louisehourcade Chapter 257 The Mystery of the Shepherd, Suspense
Chapter 257 The Mystery of the Shepherd, Suspense
"Shepherd..."
In the quiet cabin, Su Chen repeatedly pondered the word.
The reapers, as the name suggests, are robbers and plunderers.
Their behavior is violent and direct.
Those who stand by and watch are bystanders, spectators.
Their attitude was indifferent and neutral.
But what does a shepherd... a shepherd do?
It's grazing, it's penning, it's waiting for the flock to grow up.
Then...the wool is sheared, or sent directly to the slaughterhouse.
The word itself carries a chilling, condescending connotation.
"Prophet, use all your databases, including the black book we copied from the Vickers Corporation, to search for everything related to the word 'shepherd'."
"Don't overlook any language, any form, even myths and legends."
Su Chen's voice was deep and serious.
"Performing a deep database search... Keyword: Shepherd!"
The prophet began sifting through the vast sea of data at a rate of billions of times per second.
However, after a few minutes, the result was disappointing.
"Reporting authorized personnel, search complete. No valid information directly related to the 'Shepherd' was found in any public or encrypted databases of known civilizations."
"This word seems to exist outside the galaxy of this era."
Su Chen was not surprised by this.
If it were so easy to find, our ancient ancestors wouldn't have needed to leave warnings.
If conventional methods don't work, then we have no choice but to resort to his "unconventional" methods.
He closed his eyes, his consciousness sinking into a barrage of images that only he could see, composed of the subconsciousnesses of all the reborn beings in the universe.
This time, he wasn't browsing aimlessly, but rather "salvaging" from the flood of information with a very clear goal.
He was highly focused, repeatedly calling out that word in his mind.
"Shepherd...shepherd...shepherd..."
Countless fragments of bullet comments flowed past his eyes.
[Hahaha, once I get the 'Nine-Turn Golden Elixir,' I will definitely return to the Immortal Realm and avenge my humiliation!]
[This world is going wrong. Why hasn't Lin Feng, the "Chosen One," met that old man yet?]
Damn it, my investment failed again. Did I misjudge the future economic trend?
The vast majority of these are just the self-righteous "spoilers" and complaints of these reborn individuals.
Su Chen patiently sifted through the information, filtering out the useless noise.
He was like a child searching for a particular seashell on the beach, letting the waves of information wash over his mind.
Just when he was about to give up, an extremely faint barrage of bullets, filled with fear and despair, flashed by like a ghost.
[...not the harvesters...not them...the 'shepherds'...they have always been there...watching us grow, watching us become stronger...]
Su Chen's heart skipped a beat! He'd got it!
He immediately focused all his attention on trying to trace the source of the comment.
It was a dissipated soul imprint, belonging to an unknown reborn person who died somewhere unknown.
Immediately afterwards, another, even more fragmented and terrified comment appeared.
Harvesting is at least a form of kindness... but the "shepherds"... they don't harvest, they only "prune"... We are merely a crooked plant in their garden...
prune?
Su Chen felt a chill rise up his spine.
Finally, he caught the most crucial and terrifying comment.
The message was incomplete, as if its sender had encountered some indescribable horror the moment they sent it, causing their thoughts to be interrupted.
The shepherd tends to civilization, waiting for it to mature... and then...
And then... what?
The barrage of comments abruptly stopped here, leaving behind a deathly silence and emptiness, a pure terror.
Su Chen suddenly opened his eyes, his forehead already covered in a fine layer of cold sweat.
He doesn't need to know what happens next.
What does a farmer do after waiting for his crops to ripen?
The answer is self-evident.
"Prophet!" Su Chen's voice was a little hoarse:
"Abandon keyword search. Perform a conceptual fuzzy search."
"Search your original database, the oldest, sealed data from before you merged with the seed of the Earth world."
Search for concepts like "civilized domestication," "cosmic farm," and "intelligent life cultivation!"
This time, the prophet remained silent for a full minute.
Its immense computing power seems to be digging into these forbidden knowledge buried deep within.
Finally, its voice rang out again, but this time it carried an unprecedented solemnity.
"...A match was found. In a fragmented data packet sent back by a deep space probe from a pre-civilization era."
"This data packet was classified as a high-risk memetic contamination and permanently blocked. Its core content was marked with a tag—"
"Civilized domestication".
These four words struck Su Chen's heart like a heavy hammer.
At this moment, all the clues came together to form a chilling truth.
If the Star Eater Cult's "Reapers" are like bandits who break into villages and commit arson, murder, and looting.
They are fierce and brutal, but at least you can see them and fight them.
So, the "shepherd" is the farmer outside the village who thinks he is a god.
He watched the people in the village thrive and multiply, watched them develop technology and create civilization, just like watching the crops in his own fields.
He might even step in and drive away some of the "pests" that are trying to steal crops.
For example, some minor cosmic disasters that don't amount to much, or even... the lowest-level exploration teams of the "Reapers".
He waited patiently, waiting for this "civilization" to mature and for it to bear its most abundant "fruits".
Then, on a fine, sunny day, he would drive his harvester.
The entire village, along with all its inhabitants, their knowledge, their souls, and the fruits of their civilization, will be "harvested" together.
Even when facing robbers, you are still a human being.
But in the farmer's eyes, you're not even a human being.
You are just crops.
Su Chen felt an unprecedented pressure, even greater than when he first learned of the existence of the Star Devouring Cult.
He looked at the fragmented map pointing to the "Eye of the Storm" and his eyes became incredibly determined.
He has to go.
He must collect all nine fragments of the map to activate the "Ark of Creation".
That might be the only chance for human civilization to transform from "crop" to "hunter".
However, now is not the time.
"There's one thing we need to do before we head to the 'eye of the storm'."
Su Chen made a vow to himself, who was far away on Earth, while facing the empty cabin.
"We must make the Earth stronger. Strong enough that anyone who dares to covet our 'field' will lose all their teeth!"
He thought of Chen Zhou, the S-level genius of the Space System who awakened on his own.
He thought of the increasingly sophisticated "Moon Shield System".
He thought of the vast amount of technology and resources he possessed, which he had obtained from the Star Eater Cult and the Vickers Corporation.
Earth can no longer develop in the conventional way.
We must enter the fast lane of rapid development!
Su Chen's will traversed the endless sea of stars and returned once again to his original body on Earth.
His consciousness clone piloted the spaceship, changed direction, and flew towards a resource-rich, uninhabited star field on the edge of the Milky Way.
He wanted to establish a secret forward base there, a "blood bank" to supply resources and technology to the Earth.
The war against the "Reapers" is a race against time.
The war against the "Shepherds" is a much longer and more arduous marathon concerning the advancement of civilization.
Now, the starting gun for this marathon has been fired.