ebookslot Chapter 1 What year is it tonight?
Chapter 1 What year is it tonight?
In everyone's life, there are times when they feel they've seen the gates of angels open. Li Xingzhou had strived for eighteen years, and on his 99th attempt, the gates finally opened—
the second time.
"A tiny cloud, slowly drifting by, please rest your feet and stop for a moment..."
The familiar singing gradually reached his ears from the after-school broadcast. As the singing became clearer, Li Xingzhou couldn't help but clench his hands.
came back!
Everything is back!
After eighteen years, Li Xingzhou returned to his familiar hometown.
To deliver a notification letter to my sister who is in the hospital.
It is the summer solstice, the sky is clear and the warm breeze is blowing.
Li Xingzhou looked at the familiar clothes and listened to the familiar songs. Although he looked tired, his eyes were full of uncontrollable surprise.
He couldn't help but bite the tip of his tongue, the fishy taste spreading in his mouth.
Not a dream.
It's not a time for fantasy either!
I'm really back!
Li Xingzhou unconsciously started walking, recalling the past, the past...
Ok?
Something's not right...
At the school gate, several parents threw small trinkets of different colors on the ground, and then... cars parked on the roadside.
Is this... a miracle capsule?
No, there already is a similar space storage technology like the storage ring?
What year is this eve?
Just as Li Xingzhou was in a daze—
"Hey young man, stop right there! Don't you know you can't jaywalk during dismissal time? Don't you know students have priority? Didn't you see the sword cultivator's flight path in the sky is closed too? Go back!"
Sword cultivator, and navigation channel?
A hint of doubt flashed in Li Xingzhou's eyes. He understood the meaning of both words, but why did they seem so unfamiliar when they were put together?
He subconsciously looked up and saw, within the high and low channels divided into levels, giant ships sailing with the wind, large birds standing silently, and people hovering in the air on swords...
? !
Is that correct?
Li Xingzhou looked around again and this time discovered that the cars were not using oil, but a 'fuel' similar to spiritual energy.
A real hearse?
And what about the electric hybrid?
No, what am I doing?
Is this still my hometown?
While Li Xingzhou was still in a daze, the voice from before rang out again, accompanied by a series of hurried footsteps.
"Stop looking around, I'm talking to you. This isn't the place for you to attract attention by wearing ancient costume!"
Go back immediately!
The man in uniform grabbed Li Xingzhou's wrist and tried to pull him away, but Li Xingzhou didn't budge.
"Wow, young man, you're pretty strong. Are you a body-training practitioner? Which university did you go to?"
Li Xingzhou looked at the uniformed man's wrist. The traffic policeman... had cultivation!
I went back to my hometown by myself... and got lost?
That shouldn't be the case. No matter what, there's no way I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the front and back doors.
After all, I had to open, go in, and close the door nearly a hundred times before I could accurately locate the door to my hometown...
Despite his thoughts, Li Xingzhou retreated to the curb and, after observing his surroundings again, asked, "Is this Yunzhou?"
"Yunzhou? That's the old name. Now it's called Jiangzhou... What, have you been living deep in the mountains, oblivious to the world around you, or have you returned from another country?"
The traffic police officer who followed him glanced at Li Xingzhou a couple more times, and casually asked a question while pulling out a ticket from his waist: "But don't think you can get away with this."
What's your name? Give me your ID card, and tell me your system ID.
As he finished speaking, he subtly made a gesture behind him.
Is it now renamed Jiangzhou?
Although Li Xingzhou was unclear about the reason for the name change, he was at least certain that this place was indeed part of Yunzhou.
Just as he breathed a sigh of relief, upon hearing the unfamiliar term "system number," he involuntarily fixed his gaze on the traffic policeman in front of him.
system?
Still using a number?
Is it something in novels that gives the protagonist power, money, and beautiful women around him?
Is this unlocking the genetic potential of the brain, or a new product of the technological explosion?
And it sounds like everyone has it?
He wanted to ask about the system, but then changed his question to, "What year is it this year?"
Judging from the traffic police's questioning, this system number is the same as the name and ID card number, and even if he mistakenly thought he lived deep in the mountains, he didn't think he would be unable to say the system number...
Does not having this system number mean someone is considered an unregistered user?
Considering his own purpose, Li Xingzhou then changed his question to the time.
Confirming the time is also a clue.
Thinking about it, he couldn't help but glance around again, and after observing carefully, he saw many things he had never seen before.
Temperatures much higher than in the past, cities suspended in the sky...
What is this?
Is it a revival of spiritual energy, or have I truly gone down the wrong path?
The familiar yet unfamiliar scenes caused Li Xingzhou's eyes to momentarily daze as the traffic police officer answered.
A century has passed!
It seems that a sad, thick barrier has already separated me from my hometown.
and many more!
Why bother thinking about these things when there's nothing to do?
Putting aside the fact that we haven't even confirmed whether this is our hometown, and besides, these changes aren't important to me. What's important is my sister!
If this really is our hometown and has undergone great changes in the last hundred years, then my sister's illness may have been cured!
Furthermore, with the ability to cultivate, what is a hundred years?
In particular, as long as he can find his sister and confirm that she is indeed his sister, he can prove that he has not gone astray and has truly returned to his hometown.
If my sister dies, I can still dig her grave!
If you've made a mistake, then just leave here and keep looking for your way home.
Upon realizing this, Li Xingzhou's hesitation about this familiar yet unfamiliar world vanished instantly, and he immediately took a step forward.
But the moment he took that first step, he realized that he couldn't mobilize the spiritual energy within his body.
Li Xingzhou was no stranger to this situation, as it wasn't the first time he had experienced it.
The great path may lead to the same destination, but the world has its "boundaries," much like the language barriers between countries.
It just needs to be converted.
He naturally didn't have the time to transform at that moment, and more importantly, it wouldn't have a significant impact on him.
Besides practicing Qi cultivation, I also have some knowledge of fist and foot techniques for body training.
Huhu——
The sudden gust of wind not only snatched the traffic ticket from the policeman's hand, but also blew his hat into the air.
Ok?
The traffic police officer was stunned for a moment. He ran away?!
His expression immediately changed; this was exactly what he had been most worried about!
I'm not afraid you'll evade the fine, I'm afraid you'll have a guilty conscience!
Because this young man in ancient costume is exceptionally powerful, unaware of the current era, unaware that he is in Jiangzhou, and ignorant of basic traffic regulations, and especially suspected of being a Qi cultivator who has been in seclusion for years or even decades, or someone who has returned from another country...
What if this is a heretical cultivator?
He glanced at the speedometer while taking out his terminal to report the information.
Modern speed measuring devices can initially detect the opponent's strength range based on their speed, allowing other departments to take effective countermeasures.
boom--
Looking at the speedometer that had exceeded its limit, his expression grew increasingly serious, but he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
If a speed camera at the city level exceeds its limit, it means that the rest of the matter is handled by higher authorities, and the responsibility will not fall on your own shoulders.
Even if the other party is indeed a ruthless evil cultivator who kills without blinking an eye, it's something that the higher-ups need to worry about.
We just need to do our jobs well.
After reporting the situation, he looked around but couldn't determine the direction Li Xingzhou had left in.
"Damn it, you're pretty fast, but what good is speed? This is Jiang Shengren's hometown. You think you can escape?"
"Master, I don't think he's a bad person."
"Oh? What do you mean?"
"His modeling skills are so good, he doesn't look like a heinous evil cultivator, right?"
"Go back to your shift!"
"Master, please don't be anxious. The main reason is that he obediently retreated to the side of the road just now. If he were a demon or evil spirit, you would have been killed on the spot, reduced to ashes and left without a trace, right?"
"..."
······
Skyscrapers stand side by side, many towering into the clouds.
As Li Xingzhou followed the route he remembered, he wandered through the streets and alleys, occasionally observing this unfamiliar city.
The city's energy core became a giant spirit-gathering array located underground, like a heart that transforms and distributes the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and then pumps it to every household.
The construction workers on the site can use formations to change the weather and control building materials to fly around, quickly completing the construction.
Some people scanned the code to retrieve a shared flying sword from a sword box by the roadside, while others scanned the code to return the sword.
The city is vast, so vast that the terrain has changed, and it has vast rivers and lakes stretching as far as the eye can see...
More importantly, it's not just humans.
Li Xingzhou withdrew his gaze from the legs of a centaur wearing four-colored stockings, his eyes showing less expectation and more curiosity.
What I'm curious about isn't where the centaur girl gives birth, but this world.
The more I look at this world, the less it resembles my hometown. After all, even if technology can experience a major explosion within a century, it won't be enough for monsters to evolve from scratch.
Moreover, it can achieve peaceful coexistence with humanity.
Therefore, my hopes may still be dashed.
But regardless, this is the first place I've come to that has similarities to my hometown, so I have to confirm it.
As Li Xingzhou began to release some of his restored divine sense, he watched as the young men pointed and gestured at the air in front of them.
Although they cannot be seen with the eyes, one can sense with one's divine sense that there is some kind of power surrounding them.
Is this the system panel that Uncle Hat was talking about...?
"bite--"
A crisp notification sound, unlike anything he had ever heard before, suddenly rang in his mind, and Li Xingzhou stopped abruptly.
WTF?
Li Xingzhou watched as the colorful sci-fi light screen slowly unfolded before him...
system?
Does such a thing really exist?
[Based on the relevant agreement, we have located individuals in the Enlightenment Realm who are not yet bound to the system. We are now inquiring based on the principle of voluntariness—Hey~ do you want the system?]
[System resources and related protocols are loading. Please browse. Implantation into the brain is beginning... *buzzing sounds*...]
[Error, error, loading failed, system under attack, error...]
[Warning! Warning! Loading failed. According to the agreement... you must not do anything that harms this system... otherwise... divine punishment will descend... sizzle...]
[Collapse... Sizzle...]
What are you babbling about?
Li Xingzhou directly used his divine sense to obliterate it.
I'm glad there's a system, but I'm unhappy that it's only now coming.
Why didn't you do that before?
More importantly, what use are you now?
However, looking at the collapsing light screen in front of him, Li Xingzhou did become somewhat interested in this system.
After all, this system can silently and accurately lock onto one's soul and say a few words even when one's divine sense is projected outward.
Although returning had consumed a lot of my spiritual energy, the sea of consciousness is not something that can be entered by external forces at will.
The cultivation level here is worthy of an emperor.
Li Xingzhou thought to himself, not regretting directly eliminating it. Perhaps he could learn more information through the system, but the silence made him dare not be careless. Who knew what unexpected changes would occur after the binding was successful?
He didn't want to be caught off guard and end up losing his job.
Thinking it over, Li Xingzhou took another step. He might study the system later, but right now he had only one goal—
Sister... Jiang Wanzhao!
······
Author's Note: A newbie embarks on a new journey.
Happy New Year to everyone! May all your wishes come true!