Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics Chapter 6193: Soul of the Machine Utopia (61)

Chapter 6193: Chapter 5204: Soul of the Machine Utopia (61)

“Woof! Woof woof!!!”

Just as everyone was immersed in shock, the sound of the dog broke the silence. The Big Dog Tibbers jumped onto the pentagram-shaped grave, nudging Professor Dale with his head. It wasn’t a warning, but a reminder. Professor Dale keenly sensed this, if something blasphemous lay in the grave, like the creatures Tibbers had once bitten to death, he would certainly not be so calm and would likely exhibit an immediate intent to attack.

Professor Dale looked at the cats again; some of the cats seemed restless, but the white cat, which seemed the smartest, just quietly stared at the strange body within the ice, as if it already knew what it was going to see.

Professor Dale immediately realized that the animals might know more about the Arctic’s history than he did, or rather, their instincts told them that this was the fruit of their expedition, not the danger they were about to face. Thus, he made a bold decision.

“Pull this thing up,” Professor Dale said, “Be careful, no one should go down there, keep your movements light, and absolutely don’t use any heat sources near the ice layer. I know this is risky, but it will definitely be worth it.”

The students were still somewhat fearful, but Professor Dale had already gone to get the ropes. They did bring grappling hooks, but there was some distance between the top layer and below, the grappling hooks might miss, in which case the cats would need to carry the ropes down in their mouths. Professor Dexter seemed a bit worried, perhaps fearing pollution below, but Shiller didn’t mind, because he knew the body in the ice wasn’t truly a monster, merely that it now lay dormant, but when alive, was far more intelligent than humans.

The Ancient One, a name that sounds quite ordinary, as if their only boast is long life. But in reality, it’s just that people know too little about them, or rather, before the expedition arrived, humans knew nothing about this race, yet they were the earliest aliens to visit Earth.

In the Cthulhu Mythos Universe, Earth is practically an Animal Fighting Arena teeming with demons and ghosts, but many billions of years ago, Elder Gods and Old Day Dominators already existed, and the Ancient Ones were a group that was invincible throughout the Earth in that era, even Cthulhu himself could only take solace in a corner.

Indeed, the Great Octopus suffered defeat at the hands of this race, although the method was not clearly stated, it is speculated that the Ancient Ones possessed a decisive weapon that could destroy Earth along with them, forcing Cthulhu to compromise and return to sleep beneath the sea.

In fact, without the Ancient Ones, whether humanity could appear on time, or whether it could evolve into its current form under the hands of such demons and ghosts, remains uncertain. This race undoubtedly possesses transcendent wisdom.

As for how the Ancient Ones withdrew from the stage of history, it’s also a long story, just that there are many points that even Shiller cannot comprehend, so he does not take the original descriptions as gospel, only feeling that there might be more hidden truths.

The cats started the jet devices, taking the ropes down. Close observation of such a wondrous creature eventually reveals that they are not actually ugly, and there are many evolutionary traces on them that even humans can understand. Although Shiller’s biological knowledge is somewhat lacking, he can see that the starfish-like limbs below suggest they might have evolved from echinoderms similar to those on Earth. Primitive does not mean backward; on the contrary, many animals on Earth are superior to humans in certain ways, and it might not be impossible for intelligence to evolve on other planets.

Once the grappling hook was secured, the pulley system above was also assembled, accompanied by faint sounds of ice breaking, as this icy coffin was lifted. When exposed to the air, everyone observed in silence, the tides of thought swirling.

Clearly, Biology expert Professor Dexter also reached the same conclusion as Shiller, this form of life was not a mutated monster, there are very clear evolutionary traces on them, and you could even judge just by appearance that their home planet must also have oceans. In fact, Professor Dexter immediately noticed that these creatures are not resistant to the cold.

They were not voluntarily frozen here, but due to some unknown reason, Professor Dexter speculated it might have been the Ice Age, when a global temperature drop led to them being buried in ice and snow, disappearing from Earth like other life forms that perished in the Ice Age.

However, this process was not completed in a short period, at least, when this alien was frozen, he still had companions to build him a grave, yet this also raised another concern for Professor Dexter: where there are those lying in graves, there must be some exposed in the wilderness. After all, in the face of a great extinction, the latter stages become increasingly challenging, while early on there might still be funerals and rituals, towards the end there might be deaths everywhere.

But Professor Dexter did not speak out, because he also did not know how many of these aliens there were, they might have just sent these few, who, after being frozen to death, were buried by other survivors who then left by spaceship, hence there might not be more corpses.

Nevertheless, he naturally had his doubts: with the ability to come to Earth by spaceship, wouldn’t it be easy to get some heating equipment? Even to build a stove on the spot? A powerful alien race with interstellar travel capabilities, frozen to death on Earth, isn’t it somewhat too comical.

Professor Dexter knew there was an even worse scenario, which was the fatal injury might not be from the cold, they encountered an attack or infection, meaning there was a greater horror beneath the ice layer.

While transporting the ice coffin, the team appeared somewhat silent. All who came here were exceptionally smart individuals, knowing that seeing an alien corpse might not be much better than seeing a living alien. If all the aliens were dead, could they really survive?

No one would simply think that the aliens just slipped and froze to death. They had to make the worst preparations. Even Professor Dale checked his gun before heading back, not to guard against the aliens within the ice, but to protect against whatever might have left the aliens lying in the ice.

“Do you know what this is?” The Bat Cat walked alongside Shiller, and he spoke.

Shiller wasn’t surprised that Bat Cat could figure it out. After all, he hadn’t hidden it when he dug this thing up. He wasn’t shocked at all; however, he didn’t explain much to Bat Cat, only saying, “Our enemy isn’t them.”

Bat Cat understood well: “Are you planning to talk with them?”

“Not sure if we can talk,” Shiller thought for a moment before saying, “No one has communicated with this thing. We don’t know what their life form is like or what they encountered before being frozen here. Humans have various professions and personalities, and aliens are naturally the same. This one we encountered may not be easy to deal with.”

“Will you make him easy to deal with?” Bat Cat asked implicitly.

“We don’t have that ability for now,” Shiller pondered before responding, “However, there has to be a threat on Earth that makes them feel fear, which is the basis for our cooperation. But I’m not sure if we can face that threat.”

Bat Cat said no more; he had made his judgment. They returned silently to the Outpost, which was the base built beside the tomb. The ice coffin was placed there. After resting for a while, people started discussing their next move.

Discovering the alien was already a significant achievement; they could even choose to return now, not to the newly built base, but back to America. This result was enough to satisfy anyone, including the mysterious NDP Foundation.

But the scientists had to make a judgment: whether it was a good thing to make this public, even just announcing it to the government, could potentially trigger a dreadful disaster.

In this era, although the Federal Government wasn’t particularly absurd and was quite hospitable to scientists from all over the world, the underlying logic was unchanging. They would certainly take some blindly foolish actions, leading to irreversible consequences.

Bringing this thing back would certainly bring them fame and fortune, but even if they had the money, they need their lives to spend it. If it truly caused human extinction, this fame would turn into a thousand-year curse.

“Are you confident?” Professor Dale looked at Professor Dexter. This question was a bit vague, but Professor Dexter knew what he meant. They had the same judgment in mind, but it seemed too crazy to put it into practice.

“I’ll stay here and try, and the rest of you leave,” Professor Dexter said. “In the coming days, have the dog guard the gate of the base. If I return with any problem, the dog will bite me to death, preventing pollution from spreading. If I succeed and return, you can come back and talk to him.”

Clearly, the crazy plan they had in mind was to thaw the creature in the ice and attempt to communicate with them. These professionals could see that, although the creature seemed strange, it wasn’t a monster; it might even be a wise being like them. Communicating here was more daring but more meaningful than bringing it back for direct dissection.

“How long do you need?” Professor Dale asked.

“Three days, at most three days.” Dexter took a deep breath, “If I don’t return after three days or return with issues, then send word back and bring in armies. But if I succeed and return, then send people over.”

Professor Dale stood there and pondered for a long time but finally said, “If this is your decision, I respect you. Thank you for your contribution to human science, Dexter, you are an excellent scientist.”

This always expressionless Black professor rarely showed a genuine smile. He said, “I know many people have grievances for me, but as long as I have this moment in my life to prove those I endured were to advance human civilization further, I won’t resent it and will even be grateful. Grateful that those with prejudice share history with me, as their shallowness highlights my greatness, more powerfully vindicating me and others with similar experiences.”

Professor Dale extended his hand to pat his shoulder, then turned to lead the students away. They took away almost all the equipment, leaving about a week’s basic survival supplies and only left Dexter and the ice coffin — and a lingering Shiller.

In this crucial decision, Professor Dale wouldn’t allow anyone to defy him, and Dexter didn’t want any other creature to stay. But as said before, people were used to the cat’s unreasonableness and didn’t think they could out-stubborn this animal. So when Shiller stubbornly clung to Dexter’s clothes with his claws and wouldn’t budge, Professor Dale had no choice but to give him some provisions, letting him remain here.

After everyone left, Dexter and Shiller stared at each other.

“Honestly, I can’t understand why you want to stay.” Dexter said while preparing items for thawing, “I know you might understand this thing and try to talk to it, but you could do that when coming back with Professor Dale. Why stay here in the cold?”

Shiller remained silent, standing atop the ice coffin, gazing at him. Dexter’s expression seemed to soften a bit because from those rare gray eyes of the cat, he saw an emotion that should not belong to an animal, as if saying: I understand you, I stayed to accompany you.