Facing this Technology Revival Faction, not only I but even Sandora feels quite conflicted, and it’s not just the Technology Revival Faction that poses a dilemma, the Lost God Sect does too, because for now, it looks like both parties intend to save the world—and each is firmly convinced of this.

The Lost God Sect’s act of sealing away technology seems quite unreasonable. From my point of view, it’s against the tide of history and hinders the progress of the era. However, their founders were the Tree Elves who have seen high technology firsthand in the past. These folks who have experienced what true advanced technology is like would not get scared just because of technological advancement yet choose to seal it away. This whole event has to be questioned: the Church must have a reason to seal away technology. Considering the experience of the Tree Elves, it possibly relates to the pursuit they faced after the Old Empire collapsed, so it shouldn’t be hastily dismissed.

The Technology Revival Faction’s attempt to rejuvenate the entire civilization is beyond reproach. In fact, under many normal worldviews, this approach is seen as progressive (not to mention those radicals), after all, people should always look forward. Yet, it seems I haven’t encountered a normal worldview in the past two years—so in all kinds of bizarre worlds, whether the actions of the Technology Revival Faction are good or bad is hard to determine. After all, we don’t know the purpose of the Lost God Sect from tens of thousands of years ago. What if two million Fallen Apostles or an Abyss Gate are sealed deep within this universe or outside the World Barrier? If the Technology Revival Faction runs out shouting while everyone is cowering in tree holes, who will be responsible if doomsday arrives?

However, neither side seems very clear about the "ultimate truth," at least the Technology Revival Faction isn’t, and the highest level of the Lost God Sect might know, but the grassroots are just as clueless as the Technology Revival Faction.

So, before understanding what that secret really is, it’s best not to act rashly based on assumptions. This is the experience accumulated over the past two years. Ever since four years ago when I learned that the Dark Divine Race and the Light Divine Race were as close as family, I dared not reach conclusions about any faction lightly.

Thus, when faced with the female leader’s request for help, Sandora and I could only shake our heads (of course, Sandora can’t shake her head now so she chose to shiver in place to express refusal). It’s better to wait for the truth to come out, after all, it’s just a few days, hasn’t this planet held out for tens of thousands of years? The female leader did not insist after hearing my explanation, probably not convinced by me, just realizing that it’s impossible to persuade a group of "Aliens" with mere words, so she simply did not bother. She’s quite a smart woman. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

In the end, Sandora and I consoled the female leader (I think it counts as consoling), advising her to wait patiently here for good news. I pat my conscience and declare myself a helpful Alien. Of course, since the local XLTV signal is unavailable, there is no way to have a news team verify this, but the female leader seems resigned, saying she will cooperate with the soft detention in the coming days.

Honestly, this place is better than the Underground Palace she lived in before, even her previous leader suite didn’t have a 200 square meters bedroom like now—this prison’s design really has an issue!

As Sandora and I were about to leave, the female leader couldn’t help but call us back. As a native encountering Alien visitors for the first time in tens of thousands of years, she had more to say: "Wait a minute! I... can ask what the ’world outside’ is like?"

"That’s hard to explain clearly, even if I show you a documentary, you might just watch it for fun, anyway it’s beyond your imagination," I pointed to the holographic projection on the table, "You can explore yourself, I’ve prepared some stuff to keep you entertained. This thing supports mind control and is very simple. Also, you can use it to contact people in other rooms... also, comfort them a bit."

"You obviously have very advanced technology," the female leader seemed a bit nervous, she simply stood up and chose her words carefully, "Which means knowledge isn’t a sin... is there actually a safe way to develop to your stage? You’ve never sealed technology?"

Oh, she finally hit the key question: as a native resident raised in a technologically restrictive environment, she has been educated from a young age that "higher the technology, closer to doom," accustomed to a repressive mindset and the slow pace of her civilization. Even though the Technology Revival Faction are progressives on the planet, her knowledge is limited to a tiny corner. Now with Aliens showing up, witnessing firsthand what can almost be described as mind-boggling advanced technology, even surpassing ancient civilization, how her worldview needs to be reconstructed after the shock doesn’t need to be questioned, right?

I bet deep down she wants to say: so developing technology leads to doom, huh?

"We’ve never sealed away technology, nor is it necessary," I shook my head, "In fact, normal civilizations don’t need to go through this process. You probably just encountered... might have encountered some very rare incidents, which isn’t good, but I will give you a hand, though it’ll take a bit of time: we first need to ensure the safety of the entire process."

"So indeed our civilization’s journey is quite odd?!" The female leader looked grim, "Do many other civilizations exist in this world? What are they like?"

"Not just this world, you’ll see many worlds, many filled with life, and some are worse off than you. Don’t feel your fate too unjust because in the Endless Void, the concept of ’fairness’ really doesn’t hold much meaning. Life and death, existence and oblivion, largely depend on probability. Only survivors can gather to keep warm and establish justice," I waved my hand, carrying Sandora Ball towards the exit, leaving behind one last sentence, "In the face of a one in ten thousand natural survival rate of cross-boundary civilizations, every civilization still alive should be grateful for destiny’s favor. You at least live one more day than those who have perished, although needing to restart, at least you can restart."

The door of the single-person cell (which might actually count as a luxurious bedroom? It’s more spacious than where I live!) closed softly behind us, the female leader’s last half-sentence came faintly through the door: "Wait, I didn’t understand, when you talked about the Void being something amazing didn’t get it—"

I: "..."

By this time, the door had closed, and the Sandora Ball in my arms was laughing uncontrollably, although I don’t understand how a ball can laugh to the point of breathlessness, she’s almost leaving an afterimage: "Ahahaha Ah Jun you’re at it again... said not to read too many novels or act profound to people, you’re not fit for this path... when saying those highbrow lines, please take into account the audience’s knowledge level, okay?"

I, with black lines all over my face, held my wife ball in an absolutely unreplicable threat: "Laugh again and I’ll twist you into a strip, believe it?"

Sandora: "..."

After several seconds of awkward silence, Sandora Ball grumbled in a muffled voice: "Ah Jun, your sense of humor is really strange."

"...hehe..."

"Speaking of which, what do you think is the reason the Pope has only a hundred-year lifespan?" Sandora, having lived with me for years, skillfully diverted the topic at this moment, "Moreover, both the Technology Pope and the Magic Pope have their lifespans restricted simultaneously, which indicates it’s not just a problem of technology or magic in itself, there should be a higher reason."

I sighed: "I only know that if this information is true, then both Popes who established the Divine Sect back then have already passed on. How much truth the succeeding new Popes know probably needs to be discounted. We might have to find other Tree Elves to inquire about the situation... also not knowing how much those legendary cardinals know, if even the Tree Elves’ historical Heritage has issues... we might either have to utilize that unreliable archaeological skill or wait until we’re fully recovered and forcibly break out of this world. Either way, seeing the problem from outside the world should become clearer."

We left the Imperial Admiral’s prisoner of war camp, and before heading to the Galaxy Edge, we took a detour to the medical zone. The two resurrected guests were already awake, but having died once, their spirits are still a bit weak, and their souls need time to slowly fit back into their bodies. Therefore, they are temporarily placed in the cabins near the medical zone.

Qing Ye and Leon experienced the same psychological shock as the others from the Technology Revival Faction: waking up to find themselves in a strange alloy cabin, with impressive high-tech equipment, and a completely inhumane military life assistant AI, not to mention the autonomous machines that could stop children from crying at night (let me reiterate, I think these little robots are quite adorable). These things startled the adventurer couple, and since they just woke up today, they seemed more alarmed. But they were luckier than that female leader because the two of them were together, at least they have each other, and with mutual comfort, they seem to recover quickly. Sandora and I had nothing much to say to these two adventurers (one of whom was an apprentice Battle Nun), except to assure them to rest peacefully, and let them believe that this place is neither Heaven nor Hell, that even the demons of Hell wouldn’t have eight mechanical arms...

Why don’t you guys understand how cute those autonomous machines truly are? Gaia usually looks so adorable chatting with them! An Electronic Demoness and pet robots make up such a classic combo, does anyone not find it charming?

Okay, I admit a certain Electronic Demoness (Gaia) is a bit far from here, and her pet robots consist of electronic squids and mechanical spiders larger than humans when unfolded, which indeed isn’t easily acceptable...

But it’s harder to comprehend why Leon started a duel with an autonomous machine for two hours upon waking up in the medical zone—this Muscle Demon should calm down a bit. The "Technology Demon" with eight mechanical tentacles you see is actually a nurse here, and she just wants to check your health, okay? But now the examination is completed; waking up and having the energy to duel electronic squids for two hours seems there’s definitely nothing wrong with this muscular man’s body.

In the medical zone’s resting room, two autonomous machines were tidying up the mess, and Leon, covered in bruises all over his body, sat on the bed listening to Sandora and me introducing the situation. It must be emphasized, the bruises are all self-inflicted.

"Uh, I’m just a bit nervous, Qing Ye being by my side, afraid she’d get hurt—you mentioned these autonomous machines, they indeed seem scary." Leon largely figured out the situation and showed embarrassment, but once he spoke these words, Sandora and I had no ill temper left. The Muscle Demon seemed straightforward, but this man’s genuine reason is unassailable: not every man dares to duel a group of electronic squids to protect his wife.

Though he ended up quite miserably (brought it upon himself).

The two before us are one seasoned adventurer (though a bit dull-minded) and one apprentice Battle Nun (though her combat abilities are unseen, she seems more like an ordinary young wife). They could be prominent figures on that planet, at least locally known with clanking echoes, but here they are of little use. Leon is just an ordinary person, who perceives ancient relics merely as money to buy a big house for his girlfriend and himself in the future. Qing Ye is just a young Tree Elf, "only" over ten thousand years old, born when the planet communicated by shouting and traveled by walking. Originally, I intended to trace three generations of Qing Ye’s ancestry to find any surviving elders from ancient civilization times. When asked, surprisingly—none survived...

It appears that the Lost God Sect has been brainwashing young Tree Elves, Qing Ye doesn’t know about ancient civilizations.

Consequently, I and Sandora regarded the couple as harmless but futile guests, no longer discussing ancient civilizations with them. We promised to send them back to the surface to live their lives when they fully recover. How they explain their resurrection to Celine is their problem; overall, Leon patted his chest assuring not to reveal Sandora and my "Alien" identities for now. Eventually, it should be solved soon, and by then, they would face no restrictions even if resigning to write memoirs at home.

After settling all guests aboard the Imperial Admiral, Sandora and I came to the distant outer space through the Teleportation Gate: the local Galaxy Edge, an expansive and desolate area that seems abnormal.

This place is located at the end of the Milky Way’s material rich band, where the space cloud ends abruptly, as though a layer of invisible barrier halted the gaseous clouds within seconds of light travel. Observing from afar, a remarkably clear "smooth" cloud mist cliff can be seen. On the other side of this boundary layer, the dense belt of stars also unexpectedly halted: according to the material distribution patterns in this region, within ten light-years from us there should be at least two stars or mass-equivalent gaseous or other material clusters, moving outward for hundreds of light-years is expected to find an aging celestial body zone, but in reality, nothing is here: the Milky Way’s material was prematurely intercepted.

Imagine in front lies an image of a star system (not necessarily human-known Milky Way, just any star system) where a once starry corner is erased, leaving a region of darkness within dozens of pixel range: this is what Sandora and I observe.

Of course, you can’t say there’s absolutely nothing—within this expansive space covering hundreds of light-years, there are scattered artificial facilities, arranged towards the center of this region closer to the Silver Heart. They seem large to humans, but small in the vast space. It’s like a handful of sand in the Ganges, with their weak remaining energy reactions nearly overlooked by Sandora and me.

Sandora and I navigate this space aboard a newly manufactured highly autonomous engineering ship (thanks to the Imperial Admiral’s comprehensive industrial area), accompanied by Deep Space Detectors upfront leading the way, those detectors led to the discovery of this relic.

"The entire desolate zone shows clear signs of artificial alterations done with high skill, not only halting large-scale material circulation but also aligning this region with the whole galaxy to prevent environmental change," Sandora comments while observing the detector’s readings, hovering lightly above the engineering ship’s console, seemingly in high spirits. "The energy reactions here are complex, appearing to involve Ghost Energy, but with other unobserved energies that are of the same ’level’ as Ghost Energy yet have distinctive frequencies. Honestly, I doubt this could be the Tree Elves’ handiwork, they didn’t possess such technology back then."

"Perhaps left behind by other races that fled here with them," recalling the mixed races on that planet, I shake my head unsurely, "Still not quite right, we haven’t found Ghost Energy level energy facilities on that planet, the Ancient Towers communicated using electromagnetic waves."

The engineering ship entered a cluster of ancient space facilities, and visuals from external monitors displayed strange geometric accumulations. However, despite these large-scale geometric shapes seeming peculiar, it’s clear they don’t belong to a single style: some facilities focus on cuboidal forms, others have smooth shells formed of spheres and ellipsoids, meanwhile, some facilities show energy veins resembling Empire’s style (mostly dim and inactive), others lack such features. Various signs indicate this relic cluster is a "hybrid," potentially constructed collaboratively by numerous civilizations.

"I’m scanning the structure of these items," Sandora steers the engineering ship’s submachines using spiritual power, leading groups of autonomous machines toward the nearest buildings for analysis, "Many facilities are evidently Defense Gun Turrets, but the remaining functions are unknown, not an Empire style, so it’ll take some time."

"How’s the technology level?" I casually inquire.

"Comparison with the Empire? Technological level is far behind, yet capable of utilizing Extraordinary Energy (including Ghost Energy and Equal-level Energy), the majority of surviving civilizations from the Polluted Zone are at this level," Sandora Ball slightly sways her body, "Hmm, these facilities are peculiar, merely simple warehouses, Energy Furnaces, Dock, and Weapon Platforms, is this just the peripheral facilities?"

In Sandora’s confusion, the engineering ship began moving toward the relic’s core.

(Anyway, continuing to push the Mad Witch Demon Log... "Mad Witch Demon’s Experiment Log," indeed, that’s the name.) (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, feel free to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendation or monthly tickets, your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please go to m.qidian.com to read.)