83: Zhuo Jinxing's Heart

[Main Quest: Find the Lost El Dorado, Completed.]

[Calculating quest rewards...]

[Rewards issued: 200,000 reputation points.]

[Reward Skill: Beast Affinity (Passive) — Will not be actively attacked by beasts in the wild; allows basic emotional communication with most non-intelligent beasts.]

Two hundred thousand reputation points, not a penny less, all credited to his account.

The "Beast Affinity" skill was also enhanced, upgrading from the original "not being attacked" to "basic emotional communication." This meant that in the wild, he could even command beasts to do things for him to a certain extent.

This was a massive improvement.

Lin Feng's consciousness was immersed in the system space, looking at his skyrocketing reputation points, but there was no joy in his heart.

Because he knew that the completion of a quest often meant that deeper secrets were about to be revealed.

Sure enough, the system's notification sound did not end there.

[Key historical node detected, unlocking "Historical Echo"...]

[Warning: This Historical Echo contains a massive amount of information and will cause a strong mental impact; please be prepared.]

The moment the voice faded, the world before Lin Feng's eyes began to twist and shatter.

Wang Dalong's cry of alarm, the magnificent structure of the golden spire, the soft light screen overhead... everything was like ink dropped into water, rapidly blurring and dissipating.

In its place was the endless, deep universe.

He found himself floating in the cold sea of stars. Not far away, an incredibly massive planet burning with dark red flames was letting out a groan of agony. Its surface was covered in giant web-like cracks, and scorching magma spewed from the fissures, forming tongues of fire that pierced the sky.

This planet was dying.

"We have no time! The decay rate of the 'Star Core' has exceeded all calculations! The 'Great Expedition' plan must be launched immediately!"

An old and majestic voice rang out directly in Lin Feng's mind.

He "saw" that on that planet on the brink of destruction, in giant inverted cone-shaped cities, countless tall, slender, and elegant humanoid creatures with pale gold skin were busy working.

They were the people of Zhuojin Star.

Their civilization was highly advanced, having already mastered space travel technology. However, the destruction of their home planet had come too suddenly, and they simply didn't have enough time to build enough "Arks" capable of ultra-long-distance interstellar travel.

"Abandon the transfer plans for Grade B and Grade C citizens! Concentrate all resources to ensure the implementation of the 'Kindling' plan!"

The majestic voice commanded again, carrying unquestionable decisiveness and deep sorrow.

The scene shifted.

A Pioneer Ship, far smaller in scale than an "Ark," loaded with tens of thousands of screened Zhuojin Star elites and all the knowledge and data of their civilization, leapt into the deep universe before their home planet completely exploded.

Their destination was a blue planet with primitive life located at the edge of the Milky Way's spiral arm that had long been surveyed—Earth.

However, what greeted them was not a new life.

An accident occurred as the Pioneer Ship passed through Earth's atmosphere, forcing an emergency landing deep in the Amazon Rainforest of South America. All contact with the outside world was completely severed.

Even more terrifyingly, a primitive virus on Earth, which was lethal to the people of Zhuojin Star, began to spread among them. Their immune systems had no resistance to it, and a large number of elite scientists and engineers died one after another in a short period.

In their despair, they discovered a miraculous substance—gold.

This element, regarded as a precious metal on Earth, had a unique atomic structure that could release a special energy field, effectively inhibiting the virus's activity.

Thus, the surviving people of Zhuojin Star, using the crashed Pioneer Ship as a core and utilizing their remaining technology, established a massive Isolation Zone. They mined all the nearby gold mines, smelted the gold, and covered every inch of the city with it to resist the virus's erosion.

This Isolation Zone was "El Dorado"—the prototype of the City of Gold.

But their population continued to dwindle. To preserve the kindling of their civilization and to have someone who could leave the Isolation Zone to collect more gold for them, providing enough sanctuary for a possible large-scale immigration in the future...

The surviving Elders of Zhuojin Star made a desperate decision.

They extracted their own DNA and combined it with the genes of a primate on Earth that was closest to them, creating a batch of new life through advanced bioengineering technology.

This batch of life had perfect adaptability to Earth's environment and innate resistance to the virus.

They were the first generation of Maya people.

The people of Zhuojin Star sent them out of the Isolation Zone, taught them basic knowledge, allowed them to multiply in the outside world, and gave them a sacred mission—to find and collect gold to offer to the "Gods."

The plan seemed to be proceeding smoothly.

However, a disaster that no one had anticipated struck.

Their home planet—Zhuojin Star—which they thought would remain stable for at least several thousand more years, suddenly underwent a chain explosion, meeting its end prematurely.

The distance was too vast, but a certain mental link based on quantum entanglement, engraved deep in the soul of every person of Zhuojin Star, allowed them to "feel" the death of their home planet at the same moment.

It was the complete severance of the source of life.

Countless surviving people of Zhuojin Star, unable to bear the blow to the very root of their existence, suffered mental breakdowns and chose collective suicide.

When the last elder of Zhuojin Star woke from the immense grief, there were fewer than three thousand original people of Zhuojin Star left in the Isolation Zone.

They became the universe's last orphans.