PGVCW 82

Playing God in Various Catastrophic Worlds

Chapter 82: The Ancient Archives of the Cosmic Ancestors

Xia Wang'an was also currently browsing the ancient archives of Yunxing.

Her current location was a public library situated in a remote settlement upon a remote planetary domain within the Yunxing territory.

It was worthy of note that the library here contained no physical volumes; instead, every reading station was outfitted with a compact metallic sphere. Patrons merely needed to tap their wrist against the sphere, prompting a localized holographic catalogue to materialize before them. Upon selecting a title, a volume—described as a virtual projection, yet indistinguishable in tactile fidelity from an authentic physical tome—would condense directly into their hands.

Furthermore, the library featured built-in privacy protocols. Readers wishing to conceal their reading material from external observation could simply configure a setting, causing onlookers to perceive them as merely holding a blank, unprinted book.

The Library of Yunxing

Patrons could even customize the environmental backdrop of their designated reading nooks. Consequently, one could observe patrons immersed amidst deep space, lounging by ocean shores, hovering above cloud peaks, or seated within virtual starship bridge modules.

Xia Wang'an was thoroughly captivated by this high-tech reading zone. Her mind had already begun automatically projecting a delightful scenario of herself sitting comfortably amidst a magnificent battlefield swarming with exotic alien beasts while diligently completing exam papers.

However, a technical obstacle presented itself. Every native citizen of Yunxing received an integrated neural brain interface at birth, implanted beneath the dermis directly at the wrist.

In Yunxing society, every daily transaction required neural interface authentication—purchasing commodities, intercity transit, scheduling sparring duels, and registering access at free public libraries to unlock reading catalogues.

Although Xia Wang'an and 007 deployed spiritual concealing arrays to render themselves invisible to physical perception and security surveillance alike, no amount of formidable cultivation could manifest an authentic neural interface out of thin air.

Fortunately, the library retained a physical print section that attracted a substantial crowd. It was rumored that Yunxing citizens believed engaging in traditional study of their ancestral legacy helped suppress their internal genetic frenzies.

The Echoes of Blue Star

Physical paper, however, proved exceedingly fragile for Yunxing inhabitants who struggled to control their physical strength. Thus, Xia Wang'an observed restless patrons—both in human and beast-forms—holding fragile volumes, desperately exerting patience to digest the contents.

She harbored considerable goodwill toward Yunxing. On one hand, it stemmed from their shared cultural milieu and linguistic alignment; on the other hand, Yunxing was only the second world she had encountered that maintained operational schools for students and preserved public libraries despite ongoing catastrophic crises.

The first, naturally, was the Xia Kingdom.

Upon locating ancient archives documenting mythic lore and celestial legends, Xia Wang'an's favor toward Yunxing rose even higher.

The reason was simple: ten thousand years ago, Yunxing's Mother Planet bore an uncanny, startling resemblance to modern-day Blue Star.

Their living environments, cultural heritages, mythic folklore, and even their classical literary style were strikingly identical.

Historical records detailed that ten thousand years ago, a global cataclysm erupted upon Yunxing's Mother Planet. The native technology of that era proved incapable of resolving the crisis; consequently, a faction of survivors boarded starships, carrying the cultural legacy of their homeworld as they embarked into the boundless cosmic void.

Thirty years later, they discovered a habitable planet. Upon that world, the pioneers endured a grueling saga of hardship and struggle, ultimately preserving human civilization and establishing a permanent presence.

Through generational inheritance, their technological foundation grew exponentially, gradually evolving into the modern Yunxing civilization.

"If our Xia Kingdom possessed interstellar starships, perhaps we would have developed along a similar trajectory."

Xia Wang'an was well aware that the Xia Kingdom had always maintained a contingency plan to migrate to an alternative planet; however, when the cataclysm first struck, all planetary resources vanished overnight, rendering that contingency impossible to execute.

Dismissing the nostalgic reflection, she focused her attention entirely on scrutinizing Yunxing's recorded lore regarding deities, immortals, and Daoist cultivators.

Unsurprisingly, their mythic archives closely mirrored the Xia Kingdom's, replete with legends of ancient ancestors transcending mortal bounds to achieve immortality.

The Strategy of the Ancestor

This aligned precisely with headquarters' grand strategic outline.

Since the Yunxing civilization possessed formidable martial power alongside profound technological self-assurance, they were highly unlikely to project true "faith" toward external entities or equal-tier beings. Consequently, the only viable vector was to leverage ancestral identity.

A powerful interstellar civilization would never tolerate a foreign entity lording over them.

However, what if this newly manifested entity was the primordial ancestor of their own interstellar civilization?

The Xia Kingdom had not fabricated archival data out of whole cloth. Given Yunxing's technological sophistication and rigorous analytical frameworks, any attempt by the Xia Kingdom to forge records without leaving traces would be virtually impossible.

Therefore, they focused their efforts strictly on crafting Xia Wang'an's attire, demeanor, and behavioral patterns to subtly project her ancestral lineage.

If Yunxing possessed corresponding folklore, so much the better; if not, explicit and implicit behavioral cues would seed the narrative regardless.

The welcome reality was that Yunxing genuinely retained such ancient mythic lore.

Though sparse, under these calculated hints, even the most obscure archival fragments would inevitably be unearthed by Yunxing researchers.

Xia Wang'an's current task was to adjust her operational vector based on the "historical narrative records" found in Yunxing's ancient texts.

To phrase it in her own understanding: I am the very ancestor written in your history books.

Scavenging in the Void

Having digested all relevant historical texts, she glanced at the passing patrons. Their wrists appeared unassuming on the surface, yet the embedded neural interfaces within were immensely intriguing.

She wanted one.

Moreover, as Yunxing was a technological powerhouse, could the scientific advancements here be brought back to Blue Star?

Xia Wang'an briefly mulled over the feasibility of casually mugging a passerby.

Yet reflecting on her standing as the primordial ancestor, how could an ancestor rob her own descendants?

She regrettably discarded the notion.

"Let us head out into space."

Recently, numerous starships had met catastrophic destruction across Yunxing's sectors; perhaps she could scavenge useful scrap amidst the floating wreckage.

Although it carried a strong connotation of scavenging garbage, Xia Wang'an naturally saw zero issue with the endeavor.

The vacuum of space in this world offered a treasure trove of salvageable material—ranging from starship debris and mysterious unopened metallic containers, to a bizarre rabbit-shaped toy she had once recovered.

Occasionally, she encountered the entities known to Yunxing inhabitants as "Stellar Beasts".

Possessing bestial form factors, these creatures resembled walking zombies—their flesh grotesque and uneven, slavering foul fluids from turgid jaws, their eyes clouded and turbid as they traversed planetary systems. The moment they detected living beings, they swarmed forward to rend and devour.

Even by Xia Wang'an's aesthetic standards, Stellar Beasts were entirely unappreciable.

Comparing them to zombies was grounded in objective observation.

"They harbor no souls within their bodies."

Xia Wang'an stared at a ten-meter-tall Stellar Beast before her—its fur sloughed off to reveal rotting, exposed muscle tissue as it thrashed and roared frantically—her eyes filled with analytical curiosity.

"How can a shell devoid of a soul move, let alone retain an active urge to feed?"

This differed fundamentally from anomalies; anomalies were human souls trapped within grotesque physical vessel forms, requiring merely spiritual deliverance.

Yet these Stellar Beasts lacked souls entirely, existing as nothing more than walking corpses.

The Mystery of the Core

007 pinned down the violently thrashing Stellar Beast. Peering past the decayed flesh to the skeletal framework beneath, he spotted a blackened, stagnant heart that had long ceased to beat.

It was a human heart.

Xia Wang'an glided down lightly, her gaze falling upon the human heart that appeared miniature relative to the beast's colossal frame.

"Let me discern whose heart this belongs to."

She gently extended her hand, pressing her fingers directly against the heart—

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