Chapter 1302: Chapter 207: Echo: I Totally Lost When It Comes to Madness
[This was the first destruction. And the second Calamity of Heavenly Fall, also a disaster that annihilated our civilization, occurred because the Star God’s spark transport ship was destroyed.]
[And the reason for its destruction was because the ship contained a sealed fragment of the ‘Demon of the Abyss’.]
Ian’s eyes widened, his pupils trembling.
Memories flashed through his mind as he recalled the sudden appearance of that pitch-black void on the gleaming ship!
“That was the mark of an attack… not from the outside, but from within!”
The young man’s body swayed, feeling a chill rising from his spine: “In our galaxy… could there even be a Demon of the Abyss on Terra?!”
[Who knows, if it’s the Star Gods, they would undoubtedly exert all their strength to destroy that Demon of the Abyss. Given they dared to seal it, it implies they have some means of countermeasure.]
In his turmoil, the dark-golden army of Echo once again oppressed Ian’s forces, advancing step by step, as it said slowly: [But we cannot rely entirely on the Star Gods. They have already failed, already perished…]
[But even if not, without the Cradle’s protection, Terra will ultimately be doomed… perhaps in a hundred years, a thousand years, or maybe tomorrow—who knows? The Calamity of Heavenly Fall happened 1,600 years ago; even if it was unnoticed at first, surely it has been noticed by now?]
[Thus, we must flee the no longer safe Terra—even if the Cradle repairs itself, its coordinates have already been exposed. We must leave Terra before the Cradle’s self-repair is complete, as quickly as possible.]
[Otherwise, once the Cradle is fully repaired, we will be trapped inside, unable to escape, unable to leave, with only a wait for an unknown demise.]
Echo neither raged nor shouted, much less became hysterical. At this moment, it merely stated calmly the truth it knew, a despairing truth: [So, say, young one of the future, can you understand my choice now?]
[In this infinitely vast universe, the all-out attack by the Star God civilization can instantly destroy countless galaxies and even shake the structure of the universe itself, and the war between the Star Gods and the Demon of the Abyss is like a monstrous wave roaring in the sea of the cosmos.]
[We are but ephemera in this tempestuous wave; while we may think ourselves at peace perched atop it, the moment the crest falls and slams against the sea’s surface, we will be utterly shattered.]
At this point, Echo even laughed heartily, but the laughter carried no joy, only pure bitterness and resolve: [The Great Void, so meaningless. Our civilization has developed for thousands of years, experiencing countless disasters and opportunities. Our great figures, heroes, and people have shed enough blood to dye all rivers red upon the land, eventually creating a society of great unity, where everyone could realize their dreams, live a stable life, have a house, clothes, and full meals.]
[But in reality? Our civilization was merely an accident born in the brief ‘interval’ between two Wars of Paradise, as insignificant as a spark in the universe. Even with the Star Gods valuing us, our civilization is still just dust, as all civilizations are merely dust.]
[Younglings of the future, you do not understand this terror. Countless civilizations, countless races, countless untold numbers of lives, all dying, all destroying, all burning—the stars dim, the Milky Way slips into the Abyss, all due to the war between the Star Gods and the End, whose meaningless ripples in the universe can destroy dozens of civilizations like ours.]
[Whether we strenuously develop technology or give up everything to spend our remaining days; whether heading beyond the Cradle or staying within that ‘Infernal Heaven’ you speak of… the result remains the same, we can change nothing.]
[In the face of the universe, we are but dust.]
This is the greatest sorrow.
Every civilization, every life, since its birth, harbors an illusion.
—I am the protagonist. I am special.
This confidence accompanies their growth, molding their self-will, shaping the culture and ideology of civilization, forming a communal consensus and understanding, allowing civilization and individuals to have confidence, to grow.
But in truth, it is all lies.
In the face of the universe, everything is but the dust of nihility.
In front of the Star Gods and the Demon of the Abyss, all the matter in the Terra Starfield combined might not even count as a single ‘munition’.
This gap is even greater than that between an ordinary person and a Fifth Energy Level Sublimator.
In that instant, even Ian felt an overwhelming sense of futility.
A person’s life might be decades.
The elegy of a civilization might stretch thousands of years.
The rise and fall of a race might span tens of thousands of years.
No matter how glorious, how prosperous, how admirable, when a person dies, when a civilization perishes, when a race goes extinct, what remains is only nihility.
There’s no need for thousands of years, in a hundred years, all will be buried.
Not to mention grand things. Just a single person.
When a person dies, if they’re ordinary, they’ll be forgotten in a few years, remembered only by family. When family spans generations, except during ancestor worship, no one remembers.
Even great figures will be lost from sacrificial rites, leaving only records in books. But books too need people; when all people perish, all stories will end.