Book 10: Chapter 42: Descendants of Angels

As the capital of the Gith Angel race, the small plane Paranto had a complete day and night cycle. Even after thousands of years, the passage of time remained accurate.

Watching the last trace of light fade from the horizon, Qin Lun tightened his clothes and carried two cups of hot drinks to sit beside Robin. Their discussion had already ended, and after weighing the options, they finally decided to go to the Gith ruins early the next morning.

“Have something to drink!” Qin Lun handed a cup of hot drink to Robin. “By the way, Robin, in the Patroller Team, besides us and Frank, what are the backgrounds of the other companions?”

Robin looked up, giving him a reproachful glance, then turned to look at their companions scattered around the camp. The newly built camp was large. To guard against attacks from giant creatures, there were not only two mech teams patrolling the perimeter, but even those resting remained vigilant, not daring to sleep too deeply.

“Why are you asking about them now? Did Dr. Norton and Bobby’s spirit of self-sacrifice move you? This doesn’t seem like the Qin Lun I know!” Robin chuckled teasingly.

“Maybe.” Qin Lun smiled noncommittally.

“You’re so boring!” Seeing Qin Lun’s fake smile, Robin sighed helplessly. “Besides you and Frank, the other members of the Patroller Team are actually subordinates of the Light Team. There are core squad members, affiliated team members, and peripheral members like you. After the high-ranking members of the Light Team were wiped out, they were the first to be recruited.”

Robin quietly pointed to a corner of the camp. “Balin is the leader of a mid-sized team. His team has about twenty people, with stable membership and strong bonds. After the Light Team fell, the Chaos Alliance approached him, demanding his team join Chaos.

But, you know, the Chaos Alliance follows the law of the jungle, with lots of infighting between different teams. Although Balin’s team is mature, the members’ abilities vary. The weaker ones would struggle to survive in such a system, so they didn’t plan to switch alliances.

However, they couldn’t just refuse Chaos outright, so they agreed to settle it in a Quest World. Balin worried his companions would face danger because of this, so he took on the responsibility alone.”

“He can’t save everyone forever,” Qin Lun glanced at the big man in the corner of the camp and said softly.

“Of course he knows that, but at least the Order Front has less internal strife. His team has a higher survival rate there.” Robin sighed and pointed to another corner of the camp. “Loben and Dean—the older brother entered the Shattered Starry Sky first. The younger brother is a genius who followed to investigate his brother’s disappearance.

The Star Void’s cover-up methods are flawless, yet Dean managed to track down his brother’s whereabouts, proving his genius. Because of this talent, he received invitations from both the Chaos Alliance and the Apostle Monument. Loben didn’t mind switching alliances himself, but he didn’t want his younger brother to become a mentally dark villain at such a young age, so he also declined the invitation.”

“What about Bobby? I remember the Wind Elemental Race from Devil’s Horn belongs to the neutral faction. Why didn’t he join the Apostle Monument?” Qin Lun gestured with his chin toward the direction of the Advancing.

“The person who converted Bobby into an Apostle was a high-ranking member of the Light Team. Bobby admired him greatly and vowed to rebuild the Light Team. But his clan wanted him to switch to the Apostle Monument. Torn between the two, he decided to resolve it the Apostle way.” Robin said with a light laugh.

“Compared to these few, Huobiao and Sawa’s positions aren’t as firm. Both Huobiao and Sawa have their own teams and also wanted to see if the Order Front could hold up after the Light Team’s fall, which led to this adventure.”

“You missed one person. What about Bowei? What’s his story?” Qin Lun swirled his cup and asked quietly.

“Bowei is the strangest one among this group. He’s a bit like you—a peripheral member of the Light Team. From joining the Star Void to becoming a Second-Order Apostle, he only went through fourteen worlds but switched five or six mid-sized teams.” Robin frowned slightly and said calmly, “Although no negative rumors about him have circulated in the alliance, the teams he joined either were wiped out or suffered heavy losses and disbanded.”

“Do you suspect he caused it?” Qin Lun’s eyes gleamed, showing a flicker of interest.

“I don’t know, but as you know, becoming a Second-Order Apostle in just fourteen quest worlds—either you’re a freak like him, or he profited greatly by betraying his teammates.” Robin pursed her lips.

“Then why let him join this mission?” Qin Lun asked curiously.

“He came to us on his own. It was hard to refuse at such a time!” Robin suddenly rolled her eyes at Qin Lun and said thoughtfully, “I know why you’re asking about them. You suspect there’s a spy in the team… Have you found anything?”

“No, we can’t use Soul Sigil communication in the Gospel World. Our Telepathy range is too short. Even if there is a spy, they wouldn’t reveal themselves now.” Qin Lun said with a smile. “I was just asking casually!”

“I don’t believe you. If you don’t want to say, forget it!” Robin lazily stretched and curled up inside her sleeping bag.

…

The night passed without incident. Early the next morning, Qin Lun and the others quickly packed up and set off for the Gith ruins.

“Sir, I heard from Captain Robin that we can find technology to deal with Jannamer in this small plane, right?” Vera’s voice came through the mech squad’s communication channel.

Qin Lun smiled lightly. They couldn’t disclose the specific details of their mission to the Gith. However, in the Gospel World, the Star Void’s restrictions on Apostles weren’t too severe. Considering these Gith Flight Officers had fought and survived alongside them, Robin might have given a hint.

“This place is called Paranto. It’s the capital plane sealed away by the Gith Angel race over ten thousand years ago. It doesn’t just contain the technology of the Angel Race, but also comprehensive records of the entire angel civilization. It’s a true heritage site of civilization.”

Compared to Robin’s caution, Qin Lun had fewer reservations. Apart from the mission specifics, he revealed almost all the information the Star Void had about Paranto, withholding only what triggered warnings.

“Sir, from what you’re saying, are we Gith one of the two descendant branches the Angel Race left on the experimental planets?” Although Vera was the one asking, everyone in Qin Lun’s flight squad was listening. Alex couldn’t help but speak up now.

“Doesn’t that match what those historians speculated?” Meri, with her straightforward personality, laughed and said, “Our Gith Star has so many alien ruins, and there are ancient religions built around the angel creation legend. Many people have long believed that the Gith are a new humanity created by the Gith Angels in their own image.”

For a while, the squad’s communication channel buzzed with discussion. Qin Lun just nodded and smiled, not joining the topic.

The Star Void’s mission information didn’t mention whether the Gith were descendants of the Angel Race, and Qin Lun personally didn’t believe the Gith were one of the lineages left behind by the Angel Race before their disappearance.

Qin Lun had reasons for his guess. The Gith called that ancient civilization’s humans “Gith Angels,” but that didn’t mean they actually were Gith Angels. The Hismael could call that civilization’s humans “Hismere Angels.” The name itself didn’t prove anything.

The ancient human civilization, temporarily called the “Angel Race,” made two revolutionary efforts to preserve their civilization before sealing away the cosmic creature Jannamer. One involved the division of new individuals as spiritual lifeforms, which undoubtedly developed into the Hismere civilization.

However, the other experiment—creating cloned bodies for spiritual lifeforms—didn’t necessarily result in the present-day Gith humans.

Qin Lun based his speculation on two points. First, although the Gith closely resembled the Angel Race in appearance, the human physiological structure was too complex and wasn’t the best vessel for spiritual lifeforms. Such clones needed to be hardy, able to withstand “rough handling,” with simpler physiological structures, not as “delicate” as the human body.

Second, the Angel Race had sufficient technology to transform primal planets into life-bearing worlds. Logically, the two experimental planets, aside from needing secrecy, wouldn’t be too far apart, facilitating long-term monitoring and observation.

During their peak, the Gith occupied nearly half of Gith Star, yet only discovered the Hismael and the Insectoid much later. This indicated that Gith Star was quite far from the Hismael’s place of origin and might not be the other experimental subject.

Conversely, the Insectoid, who had been enemies of the Hismael for millions of years, fit both characteristics. The Insectoid’s vitality was robust, and their physiological structure was certainly simpler than humans’, able to endure “rough handling.”

Moreover, their origin was too close to the Hismael’s. If they weren’t the other experimental subject, it was hard to imagine two similarly advanced and powerful life forms evolving in such close stellar proximity.

The Angel Race needed a clone body capable of housing spiritual lifeforms, but they might not have placed high importance on appearance. If the experiment succeeded, with their technology, even if the body was insect-like, it could evolve into a human form. Qin Lun’s speculation was plausible.

As for the Gith, who always considered themselves descendants of angels, Qin Lun believed they were essentially unrelated to the Angel Race. The Angel Race loved peace and had provided selfless help and enlightenment to many primitive civilizations in the Gith Star System. The Gith might simply be one of those primitive civilizations.

A thousand years ago, the Gith drove both the warring Hismael and Insectoid out of the Gith Star System, but that didn’t prove much. If they hadn’t acquired much technology from the Hismael and Insectoid homelands, they might not have been able to resist when Jannamer attacked.

Even so, judging from the current war, their technology still lagged behind that of the Hismael and the Insectoid.

Of course, Qin Lun didn’t plan to share his speculation with Alex and the others. When the Gith truly obtained some legacy of the Angel Race during this mission, the truth would naturally come to light.