A Different Path
"This is the Heavenly Gate! It's magnificent, so grand!"
Looking up at the tightly closed, dark silver gate, each person's face showed expressions of emotion, surprise, and horror.
"As expected of an advanced civilization, they were able to easily carve out such a large base in the mountain. It seems that the inside of this mountain has been hollowed out."
"They've definitely dug it out. Professor Amir said that they only took some photos of the shallower area inside the gate. It was still empty inside, and nobody knew if there were any other gates leading to other areas."
"Incredible, absolutely incredible, a miracle, a miracle!"
A group of Dog-Headed People professors, experts, and scholars were filled with emotion, even before entering the base.
"A magnificent miracle; it's unimaginable that this was built Bronze Age."
"Hey, wake up. Although this is Bronze Age building, it wasn't built by the ancient Bronze Age. It was built by the God of Light. Oh, it should now be called the God of Light Civilization."
The base's Artificial Intelligence never actually referred to it as the God of Light Civilization, but rather as the Human Civilization. Professor Amir and his group of Dog-Headed People heard and saw the displayed text, but these Dog-Headed People still referred to humanity as the God of Light Civilization.
Even if they decipher the Chinese language and learn the names of Human Civilization, they probably still won't change the names.
"Professor Amir, the Heavenly Gate is closed. How are we supposed to get in?" A voice from a linguistics expert rang out from the pack of dogs, instantly silencing a chorus of exclamations.
Indeed, the urgent task is not to express sentiments, but to enter the base and begin exploration work.
"When we left, the God of Light's Envoy told us that the Heavenly Gate would automatically open for us when we returned. Alright, enough of that, everyone follow me." Professor Amir, acting as the leader, waved to Wei Shiba in the group, signaling him to follow.
Amir is not an ungrateful person. He knows very well who deserves the most credit for his arrival here, so he now trusts Wei Shiba very much.
And so, the group of over three hundred people followed Amir and Wei Shiba's group as they approached the Heavenly Gate once more. Just as Amir had predicted, after the Dog-Headed People drew near, the outer gate slowly opened amidst the sounds of motors and mechanical engagement.
The second door was opened by the base management AI after the scanning system completed its scan of the Dog-Headed People.
The group followed Amir and Wei Shiba through the brightly lit passage and arrived at the space where the spaceship was located.
Along the way, the group of Dog-Headed People experts were all amazed and full of wonder. Their performance was even worse than that of Gou Erpang back then. They never uttered a word of praise from beginning to end.
It's worth noting that the group of Dog-Headed People involved in the Heaven's Gate Exploration Project didn't all enter the base at once. Instead, they left a portion of the Dog-Headed People outside to set up a temporary camp in the open space in front of Tianmen.
In fact, the Dog-Headed People could have lived in the base, but none of Dog-Headed People dared to suggest it, probably because they still held the God of Light in high esteem.
Setting up camp, exploring the base, communicating with the base's AI, and studying Chinese characters were all carried out simultaneously. Progress was quite smooth, as the base's Artificial Intelligence didn't seem to be giving them any trouble. Therefore, after several months of research, the Dog-Headed People team had essentially mastered the Chinese characters needed to communicate with the base's Artificial Intelligence.
However, his Chinese is still very non-standard and he stumbles over it.
The reason Amir was able to learn Chinese characters in such a short time was mainly because the Dog-Headed People themselves had scholars who studied Chinese characters. After all, they always referred to Chinese characters as the God's Script, and Chinese as the language of the God of Light. It would have been difficult for Amir, a single Dog-Headed People, to decipher them, but after gathering the best scholars from an entire nation, things became much easier.
After resolving the communication issue, a group of experts led by Amir gathered again in front of the hovering robot representing the base's Artificial Intelligence and began asking various questions.
For example, questions related to the God of Light Civilization: where did they come from, what did they do in their world, why did they leave such a large base on their planet, where did the God of Light Civilization go, what was in the base, and whether it was left for them.
The Artificial Intelligence, naturally, answered the Dog-Headed People's questions without reservation, and began to explain them in detail.
"Wait, messenger of the God of Light, please wait a moment. What do you mean by saying that this planet's resources are insufficient for us to enter space?" A Dog-Headed People astronomer couldn't help but ask as he looked at the Artificial Intelligence's introduction.
As an astronomer who studies the universe, he understands its vastness and the difficulty of venturing into space. The Dog-Headed People hasn't even successfully developed rockets, let alone Dog-Made Satellite, let alone set foot in space.
The distance from the Dog-Headed People' home planet to the nearest star is over ten light-years. He truly understands how desperate that distance is. Now, hearing that the planet's resources are too scarce for the Dog-Headed People to achieve Controlled Nuclear Fusion, how could he possibly hold back?
"Literally, the minimum standard for setting foot on space is Tier 1 Civilization, and you are currently Primitive Civilization. Controlled Nuclear Fusion is a hallmark technology of Tier 1 Civilization, but your planet lacks some key resources to achieve Controlled Nuclear Fusion, and there are no other planets in this Star System for you to mine in the future, so..."
The Artificial Intelligence replied, "So when my Creator, the Human Civilization, discovered this situation, it decided to leave you a base. There are nine transport ships in the base. Although they are not very large, they are enough for some of you Dog-Headed People to set foot in space."
"Stepping into the stars? A portion of the Dog-Headed People?"
"Yes, although the base has ready-made controlled Fusion Thruster and Fusion Reactor, my Creator left the base not just to leave you with the technology, but to leave you with the hope of stepping into the stars."
"The hope of stepping into the stars. What exactly is in the starry sky? And where did the God of Light Civilization go?"
"There is hope in the stars, hope for the continuation of civilization. You must understand that the resources on a planet will eventually be exhausted, and your Star System is so remote and resource-scarce. When the resources are exhausted, your civilization will surely perish on your home planet. My Creator could not bear to see that happen, so he left you a glimmer of hope."
"So that means we can browse and access everything here at will?" a Dog-Headed People expert asked very directly.
The Artificial Intelligence, following the program's judgment, replied, "Yes, next you can choose your leaders. I will enter your information into the system based on the leaders you choose. Then you can access the knowledge stored in the base according to your permissions. You can also ask me if you have any questions."
Upon receiving this answer, the Dog-Headed People were excited. Although many of them couldn't understand the explanation, they all clearly realized that the Dog-Headed People could be entered into the system must have unlimited potential.
"May I ask you a question, messenger of the God of Light? You say that the floating body before you is not you, then where are you?" A Computer Field expert finally couldn't contain his curiosity and asked this question.
The Dog-Headed People already had computers, but they were incredibly cumbersome and enormous. The original Heaven's Gate Exploration Project didn't include any computer experts, because Amir didn't know what the 'God of Light's Envoy' was, so no Dog-Headed People realized there would be anything related to computers.
Fortunately, Wei Shiba mentioned at the conference that the so-called "God of Light's Envoy" might be some kind of technological creation, a life form created by the God of Light to protect the base. This gave them Computer Expert in their Heaven's Gate Exploration Project team.
"I am the core Artificial Intelligence managed by the base; I have no physical form." The Artificial Intelligence gave an answer that piqued the Computer Expert's curiosity even more.
While other experts were interested in what was inside the base, it was a coincidence that this Computer Expert was interested in the Artificial Intelligence managing the base itself. What the Dog-Headed People didn't know was that this very coincidence would set their computer technology on a path distinct from traditional computer development.
Thank you to all the readers who published the official version, thank you for your recommendations and monthly tickets, thank you to the readers who pointed out errors, and thank you for every comment. Because of you, the author knows that this isn't just a one-man game. Thank you.