On the morning of June 1st, Lin Shi was practicing the "Health Preservation Formula" on the flat ground outside the shelter as usual. Zhao Xiao had invited him to go diving today, but he declined, citing other matters. He wanted to stay at the shelter to observe any differences in the sun when the solar flare erupted. The intense solar storm resulting from the flare would not reach Earth until June 4th, so for now, the planet was still safe.
The strange thing about this solar flare eruption was that no country had detected any anomalies. With the current level of technology on Blue Planet, this was highly unusual. Wearing a pair of sunglasses, Lin Shi's body moved through the forms, but his eyes never left the sun. The sight was somewhat comical, and a few villagers from the nearby mountain discussed it among themselves.
"What is that young man doing? Some kind of ritual?"
"He looks quite odd."
"Look at what he built; it doesn't seem normal at all."
"Should we still ask for money?"
"Yes! We must! What are we afraid of? Let's go tomorrow. I'll talk to Uncle Li about how to approach it."
...
After completing five sets of the "Health Preservation Formula," Lin Shi began the sixth set, but suddenly, his movements paused. The sun, which he had been closely watching, showed no changes. The reason for his abrupt stop was that the interface of the Treasure Basin, which had not shown any significant changes after his upgrade, had suddenly turned into a jumble of code!
What was going on? Shocked, Lin Shi immediately stopped his practice and examined the Treasure Basin. Not only had the interface become a mess of code, but he could no longer sense the space within it!
Lin Shi's pupils constricted, and his heart raced with alarm. All the supplies he had accumulated over the past three months were stored in the space. If the space ceased to function, his advantage of being reborn would be greatly diminished. At that moment, Lin Shi realized how much he relied on the space.
After a few dozen seconds, the code on the screen rearranged itself into a string of Chinese characters:
[The Third Reset of the Blue Planet Apocalypse has begun. This cycle will accelerate the evolution of species. Detected that the "Treasure Basin" has recognized an intelligent being as its master. Initiating Host Protection Program.]
Lin Shi's mind reeled! The information contained in these words was staggering! A third reset of the apocalypse? He had experienced the apocalypse in his previous life, returned before it, and was about to experience it again—wasn't that two times? Why did the "Treasure Basin" say it was the third time? Could it be that, before his rebirth, the apocalypse had already reset once in his previous life?
Before he could ponder the meaning of the subsequent words, the interface rearranged itself once more:
[The first wave of danger will arrive in 71 hours. Please prepare accordingly.]
Lin Shi's heart pounded like a drum! Was this a warning?! Was the Treasure Basin intelligent?!
After a few seconds, the text disappeared, and the interface of the Treasure Basin returned to normal. Lin Shi could also sense the space again. However, the countdown in the upper right corner, 71 hours and 43 minutes, confirmed that what he had seen was not an illusion.
Lin Shi turned and went back into the shelter, made himself a cup of coffee, and took a few sips to calm down. He recalled the anomaly that had appeared on the "Treasure Basin" interface. He suspected that this change was likely related to the so-called "SSS-class Solar Flare Eruption." The eruption of the solar flare marked the beginning of the apocalypse, and the message from the Treasure Basin: [The Third Reset of the Blue Planet Apocalypse has begun. This cycle will accelerate the evolution of species. Detected that the "Treasure Basin" has recognized an intelligent being as its master. Initiating Spark Protection Program] also declared that the apocalypse had started.
Upon careful consideration, apart from himself, perhaps no one else in the world knew that he was about to relive the apocalypse. The idea of being reborn still seemed bizarre to him. He had died, yet he had returned eight years into the past. All of humanity, the entire Blue Planet, had reverted to the state it was in eight years ago. Was this a reversal of time? According to human understanding, time cannot flow backward, unless viewed from a theological perspective. The Mandela Effect? The work of deities? A game by advanced civilizations? Or a correction by the natural laws themselves?
And such an event had apparently happened for the third time. Before he acquired the Treasure Basin, had time reversed, and had humanity experienced the apocalyptic disaster that would occur in a few days? And during the first reset, had he, like billions of others, been completely unaware of it? Why three resets? Was it because all life on the Blue Planet had gone extinct in the previous two cycles?
This speculation was both shocking and terrifying. What exactly was the "Treasure Basin"? Why did it display such information? No wonder they said that too much knowledge could be a bad thing. The more Lin Shi thought about it, the more questions arose. His breathing quickened, and his head buzzed, almost to the point of exploding. His heart raced, and he couldn't calm down. He was frightened.
If he continued to think this way, Lin Shi might start to doubt whether the universe, as humans understood it, was being controlled by some higher civilization. They were like lab rats, subjected to experiment after experiment.
Closing his eyes, Lin Shi hummed a song to distract himself. After finishing the tune, he finally managed to push those bizarre thoughts out of his mind. He took out his computer and began to search for information on the Ice Age. The Blue Planet had experienced several ice ages in the past. Before the arrival of this extreme cold apocalypse, the ancestors of humanity had endured an ice age lasting over two million years, which ended around 10,000 years ago. This period was known as the Quaternary Glaciation.
Lin Shi only briefly skimmed the details of the previous three ice ages, focusing instead on the Quaternary Glaciation. This period had nearly wiped out all non-cold-resistant animals. Most of the survivors were long-haired creatures. Yet, humans had survived. Scientists speculated that it was due to humanity's strong creativity and adaptability. However, Lin Shi felt that this explanation was not entirely convincing. Those who had not experienced extreme cold could not imagine its terror. In the eighth year of the apocalypse, out of 7.8 billion people, fewer than a million remained. This illustrated the horror of the apocalypse. During the era over two million years ago, there were no technological tools, and resources were extremely scarce. There was a lack of vegetation, let alone medicine. Many large carnivorous mammals, such as saber-toothed tigers, short-faced bears, dire lions, and dire wolves, lived during this time. They were massive, fierce, and carnivorous. With the normal human physique and speed, they would have been easy prey for these large carnivores. Even if they could survive in extreme cold, it would have been difficult to live. Strangely, after the Ice Age, these fierce large animals went extinct, while humans continued to thrive. This was hard to explain with just adaptability and creativity. But if there was involvement and assistance from a higher civilization, then everything became much more reasonable.