The ancient return was exposed by his sister's live stream.

Chen Siyao flipped through the jade pieces. Indeed—each jade piece had a small mark in the lower right corner, an image of a crane spreading its wings. Similar to a delivery stamp.

"Ancient civilizations used cranes to deliver messages," Chen Siyao said.

"It's the same principle as the ancient carrier pigeons on Earth! But they use cranes! It's much more sophisticated!" Yang Wanqing said, hands on her hips.

She wore a proud expression, even though it had nothing to do with her.

The comments section was filled with laughter: "No wonder that crane on the road wasn't afraid of people. It turned out to be a 'civil servant'."

"Crane: Just a working crane."

"Imagine a crane carrying a document in its beak, flying over a sea of ​​clouds to deliver a message... The image is so beautiful."

"The ancient equivalent of SF Express: cash on delivery."

"Hahaha, I'm dying of laughter at the 'payment upon arrival' offer."

Chen Siyao didn't laugh. She was looking at something else.

Deep inside the document room, against the wall, stood a row of objects... not the documents on the shelf, but something else entirely.

She walked over.

A row of mirrors.

To be precise, it is a row of circular copper frames, inside which is a smooth, dark gray surface.

Each "mirror" is about 40 centimeters in diameter and is fixed to the wall with a metal bracket. There are seven mirrors in total.

On the table beneath each mirror, there is a stack of jade pieces that have already been inscribed with words.

Chen Siyao picked up the jade piece below the leftmost mirror and examined it.

It's not a letter. It's a chat log.

"...Kunlun asked: Has the rotation of personnel at the seventh sentry post at Nantianmen been completed today?"

"Yu Xu Palace replied: It was completed at noon. The new garrison commander has taken up his post."

"Kunlun: Received. Also, the Five Materials Palace needs to increase its refined gold quota by 30% this month."

"Jade Void Hall: A joint meeting of the seven sects is required. Meet in the council hall at Chenshi (7-9 AM) tomorrow."

Question and answer. Real-time dialogue.

Chen Siyao stared at the dark gray "mirror" for a few seconds.

"Circular mirror".

Yang Wanqing leaned closer. "Huh?"

"The legendary Round Mirror. Used for long-distance instant communication." Chen Siyao pointed to the conversation history below the mirror.

"These conversations weren't delivered by Nobunagaku—it was too fast. There was no time gap between the question and the answer. It was instant messaging."

"Instant messaging?" Yang Wanqing realized, "A cell phone?!"

"Similar function." Chen Siyao touched the mirror with her fingertip... It was cold and unresponsive.

"It's highly likely that it's driven by spiritual energy, with images or sounds appearing simultaneously on both ends of the mirror. The seven mirrors correspond to the locations of the seven sects."

Yang Wanqing opened his mouth and said "Ah," turning his head to look at the seven mirrors.

"Video calls! Ancient cultivation civilizations had video calls!"

The live chat was buzzing: "Holy crap!"

"This is the spiritual version of the phone."

"From cranes delivering messages to round-lens video, their communication system is far more complete than I imagined."

"Long-distance instant communication... existed 100,000 years ago..."

"We won't have full 5G coverage until 2024, while they were already making video calls 100,000 years ago. That's outrageous."

"Professor Li's team, say something!"

"Does this mean that the ancient civilization's technology was already very advanced? It's just that the medium wasn't electronic signals but spiritual energy?"

A comment popped up from Professor Li's team: "It's not appropriate to simply compare it to 'technology.' The underlying logic of the cultivation civilization is completely different from that of the electronic civilization."

"However, there is indeed a functional correspondence: the Crane Messenger corresponds to the postal system, and the Round Mirror corresponds to instant messaging. Its coverage and stability need to be evaluated later."

Chen Siyao nodded and took photos of all seven mirrors and the conversation records below for archiving.

"There's more." Yang Wanqing had already slipped into a small room deeper inside the document room.

"Yaoyao, come here!"

Chen Siyao followed.

The door to the small room was very narrow, only allowing one person to pass at a time. Once inside...

It's not the cramped space you might imagine.

Inside was a long, narrow room, with various objects embedded in the walls on both sides. These were not documents or bamboo slips, but functional utensils.

Yang Wanqing stood in front of the left wall, pointing to a neatly arranged circular device.

"Look at these."

Each device is circular, about the size of a fist. The surface is smooth, with a small, raised bead in the center. The base is fixed to the wall.

Each device has a small sign next to it with text engraved on it.

Chen Siyao leaned closer to look at the first sign: "Main Hall Lights...On/Off".

The second one: "Lights in the left side hall...on/off".

The third one: "Meeting room lights...on/off".

Fourth: "Banquet hall...lighting/ambience/off".

"The switch," Chen Siyao said.

"The light switch!" Yang Wanqing pounded on the wall. "Just like the one at home! Press once to turn the light on, press once to turn it off!"

She reached out and pressed the raised bead next to "Main Hall Lights".

no response.

"……broken?"

"The source of spiritual energy is cut off," Chen Siyao said. "The entire Thirty-Three Heavens has been abandoned for ten thousand years, and the power supply system has long since stopped."

"Sigh." Yang Wanqing regretfully withdrew her hand.

But this didn't dampen her excitement. She continued reading.

On the right side of the wall... another row of devices. The signage is different.

"Banquet...food delivery initiated."

"Banquet...replenishment of beverages."

"Music Ensemble...play begins/pauses/ends".

Yang Wanqing froze when she saw "Dishes transfer initiated".

"Automatic food delivery?"

Chen Siyao was also looking. She took a few steps to the right... At the far end of the wall, there was an object that was different from the other devices.

It's not a round switch, but a vertical jade plate, about half a meter high. The surface of the jade plate is divided into grids, with different patterns and characters engraved in each grid.

"This is..."

Chen Siyao took a while to identify it.

"menu."

Yang Wanqing peeked out from behind. "Huh?"

"Look... each square represents a dish or beverage. There are slots labeled with the quantity next to them."

"You should select the dishes and quantities here, then press the start button for teleportation, and the food will be transported directly from the kitchen or preparation area to the banquet hall."

Yang Wanqing's mouth was wide open.

"A food delivery ordering system?!"

The live chat went wild: "Takeout from an ancient civilization?"

"Meituan's Immortal Realm Edition": "Orders are directly delivered to your table, saving you the trouble of hiring a delivery rider."

"A civilization from 100,000 years ago actually had automated catering services."

"I still have to wait half an hour for my takeout, but they deliver it directly."

"I really want to travel back to ancient times and become an immortal."

Chen Siyao stopped looking at the banquet system. Her attention was drawn to something else.

At the far end of the small room. A door. A sign on the door reads two words...

"The Animal Garden".

She opened the door.

A corridor. On either side of the corridor is a cubicle. The cubicle doors are openwork metal grilles, allowing a view inside.

Most of the cubicles were empty.

But there are things in three of the cubicles.

Chen Siyao walked to the first cubicle with something inside.

Inside the fence, a beast was lying on the ground.

It was about the size of a horse. Its entire body was composed of grayish-white vortexes... like that crane, it was not a physical form of flesh and blood, but a form of condensed spiritual energy.

It looks like a deer, but it has no antlers, long limbs, and a three-pronged tail.