by <unknown>
Naturally, Professor Mo Xuan had a lot of shares in the Civilization project.
Today, Civilization had already developed into a behemothic creature of national influence. Did anyone need to question Professor Mo Xuan's wealth?
And now, he had spent all his savings, which should have been enough to buy a whole planet, on the seemingly unattractive Tinder Plan that could only affect the future species that would be born in billions of years?
How immeasurable this mysterious 'Tinder Plan' must have become after being developed by him for so many years with such funding!
The more Li Yao thought about it, the more he felt that something was not right.
"Professor Mo Xuan is one of the most notable celebrities in the federation," Long Yangjun noted in surprise. "I believe his personal wealth must be abundant. But he's putting all of his money into an unsubstantial plan of the pessimists? What a devoted man!"
"I couldn't agree with you more." Ling Xiaole opened her hands. "It is said that he had a big fight with Yuan Manqiu, his former wife, who was another famous master of refining in the federation. They even got divorced because of that! He—he has indeed dedicated his efforts, his savings, and his entire soul to the 'Tinder Project'!"
Li Yao and Long Yangjun looked at each other, both amazed.
So, it was not just because of an affair. The whole thing was getting more and more weird.
Li Yao was there mainly to meet Professor Mo Xuan. Investigating Lu Qingchen was not his primary concern. Most importantly, he was hoping to reach out to Ding Lingdang and Jin Xinyue through a reliable channel with Professor Mo Xuan's help.
But judging from the latest information…
Professor Mo Xuan seemed to be the one he should really focus his attention on!
Professor, what happened to you? Who have you become after a hundred years? Or maybe…
While Li Yao was pondering, the shuttle trembled softly and slowly stopped on a silver rail that was close to the ground.
Green grass grew around them, a refreshing breeze was embracing them, and a blue sky, white clouds, and warm sunlight were overhead. Although they knew that everything was illusionary, they could not help but feel reinvigorated.
Li Yao heard giggles and laughter that were ringing like a pleasant bell.
He looked at the source of the sound, only to discover that almost a hundred elementary school students were playing on the lawn with each other. A few teachers in white dresses were also involved, playing the game together with the kids. They seemed to be on a spring hike together.
But unlike normal spring hikes, every kid there was followed… by a weird thing.
Li Yao blinked and did not know how to describe it.
Some of the objects floating around the students looked like some sort of furry, round, and cute pets, like the Puji Critters with short and stupid wings in Li Yao's memory.
But some of them were raging dragons that were hovering above the students. They looked rather intimidating, but the kids were not bothered at all. Even the most vulnerable girls did not seem to have noticed the ferocious animals above their heads at all.
Some other students were followed by glittering puppets or even living human beings!
Those human beings were in different attires. Some were wearing robes or sword suits in a vintage style, as if they had travelled through time from forty thousand years ago. Some were wearing a mustard-seed combat suit, with the Demon Beast Detector that Li Yao was quite familiar with on their faces. Some of them even had sacredly white wings in their back and glamorous horns above their head, like kings among the demons.
Every elementary school student was accompanied by such a 'being'.
Before Li Yao figured out what was going on, two little boys who appeared brawnier than their age and the two beings that were following them closely like guardians collided!
"He! I've finally got a chance today. Look at my old grandpa. This is the ninth generation of the latest model. Have you ever seen one before? It is going to beat your old grandpa to the ground!"
"What's the big deal about the ninth generation? Although my old grandpa is the eighth generation, his combat system was just upgraded yesterday, and he learned quite a few new techniques!"
"You are bragging. Let me teach you a lesson. Come on!"
"Do you think that I'm scared of you? Bring it on!"
The two young boys began wrestling with each other on the ground until they were covered in grass and mud. The two 'old grandpas' behind them drifted to the midair and fought each other.
What slightly surprised Li Yao was that the two 'old grandpas' were quite professional warriors and looked like real experts. As they began fighting, glamorous saber and sword auras were spreading out like fireworks.
Had it not been for the fact that Li Yao sensed no spiritual waves, he would have almost mistaken the two 'old grandpas' for real persons.
But soon, the teachers leading the team noticed the two wrestling students. One of them quickly ran close and pressed the crystal processor on her wrist. The 'old grandpas' that were having a heated battle above the two little kids turned into two streaks of brilliance before they were absorbed into the teacher's crystal processor.
"Little Long, Little Qi, it's you two again! Old grandpas are supposed to teach you knowledge, not horse around!" the white-dressed teacher said angrily. "You will be forbidden from using old grandpas for three days as punishment!"
"Three days? Please don't, teacher!"
The two boys immediately begged for mercy with tears in their eyes.
Li Yao looked at Ling Xiaole. Ling Xiaole stuck her tongue out and shrugged, indicating that it was the first time that she had ever seen such a weird scene and that she did not know any more about the base than he did.
While the three of them were suspicious, a little green bird made of clear, beautiful crystals hovered for a moment above the shuttle and slowly landed before it. Then, it turned into a girl who was pure, serene, elegant but somewhat as lonely as an orchid flower in an empty valley. The girl looked at them with a smile.
Li Yao felt his heart palpitate.
He had seen the image before on the train north to the Grand Desolate Plateau a hundred years ago.
It was Wei Qingqing, the one with the lowest Cultivation and the weakest combat ability and the one who had been the least obliged to stand out of the seven Cultivators who sacrificed themselves valiantly to save a train of ordinary people. It was the free little green bird.
He had not seen her for a hundred years, but he had never forgotten her.
It had nothing to do with romance; it was something much more intense than romance.
Before, it had been under the encouragement of Wei Qingqing and the rest of the heroes that Li Yao had awakened his spiritual root and embarked on his path of Cultivation.
The scene of the valiant sacrifice of Wei Qingqing had been etched into his soul as part of his belief, never to be effaced.
"Greetings. My name is Wei Qingqing, and I am a teacher here. I'm going to set off to billions of years in the future tomorrow. You are free to see me off if you want," the virtual image of Wei Qingqing said gently and calmly.
Chapter 1706: Prosperous Circulation! |
The unique opening put Li Yao and his companions into a deep and solemn atmosphere.
There was no need to mention Li Yao, who had been through a lot with Wei Qingqing before. Even Long Yangjun and Ling Xiaole were quite interested in the female teacher who had volunteered to pass on the tinder of the civilization of mankind to billions of years in the future.
However, what they were more curious about was the children and the 'old grandpas'.
Sensing their confusion, Wei Qingqing smiled and gestured for them to walk on the lawn on which the children were playing with each other.
"The Tinder Base includes quite a large park. More than fifty thousand workers and their families live in this place. So, this is more or less a town that has everything
that you need," she explained. "Schools, hospitals, stores, and entertainment facilities can all be found here. Naturally, we have our own kindergartens and elementary schools.
"These little guys are all the children of the researchers of the Tinder Plan. I've spent the last five years with them in a school here."
"Miss Wei!"
"Miss Qingqing!"
Seeing that they were walking close, many children stood up and greeted them. It was not hard to tell from their smiling faces that Wei Qingqing was quite popular among the kids.
Wei Qingqing smiled. She suddenly looked at the kids while she closed her hands and opened them, presenting a blossoming flower from her palm. Then, she pouted her cheeks and blew at the flower, and the flower flew out in the wind like a dandelion, attracting a lot of children to chase it amid laughter. There was nothing but joy on the lawn.
Wei Qingqing's body of flesh and blood had already been destroyed in the beast tide outbreak more than a hundred years ago. As a spectral Cultivator, she did not have a real entity. Her current shape of a human and the colorful dandelion were naturally both illusions.
However, the fact that she could create such a vivid, almost real illusion and make it drift a hundred meters away was still indicative enough of her high level of Cultivation.
She was an 'Illusionist' in the first place, one of the weirdest professions in the world of Cultivators who had the ability to shape their writing into all kinds of illusions.
"Miss Wei, what are the 'old grandpas' over the children?" Long Yangjun asked.
"They were known as 'Half Intelligent Virtual Educational Telepathic Thought Amalgamations' when the patent was published," Wei Qingqing said. "But since it is too long and awkward, everybody simply calls them 'old grandpas' because they are truly like old grandpas who are knowledgeable and answer our every need.
"It is a virtual educational program, or some sort of virtual teacher, if you will. Technically speaking, it is not complicated. All you need to do is combine the curriculum of the twelve years of compulsory education together with all the content on the Grand Encyclopedia of the Federation. However, in the Tinder Base, the research institute wants it to be more independent with a higher performance in decision-making. Not only should it be a good teacher for a student, it should also be a good life companion and even a good helper in a battle.
"Let me put it this way. They are hoping to project an 'old grandpa' onto a harsh, unpopulated, alien planet. As long as it detects a life form similar to mankind, it will automatically formulate the entire education system and upgrade route according to the environment to help the life form learn everything of our civilization from scratch, from the most basic baby babbles and arithmetic to the most complicated arts of refining and combat techniques.
"When the student is in danger, the old grandpa should be able to foresee the unpredictable factors and protect the student.
"It's like this—"
Wei Qingqing raised her hand. Bright green, hazy mists of light surged out of her nonexistent fingertips and condensed into a translucent shadow in midair.
It was a white-haired old man who looked amiable but had intimidation deep inside his eyes.
Li Yao scratched his chin hard. Why did he feel that the old man looked somewhat similar?
"This is the old grandpa of the tenth generation that we are currently developing," Wei Qingqing said. "The standard template is named 'Old Yao'. It is built with 'Li Yao', the great hero of the federation, as the prototype."
"…" Li Yao.
"Wow. How interesting!" Long Yangjun exclaimed.
The 'Old Yao' waved his hands, and an enormous blank light beam suddenly appeared in front of him. Then, he began teaching the simplest words such as 'people', 'mountain', 'sky', and 'sun', while simple figures, pictures, and characters appeared on the light beam.
Then, the content on the light beam suddenly changed into the fundamental disciplines of the college level.
After a presentation of a literacy lesson, 'Old Yao' demonstrated the most standard body exercise from the federation's military. Then, he made quite a few typical postures where one could absorb and summon natural spiritual energy. In the end, he became motionless.
Wei Qingqing smiled. "From the first generation to the tenth generation, the development of the old grandpas has seen significant progress. But there still seems to be a long way to go for them to meet the needs of all unknown environments and species, which is our goal. So, we have brought them to our kindergartens and elementary schools as 'toys' for the children in order to collect more usable data!"
Li Yao and 'Old Yao' stared at each awkwardly for a long time. In the end, Li Yao coughed and said, "So to speak, you are planning to send the 'old grandpas' to billions of years in the future to edify new civilizations?"
"Yes, of course!" Wei Qingqing opened her virtual arms and bathed in the virtual sunlight comfortably. "I've spent my whole life teaching children. I've seen so many young and naïve children gradually grow up. In fact, from the perspective of a higher level, isn't the so-called Monument Plan or the Tinder Plan a compulsory education program on a universal level?
"Many civilizations that are in an ignorant state may exist in the universe in billions of years' time, like the naïve children. Whatever their life form is, if our 'old grandpas' can bring the essence of the civilization of mankind to them and offer them enlightenment, won't they be the continuation of our civilization?
"Of course, the lives bred on different planets and different environments are bound to be in different forms. Perhaps it will be difficult for them to understand the entirety of the civilization of mankind, but one tiny bit will be enough.
"Think about it. On a bizarre planet in billions of years, an intelligent life form that looks like a metal octopus is born in a boiling swamp. Such a life form and their social structure will definitely be vastly different from mankind. But with the help of an 'old grandpa', they begin to understand our concepts of 'love' and 'protection' and even include the concepts into their own civilization because they feel that such feelings are good. What a beautiful universe it will be!
"To achieve such a purpose, even the tenth generation of the 'old grandpa' does not have enough robustness and universalness. The specialists in the Tinder Base are still working on it, but I can't wait any longer! Ha. Just let me be the first 'old grandpa' and search for the children in the universe. Oh, that's not right. If I am the candidate, I should be an 'old grandma'."
Ripples spread out on Wei Qingqing's body, and she truly turned into a friendly, adorable grandma whose back was hunched and whose hair was white.
Seeing the image that he had never seen before, Li Yao was somewhat lost.
"Miss Wei, I'm rather curious about one thing. Have you ever considered the danger of the 'Tinder Plan'?" Long Yangjun asked. "Will certain alien species deep inside the universe take advantage of certain information carried by the Tinder Plan and threaten the civilization of mankind? After all, the universe is too vast and dark. Other than 'children', tremendous ferocious and voracious animals are lurking, right?"
Wei Qingqing smiled casually and replied, "Of course, we've thought over the problem. That's why every piece of 'tinder' has been installed with the barriers of the highest level. It cannot be opened for a million years. If it is opened by brute force, the self-destruction procedure will immediately be activated.
"The information stored inside the tinder, on the other hand, will not exceed the college level in the federation today. It should be fundamental knowledge for all the civilizations in the universe.
"After a million years, if the civilization of mankind still exists, it will probably have developed into a form and a level that none of us can imagine right now. How can the unknown alien species, however ferocious they may be, use our fundamental theories that our outdated by a million years then?
"On the other hand, if the civilization of mankind goes extinct within the next million years, which, based on th
e mind-boggling path of development in the past forty thousand years, is a highly likely possibility, then the alien species will not be able to jeopardize us because we no longer exist.
"Yes. We don't deny that the Tinder Plan entails some danger. Perhaps the universe is truly full of darkness. But that is why we should throw torches around to ignite the grass and bushes and illuminate our environment so that we can find more of our kind and companions that we can communicate with!
"Otherwise, won't we spend our entire life shuddering in fear in the darkness, fearing that we can never get out of it?"
Wei Qingqing's words cast Li Yao, Long Yangjun, and Ling Xiaole into silence.
Wei Qingqing continued smiling and said, "In fact, don't underestimate the difficulty of searching for a civilization in the universe. By the calculation of the specialists in the Tinder Base, the odds of us finding an alien species in the next million years are no higher than one billionth. Perhaps we will have to drift for tens of millions of years in the sea of stars before we have a chance of finding a new life.
"By that time, there is a great chance that the civilization of mankind will have already been destroyed, just like the Pangu Civilization and the Nuwa Civilization were.
"It is possible that the brand-new species who receive our old grandpa and inherit the essence of our civilization will return to the homeland of their 'teacher' and help the offspring of their 'teacher' make a new mankind and recreate our civilization. Who knows?
"If one isn't enough, we will send thousands of old grandpas into the universe. Some of them will certainly run into a good student, right?
"Circulation brings prosperity. Perhaps this is the best solution to keep the civilization of mankind alive forever!"
Chapter 1707: Village Teacher |
Li Yao had a lot of mixed feelings after hearing Wei Qingqing's words. He felt that he saw the free and joyful green bird from a hundred years ago again.
She had always been such a person, always willing to pursue the tiniest happiness even if she had suffered the greatest misfortune.
