From star abyss

Arwen Heskisheen stepped on the ruins and walked through the fire. Her steps were light, but her figure seemed heavy. The cold wind blew away the hair on her forehead, making her even more confused.

[what should I do? ]

She lowered her head and looked at the lunch box she had brought: it contained the meals she had carefully prepared, including frost-coated traditional dishes like honey bean salad and cream-baked shrimp.

Li Ozi's favorite food is chicken stewed with potatoes, which is a specialty of Blue Star. The most authentic method requires red potatoes and native chicken from the plateau.

The ingredients for this dish are: white pepper, salt, white cheese, honey, sugar, carrots, sausage and bacon slices according to taste.

It is usually served with rice, bread and wraps.

Although he is quite familiar with the beverage category, Li Aozhi actually does not like drinking. In his daily life, he does not have any drinking habits. Li Ozi is particularly fond of carbonated drinks, especially lemonade, served with mint leaves and a small amount of ice.

Li Ozi had never told her this, so how did she learn about these things?

In Blue Star, Li Aozi had hosted more than one live broadcast. In order to get to know Li Aozi, Yawen stayed up late and watched all his live broadcasts, including the recipe for this dish and his hobbies and habits.

The more she got to know him, the more strange she felt about Li Ozi.

On the one hand, Li Ozi doesn't like to eat raw food. The steak must be fully cooked and the Maillard reaction must be very sufficient to gain his approval.

But on the other hand, Li Ozi never cares about what food is served to him in the restaurant. He never treats others to dinner or is treated by others, and he advocates the AA system.

On the one hand, Li Ozi said that he had no interest in war and believed that people who love war are lunatics and chuunibyou.

On the other hand, his own way of solving problems is often to use absolute violence to crush one party in a war.

He has no beliefs, does not care about this kind of consciousness, and is even indifferent to love between men and women, family and marriage.

He cares about the health and safety of infants and young children, confronts Verazzi's capital group head-on, and accepts many interstellar refugees into the Faithful Village. He does not treat them as slaves or tools.

Even for those immortal descendants, Li Ozi is very concerned about their experience, caring for and nurturing them like pets.

but.

Yawen looked forward.

At dusk, a heavy fog filled the streets. Her skin was wet with water vapor, and her eyes peered into the fog, but she could not see the end.

[In Li Ozi’s eyes, do I really exist? ]

He cares about many people, takes care of many people, and is willing to draw swords against foreign powers for some people.

[……what about me? ]

Among the group of people whom Li Ozi protects, is there still a place for Arwen Huskies? Does he see himself as a friend, a woman, or a passerby?

[The so-called: ‘You mean a lot to me’, is it a comforting lie, or am I just a tool to you? ]

From the frost to the outside world, from the blue star to the white candle star.

You fly forward all the way, and even if I chase you closely, I can't catch you.

Yawen stood in the middle of the crossroads. She couldn't tell which end of the dimensional barrier was located.

Should I continue to chase, chase all the way for that phrase "very meaningful"?

——The beauty and graceful body of the blond girl appeared before her eyes.

[Chasing all the way, and then watching Li Ozi hug her into his arms? Then, in pursuit of his ownership, I kept moving forward and constantly reinventing myself, just to be worthy of him? ]

Yawen asked herself:

[Should I really do this? ]

For a moment, she suddenly remembered her people.

She is a frost-plated person.

Even if her blood is secretly modified, her cultural identity cannot be changed.

[I...I shouldn't change myself for one person and become a person who lives for others. ]

self-abasement.

Yawen suddenly understood: the secret took away her self-confidence and made her feel inferior, just to make her become such a person.

Inferiority is a professional quality of [tailor]. She is inferior to her appearance and figure and tries to cover up her flaws with well-tailored fashions.

But the more she pretends, the more inferior she becomes.

The dress is her armor. Without the silk and nylon, it becomes fragile.

Eventually, this layer of clothing became her exoskeleton, supporting her body and living like a spider.

[Li Ozi will not look down on such a person. Even I, myself, look down on such a person. ]

"Oh?"

An exclamation sounded:

"Miss Yawen, long time no see."

Yawen raised her head, and a beautiful veiled woman slowly walked out of the mist. Her appearance was so obvious that Yawen could recognize her at a glance.

"[Danger-seeking Saint] Verlia."

The other party blinked his snow-green eyes:

"I'm glad you remember my name."

"How did you come here?" Yawen wondered. "It should be very dangerous here. There are dimensional barriers everywhere. You are just an ordinary person."

"On the contrary, I am here because I am a mortal."

Verlia smiled slightly:

"I'm here to gather my comrades."

"Comrade?" Yawen was puzzled: "Who are you going to deal with?"

"A [Society]." Verlia said: "It seems you don't know yet - the [Machine Society] has gathered enough members on this planet, and now they plan to summon the mother body to come."

"……What does it mean?"

Yawen clenched the bag in her hand and said in a deep voice:

"You mean, this planet is going to be destroyed?"

"Yes." Verlia nodded: "[Machine Society] Mashgar Gang is nearby, and it will be summoned soon to eat this planet."

"This...this is too sudden, I don't believe it. You are joking, right?"

Yawen pulled the corners of her mouth and smiled dryly.

"You must be joking, right? Miss Verlia."

However, Verlia's eyes were very serious.

Yawen gradually stopped laughing. She glanced at the other party worriedly and asked in a low voice:

"Really?"

"Miss Yawen."

Verlia replied:

"Do you remember what I said when we first met at the temple in Shishou Village?"

Yawen's head buzzed, and the silhouettes of those pictures came flooding in.

……………………

"I think you have to understand something, dear fool."

"You are now a citizen of [society]. You are not yourself at all. You can only find the meaning of life in [society]."

"Fool, citizens of [society] have no independent will. You and the Xingyuan aborigines who think you are your little boyfriend are not the same species at all."

"You are pretty and very capable, but you don't live for men, you live for yourself. Yawen, I hope you can realize that [society] and Xingyuan are not good things. They are not good things. The fighting between them has caused countless families to lose their lives.”

"The [Secret Society] will use its members to realize the arrival of the deity and devour civilization, but Xingyuan wants to use your life to fill the never-ending front."

“Don’t love them, don’t love the grand narrative, love yourself.”

"I'm here to invite you."

"This planet has already been infiltrated by [society] citizens. Narrative-level civilization is also constantly paying attention to the situation here. Sooner or later, you will be discovered."

"When discovered by the people of Gaia, they will merge your will into the ether. In that environment, you will be unable to resist at all and will immediately succumb to [society]."

"If discovered by a narrative-level civilization, they will not hesitate to dismantle you, eliminate you, and make you into weapons and equipment."

"Even your unrequited love interest, Li Ozi, will not hesitate to draw a sword once he finds out that you are a secret citizen."

"I'm here to protect you, to protect people like you who are unwilling to succumb to secrecy and are rejected by the civilization on the side of the star abyss."

……………………

"I remembered."

Yawen's eyes were complicated.

"You said that very early, four months ago."

"It should be said that you are quite lucky." Verlia nodded: "You are here only in the [Machine Society], not in the [Secret Society]. You can still keep your sense of independence for the time being."

She looked at the other person and stretched out her hand:

"Join us, Miss Yawen. I have gathered many [social] resistance elements like you here. People who are unwilling to be swallowed up by [society] and cannot integrate into the Star Abyss, they are all here with me."

However, Yawen did not change her attitude immediately. She looked at Verlia calmly and asked:

"Miss Verlia, even if you said this in advance, what evidence do you have to prove it?"

Yawen's tone was calm and her angle was very tricky:

"You are just a mortal, neither a citizen of [Society] nor a god on the Star Abyss Path. If you can observe the trends of [Machine Society], then let me ask - are the powerful Kappa-level men of White Candle Star I don’t know, how do you, a mortal, know that?”

"It's not difficult. You'll figure it out when you get there."

"But I want to know now."

Yawen said:

"I followed Mr. Li Ozi and walked out of the Blue Star. No matter what, we are also compatriots and comrades-in-arms. I don't want to leave just like that."

"——It seems that you have figured out something. Well, in that case, let me tell the truth."

Verlia was very indifferent:

"After defeating [God of Reality] Leoz and destroying the universe of Mephidria, [Society] all poured into the Star Abyss from outside the abyss, encountering stubborn resistance from the narrative-level civilization. The star abyss was too vast, but It is not a lamb to be slaughtered as [society] imagined, and a God-given land left with butter and milk and honey everywhere, but a narrative-level civilization with advanced technology and horrific violence."

"This phenomenon seems to have also aroused the surprise of the [Secret Society] Gaia, and it began to plan new conspiracies and strategies. However, its painstaking efforts to hide are not something that all citizens of society are happy to see. Those who are exposed by it Citizens set out to prey, without matrix leadership, come to think differently.”

"Today's [Secret Society] is not monolithic. Regarding the strategy of conquering the Star Abyss, the three Secret Speakers each hold their own opinions and leave one after another, each developing their own camp."

"There is a traditionalist who insists on the secret doctrine of the [Lord Speaker]. He insists that thirteen members should be summoned to ask Gaia, the body of the [Secret Society], to appear and deliver justice."

"The whereabouts of the wavering centrist [Greedy Speaker] are unknown. But some speculate that she has a longer-term plan."

"Furthermore, there are the reformists. [Wisdom Speaker] believes that for the complicated situation in the abyss, a new set of tactics should be changed. The old method of invasion-infiltration-calling members-the mother body descends-devouring civilization. This routine should be changed. Changed, and he also questioned that the [Lord Speaker] has too much power, and in the name of summoning the mother body, he is actually lining his own pockets."

The secret inside is so complicated?

Arwen frowned.

As one of the thirteen members, she can be sure that she was transformed into a "tailor" because of the influence of the "Lord Speaker" group.

"So," Yawen wrote down this, and then continued to ask: "This is just a situation in the [hidden society], does it have anything to do with you?"

"Not only is it related, it can even be said that the factional turmoil in the [Hidden Society] directly gave birth to new opportunities, that is, I am a group of 'unbounded people' who independently formed the Secret Council and formed their own sect."

"The Unbounded?" Yawen repeated, "Is this your organization? But what you said is baseless and still unconvincing."

"Then let's put it another way."

Verlia said:

"The [Sailor] Igolay Matthew who rescued you on the Blue Star is one of our Unbounded Ones. The Unbounded Ones have interstellar communication capabilities comparable to narrative-level civilizations. As soon as you arrive on the White Candle Star, I will know You came."

Yawen's pupils shrank.

This secret...she has never told even Li Ozi. When she was in exile in the outside world, the former secret [Sailor] Igolay Matthew came to rescue her.

Verlia, or the organization behind her, does have a terrifying intelligence network.

"Since you know it so well, I still have a question here." Yawen said: "How much do you know about Di Yalan? Is her ability reliable?"

"You want to ask how to escape from the secret, right?" Verlia said with a smile: "Don't worry, I have already experienced Di Yalan's predecessor."

"You——" Yawen was surprised: "You mean, you were also secretive?"

"That's the way it is."

Verlia said lightly:

"To be honest, my mothers participated in the Leoz Crusade. They were secret citizens resurrected by Gaia. However, it was precisely because of that battle that they deeply felt the cruelty and terror of [society]. , eating civilization alive, completely sucking it clean, and then turning back to kill the same kind of beasts - such actions made the two of them determined to leave the secret and fight against all [society]."

"It's just that their situation is not optimistic. Gaia disappeared around a thousand years ago. Before leaving, she released all the citizens and allowed them to invade the planet wantonly and act on their own. White Candle Star was one of them. This is why my mothers , got freedom by luck."

"In order to protect my safety, they also transformed me into a secret citizen. I have been staying in White Candle Star for a long time, living and moving here, and studying secret citizens with the [Doctor] who also betrayed the secret. However, the accident still happened ——Just a hundred years ago, the congressmen came back with terrible weapons, killing and destroying wantonly, trying to use the white candle star as fuel to summon the hidden self."

"I fought side by side with the mages of White Candle Star at that time, and successfully repelled the secret councilors, but I was seriously injured as a result. It was not until last year that I came back to life. Fortunately, the [Doctor]'s experiment on me was also successful. I have been Become a human again."

"As for Dialan, that was a project planned by [Doctor] a long time ago, but his goal is not only to transform hidden citizens into mortals, but to serve as a more important weapon."

After hearing this, Yawen immediately noticed a problem.

"Wait a minute." She said: "If what you said is true, and you came to White Candle Star more than a thousand years ago and slept for another hundred years, wouldn't you be already..."

"Oh, do you care about my age?"

Verlia disagreed:

"Including the age of sleeping, I am just a three thousand year old girl now."

"No, no, no, no!"

Yawen couldn't believe it:

"I received knowledge infusion from Gaia, and I also know the common sense of magic from the Crystal Tower Civilization - in the star abyss, those who can live to three thousand years old, except for dragons, void tribes, undead and so on, Special creatures can only be achieved by narrative-level civilization, and they cannot leave the homeland."

"Ordinary citizens of society cannot leave the matrix [of society], otherwise their life span will not last five hundred years."

"How on earth did you do it?"

"This is very simple."

Verlia said matter-of-factly:

"Before I left the [Secret Society], I was a strong man who had been reforged nine times. Although my strength no longer exists, my personality and extraordinary lifespan are still retained."

"Reforged nine times?"

Yawen was startled:

"Isn't that the level second only to the final re-forging..."

Verlia thought for a moment and said:

"Converted to Xingyuan terms, it is the Omega level."

Yawen lowered her head and pursed her lips.

"Although I lost my strength, I also gained an independent will. I was truly saved."

Verlia, that blond girl, they were all beautiful and powerful. Standing in front of these people, she felt even more ashamed.

"[Secret] took away your confidence. Turn around and we will get it back."

Seemingly sensing Yawen's depression, Verlia thought for a moment, then stepped forward and patted her on the shoulder:

"Join us, Arwen."

Yawen was unmoved.

"You need strength, companions, and salvation. This planet is irreversible. [Machine Society] will come at any time. I am going to bring my comrades and resources to transfer."

Verlia put her hands on her hips and thought distressedly:

"Are you thinking about that 'Mr. Li Ozi' again? A person who doesn't love you at all, has no feelings for you, and doesn't take you seriously at all. Why should you care about him? There are many people in this world. Do you have to be jealous of an outstanding person, even to the point of changing yourself?"

Yawen didn't care.

"Arwen Huskiesin, you should be an independent woman. I see you growing grapes, taking care of the camp, building a house, and doing business all by yourself. You don't need a man to take care of you. Instead, you are taking care of others. You shouldn’t live for other people.”

Yawen's eyes wandered.

"You have the ability to put down your unrealistic love and join our cause, not to mention that your identity is a threat to others."

threaten.

Yawen raised her head with firm eyes:

"...I have lived my life for others."

"No need to say anything, Ms. Verlia."

"I'll go with you."

"But before that, I have to say goodbye."