Volume 1: Entering the Future for the First Time
This stove took Shu Xun quite some time to figure out. He directly placed the small fish into a flat-bottomed pan resembling a smooth black ceramic, ran to the side, and gave a light tap on the touchpad on the platform. The black ceramic pan began to heat up. Shu Xun estimated the cooking time, stood at the edge, and lifted the handle of the flat-bottomed pan, successfully flipping the small fish. After completing these actions, Shu Xun felt very fortunate to have observed his father’s cooking process and the power boost from the ginseng, which improved both his strength and speed.
The aroma of the cooked fish slowly began to spread. Shu Xun turned off the heat source, and the black flat-bottomed pan quickly cooled down. Shu Xun flipped the fish onto a plate, finally achieving his goal of holding a cooked grilled fish. Without moving, he sat directly in the pan, squinting his big eyes, and contentedly took a bite of the grilled fish.
Not knowing the exact species of the fish, the fish bones were so tender that not even a single bone was left from the small fish. Shu Xun, with his chubby little belly, lay in the pan, feeling like he had come back to life.
After being satiated, Shu Xun flipped out of the pan. The pan, made of an unknown material, had a smooth surface that didn’t retain any stains. So, Shu Xun only needed to throw the debris left from preparing the fish into the trash can. After not too long, the garbage in the trash can would automatically decompose and disappear.
When Shu Xun was searching for an exit, he had previously examined the trash can and even thought about crawling into it. However, after seeing that the things thrown in gradually decomposed and disappeared, he abandoned the idea. Shu Xun didn’t understand the working principle of the trash can and didn’t know where those decomposed items ultimately went, but it didn’t seem like a good destination.
The presence of the fish tank provided Shu Xun with a temporary stable source of food. However, the fish in the tank couldn’t be a long-term food source. Shu Xun wasn’t sure if all the brightly colored fish were edible, and he counted and recounted the various sizes of fish in front of the tank. There were more than a hundred and thirty fish of different sizes. If this house was truly uninhabited, these fish wouldn’t last for long.
With no immediate threat of hunger, Shu Xun stopped thinking about leaving and instead focused on researching the room that seemed to be a study, hoping to find one or two books providing historical background about this world.
With the help of his sharp claws, Shu Xun easily climbed onto the bookshelf. Neatly arranged on the shelf were numerous black rectangular objects, each the size of a palm. These items had no text on them, suggesting they might require manual manipulation to activate. However, despite inspecting the entire bookshelf, Shu Xun did not find any touchpad-like surfaces or buttons.
Sliding down from the bookshelf, Shu Xun planned to examine each bookshelf in the study one by one. The household cleaner once talked in Chinese, so Shu Xun believed that there must be Chinese characters in this world. Moreover, he was confident that this space-time was somehow connected to Earth, even if not through overlap or derived time-spaces. It could also be a parallel dimension, given the cultural similarities.
Shu Xun’s speculation was correct. When he explored the second-to-last bookshelf, it sensed a heat source and automatically triggered. As Shu Xun touched the black rectangular objects on the shelf again, text appeared above them, and the characters were the familiar Chinese characters Shu Xun knew.
The Chinese characters did not directly appear on the small black boxes but were dispersed in midair. A long index appeared in midair, indicating that this particular box was not just one book but a category of books.
Shu Xun examined the other black boxes on the shelf and found that they contained books on general knowledge, introducing information about the current era, local customs, history, and other common knowledge. Shu Xun did not rush to read the contents of the books, quickly checking the last bookshelf. He discovered that it was also available for reading, containing educational books ranging from simple language dictionaries to complex spaceship operations, and even mechanical construction.
By now, Shu Xun understood that the bookshelves in this study might have been set with reading permissions by the house’s owner. The last two bookshelves were common knowledge for the native residents of this space-time and had no confidential information, constituting the standard configuration of the world’s study. Therefore, there was no reading permission. This, precisely, was what Shu Xun needed at the moment. So, with excitement, Shu Xun moved his small bedding onto the bookshelf.
Fortunately, the storage capacity of the black boxes on the last two bookshelves was not large, enough for Shu Xun to spread out his little blanket. Shu Xun quickly discovered that by touching the black boxes, he could search for the books he needed in his mind. It was like immersing his consciousness into a jade slip, requiring no need to open his eyes.
Even more convenient than using a jade slip, once a book was selected, it came with an auxiliary reading function. If there were any areas he didn’t understand, a simple pondering would prompt explanations and notes, even for basic vocabulary. With this, Shu Xun’s reading speed and quality significantly improved. With a good memory and the adaptability and learning abilities bestowed by his talent of traversing time and space, Shu Xun could remember the necessary information after just one reading.
The more he read, the more he understood, and the more Shu Xun became engrossed. Shu Xun found it hard to imagine that humans were such intelligent beings, even without spiritual power or robust physique, remaining formidable and not to be underestimated.
Although they themselves lacked spiritual power, they ingeniously harnessed every form of energy in the world. While inherently fragile, they created terrifying weapons capable of destroying the world. Unable to fly through the air with spiritual power, they could, however, break through the constraints of the origin and explore the space beyond the world. In the gradual process of history, they developed these abilities to the utmost.
Similar to Earth, this world operated with technology as its core, and consciousness revolved around science. Various theories were repeatedly verified through technological revolutions, exploring the origins of the universe.
With the help of Earth’s local resources, humans ventured beyond the solar system. The resources of Earth itself couldn’t sustain them for long distances. The various elements and resources from native planets had already been maximized in the creation of space tools. At this point, theories about extraterrestrial resources and cosmic consciousness began to slowly emerge.
The extraterrestrial resource theory postulates that the resources on planets near Earth, and even those on stars, could revolutionize existing technology, thus improving their cosmic exploration tools. The resources from outer space could be developed and utilized by Earth, enabling humanity to go even farther.
As for cosmic consciousness theory, a simple interpretation is that the universe possesses self-awareness. To put it in Eastern terms, there is always a way forward as long as there is heaven. Many scholars believe that the universe will consciously leave opportunities for Earth rather than leading to a dead end. The birth of every living being is the result of cosmic consciousness, and the fact that humans have developed to their current state indicates their adaptability to the universe. The universe will not let such a lifeform perish.
The combination of these two theories leads many to believe that the universe will consciously arrange planets with exploitable resources within the reach of Earth’s technology. In other words, Earth’s exploration into space will be accomplished step by step, rather than in a single leap.
Thus, the development and utilization of extraterrestrial resources unexpectedly drove a long-awaited technological revolution for humanity. Once the first step was taken, naturally, the second and the third followed.
Through these explorations, humans finally discovered extraterrestrial life, albeit simple life without self-awareness. However, it marked the beginning of humanity’s first migration, and the substantive expansion of human footsteps beyond Earth began.
As human cosmic exploration technology continued to advance with technological progress, technologies such as superluminal speed, space jumping, and spatial transmission emerged. This gave rise to spacecraft, interstellar warships, and combat mechs. After three billion years, humanity successively traversed the technological era, the super-technological era, the exploration era, and finally entered the interstellar era.
Author’s note:
All theories in the text are imaginative and not subject to scrutiny. Little angels, please don’t take it too seriously~
The world in the text can be understood as a parallel space. Follow Lao Xuan’s imagination, and let Lao Xuan take you on a journey~~~
