Chapter 193

Zhao Jianguo stood at the main hall doorway, his fingers still resting on the edge of the terminal. The fluctuation just now had already dissipated, but his hand hadn't lowered. He stared at the wall base in the northeast corner; there was nothing there, not even an extra shadow.

He turned and walked into the room, gently placing the college entrance exam ruler on the desk corner. The ruler lay flat, no longer held in his hand. Last night's events made him realize that merely guarding wasn't enough; enemies could infiltrate children's dreams, showing they no longer feared physical barriers. He needed to change his approach.

The twins were still sleeping, breathing even. The gold bracelets on their wrists glowed with a warm luster. Zhao Jianguo glanced at the system interface; the red marker for defense mode had already gone out. He opened the new menu and selected "Cross‑temporal Education Platform."

The loading bar began to move.

When Jia Dongxu pushed the door open and entered, he saw exactly this scene: Old Zhao sat at the desk, eyes fixed on the screen, brows relaxed, not as tense as last night.

"Done?" Jia Dongxu asked.

"Not yet." Zhao Jianguo shook his head. "The signal chain needs to be re‑routed. I can't keep patching leaks the old way; I have to widen the path."

"What do you mean?"

"Before, I was preventing eavesdropping; now I want everyone to hear." He said that, then called up three sets of coordinates: "Chen Xiao Jian was attending class in 1978, you were teaching in 1985, and He Yushui was lecturing in 2000. Three time points, three classroom states. I'm linking them into a line."

Jia Dongxu half‑understood, but knew this was no small matter. "You want people from different eras to attend class together?"

"Exactly." Zhao Jianguo nodded. "If knowledge only circulates within a single era, it will eventually gap. I need to get it running, from past to future and back again."

Jia Dongxu scratched his head. "But is this reliable? What if the students don't hear the lesson and instead scramble their own brains first?"

Zhao Jianguo didn't answer; instead he opened his storage ring, took out an old radio and a piece of rusted iron sheet. He crouched on the ground, quickly removed the radio's casing, welded the iron sheet onto the circuit board, then attached a copper wire leading to the detector on the roof.

"What are you doing?" Jia Dongxu leaned in to look.

"Boosting the signal." Zhao Jianguo tightened the last screw. "In 1978 there were few electronic devices, shielding was strong, and signals easily dropped. I need to add a relay station."

Having said that, he climbed onto the roof and mounted the modified detector at the highest point. The antenna pointed southeast, slightly tilted.

Just as he landed, the terminal vibrated once.

【Signal reception in progress: 1978 node locked】

Below appeared a line: 【Requesting identity verification】

Zhao Jianguo entered a string of numbers—the serial number from Jia Wu's metal sheet. The system paused two seconds, then the green light lit up.

"Success?" Jia Dongxu asked.

"First step." Zhao Jianguo sat back at the desk. "Next I need them to respond simultaneously; otherwise the system won't accept it."

The room fell silent for a few seconds.

The twins turned over; the elder brother opened his eyes, gazing at some point in the air. "Dad, someone is calling us to class."

The younger sister also woke, rubbing her eyes. "It's many voices, not in the ears, but in the heart."

Zhao Jianguo walked over, knelt beside the bed. "They're not bad people. They are my students, waiting far away for you to study together."

The elder brother blinked. "Should we go too?"

"Just raise your hand." He said, "Like in school."

The two children nodded, slowly lifting their little hands, pointing at the ceiling.

Almost at the same moment, the terminal screen flickered.

1978, university auditorium.

Chen Xiao Jian was lowering his head to take notes when suddenly his pen tip stalled. The teacher's voice on the podium grew faint, replaced by a familiar yet unfamiliar voice—

"Classmates, today we learn—how to use knowledge to guard the future."

He jerked his head up, looking around. No one paid him any attention. Yet that voice was right by his ear, crystal clear as if spoken face‑to‑face.

He saw a layer of light‑shadow floating in the air ahead, like a blackboard, like a projection. On it were several lines of writing, the mathematical formulas he had copied in the siheyuan as a child.

He didn't hesitate; he was the first to raise his hand.

1985, Steel Rolling Factory technical school classroom.

Jia Dongxu was drawing a lever principle diagram, chalk just fell, when his vision suddenly blurred. The diagram on the blackboard didn't disappear, but another layer of image was superimposed.

Still that same voice, coming from all directions.

"Today we learn—how to use knowledge to guard the future."

He froze. This voice…… was Old Zhao?

The students below also began to stir.

"Teacher Jia, the words on the blackboard appeared by themselves!"

"I saw it too! It's the problem we did yesterday!"

Jia Dongxu smiled. He raised his hand and shouted, "I'm listening to you, Old Zhao."

The whole class followed, raising hands in unison.

2000, Normal University lecture hall.

He Yushui had just stepped onto the podium, preparing to lecture. In the instant the light shone down, she saw light patterns flowing in the air.

When the voice sounded, her eye sockets instantly heated.

"Classmates, today we learn—how to use knowledge to guard the future."

This wasn't a broadcast, nor a recording. It was a living person's tone, carrying warmth, as if speaking face‑to‑face.

She raised her right hand, voice steady: "We are ready."

The students all raised their hands, movements uniform.

Inside the siheyuan, Zhao Jianguo stared at the holographic projection.

Three images appeared side by side: the 1978 auditorium, the 1985 factory classroom, and the 2000 modern classroom. In each, people raised their hands, eyes firm.

The twins sat up on the bed, two small hands held high, shouting toward the air: "We're here too!"

The system popped a golden prompt: 【Civilization Inheritance Degree reached 100%】

The room fell quiet.

Zhao Jianguo sat motionless. He watched every face in the projection—from young Chen Xiao Jian, to middle‑aged Jia Dongxu, to mature He Yushui. And the two children, eyes shining like stars.

He knew this wasn't the end.

This is just the beginning.

He reached out to turn off the projection; the terminal automatically entered standby mode. The gold bracelet's light gradually dimmed, and the twins grew sleepy, leaning together to doze.

Jia Dongxu stood at the doorway, not in a hurry to leave. "What's next?"

Zhao Jianguo didn't answer right away. He took the detector from the roof, checking if the solder joints were loose. The copper wire connection was stable, signal output normal.

"Next," he said, "we need to see what those people actually want to do."

He opened the system's deep-file module and entered the four words "Heir Initiation Plan".

The page switched, revealing an encrypted document.

Title: 【Second-Generation Bloodline Fusion Experiment Log】

Below it noted: Insufficient access permission; dual authentication required.

Zhao Jianguo frowned. He tried several passwords, none worked. Finally, he recalled something, pulled up the twins' biological information, overlaid it with Jia Wu's metal sheet frequency, and resent the request.

The progress bar moved halfway, then stopped.

【Warning: External data probing detected】

【Source: Unknown coordinates】

Zhao Jianguo immediately cut the connection, closed all external ports. The room's lights flickered once, then returned to normal.

Jia Dongxu sensed something off. "What's wrong?"

"Someone is watching." Zhao Jianguo whispered, "While we were looking up data, the other side was also staring at the screen."

"Who?"

"I don't know." He stared at the terminal, "But they're afraid we'll see the truth."

He restarted the system, this time bypassing the main channel, using a backup line to access the Management Bureau's temporary database. The login credentials were his old account registered years ago; the password was Xu Da Mao's house number plus his birthday.

The page refreshed.

A document slowly unfolded.

【Project Name: Spacetime Virus Transmission Path Tracking】

【Target Individual: Members of the collateral line of three generations within the Xu family】

【Confirmed infection source: Xu Da Mao's cousin (overseas training camp designation X-7)】

【Related clue: Its mother once contacted an unknown metal fragment in 1965, location: the rear well of the Siheyuan】

Zhao Jianguo's pupils contracted.

He remembered that well. When he was young, He Yushui always said the well water had a strange taste when washing vegetables; later San Daye built a new well, and the old one was sealed.

He stood up and walked outside.

"Where are you going?" Jia Dongxu asked.

"Dig the well." He said, "What was buried thirty years ago ought to be dug up now."

Jia Dongxu froze. "Now?"

"The sooner, the better." Zhao Jianguo glanced at the sleeping twins, "Some things can't wait until morning."

He picked up an iron shovel and headed toward the backyard.

The ground was frozen hard; the first shovel strike only scraped a white line.