While Qiu Yunzheng was undergoing painful training sessions, the video 288 had transmitted back to interstellar space had successfully arrived. It was quickly uploaded to a video platform and prominently featured in recommendations.
All of this was operated independently by 288—no one else could control it, nor did they have the authority to.
[?? Such an ancient mode of transportation—where does this even exist anymore? Is this some big shot’s family using it for filming? It doesn’t look like it?? And such a desolate place actually still exists? Could it have been ravaged by the Insectoids?]
[The comment above is attacking the Insectoids—reported. We Insectoids aren’t that brutal, okay? We farm and cultivate ourselves. Which planet under our jurisdiction isn’t the greenest and most biodiverse? Stop talking nonsense, you.]
[I agree with this. I’ve had the privilege of visiting a planet under Insectoid rule. Aside from the food and drink being a bit unusual, the environment is truly excellent. And the delicious species are quite good too. Any race with free time should go check it out.]
[You’re getting off-topic. Look, what is this female digging for? Oh my, she actually dug up a strange wall. Do humans still use such crude tools nowadays? Have any of you seen this? The Tree Clan here asking under our real name.]
[Haven’t seen it. Look, the communication device she pulled out is so weird—it must be an antique from millions of years ago. Hey, it seems like she’s been caught by someone.]
[I see it. This male shows no mercy at all. Tsk tsk, with that strength, he could crush the little female.]
[You outsiders don’t know anything. This is clearly one of our humans. This female was probably caught stealing something while digging. But what is “police”? And what is a “telephone”?]
[Human above, I’m honored to inform you that you’ve been reported. But I’m also curious about what “police” and “telephone” are.]
[Well, if I’m not mistaken—let me clarify, I’m an archaeologist studying ancient Earth history—”police” was probably something like a royal guard on ancient Earth, or similar to our interstellar military forces that arrest criminals. “Telephone” might be equivalent to our interstellar communication devices. If this is acting, it’s astonishing. If it’s real, it’s even more shocking.]
[I just looked up the ID above and was shocked. First, kowtow to Professor Du Chen. Since Professor Du Chen has spoken, we can understand how remarkable this video is.]
[I looked it up too—kneeling on both knees. But I’m also very curious if it’s real. If it is, it would be incredible. After all, ancient Earth is millions of years in the past from our time.]
[Stop derailing the conversation. Keep watching. Wow, this male is so cool, so handsome—he’s almost on par with our interstellar General Duan Qingfeng. We merfolk like him. Who is he?]
[Superficial comment above. I’m different—I like this little female. I wonder if she’d be interested in the Sky Clan.]
[Don’t even think about it, comment above. She’s definitely into humans. Besides, different races have reproductive isolation. Goodbye.]
[…Holy crap ( ‵o′)凸, this… this is actually an ancient Earth tomb??? Don’t tell me it’s real? Du Chen isn’t lying to me?]
[Another big shot? I really want to know if it’s true too. Beast race real-name verification wants to know.]
[Bee race real-name verification wants to know.]
[Mermaid race real-name verification wants to know.]
[Insectoid race real-name verification wants to know.]
[Alright you all, forming a text queue now are you? Looking at the tomb’s previous owner, they were quite crazy too. If this were in interstellar space, they would have probably been eliminated long ago for daring to think like this.]
[Indeed, they say this kind of situation only occurred in ancient Earth’s earlier times, specifically the prehistoric era. During ancient Earth times, there were no such bad customs. After all, ancient Earth is quite distant from our time, and since ancient Earth was destroyed, we can’t verify its authenticity.]
[Thanks for the info, but aren’t there too many sacrificial companions here? Could this be a prehistoric god?]
[Let me clarify – there were no gods in prehistory, only royal families. This might be a royal tomb, but it’s indeed somewhat cruel. Unfortunately, ancient Earth is already destroyed, so we can’t investigate.]
[Since ancient Earth is destroyed, where is this place? Why does it look so similar to ancient Earth’s environment? Could the video creator have traveled back in time?]
[Impossible. Current technology can’t fold life back to previous timelines yet. The moment life attempts time folding, it might instantly be shattered by temporal forces.]
[Then is it a master with spacetime abilities? That can’t be right either. Even with abilities, one can only travel back a few seconds at most.]
[This royal family member seems quite respected though. So many loyal followers willing to die with them – impressive.]
[That’s it? That’s all?? Ahhh, no! I haven’t had enough yet!]
[Yeah, it’s over already. What a pity. Hey, there’s going to be a live stream??? The video says there’ll be a live stream in ten days. What’s going on?]
[Not sure, but I’m looking forward to it. Hehehe.]
“Excellent, Professor! We’ve finally succeeded! Although we sent out many Systems, only System 288 made it through. This is already enough. The only problem is each transmission can only send very small objects, and we can’t control what gets sent – it’s entirely up to 288’s host to choose. I wonder if this can actually help our ancestors’ homeworld.”
In the most secretive and heavily guarded region of interstellar space, inside a laboratory, a middle-aged man was cheering excitedly to an elderly man beside him.
“At least any help is better than none. Maybe this can help our homeworld avoid experiencing such cruel circumstances in its later period, and prevent too many ancient Earth humans from dying.”
The old man removed the strange glasses from his face, wiping his tear-filled eyes with a handkerchief as he spoke with emotion and some sorrow.
Indeed, any help is better than none. What if this small assistance could save even one more person? That would still be meaningful.
Most importantly, they no longer had the means to send other Systems back to the past. All the materials and energy capable of traversing spacetime had been exhausted. Now they could only hope that 288 would fulfill its mission properly.
When 288’s live stream begins, everything will become clear.
288’s safe arrival in ancient Earth was among the old professor’s predicted outcomes for one of the Systems – though it happened to be the weakest one among them all.
Among all systems, 288 was the only one that adhered to various laws of conservation of energy and required equivalent exchange without leniency, all under the guise of collecting cultural resources.
This was neither free nor allowed excessive interference, and its purpose could not be revealed—288 itself didn’t even know its own purpose.
Thus, 288’s success was, in a way, expected.
288 understood itself merely as an entity dispatched by a high-tech planet to collect extinct historical and cultural heritage from ancient Earth.
It was subject to extremely strict controls: it could not participate in national politics, observe, monitor, or autonomously search for resources. Therefore, for 288 to succeed, it first had to find a reliable host.
If the bound host was overly selfish and only sought personal enjoyment, 288 would terminate the binding early and search for a new host.
However, 288 had only three chances. If it failed, it would be crushed by the forces of time and space.
This time, the fact that it transmitted data back in such a short time completely exceeded the old man’s expectations.
288 also mentioned that its host completed the mission in just three days, which was even more astonishing.
The old man almost thought 288 had bound itself to an entire nation rather than an individual, and he wondered which country on ancient Earth this remarkable human came from.
Moreover, 288 could only transmit basic information to the old man. The transmission of videos and their editing and release in interstellar space had to be handled solely by 288.
Each time the host completed a task, 288 had to provide rewards commensurate with the task’s difficulty, without being overly extravagant.
Thus, once 288 left interstellar space, it was no longer under anyone’s control. It could only passively transmit videos and information, as well as send items stored in its dimension through a transmission array.
As for 288’s energy source, it drew from various energies present in the air, such as solar, wind, and kinetic energy, without harming the host. Any of these could replenish 288’s power.
288 resembled a growing mechanical life form, and it was fortunate that it encountered Qiu Yunzheng.