It was July, and the weather was extremely hot. Even though it was already evening, there was no sign of cooling down.
A gentle breeze blew, and heat waves rolled in. The roaring factories in the city made it even hotter.
Zhang Xiaofang couldn't help but lift up his shirt, revealing his round belly.
As he walked, he carefully avoided the piles of coal on the streets. The amount of coal consumed by the power plant was shocking. People also needed coal for cooking, so coal was everywhere.
As Teacher Yu said, human civilization was an energy civilization. The higher the level of evolution, the higher the demand and demand for energy. The higher the demand and demand for energy, the more developed the civilization would be. The two complemented each other and promoted each other.
What was the peak of civilization? The answer was very simple. It was the "end" of human imagination.
It could be the legendary god-level civilization, or it could be the unknown beyond the universe.
Every time Teacher Yu talked about something, it was too obscure and too profound. Everything seemed to deviate from the concept of material things. Not many students could understand it.
Zhang Xiaofang was also confused, but he remembered one thing. There was no difference in knowledge. Learning physics and chemistry was not worse than physical skills. Farming was not worse than physical skills.
These were also things that Old Zhang often emphasized to him. There was no difference in knowledge. Physics and chemistry allowed people to understand the characteristics of materials. Agriculture and animal husbandry allowed people to understand the earth and get closer to nature. In the end, these were the same as physical skills.
At first, he didn't understand, but recently, he was enlightened.
Zhang Xiaofang was seventeen years old. His parents died when he was young, so he wandered around. Later, he met Old Zhang and was brought to the City of Hope. He could be considered to have lived the life of an ordinary person and had the opportunity to learn.
Old Zhang was a cook in a caravan. He had the ability to cook fearsome beast meat.
Fearsome beast meat was tough. It was difficult for ordinary people to even chew it, let alone taste it. Old Zhang had the ability to soften the fearsome beast meat without losing energy. With this ability, there was no lack of food. Occasionally, he would bring back some fearsome beast meat, so Zhang Xiaofang was fed until he was white and fat.
Zhang Xiaofang's body was easily mocked in school, but he was open-minded and didn't care about it at all. A cool breeze brushed past the hills, and the bright moon shone over the great river.
Of course, a strong heart also needed the support of the body. This was because he had already passed the examination of the Body Techniques Association and become a Physique Warrior. This was something that was very rare in an engineering school, and not many people knew about it. He dreamed of one day traveling the world with Old Zhang and killing ferocious beasts. Naturally, he would not lower himself to the level of those little brats.
His house was located in the outskirts of Hope City, close to the outer city wall. It used to be an unmarked graveyard, but with the rapid expansion of the city, it was included and transformed into a large cemetery.
No matter how much the city expanded, a mausoleum would always be necessary. It represented the respect and worship humans had for death.
The mausoleum was overgrown with weeds, and the location was very remote. Some existences were not only taboo, but also real existences. It was said that those existences liked to stay in the mausoleum, so no one was willing to live there. Only Old Zhang didn't mind and built a small courtyard next to the mausoleum, saying that it was to train Zhang Xiaofang's courage.
Zhang Xiaofang had never seen a ghost before. At first, he was really scared when he saw the dark mausoleum. After living there for a long time and not seeing anything, he didn't care.
However, humans were born to be afraid of the unknown, so today's question was asked.
The good thing was that there was a huge artillery camp near the mausoleum, and a large group of Physique Warriors were stationed there. He could climb up a big tree and secretly learn Physique Skills.
Old Zhang had to run business, so he often left Zhang Xiaofang alone. In the past two years, there were too many people entering the city. The originally hated mausoleum was now popular. In other words, Zhang Xiaofang had a neighbor, but he wasn't happy at all because one of his neighbors was a little … a little scary.
At night, Hope City was bustling and noisy. The city with electricity was like a city without night, and all the existences that lived in darkness couldn't be seen.
There were all kinds of food stalls by the roadside. Smelling the slightly pungent smell of barbecue, Zhang Xiaofang couldn't help but swallow his saliva. He hadn't eaten meat for a long time.
After leaving the inner city, the road turned into a dirt road. Without electricity, and with the trees blocking the moonlight, it was dark all the way. He groped his way into a dark alley.
"Dong dong dong." The knocking sound was very ear-piercing in the empty box.
No one answered for a long time. Zhang Xiaofang waited at the door for a long time, and then leaned close to the door to listen carefully. He hesitated for a while, and just as he was about to push the door open, an old and hoarse voice came from behind him.
"Who are you looking for?"
A naked old lady walked out from the darkness. The old lady was holding a mop, and her wrinkled old face was like a chrysanthemum. She asked him coldly.
For some reason, when the old lady appeared, the originally hot and stuffy alley suddenly became cold. At the same time, an inexplicable sense of oppression filled the air. Zhang Xiaofang couldn't help but shrink his shoulders and replied, "Oh … I'm Lu Yun's classmate. I heard that she wasn't feeling well, so I came to see her. Is she in?"
The old lady didn't answer. She stared at him for a while, shook her head, turned around, and staggered into the darkness.
Zhang Xiaofang knocked on the door again, but there was no response for a long time. He looked around the room carefully, but he didn't sense anyone inside. He could only leave helplessly.
After leaving the alley, the inexplicable sense of oppression disappeared. Zhang Xiaofang let out a long sigh of relief. He had lived here for a few years, but he didn't seem to have seen the old lady.
He pulled up his trousers and began to jog home. About an hour later, the surroundings gradually became spacious. They were already far away from the city. After getting off the main road, they walked on a long dirt road. The road was pitch-black and surrounded by weeds as tall as a person. A gust of night wind blew, causing waves to form.
After walking for a while, they saw a huge protruding hill in front of them. Under the cold moonlight, it looked as if a man-eating beast was crawling on the ground.
This large hill was the largest cemetery in Ping 'an City. At the bottom of the hill sat a few lonely large houses. One of them was still dimly lit. It was his and Old Zhang's house.
… …
The bright moon hung high in the sky, and the night was as cold as water. At the top of the hill, Teacher Yu's hunched figure appeared.
He looked at the bright moon in the sky, which was as large as a disc. Suddenly, he began to cough violently. The coughing was heart-wrenching and lung-tearing, and he spat out pieces of his internal organs.
The coughing gradually stopped. His old body was on the verge of collapse, but his turbid eyes emitted a dazzling starlight. They turned from listlessness to focus, and then to emptiness.
The world became empty in his eyes. The world of microscopic particles, molecules, and atoms were clearly seen in his mind.
A shocking scene occurred. The blood and pieces of his internal organs on the ground began to flow back into his body. His internal organs were reformed, and every cell returned to its previous state. His heartbeat resumed, and his vitality returned. The whole process seemed to have gone back in time.
In fact, it was not that time had gone back. Instead, he had used his soul to control matter and reshaped the structure of matter. He had returned the deepest cells to their previous molecular state.
This body was too old. Death could not be avoided. It could only be delayed.
"Chirp chirp!" A small metal snake as thick as a finger crawled onto his shoulder and chirped softly.
To obtain a certain kind of power, one had to bear the will that represented it. To restore oneself, one had to give up this power.
He gave up the demigod body and the small universe that was about to take shape. He tried to return himself to the realm of nothingness and emptiness. Perhaps that was the essence of self!