Chapter 306

Although he was angry that Ning Jinli could be so cold-hearted as to directly close the Spacetime Portal, not only blocking his past, but she could even be ruthless enough to not come see him here for a full fifteen years.

But he had also wondered whether something had happened over there, causing the Spacetime Portal to close, making it impossible for her to come even if she wanted to.

But no matter what the reason, he had to find out.

Now the only option is to rely on these top scientific personnel from Ning Jinli's world.

However, the other party's answer was tantamount to crushing hope.

"It's not that there's absolutely no possibility," the physicist pushed up his glasses, "Taking the same example of that civilization that had brought stone-tool technology to its peak, if the humans of that civilization could live a little longer, perhaps there would be hope to continue the race before they went extinct entirely, by leaving their original land and discovering metal in a new region, thereby allowing their civilization to break through its developmental limits."

Upon hearing this, the hope flame that had just been extinguished in Xiao Qidi's heart reignited.

He excitedly grabbed the other's shoulder, "You mean, even if our planet lacks the materials to support spacetime travel technology, as long as we live long enough, perhaps we could find them beyond this planet?"

The physicist sucked in a breath of cold air, "Hiss... Mr. Xiao, don't get excited..."

"Sorry, sorry, I was rash and hurt you." Xiao Qidi hastily let go.

The physicist rubbed his shoulder, then continued:

"In theory, this is the most feasible direction. Take space travel, for example: our world already has the vehicle capability, even able to launch from Earth and fly into space for several hundred years, but human bodies are too weak and lifespans too short; even if one boards such a craft, one dies before reaching the destination. Even if the craft approaches light speed, compared to the boundless expanse of space it is still as slow as a snail; humans could theoretically reproduce aboard the craft, with generation after generation burning their lives to take over, but if the individual lifespan is not long enough, this generational succession cannot be sustained."

"I understand," Xiao Qidi's eyes flickered, "In short, the longer human lifespan and the better physical condition, the more time we have to endure, wait, seek opportunities, and research breakthroughs!"

The physicist nodded, "Exactly, time is the greatest enemy of all civilizations, yet also its greatest friend. It will always outrun you, but at every stage it gives you a chance to become stronger and keep racing against it."

Hope had thus arisen; even if it sounded like Arabian Nights, as long as there was even a glimmer of hope, Xiao Qidi would not give up.

He asked energetically, "Over these fifteen years, Xuan Guo has developed explosively in all aspects, and people's average lifespan has been steadily increasing; I've heard that our current per capita lifespan is already approaching fifty years?"

The other replied, "Not bad; if we keep developing at this pace, in another ten to twenty years we could reach an average lifespan of eighty years. Of course, the further we go, the harder it is to extend lifespan, because humans are biological beings and thus have genetic limits; this is not my specialty, but our team includes top biologists who possess the most advanced biological technology of our era. I've heard from them that breakthroughs against genetic limits are still in the exploratory stage, having touched a threshold, but still need time to advance."

"Well, thank you for taking the time to explain all this today; you've spent a lot of your time. When I have free time, I'll come back to discuss further with you and the other experts."

"Mr. Xiao, you're too polite."

After bidding each other farewell, Xiao Qidi hurried to the palace's library, locked himself inside, and perused the biological research materials from the team as well as all ancient texts related to life.

Longevity.

He needs longevity.

Sons and daughters of Huaxia also need longevity!

——

At the same time, in a dense, lush forest.

Several thousand people with bronze-brown skin gathered together, cheering around a stone tower that had just been completed.

The stone tower is conical, seven to eight meters high, built entirely of neatly squared half-meter stone blocks, with stairs from bottom to top leading straight to the summit.

The people surrounding the stone tower, as well as their rough cloth covering their bodies, wore grass sandals on their feet and adorned their heads with ornaments made of animal bones, feathers, and a few copper pieces.

They lit a bonfire and shouted in an ancient, obscure language.

Next, the highest-status person, amidst the crowd's kneeling and obeisance, walked to the front of a stone wall at the base of the tower.

Two others, also of high status judging by their attire, solemnly came to his side each holding a tool.

These two tools were a bronze chisel and a bronze hammer with a wooden handle.

The chisel and hammer were extremely crude in workmanship; one could see with the naked eye that the bronze parts contained many impurities.

Yet even these two items were among the finest metal implements they could currently produce.

The highest-status person picked up the chisel and hammer and solemnly carved symbols into the stone wall.

As he carved, the two beside him read aloud each character.

The rest of the people, eyes full of excitement and reverence, knelt around, silently listening and observing attentively.

What they did not know was that they were themselves being observed at that moment.

A drone hovered in the high altitude, transmitting the captured footage in real time to a military base a hundred kilometers away.

At the same time, several experts stared intently at the large screen before them, their eyes betraying excitement.

"How is it, have you seen enough?" an officer in combat uniform asked impatiently.

One expert came to his senses, voice slightly trembling, "Commander sir... if I'm not mistaken, this should be, the dawn of the American Maya civilization! It is very likely the first time this civilization formally appeared with writing! This, this is an event of epoch-making significance!"

"Commander sir!" the other experts exclaimed in turn.

"Could we be allowed to study this a bit longer?"

"I also want to go see it in person; this is far too rare!"

"Commander sir, I——"

Before they could finish, the commander barked, "Shut up, all of you! What's there to research about this? Letting you watch for half an hour is already a favor! Don't hinder our military operations!"

Several people froze; the lead expert, steeling himself, said, "The Maya civilization is one of the most important human civilizations in the Americas, from its initial sprouting to the development of writing, and later forming a systematic institution and culture... it contains countless treasures of human civilization... I... I simply cannot bear to let this civilization perish just as it is about to form... I want to talk with Mr. Ning Hai."

The commander sneered, "In this world, no civilization is more important than our conquest plan; you need not talk to him. I have already consulted him, and his order is to continue sweeping everything away!"

"Ah?!" the lead expert could hardly believe it, eyes wide, grabbing the commander's shoulder, "No way! Mr. Ning Hai promised me ample time for our research!"

The commander kicked him to the ground, drew his pistol from his waist, and said coldly:

"Since Mr. Ning Hai brought the entire island base here, fifteen years have passed; we have all become warriors conquering this world, while you few, obsessed with researching this era's damned civilization, constantly obstruct our conquest progress. Mr. Ning has already ordered me to execute you."

"What?!"

The experts' faces instantly turned ashen.

The lead expert still wanted to plead a few words, but before he could speak, the commander shot him in the head, killing him instantly.

"You have witnessed the birth of Maya script in this era; to you it is a meaningful period, you should die without regret, right? Hahahaha!"

Having said that, the commander without hesitation shot each of the remaining people one by one.

Looking at the corpses scattered everywhere, he sneered, "We don't care about any human civilization in this world, nor do we need to."

"Men, throw the bodies out to be destroyed! Death squad, move out!"

A single order was given.

Several corpses were dragged outside the tent.

Immediately after, more than ten fully armed armored vehicles and logistics vehicles set out from the base one after another, heading toward the drone's location.

Along the way, the hunting squad again encountered scattered American indigenous tribes.

Some had a dozen people, others over a hundred.

But before this ruthless, merciless killing machine, they had no power to resist.

One night passed.

When the morning sun shone upon the jungle,

The stone tower bathed in golden light, and even the densely carved ancient characters on its base stone wall seemed to exude a tender vitality.

The person who carved the characters was lifted high by the crowd, who cheered and praised.

Just then, a rustling sound arose.

Everyone thought a large beast had charged in, and those on guard quickly grabbed their weapons.

These weapons were mainly stone animal bones, with a few fitted with crude bronze; as soon as a beast dared appear, they would swarm and kill it.

The disturbance grew louder, and the grass taller than a person kept swaying.

Plop—

A figure tumbled out of the grass.

The armed crowd froze for a moment, faces showing doubt, but remained vigilant and did not attack immediately.

The person who emerged from the grass was even thinner, with only vital parts covered in animal hide—a typical tribal native—but his whole body bled, he was on the verge of death, and he hoarsely uttered a plea for help.

A weapon‑bearing person slowly approached, prodded him with a wooden stick, and muttered a few questions.

To them, these scattered tribal groups were backward savages; they had clashed many times, but always maintained separate territories, and never before had a savage come running for help.

This was inevitably strange.

After the tribal person strained to utter a few words, he pointed behind him, then stared wide‑eyed and breathed his last, his face still frozen in extreme terror at death.

The questioner's face also changed dramatically; he rose and shouted a loud warning to the remaining several thousand.

But before the others could react,

a whoosh sounded.

A lightning‑fast shadow tore through the dense forest and slammed into the stone tower they had just finished building the night before.

Boom!

An explosion rang out, fire and thick smoke billowed.

On the spot, dozens of people standing beside the stone tower were torn apart.

Immediately after, a series of explosions followed.

They didn't even know what had happened.

Even the fiercest warrior in the crowd died without seeing his opponent.

When the explosions ceased, armored vehicles rolled from the smoke, crushing the ground littered with corpses, without pause, continuing forward.

In the following ten or so days, the hunting squad flattened all remaining Maya gathering areas, sparing no man, woman, old or child; not a single survivor remained, killing tens of thousands in total.

In this world, the Maya civilization about to arise on the American continent was thus cold‑bloodedly wiped out in its infancy.

As the hunting squad emerged from the jungle and reached the western shore, beholding the vast Pacific, then joined with other armored hunting units, it was declared that no unconquered land remained in the entire American continent.

From the northern to the southern hemisphere, the American west coast had already seen many more military bases and ports built, and countless transport routes were opened to the central base located at the heart of the Americas.

Inside the American Continent Base, a vast area vaguely revealed the shape of a huge island.

That was exactly the island base where Ning Hai had been fifteen years earlier; when an accident struck, at the critical moment he took a gamble, borrowing the immense energy of spacetime, and directly transferred the whole island through the Spacetime Portal.

He and most of the island base personnel survived, and the bulk of research data and equipment were preserved.

Afterward, he became the supreme ruler, continuing to advance military operations here and plundering the world's resources ever more frenetically.

In a splendidly gilded conference room.

Ning Hai wore an exquisite, splendid robe, stood before the floor‑to‑ceiling window, holding a pure gold goblet, and sipped wine.

Behind him stood a massive table made of precious wood, its surface inlaid with countless top‑quality natural gems of various colors.

Dozens of people in suits sat in chairs beside the long table, speaking in turn to report to Ning Hai.

"Our population has reached three hundred thousand; newborns born in the past fifteen years, regardless of sex, undergo the strictest warrior training, and the results are very significant."

"The killing beasts created through species‑gene fusion now number in the millions, with about ten thousand elite beasts; next we will apply the modification technology to our warrior‑transformation program."

"The American continent has already built a total of 251 military bases of all sizes, and the four seaports on the west coast are now in use."

"In terms of energy, we still lag behind our weapons‑upgrade pace, especially the spacetime shuttle platform, which can currently be opened only once a month for half an hour."

"On the original world side, the Descend Association has fully taken control of the Holy Pu Empire and, following our orders, continues to stir trouble, trying to suppress Huaxia Guo's development; however…… the situation has not met our expectations, and we are considering giving more support."

"…"