Chapter 431: Chapter 256: A Gift from the Unknown
In fact, at first, Shen Shi did consider whether to send someone more trustworthy or even go himself to test the market’s fundamental rules and make certain adjustments.
But in the end, he gave up.
Because this matter was simply too significant.
The benefits and risks were disproportionate.
Moreover, his tentative attempts did not bring about any changes in the future, so Shen Shi dared not take any risks with this matter.
He didn’t even choose to inform that person, but no one could guarantee if one would still qualify to enter that mysterious unknown area with prior mental preparation, since the known three timelines were all conducted under circumstances where the first contacts were completely unaware.
With this kind of mysterious relic that was utterly baffling, anything could happen.
In short, as time passed, Shen Shi had already located that soldier.
Piloting a C1-level miniature personal spacecraft, this type of craft was considered a standard model within the personal crafts of today’s human civilization’s military. Under Iwen’s watchful eyes, it was naturally clear, with no chance of detection.
According to past information, although this soldier had never truly experienced real war, he excelled in simulated battles, and his love and loyalty to human civilization were entirely at a mid to upper level within the legion. This was probably why the market was entirely human-oriented, and the set rules completely obeyed humanity.
"It should be about time," Shen Shi said.
Then, at a distance neither too far nor too close, he watched the soldier’s ship approach that area.
Under Iwen’s scan, there was absolutely nothing in that area.
No mysterious space, nor any curvature fluctuations.
It was entirely a void, indistinguishable from over ninety-nine percent of the cosmos.
However, before Shen Shi could marvel at the power of this mysterious relic, he and everyone watching the scene couldn’t help but widen their eyes.
Because, nothing happened!
"What’s going on!" Shen Shi’s voice resonated through the warship’s consciousness communication at this moment.
His mood turned extremely poor almost instantly.
He confirmed the time and place first thing, and then confirmed that such a critical time point deviated under unaltered circumstances!
He must go to the future to see.
At this moment, Shen Shi was exceedingly worried about the possibility of humans in the future timeline no longer having the market. Should such a worst-case scenario happen, the impact on human civilization would be indescribable!
Yet, in the instant Shen Shi’s consciousness communicated with the Time Crystal.
Everything seemed to change.
Shen Shi clearly sensed the power of time enveloping him entirely; his consciousness appeared to be infinitely extended, while the time around and within the entire cosmos was infinitely dragged back! Eventually, for the first time, the Time Crystal encompassed his entire body, not just part of his consciousness.
In an unknown absolute time domain, Shen Shi arrived in a mysterious space.
A gray, hazy space.
Seemingly boundless, yet right before him, there was an immensely massive altar; an indescribable sense of grandeur burst forth from the mysterious Bronze Altar, compelling one to feel antiquity and magnificence, as if millennia, tens of millennia, even hundreds of millennia of history converged here!
Shen Shi couldn’t describe this feeling.
But he knew very well that the change in time points that brought him here was inevitably related to the Time Crystal!
"Indeed." Shen Shi murmured, as if he already understood the reason for the change, "If there’s a major difference from that history, it’s that I am the one standing nearby, not my avatar. The avatar doesn’t possess the condition of the Time Crystal. Clearly, there is some connection between the Time Crystal and the market."
Once Shen Shi roughly guessed the reason, his previously uneasy emotions swiftly calmed down.
Because he believed, the Time Crystal embraced by this device certainly wouldn’t harm him.
If it intended harm, then everything in the past would have been meaningless.
Shen Shi began to look at the Bronze Altar before him.
The reason he could recognize it as an altar was only because its shape was almost identical to the Celestial Sacrificial Altar in the Forbidden City on the Blue Star, both being circular ascending steps, except that the altar was made not of White Jade, but of a single enormous bronze.
Shen Shi walked up step by step.
He could clearly see the patterns drawn on the bronze steps beneath his feet.
And they weren’t complex, not profound, even very understandable.
He saw a person in the midst of a group, using wood to create fire; he saw an old man frequently eating white grass in the jungle; he saw a person leading others to excavate a river, directing it into the sea; he also saw two Clans fiercely battling by the vast Yellow River...
"Human history, the history of the Eastern Country." Shen Shi murmured.
Yes, everything recorded on this Bronze Altar couldn’t be clearer.
These patterns contained no mysterious power but clearly documented one story and history after another, familiar to every Eastern Country person.