The interstellar journey flashed by in an instant, and when the screen lit up again, they had already arrived at the outer edge of the Milky Way.

The entire Milky Way resembled a massive spiral, with hundreds of billions of stars gleaming within it.

"It’s impossible to trace how long It took to reach our world, but from the edge of the Milky Way to the Orion Arm where we are, it’s about seventy thousand light-years," said Zheng Rong.

General Wei Rong asked, "How did It know there was intelligent life on Earth? I mean, even traveling at the speed of light, it would take seventy thousand years. During that long period, human civilization has existed for less than ten thousand years."

Zheng Rong replied, "That involves some knowledge of physics, and it’s quite complex."

General Wei Rong said, "This is crucial for our upcoming actions."

"Alright," said Zheng Rong. "Most of the data was lost when Northern Ireland and Alaska fell, so I can only give a simple explanation using basic physics."

"Particle generators and particle attractors." Zheng Rong picked up a metal box from the podium. "Its function is quite peculiar. This is an instrument the Mayans acquired during their interstellar travels."

"There’s no record of it in this footage, and It likely couldn’t have built such precise spatial equipment by Its own means. The only theory is that after leaving Its homeland, It stumbled upon an abandoned spaceship from another intelligent species in the vastness of space… Did you notice?"

"From the initial misty cocoon to the current silver disc-shaped mothership, Its appearance has changed significantly. The only possibility is that the ship isn’t Its own but something It picked up along the way."

"It acquired these two instruments and figured out some of their uses… sending out a gravitational field into space."

Zheng Rong said, "Light travels in a straight line through space, which doesn’t need repeating. However, the spatial fabric can warp due to high-mass objects within it. For example, here is a flat, empty space."

He picked up a piece of paper, laying it flat over a cup’s opening, and rolled a small steel bead from the edge of the paper: "Imagine this steel bead’s path is the light."

He said, "Now, if there is a massive object in this space…" He placed a set of keys on the paper, pressing it down to form a bowl-shaped depression. He rolled the bead again, and it circled around in the dent before smoothly rolling out.

"The bead’s trajectory is lengthened due to the spatial distortion," Zheng Rong explained. "If a spaceship travels from one side of the paper to the other, and a gravitational field appears in the middle, the path can be greatly shortened. If the gravitational field becomes strong enough, it could even fold the paper, bringing two points together. This is the principle behind hyperspace travel in science fiction. But to make the paper fold into an infinitely deep funnel of gravity, you’d have to create a black hole at the spatial positioning point, which would pull in all light—so it couldn’t exist."

General Wei Rong said, "I see. But you still haven’t explained why this seventy-thousand-light-year gap would..."

"No," Zheng Rong said, "you still don’t understand. What is time?"

"The Sun is eight light-minutes away from us," Zheng Rong said. "If the Sun were to go out right now, what would happen to Earth?"

General Wei Rong frowned and didn’t answer.

"The Sun’s gravitational influence would dissipate, and all planets in the solar system would drift outward…" someone answered in place of the General.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Zheng Rong asked, "Now? Are you sure it’s now?"

Without waiting for an answer, he continued, "Everything will happen eight minutes and forty-four seconds later. Even if the Sun were to be destroyed right now, Earth would continue as normal because we aren’t within the Sun’s current light cone. After the Sun goes out, the last bit of light from its surface will still shine on Earth. We are in the Sun’s future light cone. If we were to chase that last beam of light after the Sun’s destruction and keep up with it, then to us, the Sun would never go out. If we remain here, we won’t experience the effects of its destruction until eight minutes later."

"So," Zheng Rong said, "time arises from the general propagation of light. The Earth’s state was captured by It. The Earth It saw was from the past, and by the time It reached Earth, It arrived at a point in time after what It had observed. But this time gap wasn’t very long."

"So It came to the wrong place," General Wei Rong said gravely.

Zheng Rong nodded, "That’s right, but let me correct that. It didn’t come to the wrong place—it came at the wrong time."

General Wei Rong asked, "What time did It actually want to arrive?"

Zheng Rong said, "That’s hard to say. Perhaps It wanted to alter early humans before intelligent life appeared, as the earlier in development It intervened, the more malleable the genetic and intellectual foundations would be. This period is controllable."

"In other words, from the moment It observed the light from seventy thousand years ago, It could use spatial gravitational field theory to choose any point in the light cone between that moment and now to land. The closer to the initial observation point, the harder it becomes, until it becomes impossible."

"The time It arrived on Earth coincided with the last Ice Age, when primitive human society had just emerged. But we don’t know exactly when It observed Earth. Perhaps, to It, the timing was still suitable."

"Ancient Babylon, ancient Egypt… Maya civilization, and so on," Zheng Rong said. "Our survey reports cover this in detail, so I won’t elaborate. In any case, It came to our home."

General Wei Rong sat up uneasily. "What was Its purpose in coming?"

"To find others like It, or at least similar entities," Zheng Rong said. "We still don’t fully know Its true purpose. If I could meet It face-to-face again, I would have countless questions to ask."

"Its way of thinking is very similar to humans’. It believes that the physical body is merely a vessel for consciousness waves, and after the body’s metabolism stops, the consciousness wave can seek a new vessel to inhabit," Zheng Rong explained. "From Its ability to gather matter through conscious thought, Its consciousness waves must be extremely powerful."

"Try comparing the pulses generated by a star to the brainwaves of a human, and you’ll get a rough idea. It started searching among humans for vessels that could serve as a 'shell'." Zheng Rong pressed a button, and an image of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon appeared: "This is what we found in our last expedition—the laboratory of the gods."

"It had the Sumerians offer sacrifices and conducted research in this subspace, combining and modifying different organisms. The first target was their eyes."

"Eyes were crucial to It because they determine whether information can be understood," Zheng Rong continued. "It tried to resurrect Its companions, but the eye experiments failed, or rather, It found it extremely difficult. Two fused pupils could never fully merge."

"Then It began studying the relationship between brainwaves and the vessel," Zheng Rong said. "This is similar to the Eastern concept of ‘spirit possession.’ Unfortunately, the human brain structure cannot withstand such strong consciousness waves. Even the most strong-willed individuals would die from overheating brain cells in a short time."

General Wei Rong said, "No suitable hosts."

Zheng Rong sighed and replied, "No suitable hosts have been found so far."

"To It, human life forms are both fascinating and bizarre," Zheng Rong explained. "We can try to imagine Its mindset—a being that never ages, or whose lifespan rivals that of cosmic nebulae, watching unknown species, where generation after generation dies, and newborns keep replacing them. How would It react to seeing a species exchange individual death for collective immortality?"

General Wei Rong said, "It would see such creatures as inferior."

Zheng Rong nodded, "Yes. Like ants, endless to kill. Every moment in the universe, thousands die and more are born, like Amazonian frogs, salmon, termites… This is characteristic of lower life forms. It must have simply categorized humans in the same way."

"In order to create a suitable individual," Zheng Rong said, pressing another button, the image slowing down. "It made a decision. It believed that the entire human race needed to be advanced, so that in the future, a suitable 'shell' could be selected. So It took a portion of Its own genes…"

On the screen, the Maya entity separated a drop of rose-red blood in front of a crystal. The crystal magnified the blood countless times, revealing a myriad of intricate symbols, interlocking and interwoven with exquisite precision, as though they were the pinnacle of cosmic craftsmanship.

The entire audience held their breath.

"It used a part of Its own blood, extracting over a billion gene fragments and implanting them into human bodies. This part here," Zheng Rong said, pressing a few buttons to show a small section of a spiraling genetic chain.

That segment was blurry. Zheng Rong explained, "This is a decoded human genetic sample provided by the Medical Association. After nearly a month of searching, we finally found Its mutated fragment."

The foreign symbols on the gene chain had dimmed, entangled and covered by other genes, almost indistinguishable.

"Whose genes are these?" General Wei Rong asked.

"Everyone's," Zheng Rong replied. "Thousands of years later, every human carries Its genes in their blood. We sampled a thousand individuals, and all had the same result, located in this very section."

"The genetics group concluded in their report," Zheng Rong continued, "that human genes have suppressed the foreign genes, making them recessive. So far… no dominant carriers have been found."

General Wei Rong remained silent, and so did Zheng Rong.

"In Its plan, a long wait was required," Zheng Rong said emotionlessly. "So It left Earth again, heading toward the center of the galaxy. The content of the fourth tablet comes next. This is crucial—the reason for the Maya invasion lies in the final tablet. Do any of you need a break?"

General Wei Rong asked, "One more question. Why did It leave the tablets?"

Zheng Rong said, "Perhaps It feared that Its return would take too long. Or maybe It hoped that in Its absence, human pupils and bodies would evolve into suitable vessels over time. So It left the tablets, so that anyone who met the conditions could understand them. Let's take a short break."