Elorie finally understood what kind of catastrophe had occurred on Earth.
The enemies were entrenched on the Moon!
"Don’t worry, the crystal clusters require ti to grow, so they haven’t destroyed human civilization in one fell swoop," Nymph said softly. "Afterwards, every few years, a crystal cluster would be shot down, and its target was always the secret vaults and laboratories of nations preserving the Flesh and Blood Mother."
Watching the constantly rising death toll on the holographic display, Elorie had beco numb. She could imagine how bleak those tis must have been for humanity. She once thought that the disappearance of the Demons was a great thing, but compared to this level of slaughter, even Demons would find it hard to achieve in a lifeti.
"It’s not like we haven’t fought back," Raphael spoke up this ti. "We converted rockets into missiles equipped with nuclear warheads to attack the Moon; deployed air defense weapons at the next impact site to intercept the crystal clusters descending from the sky... In short, we’ve tried every thod we could think of, but to little avail."
Elorie nodded silently... She didn’t know much about technology, but she knew how difficult it was for humanity to even reach the moon, let alone engage in enemy territory.
"No wonder you built underground cities..." she murmured.
"Actually, that’s not the main reason," Nymph said. "During combat, humanity discovered that although crystal clusters are hard to destroy, they aren’t self-propelling. Therefore, we used the shockwaves from consecutive thermonuclear explosions to shake the fall path and deviate them into uninhabited zones or simply into the ocean. We indeed achieved this fifteen years after the first city was destroyed."
"But this plan, known as Talisman Star, wasn’t continued because Raphael should have told you, these crystal clusters seem to emit an invisible radiation that makes people unrecognizable, even inhuman."
"Alongside the Talisman Star plan was the Great Wall plan, which involved building underground shelters and gradually relocating people underground. As long as humans burrowed deep enough, the crystal clusters couldn’t penetrate. Later we also found that barriers of rock, concrete, and natural soil layers can effectively shield against the mutating radiation, even at depths of tens of ters, so the Great Wall plan gradually beca mainstream."
This is the origin of Second New Paris City.
No wonder the structures on the surface remained mostly intact, Elorie thought to herself, abandoned before their eventual destruction.
"Can these crystal clusters be destroyed?"
"Of course, they are invincible only during flight; once they land, they beco a relatively hard material, and a 1000-pound bomb can blow them apart," Nymph nodded. "But even when shattered, they have the ability to cause mutations. Moreover, the Insect People that transform will spontaneously transport shards of the crystal clusters for storage elsewhere, indirectly expanding the range of influence."
"I can’t believe it..." Elorie furrowed her brows, "I saw a heap of hexagonal hives in Triumph Square, and it seed like they were communicating!"
"The hives are their houses, most likely storing fragnts of the crystal clusters. As for communication..." The Governor revealed a trace of sadness, "They have beco a different species from us. Even though Insect People have limbs, their own language, and even enjoy dressing up like us, they absolutely cannot be considered human. These creatures remind of sothing: Soulless Puppets created by Demons—still maintaining human appearances, but their souls inside have been replaced."
Elorie fell silent.
What the other person said actually made sense.
Moreover, have the Demons truly disappeared?
They acted against common sense, banding together to attack the secret sanctuaries housing the Flesh and Blood Mother. The Moon Crawlers also destroyed cities containing the Flawless Crystal... No, the cities storing the Flesh and Blood Mother, and the Rings of the Mind made from small pieces of flesh not only protected people from Demon temptations but also shielded them from Insect People searches—it can’t be unrelated!
"You don’t need to worry too much about those Insect People," Raphael smiled to reassure her in a relaxed tone. "Their level is about a hundred years behind. If it weren’t for the unknown radiation issues, with the current technological strength of Second New Paris City, we could easily crush them to dust."
"Enough about the past; let’s focus on the main point!"
"Yes, yes, after all, this is the Angel we’ve been waiting so long for!"
The surrounding people interrupted.
Elorie grew nervous again.
The hard-won arrival of an Angel... Why did she feel like she’d fallen into a spider’s web?
"Quiet!" The Governor reprimanded, dissatisfied. "She is the hope of New Paris City, and we must explain clearly!"
She looked at Elorie, "I think you also realized that humanity’s ability to persist until today, and even achieve a surge of technological advancents in such a passive situation, is closely tied to miraculous objects. The most important miraculous object is the Flesh and Blood Mother, which the Angel Alliance calls the Flawless Crystal. Of course... humanity has now accepted its existence and given it a new na: Primordial Life."
"Primordial Life..." Elorie subconsciously repeated.
The other nodded, "It is ageless and immortal, the ultimate form pursued by all living beings. In this city, there is a piece of Primordial Life, extracted from Lucy, originally stored in the Secret Vault beneath the Louvre Palace, and moved here after New Paris City was built."
"Does this have sothing to do with Angels?" she cautiously asked.
"Of course," Nymph smiled slightly, her eyes narrowing to slits. "After the birth of new Angels ceased, the last Angel General also relinquished control over the research and use of miraculous objects. No longer confined to museum displays, these extraordinary items set the pace of our developnt into overdrive. After extensive research, we made a bold conjecture: that the birth of Angels, and even the entire human race, is closely tied to Primordial Life!"
"What?" Elorie was stunned once again.
Are these two things the sa?
"We have flesh and blood because Primordial Life is naturally so. It created all living beings, including humans," the Governor said. "So humans are more profoundly influenced by Primordial Life, hence they possess greater power, and these individuals beca the later Angels."
"And what about the Demons?"
"Demons were originally humans, but their source of power doesn’t co from Primordial Life; it cos from the Ancient Worms on the Moon. We cannot yet trace their exact origin; perhaps they are extraterrestrial life brought by teors. Just as Demons specialize in turning others into their puppets and slaves, they themselves might be slaves to the Ancient Worms."
This theory was new to Elorie.
Yet sohow, she felt that this explanation was not without rit.
Angels are not called Angels because of their kindness and justice. Although the Angel Alliance has indeed done many good deeds, it’s fundantally because maintaining a good image aligns with everyone’s interests. Demons devour ordinary human souls to strengthen themselves; Angels gain Power of the Soul by killing Demons. The two are more like links in a food chain. If it were foxes eating rabbits and tigers eating foxes, nobody would see a distinction. But once it involves Angels, Demons, and ordinary humans, it imdiately takes on anings beyond the food chain.
Especially after joining the Dinsional Limit chanism, this thought beca even clearer—there is no distinction between Angels and Demons in Jiang City world. Any Ability User could target another as prey, and the only thing preventing chaos is the strict control of the chanism.
Thus, if one dismisses the nas of Angels and Demons, the struggle, seizing, and killing between the two is not a battle of good versus evil, but a rule imprinted at the genetic level, a manifestation of the conflict between Primordial Life and the extraterrestrial Ancient Worms—this reason seed more acceptable to Elorie.
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