If someone continued to explore down this cave, they would find the Reinhardt spacecraft.
Of course, Lu Zhou wouldn’t let Professor Leonard know that there was a spacecraft from the old universe hidden there, so he decisively rejected his proposal to continue exploring the ruins.
This ruins was traced by him a long time ago. Except for the spacecraft engine that used zero-point energy at the deepest point of the ruins, there was nothing more worth exploring.
Before the spacecraft was repaired, the engine had no use.
Lu Zhou said goodbye to General Reinhardt in the communication channel. He asked the robot man sent by Xiao Ai to drag the three corpses to the center of the ruins, which was a more conspicuous position.
The main reason for this was to prevent Professor Leonard from coming back here again.
Leonard probably wouldn’t dare to risk hiring an unidentified excavation team to dig this ruins. If a regular excavation team was hired, the three unexplained corpses alone and the entry record he left at the customs were enough to send him to court and go to prison.
Lu Zhou ignored Professor Leonard’s pained expression. He continued to give orders to the robot man to remove the explosives from the drilling rig and install it on the load-bearing pillar at the end of the mine.
This completely ruined Leonard’s idea of digging the ruins on another day…
Trembling with anger, Professor Leonard pointed to Lu Zhou and exclaimed with all his courage.
“You are destroying cultural relics…”
“I am a cultural relic, so you can ask me anything you want to know… Okay, everything is done, let’s go.”
Lu Zhou patted Professor Leonard on the shoulder. He glanced at the passage behind him one last time, then walked out of the mine without looking back.
Before the spacecraft could be repaired, it was the best choice to leave it here.
When the matters on Earth were done, in the end, he might drive it to a place far, far away…
The two people walking in the mine were chatting with one another while walking along the curved magnetic track.
From Professor Leonard’s words, Lu Zhou learned that he was an ordinary professor working in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Oxford.
Coincidentally, his father was a student of Professor Vernal.
Nowadays, Professor Vernal’s doctrine had become a field in the world. However, his doctrine on Mars cockroaches was not accepted by mainstream views.
Lu Zhou couldn’t help but sigh. Time flew by so fast…
“What is the outside world like now?”
“What is it like…?” Leonard was stunned for a few seconds at this question. He scratched his head and said, “You mean comparing it to the early 21st century… Probably more developed?”
“That’s it?”
“What else?”
“I thought you could be more specific.”
Professor Leonard said, “How can I be specific? I haven’t been to your time period… If you want to know what has changed, you can check it out and compare it yourself.”
“You’re right.” After thinking about it, Lu Zhou asked a slightly more specific question that he was most concerned about. “I saw an organization called the North Sea Alliance in the email from that guy named Jim… I want to ask, what the hell is that?”
“Oh, that… You can think of it as a new type of nation.”
Professor Leonard briefly explained to Lu Zhou the changes in the international situation over the past century.
It turned out that since his “death”, the political legacy he left behind, called the “Human Alliance”, had been united for a period of time. To defend against the extraterrestrial civilization, the Earth Defense Forces had even developed a rapid response force for high-orbit operations.
However, the good times did not last for long.
This political alliance, which was forced to unite due to external pressure, existed for only 25 years in the history of human civilization.
The Human Alliance experienced a rough trajectory, from unity to doubt, then from doubt to disintegration.
Regarding the reasons for the dissolution of the Human Alliance, the academic circles had given many explanations. Such as the fact that the scientific research on Mars at that time was unable to find more evidence of the existence of extraterrestrial civilization, and Professor Aubrey’s paper proposed a new explanation for the collapse of The Gates of Hell.
There was no evidence to prove that extraterrestrial civilization did exist and planned the earthquake. In contrast, more and more evidence suspected the hostile behavior was just a false alarm…
Due to the loss of a common enemy, coupled with the rotation of leadership, the differences caused by the interests and contradictions of various countries finally brought this organization to the end of its life.
In fact, such an outcome was almost inevitable.
Even the POTUS had no way to control things after two terms. Not to mention that the formation of the Human Alliance was not due to the diplomatic skills of a certain political figure, but only because the countries on Earth were against unknown forces.
However, although the Human Alliance was eventually disbanded, it still brought some positive effects.
Which was to explore a new type of political and diplomatic relationship that was different from traditional borders for all countries in the world.
A union of regions!
According to Professor Leonard, due to a financial crisis sweeping the world in 2050, the traditional monetary system was on the verge of collapse in the face of expanding debt.
In order to save the rapidly turning economy, the Pan-Asian Cooperation, which was originally an economic cooperation organization, made bold innovations and introduced a digital currency that was different from traditional currencies.
This currency was issued by the Pan-Asian Central Bank, and its value was the sum of the credits of all member states of the Pan-Asian Cooperation. Other countries followed suit. Through debt consolidation, the issuance of sub-era currencies, and a series of supporting economic policies, the global production relations entered a new stage.
The economic union was only the beginning.
Soon, this kind of cooperation was extended to many levels of culture, military, and even politics because of the experience and mutual trust that countries accumulated during the Human Alliance period.
Eventually, the traditional concept of borders was watered down and replaced by a new type of border based on the original concept of sovereignty.
“The current mainstream view in the academic circles believes that the decentralized sovereignty concept proposed by Professor Angus Deaton provides a theoretical basis for cross-regional political alliances. And Professor Lu’s… I mean the cross-regional power grid that you promoted, laid the material conditions for the establishment of the first cross-regional political alliance: the Pan-Asian Cooperation.
“However, although this argument is mainstream, controversial voices have always existed. Even if the layout of Pan-Asian Cooperation is basically consistent with the layout of the early inter-regional power grid, more evidence is needed to determine whether there is a dependent relationship between the two.
“So far, the most in-depth research in this field happens to be at the Angus school of thought… I am an archaeologist, I only understand modern history. If you are interested, it is best to consult a professional.”
Lu Zhou just talked about this with Director Li casually. He didn’t expect it would have such a big effect in the future many years later. He couldn’t help but sigh.
If Lu Zhou remembered correctly, he seemed to have had a quarrel with Angus Deaton about the “Sociology of The Future”…
Seeing that Lu Zhou was distracted, Professor Leonard frowned and asked suspiciously, “Are you still listening?”
“Yes.” After regaining his senses, Lu Zhou glanced at Professor Leonard next to him, smiled, and said, “I just remembered an old friend… I feel a bit nostalgic. Speaking of which, Angus came to China to discuss his theory, but I rejected him. He then wrote the book ‘Sociology of The Future’. I didn’t expect that 100 years later, his book became so popular… I wonder if he is still receiving royalties.”
Leonard: “…”
Lu Zhou coughed and continued, “In other words, China is called the Pan-Asian Cooperation, and the territory is roughly equivalent to the entire East Asia and Southeast Asia? Then the North Sea Alliance is the alliance formed by the United Kingdom and the countries on the north coast of the Baltic Sea?”
Leonard sighed. “The strict definition is not quite correct, but there is nothing wrong with understanding it this way.”
“So what’s the situation with Mars? Judging from your tone… It seems special here.”
“The situation on Mars is very complicated. There are colonies like Tiangong City that are directly managed by the Pan-Asian Cooperation, or New York, which is simply operated by companies, like North America. Different systems have their own advantages and disadvantages. The reason for all of this is that the distance from here to Earth is too far.
“It takes two minutes for a beam of light to travel from Earth to here. There is no real-time communication with Earth, and there are some historical problems that affect the judicial systems. It is different than any other country on Earth. If Earth is a civilized world, then this is the barbaric land full of opportunities… You know what I mean?”
Lu Zhou nodded. Although he felt that what he knew was only the tip of the iceberg, it was somewhat better than the confusion that he felt when he first woke up.
Lu Zhou suddenly felt that he had kicked something, so he cast his eyes to his feet.
A broken rifle was lying there.
This thing looked quite familiar. After staring at it for a while, Lu Zhou quickly recognized it.
However, someone was a step faster than him and pronounced the name of the thing.
“QBZ-20 paratrooper rifle, the world’s first orbital airborne brigade standard equipment!
“Why is this here? Why didn’t the Hiddell Mining Company discover such an important cultural relic?”
With excitement in his eyes, Professor Leonard was about to reach out and pick up the broken rifle, but it was picked up by Lu Zhou first.
“Hellfire rifle…”
Lu Zhou couldn’t help but feel nostalgia in his eyes.
“This is an important cultural relic.” Professor Leonard whispered, “It’s useless if you keep it. It’s better to leave it to professionals like me. I use my academic reputation guarantee. I will send this to a museum.”
“No, I am the cultural relic. I have the final say on what to do with this. Besides, this is from an old friend of mine. Anyway, I will bring it back to his hometown.”
I wonder if he survived the disaster…
A hundred years have passed.
He should have lived a happy and stable life…
Lu Zhou couldn’t help but feel a touch of sadness in his eyes.
However, Professor Leonard, who was standing next to him, couldn’t feel his sadness. He just wanted to scold Lu Zhou.
F*ck sake!
Why do you have the final say?!
“Well, whatever you want,” Professor Leonard said with a sigh. He shrugged his shoulders and said, “I just hope you don’t sell it… It should be worth a lot. If it goes into the black market, it won’t be taken care of. Collectors would pay a lot for this.”
Sell this?
Lu Zhou smiled faintly and didn’t give an explanation.
Money was just something outside of the body. With the knowledge in his head, he would never have to worry about going broke.
After finally walking out of the long mine, the two and the robot went straight to the Mars rover and unlocked it.
Lu Zhou opened the car door and climbed up the rover effortlessly. Professor Leonard got into the car after him, and there was a strange expression on his face.
“You don’t seem surprised at all.”
Lu Zhou gave him a strange look.
“Surprised about what?”
“Most of the old popsicles that wake up from dormancy are surprised, then enjoy their new life, until they adjust to their new life and become frustrated with the real problems.”
Lu Zhou: “Are there other sleepers?”
“Many… In addition to terminally-ill patients, there are some who are put in voluntary dormancy. Most of them come from the middle of the 21st century. That period seemed very turbulent for a while, and many people chose to become dormant.”
“Oh, really?”
“You haven’t answered my question yet.”
“There is nothing to answer. When I drove the rover on Mars, your father wasn’t even born yet. Most of the technology you see, I’ve seen in the laboratory.”
Lu Zhou looked at the empty operation interface on the rover. He suddenly began to feel a little unease.
“Well, I haven’t seen everything… How do I drive this? What about navigation?”
Professor Leonard gave a light cough.
“The button next to the steering wheel is the switch of the holographic control interface. If you have AR glasses, you can also enter real-time navigation mode. Seriously, if you don’t know how to drive, then I can drive.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that you can drive?”
Lu Zhou looked at Professor Leonard speechlessly and gave up his driver’s seat.
Leonard took the steering wheel and skillfully started the car. He caught a glimpse of Lu Zhou with an unnatural expression on his face through the car’s mirror.
It was like Lu Zhou was holding back some kind of pain.
“… Frozen sequelae?”
The cold sensation continued to gush from behind. Bursts of pain hit deep into the bone marrow and spread along the blood vessels.
Lu Zhou took a deep breath and waited until the pain faded a little before speaking.
“What is that?”
“A disease commonly seen in old popsicles because the early cryo-sleep technology was crude. If I remember correctly, you seemed to have directly injected the dormant bacteria into your body?”
Lu Zhou: “Yeah?”
Leonard took a look at Lu Zhou and said, “In about the middle of the 21st century, after we discovered the side effects from the first awakened frozen man, we stopped doing this. I don’t know exactly what happened, but I heard the improved dormant bacteria extract is continuously injected into the dormant chamber.”
Lu Zhou frowned and asked, “Does that work?”
“Of course it works, and it’s safer. The price is a little bit more expensive, but it’s not too much.” Professor Leonard sighed and said, “I suggest you go to a hospital on Earth for treatment… Although this is not a troublesome disease, if you drag it around, you may have to suffer this pain twice a day.”
“We will go back to Earth now…” When Lu Zhou heard that his pain would come twice a day, he suddenly didn’t want to wait any longer. He looked at the navigation map on the holographic interface and asked immediately, “How do I go back?”
“Although Tiangong City is closer, I suggest we go a little further and board the ship from New London.”
Lu Zhou frowned and asked, “Why?”
“Because you’re not in the system.” Professor Leonard continued, “Everyone thinks you are dead. If I didn’t see you crawling out of the coffin, I would think the same. New London… is more friendly for smugglers. Basically, it is not a big problem to go through customs.”
Lu Zhou: “My face should be recognized by many people. I can provide DNA testing when necessary.”
“Please, this is the 22nd century.” Professor Leonard sighed. “If you want, you can even change your facial features into Pharaoh and claim the whole of Egypt. DNA testing is a good method, but this is Mars, and it takes two minutes for the words to be sent back to Earth. Do you expect to be notarized here? Return to your house that has been turned into a public tourist attraction? I advise you to lay low.”
Lu Zhou opened his mouth and didn’t know what to say.
There were always people joking with him before, that his mansion would become a historical relic in the future. They told him not to throw away things he didn’t need and that maybe they could sell it as an antique in the future.
And now.
They were right…
Where am I supposed to live on Earth?!
The robotic man sitting in the back seat suddenly handed him a card. It spoke in the communication channel.
“New, identity…
“Master…
“Use to, get home.”
Lu Zhou looked at the robot man sitting in the back seat and the card in its hand. The expression on Lu Zhou’s face gradually became strange.
He thought it couldn’t speak…
Lu Zhou reached out and took the card. He turned it over and glanced at it.
When he saw the name, he was caught off guard and almost choked on his own saliva.
Who the hell is Lu Ai?!