Long River Eternity

"Is there any other way out?" Lin Ding asked Yang An.

"Don't worry, we'll be out soon." Yang An said confidently.

Sure enough, as soon as Yang An finished speaking, there was a "bang bang" sound in the passage.

Soon, a flash of light shone through the cracks in the rubble. Following a not-so-loud bang, one of the largest pieces of rubble exploded.

He was one of the seniors who rushed out from the ruins to protect the students before the ruins collapsed. He brought Director Tang to rescue Lin Ding and the others.

"Lin Ding? Wei Wu? Is that you? Are you two okay?" Director Tang shouted as he ran towards the two of them. Due to the distance and dim lighting, only two figures could be seen.

"Director Tang, it's us, we are fine!" Wei Wu waved to the director and replied.

Director Tang soon arrived in front of the two men, carefully examined them, and after confirming that they had no external injuries, he said, "We discovered you were missing after rescuing everyone. Because we were afraid of causing a second landslide, we didn't dare to use too much force when clearing the passage. It took us an entire night to finally clear it. Lin Ding, you've been in the ruins for so long, are you feeling any discomfort?"

"I don't feel any discomfort." Lin Ding scratched his head and said with a smile.

"Are you sure? Are you feeling hot all over or having trouble seeing things?" Director Tang confirmed repeatedly and even gently grabbed a handful of Lin Ding's hair.

After receiving Lin Ding's negative response, he confirmed that there was indeed nothing unusual. He then breathed a sigh of relief and exclaimed, "Your physique is indeed very special."

"Director Tang, why don't you care about me?" Wei Wu said pretending to be aggrieved.

"With your A-level cultivation, what can happen if you stay here for a night? There are only benefits and no harm." Director Tang tapped Wei Wu's head and said.

After hearing what Director Tang said, Wei Wu felt his body and said in surprise, "Really? I'm almost at the peak of Class A now!"

At this time, Lin Ding realized something was wrong. The two of them just entered the laboratory and said a few words to Yang An, but they spent an entire night there?

"Inside the time machine, the speed of time flows differently from outside." Yang An's voice sounded faintly in his mind.

"He can actually know what I am thinking?" Lin Ding couldn't help but think.

"I'm in your mind, of course I know what you're thinking." Yang An replied.

"..."

"By the way, a senior said that he saw you disappear after being hit by a support against the wall. What happened?" Director Tang asked.

Just as Lin Ding was hesitating whether to tell them about the underground laboratory, Yang An's voice rang out again: "Just tell them there is a door in the wall. I have already removed the permissions on the door, and everyone can enter. Don't say anything else for now, they can't open the elevator door anyway."

Hearing Yang An's words, Lin Ding no longer hesitated. He walked to the wall and pushed it gently. A passage appeared in front of everyone.

"We accidentally knocked open this door, so we were able to avoid the landslide," said Lin Ding.

Director Tang glanced inside and didn't ask any further questions. He said, "I'll take you up first. Let the researchers handle the ruins."

Soon, the three of them returned to the research institute on the ground. The once neat and orderly institute was now in a state of disarray, with the roof even covered in cracks, as if it was about to collapse at any moment.

The three of them walked through the messy room and out of the research institute. The scene outside was equally shattered: the ground had collapsed and cracks were everywhere. The surrounding trees lay haphazardly on the ground, indicating that this earthquake had been quite severe.

After staying underground for such a long time, Lin Ding and Wei Wu took a long breath of the fresh air outside.

Lin Ding frowned slightly and asked Wei Wu, "Do you feel something extra in the air?"

"No," Wei Wu said, sniffing again, "the smell of mud is a bit strong."

"..."

"That's spiritual energy. It seems that the previous earthquake was caused by the revival of spiritual energy. Is it a coincidence, or is someone plotting it?" Yang An's voice came with some doubts.

"Who is it? Your real self?" Lin Ding asked in his mind.

"I don't know. I haven't seen him for 5000 years and I don't know his plan. The spiritual energy in the world has been exhausted for more than million years, and now it is reviving without any signs. It seems that things are not simple." Yang An replied.

Suddenly, a loud noise was heard in the sky.

Then, a hundred-meter-long giant dragon with a pitch-black body, a single horn, and four legs flew from the sky. Looking closely, a white dot appeared next to its head, chasing it at a speed faster than the dragon itself.

The white dot quickly flew to a place not far in front of it, stopped abruptly, raised one hand to the sky, and condensed a huge energy ball, like a small sun, and then threw it towards the giant python's head.

With a loud "bang", the giant dragon's head was covered in thick smoke.

"Black Flood Dragon, if you dare to move forward again, today will be the day you die." The black dot stopped and people could see clearly that it was a man in his early 40s, wearing a suit of silver-white armor, holding a spear, pointing the spear at the Black Flood Dragon.

When the smoke cleared, a little blood seeped out from under the scales of the part of the black dragon that had just been hit, but it was not serious.

"Now that the spiritual energy of heaven and earth has revived, you humans can't even sense such a pure breath. Since you can't sense it, then don't stop us monsters from going to places with rich spiritual energy." The black dragon said angrily.

"I don't know what the spiritual energy you are talking about is. I only know that behind me is the home of mankind." The armored man said firmly.

"Back then, everyone was fighting for the energy of the ruins, and as a result, we monsters were driven away by you humans to a place far away from the ruins with scarce energy. We endured it. Now you can't even sense the spiritual energy, but you still want to occupy the place with rich spiritual energy. You are so greedy!" said the black dragon angrily.

"Hmph, it took us thousands of years to recuperate on this land and achieve the current stable situation. How can we just leave or give in like that? Besides, the so-called spiritual energy is just your one-sided statement. Who knows if it is an excuse for you to invade the human race? Finally, I warn you, get out!" The armored man refused to give in.

As the armored man confronted the black dragon, Lin Ding wondered why neither the armored man nor Wei Wu could sense the spiritual energy. He could clearly sense the spiritual energy in the air.

"Ten thousand years ago, there was no spiritual energy in the world, and humans could not absorb the energy from your mouths. The energy you absorbed was called nuclear energy at that time. The so-called relics are the conversion of nuclear energy into electrical energy for human life. At that time, human beings' use of nuclear energy reached its peak. Not only did they use nuclear energy as an energy source, they also used nuclear energy to develop many devastating weapons." Yang An's voice sounded, telling Lin Ding the now unknown history.

"Then why can we use nuclear energy for cultivation now?" Lin Ding asked.

"At that time, there were many countries in the world, and all of them participated in that war, deploying all the nuclear weapons they had accumulated over the years. 80% of the world's population died in that war, and a continent in the west was directly blown apart, and it is probably uninhabited now. China, having anticipated the war, saved some of the human population. However, after the war, the sky was covered in smoke and dust, causing the world to enter an ice age, and the nuclear radiation had devastating effects on the human body at that time. So, in such a harsh environment, another 90% of the remaining human population died.

However, it must be said that the human race is a remarkably resilient species. Surprisingly, despite such a harsh environment, humanity not only survived for 5000 years, but ultimately, due to years of fighting nuclear radiation, the first children capable of absorbing nuclear energy were born 5000 years ago. This is how humanity managed to survive this catastrophe spanning thousands of years and grow to its current size. And it was after these children reached adulthood that I left them in the laboratory.

After listening to Yang An's account of what happened ten thousand years ago, Lin Ding couldn't calm down for a long time. He thought that the world at that time must have been more terrifying than hell. How desperate he would be if he were in such a world.

At this time, Yang An's voice sounded again: "Perhaps it was due to the impact of the nuclear radiation at that time, or perhaps it was to absorb the nuclear radiation, so humans gave up the ability to absorb spiritual energy. After all, God is fair, and there will be gains and losses."

"Then why can I sense the spiritual energy, and those monsters seem to be able to sense it as well." Lin Ding said dissatisfiedly.

"You have had a special physique since childhood, and it is difficult for you to use nuclear energy for cultivation. I said that there is gain in loss. As for monsters, their physiques have always been stronger than humans. The disaster that year had far less impact on monsters than on humans. Therefore, this revival of spiritual energy may not be a good thing for humans, and it may even be a disaster." Yang An said, with worry in his tone.

The conversation took place in Lin Ding's mind. It seemed like a lot was said, but in reality only a few seconds passed.

At this moment, the black dragon in the sky had already lost its patience and roared while charging at the armored man with its horn.