Chapter 471: To Conquer Or To Escape

"The audio messages first," Kael said. N’bayé nodded, then navigated to a folder displayed on the terminal’s screen. She clicked on it and the folder opened to show a list of audio files.

N’bayé had spent some time copying the contents of each of the small black boxes on the shelves to the terminal’s virtual space.

All three hundred and thirty-three of them.

Since all of them had been used to serve as a secret password, she had hoped to find some other clue after copying the contents into the terminal.

Unfortunately, there was no clue. The main purpose of the black hard drives was to open the terminal. The audio messages were merely decoys in the grand schemes.

N’bayé began to play each audio message for Kael and Katari. She pressed play and the first audio message was played for all to hear.

The terminal had retranslated everyone to match the language of the nearest civilization. N’bayé did not yet understand how the computer was able to do that but she acknowledged its ability.

The audio message played, the owner of the voice speaking in one of the human languages of Planet Kareem. Kael already knew about this language and could fluently understand it.

He had no problem listening to this first audio message.

At first, Kael’s expression was calm. The owner of the voice was merely lamenting about some kind of doom, Kael cared but it wasn’t enough to surprise him.

How else would such an advanced civilization be brought down if not for an unavoidable calamity?

N’bayé read Kael’s expression and saw that he was not yet intrigued. She calmly waited for the message to end before playing the next one.

One by one, N’bayé played each message and it wasn’t until the twentieth play that Kael’s brows finally furrowed slightly.

Kael’s frown was not invalid. The last audio message N’bayé had played had affected him in some kind of way that he couldn’t understand.

The owner of that message, the owner of that voice. He had poured so much emotion into his lamentations that it literally leaked through the screen.

The only person unaffected was Katari who stared blankly and only observed all that was happening unemotionally.

"Keep playing," Kael ordered as he relaxed his frown. N’bayé complied.

The audio messages continued to play.

By the hundredth play, Kael’s brows were fully furrowed and a solemn look clouded his eyes.

Kael was overcome with a strong feeling of defeat and weakness. As if something bad was going to happen and no matter how strong he became, he would never be able to fight against it.

It was an ugly feeling that instantly put Kael in a bad mood.

N’bayé continued playing the audio messages. One after the other, Kael’s ears were filled with the agonizing cries of the last survivors of this lost and ancient civilization.

Some audio messages were a bit long and some were very short. Some explained some minor things in detail and some were just filled with crazy complaints.

All of them were valuable and provided Kael with some insights into what was happening.

However, it wasn’t until that particular message was played that Kael’s soul shook.

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"So because we tried to leave the universe, the universe treated us like pests that should be eradicated.

We already made sure to keep our numbers at one trillion, we respected the integrity of the fabric of space.

We refrained from traveling back in time.

We avoided breaking all the rules.

But for some reason, the universe draws a line at multiversal travel.

YOU CAN’T HOLD US BACK HIGHEST WILL! YOU CAN’T!

YOU MUSTN’T, IT’S NOT FAIR!

PLEASE! please..."

...]
ic research.

The blueprints for different planet-sized Megastructures were many, numbering in the hundreds.

Scientific studies and principles, physics, biology, chemistry, psychology, and different schools of thought.

Different languages to learn from and there was also a digital encyclopedia containing information on countless races and the laws they were affiliated with.

And the folder that caught Kael’s attention the most was the same folder N’bayé had been studying recently.

"Project Ape," Kael muttered.

Of course, he knew what an ape was. It was weird that many creatures existed on Eridoria, yet there was no single ape.

The closest thing to an ape there had been other creatures in their humanoid forms.

And now, Kael was seeing it once again. The word ’Ape’ was displayed just as it had been pronounced back on Earth.

There was no difference, this increased Kael’s suspicion.

"Have you started studying that one?" Kael asked.

"Yes, this one is related to the true origins of humanity," N’bayé said.

Kael’s eyebrows were raised in confusion, "Really?" He asked as he stepped toward the terminal.

This was something he wanted to check himself.

Little golden electricity arcs circled Kael’s fingers, runes appeared on his eyes and his aura became calmer.

N’bayé stepped aside for him. She derived some sort of pleasure in seeing Kael discovering new things with her. The look on Kael’s face whenever he found something new was something she looked forward to.

Kael took a deep breath, his fingers hovering above the glowing keyboard. Whether he would like the answer to the question or not didn’t matter now.

He would learn regardless, knowledge was a weapon he would never be reckless with.