Chapter 99
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Chapter 99: The Cycle Ahead
They entered the time period of seventeen thousand years ago, where the vast blue sea was dotted with undulating landmasses.
As they slowly approached a continent, they saw lush greenery below, with birds flying in flocks. They could vaguely make out human figures on the plains, but there were no man-made structures in sight.
It seemed to be another civilization without cities, lacking a high population density. It appeared that there were no nations, just scattered villages and quite a few leisurely people.
They lowered their altitude for a closer observation. The level of civilization here seemed comparable to their ancient times, with some tool-making and smelting capabilities but not yet in an industrial age.
After recording the scene, Wen Jing made the New Shan Hai Jing hover in mid-air. They discussed among themselves, considering their limited fuel, and decided to head directly to the vicinity of this time period’s cycle endpoint.
They quickly departed from seventeen thousand years ago and re-entered the time tunnel, traveling straight to eleven thousand years ago without making any stops for observations along the way.
Wen Jing adjusted the control stick to merge into low Earth orbit and then entered the atmosphere of this time period. She immediately noticed that the scenery below was very different from what they had just seen.
The shape of the land’s edge and the positions of mountains and rivers had changed, likely due to the passage of several thousand years. The tectonic plates had shifted during this time.
As they broke through the cloud cover and descended to a height where they could see the world clearly, Wen Jing discovered that the technological civilization here seemed unlike any other time period they had previously encountered.
To Wen Jing, the technological and architectural styles that their own time period once had felt like artificial technology, while the natural construction methods used in the Ponsuo Tribe were rooted in the environment. The civilization below them appeared to be something different from both, almost a blend of the two.
Peering through the sealed window, Wen Jing saw large, circular, man-made structures scattered across the sea. She blinked in realization; it seemed to belong to ocean technology.
At that moment, the accompanying ancient civilization scholar gently spoke, “This is Atlantis.”
The others turned to her in surprise. “Atlantis? The fabled ancient civilization that sank beneath the sea?”
Upon hearing that name, Wen Jing recalled Haikui mentioning her visit to the sunken ancient city ruins before they set out. Although the ancient cities their student group visited were submerged due to natural disasters thousands of years ago and weren’t related to Atlantis, the legend remained ever-present. The group had long debated over whether Atlantis truly existed, and Haikui had told Wen Jing that she firmly believed Atlantis was real.
Thinking of this, Wen Jing gently pushed the control stick, listening to the ancient civilization scholar as she recounted the legend of Atlantis while carefully observing the world below from above.
In fact, she had noticed while just visiting seventeen thousand years ago that the land’s proportion in this time period was significantly lower than in others.
Perhaps impacted by the previous great flood time period, the entire planet’s landmass seemed to comprise only about ten percent, with vast stretches of endless ocean surrounding it, resulting in numerous oceanic structures.
Most of these buildings were circular, like giant trays floating on the sea. The shapes of the structures varied across different seas, but the internal road designs were generally intricate symmetrical geometric patterns that were both complex and beautiful.
As they admired the marvelous oceanic architecture, Wen Jing noticed a zeppelin taking off from a runway in the middle of one of the circular buildings—it was shaped like a giant manta ray.
Wen Jing quickly checked their cloaking device and adjusted the time capsule’s altitude slightly.
This exploration mission was designed for silent observation, and they did not intend to engage in direct contact with the local inhabitants of this time period, so she had to be careful while navigating.
They circled the vast ocean, observing most of the buildings on the sea and some scenes on land. They noted that the people in this world still lived quite dispersedly, with the pedestrian density in those circular buildings on the sea being low, and the inhabitants displayed a diverse range of skin colors and ethnicities, making it difficult to determine any national distinctions.
After their observations, they tentatively concluded that this place had evolved into a high-tech globalized society. Also, like other time periods near the end of their cycles, this one revealed only the initial humans within the observable range.
While the group inside the capsule discussed their findings, Xue Zheng, sitting in the left co-pilot seat, pointed out the window. “I just saw a screen flicker below that looked like a celestial dome. There were quite a few people gathering nearby. Can we lower our altitude to check what’s being broadcast?”
Wen Jing noticed that there were no local aircraft around, so she nodded and gradually descended toward the indicated spot. Sure enough, when they hovered nearby, a massive screen appeared above an artificial island at sea, displaying a live broadcast about the multiverse and time travel.
The New Shan Hai Jing was equipped with a semantic analysis system that provided real-time translations while receiving signals. They hovered in mid-air, watching the live broadcast alongside the gathered crowd below.
The screen was divided into four sections: three featuring live explorations of historical time periods, and one with a host providing explanations.
Wen Jing stared at the images being broadcast. The first was from the great flood time period they had just visited, the second was from the Ponsuo Tribe, and the third depicted the Ascension Time filled with strange beasts.
All the broadcast images were from a distance, lacking clear human figures, but since these time periods all exhibited distinct world characteristics and the time sequence aligned with the exploration pattern of this ocean civilization, the crew members of the New Shan Hai Jing who had never visited the Ponsuo Tribe quickly realized the order of those worlds within the cycle of civilization.
As the host analyzed the situations of those time periods, they also referenced the history of their own world for comparison.
It turned out that this world had experienced the glory and decline of matrilineal tribal societies thousands of years ago. Throughout history, it had also seen wars and chaos, with human dominion temporarily falling into the hands of the greedy.
Later, under the rule of those people, this world entered the technological age and quickly faced a population explosion. With only ten percent of land, it could not accommodate the growing number of people, while the declining genes of secondary beings caused great anxiety among some of the world’s population.
Fortunately, the initial humans of this world quickly suppressed the signs of war and began to unite in transforming into an ocean civilization, building numerous artificial islands to alleviate the pressure of the land-based population.
During this transition, people expanded through the ocean to resolve resource conflicts on land and dismantled the old power structures. They vigorously pursued asexual reproduction research, controlling the rapid population growth while addressing the decline in secondary beings’ genes.
Two hundred years before they watched this live broadcast, the world had fully entered the age of asexual reproduction, and secondary beings gradually faded from history in the following decades.
From then on, the world entered a prosperous era of ocean civilization, focusing on environmental art and space exploration. In recent decades, they discovered the secrets of parallel universes and began long-distance exploration and analysis of historical time periods.
At this moment, the host highlighted the live broadcast about the great flood time period, introducing to everyone the content they explored in that time period.
Wen Jing and the others listened quietly in the time capsule, realizing that the development history of the great flood time period was extremely similar to their world. It first underwent a long feudal imperial era, then transitioned to the technological age, sacrificing precious natural resources in its rapid development. Afterward, global warming and environmental deterioration triggered the overflow of mantle water to the surface, turning the entire world into vast oceans during a continuous ten-year downpour, leaving only a portion of humans and animals surviving on an ark.
After the presentation about the great flood time period, the host then highlighted the Ponsuo Tribe time period. As soon as Wen Jing saw it, she straightened up, eager to listen as the host recounted the familiar history. When the host mentioned the later Ponsuo time period and referred to the ascension, she said, "We have observed incredible footage, and the entire planet is enveloped in dazzling golden light. We can sense that this is humanity’s collective ascension."
Upon hearing this, Wen Jing joyfully turned to look at Xue Zheng and Yan Yi. Indeed, the Ponsuo time period successfully achieved ascension. According to the host, the ascension point came about a century after the time when Mo Chuan and her companions lived.
Although they had expected the ascension of the Ponsuo time period, the three were still unable to hide their excitement. If the time capsule hadn’t been in manual mode, they would have jumped up in celebration.
After introducing the Ponsuo time period, the host highlighted the ascension time with strange beasts. The content was mainly similar to what they had learned about from the Ponsuo Tribe, and the host later mentioned speculations about ascension being related to the cycle.
After presenting the three time periods, the host explained the purpose of today’s live broadcast. During their exploration of these three time periods, they discovered that in the early stages of each cycle, some initial humans retained memories of the previous cycle. Additionally, the last time period contained remnants in the sea or within mountains that were not completely erased after ascension, thus possessing a degree of cross-time inheritance, similar to the genes and souls reintroduced into this world.
Therefore, they decided to compile the content from the cyclical time periods into stories, leaving them in the depths of the mountains and the sea, in hopes of passing on these messages to the next cycle.
"We are approaching the end of this cycle. We hope these records we leave for future generations can help them avoid some detours and endure less suffering than we once did."
At this moment, the people in the time capsule exchanged silent glances. The ancient texts and mythologies now seemed to have a source.
Just as Wen Jing was about to say something, an alarm suddenly blared from below, "Suspicious unidentified flying object detected, level one alert activated!"
Upon hearing this, Wen Jing quickly pulled up the control stick, causing the time capsule to ascend rapidly. Fortunately, even though they had been hovering, her hand had remained on the control panel, allowing them to swiftly escape before the interception device activated below.
Xue Zheng, surprised by the sudden ascent, looked around, "Aliens? Where?"
Yan Yi rolled his eyes and replied with a wry smile, "Sister, they’re talking about us…"
At that moment, the spaceship below had caught up, launching a probing attack at them. Wen Jing nimbly avoided it, then activated the anti-gravity device to quickly leave the atmosphere, heading towards the time tunnel.
Seated in the right co-pilot seat, Chu Lan had been observing the situation behind them. "Their technology level is higher than ours. We need to hurry; if we get captured and dragged into the Cycle Endpoint, it would be trouble."
Wen Jing nodded and accelerated, plunging the New Shan Hai Jing into the time tunnel. Soon, everything around them turned pitch black, and the pursuing spaceship vanished from sight, unable to enter the time tunnel leading to the future.
Xue Zheng, still shaken, grasped the handle beside her and wiped her sweat. "My goodness, we were just talking so warmly, it almost brought tears to my eyes, and now it’s changing so fast. The ancestors of this time period are rather fierce."
Yan Yi chuckled softly, "I bet once they figure it out, they’ll realize we came from the previous cyclical time period, and they’ll regret scaring us away."
Before long, they arrived at the Cycle Endpoint of this ocean civilization time period, where they were greeted by a golden light. At the moment they saw this scene, they were immediately flung back into the time tunnel.
Wen Jing adjusted the position of the time capsule, nodding in satisfaction. "Wonderful, they have successfully ascended in the end. Let’s hurry back and sort out everything we saw today."
