The sun and the moon continued to change.
Jiang Chen noticed that the monuments collapsed over the years, and the walls that protected the monuments were destroyed in the flames of war. However, the only thing that remained unchanged was that the fire of prosperity still stubbornly grew and germinated in the bloody and barbaric era of darkness.
Just then, the light ball that had been silent for a long time gently shook and then spoke.
"I noticed that in your memory, the matriarchal society of your civilization existed for a very short time. However, in our civilization, the matriarchal society only showed a hint of loosening in the late Renaissance. However, from the bloody and barbaric dark age to the Renaissance, we used a full 20,000 years. "
20,000 years!
Jiang Chen's mouth twitched.
It took 20,000 years to transition from the dark age to the Renaissance … This was almost longer than the existence of human civilization itself.
"You may be surprised that 20,000 years is too long for any living creature, but this is related to our living habits, so there's no need to go into detail. There's nothing to see above, so it's time to take you to the underground, "the light ball said.
The scene gradually changed.
Jiang Chen watched the soil under his feet dissolve, the gravel collapsed, and he watched himself sink into the ground. After passing through a distance of tens of thousands of meters, he stood in an underground nest in the blink of an eye.
He was surprised. He originally thought it would be full of messy holes that could suffocate people with trypophobia, but what appeared in front of him was a hall paved with neat stone bricks. Neat, solemn, and sacred, every brick and tile was filled with the atmosphere of civilization and special aesthetics.
The market, residences, barracks, and all the other facilities were connected to the central hall through the tunnel, forming a three-dimensional city around the broodmother's nest like a myriad of stars surrounding the moon.
He didn't know where each tunnel led to, nor did he know what each Gaia was doing, but from their busy footsteps, it was not difficult to feel the atmosphere of prosperity.
"Whether it was workers, miners, breeders, soldiers, or civilians, after the Revolution, they obtained the same rights and enjoyed everything from private property to mating. The matriarchal society came to an end, and the feudal system that revolved around the Queen Worm finally collapsed in the flames of the Industrial Revolution. "
"We used steel and oil to create the Siege Beast. It could rampage underground, and all fortifications became futile. Even the Devil Worm was like an earthworm in front of it. The cavalry completely withdrew from the stage of history. War has returned to the barbaric, three-dimensional era. We began to learn to arm ourselves with machines, replacing the weak parts of our bodies due to evolution. At the same time, we used the most efficient method to destroy our enemies. "
"Although the barbarism has not changed, in this era, any Gaia has the same authority. The concept of equality is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. We have written all of this into our code … If you had come to me a billion years earlier, perhaps you would still be able to see that stone tablet, but now, there is nothing left … "
"And the end of all this is the beginning of prosperity."
The mechanical centipede that was stirring the earth disappeared, and the walls of the hall collapsed backward. Thousands of spiral-shaped buildings that looked like works of art sprang up in the darkness like bamboo shoots after the rain. They spread their branches and leaves several kilometers underground, like the skyscrapers of human civilization...
At this moment, Jiang Chen finally understood what he found at Mine 071.
All the stale society collapsed with the centralized society centered on the nest, and it was replaced by a larger and greater empire. They completed the unification and connected all the cities into a whole with railways and tunnels.
Tens of thousands of years of ignorance passed, and the Gaia civilization ushered in a prosperous and powerful golden age.
"It's incredible …" Through the gravel, Jiang Chen stared at the black "tide" of people on the spiral-shaped buildings.
"I understand your surprise, probably just like when I saw you appear in front of me," the light ball said softly. "If the Revolution shattered the old ideas, then the Grand Unification after the Industrial Revolution completely ushered our civilization into a prosperous golden age. But this is not the best. The real best era is a thousand years later, after we invented the nerve amplification device. "
"The nerve amplification device makes the antennae on our heads stronger, and our 'voice' can be transmitted to more distant places. If you find it difficult to understand, you can think of its significance to us as your Internet. "
Jiang Chen nodded.
Now that he said that, he could understand.
After all, he didn't have antennae, and he didn't know how to turn his thoughts into electromagnetic waves. The golden age that Gaia mentioned was probably equivalent to the Internet era that Earth civilization entered at the end of the twentieth century.
The significance of the nerve amplification device to Gaia was probably equivalent to the Phantom Helmet to humans.
All needs could be met in the virtual world, and all individuals would experience unprecedented happiness.
"If you ask me, who has been dead for 3.7 billion years, to sum up the difference between our two civilizations, I think it's probably the understanding of the word happiness. When we entered the 'nerve amplification era', our spiritual needs were unprecedentedly satisfied, and the only thing left unsatisfied was probably the obsession with metal itself. "
"I remember I once said that we are extremely sensitive to minerals. This sensitivity hasn't changed in tens of thousands of years. We are intoxicated with the happiness of being surrounded by metal. The pursuit of iron ore and all other metals, or greed, is probably the driving force behind the development of our civilization. "
"And this greed, in the end, turned into a deadly poisonous wine."
At this point, the light orb's voice carried a hint of emotion.
"Poisonous wine?" Jiang Chen asked.
"Yes." The light ball shook slightly. "I'll take you to see it, and you'll understand."
After thousands of years, the scene changed again.
There were ripples in the air. Following the footsteps of the light ball, Jiang Chen crossed a layer of transparent film and came to a spherical space completely made of metal. In this spherical space, strangely shaped machines were distributed in three dimensions, connected together by an alloy skeleton.
"You probably can't feel it just by looking," the light ball said softly. "We are now standing in the core of Mars, and this planetary furnace is the greatest crystallization of our civilization."
"Planetary … furnace?"
Jiang Chen swallowed with difficulty.
He couldn't imagine that these species called Gaia dug through the entire planet 3.7 billion years ago! They even transformed the entire core of Mars into a furnace for smelting iron or other alloys, turning the entire planet into their factory.
Planetary furnace.
The word "crazy" was no longer enough to describe their behavior …
Calmly looking at the shock on Jiang Chen's face, the light ball continued.
"Our industry is extremely developed. When the crust couldn't meet our appetite, we dug into the mantle. The local mantle was not enough to meet our needs, so we set our sights on the core. The core is rich in mineral deposits, and iron is like an ocean here. Even if we only absorb a little from it, it is enough to take our civilization a big step forward … "
Speaking of this, the light ball paused and sighed softly.
"But you also know that once you take the first step, it will never stop."
"Time has weathered everything, and the steel we have forged for hundreds of centuries has all been blown into iron filings. See the sand outside? Every rusty gravel is a tear shed by Gaia … "
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