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The first time he encountered it was in his very first dream, the first time he met Big Cat Face, the first time he was roped into robbing a bank. That moment marked the beginning of everything…

After using Big Cat Face’s C4 explosive and cracking the security door’s password, Lin Xian found himself in a warehouse filled with safes embedded in the walls. He vividly remembered one safe in particular: it was on the right, next to his own, and it was engraved with the name Wei Sheng Jin. That name had stuck with him ever since.

Now, nearly two years had passed. He had forgotten the name on the safe to the left of his, but Wei Sheng Jin’s name was still fresh in his mind.

During that first dream, in the final moments, Lin Xian, Big Cat Face, and CC decided to use an industrial acetylene torch to cut open the safes. CC was worried that the heat might damage the contents inside, so she suggested they try cutting open Wei Sheng Jin’s safe first before attempting Lin Xian’s. Although their plan ultimately failed because of an unexpected reaction with the special aluminum alloy, Big Cat Face did manage to heat Wei Sheng Jin’s safe until it was red-hot.

In the second dream, when Time Bank went bankrupt, the safes were discarded like trash and transported to a junkyard. Lin Xian spotted Wei Sheng Jin’s aluminum alloy safe immediately—it was in the first batch to arrive.

He never imagined that this legendary figure, who had occupied his thoughts for so long, would appear now, in the fifth dream, in a primeval forest 600 years into the future!

Lin Xian couldn’t resist stepping forward and shaking the old man’s hand. “It’s an honor to meet you!”

The white-haired old man tilted his head, studying Lin Xian carefully. “Young man, do we know each other? Have we met before?”

Lin Xian nodded. “To be honest, Mr. Wei, I also had an aluminum alloy safe at Time Bank. Our safes were right next to each other—we were neighbors for hundreds of years.”

Wei Sheng Jin frowned. “That can’t be right. What’s your name, young man?”

“Lin Xian,” he replied. “Lin, as in the forest, and Xian, as in the strings of a zither. Do you remember, sir? My safe was engraved long before yours, back when Time Bank was first established—maybe even before that.”

“Lin Xian… Xian…” Wei Sheng Jin shook his head. “That’s impossible. Even though I’ve lost some memories and can’t remember much about the aluminum alloy safe, I planned for this. When I set up the password at Time Bank, I took pictures of the password dial and stored them in my memory journal to remind myself after I woke up from hibernation.”

“The photos clearly show that the safes on either side of mine had foreign names. The one on the left was in English, and the one on the right looked like Russian… I’m quite certain the safes on either side of mine couldn’t have been yours.”

Now it was Lin Xian’s turn to be stunned.

He was sure their safes had been next to each other in the first dream. But in the second dream, it was hard to say. By the time Lin Xian had entered the Time Bank warehouse, the safes had already been removed from the cement walls, and their original arrangement was unknown.

In the third and fourth dreams, he hadn’t even entered Time Bank, so he had no idea what was inside.

Could it be that a slight butterfly effect in space-time had separated their safes?

The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.

He recalled a detail: in both the first and second dreams, the safes didn’t have numbers. Each safe had a nameplate with only a name—no numerical identifier.

But in the Time Bank warehouse, re-established by Brother Wang in 2024 after receiving his investment, the safes were engraved with numbers for some reason. On the first day the aluminum alloy safes were delivered, Brother Wang had generously given Lin Xian safe number 66, hoping for luck and prosperity.

Lin Xian rubbed his chin, deep in thought. Could it be… The reason the safes in the first and second dreams didn’t have numbers was because there were fewer of them? Brother Wang had said he didn’t have grand ambitions when he first founded Time Bank. It was just a hobby, a childhood dream, and he didn’t plan to expand too much. He only intended to make a few dozen, maybe a hundred safes—so there was no need for numbering.

But after receiving his investment and support, and expanding into a range of financial services, Brother Wang had custom-made over 200 aluminum alloy safes in the first batch. Maybe… as the number of customers at Time Bank increased, he would order a second batch and a third batch of aluminum alloy safes?

“What’s your safe number?” Wei Sheng Jin asked directly.

“My number is 724. What’s yours?”

Lin Xian realized he had guessed correctly and replied, “Mine is 66.”

“Oh~~” Wei Sheng Jin nodded in understanding. “Then our safes definitely weren’t next to each other… With such a low number, you must have lived in the early days of Time Bank. Judging by your young appearance… you must have gone into hibernation not long after buying the safe, right?”

“Actually, based on our birth years, I should be the one calling you ‘sir.’ You’re at least several hundred years older than me… But the hibernation law states that the time spent in hibernation doesn’t count toward actual age, so age is calculated based on active time.”

I see, Lin Xian thought. He made a mental note of this fact. It seemed that in this era, birth year and actual age didn’t correspond to each other at all.

Even though Wei Sheng Jin was born several hundred years after Lin Xian, he was still Lin Xian’s elder.

Lin Xian had already noticed that Wei Sheng Jin probably had a gun hidden at his waist. He had almost pulled it on Lin Xian earlier. But after just a few words, Wei Sheng Jin seemed to trust him, his demeanor relaxed.

Now that he had gained Wei Sheng Jin’s trust, it was time to gather some information about what had happened in this future world, this fifth dream.

“Mr. Wei, I have a few questions for you.” Lin Xian gestured to the dense forest around them. “Since you’re here looking for the aluminum alloy safe from Time Bank, you must know that this place was once Donghai City in X Country, right? It was a bustling international metropolis… So why is it like this now? Where are the buildings? Where are the people?”

Wei Sheng Jin chuckled, unsurprised by Lin Xian’s question. “Judging by your reaction, you didn’t receive any [Historical Education] after waking up, did you? Or maybe you received it but didn’t believe it? Normally, after waking from hibernation, we’re given our memory journals, memory recordings… and we’re supposed to undergo official [Historical Education] to understand the history of these years.”

“Let me tell you the story again…”

“Everything starts with the global catastrophe in the year 2400. Before that, Earth was doing fine. Although progress in many technological fields had reached a bottleneck, it was more than enough for ordinary people’s lives.”

“I was born in 2373, and because I contracted an incurable brain disease in my teens, I went into a hibernation pod. When I woke up, it was 2574… But back to the events of 2400.”

“There are many theories about what caused the catastrophe. Some say it was due to the cyclical electromagnetic storms of the sun, others believe it was humanity’s over-exploitation of mantle minerals that destabilized the Earth, and some think it was the failure of a superweapon experiment…”

“In any case, in 2400, a super natural disaster struck. Magma and flames erupted everywhere, the sky was shrouded in darkness for ages, earthquakes and tsunamis were rampant, and human civilization was nearly wiped out. It’s said that less than 5% of the population survived… But even with so few people left, there were still endless wars over resources and survival. The whole world fell into chaos.”

“There were already so few people left—only a few billion—and the wars dragged on for decades. In the end, no one knows how many people were left. Some say there were only a few million, others say less than a million worldwide.”

As Wei Sheng Jin recounted the [Historical Education] he had received, Lin Xian sensed something didn’t add up. “Hold on, Mr. Wei, I think there’s something that doesn’t quite make sense.”

He voiced his confusion. “Let’s put aside the question of what caused the natural disaster since that’s difficult to verify. The key issue is… You said you went into a hibernation pod in your teens, which was before 2400, and woke up in 2574.”

“I’m not doubting your words, but I’m wondering how you survived through the 2400 natural disaster, the near-destruction of human civilization, and the subsequent decades of war while in hibernation.”

“From what I understand, after such a catastrophic event, the world would have been in complete chaos, with constant wars over resources and survival. But hibernation pods need professional maintenance and a stable power supply to function, right?”

“How did your hibernation pod continue running safely for hundreds of years while the outside world was in turmoil?”

“Heh…” Wei Sheng Jin smiled, as if he had expected Lin Xian’s question. “Looks like you really didn’t receive any [Historical Education]. You do remember where you came from before arriving on Earth, right? You’re correct—it would have been nearly impossible to survive in that kind of catastrophic disaster and war… People were barely managing to survive, so who would care about those in hibernation?”

“After the 2400 catastrophe, those in hibernation on Earth either woke up to fight for survival or died in their sleep. But I was lucky… I don’t know if my parents foresaw something or if something else happened, but when I entered the hibernation pod, I was on Earth. When I woke up… I was on Mars.”

“Mars?” Lin Xian repeated the familiar yet alien word. “You mean there were people living on Mars before the year 2400?”

“Yes,” Wei Sheng Jin nodded. “Thanks to that person, human civilization was able to continue. Before 2400, people didn’t even think about expanding into space. They believed that living on Earth was the best option… Of course, at that time, cold fusion technology was at a bottleneck and couldn’t be broken through. Even if humans wanted to start interstellar travel, they didn’t have the capability.”

“For many years, only one person persistently worked on building a base on Mars and planning for Mars colonization. It’s said that many people didn’t trust him back then—they thought he was a fraud… But he managed to build the Mars base and start the Mars colonization plan using technology that was on the brink of being outdated.”

“Along with the colonization, the hibernation pod transfer service was also initiated, where hibernation pods could be transported by spacecraft to Mars to continue their hibernation. It sounds funny, but more hibernation pods were sent to Mars than living people… Many people still preferred living on Earth and didn’t want to leave.”

“Then, in 2400, the super disaster happened. After the wars, the people on Mars developed well and were willing to accept refugees from Earth. They sent ships back and forth several times to bring the remaining people on Earth to Mars… The last evacuation plan ended in 2500. Most people left Earth, leaving only a few hundred thousand behind for various reasons.”

“After that, Earth and Mars were completely isolated. Apart from the biannual Earth-Mars shuttle… there was no communication between the two planets.”

As Lin Xian listened to Wei Sheng Jin’s account of the history of the solar system, a thought crossed his mind. He remembered the world’s richest man, whom he had parted ways with just 24 hours ago.

“The person who persisted in the Mars colonization plan…” Lin Xian looked at Wei Sheng Jin. “Could it be… Elon Musk?”

“Yes, yes.” Wei Sheng Jin’s eyes filled with admiration at the mention of the name. “You see, you remember now, right? He’s the savior of human civilization… If it weren’t for his Mars colonization plan, which preserved the seeds of civilization during the 2400 catastrophe, who knows what would have happened to human civilization on Earth afterward.”

“Would it have continued to grow and rebuild, or would it have repeated the same mistakes and headed toward extinction again? No one knows. But now, Mars is doing well. Although their technology has hit a bottleneck, and they still have energy and resource issues to solve… At least life there is stable, and the atmosphere transformation is starting to show results.”

As expected, it was Elon Musk. Lin Xian was right. The only person who could have persisted with the Mars colonization plan for so many years was Elon Musk. But… it seemed that this plan was far more complicated than Elon Musk had imagined, and there must have been numerous obstacles, setbacks, and resistance over the centuries.

Elon Musk had mentioned in interviews that the Mars colonization plan might be achieved by 2060. But the reality was far less optimistic than he had hoped. It took centuries for him to finally reach this goal.

“But, Mr. Wei…” Lin Xian gestured to the dense forest around them. “No matter how devastating the 2400 catastrophe was, it’s been over 200 years since then. It’s now 2624, and Earth’s natural environment has fully recovered, hasn’t it? So why didn’t Elon Musk and the others migrate back from Mars?”

“From what you’ve said, Mars might still be struggling with the challenges of controlled nuclear fusion or cold fusion. And Mars is so small, only one-eighth the size of Earth, with issues like energy, resources, and even solar intensity… How could it compare to Earth?”

“You also mentioned that they’re still working on atmospheric transformation on Mars, but Earth already has a natural atmosphere. Everything here is so much better than on Mars. Why don’t the people on Mars move back?”

Wei Sheng Jin chuckled and shook his head. “That’s… a social issue.”

“For us humans living on Mars, there’s not much attachment to Earth. We feel that Mars is our ‘mother,’ our home.”

“Nowadays, the people living on Mars are of two types. One is those born and raised on Mars, and the other is like us—old Earth humans who woke up from hibernation.”

“But… when we woke up from hibernation, we lost all our previous memories, our minds were blank. So how could we have any feelings for Earth? Aside from knowing we were born there, there’s no real connection.”

“Take me, for example. After waking up from hibernation on Mars, I received my [Historical Education] and have been living on Mars ever since. My wife, children, and grandchildren are all on Mars.”

“After all these years, this is my first time returning to Earth… Actually, calling it a ‘return’ feels strange to me because I have no memories of living on Earth, no emotional ties, and it feels very unfamiliar.”

“Even if you say the air is better here, the natural environment is better… To me, this isn’t home. I’ll still take the Earth-Mars shuttle in two years and go back to live on Mars. By the way… you must have woken up from hibernation on Mars and then taken the shuttle to Earth, right? That’s strange, though—I don’t remember seeing you on the shuttle. Did you come on the previous shuttle two years ago?”

Lin Xian didn’t answer Wei Sheng Jin’s question. He was deep in thought.

He understood why there was only one Earth-Mars shuttle every two years.

Because Earth and Mars have different orbital periods, even though they both revolve around the sun, their relative positions constantly change. When Earth is farthest from Mars, the distance is about 400 million kilometers; when they are closest, it’s only 55 million kilometers—a difference of eight times.

And the point where Earth and Mars are closest occurs only once every two years, which is why the “Earth-Mars shuttle” only runs every two years.

The limited schedule made it clear… Mars’ technological level, especially its space technology, wasn’t very advanced. It was likely still in the early stages of development, with no significant new technologies emerging.

This meant that humanity hadn’t yet ventured beyond the solar system, although there had been some progress compared to the previous dreams. At least they had reached Mars.

Lin Xian could understand why Wei Sheng Jin said that people on Mars didn’t want to return to Earth. It was similar to how, in 2024, if you asked people who wanted to live on Mars… few would agree, as everyone considered Earth their home and subconsciously preferred it.

The same principle applied. People on Mars would naturally prefer Mars. Even if Earth was better, it was primitive and backward—no electricity, no internet, no advanced transportation… How could it compare to the comfort of living on Mars?

“Is Elon Musk still alive?” Lin Xian asked a question that concerned him.

Wei Sheng Jin shook his head. “He passed away long ago, decades ago. Although he went through several rounds of hibernation, he lived a long life. His actual age was over a hundred, which was covered in the [Historical Education]… I can see you didn’t pay attention to it at all.”

“But his SpaceX company still exists and is the central organization that controls all activities on Mars. We Martians have great respect and admiration for Elon Musk and SpaceX.”

“So…” Lin Xian spread his hands, taking a deep breath of the fresh, natural air, feeling that no amount of money could make him leave Earth. “Does that mean there are no humans living on Earth anymore?”

“There are still quite a few,” Wei Sheng Jin replied. “But Earth and Mars have been isolated for so long, and there’s no accurate count of how many people live on Earth… However, experts estimate that it’s no more than 20 million. And those people are scattered all over the planet, unable to unite, and productivity is low.”

“Some say that the living standards on Earth now are similar to those of the Middle Ages, around the 5th to 15th centuries. But I have no concept of that—we’re completely unfamiliar with such ancient history. Detailed historical records only start from the year 2400.”

Historical records. Lin Xian picked up on this keyword.

In the first dream, the second dream, and even the third dream, history was very vague, and it was nearly impossible to find detailed historical records before the 2300s. That was one of the few commonalities among these different future worlds.

How did history become so fragmented?

Lin Xian hadn’t figured it out in the previous dreams. But in this fifth dream, Wei Sheng Jin made it clear that there were two main reasons:

The global super disaster that nearly wiped out human civilization.

The memory loss from hibernation, leaving old Earth humans who crossed time with blank minds.

Suddenly, Lin Xian realized something deeply unsettling.

Was the history Wei Sheng Jin recounted really true?

According to him, the people living on Mars fall into two categories. One group is the native-born Martians, who naturally receive Mars’ local historical education. The other group is like Wei Sheng Jin, old Earth humans who woke up from hibernation with blank minds. They, too, have to receive historical education… Like a blank sheet of paper, whatever is written on it is believed.

So…

“Mr. Wei.” Lin Xian looked into Wei Sheng Jin’s eyes. “Do you truly believe the historical education you received is accurate?”

“Of course I believe it!” Wei Sheng Jin answered without hesitation. “Otherwise, how could I have survived those hundreds of years in hibernation?”

Lin Xian didn’t respond.

He realized that Wei Sheng Jin was still trapped in a spiral of logic, his perception completely shaped by the so-called [Historical Education], his thoughts unable to break free from that circle.

But Lin Xian couldn’t shake the feeling that the events of the past few centuries were far more complicated than Wei Sheng Jin’s account.

There had to be more to the story!

He looked up, gazing through the gaps in the dense branches at the blazing sun in the sky.

What secrets does this fifth dream hold?

“It seems… I need to find a local Earthling to get some answers!”