Long River Eternity

There were messy wires all over the floor in front of me, and through the broken glass walls on both sides, I could see the dilapidated instruments inside.

Half of a giant circular ring lay lying on the ground in the center of the room. Finally, Lin Ding's gaze rested on the remaining half of the ring, which was mostly covered by dirt and rubble. There was a huge crack in the roof of the ring, now covered by several rocks, preventing the underground laboratory from being filled with mud.

This was undoubtedly the laboratory in Lin Ding's dream, where Yang An and his group's journey began. The ring that broke in two was the time machine.

Now, this dilapidated scene overlapped with the neat and orderly scene in Lin Ding's dream, filling Lin Ding's heart with doubts.

What on earth happened here? Could this be the reason why Yang An and the others were left behind in ancient times? Could it be the earthquake?

At this moment, Lin Ding stood there in a daze, his heartbeat accelerating. His breathing was rapid, and his mind was in a state of confusion. Wei Wu noticed something was wrong with Lin Ding, and thought it was the energy of the ruins that was having a negative impact on Lin Ding. So he called out to Lin Ding, "Lin Ding! Are you okay? Are you feeling unwell?"

In the end, there was no response from Lin Ding. Wei Wu followed Lin Ding's gaze and saw the broken ring. After a moment of confusion, his expression suddenly froze.

"Is this... is this the laboratory and time machine you dreamed about?" Lin Ding had previously described his dream scene in detail to Wei Wu. Wei Wu had a deep memory of this unique scene.

Seeing that Lin Ding still had no response to his words, Wei Wu grabbed Lin Ding's shoulders with both hands and shook him vigorously: "Wake up, Lin Ding!"

After being shaken by Wei Wu for a while, Lin Ding finally came back to his senses and murmured to Wei Wu: "This is what I dreamed about..."

Wei Wu, whose guess was confirmed, was also full of disbelief.

At this time, Lin Ding ignored Wei Wu's shock and walked straight towards the ring. Wei Wu hurried to catch up with Lin Ding.

The lab was littered with large rocks, likely fallen from cracks in the roof. As I approached, I discovered that many of the rocks contained one or two skeletons. These were likely researchers who hadn't escaped the disaster. I wondered if Dr. Wang was among them.

While he was daydreaming, Lin Ding had already walked up to the base and came under the time machine.

Lin Ding is now standing at the place where Yang An was in his dream, reaching out and touching the inscription that Yang An had touched, as if he was communicating across ten thousand years.

Suddenly, the inscription on the remaining half of the arc lit up, and then became brighter and brighter. Finally, a dazzling light flashed, forcing Lin Ding and Wei Wu to close their eyes to block the glaring light.

When they opened their eyes again, they had come to a shimmering passage.

"Time channel, can a broken time machine still take us through time and space?" Lin Ding said in surprise.

Surprisingly, the passage they were in now was exactly the same as the passage Yang An used to enter the time machine.

"This is the time tunnel. Are we going to travel through time too?" Wei Wu said in panic.

"Don't panic, this is not a time tunnel. I just dragged your consciousness into the time machine." A voice came from behind the two of them.

The two of them turned around hastily and saw a figure wrapped in mist in front of them.

Seeing this, Lin Ding thought that the person standing in front of him was Fuxi, and subconsciously looked at the figure's legs, but did not see the iconic snake tail.

Wei Wu subconsciously protected Lin Ding behind him and asked vigilantly: "Who are you and why did you bring us here?"

"Hmm?" The figure was about to answer, but when he saw Lin Ding behind Wei Wu, he uttered a puzzled sound, thought for a moment, and then whispered, "I see."

"Hello, my name is Yang An." The figure introduced himself.

"What? How is that possible?" This answer made Lin Ding unbelievable.

"Why not? Do you know Yang An?" Yang An asked curiously.

"Yang An once appeared in my dream. He was a figure from ten thousand years ago. How could he appear here? Who are you?" Lin Ding asked.

"In a dream? Interesting. I am indeed Yang An. To be precise, I am the consciousness that Yang An left here 5000 years ago using AI technology." Yang An said.

"AI technology? What is that?" Lin Ding asked.

"It's just a kind of scientific technology from ten thousand years ago. Combined with a trace of human consciousness, it can generate a program with that person's memory. So, you can think of me as Yang An from 5000 years ago," Yang An replied.

Although Lin Ding still didn't understand what this AI technology was, he didn't dwell on it and continued to ask, "You mean Yang An was still alive 5000 years ago? He came back from ancient times?"

"Oh? It seems you know a lot. Strictly speaking, I have lived from ancient times to that time, and I am still alive now." Yang An replied.

"Yang An... you've lived for 2.5 million years?!" Lin Ding asked in astonishment. Although everyone in the world today has a relatively long lifespan due to the ability to cultivate, the average is only about 2.5 to years. I heard that the person with the highest realm in the world is only over years old, and they are already very old and about to die. Living for million years is outrageous.

"That's right, by chance, all of us have gained eternal life." Yang An said lightly.

"Is it because of cultivating immortals?" Lin Ding asked, thinking of the immortal in his dream.

"Not entirely, it's not important. Let me tell you, you can't replicate this kind of immortality either." Yang An said, with a hint of loneliness in his tone.

Since Yang An said so, Lin Ding did not delve into it and asked, "You said Yang An is still alive, so where is he now?"

"I don't know. He left after waking me up that year. He never came back. But you will meet him sooner or later." Yang An said affirmatively.

"Well... then what is your purpose in bringing us here?" Lin Ding asked.

"Before he left, he told me to follow the first person who came here. I guess that person was you." Yang An said.

"What do I, a useless person who can't practice cultivation, want to do with me?" Lin Ding asked curiously.

"Of course he has his reasons. You will know it later. Let's leave here first." Yang An waved his hand, and Lin Ding and Wei Wu left this space and returned to the laboratory. Lin Ding still kept stroking the inscription.

A beam of light flew out from the inscription, flew towards Lin Ding, and finally sank into the center of Lin Ding's eyebrows.

Then, Yang An's voice came from Lin Ding's mind: "Let's go."

"But we don't know how to get out now." Lin Ding said.

"Are you talking to that Yang An? Where is he?" Wei Wu asked curiously.

"Return the same way." Yang An's voice came again in his mind.

"He is in my mind. He asked us to go back the same way. Let's go." Lin Ding spread his hands helplessly and walked towards the room they came from.

"Do you really believe what he said? Everything he said is unbelievable to me." Wei Wu said in a low voice, as if he was afraid of being heard by Yang An.

"My heart tells me that I should trust him," said Lin Ding.

"Okay, I hope he can be trusted." Since Lin Ding believed in Yang An, Wei Wu didn't say anything.

Soon, they returned to the place where they woke up. The lights in the corridor were on, and they could clearly see a closed door at the end of the corridor.

"See that black screen on the door? Put your palm on it." Yang An's voice sounded.

Sure enough, there was a screen on the left side of the middle of the door, the same as the one next to the elevator.

Lin Ding placed his palm on it, and with a ding, the door opened. It had been pitch black just now, and neither of them had been able to find the screen.

The two of them left the room and returned to the ruins. The ruins were now dimly lit and in ruins. The iron bars that had once supported the roof lay scattered across the ground. Half of the vast ruins were buried in mud, with only the area from the entrance to their current location remaining unsubmerged.

However, the entrance to the passage has been completely blocked by a large amount of rubble, and it seems that the passage has collapsed.

"It seems that even if we get out, we still can't go back to the ground." Wei Wu said helplessly.