Global Collapse-Chapter 535 - 504: Whining, the book I was chasing has gone silent_1
Two thousand years ago, the grand manhunt against the Low-Dimensional World had already begun.
Chu Changge put down the torn page he was holding.
"Two thousand two hundred years ago, Emperor Qin Shihuang burned books and buried scholars alive, setting ablaze the historical books of the six kingdoms, except those of his own Qin dynasty.
Two thousand years ago, the collapse of the Wang Mang Dynasty led to the destruction of tens of thousands of books.
One thousand six hundred years ago, during the chaotic times of the Five Barbarians, countless pieces of literature were buried in the inferno of war.
One thousand five hundred years ago, Western Wei captured Jiangling. Right before Emperor Yuan of Southern Liang Dynasty was taken hostage, he set fire to the book repository, burning one hundred and forty thousand volumes.
One thousand four hundred years ago, Yuwen Huaji usurped the throne and murdered Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty, torching the palace and resulting in the loss of three hundred and seventy thousand volumes of literature. Li Shiming, who succeeded the throne, immediately dispatched people to transport the remaining books via water routes to Chang’an. However, the boats capsized halfway, and the few remaining volumes did not survive.
Also one thousand four hundred years ago, An Lushan instigated a rebellion, famously known as the An Lushan Rebellion, during which eighty thousand volumes of books were destroyed. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎
From the peasant uprising led by Huang Chao one thousand two hundred years ago, the Jingkang Catastrophe nine hundred years ago, and the Shaoxing Catastrophe during the Southern Song Dynasty, down to the recent twenty-year-long book burning campaign by Emperor Qianlong. Similar incidents have also occurred overseas; I won’t go into details about the rest... As a Low-Dimensional World, any changes to its dependent object would be detected by Earth. But two hundred years ago, Earth was still relentlessly searching for the Second World among books, indicating that, at least during those two hundred years, the Second World existed in the form of books."
Upon speaking thus far, Chu Changge paused and looked towards Fatty, who was standing beside him with his mouth agape.
Noticing he was being stared at, Fatty stammered after closing his mouth, "So, are you saying that Earth did all these things?"
Chu Changge shook his head. "Not exactly. Apart from irresistible forces, those who could launch events on such a large scale must have been significant figures who left a remarkable mark on history; it’s difficult to influence them. Perhaps some simply burned books, or perhaps, under Earth’s intervention... they had already detected the world’s ultimate trajectory long ago."
Within this torrent of history, some were able to perceive the threats derived from humanity.
Fatty had a habit of making odd comments, and Gu Mian heard his next question. "So, would the banning of supernatural novels also stem from a fear that if too many people read them, it would lead to the creation of a Low-Dimensional World?"
He still recalled how the supernatural section of a certain website had tragically transformed into a mystery section not long ago.
Chu Changge turned his head slightly, seemingly uninterested in answering Fatty’s idiotic question.
Amidst Chu Changge’s rambling, Gu Mian felt a bit hungry.
But he remembered they were in the middle of a serious discussion.
Gu Mian rubbed his stomach. "Now, we don’t know the true form of the Second World. So, apart from targeting the Second World, Earth must have also gone after other worlds. Besides books, what else has Earth aggressively hunted?"
Fatty’s expression looked strange at his words. He turned his gaze to Gu Mian, an expression of hesitation on his face.
Of course, Gu Mian knew what was going on in Fatty’s mind. He immediately used the exclusion method. "Apart from me."
Yet, Fatty still couldn’t help but speak up. "Doctor, don’t you find it weird? Why have you been so unlucky since you were a child, relentlessly targeted for assassination by Earth? And all these people from Low-Dimensional Worlds seem so eager to protect you. You must have some connection with the Low-Dimensional World."
Just as Fatty was about to propose his theory about "the Low-Dimensional World cultivating into a human before the founding of the nation," Chu Changge suddenly interjected, "Gu Mian is not a Low-Dimensional World. As long as the main body is found, Earth has absolute power to annihilate a Low-Dimensional World, easily causing it to vanish like ashes into thin air. But evidently, Earth found Gu Mian twenty years ago."
That’s right. It was obvious Gu Mian wasn’t a Low-Dimensional World that Earth could control, given that Earth had been hunting him for a full twenty years without managing to kill him.
Fatty became puzzled again. "Then what exactly are you, Doctor?"
Upon reflection, he realized there seemed to be nothing worth Earth’s relentless pursuit for over twenty years.
Perhaps if they visit the orphanage where the Doctor first lived, they might find something out?
While Fatty and Chu Changge were discussing Gu Mian’s unusual life story, Gu Mian rose and took the jar of strawberry jam Fatty had made the previous night from the fridge, scooping spoonfuls into his mouth.
Only then did Fatty notice something. "Doctor, are you hungry?"
Gu Mian nodded heavily.
As someone prone to causing explosions wherever he went, the number of times Gu Mian had played with fire in the past twenty-odd years could be counted on one hand. The last time he had touched a pot was during military training in university. They had been taken to a neighboring city for a military training elective focused on cooking. The enthusiastic instructor planned to teach them how to stew soup. However, when it was Gu Mian’s turn, the pressure cooker exploded. The lid shot up violently, knocking out two of the instructor’s front teeth.
Fortunately, Chu Changge wasn’t there at the time; otherwise, the list of property damage would certainly have included "the instructor’s two front teeth."
The instructor ended up teaching post-natal care for sows in a different field.
For the sake of his own teeth, Gu Mian seldom went near any cooking area.
Fatty had no choice but to pat his backside, stand up, and resignedly head into the kitchen.
Just then, Xiao Hong had finally finished changing Xiao Qiao’s clothes. She tiptoed out of the room, seemingly wanting to show off her taste in clothes to Gu Mian.
Gu Mian glanced into the room and saw Xiao Qiao dressed in a bright red skirt—Xiao Hong’s favorite. Because Xiao Hong had a habit of crawling under beds and then climbing onto them, Gu Mian had specially bought many dresses for her.
Of course, her favorite was the reddest one.
Seeing Xiao Qiao in that reddest dress, Gu Mian was reminded of a certain brand of ham sausage with bright red packaging...
Shaking off the thought of ham sausage, Gu Mian turned to Chu Changge. "Liu Ruyan hasn’t been seen since she returned last night, and she hasn’t appeared this morning either."
Even after Gu Mian had brought Xiao Qiao back and her clothes had been changed, Liu Ruyan still hadn’t made a sound.
If she were awake, she would have certainly come to find Xiao Qiao as soon as she saw the messages in the group chat.
In Gu Mian’s memory, Liu Ruyan rarely slept. Sometimes, when he returned home at two in the morning, he would see Liu Ruyan sitting at the counter. When he left at seven in the morning, she would still be there, as if she hadn’t moved at all.
This time, she had been sleeping for an unusually long time.
Chu Changge pushed up his glasses. "The Old World is her world. It’s normal for her to be nostalgic when reminded of familiar scenes."
But Gu Mian didn’t think Liu Ruyan would become nostalgic because of the Old World. I reckon when she wakes up, she’ll come to take Xiao Qiao away and might even fight with Xiao Hong over Xiao Qiao’s dress...
Fatty’s breakfast was quickly ready: sweet porridge and vegetable egg rolls.
Oh, he had also thoughtfully prepared a bowl for each of the two ghosts, although one could only call out "Sister," and the other only stared at the bowl in Gu Mian’s hand.
"Doctor, the instances will be suspended for half a month. What do you plan to do during this time?" Fatty inquired, lifting his spoon.
They had returned to Lianhua City, but due to the change in the Low-Dimensional World’s dependent object, the trail to the Low-Dimensional World had been lost, and they couldn’t enter instances for the next half-month.
Right now, Fatty was bored with too much time on his hands.
Gu Mian felt there were quite a few things they could do.
Lianhua University had collapsed due to the incident. They could go there and look for clues.
The orphanage he had inadvertently bankrupted hadn’t been demolished. He could go inside and reminisce about his childhood.
There was an amusement park in the west of the city. They could go there to relax when they had free time.
Of course, there was one important thing to do right now.
They needed to buy a bed; otherwise, someone would always have to sleep on the couch.
