Chapter 100

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Chapter 100: Moving Towards the Endpoint

The New Shan Hai Jing sped through the dark time tunnel. Wen Jing glanced at the navigation panel on the control panel and noted that according to the return flight guidance, they were still an hour away from the space station. The external gravitational field environment was relatively stable, so Wen Jing activated the spaceship’s auto-navigation and turned to the others, saying they could undo their safety harnesses and stretch their legs. She remained at the controls, letting Chu Lan take a break before switching places with her.

Yan Yi stood up and stretched, taking the energy supplement Chu Lan handed him. He opened the cap and took a small sip, saying, "I’ve been thinking about that live broadcast of the ocean civilization time period. They mentioned wanting to depict the scenes of the previous time periods to pass on to future generations. So, the Shan Hai Jing must have been written at the end of this cycle. However, the contents of the book have some discrepancies with the Ascension Time, likely due to alterations during its transmission."

Xue Zheng tilted her head back and forth to stretch her shoulders and neck, sneering, “Alterations to history have been their specialty since ancient times. According to the host, the book should originally have contained a lot of matriarchal content, which has surely been edited many times by the time it reached us. They probably added quite a bit of later speculation, which is why some parts read so inconsistently."

Yan Yi sighed lightly, "True, but at least the parts concerning strange beasts have been preserved relatively intact, and the names of mountains, rivers, and seas are still intact. This allows us to catch a glimpse of what that world was really like."

The quiet flight trainee pondered for a moment, "In the ocean civilization time period, the people observed three cycles of civilization, of which the first two successfully ascended, but the last was submerged by the great flood. When they went back to see that scene ten thousand years ago, wouldn’t they think that the people on the ark established their civilization after the flood receded?"

Everyone considered her words carefully. The ancient civilization scholar nodded slowly, "It’s quite possible. Since the number of observed time periods is limited, they might not believe there is such a thing as a reset. The tales in those religious myths about gods casting down punishment for the sins of the world hint at the excessive consumption of natural resources during the great flood time period. In the end, only those on the ark—humans and animals—survived the flood, becoming the ancestors of later life. I believe this is how the ocean civilization time period understood the great flood. However, as these stories passed through time and space to our world, people altered the characters in the tales, and in the ensuing centuries of transmission, many fictitious elements were added, transforming them into the form we know today."

Yan Yi agreed wholeheartedly, "Including the legends about Atlantis in our world, which originated from the records of that very time period, also show clear fabrication and alteration. Like the Shan Hai Jing, only a portion of the story is authentic."

They summarized their discussions, planning to conduct further research and analysis once they returned to the ground.

An hour later, the New Shan Hai Jing successfully navigated back, merging into extraterritorial orbit under the guidance of the space station, and slowly descended to the center of the new space base’s landing platform.

On the ground, many people awaited them. After Wen Jing and her team emerged from the time capsule, they were quickly taken to the relaxation chamber in the nearby time travel center to rest. The team responsible for data analysis had already entered the time capsule and retrieved the footage and air samples brought back, sending them for further organization.

In the month following the return of the New Shan Hai Jing, Wen Jing’s exploration team and the staff of the time travel center held seven discussion sessions, comparing and analyzing the known five previous cycles of civilization in sequential order: the ocean civilization time period, the great flood time period, the Ponsuo Tribe time period, the Ascension Time, and the black fog time period.

The two time periods from forty thousand and fifty thousand years ago exhibited clear differences in air composition, density, and gravity compared to the later periods. The species composition also differed significantly, containing a large number of the legendary strange beasts.

From the Ponsuo time period onward, the species composition in subsequent time periods was basically consistent, but the oxygen levels in the air decreased while gravity increased. As a result, the human skeletal development environment became increasingly harsh, making human reproduction more difficult.

They organized the development trajectories of each time period and performed a horizontal comparison with their own time period. There remained some debate regarding the location of the Cycle Endpoint, with estimations ranging from five to fifty years away.

Although the exact distance remained unclear, everyone shared a consensus that the endpoint was indeed close.

As time slowly passed, a peculiar emotion began to spread among the crowd—a vague sense of alienation often evoking a faint nostalgia, yet this nostalgia pointed to no land beneath their feet.

Many said that the childhood feeling of not belonging to this world re-emerged after being hidden for many years. This complex sense of sorrow frequently lingered in people’s hearts, with some claiming it was the sixth sense of the initial humans regarding the imminent arrival of the Cycle Endpoint.

That morning, gentle sunlight warmed Wen Jing’s face, awakening her. She opened her eyes to see the lush forest outside the window.

For a moment, she felt dazed, as if she were still in the ninth cliff dwelling of the Ponsuo Tribe. She blinked and felt she was back in the lightless shelter. The dynamic forest landscape painting hung on her room’s wall lingered in her mind until she blinked again and noticed a few little fat sparrows jumping on the tree branches outside. Only then did she realize she was in her new home in the new world.

She took a deep breath, sat up, and noticed a family photo on her bedside table—her mother, sister, and herself with Hai Kui. The two sisters were wrapped around Wen Yang in the middle, smiling. Sixteen-year-old Hai Kui leaned happily against Wen Kun, now nearly as tall as their mother, captured in a composite photo.

She sat on the bed for a while, filled with indescribable sorrow. If souls could reunite in a brand-new world after ascension, would she see her sister again?

Just then, the alarm clock at her bedside suddenly rang. She raised her hand and gently waved it near the alarm to turn it off. Glancing at the calendar on the side table, today marked the day they entered the same dimension as the Ponsuo Tribe. They were scheduled to attempt communication with the Ponsuo Tribe again that afternoon.

Thinking of this, she felt uplifted. After getting out of bed to wash up and change clothes, she opened the door and stepped outside.

After having breakfast with her mother and Hai Kui, she walked out of the house. The early spring air carried a light fragrance of fresh greenery. Wen Jing walked along the path in the woods, carefully avoiding the tender shoots just breaking through the soil. She leisurely made her way to the nearby helipad, where she took a helicopter to the time travel center.

Yan Yi had arrived early that day. They were set to conduct a device check for cross-time connectivity with several experts that morning. When Wen Jing entered, the team was already busy with a collection of various communication lines spread across the floor. Upon hearing her approach, Yan Yi turned and, with a hint of excitement, said, "We just completed another round of connection tests, and it’s very stable!"

Wen Jing nodded and glanced at the clock nearby. "The official entry into the same dimension is at twelve noon?"

"Yes," Yan Yi replied. "It will still take some time to send the signal. If everything goes smoothly, we should connect with the communication coordinates Professor Ti Ran left for me around one o’clock."

As soon as she finished speaking, Xue Zheng arrived, and the three of them chatted about the various cycle situations sorted out by the time travel center. They were preparing to share this important information with the Ponsuo Tribe.

After two hours of preparations for communication, they sent out the cross-time signal promptly at twelve noon. The three of them sat before the screen, anxiously waiting. Fifty minutes later, the signal returner finally lit up.

"Connection successful!" The three leaned forward slightly. At that moment, the screen flickered, revealing a group of many people. In the middle sat the smiling Ji Shu, with Ao Ci, her silver hair glimmering, to her left. Mo Chuan and Ti Ran sat beside Ji Shu, with Lei Ming further along, and at the far side was a young man, eighteen-year-old Wanhua, now resembling an adult yet retaining his spirited expression from earlier.

Behind them stood many familiar faces. As they saw the video connection established, they waved cheerfully.

Ji Shu was the first to speak, “How have you all been these past ten years?”

"A bit tough," the three replied together with smiles, "but we have built a new world!"

While saying this, they transmitted the prepared footage, showing the situation in their area. They had brought the Ponsuo Tribe’s system here in its original form, and after a few years of adjustment, the entire world was now running smoothly.

Mo Chuan smiled slightly after watching the video, “Civilization rebooted! I knew you could do it.”

“It’s more than just a reboot of civilization,” Yan Yi replied with a laugh. “We also visited the first two cyclical time periods and gained a lot of important information.” After saying this, she sent over the organized data regarding the five known time periods, including what they had learned in the ocean civilization time period about the Ponsuo Tribe’s final ascension and the time nodes.

Ti Ran, upon seeing the information, couldn’t help but feel excited. "During these ten years, we have also calculated the nodes of the cycles. The information you sent perfectly corroborates our calculations." After pausing for a moment, she turned to the three from thirty thousand years later. "I have also calculated the Cycle Endpoint for your time period."

The three looked at each other, understanding. “We don’t have much time left, do we?”

Ti Ran nodded, “I tried to calculate down to the day. There’s a very high probability that your endpoint is just within the next couple of days.”

After she said this, silence fell on both sides of the screen. Wen Jing and the others had also guessed that the location of the Cycle Endpoint was closer than they had previously thought, and in recent days, everyone felt an increasingly strong intuition about it.

At this moment, Ao Ci broke the silence with a smile, looking at the three on the screen, “So, how confident are you about the ascension?”

Seeing them silent, Lei Ming leaned forward, “If you’re not confident, you can always return here before that time.”

The three of them each looked down for a moment, then simultaneously raised their heads with smiles, “No, we are confident.”

Yan Yi added, as if speaking to the people on the screen and to herself, “Don’t worry, we will soon reunite in the previous dimension.”

The people of the Ponsuo Tribe had undergone global ascension thirty thousand years ago. When time ceases to exist, they will gain unprecedented true freedom.

The members of the Ponsuo Tribe seemed to expect this answer. Ji Shu still wore a bright smile, “That’s right; we will definitely reunite.”

This communication with the Ponsuo Tribe was much more stable than before; there was no need to disconnect and reconnect for a while. They decided to keep the communication ongoing. After finishing their conversation, Wen Jing and the others quickly spread the news of the impending Cycle Endpoint.

People all over the world paused their activities and rushed home. Wen Yang also brought Hai Kui to the time travel center to reunite with Wen Jing.

Jiang Jing sat on the ruins of the old Space Administration base, holding a glass of wine, chatting with Yao Chi far away in Northern Continent while gazing at the sky, waiting for the endpoint to arrive.

In the evening, the morning glow filled the clear sky as the people at the time travel center stepped outside to enjoy a spectacular sunset, until only the moon quietly hung in the sky.

When darkness finally enveloped the land, a strong feeling stirred in everyone’s hearts. Wen Jing looked around, wondering where the creator of the universe was observing them from. She only felt that the moonlight tonight was unrealistically beautiful.

As she gazed at the moon above, she silently thought, during this round, we have suffered tremendously. In the span of ten thousand years, at least five thousand of those years were marked by blood and tears. Yet, we have reached the endpoint, having not only survived a global catastrophe but also established a new civilization.

You, who created humanity, can now open your eyes and see us.

At this moment, the connection with the footage from thirty thousand years ago suddenly dropped, but the audio remained. Mo Chuan’s voice came through the communication device, “Ti Ran, did you see that beam of light just now?”

Ti Ran responded, “I saw it. That is the sign of ascension.” As soon as she finished speaking, the audio communication also cut out.

The others glanced at each other in confusion. Light? What light?

Just as they were puzzled, the radiant wheel of the moon above them rapidly expanded, and dazzling golden light shone through the center of the moon, as if a door had opened from there.

A strange sound echoed from above the dome, resembling thunder, along with a gasp of astonishment.

【The End】