72: Chapter 72 Information Panel

The Little Things seemed accustomed to their companions suddenly vanishing; they merely spared a glance and paid it no further mind.

Seeing this, Lin Sheng's racing heart finally settled down.

He had thought something was wrong, but since their own kind weren't worried, there was no need for Lin Sheng to fret on their behalf.

The most pressing issue now was how to get these buzzing Little Things to stop making such a racket.

Just as Lin Sheng was thinking this, the Little Thing with the most active mind suddenly spoke up:

「I, individual, Sky.」

After this Little Thing gave itself a name, the others followed suit, crying out one after another.

「I, individual... Body.」

「I, individual, Visual Organ.」

「I, individual, Energy Source.」

...

The Little Things fell into a naming frenzy. Because the first Little Thing had taken the initiative, most of the better names were snatched up early.

Those who were slower to react could only take the names that others had left behind.

「Ground, mine? Na... me? You can, ca... ll... me, Sky.」

Along with the emergence of the concept of names, the words "name" and "address" were also coined by the Little Thing who called itself "Sky."

These two terms were rearranged by Sky based on their race's existing script; they weren't entirely new characters invented by Sky.

“Hello, Sky.”

“Take me to your home to have a look. I have many questions for you all.”

Lin Sheng wrote on the Ground.

After jogging over to read Lin Sheng's words, Sky's pupils flashed once more.

「Okay.」

「I have notified..., I will take you to see it now.」

Since the Little Things previously lacked the concepts of "names" and "addresses," Sky didn't know how to refer to the leader of their group.

However, Lin Sheng knew who the omitted subject in Sky's sentence was. He nodded directly to Sky, and without caring if Sky understood what the gesture meant, he followed it into the Information Recovery Device.

Led by Sky, Lin Sheng officially entered the Information Recovery Device—the structure that looked like a perimeter wall of flesh.

Upon entering, Lin Sheng found that it was just as he had observed from orbit.

Aside from being smoother than the primitive surface of Mars outside, the Ground here was not much different from the rest of the Martian surface.

Furthermore, there were no buildings like houses here.

Lin Sheng looked around, temporarily suppressing the curiosity in his heart.

The surrounding Little Things showed no surprise upon seeing Lin Sheng, as if they had known of his existence for a long time.

They simply observed Lin Sheng with what could be considered "curious" gazes, without making any intrusive moves.

Along the way, Lin Sheng noticed that these Little Things didn't just walk using their four appendages.

Some Little Things would invert their appendages and advance by flying in a levitating manner.

Lin Sheng learned through "Omniscience" that this was a form of anti-gravity flight.

...

Under Sky's guidance, Lin Sheng arrived at the only place in the Information Recovery Device that could be called a building.

This building was in the same "carbon-based biological flesh" style as the outer wall.

The building was a horizontal rectangular prism, somewhat resembling a slab of "pork belly."

It was about 100 meters high, and its length was many times its height—about twice Lin Sheng's length, which was over 1,900 meters, nearly 2,000 meters.

Pork Belly

Beneath this building, a Little Thing that looked no different from the others was currently floating.

While he didn't know if this Little Thing was actually different from the rest, at least in Lin Sheng's eyes, it looked exactly the same.

After bringing Lin Sheng here, Sky didn't say anything to that Little Thing; it simply said a few words to Lin Sheng and then left immediately.

「This is our Little Thing's..., you can ask it anything you want to know. I'm leaving now.」

「You can come find me later. I'm always at home and won't be going out.」

Lin Sheng watched Sky leave, then turned his gaze toward this Little Thing, who seemed to be the leader of the Little Things.

...

「Hello, family from afar.」

「Thank you for giving us Little Things the concept of 'individual addresses.'」

「You may call me... 'Old Thing.'」

Lin Sheng carefully mulled over the information translated by "Omniscience." After confirming he hadn't misunderstood, his mouth couldn't help but twitch.

“Hello, Old Thing. I am called Ground. I have some questions about the 'Creator' and you Little Things. Could you help answer them for me?”

Lin Sheng wrote on the Ground with his claws.

Old Thing tucked in its limbs and floated in mid-air. After reading what Lin Sheng had written, Old Thing's pupils flashed a few times, and the hemispherical eyes on its head wobbled as if it were nodding.

「No problem. We are family. You can ask anything, and I will answer everything.」

Since Old Thing had said so, Lin Sheng naturally wouldn't be polite.

He looked at Old Thing and wrote directly:

“I'm curious, why hadn't you developed the concept of 'addresses'?”

「Because we Little Things have always communicated directly through Information Panels. Every Little Thing's Information Panel is unique. We don't need addresses to know who the other party is.」

As it spoke, Old Thing reached out toward Lin Sheng, gesturing with the arm connected to its "remote control."

Looking at the remote control Old Thing displayed, Lin Sheng followed up:

“Could you let me touch your Information Panel?”

He wanted to use direct contact to allow "Omniscience" to gather more information.

Old Thing directly agreed to Lin Sheng's request.

「You can. I will give the Information Panel to you now.」

After Old Thing said this, to Lin Sheng's shocked gaze, it made a "crack" sound and used its pincer-like arm to snip off its own Information Panel.

Then, Old Thing used its suction-cup-like arm to pick up the Information Panel, which was floating in mid-air for unknown reasons, and handed it to Lin Sheng.

「Ground, for you.」

Lin Sheng was still in a state of shock and hadn't recovered. He blankly extended a claw and took the Information Panel handed over by Old Thing.

Subsequently, a vast amount of information regarding the Information Panel began to surface in Lin Sheng's mind.