Chapter 1: Chapter 1: A Distant Land

Chapter 1: A Distant Land

Wen Gu's city was reduced to a wasteland by war. Electronic devices and communication networks collapsed, and countless buildings turned into ruins.

Ancient architecture that had been passed down for hundreds of years, representing the city's culture, along with museums, were utterly destroyed.

Similar situations unfolded across the world.

Wen Gu and his family were forced to leave their homeland and head to a city with military presence, a place relatively more orderly.

After traversing many places, the family finally settled down in a new city.

His parents joined the local Cultural Relics Protection Organization, engaging in restoration and appraisal work. Their knowledge found its most fitting purpose.

Wen Gu reenrolled in school.

Year after year, the war subsided, a new order was rebuilt, and more cities had military garrisons.

At twenty-two, Wen Gu completed his studies. Instead of taking a safe and stable position arranged by his parents, he joined an ancient artifact recovery team. They ventured into cities or village ruins devastated by war, places that once housed museums, collection halls, or ancient ruins, searching for preserved relics.

Influenced by his parents, he found this work more engaging.

The unrest outside had not completely subsided, and every expedition carried risks. Wen Gu possessed some self-defense capabilities, coupled with team assistance and new technological tools, ensuring a degree of safety.

Another expedition concluded, and he returned.

The doors and windows of his home were sealed with thick anti-theft bars. Wen Gu knocked on the door of the adjacent apartment.

A moment later, the door opened, and a girl of similar age peeked out. Upon seeing Wen Gu, she smiled and said, "You're back!"

This neighbor was also Wen Gu's university classmate, working in the community after graduation. When Wen Gu was away, she helped look after his apartment to prevent any ill-intentioned individuals from breaking in.

Although this city had a military presence and the community had a police station, it could only be said that there were no major riots. There were still many hidden disturbances lurking in the shadows. Having someone keep an eye on things provided greater peace of mind.

"Yes, returned safely once again," Wen Gu replied with a smile.

"Looks like you had a good harvest this time?"

"It was alright."

As they spoke, she handed over the key she had been holding.

"Thanks! Oh, right, Yan Dai!" Wen Gu took the key and then called out to her. He produced a small velvet pouch containing a jade pendant. The jade was fine and lustrous, intricately carved on both sides with classical auspicious cloud patterns.

He handed it over.

"One of this trip's finds, a modern replica, still in good condition," Wen Gu said.

Although it was a modern imitation, the rampant wars over the years had destroyed too much. Most things hadn't even left behind scraps under the ravages of conflict. Finding such a well-preserved jade pendant with a classical style and decent material was already quite rare, and it could fetch a high price on the market.

Yan Dai accepted the jade pendant, her smile blooming. She then asked Wen Gu to wait for a moment.

She went inside and brought out a wooden box.

"The old gentleman in the community who loved calligraphy and painting moved to another city and left behind some items as gifts. I managed to snag this one!"

The wooden box was opened.

"The Four Treasures of the Study! I'll give it to you, I remember you studied calligraphy and painting too!"

Wen Gu was delighted and accepted it with care.

Such items were hard to come by nowadays!

The last time he used a brush, ink, paper, and inkstone was when he was a child.

"I haven't touched it in years, my skills are rusty. I'll paint you an ink wash painting once I've practiced," he said.

"Then how long will it take you to get good?" Yan Dai asked expectantly.

"Given my talent, very soon! Well, in two or three years."

"..."

"Hahaha, I'll just familiarize myself with it first, and paint one in a few days to try."

Wen Gu, carrying the wooden box containing the Four Treasures of the Study, opened his anti-theft door and entered his home, heading to the study.

The study had a full wall of bookshelves and a set of wooden tables and chairs.

He had collected the materials and made them himself, in an antique style.

Wen Gu opened the wooden box and quietly examined the Four Treasures of the Study.

"I can't bear to use them!"

The war was not over, and everything was in ruins. He didn't know when workshops would produce these items again, or if the craftsmanship would still be the same.

Many years had passed, order was being restored, and the economy would eventually recover its former prosperity.

Art and culture would flourish again, and cities would be rebuilt from the ruins.

But some things, once lost, could never be recovered. What reappeared might only be fakes.

The introductory books on ancient culture he had read as a child, the curated electronic courses on his computer, the painting tools he had used, and the prints of famous ancient and modern paintings he cherished… all of it, along with the city, had been reduced to ruins by the war.

Now, to learn calligraphy and painting again, he would have to wait until later, until social order and the market recovered, and until those surviving calligraphy and painting artists passed on their techniques. Two or three years was already a very optimistic estimate.

Wen Gu placed the brush back and pulled out a ceramic cup from his backpack.

This was also a find from his expedition, a genuine ancient artifact.

The cup body was an ancient, light sky-blue color, smooth and elegant. There were inscriptions at the bottom of the cup, but two large cracks had damaged its integrity.

However, this was considered relatively minor damage.

Wen Gu placed it down, waiting for his parents to return from their leave to repair it.

His backpack contained a few fragments of ancient artifacts, severely scratched and with difficult-to-decipher patterns. Even his parents, if they were here, couldn't repair them; they could only create a file. He wondered what they looked like originally.

The information database had suffered severe data loss, and records of many ancient artifacts were hard to recover.

The smoke and fire of war brought too many regrets, and cultural treasures were just one of them.

Above the wasteland, the desolate wind blew across the barrenness, stirring up dust, like a mournful sigh.

Inside the house, after organizing the spoils of his latest expedition, Wen Gu pulled a book from the bookshelf.

The pages were damaged, but the printed content was generally legible – a book on ancient architecture.

With extensive textual explanations and a few black-and-white illustrations, it was hard to imagine the original intricate and colorful palettes just from these.

Those astonishing crafts and aesthetics represented a once powerful foundation of art and culture.

Every time he looked at these, Wen Gu would sigh with regret.

"I can't see them!"

He flipped through the book again.

Tucked inside the book was a leaf, a pressed specimen that Wen Gu had prepared himself, used as a bookmark.

The leaf veins were clear. From the petiole forward, lines extended from the leaf base.

Main veins, secondary veins, tertiary veins, and upon closer inspection, the parallel and intersecting, varying in thickness, net-like vein patterns. These exquisite lifelines, like veins and arteries, supported the leaf as it spread out in space.

He closed the book and put it back on the shelf.

Wen Gu leaned back in his chair, gazing at the various books and objects he had collected over the years, his mind wandering.

The treasures left by history had been gradually destroyed in countless wars.

Initially, there was anger and sorrow, but after experiencing more, he was becoming numb.

Electronic devices were destroyed, much imagery was lost, and countless precious scrolls and artifacts were damaged in the conflict.

The historical heritage passed down through generations, imbued with deep emotion, had largely disappeared.

The images he had seen as a child were becoming increasingly blurry.

In earlier years, he could still glimpse the humanistic landscapes of a thousand years ago from scattered records.

Based on limited information and the power carried by artifacts, tracing back along the timeline to find the traces of humanity's existence on this planet.

From the occasional fragments that had miraculously escaped the past tens of millions of years, he tried to imagine what kind of monstrous beast it once was.

After years of war, hope seemed even more remote.

He dreamed of seeing the flying eaves and brackets, the pavilions and towers described in books; of seeing stone bridges shrouded in mist, flower ponds bathed in the setting sun; of witnessing the clanging of armor at mountain passes, the thatched cottages nestled among green mulberries by village streams… following the footsteps of history, to see the lights of ten thousand homes from ancient eras.

The greatness and mystery hidden in the annals of history must have been incredibly vibrant and magnificent!

Wen Gu yearned for it, yet felt a deep sense of regret.

If the few remaining artifacts were also lost, and decades or centuries later, even if there were surviving textual records, people might question—did they ever truly exist?

Looking at the sunset outside the window, Wen Gu remained silent for a long time.

If there really were parallel worlds, a multiverse, then the lost things must still exist in another world, right?

Before falling asleep that night, the leaf, less than half a foot long, that Wen Gu had tucked into the book suddenly appeared in his mind.

The parallel, intersecting, and complex veins on the leaf reappeared clearly before his eyes.

The world could diverge into different consequences due to certain events—existing simultaneously on multiple timelines, with different trajectories.

Just like the different branches extending from a single point on the leaf.

Below half a foot, beyond the fourth dimension.

Parallel, intersecting veins, varying in thickness and curvature, unfolded before his eyes like countless time tunnels.

His consciousness seemed to be drawn into a magical space, traveling against the current along those timelines, instantaneously crossing billions of light-years!

Innumerable rules, forming information, were transmitted through his consciousness in an instant, surpassing any words, profoundly mysterious!

In the universe, miracles were born every second.

The only question was, whether you could encounter them.

To encounter them was good fortune.

Wen Gu felt as if he had traversed time and space, finding another "self" in the multiverse!

It was like glimpsing a loophole in the rules, or perhaps making a mutually satisfactory transaction with this world.

With an intuition that his wish was about to be fulfilled, Wen Gu, filled with anticipation, traveled against time and space to a distant land.

The door to a new world was about to open for me!

It must be incredibly… incredibly…

His rapidly traversing consciousness finally settled.

Immediately after, he felt a profound exhaustion and weakness, from his mind to his body, as if he could drop dead at any moment.

His five senses gradually sharpened.

As he breathed, he smelled strange odors, like herbs mixed with some spices, deeply fermented, and then dispersed with the airflow…

Bizarre, abstract, yet subtly reassuring?

His mind was still a bit hazy. He raised his eyes to look.

Before him stood a person, stout and strong, squatting on the ground, tears and snot streaming down their face.

The person facing Wen Gu let out a powerful, emotionally charged, and hoarse wail: "Father—"

Wen Gu, who had just returned to his senses: ???

Wait a minute!!!

Who are you calling?!!

At this very moment, he wanted to reject this world.