Chapter 7498 Trust Collapse.
Charlie completely agrees with Maria’s point of view.
The path of cultivation is inherently resource-intensive. It uses the purest Qi to infinitely increase personal power, which, from a macro perspective, is a huge waste.
This highly centralized allocation of resources is tantamount to squeezing a planet capable of supporting billions of people to its bare minimum for the use of a few million or fewer cultivators. This model makes it difficult to truly create a true human civilization; it would simply be a celebration for a small elite.
Therefore, according to their own speculations and Maria’s, it is highly likely that before the formal establishment of human civilization, a group of interstellar colonists had arrived on this land. Like locusts passing through, they consumed Earth’s agricultural resources and then left without looking back.
The teleportation array built within the Four Directions Pagoda was, frankly, a channel they used to indiscriminately plunder Earth’s resources. They sent out large numbers of cultivators, like worker ants, to search for cultivation resources throughout Earth. After exhausting this place until they reached the Dharma-Ending Era, they left without a backward glance and began their next journey.
Thinking of this, Charlie asked Maria, “Miss Lin, do you think they might have encountered apes on Earth? When apes had just learned to walk upright and use stones as tools, they already had the ability to migrate between stars. The sight of two species meeting tens or even millions of years ago is truly fantastic.”
Maria nodded and said seriously, “The scene you described, young master, could very well have actually happened in history.”
After saying that, Maria looked at Charlie and said, “Besides, I suddenly remembered another matter.”
Charlie asked curiously, “What’s the matter? Miss Lin, please speak.”
As she walked, Maria frowned and whispered, “I wonder if some of the myths and legends that have been passed down for thousands of years are actually true? Almost every ancient civilization has strange records, some murals, some hieroglyphs. The contents of these records are mostly so-called miracles. Perhaps they once coexisted with cultivators in the past.”
Charlie nodded and said, “That makes sense. Even the legends of dragons and other mythical creatures might not just be the imagination of the ancients. Perhaps these things truly existed. It’s just that they came with those cultivators and then left with them, so no one has seen them since. Only a few records that are difficult for later generations to distinguish between true and false are left behind.”
Maria smiled and said, “Young Master, if the things we have discussed were made public, wouldn’t it completely change the way billions of people view the world?”
“Of course.” Charlie sighed, “There are too many things here that are beyond human comprehension. Who would have thought that Earth, which humans are so proud of and even consider a cosmic wonder, might be just a piece of trash that was damaged and then thrown away by another group of people.”
Maria also sighed, “And their method of interstellar migration is too unimaginable. Can they really travel between stars using just a teleportation array? Even if they came from the nearest star system, Proxima Centauri, it’s still four light-years away. If they could really get there in the blink of an eye using a teleportation array, it would completely change humanity’s understanding of the universe.”
Charlie smiled wryly: “Changing perceptions may be secondary. The most important thing is that it will fill many people with fear. When they don’t have neighbors, they long to find them every day. But when they know that a neighbor can enter their room in the blink of an eye, their feelings are completely different.”
After saying that, he said in a humble tone, “Thinking about the original cultivators on this Earth, they are truly pitiful. They essentially just picked up the scraps left behind by others and forcibly entered the Dao. They all dared to defy the heavens and change their destiny, transcending tribulations and ascending to immortality. All the resources have been plundered. How could those scraps possibly support anyone to cultivate to such a level?”
Maria could see that Charlie was somewhat disappointed. She knew it was a collapse of his beliefs, or perhaps the confusion and confusion of a frog jumping out of a well. At first, he thought the sky was only as big as the well opening. Although the sky was larger than himself, its size was still limited. After all, the ratio between the sky and himself might be a hundred to one, or at worst, a thousand to one. But after jumping out, he realized that the gap was probably a trillion to one, like the difference between a giant mountain and a speck of dust.
Then, she held Charlie’s hand tightly and changed the subject, asking him, “Young Master, how are we supposed to get from western Sichuan to Aurous Hill now? Neither of us has any identification documents with us, and our real identities were already used to leave the country for Argentina. If our identity information suddenly appears on the domestic transportation system, it will trigger an alert.”
Charlie thought for a moment and said, “I’ll have Issac send a private jet here and see if we can use the connections at the airport to get him directly on the plane.”
Maria shook her head and said, “Young Master, those who know we went to Antarctica must also know that we can’t suddenly return to this country at a time like this. Smart people know the ins and outs, and if they think about it carefully, they’ll know that there must be something fishy. Only the most trusted people can be informed about this. It’s best not to tell anyone else.”
Charlie agreed, “Miss Lin makes a good point. So, what do you think?”
Maria smiled and said, “Let’s go find Lao Sun and Lao Qiu. I’ve watched them grow up. They even know the secret of my life for four hundred years. They won’t be surprised by this, they won’t think much of it, and they definitely won’t reveal it.”
Charlie smiled and said, “Yes, if you look at it this way, they are indeed the most reliable people.”
Maria stared at Charlie with wide eyes and said seriously, “In my eyes, the only person I can trust in this world is you, Young Master. The others are only ranked below you.”
Charlie smiled and nodded. Actually, Maria felt the same way deep inside.
After making up her mind, Maria called Sun Zhidong.
Qiu Yingshan, as a highly influential overseas Chinese, had a vast network of connections and prestige in Nanjing. However, in terms of influence throughout China, Sun Zhidong was more successful.
After hearing from Maria that she was in western Sichuan, Sun Zhidong, without asking any questions, immediately began to arrange everything for the two of them.
First, he dispatched special personnel from the security department closest to the western Sichuan region to drive to the town at the entrance of Heming Mountain. At the same time, he arranged for a private jet at the airport. The private jet operator had a strong background and could easily transport Charlie and Maria to Aurous Hill without going through airport security checks or big data analysis.
In Aurous Hill, Qiu Yingshan was already prepared. He drove straight to the airport and took the two of them back to Zijin Villa as soon as they landed.
After Maria had arranged everything, the two of them slowly climbed out of Mount Heming.
As the two continued their journey out of the deep mountains, they encountered several hikers along the way. After leaving the mountains, they arrived at a small town at the foot of the mountain range.
When they arrived in town, two green SUVs with special license plates were waiting. They didn’t know Charlie and Maria’s identities, only that they were two special guests who needed escort to the airport tarmac. Furthermore, these security guards were well-trained. After getting the two into the car, they didn’t ask or say a word the entire way, and drove them straight to the airport.
As dusk fell, a seemingly ordinary, older-model Gulfstream G500 took off from Chengdu Airport and headed east toward Nanjing.