Chapter 491 - 53: The Image World of Time (Part 2)

Chapter 491: Chapter 53: The Image World of Time (Part 2)

...

After a short while, the two arrived beneath the World Tree.

"My lord, where are we going?"

"To get the Water of Time, of course!"

"But... isn’t this a divine tree? Could the Water of Time be another type of water produced by this tree?"

"You could say that,"

Lin Yu said with a smile. With a thought, the ground in front of the World Tree sank, revealing a staircase.

"Come on, let’s go down."

The two walked down the stairs. At the end was a wooden door that appeared to be set into a wooden wall.

Considering their current location, Chenxi naturally realized the door was part of the divine tree itself.

"My lord, are we going to enter the divine tree?"

Lin Yu gave Chenxi a mental thumbs-up. Without a word, he pushed the door open and walked in.

Beyond the door was a winding tunnel shimmering with flowing light, its end out of sight.

The walls of the tunnel were lined with countless moving images.

Chenxi found the scenes strangely familiar. It wasn’t until she spotted the iconic great tree that she realized they all depicted events from within the territory.

It seemed that everything that had ever happened in the territory was recorded here.

Overcome with curiosity, Chenxi reached out and touched one of the images, only to be completely sucked into it.

Seeing this, Lin Yu reached out, touched the same image Chenxi had, and also entered the scene.

...

"Have you heard? The Slimes have evolved a new variety!"

"Really? Are they that strong? The pixies haven’t changed at all this year, but the Slimes have already evolved twice?"

"Heh! Just wait and see. The evolved Slimes are returning to the territory today."

...

The moment Lin Yu entered the image, he heard these voices. It felt as if he had stepped into a real world.

Every sensation felt incredibly real, and everything was in motion.

’Where is this...’

Lin Yu reached out to stop a citizen, but the person passed right through his body and kept walking.

So, Lin Yu directly communicated with the World Tree to understand his current state.

The information from the World Tree made things clear.

He was currently in a "real" image world, where everything was a reenactment of events that had occurred in the territory at a specific time.

However, he couldn’t influence the events here. He could only be a spectator, unable to interact with anything in this world.

’Well, so much for some hidden ability. It’s just a recording...’

But even if it was just an image, the experience far surpassed any video recording.

VR and AR couldn’t even begin to compare.

With the World Tree’s help, Lin Yu enthusiastically observed everything as he searched, eventually finding a bewildered Chenxi.

She was standing in the Prime Minister’s office in the administrative center, watching another "Chenxi" handle official business.

"What’s wrong? Did you think you’d entered another world?"

The moment she heard Lin Yu’s voice, Chenxi’s bewildered expression turned into one of pleasant surprise.

She hugged Lin Yu and exclaimed joyfully, "My lord, you’re here! Where is this place? Why is it so much like the territory? And is that ’me’ doing things I’ve done before?"

"You know what video recordings are, right?"

"Of course. The Glacier World has a lot of movie-like imaging devices. I’ve watched quite a few. Why?"

"This place is a world similar to a movie. It records the events of our territory, so everything happening here has already happened before."

"But... the difference is just too great, isn’t it?"

"Hahaha, if it weren’t so different, the divine tree wouldn’t have bothered putting a door on it."

"It’s so amazing~~"

Now that she knew it was just an image world, Chenxi was no longer afraid. A moment ago, she thought she had transmigrated and become a ghost!

The two wandered around the image world for a while longer. Chenxi took the opportunity to check out some things she hadn’t seen before, and then, under Lin Yu’s guidance, they walked out of the image world.

"Ah~ We’re out!"

In the shimmering tunnel, two figures appeared before one of the moving images.

"Be more careful when you come here in the future. If you enter one of those image worlds without knowing how to get out, it’s easy to get lost."

These image worlds record everything in the territory, but at any given time, many different things are happening.

The image world will select the protagonists of important events and use them as anchors for that time period. These anchors also become the exits from the world.

Besides Lin Yu, who can use his authority to leave directly, everyone else must find these anchors to exit the image world.

Therefore, anyone who unknowingly enters an image world could easily find themselves unable to leave, eventually becoming lost within it.

"It’s just a matter of finding the protagonist of the event, right?"

"I just need to go to the Lord’s Mansion and follow you. No matter what, you’re sure to be the protagonist."

"Heh, you clever little imp!"

...

The two continued walking down the tunnel, watching the territory in the images gradually shrink, until they finally arrived before a static image.

In the picture, a person was holding a colorful seed and planting it in the soil.

The person in the picture was Lin Yu right after he had entered the competition. In his hand was the World Tree Seed. That was the beginning of the territory, and the start of all these records.

Chenxi stared at the image, transfixed, silent for a long time.

"Let’s go."

After a long moment, seeing that Chenxi still hadn’t moved, Lin Yu had to prompt her.

He then reached out and pushed the image, and a door opened.

Lin Yu then pulled Chenxi through it.

Exiting the door, the two found themselves at the location of the Source of Time.

"Look! That over there is the spring for the Water of Time."

"You go collect the water. Be careful not to touch it, or you’ll grow old."

Following Lin Yu’s words, Chenxi took a wooden cup and carefully filled it with the Water of Time.

After that, the two returned to the surface through an internal passage in the Root of Time.

By the time they returned to the top floor of the Sky Garden, the water for the new Mother and Child River was also ready.

When the researchers saw the wooden cup in Chenxi’s hands, their eyes lit up, and they hurried forward to take it from her.

Then, ignoring Lin Yu and Chenxi, they continued with their mixing experiments.

They had learned from Lin Yu that the fruits grown on the Peach of Immortality trees were all malnourished, making them a tier lower in effectiveness.

So, they wanted to figure out the right mixture and watering speed to ensure the force-grown peaches would meet nutritional standards without any reduction in effect.

Seeing how busy they were, Lin Yu didn’t disturb them. He pulled Chenxi aside to discuss something.

"Chenxi, what do you think about establishing a department specifically for managing water resources?"

"That’s a great idea! Currently, aside from the Spring of Life, all the territory’s water resources are used freely without any unified planning. If a powerful Aquatic Race joins our territory in the future, conflicts will definitely arise. It’s a good idea to start managing it early."

...

Chenxi had clearly thought about these issues before. The moment Lin Yu asked, she launched into a detailed explanation, and Lin Yu nodded repeatedly as he listened.

He had originally only intended to manage the special water resources, but after hearing Chenxi’s input, he felt it was necessary to establish a large department dedicated solely to water resource management.

After all, the territory was so large now, with abundant water resources. The administrative center had limited personnel and couldn’t be expected to handle everything perfectly. Oversights were bound to happen.

"Hey, hearing you say that makes me realize there’s quite a lot in the territory that needs managing. Why don’t we just set up new departments for all of it?"

"Things like forestry, agriculture, and mineral resources all need management. Oh, and the sky, too! We’ll definitely be developing various flying vehicles in the future, and more and more people in the territory will be able to fly. The airspace will need to be managed as well."

Chenxi’s words sent Lin Yu’s thoughts racing. It seemed there were still quite a few departments that needed to be established in the territory.

He and Chenxi sat down on the floor of the Sky Garden and talked for a long time.

In the end, they decided to start by establishing a Bureau of Forestry, a Bureau of Water, a Bureau of Agriculture, and a Bureau of Mining under the administrative center. These would manage the territory’s plants and trees, water resources, agricultural products, and mineral resources, respectively.

Additionally, a Special Resources Administration Bureau would be created. This bureau would set up offices within the other bureaus to manage the special resources under their purviews.

First, a Water Department would be established within the Bureau of Water, serving as the office for the Special Resources Administration Bureau.

Specialized personnel would be recruited and trained to collect the Water of Time daily.

They would also manage the Mother and Child River Water and the Life Spring Water.

...