Countdown: Humanity's struggle to survive against yesterday

Chapter 74 Speculation

The final stop of the Golden Cudgel Project, the Awa Mountains, saw three days pass in the blink of an eye.

According to the plan, everyone will have a short break, only a week.

In fact, on the last day, Sun Fumin, Su Mian, Zhang Jimin and Lu Xue had already chosen not to anchor anymore. As the world went backward, they automatically rolled back to where they should have been at this point in history.

This is a very strange change. Su Mian opened her eyes and found herself at Dawn University in Shanghai. Lu Xue opened her eyes and found herself shopping in a supermarket. Zhang Jimin opened his eyes and found himself at the Spring Sleep Research Institute.

When Sun Fumin opened his eyes, he found himself playing mahjong.

……

Consciousness Day is January 17, 2047. On this day, the world rolls back to noon.

Chang Niankong carried a large bag and pushed a large suitcase, silently following Jiang Ning. Zhou Yunci was also with them, carrying large and small bags. The contents of the bags were left behind by the four people who had gone to rest earlier.

The three wanted to go to the Beijing Aviation City, and boarded the private plane an hour after the backtracking phenomenon occurred.

Inside the first-class cabin of the passenger plane, Chang Niankong looked at Jiang Ning and asked, "Team Leader Jiang, aren't you going home to visit your family?"

"Didn't Master Chang also not go home?"

"I've only been in the team for two days, it's not appropriate for me to rest at this time."

"There's no such thing as suitable or unsuitable; you can rest if you want."

"Forget it! I think it's better to stick with Team Leader Jiang more. After all, I still need to keep Su Mian and Lao Zhang's things safe."

Jiang Ning was reading Lao Zhang's latest global sleep report when he heard the sound and looked up.

"Are they Su Mian's phone and Lao Zhang's camera?"

"Exactly!" Chang Niankong nodded.

Su Mian has a diary she wrote along the way on her phone, while Zhang Jimin's camera contains commemorative photos taken during this period.

Although the two went home to rest, they still entrusted Chang Niankong with the safekeeping of these materials in order to preserve them.

"Team Leader Jiang, may I ask you a question?"

Seeing that Zhou Yunci had closed his eyes to rest, and that only he and Jiang Ning were left in the cabin above him, Chang Niankong couldn't help but want to chat with Jiang Ning for a while.

Jiang Ning put away his tablet and looked at Chang Niankong: "Please ask!"

"Team Leader Jiang, the world has been regressing for over two months now. What has impressed you the most so far?"

Upon hearing this question, Jiang Ning's expression froze.

Clearly, he hadn't expected Chang Niankong to ask this question. He had thought Chang Niankong would continue to press him about why he didn't want to go home, or act like a curious child, constantly asking about his special abilities.

The result was that they asked a question that sounded like something a journalist would ask during an interview.

Zhou Yunci had been dozing off, but upon hearing this question, he couldn't help but open his eyes out of curiosity, wanting to hear what Jiang Ning would say.

If he were to answer this question, he would definitely say it's either a dead person coming back to life or a baby returning to the womb.

This fact is so shocking that it completely contradicts common sense.

As for the issues of material resettlement or traffic paralysis caused by a major setback, these are actually easier to accept.

Jiang Ning reached into his pocket, intending to take out a cigarette, but then realized he was on an airplane and awkwardly lowered his hand.

Jiang Ning didn't smoke before, but ever since a convenience store owner gave him one, he's picked it up. Especially after smoking two packs of Dingshanhu cigarettes in a row, he's made it a habit to light one up whenever he's thinking about something.

"My deepest impression of this place is probably Taiqing Mountain..."

"oh!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yunci smiled proudly and quickly sat up straight.

"Is it a great project at Taiqing Mountain?" Chang Niankong asked.

"No!" Jiang Ning replied.

"Is that the supercomputing power of the Luoshu?" Zhou Yunci asked.

"No, not exactly..." Jiang Ning replied.

"That is?"

The fact that it was negative twice in a row piqued their curiosity.

Taiqing Mountain is built against the mountain and its interior has been transformed into a scientific research base. It also houses the national treasure Luoshu. If even this is not impressive enough, then what else about Taiqing Mountain can impress Jiangning?

"What I remember most vividly is the basement level of Taiqing Mountain, where tens of thousands of screens continuously scrolled through historical disaster records."

Jiang Ning rested his chin on his hand, as if recalling the scene he had just witnessed.

The entire basement level is as big as a football field. Tens of thousands of screens on the surrounding curtains record various historical disasters, large and small, in categories according to time and geography.

For example, there are records of places experiencing continuous heavy rainfall, minor earthquakes, fires, and even major traffic accidents on certain roads on a certain day of a certain month of a certain year.

"What impressed me most about this is not my compassion for humanity, but rather the thought I often have when I can't sleep at night: If history could be rewritten, would these natural disasters or man-made calamities still happen? If they do, how should they be resolved?"

At this point, Jiang Ning paused: "In the past, when time moved forward, we always said we learned from history, that we'd learn from our mistakes. But when history really does repeat itself day after day, will we make different choices? If so, is turning back time still time?"

Upon hearing these two questions, Zhou Yunci blinked and lay back down.

Chang Niankong frowned.

The first problem is actually not too difficult to solve. In the "Future Memory Bank" project, humanity has already thought about this problem and is making use of memory advantages to try to avoid the recurrence of disasters.

But the second question is a bit more in-depth.

For example, historically, one would have spent this day meditating and reading Taoist scriptures.

But at this moment, I am on a passenger plane with two people I just met, soaring through the clouds.

This can be considered as changing history himself.

But time is going backwards, it won't move forward. Even if you change history, it seems to have no impact on the future.

"No, maybe it really does have an effect? ​​We just can't see it ourselves..."

Chang Niankong quickly stopped his thoughts and pondered for a while. After a while, he realized that there was no evidence to support his theory, so it could only be considered a conjecture.

If we can't move into the future and change history, we won't see the impact.

However, memories are continuous. Things change now, and tomorrow they continue to roll backward. So, should "tomorrow" be called returning to history or the future?

Jiang Ning didn't notice the change in their expressions. Seeing that they remained silent, he continued, "There's actually a preliminary solution to this problem?"

Upon hearing this, Chang Niankong and Zhou Yunci looked at Jiang Ning again.

"The dual time standard given by the International Time Union is what I call the Two-Day Agreement."

"In this dual time standard, my understanding is that history is positioned as a consciousness day. In a consciousness day, there is no before or after, and the existence of a future is judged only by the continuity of memories."

"The physical day is the traditional concept of time. According to what Political Commissar Zhou said a few days ago, time is normal in the universe, which means that Earth's future has been cut off."

Zhou Yunci nodded after listening, feeling that this understanding could be considered an explanation.

He glanced at Jiang Ning, seemingly wanting to say something but holding back, and then suddenly missed Sun Fumin.

If Sun Fumin were here, he would probably blurt out: "The Earth's future has been cut off, does that mean there are aliens?"

However, given his status, Zhou Yunci couldn't very well make baseless accusations.

"Then who cut off the future on Physics Day?" Chang Niankong asked in surprise.

Jiang Ning pursed her lips and smiled faintly: "I guess it's ourselves. For example..."

Jiang Ning patted the tablet in his hand. "Humans have even forgotten how to sleep properly. What future do they have?"

Both of them were taken aback upon hearing this.

They then simultaneously glanced at the tablet in Jiang Ning's hand. They both knew that Jiang Ning had just been looking at a global analysis of human sleep, and this sudden, pointed remark meant that he must have made another new discovery.