Lei Ting: "..."
Lei Ting: "??!!!"
"...What do you mean by that?" He was stunned, caught completely off guard by those words.
The Principal... was dying?
While it wasn't an incomprehensible concept, nor was it an impossible event... the suddenness of the statement made his heart skip a beat.
And... 'We'? Did this self-perception refer to His status as a dual-gendered entity?
No... Lei Ting looked at His face, a sense of alarm rising in his heart. That face... it was different from any 'Principal' he had seen. It seemed to be a jumbled amalgamation of many, many, many people. With just one glance, Lei Ting could discern the features of no fewer than ten acquaintances—all of them nameless faculty members aboard the *Sun*, such as the Logistics Chief and the Medical Chief.
A hazy vision flickered in his mind—something he had 'seen' in a muddled dream long ago, after a happy moment spent with 'Dean Lei.'
A bizarre conjecture, one that defied regulations and flouted the natural order, caused his gaze to shift, but he did not react outwardly. He believed he understood the Principal's way of doing things well enough—if the other party had called him here and opened the conversation with such explosive news, it meant there was much more waiting for him.
Seeing his reaction, the smile of the person in the tank, who called Himself 'Original—The Recorder,' grew brighter.
"I said the same thing to Evenheiler over a decade ago. His reaction was much bigger than yours." He shook His head with a laugh. "Looking at that fellow now, who would have thought he was such a hot-tempered young master back then..."
Evenheiler...
At the mention of that name, those eyes surfaced in Lei Ting's mind again. Those azure eyes, like an ocean bathed in sunlight. To today's interstellar society, such pure, primitive waves—hiding endless danger and power—were too far removed; they could only be seen on the Star Net.
This was because most planets possessing such vibrant oceans were either already occupied by surface civilizations or were destined to give rise to life. Consequently, they would be placed under the 'Multicultural Civilization Protection Project' by the Consortium, much like the Empire had been. From then on, all factions would do their best to minimize interference with such primitive civilizations, lest they be collectively pummeled by the Consortium members.
"...Evenheiler Kang?" he asked, repeating the name.
"Yes. He told me you saw his face," the Principal in the tank chuckled. "And I told him, 'Oh, what's so bad about that? Let there be one more person in this world who remembers that the owner of this face is still alive'—it truly is good, isn't it? Your power allows you to remember everything. The 'Immovable' attribute is truly cruel... Speaking of which, you discovered the true nature of the *Sun* long ago, and I couldn't even use mental interference to make you forget it for long..."
He seemed to have gone a long time without speaking to anyone like this, making Him appear somewhat talkative. That voice, suspended between male and female, seemed to blend the timbres of many people, yet they were so harmoniously unified that it didn't even feel like a chorus of different individuals; it was simply a complex sound issued by 'the same individual.'
As for what He said...
Lei Ting's expression remained calm, and he stayed silent.
With the evolution of his super-ability, he had long ago realized a certain fact.
—[*The 'Sun' is an illusion; it does not exist in physical space.*]
The dream he had before opening his eyes to see Evenheiler hadn't actually been a dream. Rather, it was his turbulent spirit briefly floating to a higher level, witnessing the truth of it all.
It was a psychic force so powerful it defied his imagination. It had deceived the very space it occupied, causing a forty-two-kilometer-long vintage dreadnought to appear. Year after year, it carried the new hopes of humanity across the starry sky, through 'Chang'an' and 'Rome,' across the distance from the New Solar System to the Capital System... passing through the beginning of the story and its current end, delivering children to the new origin of their life stories.
And the being powerful enough to support this with His own psychic energy across the stars was now in the tank before Lei Ting, wearing His old uniform.
But Lei Ting could sense a concentration of metal within those clothes identical to that of His physical body, including the badge on His chest. Those weren't 'clothes,' nor was it a 'badge'; they were surface body tissues that had mimicked those forms.
"Looking at you, it seems you've discovered quite a lot more." The Principal sighed with a smile. "Then let us tell a story...
"...Don't worry, it isn't long. It's too dull—so dull that even I have to use selective narration in the telling."
...
...
...
A long while later, Lei Ting sat somewhat dazed in a metal chair he had fashioned himself, looking up at the figure suspended several meters above the ground.
By now, He had reverted to His 'most comfortable form'—a twisted monster with one red eye and one blue. Its five-to-six-meter-tall frame was a hue of black and red, its sharp claws long and terrifying, and its back was covered in tens of thousands of densely packed eyes... and according to Him, every single one of those eyes represented a person.
"We closed one eye, representing the end of our lives. The other eye watches the future here; that is all we have left," the Principal said softly.
"My left eye is red, coming from the strongest esper of humanity at the time, 'Gomorrah.' My right eye is blue, coming from the best engineer of humanity at the time, 'Sheelin.' And the core of this 'Me' is... well, the two of them.
"And everyone else came from the *Sun* of that year..."
—Just like the *Sun* itself, all the nameless people aboard it, including the two 'Principals,' were an illusion.
Every one of them was a clone of the Principal, and they were the *Sun* itself.
As for the Principal, He was the collective entity of the workers, soldiers, and passengers once aboard the *Sun*. During that legendary 'lucky' evacuation, they had actually encountered a terrible disaster, becoming lost for a time in a place that did not exist in the material world.
The hundreds of thousands on the ship died in massive waves. By the time only fifty thousand remained, they chose to fuse everyone's souls, using Captain Sheelin and First Mate Gomorrah as the core. Ultimately, in the body of a twisted monster akin to an Abomination, they dragged the *Sun*—carrying the last of their data—back to reality.
Because most of the survivors were espers, the soul energy of this newborn individual was incredibly vast. But because the soul energy was too massive to remain stable, He autonomously split into male and female entities with different personalities, as well as other personas—
—And those personas capable of appearing in public were all former 'Sun shipboard personnel.'
From then on, the day-to-day activities of the intervening years were skipped over in the Principal's explanation.
"However, the *Sun* can only take fifty thousand students at a time, which forced the various systems to establish their own military academies. That's quite a regrettable thing," He laughed. His voice, though somewhat terrifying, was full of lightheartedness as it echoed through the space. "But I couldn't help it... in the end, we only had fifty thousand-some people left. No matter how I rounded the numbers, there couldn't be more."
Lei Ting's brow twitched.
"Your emotions are fluctuating wildly. This is the first time I've successfully sensed your feelings since your awakening period ended," the Principal marveled. "What complex emotions... but why do I feel... pain among them? Are you pitying me? ...No, that's not it... You are pained by our experience, pained by our pain. How wonderful. In this regard, you are just like Evenheiler. But you find it easier to calm down than he does—'Immovable' is truly a sorrowful thing."
He rambled on: "But you needn't worry. Even if history is mistaken, the stars remember everything about us: our glory and our decline, our dreams and our past."
"..." Lei Ting closed his eyes. He found it hard to say when he had last felt such complex emotions.
"Set your mind at ease," They said. "Our shattering was for a greater unity. For a better future, for the present where someone can still listen to our stories."
"...Fine, then you..." Lei Ting paused. "...You two continue."
He leaned back into his chair, his expression calm and cold.
"School hasn't started yet anyway. I have time to listen to you tell it slowly," he said.
The Principal looked at him, seeming as if He wanted to smile, yet also as if He were sighing in His heart.
"This isn't good," He said. "One day, you will be hurt because of the gentleness of your nature. A deep, unforgettable hurt."
"If that day ever comes," Lei Ting said softly, "I'll just consider it a lesson learned."
...
...
...
Several days later, having finished listening to the 'Principal's' final story, Lei Ting finished the last bite of the apple in his hand. Holding the core he was about to throw out, he asked, "So, telling me these stories... was it just because you wanted to vent?"
The fact that humanity didn't originally have six genders, the fact that the data of human civilization was actually well-preserved during the escape from the Origin System but much of it was now sealed away for certain reasons... interesting secrets, but Lei Ting didn't understand why the other party was telling him.
"Obviously not. We only did it so you would remember them... Your power ensures you never forget anything; anything you 'forget' is only because you chose to. Time cannot truly shake your memory; it is as inviolable as your control over metal. Therefore, 'The Recorder' is recording all of this within your memory," the other party chuckled softly. The twisted, terrifying monstrous form produced the most gentle and bright voice. "And you don't mind listening to an old person's chatter, do you?"
Lei Ting thought about it and gave a small smile, shrugging. He truly didn't mind. No, if anything... his hobby of collecting external information had been satisfied in the process.
But at the same time, he had a few questions he wanted to ask.
"So, then..." he asked softly, "The six genders... were they created through genetic adjustment and modification?"
"Yes," the Principal said. "The 'Originals' of pure Earth bloodline had no such classification."
Lei Ting's eyelid twitched. "The Alpha's susceptibility period and the Omega's heat... humanity finally managed to solve those during biological evolution. Why were they engineered back in?"
—To be fair, although he had confirmed in previous tests that 'Immovable' allowed him to calmly endure the fluctuations of a susceptibility-like state while fighting, he found it hard to understand the purpose of their existence, much like an Omega's heat.
And the 'Principal's' answer to this was...
"First, the six genders are actually a joint byproduct of the 'Esper Universalization' project and the 'Esper Ascension' project. Second, isn't it better to concentrate desires into a specific period and then solve them through scientific means?" He quipped. "Without such things, humans would be a race in heat twenty-four hours a day, all year round... In an era of war, we could afford to give birth but not to raise them."
"But such animalistic periods are a weakness as long as they exist." Lei Ting spoke with a confused expression. "Did no one think of solving them?"
In today's interstellar society, too many people had to purchase suppressants and inhibitors year-round. This was especially true for those rare individuals overly sensitive to pheromones—good grief, those people practically wished their veins were filled with suppressants instead of a single drop of blood...
"...This touches upon the most fundamental issue."
The Principal spoke softly, a hint of sorrow entering His tone.
"...This starry sky needs the existence of the race known as 'Humanity.' But it must become different from what 'We' once were, child." He let out a long sigh. "From life forms to cultural habits... everything must change. The stars have their own measure for this.
"We bestowed the name 'Humanity' upon you and called ourselves 'Originals' in the darkness. And the 'Humanity' of today is developing on a correct path... one that avoids danger. This is good; it does not need to change.
"Remember the past, but do not try to reclaim it. Otherwise, everyone will end up looking like us."
***
