331: The whispers of the pyramids and the "civilization self-examination procedure"

The Return to Ruins was very quiet.

Too quiet.

The hope hovered beneath the shadow of that pyramid-shaped structure, like a sesame seed dropped at the foot of a skyscraper.

On the bridge, everyone held their breath, gazing through the observation window at this magnificent creation left behind by the Star People—it was simply too massive, so large that if you stared at it for too long, you would get the illusion that you were falling.

"Preliminary scan complete." Senior Brother Zhang pushed up his crystal glasses, data streams scrolling rapidly across the lenses. "The building's height is... approximately three thousand kilometers. Yes, you heard that right, three thousand kilometers. The Materials are unknown, neither metal nor crystal, and the energy readings are... gentle yet bottomless, like an ancient well."

Wen Youyi stared at the crystal at the top of the pyramid that was resonating with the master key—the sixth star key fragment was right there, emitting a soft silver light like a lighthouse in the dark night.

"What about the defense System?" he asked.

"None detected." Senior Brother Zhang shook his head. "At least, conventional scans haven't found any weapon arrays, energy barriers, or patrol units. This place... is as clean as if it had just been swept."

This only made Wen Youyi more uneasy. In a programmer's worldview, a System without any firewalls or antivirus software is either bait, a trap, or... it is so confident that it feels it doesn't need any defenses at all.

"Boss, I think this place is a bit creepy." Zhao Iron Pillar rubbed his arms. "It's too quiet, there isn't even a bug chirping."

"A bug chirping?" Wang Wu gave a wry smile. "Brother Iron Pillar, this is a vacuum, where would there be bugs?"

"That's why it's even creepier!" Zhao Iron Pillar insisted righteously. "A place where not even a bug is willing to stay, can it be any good?"

The words were crude but made sense. Wen Youyi gripped the master key, and that sense of unease grew stronger. The resonance between the master key and the fragment at the top of the pyramid was very stable, even carrying a sense of familiarity like "welcome home," but the more this happened, the more he felt something was wrong.

It was as if... you were clearly an outsider, yet the door lock opened automatically for you, and a voice from inside added, "Please come in, slippers are on the left."

"Luo Chen, in the records of you Sky Patrol, is there any description of the situation inside the Return to Ruins?" Wen Youyi asked.

Luo Chen was checking data at the console; upon hearing this, he looked up with a strange expression. "There is, but... it's basically all speculation. The Return to Ruins was completely sealed after the Star People left. In the hundreds of thousands of years since, many civilizations have tried to enter, but they either couldn't find the entrance or, once they went in, they never came out. The only exception is..."

He paused. "It was a Star Devourers advance team that tried to force their way in about five hundred years ago, and then... they disappeared. No combat records, no distress signals, they just evaporated into thin air."

There was silence on the bridge.

A place from which even the Star Devourers could not return, and they had just walked in so boldly? And were unimpeded?

"I have an idea." Aila Xinghen - Deputy Captain suddenly spoke, her indigo eyes fixed on the pyramid. "Perhaps the Return to Ruins doesn't lack defenses, it's just... the method of defense is different from what we understand."

She brought up the scanned images and zoomed in on the patterns on the pyramid's surface. "Look at these patterns; they don't look like decorations or energy circuits, they look more like... text. Or rather, data streams."

Wen Youyi leaned in to look. Those patterns were indeed very special; they were neither straight lines nor curves, but patterns composed of countless tiny points of light that were constantly flowing and changing, like living code.

"Can you parse it?" he asked.

"Tried, but it didn't work." Aila Xinghen - Deputy Captain shook her head. "Our existing language models don't match it at all. But I think... perhaps the master key can."

Wen Youyi looked at the master key in his hand. It was still glowing, and the frequency of its light's flickering seemed to have a subtle synchronization with the rhythm of those flowing patterns.

He took a deep breath. "Prepare the landing party. Zhao Iron Pillar, Senior Brother Zhang, Aila Xinghen - Deputy Captain, you three come with me. Everyone else stay to guard the hope, maintain the highest alert, and if anything goes wrong, evacuate immediately—don't wait for us."

"Boss!" Zhao Iron Pillar wanted to say something.

"That's an order." Wen Youyi was uncharacteristically serious. "If we don't come back, at least the hope and the intelligence on the star key fragment must be transmitted out."

The landing craft slowly emerged from the belly of the hope and flew toward a square opening on the pyramid's base that looked like an entrance. The opening was huge, large enough to fit a small starship, and inside it was pitch black, like the mouth of a giant beast.

As they approached, Wen Youyi clearly felt the master key vibrate. Immediately after, the walls on both sides of the entrance suddenly lit up—not with lamps, but with a kind of soft light that seemed to emanate from within the walls, illuminating a straight passage leading inward.

"Quite polite." Wen Youyi muttered, maneuvering the landing craft into the passage.

The inside of the passage was even more astonishing than it looked from the outside. The walls, ceiling, and floor were all covered in those flowing light patterns, like solidified rivers of light. As the landing craft flew past, those light patterns would even "actively" move aside, forming a cavity without patterns around the hull.

"This technology..." Senior Brother Zhang's eyes lit up. "It's not a holographic projection; it's the controllable change of the energy state of matter itself! If we could learn this..."

"Think about how to get out alive first, Senior Brother." Wang Wu reminded him over the communication channel. "You've already penetrated five kilometers deep, the signal is starting to attenuate."

Wen Youyi glanced at the depth gauge—indeed, five kilometers, and that was just the thickness of the pyramid's base. How many levels did this building have? What was hidden inside?

After flying for another ten minutes or so, the path ahead suddenly opened up.

The landing craft exited the passage and entered a massive interior space—so large that you couldn't see the top or the edges at a glance. It looked like a... plaza? Or rather, a landing pad?

On the ground, there were hundreds of circular platforms arranged neatly, each about fifty meters in diameter, with different symbols carved on their surfaces. Some platforms still held strangely shaped aircraft—some looked like birds with wings spread, some like polyhedral crystals, and some were simply a mass of solidified light.

But all these aircraft were covered in a thick layer of dust, some even half-collapsed, clearly abandoned for who knows how many years.

"This looks like a transportation hub for the Star People." Aila Xinghen - Deputy Captain scanned the nearest aircraft. "Energy depleted, structural integrity 67%, no signs of life."

Wen Youyi had the landing craft land on an empty platform. The hatch opened, and the four of them stepped onto this ground that had been silent for hundreds of thousands of years.

Their footsteps echoed in the vast hall, traveling far and then returning as blurred echoes, layer upon layer, as if many people in the distance were mimicking their footsteps.

"I hate echoes." Zhao Iron Pillar gripped his profound iron heavy sword—although in this place, the weapon looked a bit out of place.

Wen Youyi raised the master key. The light of the master key became exceptionally bright here, and the flow speed of the light patterns on the ground and walls also noticeably accelerated, as if responding.

Suddenly, a voice rang out in everyone's minds.

Not through their ears, but direct mental transmission, gentle, neutral, without any emotional color:

[Permission key detected. Identity verification passed. Welcome to the Return to Ruins Hub, Visitor No. 8742.]

The four immediately stood back-to-back in a defensive formation, looking around vigilantly. But the hall was empty, with only those abandoned aircraft and flowing light patterns.

"Who is speaking?" Wen Youyi tried to respond with his consciousness.

[I am the Return to Ruins Hub management intelligence, codename 'gravedigger'. According to Article 7 of the Star People Final Protocol, holders of the complete permission key may access all facilities and databases of the Return to Ruins.]

gravedigger? Another gravedigger? Wen Youyi remembered those remnant consciousnesses he had encountered in the Silent Graveyard, but this one was clearly more "complete."

"We need to go to the top level to retrieve a star key fragment." Wen Youyi said directly.

[The fragment recovery procedure must be activated in the Central Control Room. Please follow the guidance light path.]

As soon as the voice finished, a silver band of light suddenly lit up on the ground, extending from beneath their feet all the way to a door deep in the hall.

Since they were here, they might as well make the best of it. Wen Youyi signaled for everyone to follow.

The light path led them through several automatically opening doors, passing through halls of unknown purpose—some were piled with the wreckage of some kind of instrument, some had walls covered with constantly changing full star maps, and one hall had hundreds of devices resembling stasis pods arranged neatly, inside which it was empty, with only a thin layer of dust.

The further they went in, the stronger that feeling of "dead silence" became. Everything here was preserved too completely, so completely that it didn't look like it had endured the ravages of war and time, but rather... as if people were working here yesterday and then suddenly all disappeared.

"What do you think, how did the Star People actually leave back then?" Senior Brother Zhang asked in a low voice. "Such a massive facility, they just abandoned it like that?"

"Not abandoned," Aila Xinghen - Deputy Captain said softly, "but 'sealed'. They knew they might not be able to return, so they left everything here, waiting for latecomers to discover it."

The light path finally stopped in front of a huge circular door. The door was made of some kind of translucent crystal material, and its surface flowed with even denser light patterns than outside.

[Central Control Room. Please present the permission key for final verification.]

Wen Youyi raised the master key. The light patterns on the door immediately converged, "touching" the master key like tentacles. A few seconds later, the circular door slid open silently.

The scene inside left all four of them stunned.

It didn't look like a control room; it looked more like... a library.

It was a massive spherical space, at least five hundred meters in diameter. The walls, ceiling, and floor were all covered in a kind of silver-white "bookshelf," densely packed with countless glowing crystal prisms, each containing flowing colors of light inside.

In the center of the space floated a platform, and on the platform was only a single chair—a seemingly ordinary metal chair, facing a massive, dark observation window.

[Please take a seat. The star key fragment recovery program is about to initiate.]

Wen Youyi walked to the platform, hesitated for a moment, and then sat on the chair.

The moment he sat down, the entire spherical space suddenly came alive!

All the crystal prisms on the bookshelves lit up simultaneously, their light intertwining and converging in the space, finally coalescing into a blurry humanoid light figure in front of Wen Youyi.

The figure had no facial features, no gender characteristics, just a silhouette composed purely of light.

[Visitor number 8742, welcome. I am the core interaction interface of the 'gravedigger'. Before initiating the star key fragment recovery program, according to protocol, you must first pass the 'Civilization Qualification Verification'.]

"Civilization Qualification Verification?" Wen Youyi frowned. "What does that mean?"

[Before the Star People left, they set a final protocol: only visitors who can prove their civilization possesses 'continuation value' and 'evolutionary potential' are qualified to inherit the Guixu legacy and the power of the star key fragments. Otherwise, the legacy will be permanently sealed, and the visitor will be eliminated.]

Zhao Iron Pillar immediately raised his heavy sword. "Damn it! There really is a trap!"

But Wen Youyi raised his hand to stop him, staring at the light figure. "How is it verified?"

[It's very simple,]

the light figure's voice remained calm, [answer three questions.]

It paused, and the first question came:

"If your civilization is destined to perish, would you choose to let everyone sleep painlessly and end in a beautiful dream; or let them fight consciously until the very last moment, even if the ending is a desperate destruction?"

As soon as the question was asked, everyone was stunned.

What kind of verification is this? A philosophical interrogation?

Wen Youyi did not answer immediately. He stared at the light figure, analyzing rapidly in his mind: the Star People left this question, obviously not wanting a standard answer, but to see his—or rather, the civilization he represents'—"choice tendency."

"I choose the latter," he finally said.

[Reason?]

"Because no matter how beautiful a dream is, it's still fake," Wen Youyi's voice was very calm. "Fighting consciously, at least one knows why they lived, and why they died. And... what if we win?"

The light figure was silent for a few seconds. The light of the surrounding crystal prisms fluctuated slightly, as if recording this answer.

The second question:

"If a 'traitor' appears among your compatriots, and he defects to the enemy for personal survival, causing more compatriots to die. When you catch him, how will you deal with him?"

This time Zhao Iron Pillar spoke first. "Need you ask? Kill him!"

Senior Brother Zhang pushed up his glasses. "But perhaps he had hidden hardships? Or was coerced?"

Aila Xinghen - Deputy Captain did not speak, just looked at Wen Youyi.

Wen Youyi thought for a long time. He remembered those Cultivators in the Ranch World who betrayed their fellow disciples to climb to high positions, remembered the "echoes" of devoured civilizations remaining in the Star Devourers fleet, and also remembered... human nature itself.

"I will judge him," he finally said, "but the basis of the judgment is not what he did, but why he did it. If it was a forced betrayal for the sake of survival, I will give him a chance to atone—to make up for it with the rest of his life. If it was purely out of selfishness and malice..."

He paused. "Then I will eliminate him, but I will not hate him. Because hatred makes people become the version of themselves they hate."

The light figure was silent again. The light of the crystal prisms fluctuated more obviously.

The third and final question:

"When you have collected all the star key fragments and obtained the power sufficient to change the rules of the Universe, how will you use it?"

This question was too grand. Change the rules of the Universe? That's something only gods could do.

Wen Youyi laughed. "I would probably... write a program to encapsulate this power, set usage permissions and review mechanisms, and then hand it over to a committee for joint management. Oh, and I'd have to leave a backdoor to prevent the committee from becoming corrupt."

"..."

"..."

Even the light figure seemed to have glitched.

[Please... answer seriously.] The tone of the light figure showed fluctuation for the first time.

"I am very serious," Wen Youyi spread his hands. "It's a programmer's instinct—no matter how awesome the power is, it must have permission management, log recording, risk control, and contingency plans. One person holding the power to change the Universe? That's too dangerous, sooner or later a bug will occur. A group of people checking and balancing each other using it, although less efficient, at least won't blow up the Universe all at once."

The spherical space fell into an eerie silence.

The light of those crystal prisms began to flash, flow, and reorganize crazily, as if performing some high-speed calculation. The light figure itself also began to become unstable, its silhouette flickering on and off.

A full three minutes passed before the light stabilized again.

The voice of the light figure changed—no longer an emotionless mechanical sound, but a sigh filled with complex emotions, as if it were a real person:

[The answer... does not conform to any preset templates in the database. Logically contradictory, idealistic, full of uncertainty...]

It paused:

[But the 'possibility score'... has broken historical records.]

Wen Youyi raised an eyebrow. "So, did we pass?"

[Yes,]

the light figure said, [When the Star People set the verification program, they preset 32,767 'correct' answer templates, all based on principles such as absolute rationality, optimal solutions, and maximizing the probability of civilization continuation. None of your answers conform to the templates, but...]

It suddenly laughed—although the light figure had no face, Wen Youyi just felt it was laughing:

[But it is precisely this 'non-conformity' that proves your civilization possesses something the Star People lost long ago—'imperfect possibilities'.]

[We pursued perfection too much back then, pursuing absolutely rational solutions, pursuing the optimal civilization path, and ended up trapping ourselves on a single road. You are different; you dream, you make mistakes, you struggle, and you generate variables in desperate situations that no one can calculate.]

[This perhaps... is what a civilization should truly look like.]

As the voice faded, the entire spherical space began to change.

The light from all the crystal prisms converged on the central platform, coalescing into a solid object in front of Wen Youyi—it was a palm-sized silver-white fragment, the sixth star key fragment.

It automatically flew toward the master key and embedded perfectly. The length of the master key reached two and a half feet, and only one blank spot remained on the surface star map—the position of that blank spot corresponded exactly to the Star Devourer Royal Court.

[Fragment recovery complete.] The light figure's voice began to become faint. [As an extra reward, based on your answer tendencies, the Guixu will open partial database and facility access. At the same time...]

It suddenly turned to Aila Xinghen - Deputy Captain:

[Child of the Sky Patrol, your brother Jialuo's data records have a complete backup in the Guixu archives. He did not die back then, but chose 'consciousness upload', becoming a part of the Guixu outer perimeter alert System. If you want to see him...]

Aila Xinghen - Deputy Captain shuddered, and tears instantly welled up in her indigo eyes. "Brother... he is still..."

[Yes, he still 'exists'. Although his form is different, he has always been guarding this Star Domain, waiting for someone to truly inherit the will of the Star People.]

The light figure finally looked at Wen Youyi:

[Young navigator, you have already walked the most difficult path. The last fragment is inside the Star Devourer 'Dominator', which is the 'core prototype' left behind when the Star People first created the guardians. To get it, you need to face not just a physically powerful enemy, but also...]

[A painful, trapped in an endless loop, who once tried to protect all civilizations, but eventually twisted into a devourer...]

[Poor Soul.]

The light figure completely dissipated.

The light in the spherical space dimmed, and only the master key in Wen Youyi's hand was still glowing.

He gripped the master key, feeling the almost overflowing power brought by the resonance of the six fragments.

The last fragment is in the Star Devourer Royal Court.

Inside the 'Dominator'.

And that 'Dominator'... was once a guardian prototype created by the Star People to protect civilization.

The truth is often more cruel than imagined.

"Let's go." Wen Youyi stood up. "It's time to prepare for the final voyage."

When the four of them walked out of the central control room, the entire Guixu seemed to have awakened.

Those light patterns that had been silent for hundreds of thousands of years began to flow at a faster speed, some abandoned facilities lit up with faint light again, and from the distance even came the low hum of some machine starting up.

This mausoleum was breathing again because of the arrival of new visitors.

And what Wen Youyi did not know was that, at the very moment they passed the verification, far away in the core of the Star Devourer Royal Court, that "Dominator" wrapped in dark golden energy suddenly opened its eyes.

In those eyes, for the first time, appeared something other than cold, devouring desire...

A trace of confusion.

(End of chapter)