At this mont, Tom saw the azure ocean from this planet, saw the white clouds suspended high in the sky, saw the desolate deserts, saw the continuous mountain ranges, saw the boundless plains, saw the verdant forests and grasslands...
Everything was so familiar, so similar to the scenes he had yearned for all these years.
Even the shapes of the continents, the lakes, and the rivers were no different from what he rembered.
There was only one difference.
Tom did not see any traces of human civilization on Earth.
Sighing softly in his heart, Tom controlled tens of thousands of clones, who boarded thousands of landing craft, combat spacecraft, and other vessels, leaving the massive mothership and descending toward the ground below.
These landing craft and combat spacecraft were originally designed only for vacuum environnts, without any optimization for aerodynamic layout or aerodynamics, making them unsuitable for a planet like Earth with a dense atmosphere.
But it didn’t matter; only their performance would be affected. As long as he went slower and descended gradually, it would be fine.
Thousands of various spacecraft chose different landing sites.
The clone where Tom’s consciousness resided controlled his spacecraft and landed in a place of extraordinary significance to Tom.
It was a plain.
In his mory, he had grown up in a village located on this plain when he was a child.
The village was small, and the people were simple and honest.
He had spent a happy childhood in this village, then left his hotown to pursue his studies, until he began this deep space scientific expedition mission.
Landing at the coordinates corresponding to this village, Tom’s consciousness, residing in this clone, opened the spacecraft hatch and stepped onto the ground, wearing light clothing.
It was the transition between spring and sumr, not cold at all, and not too hot.
Breathing the familiar air from his mories and looking at the verdant land before him, Tom’s eyes held a hint of confusion.
Everything from his mories no longer existed. All that remained were overgrown weeds and patches of forest.
Unidentified wildflowers swayed gently in the breeze, and many small animals could be seen in the grass.
Various birds circled in the sky, and their clear chirping sounds constantly drifted down.
Everything was so vibrant and full of life.
Tom sat directly on the ground, staring blankly at everything before him.
At the sa ti, his consciousness was still connected to the other clones, leading them to more places.
So of these clones arrived at another location, next to a mountain range.
That was where the capital of human civilization was located in his mory.
He had spent a long ti there. There, he completed his studies, found a job, and beca an astronaut.
But the forr concrete jungle had also vanished. The ground was still only an endless expanse of grassland and forest.
The parks and scenic areas in the mountain range next to the capital, where Tom had many fond mories, had also completely disappeared.
He even found the location of the pavilion from his mories. His younger self, at the ti, had even carved so rather chuunibyou-like words onto that pavilion.
But now, there was no pavilion there, only so uneven, abruptly rising rocks.
Other clones arrived by a large river.
Tom clearly rembered that the human world had built what was considered the largest water conservancy project in the world there.
That dam held back tens of billions of tons of water, making them flow according to human will.
But now, that dam had also completely disappeared. The surrounding rocks showed no signs of artificial excavation.
Even the clearly rembered ancient tombs carved by the ancestors along the cliffs from thousands of years ago were completely gone.
Another few hundred teams also arrived at every place in his mory where large artificial facilities had existed.
But no matter where, no matter how obvious the facilities that once existed in Tom’s mory were, he could not find any trace.
"Since all the obvious traces are gone, then... do so deeper, less easily changed traces still exist?"
Tom pondered, taking out a large amount of equipnt he had brought for this trip, and began a more in-depth inspection.
First were microplastics; once manufactured, they would be distributed in seawater, soil, and the atmosphere, entering the ecological cycle system, and are almost impossible to eliminate.
Second was nuclear radiation.
Since human civilization mastered nuclear energy and began nuclear tests and explosions, trace amounts of fission elents have entered the ecological cycle, significantly increasing the background radiation levels.
Similarly, it is also almost impossible to eliminate.
If a higher level of radiation could be detected in Earth’s ecosystem, that could also prove the forr existence of the human world.
Third was geological research.
Tom carried out large-scale excavations in places where he rembered ancient humans had been found, attempting to find fossils, bones, and other things of ancient apes, or even modern Homo sapiens, from the strata.
And there was a fourth, a fifth, a sixth...
Tom planned over a hundred investigation sches to prove the existence of human civilization. Thus, these clones began their busy work.
All research concluded after several days.
The data finally fed back once again told Tom that human civilization had indeed not existed.
In the "hotown" from his mories, the clone where Tom’s consciousness resided sighed softly.
This result was sowhat expected; he had already had a premonition.
Although the evidence was now increasingly full and detailed, his inner conviction remained unshaken.
"Everything I rember must be true. No matter how much undeniable evidence I find, I will not change this belief. The more sufficient the evidence, the more I believe this is a conspiracy.
Currently, I do not have the ability to uncover the truth of this conspiracy, but in the future, I will certainly uncover everything. My compatriots, one day, I will be able to bring you back to Earth, back to our ho."
Earth had been temporarily explored, and there was no need to stay longer.
Since that was the case, it was ti to focus on the Jupiter system and resu construction.
The Lantuke fleet was not far away.
Tom beckoned, and a clone took out a bow and arrow, swiftly and neatly shooting down a passing wild chicken.
He took out pots and pans, gutted the wild chicken, added various seasonings, and stewed a pot.
The taste of the chicken, different from that produced by breeding bases, invigorated Tom.
Devouring the entire chicken, Tom took a deep look at the vast land before him, then turned and entered the landing craft.
Reviews
All reviews (0)