~： Extra Story - In a Foreign Land - The Fourth Millennium

The Yunliu Tower standing on the plain brings the latest news that the great lord of the tribe has ended his travels in the fourth millennium ahead of schedule, and has returned to this piece of land that was shaped and sheltered by him. on the land.

As the youngest "visitor" in the group, today is a very special day for Maybelle.

Because she was selected as an audience when the main consciousness of the lord of the tribe left this land, and in her career for several years after that, all she faced was the temporary lord of the tribe. The body that was left on the ground, that silent and majestic body had been in a deep sleep for several years, never responding to Maybelle's care and greetings.

Young "visitors" can only guess from the few words of their older colleagues what kind of individual the Lord of the Race is, to imagine how they should establish communication with the great being, and to imagine that when the Lord of the Race returns to this land, that When the majestic body suddenly wakes up, how should I behave more properly and comprehensively.

And now, that day has come early.

In the morning, the morning light gradually brightened.

The bright orange-yellow sun has already jumped beyond the horizon, and gradually hangs high in the sky like a dazzling fireball. Maybelle came out of the room and took a deep breath in the sunlight, his eyes fell on the direction of the "Supreme Nest" not far away.

The ancient and mysterious fortress still stands quietly at the foot of the cliff. The fortress made of strong alloy blends with the cliff like a blade. The towers and atmospheric probes near the fortress hum in the sunlight. , occasionally a tiny static ring escaped from one of the spires, which had a subtle resonance with the cloud tower on the distant plain. This was the signal that the lord of the tribe had returned to the lair.

Maybelle felt that the scales on her arms and neck were slightly itchy, and her tail covered with black hard scales was also involuntarily straightening. She knew that she was nervous, but who could be indifferent when meeting the Lord of the Clan? Nervous?

What's more, this can be regarded as her "first visit".

For the intelligent beings living on this warm and fertile planet that is only seven light minutes away from the sun, it is not a trivial matter to meet the Lord of the Clan.

After quickly finishing washing and changing clothes, the audience got into the car heading for the highest nest. The scaleless six-legged pack beast led the vehicle to the entrance of the nest briskly and steadily. Maybelle stuck his head out the window and looked at the magnificent The gate gradually enlarged in the field of vision. When the pack beast approached the gate, two small triangular machines floated out from the gate.

This kind of machine is the guard of the lord of the clan. Maybell's compatriots are quite familiar with it. Although the reason is unknown, everyone knows that this small machine has been responsible for guiding the life of the world for a long time in the past. Now, the once stupid people have developed to a stage where they can survive alone in nature, so most of these guardians have returned to the lair of the lord of the tribe and various bases to undertake the most basic security work. .

The two small machines carefully scanned the pack beast and the car behind the pack beast with dark red one-eyed eyes, and then quickly let go.

This is the most common daily inspection work, but Maybelle exhaled hard, this reaction made the colleague sitting next to her see it, the more experienced colleague suddenly laughed: "Maybell, you I'm getting nervous again."

"I'm not nervous!" Maybelle retorted in a panic, but then his voice dropped again, "Well, it's actually a bit..."

"It's normal to be nervous. I was as nervous as you when I first talked to the leader of the group. I even forgot to respond to the question from the leader of the group and asked him to repeat the question three times before giving a response."

"Ah?" Maybelle heard such a thing from her colleagues for the first time, her eyes widened in surprise, "Then... isn't the leader of the clan angry?"

"Of course not, the head of the clan..." The colleague paused here, as if he was considering a more appropriate term, "The head of the clan is more patient and kind than you think, and he doesn't care about worldly etiquette and etiquette. Hierarchical relationship, but correspondingly, he will pay more attention to some 'essential' things..."

"Essential stuff?" Maybelle was a little confused. "What does this mean?"

"...It's not easy to explain," the colleague thought for a while and spread his hands, "because I also heard it from others. If I have to say it, it's something like 'group mental health'?"

Maybelle felt that the doubts in her heart not only did not disappear, but became stronger than before, but she soon had no chance to continue to ask questions. Accompanied by a mechanized synthetic broadcast from outside the car, the audience arrived at the nest The "split gate" in the fortress.

Following the prompts, Maybelle and her colleagues left the car, and a square with many forks appeared in front of her. She soon found a projection of her own in the forks and her name floated over the intersection. , and a traffic float, fastened to the chute track, was already there waiting for it.

Colleagues said goodbye to each other, and Mabel followed the instructions and stood on the metal plate. With the brisk acceleration of the metal plate, the scenery on both sides of the road began to recede in her sight. She quickly left the square and other Colleagues on the fork in the road and headed for a room deep in the lair.

When she was about to enter the closed area, she raised her head subconsciously and looked at the high platform at the end of the square.

A huge and shocking body is quietly crawling on the high platform. It looks like some kind of ancient beast with amazing wings and a strong torso, but it is made of cold steel. It has been crawling there for many centuries, and despite the meticulous maintenance and care, time has left countless mottled marks on the steel body.

Maybelle remembered that the elders of the clan once said that it was the "carrier" used by the clan master when he first came to this land.

It is said that such a body is not what the lord of the race looked like at the beginning, but came from a more ancient and distant race. The lord of the race imitated the shape of this ancient race to create his original carrier, and used this carrier to cross the long sea of ​​stars. , descended on the still desolate land in ancient times, and sowed the first vitality here.

And that ancient and distant race is still the most trusted and intimate ally of the lord of the race, and an indispensable travel companion for the lord of the race when he "travels" in the sea of ​​stars.

To be honest, these distant and ethereal things are really difficult for Maybell to understand. In fact, even the elders of the clan don’t know much about these things. They only occasionally heard some distant places from the words of the clan master. stories, then interpret them with their own understanding, and teach them to young children.

Maybelle withdrew her gaze and put aside the associations in her mind about "far travel", "star sea", and "ancient race" for the time being. The surrounding light was gradually softening, and she had entered the confined space inside the nest.

After a quiet moment of waiting, the speed of the traffic floating board gradually slowed down, and the corridor reached the end. Maybelle looked forward and saw that she had been sent to the "visitor's secret room", which was the place she was most familiar with in this lair. one of several rooms.

The Lord of the Clan was waiting for her in the deepest part of the secret room.

A cuboid alloy creation with a height of several people stood quietly at the end of the room, its silver-gray shell flickered with shimmering light, and at the top of the shell there was a "eye pupil" flashing red, some kind of crystal texture. The "eyes" watched calmly at Maybelle who was jumping off the traffic float.

On both sides of this standing cuboid machine, many small devices can be seen running smoothly, and a low hum reverberates throughout the room.

This low hum is the voice of the Master of the Clan when he thinks.

Maybelle swallowed.

The scene here is no different from what she has seen in the past few years, but she knows that what she sees today is no longer the cold ancient machines of the past few years. And the great consciousness, the consciousness of the lord of the clan, ended the excursion in the star sea, and has now returned to his loyal body.

"Maybell, certified offspring, FX-1234551S32, don't be nervous, take a few steps forward and let me see you clearly."

The voice of the head of the clan resounded in the room, which was low, calm, but inexplicably reassuring.

Maybelle immediately swallowed hard, then took a few steps forward and came to the tall machine.

The dark red "eyes" at the top of the machine looked at the petite girl who was standing in the room, and there was a never-ending thought code flowing inside the machine.

Yalong, the 733rd generation of group B, healthy, adult individual, with a high main heart rate, she is a little nervous, but within the standard value.

"You... hello!" Maybelle finally reacted, she bowed in a panic, and she was startled by the loudness of the voice, "Clan... clan... clan..."

"Master of the tribe, this is the name you gave me, don't bite your tongue for this name," the calm and majestic voice resounded in the room again, "If you find it difficult to pronounce this word, you can also call me directly' Omega', which should be a simpler pronunciation in your language."

"Ah... no no no, my language skills are fine!" Maybelle was stunned for a moment, then quickly waved her hand, she didn't know what she wanted to say, and the first conversation with the clan master was completely inconsistent with her past. Imagine, "I'm just… just a little nervous."

"It's okay, you'll get used to it when you're nervous. Few people are truly lifelong social fears," the group leader's voice was always so unhurried, "A long, long time ago, a friend of mine said so."

"Lifelong... social fear?" Maybell blinked, a word beyond her cognition made her temporarily forget her nervousness, "What does social fear mean?"

"...This is a word from a distant alien star, which refers to... Forget it, I'll explain it next time."

Mabel was surprised by the reaction given by the group master. The young Argonian girl could clearly hear some kind of helpless and lazy emotion from the voice echoing in the room, but she did not dare to point it out. , just lowered his head and listened honestly.

She heard the Lord of the Clan continue: "Maybell, I have been following you, you are a young and energetic child, next, I want to ask you some questions, you can think of this as a light-hearted chat ."

Maybelle nodded subconsciously, but then opened her eyes in surprise: "You've been following me? But all these years..."

"My main consciousness has been traveling all these years, but it doesn't mean that I don't know what's going on here," the voice of the group leader seemed to have a smile, "Maybell, I always pay attention to what I can. Every planet that is perceived."

Maybelle nodded in understanding.

She is ready, ready to face every question posed by the protectors, shapers, and watchers of the land.

And in the deepest part of this ancient lair, in the main server array hall where the "visitors" have no right to step into, the server nodes are running calmly with a low humming sound.

Omega's thoughts flow in this huge calculation array, and at the bottom of his thinking, there is a conversation going on across the vast sea of ​​stars:

"To the Loren-Noy joint fleet, after a summary and analysis of the latest data collected, I believe that the cultivation plan on the Omega-1 planet has been successful, and the Yalong population has grown into a healthy and strong group. It can be proved that the stable adult process of the Noi civilization under the influence of the pioneer group is a replicable omega."

"To Omega, I'm very glad to hear the news of the success of the project. This long and large-scale observation project has finally achieved a gratifying result, which will help the fleet to formulate contact plans for the original civilization in the subsequent pioneering operations. to the vital reference role.

"In addition, I would like to convey to you the sigh of some anonymous people from the Immortal Matrix: This project has to start from now on, I really don't know what year and month will it have a result, so it seems that it is thanks to your whim.

"We look forward to more observations United Fleet Rotating Navigator, Tyre."

(Pushing the book! This time it's the "Abyss Special Train" from Hu Fu, an underground (underworld) adventure story full of life. Do you think that I can't breastfeed after I finish the book!)

(pretend it's 8:05)