Preface

  In the year 1942 AD, or 2495 of the Eastern Calendar (since the birth of Confucius), China put into operation an observatory built in Chongqing to search for parallel universes and successfully discovered the existence of a parallel universe, thus confirming this scientific hypothesis. The observation results of this neighboring universe shocked the scientific community because the history of the Earth in this neighboring universe was very similar to that of our own universe, almost identical 300 years ago, with the same celebrities, countries, languages, and art, but became completely different over the past 300 years.

  The scientific and technological level of this neighbor is extremely backward. Europeans found that they were still using fossil energy chariots, a primitive weapon, in 1942, and had almost no knowledge of nuclear power. As for the development and immigration of extraterrestrial resources, they hadn't even touched the door handle.

  In contrast to Europeans, the Chinese felt more disappointed. After a detailed observation report was disclosed to curious citizens, a media outlet commented on China in this neighboring universe: "Like us, that universe's China also has rich resources and the largest population, but in the past three hundred years, China has not made the greatest contribution to human civilization and scientific progress, and it can even be said that there is almost no contribution. This is truly a deep regret and a great waste and sadness."

  Chongqing Observatory had been in operation for a full seventy years. By 2012, the brand new observatory built by humans on Titan was completed, with a wider field of view, safer and more efficient, so Chongqing Observatory also came to an end.

  The person in charge of the observatory was asked by the media at a press conference: "Seventy years ago, we didn't know, but now we know that observing parallel universes will interfere with neighboring universes and our own universe, right?"

  The person in charge replied, "Everyone knows that time can also be seen as a wave. The time wave of our universe collapsed into our history, while the time wave of parallel universes collapsed into their own histories. Yes, the old observatory's design has some flaws, and its observation window will cause a slight interference phenomenon between the time waves of our two universes."

  "What degree of interference will there be and what impact will it have on us?"

  "Extremely, extremely small, from a mathematical perspective, so small that it can be considered to have no impact at all."

  "How small can it specifically be?"

  "It can, when making observations, there will be no interference phenomenon. But when the observation window of the old observatory is opened and closed, the time waves of the two universes will be disturbed. When the Chongqing Observatory was opened, at the moment the window was opened, a large marble office desk in our universe was thrown over and fell into the Pacific Ocean of the opposite universe. We predict that when it is closed, there may also be something with a weight of no more than 200 kilograms being sucked back. It could be some mud, or some stones, most likely air."

  "Will it also fall into our Pacific?"

  "That won't happen, it's likely to be sucked back to the location of the observation station. But where it was sucked from is hard to say, but almost certainly from the surface of a universe on the other side."

  "Will it hit our planet at a higher speed? Is the observatory ready for defense?"

  The person in charge smiled: "There won't be any speed, and the observatory doesn't need to take any protective measures. The location is indeed at the observatory's position, but the timing can't be said, roughly within a range of plus or minus one thousand years. You see, it's just that in the past or future thousand years, the Chongqing Observatory has added tens or hundreds of kilograms of mud or stones, and most likely air, secondly water, after all, there is more water on the surface. This is our impact on the universe, and theirs are the same, can be described as negligible."

  "Will this disturbance be noticed by the opposite universe?"

  "Absolutely not. Firstly, their technology is still far from reaching our level of a hundred years ago, secondly, the most intense disturbance only lasts for a very short moment, even if it happens around someone...". The person in charge emphasized again that seventy percent of the earth's surface is covered with water, and even on land there are vast wildernesses and vegetation, making the possibility of something happening near a person extremely small, to the point where it can be considered negligible: "From a human perspective, it would just feel like a flash of purple light, so fast that they would think it's an illusion."

  The person in charge repeatedly explained to the media present not to worry unnecessarily: "This level of interference has no impact on our universe and history."

  The observation at Chongqing Station ended as scheduled, and no one knows how much impact the disturbance of time waves had.

  ……

  In 1658 AD, which was the twelfth year of the Yongli reign of the Ming dynasty.

  December 2nd, a weary-looking Xue Ming sat alone by the river, three days ago he was still an art student, now seemingly a vagrant.

  "The most urgent thing, hmm, the most urgent thing is to find a razor, and then... and then we'll see." Xing Ming muttered to himself in his heart, although he hadn't eaten for two days, but he thought his mind had cooled down a bit...

  "A flash of purple light, it was like an illusion," said Xiang Ming, sitting by the river, recalling his experience. Even now, he still can't grasp whether it was really a purple light, as it happened too quickly. Then everything around him changed, and in an instant, he went from being in a bustling metropolis to a desolate wilderness, hundreds of years ago, with geography shifting thousands of kilometers.

  "Why did I end up here over 300 years ago?" These two days, Ju Ming thought about this problem so much that his brain was about to explode, but he still couldn't figure it out: "This shouldn't be my original universe, right? In theory, the solar system revolves around the center of the Milky Way, I don't know the speed, but it must be very fast; The Earth also revolves around the Sun, so 300 years ago, the Earth should not be in the same position. If this is my original universe, I should have been thrown into a vacuum, it's impossible for me to still be on Earth, and maybe not even in the solar system..."

  After rejoicing that he was still on earth, Xuming decided to temporarily stop thinking about why he had come here and instead quickly find a razor to shave his head first. Xuming asked several woodcutters and hunters, they all said it was now the 15th year of Shunzhi's reign, Chongqing was already under the rule of the Qing emperor: "If this is some kind of joke by aliens or people from the future, maybe I still have a chance to return, the top priority is not to be killed randomly by the barbarians."

  Although he was aware of the most important issue in front of him, Yu Xing still couldn't think of how to get a razor. Yu Xing estimated that there must be merchants in Chongqing City, but he didn't dare go without shaving. However, staying outside the city made him unsure of how to find a knife.

  When he was racking his brains to break the seemingly unbreakable vicious circle, the sound of drums came from afar. Xu Ming looked in the direction of the sound, and the drumbeat grew louder and clearer. Before long, he saw boats coming towards him from the river surface, one after another, and the drumbeats were coming from these boats.

  The boat was getting closer and closer, and the surname did not dare to continue sitting by the river. He quickly ran towards the tree cluster in the back, hid behind the trees, lowered his body, and carefully observed the movement.

  At last, Yuxiang was not only able to see the flag on the boat clearly, but also saw the figures of people standing on the boat. The people on the boat looked like warriors, each carrying a sword, and some were even wearing armor. These people beat their shields with their weapons in unison, which Yuxiang had thought was the sound of drums earlier, but it was actually the loud noise they made by beating.

  "A red flag with the character 'Ming' on it!" Yu Xingming couldn't believe his eyes, staring at the bright red flag and the soldiers' uniforms on the ship, wondering if he was really in the Shunzhi era. He had thought that only Taiwan still had Ming troops. The doubts in his mind grew bigger and bigger, and he couldn't help but speak out loud, muttering to himself: "Does Sichuan still have a large army of the Great Ming?"

  "What's wrong?"

  A voice came from behind, both near and loud, and Yu's name was startled to the point of almost jumping up. He suddenly turned around and found that two people were standing behind him at some point, both wearing tight clothes, one with empty hands, and the other holding a shining steel knife in his hand, with only a scabbard hanging from his waist.

  The cold light on the steel knife reflected in Xu Ming's eyes, making him, a student who had never been so close to a big knife in his daily life, suddenly speechless, feeling his throat involuntarily tightening, swallowing a dry saliva.

  The two people opposite him stared at Xue Ming, the one holding the big knife slowly raised the steel knife and put it back in its scabbard. When the light of the knife completely disappeared, Xue Ming was able to move his gaze away from the hilt and return it to the face of the person opposite him, only to feel a chill on his back, and surprisingly, he was already drenched in sweat.

  "I told you he's a refugee." The man with empty hands said, sizing up the name on the uniform, with a smile on his face, to his companion.

  They were both Ming army scouts sent to the shore, and they had just seen Yisheng's unusual clothes and sneaked into the grass to spy on the main force. They quietly approached him from behind. If Yisheng had a queue on his head, these two would have probably killed him with their knives, taking him for a Qing army spy. However, when they saw Yisheng's short hair, the scout who was empty-handed decided that he was a refugee who had shaved his head and escaped from the Qing-controlled area to regrow it. The other one was more cautious and drew his knife as he approached Yisheng.

  However, the two words "Da Ming" that came out of Yu's mouth made the two finally put their minds at ease. In this era, only those who are nostalgic for their homeland would still address the Ming army in this way. The scout with a smile on his face looked at Yu's chin, which had not much beard, and asked: "Little brother, where are you from?"