Chapter 129 Chapter 129 (Supplement)

If there is anything in common between the current world and the world I traveled through, it is probably the "Blue Planet".

However, in the world they traveled through, the people of the Galactic Empire experienced the Great Annihilation Era, their homeland was reduced to wasteland, and they finally chose to completely abandon their home planet "Blue Star". After that, they survived the difficult Great Migration Era, and finally ushered in the Great Explosion Era. They found a new homeland, established their capital in Sikkim, and officially established the Galactic Empire.

The original home planet, "Blue Star", was abandoned and has long been lost in the dust of history. Only the historical data that has been preserved occasionally mentions it.

This planet, which is far away from the star region of the Galactic Empire, has long been forgotten by most people except for a few ancient humans.

But the world he lives in is different. Humans have always lived on the Blue Planet. This planet has lasted too long, and its development process has been tortuous and full of ups and downs. There are many hardships in the middle, and even history textbooks cannot fully include them.

Ruan Shiqing had never paid special attention to the history of Blue Star before, and only had some vague memories of its development process from textbooks. But now, after searching, he discovered something that surprised him.

Three thousand years ago, Blue Star suffered a devastating blow-a nuclear war.

At that time, Blue Star was divided into different countries and races. Because of their interests, there were often frictions between them. This was originally very normal. Even the current Blue Star Alliance is not a solid block, and there are still many contradictions. But the bad thing is that several major countries have mastered nuclear weapons with extremely strong destructive power.

After an unprecedented economic crisis, some major countries started foreign wars in order to divert domestic conflicts. Other countries naturally could not sit idly by and started to resist.

The Eighth World War broke out completely, and the nuclear weapons that had been suppressed and no country dared to use were finally used on a large scale in the war.

By then, the technology was already quite mature, and nuclear weapons were already capable of delivering precise strikes within a certain range while minimizing environmental pollution.

But even so, the impact of nuclear war is still irreversible. Large-scale nuclear war causes a large amount of dust on the ground to rise into the atmosphere, blocking the sunlight and causing a "nuclear winter" [Note 1]; not to mention the explosion of nuclear weapons, which also brought serious radiation.

Due to the lack of sunlight, the temperature dropped sharply, and a large number of plants died due to lack of sunlight, while wild animals starved to death due to lack of food. The ecology suffered serious damage, the biological chain completely collapsed, and only humans were able to survive with the help of technology [Note 2].

But this is not the worst of it.

During the war between the two countries, the nuclear bomb launched by Country A accidentally destroyed a hidden nuclear base of Country B.

This secret nuclear base was quite large, with dozens of large nuclear reactors. It was originally a secret weapon of Country B, but before it could be used, it was accidentally destroyed by Country A.

Country B is an island country surrounded by the sea. After the nuclear base was destroyed, a series of explosions caused fires and released a large amount of high-energy radioactive material into the atmosphere [Note 3]. In addition, a large amount of radioactive material entered the ocean through groundwater and quickly spread to other sea areas with the ocean currents, causing extremely serious marine pollution.

In this world war, the number of people who died directly from the war was only tens of millions, but the number of people who died directly or indirectly from nuclear radiation, nuclear pollution and "nuclear winter" was as high as over 3 billion.

In the five years after the war, the ecological environment deteriorated severely, a large number of animals and plants became extinct, extreme climate intensified, and the population of Blue Star finally dropped sharply to less than one billion.

The once vibrant Blue Planet became a wasteland after this war.

The extremely cold climate made the ground no longer suitable for human habitation, so they abandoned their buildings on the ground and chose to live underground where the temperature is better.

After experiencing the war, humans finally put aside their nationality and race and began to try to unite and rebuild their homeland. This was the prototype of the Blue Star Alliance.

These surviving ancestors did not abandon their homes. Instead, they learned from their mistakes, abandoned all their prejudices, and concentrated all their efforts to rebuild this wasteland.

Until today, three thousand years later, there are no more countries in the world, only the Blue Star Alliance and its territories. Although conflicts and frictions still exist between the territories, with the lessons of the past, no one dares to rashly provoke a war again.

Probably due to the shadow left by the nuclear war, after the reconstruction of the Blue Star Alliance, researchers gave up nuclear energy research and turned to research on antimatter energy, which is safer and more environmentally friendly. This is also the reason why antimatter energy is popular on Blue Star today, while nuclear energy is declining.

Ruan Shiqing carefully read the entire development process of Blue Star, and something was about to come out of his mind.

He thought of the abandoned planet he had seen in his underwater dream, where plants had withered, animals were dead all over the ground, the sky was lead-gray, there was no sunlight, and an abandoned nuclear power plant was vaguely visible in the distance.

How similar all this is to what happened on Blue Star. However, the humans in the dream eventually failed to defend their homeland. They abandoned the devastated wasteland and took a spaceship far away from their homeland to find a new homeland. However, the ancestors of Blue Star survived for thousands of years, washed away the sins they had committed, and built a new homeland on the old wasteland.

It is like two leaves growing from a branch. They come from the same source, but diverge at different nodes and grow into two completely different leaves.

Ruan Shiqing felt that he had vaguely grasped a clue.

But the current information is too little, and he cannot fully grasp this elusive feeling. He needs more information and clues to confirm his guess.

After thinking it over, he applied for a six-month sick leave through the institute's internal system, then took his laptop and went to the library in the city center.

Perhaps by figuring out the connection between the two worlds, he could find a way back.

The city library is managed by a service robot and is open 24 hours a day. Ruan Shiqing booked a room in a hotel near the library and spent the rest of his time in the library looking up information except for eating and sleeping.

Three months passed like this. Ruan Shiqing lost five kilograms and found some useful information to support his guess, but he still had no idea how to go back.

Ruan Shiqing rubbed his temples tiredly, sighed, and told himself not to rush.

Putting away his laptop, he planned to go out for some fresh air and clear his mind. During this period of time, he was eager to find a way to get back, and had been pushing himself very hard, but in the end, his thinking was shackled and he didn't make any breakthroughs.

Coming out of the quiet library, the noisy and bustling sounds outside rushed into his ears. Ruan Shiqing took a deep breath and felt truly grounded.

During the past three months, he always felt like he was falling from one dream into another.

The whole person feels unreal.

This feeling was intensified when he stepped into the busy streets and saw the vendors setting up their stalls on the roadside.

Looking at the familiar grey cloak and the familiar face, he stopped in doubt, his eyes fixed on the other person.

The stall owner in a hooded cape was doing business. After collecting the customer's money, he met Ruan Shiqing's gaze with a smile. He did not show any surprise, as if the two of them were still meeting at the underground market on Planet B3024. He greeted enthusiastically and cheerfully, "I bought a lot of good things. Would you like to take a look, Mr. Ruan?"

Too shocked, but calmed down.

Ruan Shiqing walked to the stall and looked at the things on the stall. They were all old little gadgets. "Who are you? Why are you here?"

"I recently acquired an antique key called 'Time'. The name comes from 'The universe is the inn of all things; time is the passer-by of a hundred generations'[Note 4]. Would you like to take a look at it, Mr. Ruan?" He avoided answering and pointed to a black-grey key on the stall.

The key was different from an ordinary key. It was half the size of a palm, but not ornate. It was black and gray, with only the handle curved into a complicated pattern. The key shaft below did not have any teeth or protrusions like a normal key would have. It looked like some kind of decoration.

In this booth filled with bizarre antiques, the key looked too ordinary and mundane.

But Ruan Shiqing did not dare to underestimate it, not only because of its name "Time" and its origin, but also because... the things this stall owner had sold to him before were never ordinary.

This was true from the earliest 09 to the dragon eggs that later hatched dragon cubs and a bag of dragon crystals.

Ever since the little dragon cub ate the dragon crystal and got into trouble, he tried to find the stall owner, but the owner seemed to have disappeared without leaving any trace.

In addition, various problems arose later, and the search for the person came to nothing.

But he didn't expect that the two of them would meet again in such a place and occasion. After a brief thought, Ruan Shiqing didn't ask any more questions, but asked the price skillfully: "I want it, how much?"

"Since you are a regular customer, I will give you a discount. 20% off for one item, 40% off for two items." He pointed to a crystal ball on the stall and said, "If you buy this crystal ball together, you can get a 40% discount. The total price is only 5,000 yuan."

An old decorative key and a crystal ball that can be found everywhere still cost 5,000 even with a 40% discount.

In the past, Ruan Shiqing would have turned around and left, but now he paid without blinking an eye: "I'll take them all."

The stall owner made the deal and smiled even more enthusiastically: "You will not lose money on this deal!"

Ruan Shiqing played with the things in his hand for a while, but couldn't help asking again: "How did you get through——"

"Hey!" Before he could finish his words, the stall owner raised his hand to interrupt him. He pointed at what Ruan Shiqing was holding and smiled meaningfully: "I've already given you the answer."

After saying that, he packed up his stall, waved his hand without looking back, and walked away unsteadily.

Ruan Shiqing wanted to chase him, but after a few steps he found that the stall owner was like a fish in water, blending into the crowd a moment later. He stood on the busy street, looking at the key and crystal ball in his hand, frowned and thought for a moment, then turned back to the hotel.

After returning to the hotel room, Ruan Shiqing placed the key and the crystal ball together and studied them for a while, but did not find anything special about them.

But the stall owner's origins remained a mystery. He suddenly appeared in this world and specifically sold these two things to him. Ruan Shiqing felt that the other party would not just deceive him for fun.

Although it is not clear whether the other party is an enemy or a friend, if it can really help him go back, he will go all the way even if he is an enemy.

And he had a strange intuition that these two things could help him get back.

I just can't find the key for the moment.

Ruan Shiqing tried various methods until dawn, but the key was still the same key, and the crystal ball was still the same crystal ball, without any change.

Instead, he went through a lot of trouble in vain, and was mentally exhausted and emotionally anxious.

For the past three months, he had been telling himself to stay calm and not to be anxious, but when the time came and hope was placed before him, he was unable to find the way and ultimately failed to suppress his anxious mood.

He held the key tightly in his hand and was about to throw it away in anger.

But when he was about to throw it, his fingers clenched hesitantly. After a long stalemate, he sighed, relaxed his tense body, and lay down in the armchair with the key in his hand.

That night, Ruan Shiqing held the key in his hand, lay on the table, and fell asleep feeling anxious and tired.

So he didn't know that after he fell asleep, the mental energy that overflowed due to the ups and downs of emotions was absorbed by the key in his palm, and gradually a hazy gray light enveloped him completely...