"Prepare to scatter!" Asuka shouted, raising her electromagnetic crossbow.
"Do not attack!" Rei Ayanami suddenly commanded. She took a step forward, and instead of tensing or retreating, she faced the charging Hammerhead Titanothere and closed her eyes.
Her light blue short hair seemed to flutter without any wind, and an extremely weak but remarkably clear, peaceful, and firm emotional wave radiated outward with her as the center. It was not language, but more like a conscious signal acting directly on biological instinct—"No malice, non-threatening, please leave."
Miraculously, the originally aggressive Titanothere slammed its brakes just a dozen meters from the camp. Its massive hooves carved deep grooves into the ground, and it shook its colossal head, looking at Rei standing in front of it with confused eyes. What it sensed was no longer provocation or fear, but a strange, inviolable peace.
After a standoff of about a dozen seconds, the Titanothere snorted, venting a blast of white steam. It actually turned around slowly, taking heavy steps, and vanished into the depths of the jungle.
The camp was dead silent.
Asuka slowly lowered her hand holding the crossbow, her face filled with disbelief. Shinji Ikari breathed a sigh of relief, his eyes full of surprise as he looked at Rei. David and Lucy also exchanged bewildered looks; they had just witnessed something entirely beyond their understanding.
Rei slowly opened her eyes, her face appearing slightly paler than usual. She looked at Asuka and repeated her previous words: "In this place, excessive vigilance is as dangerous as recklessness."
This time, Asuka did not argue back. For the first time, she truly realized that in this unfamiliar forest, Rei's seemingly mystical perception and communication abilities might be more important than any weapon.
The initial adjustment and friction within the five-person squad was completed in an unexpected way during this first crisis.
After the Titanothere incident, the internal atmosphere of the five-person group underwent a subtle shift. Although Asuka remained sharp-tongued, she noticeably stopped questioning Rei's decisions in her actions, beginning to observe and learn how she interacted with the environment. Shinji seemed to relax a bit, actively trying to feel what Rei called the "flow of the consciousness field." David and Lucy faithfully recorded everything, including environmental data, biological behaviors, and the details of every perception and communication Rei made.
Under Rei's guidance, they continued to trek deep into the forest for several days, following a path that seemed random but actually followed the "convergence" of the biological consciousness field. Along the way, they carefully avoided several areas that were clearly Viperwolf nests, and observed from afar herds of Direhorses running through the woods, as well as the silhouettes of small Na'vi hunting parties—they always used trees and terrain for cover, moving quickly and quietly.
On the evening of the third day, after they passed through an exceptionally dense forest of fungi emitting a strong blue bioluminescence, the view in front of them suddenly opened up.
A tree of unimaginable proportions stood in the distance.
Its scale far exceeded any plant they had ever seen. Its trunk was as massive as a mountain range, its colossal buttress roots spread out like city walls, and its canopy pierced straight into the sky, vanishing into the swirling mists. Countless glowing vines fell from its branches like waterfalls of light, illuminating the entire colossal tree like a mythical entity. Within the canopy, dwellings formed using natural hollows and constructed platforms were partially visible, resembling villages suspended in the air.
It was the Hometree of the Omaticaya clan.
Even from a great distance, one could feel the majestic vital energy and thick consciousness field fluctuations radiating from there. It was as if it were the central node of the entire region's biological network.
"Are we... here?" Shinji murmured, staring at the distant Hometree.
"That place... is where their 'Eywa' is at its densest." Rei stared at the Hometree, the magnificent sight reflected in her red eyes. Her perception seemed to form a distant resonance with that vast consciousness.
"We finally found it!" Asuka also appeared somewhat excited; the target was right before their eyes.
However, Lucy's scanner issued a warning: "High-density life signals detected ahead, and... strong hostile energy readings. The perimeter of the Hometree is crawling with Na'vi patrols and sentries. We can't get any closer."
Just as Lucy said, even at this distance, they could faintly see Na'vi warriors riding Direhorses patrolling the root area of the Hometree, and Ikran riders circling in the sky. The entire clan was clearly on high alert.
"It looks like a direct visit won't work," David observed the defensive layout in the distance. "We need a way to get them to accept us."
"Or find a lone Na'vi who is willing to communicate," Lucy added.
Just then, Rei suddenly turned toward another direction—a relatively dark patch of woods near the entrance of an underground cavern.
"There... is grief. Very strong grief," she whispered.
The group decided to follow Rei's sensory lead. They cautiously approached the area, hiding behind a cluster of giant bioluminescent mushrooms.
Under the shadow cast by one of the Hometree's massive buttress roots, a Na'vi woman knelt on the ground. Before her was a small grave simply piled with stones. The long neural queue behind her head lay limply on the ground. Her shoulders trembled slightly, and she let out suppressed, song-like weeping. Beside her lay several crude toys belonging to a Na'vi child.
She seemed to be mourning her deceased child.
This was an opportunity—an opportunity to make contact with a lone Na'vi individual who was immersed in grief and whose defenses might be weakened. But how to make contact became a difficult problem. Appearing directly would likely startle her, or even attract patrols.
Rei looked at the grieving mother, was silent for a moment, and then slowly, with an extremely gentle rhythm that seemed to merge into the wind, began to hum. It was not any known tune, but more like a soothing sound that mimicked the background noise of the Pandora forest and the rhythm of the Na'vi language. At the same time, she once again tried to radiate that peaceful, sympathetic wave of consciousness.
In the distance, the Na'vi mother seemed to sense something. Her weeping gradually stopped, and she raised her head, looking warily in the direction where Rei and the others were hiding. Tears still stained her face, and her eyes were filled with sadness and a hint of confusion. She seemed to sense a presence... different from the forest, and different from other Na'vi.
The five-person squad held their breath, waiting for the other's reaction. This was their first time, at such close range, attempting to make non-hostile contact with a Na'vi individual entirely immersed in her own emotions.
Success or failure hung on this single moment.