41 Silk Road 01
◎Let us learn about the development history of all mankind◎
The aircraft bumped twice in the air, and everyone heard the system's emotionless and cold reminder.
[Dear audience, we are about to arrive at our destination. It will take about 5 minutes to land. Please be prepared.]
The thick fog outside the window gradually dissipated. Tao Ran looked down through the clouds and suddenly took a breath.
Zhu Heng was awakened by Tao Ran's not-so-small movement. He slowly opened his eyes and followed Tao Ran's gaze. A magnificent scene instantly occupied his entire field of vision.
Beneath the dim dome, a streak of golden red leaped from the edge of the clouds, tinting half the sky a rosy hue. Below, shrouded in the setting sun, the city's buildings rose from the ground, huddled like a dense anthill.
The entire city was built on the sea, with all buildings deeply rooted in the water. Therefore, transportation was limited to mid-air. Unlike Zhu Heng's Secondary Civilization era, air transportation here lacked tracks. Instead, all travel depended on various bizarre aircraft traversing these iron-colored forests.
All aircraft have a thin beam of headlights at the front, the light interweaving and constantly changing its trajectory, extending in different directions, as if guiding the direction of those aircraft.
Under the evening sky, the city gradually lights up with thousands of lights, like grand and brilliant stars covering the entire steel forest.
No one knew what materials those houses were made of, but they sparkled dazzlingly in the sunlight, like emerald, light jade, crystal, and diamond. In short, they looked like transparent objects, changing shape as the light from different angles changed. One could see the scenery behind the buildings at a glance, but one would never be able to see clearly what was going on inside the buildings, as if they were equipped with an excellent anti-peeping shield.
Everywhere in the sky, circular rings of light flickered, like an invisible dragon spewing them with thuds. Every time a house lit up its lights, a new ring of light appeared; or every time a plane flew across the sky, a new, ripple-like ring of light would appear in the sky, gradually diminishing in size.
What was even more peculiar was that a red sun hung above the clouds in the sky, and the sunlight turned into liquid, pouring down from the center of the red sun, gradually forming a thin red river, flowing into the sea, like capillaries, filling every corner of the entire huge city.
At this time, the system's voice sounded in everyone's ears.
【Welcome to Central City.】
Tao Ran was shocked: "Aren't you going to take us back to the audience lounge?"
[The central city is also a rest area, but it is the highest level and only special personnel can enter.]
Not only Tao Ran was surprised, but also Wang Kunshu and Xie Shen.
Wang Kunshu was touching up her makeup with a lipstick in her hand when she heard the words. Her hand trembled, leaving a startling red mark on the side of her face. She leaned halfway out of her seat and glanced in the direction of Helan Road. "I can understand him being able to enter the Central City, but what about those two? Can the Central City just let anyone in?"
The system explained: [When you finished the last instance, the system received a top-level directive to grant Zhu Heng special permission to enter the central city.]
Wang Kunshu twirled the lipstick back and asked, "Who gave the order?"
[Sorry, your permission level is insufficient and the system cannot answer your question. ]
Wang Kunshu frowned.
Is there someone in the central city with higher authority than the leader of the archaeological team?
She subconsciously glanced at Xu Wenjun, who was at the same level as her. The other person had a calm expression and there was nothing strange about him.
Wang Kunshu had no choice but to turn around and exchange glances with Xie Shen.
The latter nodded slightly at her, as if confirming her guess.
If there really is someone who has the power to issue the highest orders and whose authority overrides all team leaders, then this person can only be the mysterious captain of the archaeological team who makes people doubt his existence.
Wang Kunshu suppressed his shock and asked the system calmly, "Only Zhu Heng was granted special permission to enter the Central City, right? Where's the other one?"
The system paused for a moment: […Another one, buy one get one free.]
Tao Ran: “…”
Things couldn't be clearer. He Zhuge was the one in front and he was the one behind.
But fortunately, they were all called "one", and Tao Ran had to comfort himself in this way.
Zhu Heng, who had been at the center of the conversation, suddenly glanced at Helan Dao.
He Landao looked back at him: "What's the matter?"
"Nothing." Zhu Heng withdrew his gaze. He himself didn't know why, but he subconsciously wanted to see Helan Dao's reaction.
The aircraft began to jolt again, and Zhu Heng remained silent. The scenery outside the window slowly began to draw closer, and the aircraft, carrying everyone, landed steadily on a terraced building at the highest point in the city.
After getting off the aircraft, everyone except Zhu Heng and Tao Ran had changed into the black uniforms unique to archaeological team members.
Zhu Heng looked around for a long time and found that everyone around him was from the central city.
He turned his gaze away, looking out from a high point, the entire city in his sight. Furthermore, in this central city, all the busy people were dressed the same; they were all part of the archaeological team.
"Let's go." Wang Kunshu took a red string and tied her long black hair on top of her head. She impatiently called Tao Ran to go downstairs with her. "How many Central City residents have been trying so hard to get into the Central Building, but today you guys have gotten a great deal."
Aside from the leaders of the various archaeological teams, no one was allowed to approach the central building. Wang Kunshu greeted everyone with great skill, not hiding his knowledge of the place.
At this point, there was no need for her to pretend anymore. The only thing that surprised her was that Xu Wenjun and Helandao did not react strongly to the fact that she was also from Central City and was the leader of the archaeological team.
The former had a calm expression and showed no emotional fluctuations; the latter was smiling the whole time, with extremely hurtful words like "It's none of my business" and "Are you that great?" written all over his face.
Wang Kunshu’s fists hardened.
"Team leader, control your expression." Xie Shen couldn't help but remind him in a low voice.
Wang Kunshu glared at him, snorted coldly, and turned away.
"The central building is the residence of the archaeological team members with the highest authority, and it is difficult for ordinary people to enter. Since the system arranged for us to land directly on the roof, it means that you are tacitly allowed to stay here." Wang Kunshu explained as he walked.
She walked into the elevator, pressed the button, looked up, stared at Zhu Heng and asked, "Do you have a room card?"
Zhu Heng was stunned for a moment.
"...feel your pocket." A familiar voice brushed Zhu Heng's scalp and entered his ears.
Suddenly hearing this slightly teasing voice, Zhu Heng raised his eyes to look at the source and met Helan Dao's gaze.
Zhu Heng's eyes twitched, and goose bumps appeared all over his body. He subconsciously reached into his pocket and touched a hard room card.
"As expected, the system has already checked you in." He Landao leaned over, but because he was too close, his chest was almost touching Zhu Heng's back. "You're lucky, it's a black card. Black cards correspond to rooms in very good conditions. Does the person who gave the order like you? Arranging such a good place for you... Tsk."
Xu Wenjun suddenly glanced at Helan and said.
Helan Dao seemed to be completely unaware. He was looking at the black card in Zhu Heng's hand carefully. Before he could finish reading it, Zhu Heng snatched it away and pushed him with his elbow.
"It's up to you." Zhu Heng put away the room card, followed Wang Kunshu into the elevator and left.
Only He Landao and Xu Wenjun were left on the terrace.
Helandao rubbed his chest where Zhu Heng had pushed him, and casually glanced at Xu Wenjun who had been watching the show with her arms crossed. He suddenly smiled and stretched out his hands to her.
Xu Wenjun raised an eyebrow: "What do you mean?"
Helan said: "You haven't given me the room card yet."
Xu Wenjun ignored him and walked straight towards the elevator, sneer-snorting, "I heard someone ask, does the person who gave the order like Zhu Heng?"
Helan Dao's heart skipped a beat and he sniffed: "I was just kidding."
Xu Wenjun pressed the door-close button, and before the elevator completely closed, he said to Helan, "Anyway, I was asked by someone to grant Zhu Heng special privileges, so you should ask that person about this matter! You're so capable, do you really need me to help you with your accommodation problem?"
He Landao looked at Xu Wenjun and blurted out, "Captain——"
What answered Helan Dao was the sound of the elevator door closing mercilessly, leaving him no gap.
Helan Dao said "tsk".
He was the only one in the entire central city who knew that the central building was directly controlled by the captain of the archaeological team.
It would be fine if others didn't know the true identity of the captain of the archaeological team, but Helandao had known Xu Wenjun for a long time and naturally knew him very well. Therefore, for things like allowing people to enter the central city and arrange for them to stay in the central building, the most convenient and quickest way was to go directly to Xu Wenjun.
Although he, as the creator of the system, can do these things, every instruction he gives to the system will change the system's computing data to a certain extent, so it would be safer to leave such specific matters at the execution level to Xu Wenjun.
Helan Dao walked into another empty elevator and said, "You all bully me, okay?"
The system that was watching the whole process secretly complained and felt wronged?
With no outsiders present, the system directly asked him: [Where are you going?]
Helan Dao touched his chin, thought for a moment and said, "Go find Zhu Heng."
-
Zhu Heng didn't expect that as soon as he stepped into the room, an uninvited guest came to his door.
"Why are you here?" He looked at the person who came to the door with cold eyes, and saw Helan Dao raised a finger and shook it for a long time with a serious face. In the end, he said nothing, put on a natural look, and walked into the inner room without any courtesy.
As he walked, he pretended to look for it: "Where's my room card? I'm looking for my room card."
Zhu Heng leaned against the door with his arms folded across his chest, looking at him leisurely: "You don't have any, do you?"
He Landao clapped his hands and found the bottom of the stairs. "Good question! You also think it's unreasonable, right? The person who gave you the backdoor is really clueless. We are so close, but they forgot someone as important as me when opening a room card, but remembered someone as insignificant as Tao Ran so clearly."
The words were complaints, but the tone was very happy. As he spoke, he put his trouser pockets in his pockets, stretched his body, and sat down beside Zhu Heng's bed.
"How could a member of your archaeological team not have a room card?" Zhu Heng closed the door and looked back. Someone had even taken off his shoes and didn't consider himself an outsider at all.
"I don't have enough authority." Helan Dao said seriously.
"You don't have enough authority to copy my diary and review my copy records? I don't think Wang Kunshu and Xu Wenjun can do that." Zhu Heng rolled up his sleeves and looked at the current time, his face full of impatience.
If you have the guts, pretend with him again.
Helan Dao bit his tongue and confessed to Zhu Heng: "Actually, I was asked by the old dean to come to you."
When Zhu Heng heard Helan Dao mention the old dean, his expression finally relaxed a little.
"I told the dean I'm your future boss, and she's very happy to have you work under me. This isn't just for her peace of mind, but I'm also going to personally come to your home to give you on-the-job training."
He Landao continued to take off his combat uniform, leaving only a black vest and trousers. After taking it off, he looked at Zhu Heng and shamelessly discussed with him: "So I can only stay here with you for one night."
He looked reluctant, as if it was a great honor for him to stay here.
"You mean, I have to become one of you and wear the same uniform?" Zhu Heng stared at the messy clothes and shoes on the floor, his face full of disgust.
"That's not necessary." He Landao picked up the towel and walked to the bathroom. "This outfit only looks cool, but it's actually useless. You're already pretty, so you don't need to wear it."
He praised Zhu Heng in such an ordinary tone that Zhu Heng blushed slightly.
However, the unnatural look on his face was fleeting, and Zhu Heng quickly returned to normal. Then he heard the sound of water coming from the bathroom. He breathed a sigh of relief for some reason and walked towards the inner room, kicking Helan Dao's clothes off the ground.
After taking only two steps, Zhu Heng suddenly felt something was wrong.
He looked up into the bathroom. In the misty water, he could vaguely see Helan Dao's strong and thin upper body. Silver water droplets rolled down his wet hair...
"Why the hell don't you close the door when you take a shower?" Zhu Heng quickly turned around.
Helan Dao's tone was quite normal: "This makes it easier to communicate with you."
Fuck you.
Zhu Heng's ears turned a faint red. "What company holds onboarding training in a bathroom? Ridiculous."
He Landao used his hands to scrape away the water film on his face, looked at Zhu Heng sincerely, and admonished him earnestly: "Your thoughts are too complicated."
Zhu Heng was filled with anger. Someone was still as shameless as ever, a complete hooligan.
He Landao finished washing quickly. He was holding up his pants with one hand. As he came out of the bathroom, he saw Zhu Heng throwing a quilt out of the cabinet: "You sleep on the floor."
Helan Dao wiped his hair with his other hand, threw the towel on the back of the chair, and said shamelessly: "How can that be possible? We have to sleep together."
As they were talking, the overhead light suddenly flashed twice, and with a crackling sound, the whole room was plunged into darkness.
"The power is out?" Zhu Heng looked out the window. In the pitch darkness, the blood-red sun in the sky looked even more red.
No, it cannot be said to be the sun. It should be said that it has the function of the "sun" during the day, but as night falls, it becomes the "moon" that illuminates the entire central city.
"Don't worry, it's just that the energy supply is cut off." Helan Dao walked to the window calmly.
Zhu Heng followed Helan Dao's movements with his eyes, and then he saw an incredible scene.
Helan Dao leaned half of his body out, stretched out his hand out of the window and waved it gently. The huge blood-red "moon" seemed to be attracted by a magnet and slowly moved towards the central building.
The moon in Zhu Heng's field of vision grew larger and larger, finally stopping in front of the window. Moonlight condensed into liquid, flowing out from the moon's lowest point. He Landao reached out and hooked one of the streams, pinching it in his palm as if holding a thin red wire.
He found the end of the "red line", brought it into the room, and plugged it into the energy receiver in the house. In an instant, the house became bright again.
Zhu Heng suddenly understood something: "The entire central city relies on these red lines to provide energy?"
Helando clapped his hands. "That's right. Central City can operate freely without relying on the stars in the solar system. We have the ability to control all celestial bodies in the entire Milky Way and can also utilize the energy of the entire Milky Way. This is the third level of human civilization, and it is also the first lesson of your on-the-job training tonight."
As soon as he finished speaking, a half-human-height image of the Earth appeared in the center of the room. Zhu Heng reached out and tried to touch the image, but found that it was not an illusion, but a solid model.
Helando turned off all the lights in the room, leaving only the image of Earth in the center. "Now, let's learn about the history of human development... and the past, present, and future of the 'Universal History' system."
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