Chapter 36: Memories
"What do you mean...... Are they lost? Qin Xiaoyu could feel Naiyin's solemnity, but she still had doubts about Naiyin's English level.
"No question mark!" Li Ling cautiously added.
"Don't worry, I said that the answer to your two questions is just to temper your mind, not to play some tricks!" Nayin said. "By lost, I don't mean the geographical direction, but their soul!"
"Soul?!" Li Ling asked puzzled.
"Alarmist!" Qin Xiaoyu muttered.
"Yes! I know a lot about those human forerunners, and I almost came into this world with them. The difference is that I was born from my mother's womb, and they fell from the sky! β
"So you were a baby and didn't know much about the first time humans came to Sirte, right?" Qin Xiaoyu asked tentatively. No matter what Nayin thinks of them, there must be great deeds to learn from surviving in a strange world with a team of only one hundred and ten people.
"Yes, I was a baby, but I heard a lot from my parents and remembered some things!" Naine said, raising her eyelids and looking into the distance.
Li Ling and Qin Xiaoyu adjusted their postures, knowing that Nai Yin was going to recount some distant memories. The indelible memories that can remain in its heart for more than a hundred years must be unforgettable, if not unforgettable.
"When I was a child, my people lived on the plain of Busen, a place of abundant water and grass, which is where our name comes from. With their excellent language skills, the Busen people communicate with a variety of fairly intelligent animals, enlist their help, and divide the territory with the ferocious predators. In short, we live a carefree life. β
Li Ling tried to imagine the scene of communicating with various animals, which was something that humans who thought they were extremely intelligent could not imagine, as wonderful as using magic. He remembered the night he and Nain had spent their first meeting, and Nain said that he had dissuaded a pack of foraging beasts with a ghostly howl.
Li Ling always felt that Naiyin's tone was too calm, and he was a little disappointed. He sincerely hoped that the arrival of humans did not cause disaster to these simple native creatures.
Naine continued: "Perhaps the life of the Busen people is too comfortable, and we are born with an innate ability to anticipate danger. My father had witnessed the landing of a human spacecraft. For the Busen people at that time, it was like a miracle. All the Busen people gathered around the oval ship with excitement. Lighting a bonfire, singing and dancing, worshipping it as a miracle. β
"What about the forerunners? What was their reaction? Qin Xiaoyu asked.
"They came out the next evening. The Busen were celebrating around the ship and trying to inspect the ship they had considered a miracle. The humans came out! They are dressed in colorful clothes and wear ornaments that shine like stars. Then take some of the Busen people on a tour of the inside of their incredible, strange rune-like ship. β
βLEDοΌβ Qin Xiaoyu and Li Ling's minds imagined the scene of the forerunner pretending to be a ghost with a light-emitting diode.
"How do you communicate?" Li Ling asked again.
"In the beginning, they tried to communicate with a kind of graphics and gestures, but soon some of us were smart enough to learn some of their language and try to communicate with humans. The human forerunners were amazed and excited, and they explained to the Busen who understood them that they were messengers of God who had come to help us transform the world! β
Li Ling and Qin Xiaoyu glanced at each other, and they both saw a hint of amusement and disgust in each other's eyes. But from the perspective of human beings, Li Ling feels that this is understandable. If those forerunners came out with a big grin, and then shouted that they wanted to take over the world and transform it into a second home for humanity, then the brain was in water.
"The Busen people are accustomed to a life of freedom and idleness, and are not enthusiastic about the advice of humans. But the ornate attire and provocative language of the forerunners still impressed some of the young Busensians. Let them be enthusiastic about helping the Precursors build a sizable town around the ship. Even use their linguistic talents to summon other animals to help. And those humans also shared some unique customs and habits with the Busen people. For example, dressing up, wearing accessories, or sitting on a stool instead of lying on the floor to eat. β
"A little favor." Li Ling thought. But he was glad that humans were able to help and learn from each other with these seemingly warm and docile Busen.
Without warning, a strong wind blew violently, and dark clouds covered the sun, which was always spitting flames. In the dark gray sky, there were faint thunderbolts snorting between the clouds.
Li Ling and Qin Xiaoyu stood up in a panic and looked around, they had seen such strange weather once, it was on the night when the batman attacked the supporters.
"It's just some thunderclouds, very common weather." Naine said nonchalantly and continued to tell its story. "Such peaceful days have passed for a long time, probably half of my life. I've even made some very nice and intelligent human companions. Among them was a little girl named Mia, who was a year younger than me. When we were younger, she always laughed at me for not wearing clothes, and I laughed at her for not having fluff on her. We used to chase and play games together. I even secretly fell in love with that little girl. β
Qin Xiaoyu felt a little cold, and his body trembled.
"But I don't have much contact with those adults, and I have the impression that those human women are always busy giving birth with big bellies. The men were busy building pens, keeping the animals they caught, and turning over the grass and planting the plants they had collected! Gradually, some creatures that were able to communicate with the Busen began to accuse the humans of their evil deeds, reminding them of the consequences of the human forces plundering everywhere. β
Li Ling's brows were tightly locked, he knew that Nai Yin was going to say something that he didn't want to hear or believe.
"Naturally, the Busen people do not stop human behavior. They're used to being free, and they're used to being lazy. What's more, humans are the envoys of the gods in their minds. No one spoke for the other poor creatures. Until one day, Mia found my father. She was younger than me and my best interracial friend, but she didn't come to me, she went straight to my father. That's when I learned that Mia was already the leader of the human forerunners. β
"This devastated you?!" Qin Xiaoyu asked, sensitively feeling that this big rabbit was haunted by this incident.
She felt that males always expected themselves to be a little stronger than their crushes. But is Naine male? She was surprised to find that Nayin was wearing a small piece of cloth to cover her shame.
"Yes, the word leader sounds cool, and everyone has to follow her orders. The Busen have no leader, but they follow the advice of those of higher prestige, such as my father. And when I was a teenager, I wasn't even an adult, and I was busy playing with mud all day! β
Qin Xiaoyu and Li Ling looked at each other and smiled, and the dirty appearance of a cute little rabbit came to mind.
"But compared to what she said, the blow of status is really not worth mentioning." Nain's face twitched a few times, and she seemed to be in some pain.
Qin Xiaoyu looked at Li Ling again and found that he was staring at Nayin's face seriously, and couldn't help but wonder how much Li Ling trusted the words of a beast?
Nain's story continues: "I still remember the scene vividly. I was wallowing in the mud puddle and excitedly greeted Mia, who had come to visit, to let her play with me. But Mia didn't seem to see me, and walked straight past me to talk to my father. β
"What a sad story!" Qin Xiaoyu said teasingly. She always felt that Naine would say something that denigrated humanity and the Precursors. She naturally didn't want to believe it, and she didn't want Li Ling to fall into the trap of the other party.
Li Ling shook his head at her lightly, motioning for her to remain silent.
Unimpressed, Naine continued, "Mia told my father that the number of humans was increasing rapidly, and that their towns and territories were too small, and that they had sent someone to find us a more suitable place to liveβthose remote valleys and wetlands on the edge of the plains, and asked us to move out of the place where we had been living as soon as possible! To make matters worse, Mia told my father that many of their companions were clamoring for the Busen to take too much territory and to wait to go to war with us! β
"Your father agreed?!" Li Ling was surprised at first, but he was quickly relieved. Like the story of the farmer and the goldfish, people will always ask for more. Moreover, more than a dozen years is long enough for people to forget the help they once received.
Naine nodded, "The Busen people are so used to comfort and stability that they don't even know what it means to go to war, they have no opinions. Only my father, out of his past friendship with humans, was inclined to accede to the demands of the human leaders, even though Mia was only a child in his eyes. β
"Didn't you resist?!" Qin Xiaoyu asked in surprise, with a suspicious look on his face.
"We didn't resist, and my father persuaded the others to move to the middle of nowhere. I remember when I left home with my few luggage, those childhood human playmates didn't even say a word of goodbye, which made me sad for a while, and even took his temper out on my father, blaming him for agreeing to Mia's request, and now that I think about it, I was so headstrong at that time! β
"Why do you say that, Nain? You didn't do anything wrong. Li Ling felt empathy and didn't care about Qin Xiaoyu's surprised eyes.
"But it was because of this thought of mine, and the indignant protests of the other young Busen friends, that my father gradually changed his mind, and when the humans once again demanded that we move away from the Busen Plains completely, he decided to find the human precursor, that Mia, to reason, and took some of the most prestigious Busen elders to human territory."
"The result?" Li Ling couldn't wait to know the answer. Although somewhat reluctant to admit it, he hoped that the Busen people would win the negotiation.
"They were killed, and none of them remained."
"What?!" Li Ling couldn't help but roar in a low voice. True or not, this is a vicious story.