Chapter 589: A Familiar Name

“The Ever-Thirsty?”

The name suddenly stirred a sealed-off memory in Mo Ling.

He quickly recalled hearing the name back in the Sea of Creation, while he was helping wish-granting creatures fulfill their wishes.

“Those are the Ever-Thirsty… They never stop.”

“Their thirst for knowledge is an insatiable craving. They chase after greater wisdom, using the knowledge they’ve devoured to destroy more advanced civilizations, then they continue to devour and destroy in a ceaseless cycle…”

Information about the Ever-Thirsty flooded Mo Ling’s mind. He immediately realized that this species had long been infamous. Their invasion of the Hua Sheng Islands was surely just one of their many atrocities.

However, the Ever-Thirsty he was seeing now didn’t seem to be exactly the same as the ones in his memory.

Although they all looked like straws, their current forms were clearly more bizarre. They were scattered throughout the Rift Void, and they called this place a “library.” But why?

Faced with Ladi’s interrogation, the Ever-Thirsty seemed completely unconcerned.

The hollow, straw-like stone blocks drifted about, their prying gazes still fixed shamelessly upon the two figures on the scalpel.

“We… are investigating knowledge.”

The sound, like tearing paper, rose again. It was muffled and indistinct, as if many voices were overlapping—countless hollow stone blocks answering as one.

“You want to steal the knowledge of the Hua Sheng Islands?” Ladi shot back.

‘If they really are the Ever-Thirsty, then they’re capable of anything. Invading the Hua Sheng Islands just to steal its knowledge would be perfectly in character for them.’

Mo Ling suddenly remembered that when those healers were trapped in the labyrinth, a voice had constantly asked them questions. The questions covered all sorts of knowledge, and when the healers refused to answer, it began to steal their memories.

‘Looking at it now, these actions perfectly match the motivations of the Ever-Thirsty.’

‘They’re trying every possible way to steal knowledge from the healers.’

However, faced with this ironclad accusation, the Ever-Thirsty actually began to argue their case:

“Not stealing. Investigating.”

“Knowledge is stored in the minds of living beings. We merely dig it out, just like mining for ore…”

Upon hearing such an explanation, Ladi became utterly enraged. Scorching firelight completely consumed the surrounding void.

“You treat other living beings as ore?” Ladi demanded in disbelief.

“Is there a difference between a living being and ore? They are both nothing more than aggregates of naturally occurring matter. Ore is hidden within veins; dig into the vein, and you can find precious minerals. Knowledge is hidden within the minds of living beings; it is nothing more than reverberating electrical currents. We are merely extracting those currents.”

“But knowledge can be exchanged…” Ladi immediately found the hole in the Ever-Thirsty’s logic. “You could have obtained knowledge through peaceful means, yet you chose the most extreme method—using invasion and destruction to acquire it!”

After hearing Ladi’s words, the Ever-Thirsty fell silent.

The hollow, straw-like stone blocks drifted about, circling the scalpel at the center. They gradually assembled into a larger cluster, and then, an illusory beam of light projected out from its core.

“You are too naive. The acquisition of knowledge has always been steeped in blood. This is a lesson we learned on our own quest for knowledge.”

“Living beings are like stubborn rock. Only with a hardened pickaxe can you shatter their selfish shells…”

Upon the projection, scenes from their history began to appear.

…

The Ever-Thirsty, as their name implies, are beings of eternal hunger.

They were born in the deep seas of the 3rd Floor of the Abyss, originally nothing more than mindless, soft-bodied creatures.

Nutrient-rich currents passed through their straw-like bodies, leaving sustenance behind, while the useless water flowed out the other end.

At some point, they developed intelligence. It was then that they developed an endless craving for knowledge.

“What is the sea?”

“What is water?”

“What am I?”

“Where is this?”

Countless question marks appeared in their minds. This craving for knowledge surpassed even their need for food. Not only that, but in their perception, everything around them was also a question mark.

A pile of question marks covered the rocks on the seabed. The starfish on the rocks were covered in question marks. The starfish’s tentacles were covered in question marks. Even the bumps on the tentacles were still covered in question marks…

The world was a chaos filled with question marks. This sudden flood of questions pouring into their senses plunged them into utter confusion, followed by a frenzied craving for knowledge.

But at that time, they still didn’t know how to acquire knowledge.

Until one day, a deep-sea creature, itself covered in question marks, swam up to a rock and bit off one of the starfish’s tentacles.

As a murky fluid sprayed out, some of the question marks on the starfish’s other tentacles were replaced. The Ever-Thirsty could finally see the content that lay beneath the question marks.

“Can be severed.”

“Soft.”

“Inside is starfish flesh.”

“Tastes bitter.”

“Will drift away with the current.”

“…”

Countless question marks, like locks being opened, revealed their true forms amid a flash of golden light. In that instant, the endless ocean of knowledge opened a door for the Ever-Thirsty. Amidst the bloody scene, they were able to taste the sweetness of knowledge.

“So delicious.”

When the world became clear, no longer an illusion obscured by question marks, the sensation was too delicious—more delicious than any food.

Beneath the spray of debris, the Ever-Thirsty experienced the wonder of knowledge for the first time. In doing so, they opened Pandora’s box.

From then on, they began their journey of unlocking question marks.

They explored the undersea world with a naive curiosity. Everything was so new and interesting. Watching the question marks open one by one to reveal the content beneath, the Ever-Thirsty’s desires were satisfied.

Moreover, they discovered that the question marks were interconnected. Sometimes, unlocking a few question marks would cause adjacent ones to unlock as well; even question marks on other objects would unlock at the same time.

This was the interconnectedness of knowledge.

Thus, they began to unlock question marks faster and faster…

However, as they unlocked more and more question marks, they found that the difficulty of unlocking them grew greater and greater.

At first, perhaps all it took was a “touch” or a “shake,” but later, these gentle interactions stopped working entirely. They could only use “destruction.” But in the end, even destruction was not enough to unlock the question marks.

The Ever-Thirsty were intelligent. They quickly realized their own methods of interaction had reached their limit. They needed a more powerful method of interaction.