Perhaps in the seventh creation cycle of the universe, a flowing weld-point star chart suddenly appeared in Laila's mechanical prosthetic eye—it was the "Weld-point Stardust", the first intelligent race of the new universe, transmitting coordinates to Paradise. Their homeland hovered within a gravitational grid woven from weld-nodule cracks, the slag crystals on their architecture's surface growing to the rhythm of war-pattern gaps, and every window inlaid with colored poetic slips formed by the spectral refraction of the Prism Civilization.
When the Children of the Rift's "Symbiotic-class" starship entered the "Perhaps" universe for the second time, what presented itself before Laila was a breathing metal city-state. At the core of the city-state stood the "Mother's Staff"—a giant totem evolved from the crooked weld mark of Laila's fourteenth year. War-pattern vines grew naturally across the surface of the weld-nodule alloy, and the spectral flowers blooming at the tips of the vines changed color according to the residents' emotions: showing the Prism Civilization's colorful halo when joyous, and transforming into the dark red vortex of a war-pattern bonfire when perplexed. More wonderfully, these flowers could "sniff out" the history of metal—newly forged weld-nodule alloys carried the engine oil scent of the Mechanical Swarm, while the ancient weld marks at the bottom of the totem, having weathered seven cycles, exuded the distinct, clean fragrance of scorched wood charac…
Chapter 165