NTM Chapter 52

Volume 2: Winter’s End

“The development of new energy began three years ago, while the anomalies among the blue-eyed individuals started about a year ago. The sudden onset of the winter’s extreme cold occurred approximately eight months ago. By connecting these timelines, along with the clues we’ve discovered and those stored in the filing cabinet, we can create a comprehensive narrative. Three years ago, the advent of the Blue Amber crystals took place. About a month later, records resembling a potential extraterrestrial civilization invasion emerged, with most incidents occurring near Blue Amber crystal extraction sites and lasting for about a year. This was followed by a relatively calm period lasting around a year.”

“A year ago, peculiar occurrences surrounded the blue-eyed individuals. During sleep, they caused inexplicable disappearances of people around them, and a very small number of blue-eyed individuals, such as Qing Meng, exhibited unique abilities. Simultaneously, theories about the revival of ancient life and the life essence of Blue Amber crystals gained popularity. Blue-eyed individuals faced extreme rejection. Four months later, the first sudden cooling event took place, and a month later, the blue butterflies and the blue light super-low temperatures appeared for the first time. Before the blue light appeared, another form of energy had devoured a portion of the Micro City residents, leading to the instant death of a large number of people. Doesn’t this situation seem like a result of one side invading and the other defending to salvage the situation?” Even in this small form, there’s a discernible edge in Shu Xun’s bright eyes that can’t be ignored.

Bai Ya contemplated, having previously discovered some records related to extraterrestrial civilizations during the search, although the accuracy of such records on this technological planet is not particularly high. If there were truly extraterrestrial civilizations landing and persisting for a year, they would undoubtedly take some action; otherwise, violating interstellar regulations to invade a natural planet would be meaningless.

If the extraterrestrial civilization was the invading force, then who was defending? What role did the blue-eyed individuals play in this scenario?

Observing the pensive Bai Ya and the expressionless Ye Qian, Shu Xun somewhat guessed what the two were thinking, as he himself was pondering along similar lines. So, he continued, “Before this, a similar situation occurred at the entrance of the Micro City toll station. Large numbers of people silently disappeared, which is a commonality between the two incidents. Another commonality is that without blue-eyed individuals witnessing, a blue-eyed woman at the toll station died in a car accident. A man stood by the woman all night, but he kept his head lowered without lifting his eyes. The next day, all the people at the toll station vanished, and the man’s eyes mutated into blue. According to research results, people with blue eyes are highly likely to see things that ordinary people cannot see or refer to as energy. So, individuals with blue eyes likely serve as the eyes of the guardians and messengers who can move among humans.”

“If that’s the case, are the people who disappeared around the blue-eyed individuals devoured by the invaders? Just because the blue-eyed individuals closed their eyes, the guardians couldn’t see?” Bai Ya finished speaking and shook his head. “No! If blue-eyed individuals are the eyes of the guardians, then what are the guardians? Why did they end up guarding to the end, turning the planet into a Winter’s End?”

“This is another identity of the blue-eyed individuals: guides or cocoons. Experimental data shows that when blue-eyed individuals enter a sleep state, there is an overflow of energy, wandering around, yet they lack awareness in this regard. Similarly, during certain moments when blue-amber crystals shatter, there is also an overflow of energy, and the resulting energy waves are almost identical to those during the sleep state of blue-eyed individuals! What does this indicate? It suggests that this planet is not as simple as we imagined—a mere modern technological planet dominated by humans. Just like our initial doubts, why would a modern technological planet have ultra-low-temperature substances contradicting the universal consciousness theory? The doubts were actually discovered from the very beginning, but attention was gradually shifted by everything that followed.”

On the journey, only Shu Xun’s small voice narrated logically, progressively explaining. The more Bai Ya listened, the more astonished he became. He even began to doubt whether this small ball of fluff was some new invention of Ye Qian, a kind of intelligent robot endowed with high intelligence and logical thinking. Bai Ya turned his head to glance at Shu Xun, pondering the possibility of examining the little dumpling without getting kicked away by Ye Qian. In the end, he reluctantly gave up.

“If this world is an evolving world, and the indigenous people are not humans but rather beings with high spiritual power similar to the Phantom race, then everything makes sense. The humanoid form of the indigenous people in this world is just their physical state, and the form of their spiritual existence is the blue butterfly. That’s why the genes of blue-eyed individuals are similar to blue butterflies. In the ancient insect era, blue butterflies dominated the entire planet and later disappeared without a trace. In reality, they entered another lengthy process of evolution, the ‘most suitable theory for humans.’ The final evolutionary form of all advanced life forms is infinitely close to the human form. However, this kind of evolution is not enough. If the speculation is correct, their ultimate evolutionary state should be the form with special abilities, like Qing Meng.”

“Unfortunately, in the long process of evolution, they gradually forgot about these things themselves. What’s worse is that they mined out the blue amber crystals containing a large number of blue butterfly entities. In fact, one of the theories seen earlier was not wrong. Blue Amber crystals have life because there are many, many blue butterflies waiting inside to break free from the cocoon. That is the key to the life cycle of the living beings on this planet. Although we don’t know the rules and conditions for the transformation between blue butterflies and humanoid entities, it is evident that the inhabitants of this world and the Blue Amber crystals are actually from the same origin. Therefore, they can feel the extraordinary inclusiveness of Blue Amber crystals because that is themselves.”

“The extraction of Blue Amber crystals caused a massive overflow of life-filled energy, which was eventually captured by the extraterrestrial civilization. They detected this planet, slowly infiltrating it from exploration to invasion. The blue butterflies inside the Blue Amber crystals obviously sensed it, realizing that if they didn’t resist, their fate would only be death. So, they accelerated their evolution. Blue-eyed individuals, with a higher evolutionary state than ordinary black-eyed people, were the first to be affected. Their eyes could see the invading energy. Moreover, under the influence of Blue Amber crystals, during sleep, they unconsciously emitted energy waves that promoted the transformation of their kind from cocoon to butterfly. Initially, the approach taken by the Blue Amber crystals was gentle, and those who disappeared were not consumed but successfully transformed into butterflies under the guidance of blue-eyed individuals, returning to the state of blue butterflies.”