Chapter 65 Homeward Bound

Even without the assistance of the data terminal, it was still easy for Hao Ren to record a star chart. His brain, which he no longer knew if it could still be considered a human organ, could now memorize and process vast amounts of information that ordinary people would find incomprehensible. This information could even exceed the logical limits of most intelligent beings. However, in the past, when he needed to memorize these things, the data terminal would merge into his thoughts, using an AI program to help him handle those complex and monotonous calculations. But now, he had to complete everything himself—he could handle it, but his brain was overheating a bit.

As Hao Ren scanned the star chart into his memory bank, he also did some simple compiling and annotation on its missing parts, while Vivian summoned small polar storms to help cool him down…

When the star chart was finished, Hao Ren heard a “ding” in his mind—who knew how many random settings that crazy goddess added when she enhanced him.

“It’s time to leave this place,” Hao Ren exhaled, his rapidly running mind gradually cooling down. “You know how to get out of this space-time, right?”

Vivian smiled faintly and pointed not far away: “Look, the door is over there.”

On the sand dunes not far away, the yellow sand receded like flowing water, and a building that looked exceptionally familiar to Hao Ren emerged as if it were a mirage.

The mottled exterior walls, the two-story structure, the newly renovated roof—of course Hao Ren recognized it. He had lived in this house for more than twenty years, and now it was the safe home for a large group of Yi Chang Sheng Wu.

“…I didn’t expect you to design the exit to look like this,” Hao Ren was surprised when he saw the familiar old house, then he shook his head with a wry smile, “You gave me a scare.”

Vivian smiled and shook her head: “No, it’s always been here. It was here before I realized I was falling into a dream…”

The two came to the front door of the old house. Vivian took out a key from her side. The rust and twisted, damaged parts of the key quickly fell off, and she inserted the newly restored key into the lock and gently turned it. A soft click came from the lock.

With this soft click, the door opened, and at the same time, those silent and still Xie Nian Ti on the battlefield behind them silently turned into yellow sand, slowly merging into this world condensed from spiritual power.

“Home at last.”

Everything around them collapsed silently. The yellow sand and chaos receded like the tide. Hao Ren felt himself instantly falling into a long and endless dark tunnel. He couldn’t tell the direction or distance in all directions, and he couldn’t feel any gravity or heat. He was a little nervous at first, but soon he felt an aura beside him, and a slightly cold hand grasped his palm.

Vivian emerged from the darkness, becoming the only scenery in this dark tunnel. She looked at Hao Ren with a smile: “Now all my memories are connected. All my memories and power…have you in every memory. It’s an unbelievable experience.”

Hao Ren laughed: “Wouldn’t you say I tampered with your memories? After all, I wasn’t part of your ten thousand years in the real history.”

Vivian shook her head, her expression calm: “Real history? None of that matters. To me, history is just a part of life experience, so only the things I personally experienced are meaningful. What humans write on paper is just fan fiction at best.”

Hao Ren was thoughtful. After a moment, Vivian suddenly broke the silence softly: “And I prefer it this way now, it’s much better than the original experience—originally I wandered aimlessly for ten thousand years. Everyone I knew was just a passerby in my memory. I got to know them for hundreds, thousands of years, and then either they were separated from me by life and death, or I completely forgot them. No one could accompany me to the end. But now there’s you…from the moment I first opened my eyes on the wasteland at the end of the Ice Age, it was you, and it was you who took me in ten thousand years later. Do you know how much that means to me?”

Hao Ren stared at Vivian’s eyes in the darkness. The ten-thousand-year journey back in time had brought too many memories. These memories were not only Vivian’s, but also his. These memories were of great significance to Vivian, and they were equally so to him.

He suddenly reached out and wrapped his arms around Vivian’s waist. This bold move startled her: “Oh?”

“Would you like to spend another ten thousand years with me?”

“That doesn’t sound like something you would say,” a moment of panic seemed to flash in Vivian’s eyes, but it was instantly replaced by a smile. “Is this a sudden attack—but I’m not an ordinary human girl. Your sudden attack is a little too inexperienced.”

“Just pretend,” Hao Ren curled his lip. “Ten thousand years of life experience also depends on what kind of experience it is. In these ten thousand years, besides raising your Vagrancy and Impoverishment Economics to +5, what other accumulation do you have…oh, and fighting with people for potatoes…yuck!”

Vivian twisted Hao Ren’s lower back with all her might…or maybe one and a half times. Anyway, Hao Ren felt his shield almost pop out.

“To be honest, I’m really a little surprised,” Vivian blinked. “I never thought you would suddenly say something like that. In my impression, you’re not the kind of person who would be so proactive.”

“Nonsense, I sat on that mountain for more than one hundred and twenty years. I didn’t do anything else in these one hundred years, I just used it to make up my mind.”

Hao Ren was just making this up, because firstly, he didn’t know how long he had stayed on that small hill, and secondly, he actually spent most of his time sleeping on the mountain—he mainly felt that he should just say something to ease his nervous mood.

Vivian didn’t speak, she just looked at Hao Ren quietly. In the darkness, those eyes looked particularly bright, and with a hint of bright red that didn’t make people feel uneasy. This red hue might be the proof that she had regained her power.

After a long time, she finally spoke to break the silence: “Do you know that if we take the first time we met three years ago as the starting point, the days I spent exploring with you everywhere are just an insignificant part of my entire life? Although these three years have been the most interesting, stable, and fulfilling days I have ever experienced, they are only three years, and I have already lived for ten thousand years—I have experienced the era of the rise of the gods, and the war of the twilight of the gods, and I have also witnessed the human civilization stepping from primitive ignorance to the skies. These days are far longer than the time I spent with you, thousands of times longer.

“So although I have always been very interested in you and enjoyed the days I spent with you, I have never been able to regard you as someone who can accompany me for a long time. The days we spend together are too short, and the things we experience together are too few, so few that they can be ignored compared to my ten thousand years.

“But now, this ten-thousand-year gap has been filled.

“From the Nordic wilderness at the end of the Ice Age to Hammurabi establishing the code of law in Babylon, from the Israelites leaving Egypt to the collapse of the last temple of the age of gods, from the Dutch dominating the oceans to the information explosion of the twenty-first century, what I have witnessed, you have also witnessed, and witnessed together.

“So I want to say—thank you for accompanying me through the past ten thousand years, and I hope you can accompany me through the next ten thousand years, and if possible, the next many ten thousand years…”

Hao Ren and Vivian looked at each other. He thought that when he really reached this moment, he would be extremely excited, even at a loss, but he found that he was much calmer than he had imagined. Although he was happy, there wasn’t much surprise or bewilderment. Finally, he understood the reason for all this: he had already traveled back ten thousand years in history, and many things were already clear without explanation.

So he asked a key question in a very calm manner: “Did you just come up with all these parallel sentences?”

Vivian glared: “I finally said so many parallel sentences…no, I finally said so many heartfelt words and that’s your reaction?”

Hao Ren chuckled: “You know what my style is like…”

Vivian held it in for half a second, and finally couldn’t help but burst out laughing. She pinched Hao Ren’s arm: “Okay, okay, you’re right. If you weren’t like this, I really wouldn’t be able to accept it. I wouldn’t know how to respond if you just casually spouted a lot of that stuff.”

Obviously, everyone has their own habits and preferred ways of getting along, and Vivian enjoys this atmosphere very much.

“Although I’ve agreed, there’s one thing I still want to remind you. The dream realm incident is far from over. I can’t sever my connection with the dream realm and the Creation Goddess, and you can’t stop this ‘job’ of yours, so the shadow of the Lord of Madness will always loom over us—I don’t want you to be distracted.”

“Don’t worry, of course I know. Before we deal with this huge trouble, we don’t have time to think about anything else. And besides, I have to find a way to brush up my reputation with Hesperides…”

“Don’t worry, that child isn’t inherently bad, and she can tell right from wrong. She’s just sharp-tongued. I can tell that she likes you quite a bit now…at least her attitude towards you is better than towards her enemies.”

“Does that count as friendly reputation?”

“Don’t be greedy…”

As they spoke, something else gradually appeared in the deep and dark “space-time tunnel.”

Faint light emerged from the darkness and gradually intertwined into mirror-like fragments. In these fragments were reflected scenes that were constantly changing. Hao Ren stared intently and saw segments of historical fragments. Some he had experienced, while others were difficult to identify. These historical fragments retreated rapidly in the tunnel, showing a fast-forward image from ancient times to modern times.

At the end of all the images was an endless light…

Feeling his feet on solid ground again, Hao Ren couldn’t help but sway before barely managing to stand steady. Dizziness and tinnitus attacked at the same time, and it took him several seconds to see the surrounding scenery clearly.

He first confirmed that he was standing on the platform where Raven 12345 built the “Gate of Time and Space,” which convinced him that he had successfully returned to the real world. Then he saw his friends who had always been waiting near the door. The scene in front of him was moving:

The Nangong family of four were gathered around playing mahjong. Raven 12345 and the Izzax father and son were playing Dou Di Zhu next to the portal with a lot of paper strips stuck on their faces. Bai Huo was holding a psv and frantically playing, while Hesperides, who was standing behind her, was watching and giving bad advice. And facing Hao Ren was a large table full of lettuce leaves and slices of meat. The brass hot pot on the table was steaming. Lily, Hesperides, Gungnyr, and several other people were sitting around the table. Gungnyr’s eyes were tearing up from the heat, while Lily was picking up a slice of mutton and putting it into the pot…

Everyone stared blankly at Hao Ren and Vivian appearing out of thin air in the open space…

Hao Ren was so touched that he almost burst into tears.

(Let's make a big fuss)