40 The Death of Qin Shi Huang10

◎That year...the man he met in the orphanage, he remembered who he was◎

After hearing this, the man turned around and found the parts with the corresponding date from the neatly arranged parts library.

"Perhaps you're right, but be prepared. In case of failure..." the man grabbed a box of tools, "a fourth time-space overlap will occur. Whatever the consequences, you and I will have to accept them."

"What if it succeeds?" Xu Wenjun asked directly.

"All timelines have returned to normal." The man replied.

-

Inside the welfare home, the old director's room.

In the last few minutes of his life, the old director did not look at his three children, but stared at the "nurse" beside him.

She looked at Zhu Heng with clear and firm eyes.

The child in front of her was the one she watched grow up.

From the moment he was born and brought home by someone, when she picked him up at the door of the orphanage, until he was 8 years old, thanks to him, she accidentally came into contact with Helan Dao from the future, and thus got a glimpse of the secrets.

Ten years later, as the man had said, she was sent directly to the hospital due to various complications caused by long-term hard work.

She didn't believe it at first.

Although her illness is serious, the doctors say that she is recovering well and will get better and better.

How could it be possible that he died in July after being discharged from the hospital as that man said?

She doesn't believe it.

But it wasn't until she saw Zhu Heng, who had grown up, 6 years later.

He appeared in her ward that day and she saw his familiar face.

No one knew that this was not the first time she had seen the grown-up Zhu Heng.

She had met him once a long time ago, just through a surveillance camera.

On that midsummer morning, a young man brought the infant Zhu Heng to the door of the welfare home.

The technology in the second-level civilization era was very advanced, so advanced that the surveillance images were clear and restored enough for her to effortlessly see the young man's appearance, his short thick black hair, cold white skin, and the same white coat he was wearing now.

At that moment, she suddenly felt scared.

What she was afraid of was not Zhu Heng, but a sense of fate that was a cycle of reincarnation and repetition.

It seems that every step in their lives has already been written into a short line of text.

They just need to follow the established plot and proceed step by step.

Even she is so scared, so what about him?

Could this child, whom she had watched grow up, bear such a fate all by herself? She always had a vague feeling that everyone around her was going through a battle.

And the child she had watched grow up was at the center of the storm.

-

The old dean felt that life was draining away from his body.

She slowly closed her eyes, then immediately opened them, suddenly stretched out her hand, and grabbed Zhu Heng tightly.

She stared at Zhu Heng intently.

Silly child.

I have to run away.

Perhaps they are all living in a circle that is connected from beginning to end, and today's causes may not necessarily bring immediate today's results.

But it always pops up suddenly at some point and forces people to make the same choices as in history.

So you have to run, run far away.

Better not to come back again.

She looked at Zhu Heng, her mouth opening and closing.

Zhu Heng immediately leaned down and put his ear close.

He saw the light in the old dean's eyes gradually fade.

Amidst the continuous sobbing and screaming around him, Zhu Heng heard the old man's weak voice: "From now on... no matter what happens... you are... not allowed to come back."

Before Zhu Heng could say anything, the old man had already turned his eyes away from him and ignored him as if he were a stranger.

The old dean looked at his three children and slowly but forcefully made one final request to them: "Don't let Xiaoheng... know what happened today."

The crying stopped for a few seconds, and the three children were suddenly stunned.

The old man looked at them, his face finally showing reluctance. With a hint of guilt in his voice, he said to the children, "I'm sorry for putting you through this."

Zhu Heng stood beside the bed, caressing with his fingertips unintentionally, his joints turning white.

He lowered his eyes and looked at the dean.

It turned out that she recognized herself in the hospital.

She didn't let her 18-year-old self know the truth about her departure, perhaps because she didn't want him to have any regrets.

So it was he who misunderstood the dean's three children for six whole years.

He was the one who didn't let her leave the hospital; he was also the one who let her leave the hospital.

I don’t know why she made such a decision, but his existence must be one of the reasons why she chose to leave.

Zhu Heng held the old woman's hand and passed his warmth to her.

Her hands were gradually getting colder, but perhaps because Zhu Heng's body temperature was not high, he didn't feel the temperature difference much.

The sounds around him echoed into Zhu Heng's mind, and the sounds became smaller and smaller. The scene in front of him was covered with a layer of mist. Zhu Heng felt a heat in his eyes, which made him feel a little surprised.

What a strange emotion.

The world in front of him was slowly receding, and a brute force was pulling him, trying to pull his consciousness out of his body.

In an instant, the world was spinning and the environment around me had completely changed.

Zhu Heng lowered his eyes and first saw a pair of familiar black leather boots on the ground.

He raised his head and looked up along the other person's long legs, just in time to meet Helan Dao's gaze.

Helan Dao was stunned for a moment, then slowly put his hands together.

Zhu Heng rolled his eyes and his gaze fell on Helan Dao's fingertips. He saw him put the cap on a pen, then put away the white diary in his hand and put it back into his chest pocket.

There was no panic on his face, everything was normal.

Zhu Heng was very familiar with the diary, it was the same one that the actress had held in her hand and was reading, but Helan Dao said this one was newer.

Zhu Heng stared at Helan Dao's chest without any warmth, then slowly raised his eyes to look at him.

Helan Dao turned his head away, put the pen in his pocket, and bit his lower lip lightly.

He looked calm on the surface, but he was cursing in his heart.

What bad luck.

It was neither early nor late, but he was called back when he was making up the diary.

"I am," He Landao blinked, "I am a little curious about your past, huh."

Zhu Heng: "Heh."

Helan Dao raised his hand and scratched the bridge of his nose.

Suddenly a noisy voice broke the deadlock between the two.

"Wish...Brother?"

Tao Ran's bright green figure suddenly appeared before Zhu Heng. He turned his head to glance at the people behind him and said excitedly, "Brother Zhu, my Brother Zhu is back! Our time and space have returned to normal!"

Helan Dao raised his eyebrows.

Time and space return to normal?

After Tao Ran called out, Zhu Heng finally turned his gaze away from Helan Dao and looked around.

It was a vast indoor space. In the center, a beam of sunlight filtered through the skylight, casting a shadow onto the ground and landing at Helan Dao's feet. Behind him, countless massive, tangled wires were arranged in an orderly fashion. The dripping of flickering lights and the rumble of running machinery penetrated his ears. The air smelled of flying dust, but it was not strong.

Xu Wenjun and his group were standing next to a giant machine not far away, and a slightly older man was standing next to them.

Zhu Heng recognized him at a glance. This was the middle-aged man he had seen in front of the fruit shop, on the bus, and in the hospital elevator. He just looked a few years older and his legs and feet were normal.

This was not his illusion. It was impossible for a person to show such obvious aging changes in just a few days. Although he did not age too much, Zhu Heng realized in an instant that this was not the same timeline.

Obviously, Xu Wenjun and others also noticed this change.

Tao Ran remembered the man's warning that if he answered the time incorrectly, different time and space would overlap again, and his previous excitement disappeared.

"The timelines won't overlap again, will they?" Tao Ran looked at Xu Wenjun. "Did we... fail?"

Xu Wenjun frowned, as if thinking, and said nothing.

Zhu Heng subconsciously glanced at Helan Dao. This man still looked calm and indifferent as always. He didn't know whether he had discovered the problem with the timeline.

However, Zhu Heng noticed that Helandao's gaze lingered on the middle-aged man's legs and feet for a few seconds.

Suddenly someone chuckled.

Zhu Heng focused his gaze and found the source of the voice - the middle-aged man.

The man just shook his head and said, "No, you didn't fail."

"It is now the 889th year of the Secondary Civilization Era. The timeline you are currently in is the normal one."

After listening to the man's explanation, Zhu Heng closed his eyes slightly.

Yes.

The time and space he was in before were all things that happened in the past, and the year 889 was the time and space where he was currently living normally.

At this moment, everyone heard a "ding" sound, and the long-silent system came online.

In 221 BC, Qin Shi Huang conquered the six states and unified China. He established a unified system of standards, achieving true internal unity. First, the standardization of weights and measures began. The imperial court established standards for length, weight, and volume, which were then implemented nationwide. This allowed economic trade and commerce to function smoothly across the country.

[Secondly, a unified writing system and a standardized road system were established throughout the country during this era. With a common writing system and a standardized road system, the foundation for a long-term unified country was established.]

Third, the Qin Shi Huang unified the calendar. He established the tenth month of the Xia calendar as the beginning of the year. The first day of the tenth month was the Qin New Year. This unified calendar restored order to the daily lives of the people throughout the country. These standardized measures ensured the long-term continuation of the Qin system throughout the future regime.

The system finished its dialogue in one breath, then said to the crowd, "Congratulations on successfully repairing Qin Shi Huang's computer and restoring everything to normal. New fragments of civilization have been found. Please collect all your belongings and return to the audience lounge in an orderly manner."

Everyone followed the system's instructions and left one after another. Zhu Heng walked behind. When he passed the man, he suddenly stopped.

He tilted his head and looked at the man.

The other party smiled at him: "Long time no see."

For the man, the last time they met was in the hospital six years ago. But for Zhu Heng, only a few days had passed since he met the middle-aged man.

Zhu Heng shifted his gaze to the man's legs and feet: "Is the surgery recovery going well?"

"It's fine now." The man blinked.

He looked calmly at the people who had left one after another.

Six years ago, just days after his surgery, the timeline returned to normal. Zhu Heng's companions vanished before his eyes, and he guessed at the time that they were humans from the future.

Later, the man went to the address of the welfare home that Zhu Heng left for him. Just as he expected, Zhu Heng was only a high school student at that time. He wanted to talk to Zhu Heng, but he ran into the old director of the welfare home who passed away, so he didn't go up to disturb him immediately.

Who would have thought that after Zhu Heng dealt with the old dean's funeral, he left and never came back.

It wasn't until six years later that he saw this group of people appear in front of him out of thin air.

Recalling this, the man unconsciously lowered his voice: "Ask whatever you want to ask. I've been waiting for you for six years."

Zhu Heng paused for a second, his gaze falling on Helan Dao's back, and he asked calmly, "Have you seen him before?"

"I have." The man nodded and picked up the water cup to moisten his throat. "But... that was sixteen years ago."

Zhu Heng glanced at Helan Dao with a calm look.

Sixteen years ago...

The year when unusual contents appeared in his diary.

Zhu Heng took out the photo of himself when he was eight years old that he brought back from the welfare home six years ago. He was wearing a red skirt and it was difficult to tell whether he was a man or a woman. He was sitting alone in a bunch of flowers, staring at the camera with an indifferent expression.

Seeing that Zhu Heng stopped talking, the man asked him, "Is that the only question?"

"Yes, nothing else." Zhu Heng said, he looked at Helan Dao who was walking in front of him.

Helan Dao seemed to have noticed something, turned his head to look in Zhu Heng's direction, and raised his eyebrows slightly.

Zhu Heng looked at him with an open gaze.

That year...he did meet a man in the welfare home.

Now he remembered who it was.

-

“Pah.”

A drop of rain hit the ground, soaking the concrete floor.

Zhu Heng was just emerging from the Qin Shi Huang humanoid computer when, caught in the sudden downpour, he paused in front of the door. He looked up at the gradually darkening sky.

The smell in the air was stuffy and damp, carrying the scent of soil, dust, and fresh moss, filling Zhu Heng's nose.

It's raining again, he thought silently.

Just like when he first came into this world.

At this moment, he seemed to truly hear the sound of the gears of fate turning.

-

The following content is excerpted from "A General History of the Universe":

We have always firmly believed that mankind can overcome everything.

We are unwilling to admit that civilization will eventually become ruins; disorder and chaos are the true appearance of this world.

We are just a speck of dust that is lucky enough to live in this illusion of peace that has lasted for billions of years.

The prophet once said that the ultimate survival of human civilization, which has lasted for tens of millions of years, would depend on a young man named Zhu Heng.

All of humanity once believed this.

However, the truth is often surprising. No one would have thought that Zhu Heng's existence would inevitably lead to the destruction of human civilization.

But even so, we still call him the greatest human being who ever lived.

【Author’s words】

I bow to you all. The next chapter will be Volume 5 "The Silk Road"

Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or provided nutrient solution between 2022-07-10 18:48:03 and 2022-07-31 16:19:44~

Thanks to the little angels who irrigated the nutrient solution: Passer 10 bottles; Yuru 8 bottles;

Thank you very much for your support. I will continue to work hard!