Chapter 85
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Chapter 85: Exploration Team Returns Home
The summer nights in the redwood forest are relatively quiet, with few chirps from insects or croaks from frogs. Only a scattering of flickering fireflies dances around the giant trees, bathed in the silvery moonlight, adding a touch of lightness to the deep woods.
Ti Ran had just finished a conversation with Ying Zhao that spanned thirty thousand years. Due to the stability issues with encrypted communication, they needed to interrupt every twenty minutes. This time, with so much content to discuss, they ended up reconnecting several times over the course of two hours.
As Ti Ran stepped out of the treehouse that housed the leisure room and headed toward her bedroom, she paused on the corridor outside, momentarily captivated by the night’s beauty.
Earlier that evening, a light rain had fallen. Now, with the rain stopped, the air felt cooler than during the day, imbued with the fragrant scent of damp trees and soil. The rain had also increased the number of fireflies, which flickered around the treehouse, making it look particularly enchanting.
She stood on the corridor, gazing into the woods for a while when the robot, Niu Niu, rolled out from the leisure room and said, “Mo Chuan and Ji Shu have sent a holographic call request.”
Ti Ran turned with a smile, “Great, I was just thinking of chatting with them.”
Soon, two holographic projections appeared on the corridor, one on each side of Ti Ran. Ji Shu wore a long-sleeve insulated bodysuit and, seeing that Ti Ran only had on a thin sleeveless shirt, looked about at the scenery before commenting, “The summer forest is quite pleasant! The temperature has dropped here too; I even went skiing this afternoon.”
Ji Shu had recently accompanied her sister, Ji Qing, to a geological station at the peak of Mount Buzhou, where the high altitude kept snow from melting year-round, making it a different season compared to the plains.
“It’s quite comfortable where I am,” Mo Chuan said with a laugh, “but the environment is a bit noisy; it’s hardly ever quiet here.”
As Mo Chuan spoke, the background noise from her location, filled with various bird calls and insect sounds, reached Ti Ran and Ji Shu. The sounds, though chaotic, were harmonious and pleasing—typical of the tropical rainforest in Nanzhou.
After the Shan Hai Jing departed from the Ponsuo Tribe, Mo Chuan took a short break since everything had been arranged at the time travel center. She temporarily handed over the duties of the time investigation team to another responsible person and went to the tropical rainforest to reunite with her mother and daughter, preparing to accompany her daughter through a rainforest investigation course and then return to Di Qiu together.
Today, Ji Shu and Mo Chuan, despite the great distance apart, initiated this call to Ti Ran because they heard the exploration team bound for the first two cyclical time periods had successfully returned that afternoon, bringing back a wealth of information. They were eager to get updates instead of waiting for the time travel center to organize a meeting.
Ti Ran smiled slightly when they inquired about the exploration team. “I just spoke with Ying Zhao; now I have to tell you both as well.”
When Ji Shu heard Ying Zhao’s name, she asked with concern, “How are they doing since returning? Is everything alright?”
Ti Ran nodded. “Although the situation in their world seems quite chaotic, they appear to be managing well. I think things should be alright.” She then briefly shared the current status of the three from Ying Zhao and shifted the topic to the information brought back by the exploration team.
During this mission to the first two cyclical time periods, the exploration team conducted exits for investigations, and the time travel center meticulously analyzed the air samples they had brought back last time, preparing thoroughly for the equipment they may need upon exiting the pods. True to expectations, they returned with observational conclusions and footage from near the endpoints of those two time periods.
In the black fog time period, which was 20,000 to 30,000 years ago, the technological level of human society was slightly inferior to that of the current Ponsuo Tribe. While there was some capability for space exploration, they had not developed technology for cross-time travel.
At the same time, their medical level and understanding were somewhat lacking. The locals had continuously abandoned secondary beings suffering from genetic decline and had not conducted any asexual reproduction research. Near one hundred years before the endpoint, human society experienced a global outbreak of a flu virus that drastically reduced the population. All secondary beings in this time period completely lost their natural reproductive capability within five to ten years of the virus’s spread, and their chromosomes were severely impacted, leading to their rapid extinction.
The remaining initial humans in the black fog time period struggled for the next few decades. During this time, they waged a war aimed at resurrecting the secondary beings, as some of the survivors firmly believed that human reproduction must involve gametes. This belief also included certain religious issues, causing those individuals to obstruct the scientists attempting to conduct asexual reproduction research.
This conflict and war persisted for a decade, reversing technological development in the entire time period by several decades. Ultimately, the secondary beings were not resurrected, and research on asexual reproduction encountered a bottleneck, with a high rate of infant mortality. By the time this time period reached its endpoint, only a frail group of initial humans remained, leading swiftly to a complete reset into darkness.
In the second ascension time period, the exploration team observed no signs of survival among the secondary beings about fifty years before the endpoint. They carefully gathered information about the social structure and history of the time without directly contacting the locals.
It turned out that the scientists in this world had long recognized the genetic decline issue among secondary beings. After fifty years of rescue attempts failed, they implemented a comprehensive program for asexual reproduction. Fortunately, their response was relatively swift, and their technological development had advanced compared to the previous time period. Before the secondary beings completely lost their natural reproductive capabilities, this world successfully birthed a group of asexual infants.
They no longer needed assistance from secondary beings to reproduce, marking the beginning of a new human era. In the following century, technological development in that world surged, during which they also conducted several explorations of historical time periods, seemingly uncovering secrets about reincarnation. Eventually, the entire world reached ascension at its endpoint.
Mo Chuan and Ji Shu listened quietly to all this, pondering deeply for a moment. After a pause, Mo Chuan spoke slowly, “It seems there’s no fixed timeframe between the endpoint of reincarnation and the decline of secondary beings. It could be decades or even over a hundred years, and we currently only have knowledge of these two time periods, which is still too few samples.”
Ji Shu nodded. “Indeed, if we could expand the exploration of historical time periods back to fifty thousand years ago, the difficulty would significantly increase. The complexity of the time channels would grow exponentially. The time travel center might require many more years to conduct further research. If we could also include the conditions of the two time periods between us and the world thirty thousand years ahead, it would make analysis much easier.” She then turned to Ti Ran, asking, “What’s the progress on expanding the time channels on Ying Zhao’s end?”
“She is working on this with the experts from the research team,” Ti Ran replied. “However, before we complete this current same dimension, we likely won’t have sufficient time. Perhaps ten years later, during the next same dimension, we will finally understand the conditions of those two blind spot time periods.”
“Ten years…” Mo Chuan peered into the distance. “Well, that isn’t too long.”
“Ten years… that feels like ages!” Xue Zheng sat in the rest chamber of the aircraft carrier, reflecting on Ying Zhao’s account of the two historical time periods. Realizing that their remaining time in the same dimension as the Ponsuo Tribe was limited, she leaned back with a hint of melancholy.
Wen Jing, seated beside her on the sofa, watched Ying Zhao on the screen. “The black fog time period experienced a global virus outbreak before its end. It appears to resemble a cleansing targeting secondary beings. Doesn’t this, in some way, shorten their response time to the impending genetic decline?”
Ying Zhao pondered for a moment. “It likely had some impact, but in my view, they didn’t realize the responsibilities that come with being initial humans and failed to escape the shackles of their own humanity. The subsequent resurrection war after the secondary beings disappeared only worsened the already grim situation, leading them ultimately toward extinction.”
Xue Zheng leaned back, pondering. “From the outcomes of these two time periods, we can’t derive any conclusive patterns. Other than the inevitable removal of secondary beings, the specifics of how they exit and the timeline vary significantly. The Creator certainly has many tricks up their sleeve.”
Ying Zhao smiled slightly. “The Creator’s intentions are, of course, hard to fathom. We can only do our utmost to try and discern the rules created by them.”
Having listened to their discussion, Wen Jing thought for a moment before looking up at both of them. “Our time until the endpoint shouldn’t exceed a hundred years either. Last time, Ying Zhao suggested it might even be within fifty years. Is it possible that this world might face some disaster, like a viral pandemic, that accelerates the deterioration of human living conditions and shortens our response time?”
From the information they had gathered recently, it seemed that this round of initial humans faced hellish challenges. Approaching the endpoint, there would likely be more “unpleasant surprises” awaiting them.
After Wen Jing posed her question, the three of them fell silent, contemplating. A virus wasn’t out of the question; with rising global temperatures, ancient viruses released from the melting poles could be one possibility. Another potential threat could arise from cosmic magnetic field changes or powerful cosmic radiation, combined with the ongoing global nuclear leaks…
Suddenly, all three of them synchronously raised their heads and said, “Solar flares.”
The Astronomical Bureau of the Space Administration had recently issued a warning, reporting an observed significant increase in solar activity. Based on past data trends regarding solar flares, an unprecedented epic proton flare was expected. The electromagnetic radiation and accompanying particle radiation would have unimaginable impacts on ground-based electronic systems and humans.
At the same time, cosmic particle radiation might amplify the effects of ground nuclear radiation, and if strong enough, could lead to massive DNA breaks in the population.
“If that’s the case, this round surely qualifies as hellish difficulty. If we manage to get through, the Creator should reward us once we reach ascension, right?” Xue Zheng wasn’t worried that they wouldn’t survive, especially with the radiation protection agents inherited from their ancestors. She was already letting her imagination run wild, envisioning an MVP award presentation for this round of reincarnation.
At that moment, a breaking news alert popped up on the tablet: The Southern Federation officially declared war on the Western Federation, while the Northern Continent announced plans to provide humanitarian aid to the Western Federation.
Wen Jing scoffed after reading it, “I don’t think we even need the solar flares; just with these people killing each other, it’s enough to bring about the apocalypse.”
