"That heart, if I had to say, it seemed to come from outer space, an alien object. I can only say that thing doesn't belong to humans, or in other words, it's not something our current human technological level can achieve."
Qin Chuan: "Did you not consider the direction of mysterious powers?"
Chu Yu smiled: "You mean a creator god?"
Qin Chuan nodded. This wasn't just his random speculation or superstition. Within the Lighthouse, there was a small group of people in high positions who, after learning the operational principles of the Lighthouse, spontaneously formed a religion that revered the creator god.
Although the number of followers was small, each individual was a person who could influence various aspects of the Lighthouse.
Chu Yu: "Actually, it's about the same. Perhaps in the eyes of aliens, humans like us are as easily manipulated as insects. So, if you say that heart is some kind of creation god, there's no problem."
"You mentioned earlier that the heart could make all four Lighthouses operate simultaneously. What's that about?"
"The Lighthouses were originally connected into a massive disc-shaped structure. In fact, it was a bit like the four corners of a cube. The initial idea was to place the heart in the central core processor, and then propel all four Lighthouses off the ground."
"But Xia Jin soon discovered that doing so would result in all four Lighthouses being unable to remain airborne for long."
"To prevent one person from monopolizing power, the control of the Lighthouses was managed by different people. Xia Jin privately contacted the liaison for the Lighthouse we are currently on, telling them that as long as they could detach a single Lighthouse and had enough fuel, they could leave Earth and find a new home."
This news had an immense impact on the three of them, no less explosive than an asteroid impact on Earth.
"You mean to say that the Lighthouse we are currently on is actually a group of traitors?! Xia Jin led people to betray the entire Huaxia Nation?" Zhou Haimei's voice trembled slightly, as if her lifelong beliefs had collapsed at this moment.
"It's impossible, how could this be."
Zhou Haimei wasn't the only one who found this hard to believe. Even Qin Chuan's brows were tightly furrowed.
Only Xu An recalled a friend she had met before, "But I had a friend who explicitly said she had received an invitation from another Lighthouse, but for some reason, she declined and decided to stay on the ground. What's going on with that?"
Chu Yu didn't mind their suspicion. After all, who would want to believe that the beacon of life they thought was salvation was actually a traitor who abandoned their homeland and fled alone?
"The design of the four bases was different from the very beginning. The Lighthouse, for example, was designed with future technology, gathering humanity's most cutting-edge science and technology. The reason you need to go down so frequently to collect supplies is also due to the deficiency in this area. Originally, this Lighthouse should have had a companion Lighthouse, and the other Lighthouse was completely different, focusing more on agriculture and basic production industries."
As Chu Yu explained, the doubts that had been hidden in everyone's hearts for a long time were finally resolved.
For example, why the Lighthouse, capable of creating "light screens" and light rail trains, could barely ensure the most basic problem of food.
It turned out to be because it had severed its agricultural supply.
"After your Lighthouse defected, the remaining Lighthouses, though they lost their lifting capabilities, were still human technological crystallization. One of these Lighthouses became the predecessor of the Southern Base, while the other two were shattered due to infighting among the highest leaders. One, being the supply hub for the current Lighthouse, simply took the supplies and found a new place to live in seclusion. As far as I know, a year ago they found a hidden canyon."
"After that, their signal was lost."
The other three looked as if their doubts had been cleared up.
This also resolved Xu An's long-standing confusion.
"I've always been curious, such a large Lighthouse, even equipped with everything from food and clothing to housing and transportation, but it's extremely short on energy consumption. At first, I thought it was because the Lighthouse consumed too much energy, which forced us to resupply every three months. I never expected it was for this reason."
Chu Yu, on the other side, stopped eating and said sarcastically, "High energy consumption? When the Lighthouse first tested its flight, those people already knew about the Lighthouse's energy consumption. How could they have flown in the sky for so long and only then realized the high energy consumption? And the places the Lighthouse took you to find energy were mostly remote volcanic canyons and oil fields, also because they were afraid of being captured by the remaining combat power in the city centers. Moreover, the Lighthouse itself knew that there was no longer such a vast amount of energy in the city centers."
At this moment, Qin Chuan, who had been silent, suddenly spoke.
"Is it because of that abandoned energy Lighthouse?"
Chu Yu did not deny it, nodding.
"At that time, China had gathered almost the entire nation's strength. To avoid causing public panic, all the energy was secretly channeled into that Lighthouse through special means." Chu Yu's originally mocking smile gradually turned into a wry smile. "I really don't know whether to praise you for cutting off a limb to save the body, or for your stupidity. Even if you wanted to defect, abandoning your own supply station, it's truly..."
At this point, everyone was speechless.
Although these four people had no direct connection to this matter, Chu Yu still used the word "you."
Perhaps, from the moment Xu An and the others chose to board this Lighthouse, or perhaps, from the moment the Lighthouse chose to defect initially.
They were destined to be in two camps.
And they could only be described with "you" and "me" to represent this unspeakable relationship.
"What about the Southern Base?" Xu An was still one of the rational ones among them, not getting too bogged down by what Chu Yu said.
She was someone who had lived through it again. Although the truth of this life shocked her, there were still many things she couldn't understand. However, now was clearly not the time for a full disclosure.
In her previous life, the Lighthouse also took off, though not with the same scale as the current Lighthouse. So, was the Lighthouse in her previous life also a deserter?
If Chu Yu's explanation was correct, it could also explain why the Lighthouse eventually went to war with the people on the ground.
But Xu An always felt there was something fishy about it.
For instance, in her previous life, she hadn't been to the Lighthouse and didn't know if Xia Jin was on the Lighthouse in her previous life.
And Xia Jin and she were the biggest variables in these two lives.
She might not be familiar with the Lighthouse, but she was familiar with the ground. In her previous life, by the end, there was no formal and massive base shelter like the Southern Base.
Chu Yu looked at Xu An and found that this woman seemed overly rational. Even he, when first facing such a situation, couldn't help but immerse himself in it, but Xu An was constantly thinking.
She appeared completely unmoved.
"It's as you guessed. The Southern Base was the predecessor of one of the original four Lighthouses, and it was the only Lighthouse completely controlled by the central government of Huaxia."