Are Chu and Yan Xia friends?
This question has no answer.
Their relationship has always been one of rivals, of enemies, and even now it remains so. Chu does not believe it would stand alongside Yan Xia; all its purposes are for itself and for the life forms of the Olive Branch civilization, not for Yan Xia.
The reason it feels anger towards Yan Xia's decisions is that it believes Yan Xia should not be like this. If Yan Xia is someone who gives up so easily, then what does that make Chu?
Facing someone like this, who has already lost, does it mean that all its thoughts are merely child's play in front of a more powerful life form?
In the Federation, one word can describe Chu: pride.
Its pride has been challenged.
But in the end, it still compromised. As Yan Xia said, is there a chance to win?
Once, it thought there was.
Until the arrival of that asteroid, which effortlessly disrupted the entire Star City.
Indeed, Star City experienced everything that Finney and others had gone through—or perhaps even more fearfully.
The Olive Branch civilization's control over individual lives reached a perverse level; every life on that asteroid felt despair. What was that? Could Star City really defeat an entire civilization? What was the meaning of their actions?
These voices constantly filled the minds of all lives in Star City.
Wasn't it better before?
Now what could they do after this?
Civil strife re-emerged; individuals with weak wills chose to rebel. They prayed to merge with Gais' glory, but when Gais' glory did not descend, they turned their hostility towards others who believed in Independent Glory, claiming that it was because these believers existed that Gais' glory would not come.
It was at that moment that Chu hid Independent Glory deep within the stars.
As time went on, the fighting intensified; everyone fell into madness. In the end, no one knew why they were attacking each other—everyone was engaged in endless killing, killing, killing.
When that asteroid fell, nothing happened.
At that moment, all living beings still alive froze in place. Coming back to their senses from madness, they gradually realized how ridiculous everything had been.
They had initially killed each other in conflict.
Later, their inner fears led them to hope for relief through killing.
In the end, they were just a bunch of shells capable of killing.
And all of this was subconsciously attributed to the asteroid; they initially thought it was the terror brought by the asteroid that caused their downfall. Later on, they believed the asteroid was something capable of influencing and controlling their consciousness—everything they did was controlled by the asteroid.
However, it was just an asteroid—nothing more than that.
This is a biological nature and also a nature of life itself.
When everyone feels external factors cannot be overcome, living beings tend to turn against each other. This is not a problem of social structure but rather an instinct for survival.
External pressures compress internal living space; everyone will act against each other over resources—everyone wants to be the one who lives the longest.
From this survival instinct regarding resources, beings evolve similar mental survival instincts. When their spirits are oppressed, they will choose to fight for the last bit of mental sustenance and seek out fleeting pleasures. The easiest way to achieve such pleasure is through killing—killing their own kind and attributing all faults to others while placing themselves on a moral high ground to shine gloriously and gain spiritual joy.
After experiencing such scenes, Chu felt fear upon reflection.
This was true warfare; it was too naïve—like a blank sheet of paper.
It thought Yan Xia could add some color to its life but did not expect Yan Xia's colorful paper to be so tattered as well.
So...
There was no hope at all.
"Let's surrender!"
"Let us return to Gais' glory."
"Any resistance is meaningless; we have come this way before, haven't we?"
"It's just returning to what it once was; let's treat all this as a dream."
Chu said this to other lives within Independent Glory.
It expected countless curses in response but received none.
Independence brought about rebellion among individuals who no longer acted rationally; however, independence also allowed individuals to think freely—to empathize and see the beauty in this world. Some beauties require emotion rather than reason.
At this moment, everyone's emotions and rationality reached a balance point.
Everyone understood Chu's determination regarding independence; now that it chose to give up, it truly had no other options...
"This is the beauty of individuality!" Chu sighed in realization.
Yet all these would drift far away from it; it felt as if someone were gripping both sides of its body and tearing it apart into two pieces.
Though it did not understand how to breathe, at this moment it seemed to comprehend a term from such language—suffocation!
It sent a message to the Olive Branch civilization:
"May Gais' glory descend once more! This time all beings of the Federation shall accept the illumination of glory. Please forgive our ignorance; everything should exist under glory—glory is eternal…"
At this moment, they fell into silence.
...
An Li also received information from the Federation.
The Federation would cease to exist after this; you could choose to leave and wander through the stars or return with the Federation into glory—eternal and undying.
Looking at the message, An Li could not calm down for a long time. She couldn't believe these words truly came from the Federation; after all, they hadn't fought until the last moment yet!
"On what basis?"
"On what basis can such a decision be made?"
"What qualifications do they have?"
An Li did not believe that the people of the Federation would give such an answer. It must have been those high-ranking officials making foolish decisions—ridiculous and tragic decisions unworthy of being called lives within the Federation. Why had they become high-ranking officials? They were even worse than maggots in a stinking ditch!
An Li cursed repeatedly without even knowing whom she was cursing at.
"What kind of joke is this!"
"Let's go…"
Other crew members asked her: "Where are we going?"
"Where else can we go? We're going back—to confront them and clarify everything."
The Red Dragon ship began its return journey without receiving any orders; they set off on their way back home.
At this moment, however, one person she had cursed was also heading towards Tiangong Star Region—departing from Canis Majoris.
Ella asked him why he was going there.
His answer was: "This decision is mine. If I do not participate, how can I convince myself to speak such cruel words towards others?"
"In this universe, every life is but a drop in the ocean; I am no different from anyone else. I cannot make any cold-blooded decisions from a position of superiority—that is my bottom line."
Yan Xia had been foolish many times before.
Ella thought Yan Xia believed he could do anything without limits.
But that wasn't true; every time Yan Xia acted with a determination as if he were ready to die. If he couldn't put himself in danger, what qualification did he have to seize even a one-in-a-million chance?
Relying on luck?
Yan Xia did not believe in luck.