The distant morning sun looked like a small red ball, looking a bit pitiful.
The permanent star was a bit far away, and the surface of the ground was a bit cold. If it weren't for the protective shield above it, it would be hard for the regular humans to live here.
Jing Jiu pulled back his gaze and headed toward the city in front of him. Then, he found out the truth about the mountain range in the distance.
The sun rose higher, illuminating the cliff walls of the mountain range that was a few thousand meters high. It was unclear what was glowing inside, looking like the stars buried in the mountain range. It was a part of the earth's crust. It turned out that he was still on the platform on the second level of the underground world, and the real surface of the earth was above the mountain range.
A great deal of information emerged in his awareness.
When the Sea of Dark Matter invaded the underground world, the machines hidden in the side walls of the earth's crust would be activated and connected to each other, forming a huge gravitational field.
The gravitational field and the modified earth's crust would provide the most powerful protection for the underground world. The buildings on the surface of the earth would be abandoned, and the residents would be abandoned if they didn't have enough time to retreat to the underground world.
The Sea of Dark Matter broke through the blockade of the fleet of the Federation and came to the Stargate Base a few decades ago, destroying ninety percent of the buildings on the surface of the earth and killing millions of people; but the underground world didn't suffer any damage.
In a sense, this was a fair method. The female priests and the government agencies living on the surface of the earth had the most sunlight and the best sceneries, so they had to take the greatest risks.
Yet, as time went by, many things had changed. The female priests still lived on the surface of the earth, and many government agencies had moved to the second level, which was much safer and more comfortable, which was the place Jing Jiu was walking on. Some agencies even wanted to move to the vicinity of the laboratory, which was close to the core of the earth. … …
The University of Stargate had also moved to the second level after the catastrophe a few decades ago. They claimed that they were building a branch of the university, but most of the administrators, teachers, and students were in the branch of the university. Only the Cultivation students and the Mecha Department were left at the main university on the surface of the earth.
The ground on the second level was exceedingly spacious, with more than ten hours of sunlight every day, and there was no need to worry about its safety. It was the best place on this planet.
Jing Jiu walked toward the city against the morning sunlight. He saw many single buildings and small courtyards on both sides of the street. The natural lawns were planted in the small courtyards. Though they were not as neat as the artificial lawns at the New Era Institute, they were many times more expensive.
The closer they got to the city, the more people they saw. There were middle-aged men with big bellies running on the road in the morning, but they would stop after running for a while to catch their breath. There were children playing football on the grass, laughing and chatting non-stop.
The morning sun was still far above the mountains, blocked by the thick crust of the earth. Most of the city was still in darkness, but self-illumination was extremely developed.
The buildings in the city were much taller than those of the New Era Institute and the underground neighborhood. The buildings with dozens or even hundreds of floors could be seen everywhere; but they were insignificant in comparison to the skyscrapers with thousands of floors on the Main Planet of the Federation and the space cities connected to the ground by the space elevators he had seen on TV.
Back when the distant ancient civilization remodeled this planet, they hollowed out the earth's mantle and built countless working platforms in it. Those platforms were where most of the humans lived. Restricted by the space, the buildings couldn't be too tall.
Walking on the quiet street, Jing Jiu looked at the women with their dogs and the middle-aged men who were watching the news with their hands waving in the air. No emotion could be detected on his face under the hood. This place was indeed a bit different from the underground neighborhood, but the difference was not so great that it was essentially the same as the cities in Chaotian.
The sun had finally passed over the earth's crust and arrived above the city, illuminating all the streets and windows. The whole city had gradually woken up.
Jing Jiu rode the floating train to the center of the city by using his bracelet. Looking at the undulating streets and the residential houses hidden in the woods, he decided where he would go first.
…
…
The Jabei Opera House was the largest and most famous opera house on the Stargate Planet, where many operas were performed every day. It was still early in the morning, but the residents of the city, who were dressed appropriately, gathered here. They passed through the passage under the pond and entered the opera house one after another.
Jing Jiu followed the crowd to the ticket booth. He reached out his bracelet and placed it in front of the sensor. Following a beep, a man in formal clothing came over and said reverently, "Hello, distinguished guest. Please come this way."
There were many spectators for the opera that day, and there were only a few VIP tickets left. It was natural for him to choose one of them.
He learned the importance of money when he traveled the human world with Zhao Layue, and he also learned that expensive things were always better than cheap things.
The seats for the distinguished guests were indeed different from the others. Leaning against the soft and strong imitation leather seat, Jing Jiu looked at the actors singing passionately on the stage, thinking that Liu Shisui should learn this skill if he could ascend.
This opera was adapted from a story about knights. The story was a common one, such as family, country, hatred, and the separation of loved ones. However, it was said that this story about knights was excavated by the female priests from the distant ancient civilization. As a result, the story in this world had a more sacred feeling. The audience didn't laugh out loud even though the lines and plot were quite interesting. They put their palms together, their faces displaying a devout expression.
The acoustical design of the opera house was perfect, much better than the sound system of the television in Zong Lizi's house. Jing Jiu could only find three points that could be improved.
…
…
After listening to the opera for ten minutes, Jing Jiu felt that he had accumulated enough knowledge and experience, so he left the Jabei Opera House. He walked back through the passage under the pond and went to the other side of the street, which was quieter.
The other side of the street was the Stargate Museum and a few other well-designed buildings.
To experience a civilization, the museum was the best choice. Though Jing Jiu had read about the unearthed relics on the Internet, it was different to see them with his own eyes.
The smell of the oily mud on the mechanical guns, the smell of the gasoline on the old cars, and the smell of the tobacco on the paper books … was something he could sense even though he couldn't smell it.
Of course, he had a more important purpose for coming here.
Walking into the museum, Jing Jiu walked at a speed five times faster than a regular visitor. Soon, he had walked past the exhibition rooms of the modern era and the star chain, but he didn't miss any details of the exhibits. It didn't take long before he came to the largest and most spacious hall in the museum.
The exhibits of the distant ancient civilization were displayed in this hall … of course, they were replicas of them. To put it more precisely, they were imagined.
The remnants of the distant ancient civilization were all in the hands of the female priests. To say nothing of the museum, the hidden network didn't have many records of them. It was evident that the humans in the Federation of the Milky Way had no knowledge of their ancestors from the distant ancient times, and they lacked imagination. The exhibits on display were basically exaggerated versions of the modern technology.
Realizing this, Jing Jiu didn't linger. He came to the end of the hall, opened a wooden door, and walked down the stairs.
…
…
The third underground floor of the museum looked like a common storeroom without any anti-theft measures, nor did it have an alloy door as thick as a wall as commonly seen in the movies.
The light on the stairs was dim, reaching out to the dark storeroom and illuminating the figure of Jing Jiu.
Standing on the same spot, Jing Jiu called out the map in his Sea of Awareness and compared it with the storeroom. Soon after, he had ascertained the location and flew over.
It was a wooden shelf about three meters high, lying in a corner casually.
Jing Jiu landed on the highest level of the wooden shelf and pressed his hand against the wall, sensing the details of the structure inside.
This was a very hard alloy wall. It wouldn't be a problem for him to break it open given his current strength; but it would take him some time and alert the monitoring system.
The monitoring system and the control system of this hidden storeroom were independent and not connected to the network.
Jing Jiu didn't think for too long. His fingertip had already pierced into the wall with a sizzling sound. With a series of clicking sounds, the monitoring system had sunk into a swamp in a place he couldn't see. It would only record images according to his thoughts. At the same time, the extremely complicated thirty-six axis lock code in the alloy wall was cracked and unlocked.
The wall had just opened a small gap when he floated in and stopped the opening of the wall.
Behind the alloy wall was a dry and empty space. Incandescent light shone on every corner, just like the operating room of a hospital.
There was a metal door inside, surrounded by an even stronger high polymer composite wall. There was nothing else on the metal door. There was no iris, fingerprint, or identification. There was only a keyhole.
Humans living in an era of advanced technology knew very well that this seemingly simple physical lock was the real safe lock. There was no need to worry about any data intrusion. Even the most powerful Cloud Ghost in the Alliance couldn't open it.
Jing Jiu welcomed this knowledge very much. He aimed his finger at the keyhole.
A soft sound rang out, as if mercury was pouring into an extremely complicated passageway.
The heavy alloy door made a muffled sound, and the lock was unlocked.
Jing Jiu pushed the door open and walked in. He saw a cube about ten meters high in front of him.
The cube was made of a transparent material. It looked like a large square glass jar, through which he could see the objects inside clearly. There was a great deal of soil in the glass case. There was an old and shabby Mecha buried in the soil. Its surface was mottled and its paint was gone. It was hard to tell what color it used to be.
It was evident that this old Mecha was discovered in the soil. The Stargate Museum or the government was worried that it wouldn't be preserved well, so they brought it here along with the soil in the surroundings and sealed it up.
— This should be a remnant of the distant ancient civilization.
While thinking of this, Jing Jiu walked to the front of the huge glass case.
His body looked rather small compared to the glass case.
The contrast was even more obvious in the empty storeroom.
Jing Jiu fell silent for a long time while looking at the old Mecha half-buried in the soil.
The old Mecha was also looking at him silently.
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