Chapter Seven: A World from Over a Thousand Years Ago
629 Words
Fang Qing stared blankly at the blue sky and white clouds, her eyes squinting slightly. Something cool brushed across her face—a gentle breeze. It felt so refreshing. She closed her eyes, savoring it. This feels like Earth from thousands of years ago, she thought. What a wonderful feeling.
She kept walking, still dazed and oblivious to the strange reality around her. When she reached a patch of flowers, she spotted something on the ground—soil.
“Huh?” She ran over and grabbed a handful. “This is soil! Real soil!” She hurriedly tossed a handful into her kitchen space. The system immediately detected it as an excellent source of energy for her kitchen. She looked around nervously. No one seemed to be around. Could she take it? Was it public property? Would she get fined?
While she was hesitating, a sudden realization hit her. She stood up abruptly, accidentally dropping Awu to the ground.
Where was this place? She finally began to comprehend. The sky was bright because there was a sun. Awu had said it was a real sun, not an artificial one.
There were blue skies and white clouds here, not the perpetual gray she was used to.
There was a breeze here, unlike the perfectly regulated climate back home, controlled by computers to mimic eternal spring.
And there was soil here. Back in her world, the ground had long since turned to stone. Forget digging into it—you’d be lucky if you could even chip a piece off. But this soil was soft, fertile, perfect for planting. The flowers blooming on it were proof of that.
Everything here exuded an aura of nature. Real, unfiltered nature.
A real sun. Real air. Real wind. Real soil.
So much nature in one place—it felt surreal. Could this really be Earth?
She picked up Awu and tears welled up again.
“Awu, which strange planet have we crashed on? My spaceship is gone. Shouldn’t we send out a distress signal?”
Awu’s eyes flickered with data for a long while before it looked at Fang Qing. It didn’t know how to explain.
“Fang Qing, this is Earth.”
“Huh?” Fang Qing blinked. “Earth? How is that possible? I was only on Planet No. 2 for a year. Did the scientists fix Earth’s pollution in that time?”
“No.” Awu jumped down from her arms and pawed at the soft soil. “This is Earth, but it’s not your Earth.”
“What are you talking about?” Fang Qing frowned. She hated riddles. “Just tell me straight.”
“Alright,” Awu sighed, lying down. “My main program just confirmed it. After analyzing everything, this is Earth.”
“You already said that.” Fang Qing plopped down beside him. Her clothes wouldn’t get dirty, though she still couldn’t change them. “But how did my Earth become like this?” She gestured around, her mind struggling to process it all.
“This is Earth from over a thousand years ago.”
“Oh.” Fang Qing nodded. “Earth from a thousand years ago.”
Then, realization struck her like lightning. “Wait, why am I here?” She shot to her feet, panic creeping into her voice.
“Well,” Awu admitted, “I don’t have an explanation for that. Maybe this planet is undergoing some kind of fundamental change, and it pulled you here. My database has no records of such events. Do you?”
Fang Qing shook her head. “No. You know I never paid attention to history.”
She sat back down, exasperated. “Awu, send a distress signal! Get someone to rescue us!”
- Writer
