【Zhou Ye】The Foot of Time

When Zhou Zekai saw Ye Xiu for the second time, he was still on that water-blue planet, in the 21st century local time, in a place called Hangzhou in southern China.

When he pushed open the door of the Tardis, he saw a newsstand with the door closed, facing him directly, so close that as long as Zhou Zekai opened the door faster and harder, the door of the Tardis would be closed. About to hit it.Zhou Zekai squeezed out through the slightly opened door - which made him have to take off his hat first to avoid damaging the brim of the hat - and looked at the newsstand.

The window is closed, the main body is army green, and there are advertising posters on the left and right sides, with the logo of China Post on it.There are some rust spots in some places, it looks like it has been there for some years, and there are small advertisements for emergency locks that have not been completely torn out.This is a very common newsstand in Hangzhou, but this one is not open.

But Zhou Zekai knew, it wasn't.

This is a dead-end alley, and no one would set up a newsstand in such a remote place, unless they don't want to do business at all.

There is no doubt that even the details are vivid, this is also a TARDIS, a TARDIS that uses the chameleon system to change the appearance into something very common in the local area.

Zhou Zekai was not at all surprised to meet his compatriots on Earth.There are thousands of planets in the universe, and the time lords can be said to have a special liking for the earth, or more precisely, they have a special liking for human beings.When the footsteps of human beings develop into outer space, the time lord also loves to play on the new earth.The reason is simple. Humans are no different from Time Lords in appearance, which makes them more or less friendly and more convenient-on Earth, they have no hindrance in their actions, and there is almost no need to worry about being discovered as aliens. people.

As long as they don't perform genetic identification, or take a chest X-ray to see their two hearts.

Therefore, the earth in an era when technology was not so developed is the time and space where the time lord loves to wander.And Hangzhou, which is built on a time rift, is of course a popular "holiday attraction" - the energy released by the time rift is TARDIS' favorite fuel, and it can be charged for free when it is parked here.Because of this, Zhou Zekai, who often comes here to recharge his batteries, defaults the appearance of the TARDIS to a sports car, so that he can park here anywhere. (Note 1)

Zhou Zekai looked at the "newsstand" carefully again, then turned his ankle, and walked towards his TARDIS again - he planned to "park" again.Once again struggling to squeeze into his own TARDIS, Zhou Zekai stood in front of the bridge again, and was about to change the coordinates when the sound of the TARDIS's engine suddenly came to his ears - that very special, rhythmic sound. , the sound of flickering on and off.This sound is so close, it is not a hazy sound heard through the shell of the TARDIS, it is close to the side.

Zhou Zekai turned around in disbelief.

A "newsstand" appeared in the cab flickeringly, stepping on the rhythm of the sound and transitioning between solid and transparent, until the sound of the engine stopped, it completely turned into a solid, like a tyrannical intruder, big It stood upright in front of Zhou Zekai.

— park one TARDIS into another TARDIS?

--This is impossible!

The TARDIS is an uncertain point in time and space. It is possible to make this unstable point coincide with another unstable point... just coincidence, although it is difficult.But if you want to set one another, at least Zhou Zekai has never seen anyone do it!

Therefore, Zhou Zekai was almost dumbfounded as he watched the rolling shutter of the "Newsstand" open, and watched the man with a cigarette appear in front of him with a smile on his face.

"Why did you run away when you saw me? Are you shy?"

Zhou Zekai blinked twice, and his face was instantly flushed with red.

Although 40 years had passed, Zhou Zekai still recognized him at a glance—this person...isn't he his future lover?

"Ha ha."

The resonant sound from the vibration of the man's chest was deep and magnetic, which made Zhou Zekai feel a little sexy.Today he seems to have just returned from some European court ball. He is still wearing a complicated white gown with gold filigree and a top hat on his head. His beautiful hands are hidden by silk gloves, holding a horny silver-encrusted rosewood The wooden cane, if it weren't for the image of smoking a cigarette at the moment, it would make people think that it is a prince or noble from some country.

... a little handsome.

Of course Zhou Zekai doesn't know that his state is called "once he accepts this setting", in this state, he can see people however he likes.

"Okay, I won't tease you. Things are a little urgent today. Let's go quickly. Old Wei and the others are in big trouble." The man seemed to be satisfied with a big red face, and immediately jumped out of his tardis , the cane frivolously slapped Zhou Zekai's buttocks, and when Zhou Zekai jumped up in shock, he flashed to the console.He threw the cane behind him, and it hung lightly on the railing two meters away.The man typed the coordinates with ease, and continued to Zhou Zekai, "If we don't go, the people there will probably go blind."

Zhou Zekai glanced at the trembling Tadis, and silently went to the box under the stairs to get a bag of salt. After breaking up with Ye Xiu 40 years ago, Zhou Zekai bought a box of salt just in case.Although there have been no accidents in the past 40 years, even when he was fighting with Dalek, his TARDIS still performed stably, but Zhou Zekai still did not throw out this box of salt.

Now it's finally time for it to come into play.

Although Tardis, who swallowed the bag of salt, was extremely unwilling, he still whimpered and drove them to the place the man wanted to go.What surprised Zhou Zekai again was that his future lover, TARDIS, also hitched a ride and came along with him - logically speaking, this "newsstand" should be left where it was.Zhou Zekai made up his mind in his heart, no matter what, he would catch this person and ask him the reason behind it.

"Let's go Xiao Zhou, the old rules." The man strode to the door and pushed it away, "You and me, save the world!"

The scientific researchers in white coats outside the door were carrying documents, and they were not at all surprised that a black sports car suddenly appeared in the room, nor did they feel that there was anything wrong with a man suspected of cosplay walking here.On the contrary, when this man and Zhou Zekai walked by, they would stop their busy steps, look at them with longing, and respectfully say hello: "Senior Ye Xiu, Mr. Zhou Zekai, are you back?"

It turned out that his name was Ye Xiu.

Zhou Zekai stared at the back of his head and wrote down these two words.

"Senior Ye Xiu! Senior Zhou!" A young man who was nearly thirty years old came over, his steps were a little hurried, but he didn't look messy.Zhou Zekai glanced at the epaulettes on his shoulders - this person's position is not low.

"It's Yifan." Ye Xiu had a cigarette in his mouth, but it didn't affect his clear pronunciation in the slightest. He wasn't surprised to see the young man pull out an ashtray from his pocket as if conjuring, but he just put out the cigarette in it with regret. "Hey, I want a house facing the sea where you can smoke."

Qiao Yifan couldn't help laughing: "Senior, you have been there for more than ten years, and you still have this problem."

Ye Xiu looked at the young man, and suddenly felt emotional: "Yifan has grown up too, and he won't be obedient when he grows up. I think you were so tall back then." He gestured with the palm of his hand, "I told you to give me the lighter Just give the lighter..."

Qiao Yifan coughed lightly: "Senior, smoking is not good for your health."

Ye Xiu waved his hand indifferently: "I can't die. Huh? Where's Old Wei?"

"We're in the isolation area with Wenyi." Qiao Yifan put the ashtray on the head of a cleaning robot, and led the two of them to walk quickly inside, saying, "We got it this time." Things are tricky, it should be something that Senior Zhou reminded us that time."

Zhou Zekai kept silent, but fortunately he had this personality, even if he was mentioned, no one would bring the topic to him, and he had to speak up.He just listened to the conversation between the two, while observing everything around him calmly, and soon he made a judgment——

This is the branch of Glory in Hangzhou.

In fact, alien civilizations have been in contact with the earth for a long time, far longer than contemporary people realize.It is impossible for people to guess that when the earth was born 46 billion years ago, the sun had just started to burn, and the place where the earth was was only dust, rocks and gas. Like a snowball, it got bigger and bigger, and only then did the earth come into being—and the first foundation stone was the lair of the Racnoss. (Note 2)

In such a long time, people began to study alien life, hiding this shocking secret under the light of the sky.Every country has corresponding institutions. For example, Britain has Torchwood, while China has many names in ancient times. Some - Kaitian Sect, Taoism, Iron Eagle Swordsman, Yaoquan, Dongchang... until now, it is glory. (Note 3)

As the most mysterious species in the universe, Zhou Zekai certainly knew that anyone who could grasp information about the Time Lord must belong to an organization with the highest security level in the country.And the epaulets on these people confirm this, this is undoubtedly a government agency.Glory is an organization in China that is responsible for dealing with extraterrestrial affairs and some mysterious events. Its branches are spread all over China, and this one in Hangzhou is one of the largest branches. Just looking at the number of personnel, it is comparable to the headquarters.

This is all "attributable to" the time rift they are stepping on now - it starts from Huzhou in the north, passes through Hangzhou, and reaches Hengdian in the south. Hangzhou is at the middle point of the rift, and it is also the place where the rift is most active.This rift could easily send some weird alien creatures here, and the Hangzhou branch of Glory was very worried about solving these incidents.Although the other parts of the crack are not as frequent as Hangzhou, some moths will come out from time to time, and they have to work outside. It can be said that they are dedicated to defending the peace of the earth.

"This was brought back from Hengdian by Baozi and Luo Ji. Luckily, Luo Ji reacted quickly and figured out what it was. Otherwise, I would have to ask the two seniors to bring them back right now." Qiao Yifan said in a Stop in front of the door, enter the password, scan the palm prints, iris, and lip prints, "According to what Senior Zhou said last time, we have formatted all the video data, and now Minister Wei, Academician Guan and Wen Yi are taking turns watching."

"Di Di-"

After the verification is passed, the metal door retracts into the wall, and a dimly lit corridor appears in front of the eyes. There are isolation rooms on the left and right sides. Through the bulletproof glass, it can be seen that some are empty, and some have some objects.The items that will be placed here alone are undoubtedly some dangerous items. For example, in the third room from the left, Zhou Zekai saw the metal head of a cyberman.

Cybermen, Dalek, and Santa are all notorious races in the universe. They are cruel and insatiable. One wants to "upgrade" and assimilate all life in the universe, and the other thinks that all life in the universe except itself is inferior. Clear, a planet that only knows to fight non-stop, and the planet they look at will face catastrophe, and the member planet of the Shadow Declaration Committee has declared war on it for a long time. 40 years ago, Zhou Zekai was recalled to Garrifrey by the parliament urgently because the war with Dalek broke out again.Even at this moment, Zhou Zekai has just come off the battlefield, and he will return to the battlefield after the holiday is over.

Comparing the level of danger with the Cybermen, Zhou Zekai couldn't help but become interested in what they treat as if they were an enemy.

Turning a corner in the corridor, Zhou Zekai saw a man sitting on a bench pinching his glasses with one hand, and kneading around his eyes with the other hand.Hearing someone's footsteps, he turned his head sideways, put on his glasses, and immediately breathed a sigh of relief, stood up and said hello.

Ye Xiu waved his hands from a distance, his voice raised slightly, and there was still a slight echo in his ears in the empty corridor: "Xiao An, it's all right, sit down and do your eye exercises, isn't it hard to stare at?"

An Wenyi smiled wearily: "It's okay, 10 minutes each. Luo Ji and the others worked hard. The two of them took turns staring at it for several hours before sending it back. They were almost blind."

When Zhou Zekai heard this, his heart skipped a beat—deleting the video data and staring at it all the time, could it be...

Just as they were talking, they had already come close, and Zhou Zekai almost couldn't wait, so he cast his gaze into this isolation room.

I saw a man standing motionless in the room with his back to them, and in front of him was a row of iron bars.Another man wearing glasses was working with a device. Zhou Zekai knew at a glance that it was detecting vital information, but the data showed a dead silence.

Zhou Zekai took a few more steps forward, staggering away from the wooden figure's back, and finally saw clearly what was locked behind the iron fence——

It was a terracotta warrior with hands hanging naturally on both sides and head bowed.

Zhou Zekai was slightly taken aback.

An Wenyi tapped it on the head through the glass, and introduced softly:

"We nicknamed it 'Drooping Terracotta Army'."

An Wenyi turned to look at Zhou Zekai.

"This is the most silent and mysterious killer in the universe that Senior Zhou mentioned before."

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Note 1: In the DW original book, the place where there is a time rift for TARDIS to charge is Cardiff. Note 2: In the DW2005 Christmas special "Christmas Invasion", the first stone on the earth is the lair of Racnoss, which was finally flooded by the doctor with water The little boy ╮(╯▽╰)╭ Note 3: The British organization against aliens is called Torchwood, and the DW spin-off drama Torchwood team revolves around the Torchwood team in Cardiff.And then those in China... yes!I'm talking nonsense seriously!I beg you all not to think about it!