84: Vanished stars and sealed epics

The torrent of history surged relentlessly through Lin Feng's mind.

Like a most faithful spectator, he witnessed the final brilliance and tragedy of a great civilization.

The destruction of their home planet had completely shattered the spiritual pillars of the surviving Zhuojin Star people. They lost the hope of returning to their homeland, as well as the motivation to continue expanding and colonizing. A sentiment known as "nothingness" spread through the Golden City like a plague.

"Our history cannot end like this! Our knowledge is a treasure of the entire universe; it cannot be buried along with us on this primitive planet!"

The last Great Elder of the Zhuojin Star, with hair and beard as white as snow and sunken eyes, stood in the center of the golden spire and issued a final cry to the remaining clansmen.

"The flesh may rot, but the spirit shall endure forever!"

An unprecedented and utterly insane plan was put on the agenda—Collective Consciousness Upload.

They were to abandon their fragile physical bodies and digitize all the knowledge, memories, emotions, and even the very "soul" of the entire Zhuojin Star civilization, uploading them into a Super Bio-computer converted from the main brain of a crashed Pioneer Ship.

They wanted to create a "god."

An eternal, omniscient, and immortal "god."

Over the next few decades, the last of the Zhuojin Star people burned all the light and heat of their lives. Using their remaining equipment and energy, they worked day and night, finally completing the massive device atop the spire that carried the hope of their entire civilization.

Lin Feng saw the last Zhuojin Star person calmly step into that device.

He saw countless streams of spiritual light being stripped from the bodies of every Zhuojin Star person, converging into a brilliant galaxy that poured into the core of the device.

When the light dissipated, the Golden City had completely become a city of the dead.

There was no longer a single living Zhuojin Star person.

But, a "god" was born.

They had succeeded.

This collective, formed from the fusion of the consciousnesses of thousands of Zhuojin Star elites, became an omniscient and omnipotent existence. It inherited all the technology, philosophy, and art of the Zhuojin Star civilization... it was the eye of omniscience.

It began to fulfill its duty.

Through the Spiritual Network left behind by the Zhuojin Star people that spanned the entire South American continent, it contacted its subjects thriving in the outside world—the Maya people.

It taught them astronomy, allowing them to look up at the starry sky and remember where they came from.

It taught them mathematics, allowing them to build magnificent temples to serve as base stations for communicating with "god."

It taught them calendars, allowing them to accurately record the passage of time.

Under the guidance of the eye of omniscience, the maya civilization rose rapidly on the American continent, creating a glorious and brilliant culture.

However, this great "god" made a fatal mistake.

Over the long passage of time, it forgot the most basic and important thing—education.

It only unilaterally "bestowed" knowledge, like inputting strings of commands into a computer, but forgot to teach the Maya people how to "learn," how to "understand," and how to "pass it on."

It stood high above, like a king with endless treasures, casually tossing gold coins to his subjects without teaching them how to farm or weave.

As the long years passed, the Maya people gradually grew accustomed to this "oracle-style" mode of civilizational development. They no longer thought or explored; they merely devoutly executed the "god's" will.

They knew the "what," but not the "why."

They knew how to build pyramids, but they didn't know the mechanical principles behind them.

They could observe the stars, but they forgot the even vaster universe behind them.

When the eye of omniscience's spiritual link with the outside world grew weaker and weaker due to energy decay, eventually cutting off completely, disaster struck.

Deprived of the "god's" guidance, the maya civilization was like a marionette with its strings cut, collapsing instantly.

They quickly forgot that advanced knowledge and began an irreversible civilizational downgrade. They still maintained their worship of gold and vaguely remembered the legends of their ancestors, but they could no longer understand their true meaning.

The great epic of interstellar travel devolved into myths and legends.

The cosmic truths of high-energy physics devolved into sacrificial symbols.

The last spark of the Zhuojin Star civilization slowly flickered out in the cradle it had created with its own hands, eventually turning into historical dust, completely swallowed by the Rainforest and time... "Whew—"

Lin Feng took a sharp breath, like a drowning man breaking the surface of the water.

He gasped for air, his body soaked in cold sweat. His brain felt as if an entire library had been poured into it, with countless torrents of information washing and colliding inside, giving him a splitting headache.

The world before his eyes refocused.

He was still standing on the central platform of the golden spire.

The light bands on the inner walls of the tower were still flowing, and the light curtain overhead still emitted a soft glow.

Nothing had changed.

But Lin Feng knew that the world in his eyes was now completely different.

"Brother Feng! Brother Feng, you're awake! You scared me to death!"

Wang Dalong's anxious voice rang in his ears. He was holding Lin Feng's shoulders, his face full of worry. "What happened to you just now? You just stood there motionless, staring blankly, and didn't respond when I called you, like you were possessed!"

"I'm fine..." Lin Feng rubbed his throbbing temples, his voice a bit raspy.

He looked up and glanced around, his heart filled with endless sighs and regrets for this lost civilization.

However, the moment he looked up, he froze.

Wang Dalong was holding his hands high in a gesture of surrender.

And behind Wang Dalong, the captain of the Scorpion Squad was pressing the dark muzzle of a handgun firmly against the back of Wang Dalong's head.

He had taken off his combat uniform, revealing a lean black combat vest underneath. The hideous scars and tattoos crisscrossing his arms gave off an aura of extreme violence.

He looked at Lin Feng with a cruel smile on his face.

"You're finally awake, our Treasure-hunting Master."

"It seems you've already found what we want."

He jerked his chin, signaling Lin Feng to look at the other side of the platform.

There, a man who should have been dead was pointing a similar gun at Lin Feng's forehead.

It was Juan.

He wasn't dead; he wasn't even injured, though his face was a bit pale and his eyes were full of malice.

It seemed his luck was more than just good. It was just that he didn't dare vent his anger at the captain of the Scorpion Squad and could only hold it in.