Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 743 - 352. Cocoon of the Moon

Chapter 743: 352. Cocoon of the Moon

Li Aozi followed Merid down the mountain, smiling, with an air of everything being under control.

[As expected, as expected indeed!]

The situation with Zhi Xiang was actually quite easy to explain. It did not truly disdain or loathe human life. On the contrary, it cared very much for the life of these mundane beings, perhaps more so than Li Aozi or any human leader.

However, for some reason, Zhi Xiang seemed unable to resist the Void, or in other words, it could not take care of every life under the invasion of the Void. Its dispersal of Substance Rain inadvertently took more lives.

In the end, it found that the people of the Dragon Satellite, even without its help, were actively saving themselves and often fighting against the Substance Rain it painstakingly brought down.

This kind of well-intentioned but poorly executed action resulting in disaster was quite common in history. The more one tried to protect everyone, the more one ended up having to end some people’s lives.

For humans, this was not something to dwell on. After all, a human life lasted but a lifetime, and living longer naturally meant experiencing more.

But for a near-immortal being, akin to Lord Entropy, who could survive even after the heat death of this universe, such matters seemed to be an extremely intense shock to its dignity and existence.

Zhi Xiang could not imagine itself, a Primordial Species, having accumulated countless ages of wisdom and possessing infinite life, yet watching as its protection not only went unappreciated but also prompted jeers and curses.

As a realist and an Ascender, Li Aozi found it easy to understand this mindset, being caught in the fissure between humans and deities.

To put it bluntly, it was like feeling omnipotent and invincible in one’s own mind but getting a harsh reality check, encountering numerous obstacles and ridicule such as "Do you even deserve to be called Zhi Xiang?"

Some elite university graduates excelled in school, but when they entered the complexities of the workplace, their prestigious backgrounds did not necessarily provide definitive help and instead became a subject of ridicule and scrutiny.

You thought you altered your fate through sheer intelligence, but in the face of true clan scions, you were merely sneered at as a "dojo champion."

Zhi Xiang probably had this kind of mentality too. Perhaps at the beginning, when it arrived on the Dragon Satellite and found no Pathway contamination, it felt extremely pleased, thinking it had found a pure land where it could rest and spend its endless lifespan in peace.

But unexpectedly, the Void aggressively invaded, accelerating the Dragon Satellite from a primitive slave kingdom to the Industrial Era within eighty years. It worked hard to protect the entire planet, monitoring globally, refusing the contamination of the Starry Abyss and simultaneously casting Substance Rain to purify the human world.

Yet for some reason, perhaps due to its limited power or injuries, Zhi Xiang did not have the omnipotent prowess of Lord Entropy, sweeping across the cosmos.

In the end, facing the endless Void, it fell into despondency, eventually confining itself to a small area, opening a kindergarten and awaiting the Void to consume everything, whereupon it would continue to wander the cosmos as usual.

Pathetic? Perhaps a little, especially as Li Aozi gradually stepped into the ranks of the Longevity Breed. He had grown indifferent to mere survival needs and had begun to understand and resonate with this kind of thinking.

Not sure if it was a common affliction among the Longevity Breed, these odd beings became increasingly unrealistic the longer they lived; the longer they lived, the less capable they were of practical action.

Some forgot to eat and would weep with nostalgia at tasting their hometown dishes again.

Some forgot the bittersweet aspects of reality, unable to empathize even when their descendants cried and complained to them.

Some beings, living too long, even forgot how to breathe and ended up suffocating themselves.

As for beings like Zhi Xiang, they were born without even knowing the concepts of "life" or "death".

They had no understanding of death, merely seeing these little beings one moment full of life, bowing and flattering them, but the next moment, even their grandchildren were old and frail.

Who could bear such things?

Rather than enduring endless ages, the Longevity Breed yearned more to witness those glorious moments. They hoped to be present in those epochs firsthand.

Li Aozi could gradually empathize with this but that did not mean he could endorse such actions now.

"Knight Merid, I have a question for you."

Walking side by side, Li Aozi suddenly asked.

"If you’re going to ask those tiresome philosophical questions again, I think you should just give up. No matter how many times you ask, my answer is ’the Void is incontrovertible’. No matter how much you resist, the outcome of the Void is already predetermined. Whatever you do is meaningless."

Merid said calmly.

"No, that’s not what I wanted to ask. I also know that nothing can change your understanding of this world."

Li Aozi lifted his head, pointing to the sky:

"I just realized — your planet doesn’t have a moon!"

"... Yueyue?" Merid turned her head in astonishment, looking at Li Aozi. "What is that?"

"A satellite of the planet. The Dragon Satellite orbits the sun and spins on its axis. On my homeworld, planets also have satellites orbiting them, influencing tides — they don’t emit light like the sun, but at night, they reflect the sun’s light, not as bright or warm, with a serene coolness."

Li Aozi patiently explained.

"Really?"

Merid nodded slightly, pondering for a moment, then said:

"Sorry, I can’t imagine such a thing. The Dragon Satellite is a lonely planet, with no satellites accompanying it, and day and night are merely due to the shifting Void cloud layers — our world is covered with forests, not oceans and tides, just somewhat larger... lakes."

"So, do you think the moon is meaningless?"

Merid held her chin with one hand, thought for a while, and said:

"I can’t quite say... but all things ultimately return to the void."

"No, you don’t need to hesitate, because the moon holds no significance to you."

Li Aozi said:"To you, the moon that you’ve never seen is indispensable to us. Without the moon, the tidal system would be disordered, the oceans would consume our planet, our days elongated with no seasonal divisions, adversely affecting countless forms of life."

"Hmm... I think I understand a little."

Merid seemed somewhat moved. She pondered for a moment, then said:

"But from what you say, it seems that even without this system called the moon, people would still find a way to live, right?"

"Yes, of course, life always finds a way."

Li Aozi raised his hand, calmly stating:

"But we would lose a lot of cultural heritage. The world would become monotonous and dull, without the colorful changes of seasons, the rushing tides, the majestic ships, without sunrise and moonset, nights lit by lanterns instead of moonlit walks."

"That’s only a minor loss."

"I think it’s not just a loss, but a regret."

Li Aozi looked up at the dark purple sky shrouded by the Void mist, softly saying:

"From ancient times to the present, the moon has carried a significant part of our cultural aspirations. We imagine even if separated by the ends of the earth, when moonlight falls, we are all under the same moon, and despite being far apart, we can reminisce and think of each other because of the same moon."

"If there were no moon, I think it wouldn’t matter what else happens. But if one day, a little girl named ’Yueyue’ or ’Luna’ tugged at her grandfather’s sleeve, asking naively, ’Grandpa, what does my name mean?’ only then would the old man be moved.

"The existence of things themselves isn’t meaningful; perhaps everything is destined to return to the void. But only when its existence ceases, the wishes it carried and the shared dreams will form an indelible regret."

"It is this regret that makes people feel remorse and cherish everything in front of them."

Merid gazed at him.

The Substance Rain pitter-pattered outside the umbrella, continuing to descend.

"Even if it’s regret, it sounds beautiful."

She opened her mouth, her purple eyes brightening, softly saying:

"I’d love to see the moon too."

[Romanticism Victory: +6.3%]