud.
The thing looked like a hamster, with a fluffy body and short legs, but its tail was round and plump like an insect's abdomen.
He followed the insect-tailed rats to the nearest pool, leaned over the edge to look inside, and then let out an even greater exclamation.
"This... this is an entire city!"
That wasn't a pool at all, but a huge skylight.
Beneath the clear water lies the magnificent palace walls that extend downwards like a canyon, with balconies and corridors submerged, through which the opulent decorations carved from white marble can be faintly seen.
Pazu could not imagine the luxurious life the Laputa people used to live here.
A strong sense of regret welled up in his heart; such magnificent ruins were now submerged in water, perhaps due to the long-standing disrepair of the drainage system.
" Pazu, come quick!"
Hearing Sheeta's call, Pazu realized that Mu En had already gone far away. He quickly got up and jogged after him.
The three walked along the stone path through the garden and arrived at the temple gate.
The massive black stone archway was polished to a mirror-like smoothness, reflecting the sky and clouds.
A grassy path winds its way from the entrance into the palace, disappearing into the jungle-like interior.
Mu En stepped through the gate.
The palace is even more magnificent inside than it appears from the outside. From the outside, the walls appear to be pure white, but from the inside out, they transform into a completely transparent dome, through which sunlight streams in, illuminating this indoor forest.
Many white stone pillars had broken and fallen to the ground, lying haphazardly in the grass. The ground was covered with fallen leaves and moss, and wildflowers peeked out from the cracks in the stones.
The once magnificent palace, used to worship or house deities, is now completely abandoned and overrun by plants.
"How could this be—it's so magnificent, and its technology is so much more advanced than ours, why would this city be abandoned?" Pazu murmured, looking at the ruins.
No one could answer his question.
The deeper one ventures, the more intense the tranquil yet oppressive atmosphere becomes. Even the clear, melodious calls of beautiful indigo birds overhead cannot dispel the heaviness weighing on one's heart.
Finally, Mu En arrived at her destination.
He stopped and fell silent, speechless at the sight before him.
Almost exactly as I remembered, in the center of a vast meadow dotted with scattered flowers, a gigantic ancient tree soared into the sky.
The ancient tree was over 100 meters tall, and its canopy was even larger than his clone in Valley Town, with its dense branches blocking out the sun.
The black stone monument, representing the commemoration of the Laputa civilization, is embedded among the ancient trees. It is the last monument left by the ancients for themselves, silently telling the story of the end of a glorious civilization.
However, there is only one difference.
The entire meadow was littered with the remains of more than fifty robots!
Those robots were supposed to rest peacefully at the base of the tree trunk after their energy was depleted, just like in the original story, quietly waiting to become one with the ruins.
But now they are all in a damaged state. The brown outer shells that could withstand the fortress cannons have been ruthlessly torn apart, revealing the blood-red bionic parts and complex mechanical structures inside.
What's most unbearable to look at is that almost all the robots, whether they are missing limbs or only have half a body left, have long drag marks behind them.
Those were the marks left by crawling slowly with the last of their strength, striving to move towards the stone tablet.
The extent of the moss coverage indicates that most of the robots had been damaged for a long time, and not all at once.
Every so often, a damaged robot would struggle to reach this "burial ground" and then collapse beside its brethren.
Pazu was deeply shocked by the scene. Although he didn't know what these robots were thinking, the tragic scene before him was enough to express their tenacity.
"Are they... are they trying to return here? Return to the stone tablet? Why?" Since arriving in this divine realm, his doubts had only grown, and he had no answers to them.
Sheeta didn't speak, she just stared blankly at the remains, then suddenly covered her face and began to sob softly.
Pazu was startled and quickly ran to her side.
" Sheeta, what's wrong?"
"I don't know—" Tears welled up between the girl's fingers, "I don't know—I just feel—feel so sorry for them—"
She didn't know why she was crying; the sudden sadness was just too intense for her to control.
Pazu stood awkwardly to the side, unsure of what to say, and could only gently pat her back.
Mu En slowly walked to the black stone tablet.
He reached out and touched the cold surface of the stone tablet. This material should be the same as the core below, a special substance that can conduct the energy of the Volucite.
For whom was this monument erected? And why was it erected?
Ding-dong----
Suddenly, a series of pleasant sounds came from not far away.
The three turned to look, and the bushes were pushed aside, revealing a huge robot.
It was much taller than Mu En's incarnation, its shell was an old brown color, covered with moss, but its movements were still fluid, its hinge-like limbs moving silently with each step.
The robot is holding a bouquet of small white flowers.
It ignored the three people and went straight to the nearest damaged robot, placing a small white flower on its chest.
Then they moved on to the next machine.
Next one.
It placed small flowers on each of the damaged robots.
"It's you----"
Mu En recognized her.
This is the solitary guardian who walks alone in this abandoned city, picking flowers every day to commemorate the lonely souls of the dead.
It is the gardener robot that greets Sheeta and Pazu in another world.