"Three hundred years ago, there were a total of three civilizations that found Earth, which I believe you refer to as three alien races. They arrived at Earth in roughly the same timeframe, each discovering a planet teeming with life and harboring a primitive civilization."
"For a planet with such a primitive civilization, these three civilizations didn't show much interest. The idea of large-scale wars and conquests, as depicted in Earth's science fiction movies, is more fiction than reality. In truth, for a distant civilization, it's not worth the effort to dominate a planet with life forms so different from their own. The distance is too great, and the effort would yield little reward."
Jiayan was taken aback. He had always believed in the alien invasion scenarios depicted in science fiction movies, but now this woman was telling him that aliens had visited Earth before, and yet they harbored no ambitions to rule it!
Of course, upon reflection, it made sense. With countless planets in the universe similar to Earth, there was little reason for an advanced alien race to wage war for dominance on such a distant planet. Earth, apart from its life forms, held little uniqueness. If these aliens sought to rule, they would have to send troops and invest resources, with uncertain returns. It simply wasn't worth it for them.
Jiayan believed that even alien life forms, no matter their appearance, were driven by the pursuit of self-interest. Evolution into spacefaring civilizations was inherently driven by the pursuit of benefits. If Earth held sufficient interest for them, then distance would not be an obstacle.
So he had a rough idea of what the woman was going to say next.
"However, as you may know, these three civilizations had little interest in Earth. Still, they left behind some probes, which weren't particularly valuable to them. These probes, upon arrival, burrowed into the Earth's crust. Yes, they are the mysterious machines you've encountered underground!"
Jiayan was surprised that this woman knew about his experiences on Earth. She truly was mysterious!
However, she seemed unaware of Jiayan's growing wariness. She continued, "These machines are part of interstellar probes, left behind at every planet they visit. Their operational cycle lasts about three to four hundred years. Their purpose is to continually produce mining robots and deploy them deep into the planet's crust!"
"The resources these mining robots seek are a substance called 'Star Essence,' as it's known among these alien civilizations. It's an extremely rare substance even in the vast universe! Only formed in the early stages of star formation, it's separated from stars and integrated into planets over billions of years. These alien life forms never imagined that Earth would possess this substance. However, shortly after they departed, several probes left behind on Earth discovered this 'Star Essence'!"
"Yes, Earth is a planet rich in this 'Star Essence'!"
The woman's eyes turned to Jiayan's sparkling compound eyes.
However, Jiayan, listening to her words, seemed unmoved, as if these matters had nothing to do with him. To him, alien life forms, Star Essence, and everything else seemed distant and abstract. He was half skeptical of the woman's words. Thus, there was no hint of emotion in his expression.
But he couldn't communicate with the woman or raise his questions. He could only listen to her words.
"Don't think that Star Essence has nothing to do with you. Let me take out a piece and see how it relates to you."
The woman shook her head and took out a round object from the pocket of her foam-like 'clothes'!
Seeing the object, Jiayan's compound eyes contracted slightly!
He was too familiar with this object!
Or rather, his body contained this object!
Star Essence!!! ―
The woman held a mysterious, gleaming crystal in her hand, emitting a strange azure light in Jiayan's compound eyes!
This thing, intertwined with Jiayan's promotion, was indeed the so-called 'Star Essence'!
"This is the so-called Star Essence!"
Jiayan looked at the azure substance in the woman's hand, and a series of events seemed to explode in his mind!
He vaguely connected all the events into a single thread!
Everything was interconnected! And the thing that tied all these events together...
was this azure crystal!
The factory he had visited before was due to the existence of the underground world, which produced miraculous potions. After obtaining the potion, he later acquired the black original liquid in the factory. Now, looking back, the composition of that liquid seemed to contain traces of Star Essence!
Then, in the underground world, he obtained the mysterious liquid extracted from the brains of those creatures, and even the Star Essence, which was still working in his body!
To Jiayan now, Star Essence was perhaps the best thing he had acquired in his body for so long!
And those creatures in the underground world were all so powerful. Jiayan had always suspected they were related to the mysterious machinery, even the air extracted in the factory was related to the mysterious machinery!
But at that time, Jiayan could not figure out the relationship!
But now he knew!
Those countless pipes of the mysterious machinery were simply extraction pipes!
They were collecting resources from the underground through the metal monsters. Even because of Star Essence, a part of its flavor or something else permeated into the air. As a result, both the creatures and the air had the characteristics of Star Essence!
Among those characteristics was the ability to induce 'mutation and evolution' in living beings!
The gleam in Jiayan's compound eyes became even more intense!
He understood a lot!
But there were still secrets and unanswered questions that this woman needed to answer!
The look of sudden realization on Jiayan's face was seen by the woman, who looked like an ordinary Earth girl. She smiled inexplicably.
The woman took a step to the side. Her shoes seemed to be high heels, making crisp sounds as she stepped on the metal floor.
"This Star Essence will be the variable in the events to come! Its effects and wonders, you must have experienced firsthand. So, I won't dwell on them. For biological entities, it's like a panacea. However, for technology, it's invaluable. The civilization I belong to uses this Star Essence as a navigation additive. Without it, the spacecraft I serve on would be unable to fly!"
"But as I mentioned earlier, there were remnants left behind on Earth by three civilizations. With only one Earth, what will happen? That's right! War!"
"Unfortunately, the civilization I belong to left few machines on this planet, with only over ten thousand mining robots built. However, another civilization left behind over a hundred mining machines! When war broke out, we discovered that their mining robots numbered over a million! Consequently, we were completely defeated by that civilization!"
"The mining robots created by that civilization are what you are familiar with as the so-called metal monsters! Their energy source is actually a part of the associated ore of Star Essence, which possesses considerable power. I remember you used them as bombs, right? Quite a creative idea!" The woman chuckled, covering her mouth.