Prologue

"Today marks a historic turning point in the history of human civilization."

"At 15:46 today, the paleontological excavation team organized by NASA to Mars unearthed a large number of neatly arranged humanoid fossilized skeletons within the foundation tunnels of a Martian base."

"To answer some of our questions, we have invited Professor Huo Gu, who is remotely directing the excavation work from the International Aerospace Center."

As soon as the host finished speaking, the screen shifted. The host's interface moved to a small window, and an elderly man, looking refined and easygoing and nearing his sixtieth year, appeared before the public.

"Hello, Professor Huo Gu," the host said.

"Hello, host," Huo Gu replied.

"Professor Huo Gu, could you tell us about the latest research progress on the humanoid fossilized skeletons unearthed on Mars? It is safe to say that the entire world, wherever there is internet access, is paying attention to this matter."

"Certainly."

Huo Gu nodded slightly and said, "To ensure the integrity of the fossil cluster while obtaining more information in a short period, we have focused our excavation on a single humanoid fossilized skeleton."

"From this, we can also conclude that we humans are not alone in the universe."

"Because they are Martians?" the host asked.

Huo Gu shook his head.

"No, the owners of these humanoid skeletons are not native Martian organisms. They come from other planets and belong to an ecosystem outside of the Martian ecosystem."

The statement stunned everyone, and the host's eyes widened significantly more than before.

The host's breathing and tone became somewhat hurried as he asked, "Then, may I ask which planet these humanoid skeletons come from? And what is the evidence for this conclusion?"

Huo Gu said, "Although there is a wide variety of life on a planet, if you trace the source, you will find that they share the same ancestors in their past evolutionary paths. Those of us who study 'Martian biology' call this species at the evolutionary source the 'cornerstone species'."

"This... could you explain that in simpler terms?" The host's expression was slightly awkward.

"Take Earth, for example. The early Earth environment was transformed into an oxygen-rich environment. Since then, the mainstream of Earth's biosphere has relied on consuming oxygen to sustain life activities."

"The same logic applies to Mars. The mainstream of ancient Martian life was 'exoskeletal,' with bones wrapping around organs to support skin and muscle tissue. Under this system, if there really were Martians, they would be 1.5 times heavier than a normal human of the same size. But those humanoid fossilized skeletons are not like that; their bone structure is more similar to Earth's organisms."

"So that's how it is."

The host nodded in a daze, not knowing if he had understood.

"Then, were these Martian fossils intelligent life forms while they were alive?" the host asked.

"I can answer this question affirmatively: yes," Huo Gu replied.

"Every corpse was arranged neatly, forming a massive square fossil cluster. This is extremely similar to the 'burials' we have on Earth."

"From this, we infer that they were intelligent, and not at a low level—at least at the Stone Age level."

Suddenly, the host's expression tightened. He pressed his earpiece with one hand and listened very intently for a moment before asking.

"Professor Huo Gu, there is a question on the internet that has just surpassed one billion clicks and is still rising rapidly. May we consult you on this question?"

"Of course," Huo Gu answered with a smile.

"What is your take on 'time travel'? Is it possible that these humanoid skeletons are actually human ancestors who traveled back in time to Mars?"

Huo Gu chuckled and shook his head.

"No, that is impossible. I only said they were similar to Earth organisms, not identical. The owners of the skeletons do not belong to the same system as Earth's organisms."

As he said this, an image appeared on the bottom right of the screen. The skeleton was quite similar to a human's, with the only notable difference being a hole in the forehead.

"We can see that there is a hole in the center of the forehead of the skeleton. This was not caused by damage to the skull. According to the results of our computer comparison of the intracranial structure, we found that this hole is basically identical in structure to the other two eye sockets. From this, we infer that this hole is an eye socket."

"In other words, the owner of the skeleton was a humanoid creature with three eyes."

"Just as I said earlier, regarding the 'cornerstone species,' from the initial birth of Earth organisms to the present day, not a single species has three eyes."

"In addition, the excavation team on Mars performed a simple atomic decay cycle measurement. The fossilized skeletons have existed for over two hundred million years. Back then, it was the dinosaurs that ruled the Earth."

"But these skeletons are just too similar to humans. How do you explain this? Is this not too mind-boggling?" the host persisted.

"Bone similarity means nothing. If you compare them carefully, it is easy to find other differences between the two skeletons besides the forehead eye socket. Human and chimpanzee skeletons are also quite similar, but does that mean humans and chimpanzees look so similar that they are indistinguishable?"

Huo Gu hesitated for a moment, then added, "Host, I do have some personal views on 'time travel'."

"Please, go ahead."

The host perked up, his eyes shining.

"Before that, let's assume that 'time travel' is a true proposition."

"We all know that the universe is huge, very huge. The observable universe alone has a diameter of 93 billion light-years, and our Milky Way is also enormous, containing about 100 billion stars."

"Then there is our solar system. If we take Neptune as the boundary, the average radius is more than 30 astronomical units. In other words, if I were used as a unit of measurement, you could fit about 450.4 billion of me."

"Furthermore, the positions of celestial bodies are constantly changing. Our home planet is revolving around the sun at a speed of 29.783 kilometers per second at every moment."

"It is hard to imagine that something like time travel would happen on Earth by such a coincidence, and even more coincidentally, among the many Earth organisms, it chose humans as the target for time travel. After a successful trip, it could still ensure the maintenance of basic life activities. It is truly too coincidental to be believable."

"Professor Huo Gu, you... don't think much of the existence of 'time travel,' right?" the host asked.

Huo Gu smiled noncommittally.

"How could that be?"

"In probability theory, the probability value of an event that has not yet occurred is never zero. Perhaps, one day in the future, there really will be such a person who, just like in the novels, travels through time."

"What I want to say is, if time travel were to happen one day, I would be more inclined to believe that it was a man-made event—an event triggered by the subjective actions of some unknown civilization in the universe, rather than because of some accident..."

"Professor Huo Gu?"

The sudden turn of events caught the host off guard. It took him a while to react, and he ignored his image, turning his head to shout.

"Call an ambulance!"