Alaska’s Underground Main City · Central Stone Tower · Panoramic Science Auditorium
Three years had passed since the last meeting, which had been a memorial for the thousands of scholars who had perished across the Eurasian continent.
“I propose a moment of silence for our lost history and all those who gave their lives at the Northern Ireland refuge,” said a man's voice.
The mournful sound of a violin resonated through the room, and the attendees fell silent. A young scientist sat at the front, gently drawing his bow across the strings of a violin. The scholars seated themselves, women removing hats draped in black veils, and men displaying white flowers in their suit pockets. Nameplates were arranged on the tables, and over a hundred seats were set aside for military observers, who formed a distinct faction from the scholars.
Lights gradually dimmed from the back of the hall to the front, leaving only a thin beam of light on the podium. A large screen flickered on.
Zheng Rong stepped up to the central podium, quietly listening until the violin fell silent. After a brief hum from the microphone, an indicator light signaled that it was ready for use.
“I am the one who caused all of this,” Zheng Rong said.
An elderly woman sitting in the back row spoke slowly, “The invaders from the Maya Star were the cause. Please don’t blame yourself too much, my child. I speak for myself, but I trust you will explain the events to us.”
“Thank you,” Zheng Rong replied softly.
Joseph and a few others, who had been granted temporary release, sat in the military observation section. Xiang Yu encouraged him, “Zheng Rong, do your best.”
Scattered applause rippled through the hall.
“Ladies and gentlemen, good evening.”
Zheng Rong wore a white shirt with a black armband. His voice remained cold, devoid of tension or excitement.
“I bring to you a tale of adventure from the past month and some insider details regarding the fall of the Northern Ireland region. I speak on behalf of ‘The Teacher,’ who, regrettably, is not in good enough health to attend personally. He has asked me to convey his wish for your forgiveness.”
The hall was silent.
“I am Zheng Rong, a Chinese citizen and a member of the Northern Ireland Association of Survivors. I hold a Ph.D. in history and esoteric phenomena. Perhaps many of my colleagues here have never heard of such a discipline—it primarily focuses on deducing prehistoric civilizations through human relics and searching for the origins of the Mayan prophecy.”
“You are Zheng Feng’s brother,” a young scholar interjected.
Zheng Rong nodded. “Yes. Our research directions differ, but our goals are aligned.”
“This research center was established in 2013, with my father and Sikamon, the curator of the Northern Ireland Museum of History and Culture, as its earliest leaders. Unfortunately, both have since perished. Another victim was a female doctor, Lanie. Once again, we mourn the fallen.”
“Now, please allow me to introduce someone who served as the collector of the subsequent data. My knight, Li Ying.”
Zheng Rong paused briefly and pressed a button, and a line of text appeared on the screen.
“Li Ying, born in Gansu, China. All of his relatives died in an alien invasion in 2015. He has been an orphan since childhood.”
“Li Ying enlisted in 2029 as a reserve member of the Human Joint Resistance Force and joined the Allied Special Forces in 2033. He achieved excellent academic results and earned a first-class merit citation for his role in covering the North Atlantic strategic retreat. He was the four-time champion of the military’s hand-to-hand combat competition.”
“He was an experimental subject in the high-molecular electrofusion material deployment program and a pioneer of the first human undercover project.”
“And the only one,” someone added.
“Yes,” Zheng Rong continued, “The ‘Seed Team’ consisted of 1,400 individuals. All perished during that covert mission. He was their captain and the sole survivor. Now, let’s take a look at the information he retrieved from the Mayan mothership.”
“These messages are preserved as memory fragments, filtered through ‘The Teacher,’ and presented as direct images and sounds. I will act as your commentator.”
Zheng Rong pressed a second button, and all the lights went out. The screen showed a scatter of white static before fading to blank whiteness.
Li Ying’s Memories:“Today marks the first day of our mission to enter the mothership. We are making our way into the spacecraft amidst the Mayan searchlights.”
The screen displayed a vast, white room. The perspective moved as Li Ying looked around.
“This seems to be the edge of the ship. I wonder how the others who surrendered are doing. What news might they bring to the gods? I am the chosen servant.”
“Please note,” Zheng Rong added, “Special forces receive training in self-hypnosis to guard against Mayan brainwave detection. It’s a form of disguise.”
“Understandable,” a man seated at the far left of the audience agreed.
Li Ying pressed forward through the endless corridors. Silver doors of the spacecraft automatically opened as he approached.
“Where is the god?”Li Ying’s view scanned the circular pathway. The lengthy duration showed him walking continuously through smooth, alloy-covered walls and corners. The corridor seemed endless.
“During this time, he didn’t speak a word,” Zheng Rong explained. “This means he wasn’t thinking anything, maintaining a state of pure unconsciousness to avoid detection by the Mayans.”
Li Ying grew tired, sitting against a wall. His view showed his cowboy jacket, from which he took out a wallet and opened it, revealing a photo of four young men.
“Please take note,” Zheng Rong pointed with a laser pointer to a piece of paper falling in the corner of the screen. “This serves as a marker to prevent him from walking in circles within the ring-shaped pathway.”
Li Ying removed the photo and folded it to reveal another—one of him affectionately holding Zheng Rong by the shoulder.
“When I attain immortality, I’ll come back for my sweetheart. Can’t even obtain refugee status, stuck living at a Malaysian military base.”
Zheng Rong’s voice remained cold. “This was the first lie he used to test. Mentioning the Malaysian base was bait set by the military.”
The screen changed to blue sky and sea, stretching to the horizon. The sea breeze was gentle as Li Ying held Zheng Rong’s hand, climbing over rocks to find a cave by the coast.
Li Ying patted Zheng Rong’s head, saying, “Sweetheart, there’s only one form left. You go inside. I’ll think of another way.”
Zheng Rong commented, “Using a memory of our past vacation, they created false information, revealing the bait’s location. This was the first test. If the Mayans could intercept brainwaves to analyze thoughts, they would deploy machines to scout the Malaysian base. The estimated response time was seven hours. But regardless of whether they investigated or not, they would likely grant Li Ying a face-to-face meeting. But they didn’t.”
The silver corridor seemed endless as Li Ying continued his walk.
The screen went black, then lit up again, this time focusing on a wristwatch.
“I’ve tested the location, the magnetic cannon’s effects, and the electromagnetic-controlled mechanical killers. No Mayan has come to see me.”
Zheng Rong narrated, “He tried three probing methods, ultimately confirming that the Mayans couldn’t analyze human brainwaves. Two days had passed since he entered the craft. Much of the memory was scattered, fragmented.”
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“Safe for now. Rations are running low. Thirsty. Why am I like a rat in a maze? Where is everyone else? No one is communicating.”Li Ying frequently checked his watch.
Zheng Rong continued, “The watch had a secret signal that would display a code if any teammates were nearby.”The hands of the watch began to rotate slowly at first, then faster and faster.
“What’s going on?”Li Ying started running through the corridor, shouting, “Is anyone there?”The view blurred.
A scholar raised their hand. “Please, go on,” Zheng Rong encouraged.
The scholar observed, “The maze effect is starting to take hold. The circumference of the circular path seems to be shrinking.”
“Yes, he realized this problem as well,” Zheng Rong confirmed.Li Ying stopped walking.
“It’s spiral-shaped. Good.”He continued forward.
“This was the afternoon of his third day on the Mayan mothership,” Zheng Rong said. “Finally, he walked the entire spiral corridor and reached a place with ‘people.’”
Li Ying, panting, entered a spacious hall lined with over ten thousand metallic cocoons.
The audience collectively gasped.Each silver cocoon was housed inside a transparent sphere with strange patterns on its surface.
Li Ying skeptically approached one of the metallic cocoons and pulled out two silk gloves—one black and one red—from his pocket.
“This is a type of weapon submitted seven years ago,” Zheng Rong explained. “High-molecular resonant gloves, which can be controlled with conscious thought to resonate at the molecular level, allowing them to easily slice through any solid material.”
“They’re sleeping?”A slight click was heard as Li Ying quickly turned his head, seeing a cocoon emerge from a sphere in the corner.
“Wait!” Li Ying shouted, rushing over.
More clicks followed, and five or six cocoons opened, releasing insect-like creatures.Li Ying retreated in fear, backing toward the entrance as the insectoid cocoons swiveled to surround him.Zheng Rong paused the footage, saying slowly, “We can infer that these cocoons possess a self-awareness.”
“Yes,” one attendee agreed. “This is speculation, not confirmation. From his perspective, all the cocoons appear identical, without any distinguishing features. If they were merely tools, they would have emerged in a specific sequence. Moreover…”
Zheng Rong nodded, “Moreover, upon leaving the spheres, they should have simultaneously turned in one direction. By rewinding and zooming in, we see that the insects didn’t turn toward Li Ying simultaneously; there were differences in timing, which rules out a central command giving orders to the cocoons.”
Zheng Rong added thoughtfully, “This raises the first question: How can machines possess their own thoughts?”
Six metallic cocoons extended their limbs toward Li Ying, flashing with red light.“They’re scanning his pupils,” Zheng Rong explained. “He lost consciousness.”The screen gradually faded to black.
“This is consistent with the cocoons we encountered during our expedition. It is very likely this is the true face of the Mayans,” Zheng Rong said.
“Maybe we should call them ‘Maya Insectoids,’” someone suggested.“No,” Zheng Rong shook his head. “What follows may upend that idea.”
After a brief moment of darkness, the view gradually brightened. Li Ying opened his eyes, squinting against a blinding light.
He lay before a large door, surrounded by a sea of blue.
Li Ying sat up abruptly.“What’s behind that door?” Li Ying wondered, feeling the smooth metal beneath his hands and quickly scrambling back.
A cocoon extended a metallic limb, pressing a button next to the door.
“Wait!” a scholar exclaimed.“Good observation,” Zheng Rong acknowledged.
The footage rewound, freezing on the moment the cocoon’s limb reached for the button, revealing twelve flashing symbols.
Scholars started whispering among themselves. Zheng Rong added, “‘The Teacher’ has constructed a complex hypothesis regarding this, but I’d like to hear your thoughts first to refine it.”
After some discussion, a Black woman was chosen to speak.
“Liz Akashir, specialist in human-machine ergonomics,” she introduced herself. “I’ve closely reviewed the symbols in your report,” she gestured with the booklet. “Each symbol of the Mayan Star language appears to hold a unique symbolic meaning. However, I believe that the most revealing clue lies in the process of opening the door.”
Zheng Rong nodded. “I think so too.”
“Judging from the height of the buttons in comparison to Mr. Li Ying, they are positioned around 140 centimeters above the ground—not designed for the cocoons to press. And, look at the height of the door itself; it’s not meant for cocoons to pass through.”
Zheng Rong confirmed, “It’s a device meant for human use, or more precisely, humanoid intelligent beings.”Liz nodded and sat down.
A young man who had spoken earlier commented, “I’m more curious about what’s behind the door. Please continue.”
“The information coming next is critical,” Zheng Rong pressed play as the door opened slowly.
More cocoons gathered—over ten of them—guiding Li Ying gently forward.
“Calm down. Are you finally going to meet me?”
In the darkness, a glowing disc hovered at the center of a hall, roughly one meter in diameter. A figure floated on top of it.
“Antigravity technology,” Zheng Rong noted. “Humans have made some preliminary breakthroughs.”
As Li Ying stepped into the circular hall, he quickly scanned his surroundings. The hall was lined with six green capsules embedded in the walls. Each capsule held a blurry, featureless humanoid form, all about twice the height of a normal person—close to two meters tall.
The figure floating on the central disc was naked, with waxy yellow skin, no hair, no facial features, and no genitalia.
Zheng Rong paused the footage. “We finally meet the main characters. I believe these creatures, which appear human but are not, are the Mayans. Now, what do you think the cocoons are?”
The discussions grew louder until Zheng Rong signaled for silence.
“Our hypothesis is that they are not simply electronic tools. ‘The Teacher’ posits that if consciousness exists as a composite wave of particles in a virtual space, then we can put forward a hypothesis: The ‘soul’ of the aliens can travel freely between different carriers.”
A person raised their hand. “So, do you think the special creatures in this room are the true bodies of the Mayans? They don’t dare to use the vulnerable bodies stored in the capsules and instead use the cocoons as proxies for action to avoid damaging their physical forms?”
An older scientist added, “Such a theory is entirely possible within the realm of highly advanced technology. Just as humans could transfer consciousness into a machine carrier and then switch back after completing tasks.”
“In other words,” Zheng Rong said slowly, “Each cocoon is essentially a small operation unit housing a Mayan consciousness. Now, let’s consider another question.”
“There are already twenty-three metallic cocoons around Li Ying. Let’s count: One, two... six.” Zheng Rong’s tone was calm. “The bodies in the capsules number only six. According to the radar’s detected points of light, this room is the endpoint of the spiral corridor—the central hub of the entire craft.”
A military officer spoke, “The central location, with no operating consoles or screens... I believe it is the leader on the floating disc that controls the entire craft and slaughters humans.”
Zheng Rong nodded, “That’s our initial hypothesis. So, what exactly are these cocoons? Let’s keep watching.”
He pressed play, and Li Ying, bewildered, drew closer to the disc. The Mayan turned to face him.
A close-up shot showed the Mayan’s skin and head.
“Pay attention to its skin and head,” Zheng Rong said quietly.
The head of the Mayan leader, initially devoid of features, began to change. Eyes emerged, eye sockets receded, a slit opened for a mouth, ears slowly formed, and nostrils appeared as the nose took shape.
It opened its mouth, and Li Ying asked, “Who are you?”
In a dry, rasping voice, like a struggling voice box, the Mayan uttered two syllables: “Li... Da.”
Li Ying stepped back slowly.“Pause!” another person shouted.
“We need to see more,” Zheng Rong insisted.
The Mayan’s face contorted into an array of expressions—smiling, crying, frowning—before all the features disappeared again.
The screen went black once more, and Zheng Rong paused the footage. “Li Ying lost consciousness again. Now we can begin our discussion, but first, let’s replay that scene.”
Zheng Rong slowed down the footage to eight times slower than normal, capturing the expressions that followed the Mayan’s first words and the way it looked at Li Ying.
The room was silent, everyone holding their breath as the screen displayed the grotesque face cycling through dozens of expressions.
“This is eight times slower. Let’s make it even slower,” Zheng Rong suggested, adjusting it to thirty-two times slower, revealing each movement clearly.
In just over four seconds, the alien’s face displayed a mix of conflicting expressions, as if combining all human emotions at once.
“What does it look like?” Zheng Rong asked.
The young scholar who had spoken several times raised his hand. Zheng Rong recognized him—it was the young man who played the violin earlier.
“Anthony Sides, a specialist in psychology and behavioral biology,” the young man introduced himself.
The scholars quieted down as Anthony began to speak.
“It looks like a patient with schizophrenia, producing nearly ten contradictory expressions in a little over four seconds. The speed of thought must have been extremely fast, making thousands of assumptions and negations, likely deducing Li Ying’s identity.”
Zheng Rong was silent for a moment before replying, “That is very close to our guess. The alien’s thought process differs from that of humans.”
“Not just humans,” Anthony continued. “Earth’s biological thought patterns are sequential. For example, when we think and express logically, we can unify multiple aspects of consciousness within one personality. Divergent thinking is characterized by a lack of sequentiality.”
Zheng Rong confirmed, “So a schizophrenic person is completely unable to control their series of actions because of this?”
Anthony nodded. “In layman’s terms, yes.”
“’The Teacher’ hypothesized that the way they think is fundamentally different from ours,” Zheng Rong said. “When humans attempt to understand something, the process is: Organize the information obtained, compare it to references in memory, filter, and deduce—just as we are doing now.”
“It,” Zheng Rong pointed with his laser, fixing on the last odd expression of the Mayan, “may have split its thinking center into multiple independent modules upon seeing Li Ying, simultaneously making countless assumptions and hypotheses, then eliminating conflicts before finally reaching a conclusion. The myriad expressions it displayed reflect its thoughts.”
Anthony commented, “I cannot infer its final thoughts based on those expressions.”
Zheng Rong clarified, “We don’t need to. ‘The Teacher’ proposed two possible hypotheses for this expression. The first possibility is that, in those few seconds, its consciousness split into countless independent entities that debated and persuaded each other, finally reaching a complex conclusion.”
“The second possibility,” Zheng Rong continued slowly, “is that many souls live within its mind.”
Everyone was struck with a chilling realization as Zheng Rong resumed the footage, leaving the screen dark. “Now, let’s discuss the first words it said when meeting Li Ying.”
In the darkness, Li Ying’s voice echoed repeatedly: “Li Da, Li Da.”
Zheng Rong explained, “This is part of Li Ying’s deep self-hypnosis, reminding himself repeatedly that the word is of utmost importance.”
“What does it mean? A name?” someone finally asked, unable to contain their curiosity.
“During our analysis, we cross-referenced nearly three thousand languages, ultimately returning to the Mayan language. Dr. Joseph, a specialist in linguistic and cultural studies, confirmed our hypothesis—”
“In ancient Mayan,” Zheng Rong said slowly, “Li Da” means…
“Save me.”