"Noel isn’t here, is he..."
Considering Noel’s persistence, if he had found traces of Su Ming’an, he would definitely co along, yet Noel did not appear.
Su Ming’an confird there was no one around and focused on the exploration.
The traces of civilization on this planet extended high up to the Sky Island and deep down to the seabed. Due to the passage of ti, most structures had already weathered away. The inverted mountain roots and the once-radiant architectural complexes were now just skeletal remains, like chewed carcasses.
Su Ming’an and Su Rin soared high in the sky, their divine consciousness scanning every corner, across rugged mountains, over the boundless sea, the expansive view was refreshing and delightful.
Su Rin remarked, "This was an extrely advanced high-level civilization. For so reason, all the inhabitants disappeared, as if vanishing in an instant." He pondered, "Were they obliterated? Or attacked by high-dinsional beings... I wonder if the high-dinsional entity that destroyed this place will return."
"There’s no need to worry about that," Su Ming’an said. "After the fusion of the binary stars, I created a shield with the goodwill and malice I’ve absorbed over the past century. Then, I went to the depths of the universe, lighting a beacon as bait to attract the high dinsions to , turning this place into a hard nut to crack, giving us a millennium of peace... By the way, if you’re not afraid of the high-dinsional chase, you can accompany while looking for Pulaya. But I suggest you go alone; it’s too dangerous to be with ."
"Heh." Su Rin crossed his arms and said with a sideways glance, "You said you’d take ho, but now you’re making find the way by myself."
He paused, "Is it feasible? Do you have enough lifespan to distract the high dinsions?"
"It’s feasible," Su Ming’an replied. "I can operate with minimal loss to sustain myself. Besides, I have Xiber and the others to help cover for ."
"What about the World Tree?" Su Rin couldn’t tell if he was lying, frowning slightly.
"After the fusion of the binary stars, I might find the opportunity to detach from the identity of the World Tree and survive as a pure spiritual body," Su Ming’an said.
"When you said you’d take ho before, did you an to drag through hiding with you?"
"You can stay on Earth and wait for . When I find it, I’ll bring the news back to you," Su Ming’an shook his head. "You don’t have to co with ."
"...We’ll talk about it later." Su Rin directly changed the topic.
At this mont, Su Rin suddenly sensed sothing.
They discovered a pure white, pristine beach lying beneath the Sea of Stars, like crushed bone powder, shimring with beautiful fluorescence.
"This is the most concentrated point of energy on this planet... yet still no signs of life," Su Rin said.
Most of the planet’s structures were weathered, but near the beach were a forest of buildings, luxurious castles, towering bell towers, layers of ochre townhouses, vibrant in color, boldly contrasting, like a fairy tale.
"—Who are you?"
Suddenly, a figure appeared above the white sand, just a shadow, without form.
Reaching the level of deity, aning is conveyed directly through divine thought, with no language barrier between them.
Su Ming’an imdiately raised his sword, Su Rin bursting with light in an instant.
"...It hasn’t attacked, no need to flare up," Su Ming’an covered half his eyes.
Su Rin ceased the light pollution, squinting at the shadow, "If I’m not mistaken, you are this civilization’s ’Watcher’, bound to the fate of the planet, staying here even if all life has left."
"Who are you?" the shadow remained vigilant.
"We are from another civilization, wishing to co here and fuse..." Su Ming’an briefly explained their intentions, ready to persuade.
Yet the shadow nodded directly, "I agree."
Su Ming’an looked on, surprised.
The shadow spoke haltingly, "I have been trapped here for too long, without anyone... Since you have no ho, you may as well co in and take a rest... You can stay long-term."
Su Ming’an asked, "What did you go through in the past?"
The shadow shook its head, "It’s been so long... I’ve forgotten... Even forgotten... how to speak. It seems... one day... everyone was gone..."
In fact, Su Ming’an didn’t need to be so polite to the shadow; it was rely a prisoner trapped here, even losing its mory and language. But Su Ming’an remained friendly, as the shadow was the only life here.
When they were about to leave, the shadow grabbed Su Ming’an’s sleeve:
"Will you co back? Will you co and play with again?"
"We will," Su Ming’an extended his hand, "Nice to et you."
"Mm." The shadow grasped his hand, "Friends..."
...
In the spring of 2047, the Central Hub of the World passed a resolution to initiate the most ambitious project of the era of human civilization’s torch-carrying—the "New Ho" project, also known as the "Yizhu Star Initiative."
This planet, nad "Yizhu Star" by humanity, ans a pearl left behind by the ocean.
The first to land were tens of thousands of machines, which, under the precise coordination of the Ming’an System, descended to the plains region.
The primary task of these machines was to establish a base for humans to settle, along with life-support systems, ecological agricultural test pods, and quantum communication stations. Subsequently, large-scale geological exploration and resource surveys comnced. The transmitted data was exhilarating: high-purity tal veins, massive quantities of silicate minerals, and an extensive layer of liquid water ice buried underground were well-preserved.
In the winter of 2047, the real challenge began—to infuse life into this barren planet.
Tens of thousands of elite humans, including geologists, atmospheric physicists, ecological engineers, quantum communication specialists, and artificial intelligence coordinators, embarked on the Ark Ship "Genesis" and its escort ships, migrating like a silver swarm of bees toward the planet codenad "Yizhu Star."
Inside the Ark cabin, a giant holographic projection of Yizhu Star slowly rotated. Every crater, every dried ancient riverbed, every weathered relic’s ruin was gradually endowed with precise coordinates and geological paraters.
Within the World Hub Tower, Yu Zhu reported to Su Ming’an, "World Master, when the elite humans entered Yizhu Star, they detected an obstruction. There’s a shield on the surface of Yizhu Star that only allows a few people to enter... It seems to be a civilization barrier left behind by Yizhu Star."
"Hmm." Su Ming’an was not surprised. After all, such a high-level civilization must have a civilization barrier: "The high dinsions of the ti destroyed all life on this planet but did not break the civilization barrier? Was it a perative spiritual destruction... This is sowhat troubleso; we don’t have the ans to break this civilization barrier."
"That’s correct, this civilization barrier is like a balloon, able to accommodate at most tens of thousands of people inside... Any more, and it will firmly keep them out," Yu Zhu said. "If we can’t find a way to break the barrier, we can’t get in."
"I’ll think of a way," Su Ming’an said. "I already know we won’t find another planet to settle on in the next fifty years, so we must overco this, no matter how difficult."
Finding this barren star was already incredibly fortunate; who knows, even Dieying couldn’t find one in thousands of years.
"Understood," Yu Zhu said. "I’ll inform the Union Governnt to continue with the exploration plan... Also." He coughed, "I’ve learned how to brew flower tea, would you like to try so?"
Su Ming’an suddenly rembered that Yu Zhu was also one of the "Saints." But Yu Zhu was far more restrained than Su Mianbao, never pouring out emotions, never uttering words that might influence Su Ming’an. Only today did he dare to confide a bit.
However, Su Ming’an could only refuse: "I’m very busy now, maybe later."
Upon hearing this, Yu Zhu nodded and turned to leave.
In the sumr of 2048, all human elites evacuated, and Su Ming’an left the "Seed of the World" on Yizhu Star. The world tree seed from Luowasha was returned to her before he left. This seed originated from Earth, and scattering it over Yizhu Star would accelerate the star’s recovery.
Shadow played with the sand while curiously watching Su Ming’an.
"Friend, when are you guys coming?" it asked, resting its chin.
"When a tree grows here, when it becos suitable for people to live here." Su Ming’an pointed to the spot where the seed was buried: "Then I’ll break the civilization barrier."
He had doubted whether this place was a trap, but after repeated investigations with Su Rin, there was indeed no problem.
"Oh." Shadow looked up: "Why did those house-building grown-ups all leave?"
"Because we’re about to officially evolve this place. Restoring this planet requires too many resources; it’s better to let it evolve on its own." Su Ming’an said: "In the future, four people will play with you."
Shadow was very happy.
Su Ming’an planned to cover the area with the Ti Authority, Reincarnation Authority, and Faith Authority, allowing Yizhu Star to undergo the small world’s evolution process again, from the primordial era to the habitable era. This way, humanity wouldn’t need to spend huge resources repairing the planet, nor wait thousands or millions of years to see Yizhu Star rebuilt.
It will evolve and recover by itself. After all, the power of nature is the strongest. Just wait about a few decades, and Yizhu Star will be livable; by then it will rge, solving everything.
Su Ming’an picked up the feather pen and started writing.
—The black-haired, black-eyed leader girl.
—The white-haired, green-eyed young man skilled in martial arts.
—The black-haired, black-eyed quiet girl.
—The white-haired, white-eyed androgynous person.
This was the four-mber group at the beginning of the small world, and since the small world was very successful, Su Ming’an planned to directly replicate the experience and follow the path of success again. But considering that Su Mianbao and the others were also independent beings, Su Ming’an did not use identical nas but renad them.
"You’ll be called..." Su Ming’an looked at the leader girl: "Su Tusi."
The leader girl affectionately embraced this creator.
"You will be called Mu Zhu." Su Ming’an nad them in order: "You will be called Ling Yue. You will be called Li Li."
He clapped his hands and said: "These are temporary nas, you can na yourselves again once you have high intelligence."
...Although he knew that the four-mber group was unlikely to rena themselves, they quite liked the nas given by Father God.
After naming them, he suddenly felt a bit regretful; he shouldn’t have nad one "Su Tusi." He should have chosen a more elegant na, so he said: "Not Su Tusi, how about Su Qiqing?"
However, Su Tusi shook her head vehently, expressing strong disapproval.
"Just prefer such cute food nas... alright." Su Ming’an smiled: "Then when you grow up, you can rena yourself."
He looked at Shadow and suddenly noticed Shadow writing sothing on a stone. Due to long-term boredom, Shadow learned to doodle on the beach, but this ti it seed to be writing words...
"What are you writing?" Su Ming’an leaned over and saw a string of numbers: "114..."
"I’ve slept for a long ti and lost my mory. But when I woke up... to mark the years, I engrave a mark on the stone every year..." Shadow pointed to the stone, smiling: "This year is year 114... I want to... record this big event to remind myself not to forget."
Su Ming’an looked up and saw a line of words engraved on the stone—
...
[Year 114, friend scattered the Seed of the World.]
...
Su Ming’an’s pupils contracted slightly, frowning in confusion, feeling a strange sense of déjà vu.
...
In the spring of 2048, the "World Lord Council" was held.
Participants included only the current "Peak Alliance": Lü Shu, Yi Song, Mo Yan, Bei Wang, Lin Jiang, Lin Yin, Zhao Yuan, Violet, i Yani, Joy, Hua De, Anthony. Due to confidentiality, Union Governnt mbers were not invited.
Among them, Zhao Yuan was reborn by Su Ming’an; she once went astray, and Su Ming’an deleted her past mories. Yamada Machiichi also resurrected, but due to the incident with Eni he fell into deep depression, unable to erge from the shadows, and stayed curled up at ho, touching neither politics nor painting.
Looking around at everyone, Su Ming’an suddenly realized, except for the god-like Lü Shu and the inexplicably youthful Bei Wang, the others have visibly changed... even aged.
Twenty-two years have passed, most peers are now over forty, Mo Yan has beco a mature, spirited professor. Lin Jiang beca a star and maintained himself well, yet signs of ti were visible. Violet was originally not young, now more mature and charming. Even i Yani, the youngest, is now a stable woman in her thirties.
The top-ranking players have extended lives, but without becoming gods, they are ultimately limited.
Only the colorful-haired World Lord, Lü Shu, Bei Wang seed like three fresh young people, wedged between the crowd.
"Our World Lord is really a busy person, haven’t seen you in ages." Violet teased, graceful and mature like pearls and jade.
"It’s practically a class reunion; classmates not seen for years gather and find everyone has changed greatly..." Hua De said.
"Indeed, my daughter always pesters for the World Lord’s photo... it’s not sothing easily given, letting her watch on TV and she’s still not satisfied..." Anthony said with a chuckle.
...Daughter.
Su Ming’an was awakened by this word, seeing that Anthony was no longer the golden-haired, high-spirited young man but a mature man with a beard and corners of his eyes lined. Only then did he realize most of the people he knew from that batch are over forty, many have married and had children.
He always thought everyone was still young, still children, but now hearing this, he realized "twenty-two years" is such a significant number. After he beca a Deity, after his perception of ti shrunk infinitely... only now did he realize what a long ti it is for humans.
The ti for a newborn to beco a university graduate, the ti for a university graduate to reach middle age, the ti for a middle-aged person to head towards old age.
Yet for him... it felt like just a blink.
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