Clarke

Clark walked into the lowered hanging door and followed the adult man into the tribal gathering point.

"Guest from afar, may I ask why you are here?"

The adult man leading the way turned around and asked.

As Clark walked, he admired the settlement's distinctive architecture, clothing, and mechanical parts that were interspersed in the daily lives of tribal residents without being inconsistent.

Clark said casually.

"I came here for a trip and passed by here by chance. I planned to come here to replenish some daily necessities."

The man leading the way smiled slightly, turned around and introduced Clark to some things in the tribe.

"Heart of Stone is the largest settlement nearby. Everything here is available, and the residents here are also hospitable. Heart of Stone welcomes you."

Clark nodded and looked at everything around him, wondering what kind of history could give birth to such a unique culture.

A little girl of eleven or twelve years old ran up to the two of them. The little girl looked at Clark curiously, and then lay down near the ear of the man who was leading the way and whispered quietly.

"The high priest said he wanted to see this guest."

Clark looked at the two with a smile and said "Whisper."

The man leading the way nodded after hearing the little girl's words, straightened up and said to Clark.

"Distinguished guest, the High Priest of Heart of Stone would like to meet you. Please come with me."

Clark nodded and followed the man.

Clark and the man leading the way walked straight from the hanging door to the depths of the canyon on the steel avenue hidden under the soil.

The man who led the way walked to the cave at the end of the road and made a gesture toward the cave.

Clark guessed it was a sign of respect in their culture.

"Boom"

There was a sound of the door opening in the cave.

But Clark heard more sounds. He heard the inconspicuous little cave in front of him making countless sounds of mechanical operations and gear bites the moment it opened the door, but the sounds were so subtle that they could hardly be captured.

Clark looked through the mountain without a trace to see what was going on in the cave, but unexpectedly found that his sight could not penetrate the mountain.

Clark raised his eyebrows slightly. This was the first time Clark encountered something he couldn't see through.

With a hint of nervousness and anticipation for the unknown, Clark walked into the cave.

The scene inside the cave was a little different from what Clark expected.

Clark originally thought that the cave would be like the place where priests lived in primitive tribes in ancient horror movies. It was dirty and dark, with mysterious sacrificial words and even dark red blood left behind by human blood sacrifices written on the walls and floors.

But in fact, the cave is more like a new scientific research institution in the United States than a place where the priests live.

In the corridor that is three meters wide and five meters high with no end in sight, white light tubes are spread on the ceiling, emitting a soft light. Every few meters on the wall are written "The Great Creation" in a strange language that Clark can inexplicably understand. The Mother Goddess is supreme" and other prayer lines.

There are also mural-like things on the ground.

Clark followed the man leading the way, looking down at the story painted with blue paint on the white passage beneath his feet.

I don’t know how many years ago, the great goddess of creation sadly appeared in front of the world. The goddess looked at the ignorant people with silver tears and spoke the supreme mystery that people could not understand.

The limited wisdom of human beings cannot understand the mystery that the goddess wants to convey to the world. The goddess shed tears in despair, and finally bestowed divine grace with compassion, spreading the wisdom of the gods to the world.

The originally ignorant people became smarter and stronger, and the goddess also fell into a deep sleep due to excessive consumption of power. A temple appeared out of thin air where the goddess slept, but all humans were prohibited from entering.

Human civilization developed rapidly after being enlightened by the wisdom of the goddess. Finally, at a certain era, an ambitious and powerful emperor broke into the temple with his army and assistants.

No one knows whether the emperor saw the goddess or what information the goddess told him.

People only knew that this emperor who was once so arrogant that he wanted to conquer the sky staggered out of the temple alone, muttering "lies", "scams", "toys" and other unspeakable words, and committed suicide outside the temple.

The human empire collapsed, and the empire gradually split into tribes, large and small. Each tribe developed a variety of unique cultures, but they all maintained a tacit understanding with each other that was not revealed on the surface. They all stopped technologically. develop.

At the end of the story, the five major tribes headed by Stone Heart followed the will of their ancestors and lived scattered around the world, cutting off contact with each other.

The story on the ground ended here, and Clark was filled with doubts after reading it.

Clark always felt like these stories came to an abrupt end, like they wanted to tell people something but couldn't.

The man leading the way stopped, and under Clark's strange eyes, he stretched out his hand and scanned his palm on the instrument on the wall.

After a soft "beep" sound, a shiny metallic electronic door at the end of the passage slowly opened.

The man who led the way walked into the room first. After entering the room, he stood in a recessed place by the wall, lowered his head and suddenly stopped breathing.

"Hello, distinguished guest."

An old voice interrupted Clark's observation of the man leading the way.

Clark looked away and looked in the direction of the sound, and his pupils shrank suddenly.

In the center of the room is a huge steel chair. Behind the seat, you can vaguely see some cables and hoses flowing with an unknown green liquid.

On the seat, a person, or rather a lump of flesh and blood, was paralyzed in the seat.

"Are you surprised to see this? The mysterious high priest of our guest looks like this."

Clark frowned and shook his head.

"I think whoever sees you like this will have the same reaction as me."

"Hahahaha, very interesting"

Xuerou struggled to raise an arm to scratch his chest. The arm scratched his chest and a few pieces of flesh fell onto his belly and melted into it.

Clark looked at the "person" in front of him and still couldn't believe it.

This is a [-]-pound fat man, a fat man made of unknown flesh and blood with all kinds of sewing and splicing marks all over his body.

"Fat" composed of some unknown tissue was accumulated on the huge chair that was not crowded at first, reflecting a greasy sheen that did not belong to human beings.

The "person" on the chair looked at Clark, suddenly stretched out his finger and pointed at Clark.

"I once had a tall and perfect figure like yours, until someone cast a vicious curse on me."

Some hidden jealousy could be heard in the high priest's voice.

"Curse of Flesh"

The high priest's voice was filled with hatred.

"It made me lose my body"

The high priest raised his head and looked at the sky, his eyes seemed to be staring through the cave at something above the sky.

Clark frowned and said nothing.

After a few minutes, the high priest slowly calmed down and gave Clark an ugly smile.

"Sorry, I lost my temper. Let's talk about business."

The high priest picked up a hose on the side and put it to his mouth and breathed hard for a few times. He put down the hose tiredly and gasped for air.

"We all know that you are not a traveler passing through here, or even from this planet."

Clark looked at him, unmoved by his identity.

The high priest was a little disappointed when Clark didn't panic, and continued.

"I believe no one wants to come to this desolate planet. I have a way to get you out of here, but I need you to do something for me."

Clark nodded in agreement and motioned for the high priest to continue.

The high priest laboriously tapped the metal bracer on his wrist, and a light curtain appeared in front of the two people.

"When you came in, you must have read the stories recorded on the ground. That is the history of our planet.

"This planet once had a powerful and unified empire, but due to some reasons, the empire split. The western continent was flooded and completely lost contact. The five cities in the eastern continent, headed by Stone Heart, also gradually lost contact and became There are now five tribes.

“Each of the five tribes holds a key, and together the five keys can open a certain place, and I need to go there.

“I’ve got three keys and two more left.

“I saw you fall from the sky and I know you are very powerful.

"You help me get those two keys, and in return I will send you away from here."

The high priest looked at Clark eagerly, leaning forward and looking at Clark expectantly.

"How about it, alien"

Clark nodded.

"I will help you collect the keys, but you have to remember that if you can't send me away, I will make you understand the consequences of cheating on me."

The high priest was very happy, laughing excitedly while more skin and flesh fell from his face.

"If the deal is done, I'll have my people take you to find the two keys."

"No, just tell me where it is."