Chapter 11: The Road Home

Another dull and boring day.

However, the harvest today was ultimately a bit greater than yesterday—

They discovered many exotic beast artifacts inside a box; these will be the earliest exotic beast artifacts ever unearthed in the world, and none were found in the Square Body previously.

Exotic beasts are not like the native creatures of this planet; no traces of their evolution can be found. They seem more like they appeared out of thin air, and they haven't been around for long.

Yet, exactly when they appeared and where they came from, there is currently no definitive reason.

A miserable day comes to an end.

The items stored inside the Square Body have basically all been processed and transported out, but the Shengzu Secret Realm—that is, that Space Stone—is still being analyzed. If nothing goes wrong, the Mijing should contain more precious items that are more closely related to Shengzu, which is also their job.

Right now, it's all manual labor.

After all the items are transported out, more detailed inventory work must be done, especially organizing books and cross-referencing literature; these are the technical tasks.

One must have patience and not be in a hurry.

This afternoon, the Ninth Stage bigwig and professional team from Yujing arrived and even entered the Square Body to investigate. It is said that the Ninth Stage bigwig gained nothing, and the professional team also found no difference between this Square Body and others.

Chen Shu paid attention to them after coming out, but he didn't dare ask too much, only hearing from Professor Liu that this Ninth Stage bigwig seems to be surnamed Meng.

The ranks of the world's strongest, indeed.

No one would be uninterested in a Ninth Stage bigwig.

That night.

It was still the same dream, still the same place, and still that same voice:

"Raise head to gaze at the bright moon?"

"What?"

"Raise head to gaze at the bright moon?"

"What are you trying to convey to me?"

"Raise head to gaze at the bright moon?"

"The spring breeze blows and they grow again."

At this moment, Chen Shu had already recalled the events of last night; it had changed to another poem. It sounded like some kind of code or secret signal.

No wonder he hadn't copied down poems; it turned out they were useful.

Chen Shu still did not answer. He was a little afraid that if he answered this line, someone might think that yesterday's line was too difficult and he didn't remember it.

The next morning, it was good weather.

Chen Shu got up early, carried a bowl of pickled cabbage and shredded pork noodles to the three professors, and asked in a low voice: "Teachers, did you have that dream again last night?"

"It seems you did too."

"What about that person?"

"Which person?"

"The Ninth Stage one."

"Same."

"Does he remember?"

Professor Shi shook his head solemnly, and after a while, added: "The professional team is also at a complete loss."

Chen Shu let out an "oh" and also furrowed his brows.

He didn't know the background of that team from Yujing either, only that they were at least Intermediate Cultivators, most skilled at handling such matters affecting the spirit. Whether it was remnants of ancient power or a Formation at work, it often couldn't be hidden from them.

The power of the Shengzu Emperor clearly exceeded the Ninth Stage, exceeded the upper limit of this world, and exceeded people's general understanding.

The night of the third day.

Chen Shu had just finished dinner. Although it was midsummer, the night by the lake was still a bit chilly. He put on a jacket and sat outside the tent to admire the moon, thinking quietly.

The moonlight was like frost, reflected in Jinghai; the city lights on the opposite side were sparse, and mountain ranges undulated behind the city.

Jinghai is really quiet at this time.

At the same time, it is also very gentle. The continuous heavy rain had only ended a few days ago, and it had originally been rendered turbid by the rushing mud and water, but after only a few days, it had returned to clarity.

Chen Shu turned back and glanced at the Square Body halfway up the mountain.

Even under such bright and clear moonlight, it remained a patch of black-gray, while Beauty Mountain revealed a clear, cold, and startling appearance under the moonlight.

Was the Shengzu Emperor also admiring the moon like this back then?

Chen Shu also toyed with the Crystal on his chest, looking high up.

"A bright moon rises above the sea, we share this moment across the horizon."

It is a pity not to be in the same era, and a pity that as far as he knows, no one in this world can live that long. Otherwise, even if it were just the thought of a fellow countryman in an unknown place admiring the same bright moon and bathing in the same moonlight as himself, there would be some comfort in his heart, right?

This satellite is slightly larger than Earth's satellite, but not by much—Earth's moon looks big sometimes and small other times; when the moon of this world looks smallest, it is about the same size as the uncommon 'super moon' on Earth, and when it is big, it is slightly larger.

At the same time, the undulations of the craters and mountains on the moon are also different.

Chen Shu had realized very early on that this fellow countryman spent his whole life looking for the road home.

Yes, during the pandemic, being unable to spend the New Year in your hometown was so frustrating. Not letting a Chinese person go home is truly a great torture.

Through certain historical records, Chen Shu knew that Shengzu's situation was not quite the same as his own.

Shengzu had directly carried complete memories and transmigrated into an adult, completely an adult who had suddenly arrived in a foreign land and could not go home, so he spent his whole life missing home.

Chen Shu is different.

He cannot even clearly state when he arrived in this world; perhaps he came when he was in the womb, or perhaps when he was very, very young, before he could remember things. And he did not possess the complete memories of his past life from the beginning, but rather, as time passed and he slowly grew up, they awakened bit by bit.

And this process was not linear.

In this world, he also has a relatively complete growth experience and profound childhood memories.

Actually, it is hard to say clearly which sense of belonging to the two worlds is stronger in his heart, but he, like Shengzu, still very much wants to find the road back.

It doesn't necessarily mean he must return to Earth to live.

In Chen Shu's view, in the novels he had read before, those who desperately wanted to return home all had, to some extent, a mentality of "returning home in glory."

He clearly did not have such a desire to show off.

But he still had to go back and take a look, right?

Whether one returns or not is one thing, but whether one *can* return is another; if one wants to return but cannot, their mind will not be at peace.

The night gradually deepened.

Some of the colorful lights on the lakeside across the water went out.

Chen Shu took one last look at the bright moon in the sky, turned around, and returned to the tent; Chen Jiaoshou was already asleep.

He went to sleep as well.

……

That city under the snow-capped mountain, it is on Earth, right?

Chen Shu saw this scene again; observing carefully, this was on a small hill outside the city, with a small town at the foot of the mountain and a national highway passing through the middle of the town. It was a pity that Chen Shu did not possess the right to move in this place; this scene was more like a painting, otherwise, he would have gone to see the distance regardless of the cost.

Perhaps Shengzu often came to this mountain to gaze at the high-rise buildings standing in the distance.

"Lying in the night, listening to the wind and rain?"

"Iron horses and icy rivers enter my dreams."

That voice suddenly stalled for a moment, as if its operation was not smooth, as if it had rusted or jammed, or perhaps it too was holding its breath because someone had responded to the poem.

"In my dreams, I forget I am a guest?"

"A moment of greedy pleasure."

"I send my sorrow to the bright moon?"

"Following you all the way to the west of Yelang."

"I send my sorrow to the bright moon?"

"? Following the wind all the way to the west of Yelang."

This world seemed to stop operating all at once; it was so quiet there wasn't a single sound, and the air even solidified.

Subsequently, Chen Shu heard someone speaking to him, as if right beside his ear, but this voice did not seem like a voice; he could not attach any labels to it—young or old, male or female, clean or magnetic—none could be applied; he simply felt that someone was speaking to him:

"It is a pity to meet you in such a way, fellow countryman.

"We should come from the same place.

"I know the Crystal has a fixed closed-loop route; it will definitely return to Earth, but I am not sure if the person it brings next time will be my fellow countryman. But since you successfully heard this message I left behind, it shows that I am still relatively lucky—

"Many years later, someone from the same land as me came to visit me.

"If the mechanism I left behind was cracked, I feel very regretful.

"It is a pity that I have no way to go back anymore.

"But I have found the direction home for you—

"You must try your best to avoid using the Crystal for teleportation; the energy inside it is extremely precious.

"And you must become Super Grade.

"I will leave the specific method in your mind; you can unlock it once you reach First Grade.

"But to prevent the mechanism I set up from being cracked by a more advanced future generation, I dismantled the most critical Talisman Array core and placed them separately into seven Stone Tablets. The Square Body where these seven Stone Tablets are located is arranged on the earth in the shape of the Big Dipper; they can be combined in order, forwards or backwards, but they cannot be scrambled.

"Simple, right?

"Oh, right—

"I don't know how your talent is or if your cultivation is going smoothly, so I left some things for you as a gift from a predecessor.

"I hope you can still make use of them.

"Lastly—

"At this time, I am already dead."

The scene instantly shattered into countless pieces, turning into light dust.

Chen Shu opened his eyes all at once, waking up from his dream; the dream of these three days was incomparably clear in his mind, and then other scenes gradually emerged before his eyes.

Those were eighteen spaces of varying sizes:

Some contained books, incomparably precious heavenly treasures, various classical Artifacts, ancient handicrafts, etc., clearly showing no signs of having been opened;

Some contained many modern military equipment and supplies;

Some contained a small elite troop;

Some contained a Sky Aircraft Carrier;

Some contained a research base;

And one seemed to contain a model of a city;

……

These??

Are they the Shengzu Secret Realm within the Square Body?

Some have already been opened and cracked, and are now being used by the militaries of various countries.

And some have clearly not been unearthed yet.

And Chen Shu soon felt that these eighteen Mijing were gradually establishing an inexplicable connection with him; they were gradually becoming his, including those that were said to have been cracked by various countries, but clearly had not been completely cracked.

Using poetry as a password?

I can't tell, you old fellow, besides excluding foreigners, you also look down on the illiterate.

Very good.

But fellow countryman...

You didn't anticipate that it is already the year 5020, did you? Your Mijing has already been opened!

Chen Shu dared not take any of these eighteen Mijing, including those that had not yet been unearthed, because he did not know when the Square Body they were located in would be unearthed.

Just at this moment, some movement faintly came from Beauty Mountain in the distance; at this time, the military was still working through the night to analyze the Mijing, and perhaps the Mijing had shown some kind of reaction and been discovered.

Chen Shu made a prompt decision and immediately took the initiative to terminate the process.

……

After waking up again, Chen Shu had not heard of any situation from last night, but Chen Jiaoshou came before him carrying noodles and asked in a flat tone:

"The results are out today, right?"

"Yes."

"And today is also the day to fill out your preferences, right?"

"Mm, it's simultaneous."

"Then I'll give you a day off; the Mijing hasn't opened yet, and these things outside don't have much to do with Shengzu anyway. Come back once the Mijing has successfully opened; the identification and inventory of many items and materials in there will require your input," Chen Jiaoshou said. "Go back, check your results, think it over carefully, and fill out your preferences."

This was a very tactful way of putting it.

Clearly, this Square Body was different from the ones in the past, and with the multiple anomalies, Chen Jiaoshou was not very at ease with his son staying here.

Professor Shi nearby also nodded in agreement: "Preferences are important, little Chen, you should listen to your father and take a break; there will be plenty of times we need you later. However, I must advise you, our History Department at Yujing is the best in the world, you should think about it carefully."

Professor Liu could not hold back: "Our History Department at Ling'an Academy has been ranked first for the past few years."

"I will."

Chen Shu essentially agreed.

It just so happened that he was feeling a bit mentally exhausted.