Stellaris from the Automata Era

"Look carefully, this is how psychic energy is used."

'Yan Luo' said this to someone unknown.

Then, a bright yellow light in the sky began to confront it.

'I told you, don't try to control them! They're mine!'

"He will neither lose nor win, as long as I am still on Earth. But this future is destined to be a long and painful process. I always feel that my situation is a bit similar to that of someone else...

Forget it, if you want to avoid it, you have to change your approach. Remember, never back down, just be reckless."

The screen ends.

Chapter 166: Future, Past, and Parallel Worlds

Zeratul almost thought he had found a Xel'Naga in human skin.

It’s not because the alien master with human appearance has immeasurable psychic power... Well, this may also be one of the factors.

After all, according to their next-door neighbors, the Terrans, the Alien Lord definitely has a level 12 psychic fluctuation, and this is just the upper limit of their level classification, which is only 12. If they want to expand it further, they have to upgrade the measurement equipment first.

Of course, relying solely on the size of psychic power was not enough to make him almost mistake his ancestors. The Zerg's Blade Queens were different, with immeasurable level 12 psychic power. Didn't you see how powerful these Protoss who claimed to be the eldest sons of God were in fighting?

What really made him mistakenly believe was that at the moment when Yan Luo, the lord of the alien body, released his spiritual energy and the dazzling yellow light dyed his eyes, he almost shouted out the word "high dimension" in his heart.

However, it seems that there is still something missing.

In fact, his mentality has changed a lot since he embarked on his journey to find the remains of the Xel'Naga. If he was just looking for ways to eliminate the Zerg at the beginning, now he is determined to break the dark shadow of death that shrouds the Koprulu sector.

Especially after he came into contact with the mind of the former master of the Zerg, he immediately understood his mission.

The prophecies he gave to Yan Luo were all the future that the Zerg Overlord had once glimpsed with his huge psychic power. There were two parts in total. One was that the Protoss would angrily resist until they were destroyed and the stars would fade away. The other part had been given to Yan Luo.

To be honest, he shouldn't have believed the information given by the Zerg Overlord, not to mention that the Overlord was the culprit who broke through the Protoss home planet Aiur and made him an eternal sinner.

From an opposing perspective, his instinct should be to refute this.

However, the ruins he unearthed contained prophecies about the end of the world, and with the guidance of a certain Protoss spirit who had perished together with the Overmind, he had no choice but to accept this situation.

Therefore, after excavating another piece of ruins, he thought carefully and decided to find his Terran friend, a Ranger Commander, to convey the message that the Queen of Blades was very important and must not be allowed to die.

However, when passing by a certain star field, he accidentally encountered a mechanical creation and mechanical life form that he had seen in the prophetic fragment.

They are very weak, and compared to the iron army that can rival the Dark God as mentioned in the prophecy, they are now like a newborn baby.

This made him wonder if something went wrong.

So he changed his itinerary again.

It must be admitted that Yan Luo's order for the mechanical life forms to make irregular movements in the star region did play a significant role.

Even the Dark Archbishop Zeratul ran around for several days but was unable to find the location of the Earth by following their tracks. In the end, he patiently restored the original tracks of all mechanical life and tried them one by one like peeling off an onion. Only then did he pass through two wormholes and find the location of the Earth.

Fortunately, Yan Luo did not expand the range of his trajectory and the time was not enough. If it had been a while, Zeratul might have published a book called Star Trek.

Anyway, leaving these details aside, Zeratul eventually met Yan Luo who was on vacation on Earth.

The first impression of the observation was not very good. Zeratul initially felt that he had seen a weak mortal.

Compared to the 'Yan Luo' predicted to be able to shake a planet, this... is simply two different species!

He might re-examine the authenticity of the prophecy made by his former enemy.

However, just as he was about to leave and explore the prophecy again, Yan Luo unleashed his psychic power.

At that moment, Zeratul seemed to have glimpsed the essence of a human-skinned creature. Only then did the Alien Lord in the prophecy fragment and the current Yan Luo overlap.

Although the expressiveness is not enough and it seems a bit weak, but... a weak mechanical life form, a weak alien master, isn't it because time has not settled enough?

The shadow of darkness is imminent. Although the time of the predicted outbreak cannot be determined, all signs indicate that it should be in the near future. Whether they can reach the predicted height in such a short time remains to be seen.

So is it a mistake in the prophecy... or is the other party growing too fast?

For a moment, Zeratul was a little confused.

But no matter what happened in the end, he pulled the Alien Lord and his followers into the camp against darkness. In fact, Yan Luo's initiative to invite him to stay for a short time was more to his liking.

In this way, he can better release the goodwill of the entire Protoss.

Some time has passed since Yan Luo watched the prophecy brought by Zeratul.

After viewing this future, he has been in deep thought.

My performance in that clip was so outstanding.

Every move and word of 'myself' seemed to know that this was an image in the residual memory. No, it was no longer an image, it was the real hammer.

He even wanted to teach himself how to use the huge spiritual power in his body. Although he only said a few words, the actual demonstration made Yan Luo feel that he had gained some understanding and improvement in the nature of power.

But this is what Yan Luo is worried about. When did he become so strong that he could face the evil god head-on?

Although he always felt like a child wielding an atomic bomb when it came to psychic powers, there was still a lot of room for improvement.

However, the time from the liberation of the entire Koprulu sector by a Ranger Commander to the unification of the Protoss by a Great Khan to the recapture of their homeland was compact and short.

No matter how I think about it, I can never reach the height described in the clip. Moreover, if it really is me, I can just ignore it and let the interstellar space develop freely and wait for the Dark God to accept his destined death.

But in the end, they all hit the Earth! Where did the butterfly flap its wings? Where is the variable? Is that person really me?

Think carefully, the mechanical fleet mentioned, the fleeing Protoss, the psychic powers that resisted everything, the legion of mechanical lifeforms that protected him... and so on? What about the humanoids?

By the way, human forms were also seen, but that "self" rarely focused on the human form. There were some, but few, as if the main body of "him" was a mechanical life form.

This is completely different from him.

Suddenly, he seemed to remember what a higher-dimensional creature had said.

"I'm not sure... After all, your future could have had countless branches, but now there are only three clear, opposing, and distinct paths."

"I have to talk to Zeratul first. Who can help me invite that friendly alien creature?"

Chapter 167: So you are the real Xel'Naga, right?

Yan Luo and Zeratul met again in his residential area, which was called a factory but was actually a palace.

Because Yan Luo had been reflecting deeply on himself before, his seaside vacation soon came to an end.

Because Yan Luo needed to think and Zeratul promised Yan Luo that he needed to stay, he went with Yoerha and hundreds of humanoids holding swords as a "guard of honor".

It was only after Yan Luo wanted to sort out everything that he was invited to meet him.

If this is a meeting between the Earth and an alien civilization, this contact can be said to be quite unfriendly under the murderous gazes of hundreds of humanoids.

However, for Zeratul, he did not feel unwelcome.

A big reason for this was that, although he was surrounded and monitored by hundreds of humanoids, he came uninvited and he could understand the other party's vigilance.

Also because of his great skills and courage, whether he can fight against hundreds of YoRHa at the same time depends on the actual combat situation, but he can definitely escape by walking on the path of shadows.

Therefore, he didn't care much about the hostility of the humanoids.

What’s more important is that he can’t understand the expressions of the humanoids at all!

Honestly, the humanoids' faces looked exactly like the Terrans next door, all made from the same 'mold'! Only their hair, clothing, gender, and voice allowed Zeratul to barely distinguish one from the other.

As for the rest...let him read the emotions from the facial changes of the humanoid. Sorry, he's a Protoss and really doesn't understand.

"I'm sorry to have delayed you for so long." After meeting with Zeratul, Yan Luo was the first to express his apology.

Zeratul could actually understand the waste of time. After all, even when he came into contact with the Overmind's memories, he was still confused for a long time.

Every word and every thing revealed in the prophecy fragment is full of details. If you just glance at it casually, Zeratul might still be worried about whether the alien lord in front of him can create a different future.

"No need to apologize, Lord of the Alien. Actually, I have always had a question. Do you know me?"

Psychic powers have always had incredible unscientific properties, such as barrier-free communication, destruction of certain things, and prophecy...

He was a little surprised at first that Yan Luo could call out his name the moment he saw him, but he felt relieved when he thought of the other party's spiritual power.

But there are many things that don't make sense. Yan Luo was very surprised by the emotional fluctuations emanating from the prophecy fragment. Obviously, the content was beyond his knowledge or the scope of prophecy.

Clearly something is amiss.

Of course, Zeratul still maintained enough respect. After all, the prophecy contained terrifying guesses, as well as the teachings from his future self to his past self.

At the same time, the other party also understands that the time he is in is just an image, and he is afraid that the other party's essence is a behemoth on a certain timeline, such as an existence similar to the Xel'Naga.

Regardless of whether the statement is reasonable or self-deprecating, he cannot understand or analyze it anyway, so you might as well think of it this way for now.

Also out of curiosity as an intelligent creature, he still hopes to get an answer.

"I know him and I don't know him either." Yan Luo used the ambiguous terminology of the riddle man.

In fact, it is really difficult for him to explain. He can't just tell the other party directly that I have completed all your stories and sacrificed many good brothers in the confrontation with others... Oh, they are brothers in the gang.

　He also didn't want to make up a lie to fool the other party, mainly because both of them were communicating with the unique energy of psychic power, and it was clear whether anyone was lying or not.

But it can still be explained if we use a different way of putting it.

"I guess I once guided you through a certain possibility. It has nothing to do with what's happening now. That should be another direction of the world line."

So you really are Sarnaga? Right!

Zeratul was unable to speak for the time being. He needed to think quietly about the meaning of the words of the god in human skin in front of him.

Of course, thinking that Yan Luo was a Xel'Naga was just a joke, but the knowledge and education he had been exposed to had no higher-dimensional or better adjective than Xel'Naga.

"In fact, in my opinion, your future and destiny are full of loopholes and unreasonable, but now it seems to be more real."

Can the plot of StarCraft be reasonable?

Not to mention the various official book-breaking content, just looking at the content in the story campaign, in reality, as long as the enemy performs normally for a moment, the causal chain of defeating the God of Darkness will be broken directly.

Hiss, come to think of it, is it true that I just happened to experience the enemy's IQ being online as predicted?

After all, the real world doesn't have any world consciousness to maintain the necessary development of the plot. Take a certain Ranger Commander for example. If the Tal'darim had been smart enough to destroy the solar laser drill, it would have been difficult for Lai Luo to obtain the complete artifact, and the subsequent cause and effect would have been basically broken.

Hmm...artifact, Tal'darim?

As if he had thought of something, Yan Luo quickly sent a psychic signal like a command to N2.

After doing all this, he continued to look at Zeratul.

"Actually, there are still many things I want to discuss with you, but I'm afraid the future I envision is different from what I know. I'll deal with it."

"That's right, I need to think too."

There was indeed too much information in the short conversation for Zeratul to handle, and this topic was beyond the scope.

Similarly, Rizerato will probably not stay on Earth any longer. Although the doubts have not been completely answered, he must race against time under the shadow of darkness.

"Then I will order your release, and you are also welcome to visit Earth again." Yan Luo paused. "If you Protoss ever try to retake Aiur, please be careful."

This is a reminder. After all, Zeratul is a flesh-and-blood character as portrayed by Blizzard. Yan Luo has always felt it is a pity that he sacrificed himself in the end to release Amon's control over the Protoss Archbishop.

If possible, he really wanted to make up for this regret.

"What do you mean?" Zeratul, known as the Dark Archbishop, possessed sufficient wisdom and ability. He instantly understood Yan Luo's intention: the other party wanted him to be careful. "What can my sacrifice bring?"

"The future of the Protoss."

"Then I'll be happy to go."

I really don't know what to say.

In the end, Yan Luo tried to keep the other party.

"How about you wait a little longer, I'll give you an emp. The prophecy you brought me did give me some insights. I can add something to it, maybe it can help you."

Chapter 11: B's wonderful journey has begun

The buffer zone between Earth and Koprulu is almost becoming a paradise for mechanical life forms.

Ever since their escort seas were launched from the Earth, many of these strangely shaped spaceships can be seen rushing into the wormhole almost every day, and then gathering in the distant Koprulu sector.

Originally, the humanoids shouldn't care much about this kind of thing, but just yesterday, ten mechanical frigates took off from some unknown corner of the earth, brushing past the shoulders of the humanoids' newly built battlecruisers and rushing towards the wormhole.