Chapter 92#
February 19, 2402 AD.
This day was later called “Fallen Leaf Day” by future historians.
At exactly 10:00 AM Central Empire time, a leaf appeared simultaneously in the high sky above the nine Dyson Cloud ecological zones, as well as in the distant heavens of the Twilight Belt and Titan settlements.
Naturally, these eleven leaves appearing in the eleven regions were no ordinary leaves—they were eleven massive, silver-white, leaf-shaped starships.
In addition to these eleven starships, an even more colossal silver flagship appeared between the Dyson Clouds and Earth.
This silver flagship hovered quietly between Earth and the Dyson Clouds, gazing down upon all of humanity.
At 8:00 PM on “Fallen Leaf Day,” humanity first heard that spell-like name through the Central Empire government’s broadcast—“Medusa.”
From refusal to believe, to dazed confusion, to extreme terror, and finally to desperate wailing… large-scale panic erupted across human society.
However, after just a few short weeks, humanity displayed extraordinary resilience. Without even a wave of suicides occurring, they rapidly transitioned into a state of stability that bordered on heavy solemnity.
The entirety of human society became eerily serene.
Perhaps they finally understood how utterly powerless the tiny human civilization was before the formidable Type III civilization “Medusa.” Perhaps they still hoped for a turn for the better after negotiations between the Central Empire government and “Medusa.” Perhaps when everyone’s fate was firmly tied together, the destruction of the group seemed less terrifying than individual death…
All in all, in the few weeks following “Fallen Leaf Day,” although looting and riots occurred in several places, under the government’s best efforts to soothe and its forceful suppression, human society quickly restored basic social order, continuing to function like a numb yet precise machine.
Of course, the vast majority of people stopped going to work, instead staying with family and friends, quietly awaiting the arrival of the final sentence.
Friday, March 28, 2402 AD.
Xu Ran sat on the small sofa of the café, looking up once more out the floor-to-ceiling window.
Above the deep-blue artificial vault, that massive silver-white leaf was like a murky cumulonimbus cloud, shrouding the entire Ninth Ecological Zone in its ominous shadow.
The distant White Rose Palace also lay beneath this shadow.
On the sidewalk outside the café, a few pedestrians occasionally hurried past. Some kept their heads down, trying their best not to look at the leaf, while others looked up from time to time, casting an apprehensive glance toward it.
Xu Ran stared blankly at the leaf while unconsciously stirring the coffee in her cup, the small silver spoon tracing ripples in the brown liquid.
On the surface of the liquid floated a layer of rich crema unique to freshly ground coffee. It was evident that this coffee used the finest beans, roasted and ground just right, with a striking aroma.
Staring at the silent leaf in the sky, Xu Ran had no appetite.
In contrast, the slightly plump girl sitting opposite Xu Ran clearly didn’t have her best friend’s delicate sensibilities.
The plump girl picked up her coffee, took a slow sip, and smiled: “It smells so good. Ranran, do you think the owner of this coffee shop thinks the world is about to end, so he brought out his best beans for his customers?”
Xu Ran couldn’t stand the phrase “world end” and couldn’t help glaring at her plump friend: “Fang Xiaoyue, can you not be a jinx? If you don’t have anything good to say, say less, I beg you.”
Fang Xiaoyue was a typical easygoing and plump person. She smacked her lips nonchalantly: “What’s there to be afraid of? Didn’t they say the government sent someone to negotiate with Medusa… Besides, when the sky falls, there are tall people to hold it up. It won’t be our turn at 1.6 meters, right?”
Xu Ran couldn’t help but roll her eyes: “Sometimes I really envy heartless people like you… By the way, do you remember my cousin?”
Fang Xiaoyue asked in confusion: “Your cousin? The one who works at the White Rose Palace? The tall, thin one?”
“Yes, that’s him.” Xu Ran nodded. “I heard him say that a Light Realm Knight went onto the ’leaf’ for negotiations yesterday… But even now, there’s still no news.”
Fang Xiaoyue blinked: “What’s that old saying from Ancient Earth—no news is good news?”
Xu Ran shook her head with a wry smile: “Fang Xiaoyue, you really are…”
As the two were chatting idly, the broadcast on the coffee shop wall suddenly rang out: “This is the White Rose Palace Emergency Affairs Center. This is the White Rose Palace Emergency Affairs Center. Citizens of the Ninth Ecological Zone, please proceed to the nearest protection zone immediately… I repeat, this is the White Rose Palace Emergency Affairs Center. Citizens of the Ninth Ecological Zone, please proceed to the nearest protection zone immediately…”
The voice in the broadcast was an extremely pleasant female voice, but this short round of announcements plunged the entire Ninth Ecological Zone into chaos and terror.
Similar evacuation broadcasts also rang out across the other eight Dyson Cloud ecological zones, as well as the Twilight Belt and Titan settlements!
Residents of the Twilight Belt and Titan would naturally retreat into cellars or air-raid shelters, but residents of the Dyson Clouds could only retreat into protection zones—the so-called protection zones were the former industrial zones.
Due to the special structure of the Dyson Clouds, the industrial zones were located inside the Dyson Clouds, while the ecological zones were on the surface within the artificial atmosphere. In the event of interstellar war, the industrial zones were clearly somewhat safer than the ecological zones.
The isolation measures between the ecological and industrial zones had been fully lifted as early as the day after “Fallen Leaf Day.” Every day, large numbers of residents from the ecological zones poured continuously into the industrial zones via several levitation vehicle bases.
However, there were also some residents who understood a bit about the structure of artificial celestial bodies and posted many mocking comments on the Dyson Cloud’s smart network: “Hiding inside the Dyson Cloud, hiding in the industrial zone—what’s the difference between that and hiding inside an eggshell? When the iron hammer arrives, won’t it all be smashed to pieces just the same?”
Nevertheless, the vast majority of residents still chose to hide in the “eggshell.” Like a child afraid of ghosts hiding under the covers—as long as one didn’t see, hear, or think about it, then nothing existed.
…
Three hours before the evacuation broadcast was issued.
White Rose Palace, Imperial Study.
Fu Yucheng irritably spun the swivel chair beneath him and unconsciously frowned: “Yao Ning, you mean during your negotiations on that starship, you didn’t see Medusa’s supreme commander?”
Yao Ning looked at Fu Yucheng, then at Bai Mo standing quietly behind him. At this moment, the new Emperor was looking down at Fu Yucheng with an extremely soft expression.
Over these days, Yao Ning had accepted Fu Yucheng’s return from the dead and also understood that although this former Prince and the cold new Emperor Bai Mo had once had violent conflicts—Bai Mo had even imprisoned Fu Yucheng for a time—the relationship between them was not as incompatible as the outside world imagined. Instead, it was very complex and ambiguous, hard to put into words.
Still, Yao Ning wasn’t quite used to… their mode of interaction.
Seeing him silent for so long, Fu Yucheng couldn’t help but frown: “Yao Ning, what’s wrong?”
Yao Ning came to his senses and quickly lowered his head: “In this negotiation, I indeed did not see their supreme commander.”
“In that case, perhaps their supreme commander remains on the flagship.” Fu Yucheng pondered for a moment, then added, “Yao Ning, tell me everything about this trip from beginning to end once more, very carefully. Do not leave anything out.”
Yao Ning thought for a moment: “Then… I’ll start from when I set out.”
“On the 19th of last month, a flagship and eleven starships of the Type III civilization ‘Medusa’ suddenly arrived in the Solar System, causing large-scale panic. Nine days ago, the White Rose Palace issued an invitation for face-to-face negotiations to the Medusa civilization. And the morning before yesterday, we finally received Medusa’s reply—the other side required the negotiation to take place on the Medusa starship above the Ninth Ecological Zone. We were permitted only one negotiator to board, who was not allowed to carry any weapons or any audio or video recording equipment. The negotiator was to travel alone in a small spacecraft to land on the Medusa starship.”
Fu Yucheng nodded: “You are the most reliable among the Light Realm Knights. After Xiao Mo and I discussed it the day before yesterday and passed it through the cabinet, we finally decided to send you.”
Yao Ning continued: “At exactly 9:00 AM yesterday, I took a small spacecraft toward the Medusa starship above the Ninth Ecological Zone. When about a thousand meters from the starship, my ship was subject to a strange attractive force and slowly entered an opening on the side of the starship. The starship is immense, and its internal corridors, like its exterior, are pure silver-white and look very smooth.”
“My small spacecraft passed through a long tunnel while suspended and was led into a circular hall. After entering the hall, the ship slowly stopped and the hatch opened automatically. However, I didn’t perform any door-opening operation at the time, so I suspect Medusa has absolute control over any machinery that enters the starship’s interior.”
“I hesitated for a while before stepping off the ship, and I didn’t feel any discomfort. The temperature in that circular hall should be around 24 degrees Celsius, and the air was very fresh, full of negative ions—the environment in that hall was likely specially prepared for humans. Then, I walked around the circular hall once, but I didn’t see any doors.”
Fu Yucheng asked in confusion: “The door you came in through?”
Yao Ning shook his head blankly: “The door I came in through also disappeared. I tried to find it and even felt the wall carefully, but I couldn’t feel any gaps.”
Fu Yucheng mused: “Perhaps it’s morphing metal.”
“I suspect the same.” Yao Ning nodded and continued, “While I was feeling the wall, I suddenly heard someone speak behind me. I was startled and turned around quickly, only to find a person had appeared in the hall. Or rather, not a person, but a… strange male metal humanoid. It had a human torso and limbs, and clear facial contours, but no color… It was like, like a silver-white metal clothing mannequin.”
Fu Yucheng mused: “Medusa’s mental power can attach to any mechanical body, and the starship is made of morphing metal… Perhaps this metal humanoid doesn’t exist independently, but is a humanoid figure ‘melted’ directly from the floor or wall of that hall.”
Yao Ning was dazed: “What… what kind of species is that?”
Fu Yucheng shook his head: “The universe is vast; many things cannot be explained clearly. However, according to the information I previously obtained, Medusa’s mental power can exist completely independently of a physical body. Or rather, they actively abandoned their physical bodies in favor of more permanent mechanical bodies. Thus it seems their flagships, starships, and mechanical bodies are all made of the same kind of morphing metal, which can change shape at will… En, I think I roughly understand. Continue.”
Yao Ning nodded: “Then, I began formal negotiations with that mechanical body. I presented the three preliminary plans—A, B, and C—drafted by the cabinet, but the other side just shook its head. The condition it gave was the ‘Captivity Agreement’ inside the chip I brought back—to summarize the ‘Captivity Agreement’ in one sentence: humanity becomes livestock raised by Medusa, regularly providing them with mental power nutrients, but can maintain certain survival rights to avoid total destruction.”
Fu Yucheng lowered his head, looking at the small transparent chip in his palm, appearing lost in thought.
Bai Mo asked in a low voice: “What’s wrong?”
Fu Yucheng didn’t answer. He pondered for a long time before suddenly asking: “Yao Ning, from beginning to end, you only saw that one mobile mechanical body?”
Yao Ning nodded: “Yes.”
Fu Yucheng was silent for another moment before slowly speaking: “Eleven starships, one central flagship… Medusa deployed such a massive force, yet was only willing to send one mechanical body for negotiations. Either the Medusa civilization has a hive structure where everything is the will of a queen, and this mechanical body is just a worker bee representing that will. Or, they simply don’t treat humanity as a civilization capable of fair exchange and are too lazy to talk to us.”
Yao Ning whispered: “How should we respond to that ‘Captivity Agreement’ in the chip? Medusa’s ultimatum deadline is 9:00 AM the day after tomorrow.”
“We won’t respond,” Fu Yucheng said solemnly.
He slightly turned his head, looking toward the two dark blue peerless Soul Weapons on the wall—“Silent Blue Moon” and “Grim Reaper’s Wings.”
After a long time, the former Prince spoke slowly: “Xiao Mo, have all residents of the ecological zones evacuated into the protection zones within twenty-four hours… The day after tomorrow, we act.”