Knowledge Unlocked
The image of an inverted tower served as the flag of the Shacha Civilization.
These striking, three-dimensional monuments stood throughout its territory. Nearly every city had one as a public landmark, known as a Snail Torch.
The upper half of a Snail Torch housed City Hall, while the lower half was a city park.
Inside, it was another world. Each level was vast enough to seem like a world of its own, filled with magnificent buildings and natural scenery.
There were towers within the tower and roads above roads. Only open air separated the central areas of each level, so anyone at the top could look all the way down, and anyone at the bottom could look all the way up.
Huang Ji and Cypher strolled along a vermilion avenue. All around them, the place was bustling.
Only inside the Snail Torch did Cypher, with his ordinary citizen's access, finally get a sense of the crowds.
Countless Shacha People wandered through the tower alongside wild beasts.
Rare and exotic animals filled the park at the bottom. They came not only from the Shacha Civilization; most known species in the Milky Way could be found there.
Each level recreated the appearance and scenery of a different civilization. From advanced civilizations to primitive worlds, their most distinctive natural ecosystems had all been reproduced inside the tower.
One civilization per level. It was a galactic-scale Window of the World.
The Shacha People lingered on whichever level appealed to them most.
It even included Earth's ecosystems! The Himalayas, the East African Great Rift Valley, Niagara Falls, and Tenglong Cave were all on display. Together, they formed a flat, life-size model of Earth.
Its biodiversity was richer than Earth's was now, since it included many extinct species.
Of course, the Earth section was