I, the Rock King Emperor with 21 billion in power, have joined the chat group.

There stood a half-open metal gate, quietly standing there.

"Let's go inside the gate and take a look."

The girl said this, her voice carrying a hint of excitement that she herself might not have realized.

There is nothing wrong with Zhongli and Xuexia.

The group pushed open the rusty door and entered the building that had been in front of the rocket.

The first thing you see is a painting engraved on a huge metal wall—a massive star map depicting the entire solar system.

Chito and Yuri stood before this star map, feeling as insignificant as dust.

"What is this, Qian?" Yuri was so shocked that she even forgot to use the Zhongli robot that she had been using recently.

Chito, who had read books about the universe, stood in front of the screen and murmured softly to himself.

"This is a diagram of the universe."

"The universe?" Yuri continued to ask.

"It's about the positions of the stars...maybe," Chito replied, not quite sure.

Yuri clearly didn't understand, so she turned her gaze to Zhongli, who was silent to the side.

“The so-called universe is a very large concept.” Zhongli pondered for a moment: “Right now, all you need to know is that the vast city you are in is a small city on a planet in the universe. A planet can hold millions of such cities, and a universe includes trillions of planets.”

“Trillions of planets, millions of cities…” Yuri repeated Zhongli’s words, seemingly in shock.

“Of course, that’s right.” Yukino Yukinoshita, who had almost become invisible through her training, suddenly spoke up.

She raised her arm, which was wrapped in a thick snow coat, and pointed to the massive metal mural.

"That's the sun, that's the moon, and that's the planet we're standing on. If I'm not mistaken, this planet should be called Earth."

"The sun is so bright!"

"The moon is so small."

Amidst Yuri's startled and exaggerated commentary.

"Hmm?" Chito turned his head, somewhat puzzled. "Earth?"

“Hmm, I remember our planet used to be called Earth. But, Yukino Yukinoshita… um… I should call you Miss. Miss Yukino Yukinoshita, how do you know that our planet used to be called Earth? I don’t remember saying that.”

Yukino Yukinoshita frowned slightly, then pondered for a moment.

"In fact, the world I live in, the planet I live on, is also called Earth."

After saying this, Yuri suddenly turned around: "That's right, didn't I tell you, Chito? Many of the people in the Multiverse Chat Group are from Earth."

"By the way, you didn't seem to tell me that the planet we live on is Earth."

"No, You said that many people in the Multiverse Chat Group are from Earth?" Qianhu could no longer maintain his calm expression.

“Yeah.” Yuri still didn’t realize it.

Qianhu asked in a trembling voice, "Then, what are their world and planet like?"

“Let me answer this question,” Yukino Yukinoshita interjected. “Many people, many cities. Although there are wars in other places, at least in my country, there hasn’t been a war for decades.”

"No war, and no destroyed Earth?" Chito murmured. "That must be a wonderful place."

Yukino Yukinoshita hesitated for a moment, then nodded: "Although I don't usually think it's a very nice place, I now think that the noise of people is a good thing."

"Of course, the not-so-good parts are still not-so-good."

"Hmm... are there a lot of people?" Qianhu continued to ask.

“Many, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions,” Yukino Yukinoshita replied softly.

"It would be great if there were lots of people." Qianhu squinted her eyes, thought for a moment, and then felt very happy about the scene she imagined.

"No, it will be too noisy."

Yukino Yukinoshita shook her head: "If there are too many people, it will be so noisy that you can't concentrate at all. So, it's nice when it's quiet."

"Is that so?" Chito's gaze returned to the metal wall, then he said to Yuri, "Let's go upstairs and take a look."

“Okay.” Yuri naturally agreed without hesitation.

Yukino Yukinoshita was somewhat taken aback, but she didn't think much of it and went upstairs with them.

Upstairs there are rows of countertops that look like control hubs.

Countless scattered documents were piled up everywhere, along with various kinds of metal debris scattered among them.

"You can see the rocket very clearly from here!" Yuri exclaimed in surprise.

"Hmm, this should be the control panel for launching rockets." Qianhu glanced at the electronic symbols and various switches on the table: "When was this thing abandoned? When we were on the lower level, we had no idea that we humans could make such things."

“They have been in a damaged state for about a thousand years,” Zhongli’s words suddenly interrupted from the side, answering her question.

Zhongli had arrived in front of Qianhu and Youli without anyone noticing.

His gaze was fixed on the enormous cylindrical machine, and his voice was ethereal: "Although I haven't deliberately spent my time looking at the historical traces of this world, through our travels together, I've come to have some fairly certain guesses about the history of your world. Would you... like to hear them?"

"I want to hear it!!!" Yuri raised her hand without hesitation.

"Hmm...I want to hear it too." Although Chito hesitated for a second, he also chose to listen.

"So... how should we begin?" Zhongli pondered for a moment, his voice seemingly coming from a distant place, leisurely reaching everyone's ears.

"It probably started a thousand years ago. At that time, the science and technology of this Earth civilization had reached a limit."

"Humans can send their spaceships to Mars, but they cannot break the speed of light limit. In society, as the gap between the rich and the poor widens, class conflicts gradually increase."

"Giant tower-shaped cities have appeared all over the world, and human civilization has entered a stage of 100% urbanization."

"Then, for some reason, the war began."

"All wealth and civilization were destroyed, and the world was destroyed as humans continued to kill each other."

"The sky, the earth, the cities, and even outer space were shrouded in war."

"In the end, there were no victors in this war that destroyed everything; only the remnants of humanity eked out a living in the city."

"These remaining humans are not numerous, so they can no longer maintain the previous technology and can only produce some much outdated technologies at most."

"Like the half-track vehicles that you and Yuri once rode in, as well as the propeller planes and rudimentary tanks. These are replicas of civilizations that have been destroyed once before."

"However, even such a barely surviving civilization could not avoid falling into war because of resources."

"The war that has re-emerged, the weapons and relics of the civilization that was destroyed before, and the power that is beyond our comprehension—all of these things constitute the war that destroyed the second civilization."

"I cannot know the process, but you can all see the result."

"That is the world before us."

"Everything that should not have been destroyed has been destroyed, and everything that should not have been destroyed has also been destroyed."

"Human civilization has completely disappeared, and even robots have gradually fallen into death."

"Aside from the biological weapons of the past, intelligent life in this world is dwindling. Until now... Chito and Yuri."

At this point, Zhongli finally turned his gaze from looking into the distance back to Qianhu and Youli.

"You are the only two surviving, psychologically normal humans among the dozens of tower-shaped cities in this area."

“../...” Qianhu remained silent.

"Oh." Yuri seemed even less concerned than Chito.

She shook her head slightly and said to Chito, "Chito and I have always traveled together as a couple, so there's no need for us to know about the existence of people in other cities."

"Anyway, other cities are definitely too far away and difficult to get to."

"..." Qianhu remained silent.

A faint, ambiguous smile appeared on Zhong Li's lips.

"Yes, that's true. However, if we want to maintain human civilization, we'll probably have to look to other cities."

"Based on my observation, many cities in this world are usually based on a single technology, and books are one such technology."

"..." Qianhu looked at Zhongli's probing gaze and said calmly, "Even if we can reach other cities, Yuri and I alone cannot revive our civilization."

"There are too few people, and besides, Yuri and I are both women, so it's impossible for us to maintain civilization."

When Qianhu said this, his emotions seemed to remain unchanged.

“Yes, I know.” Zhongli nodded slightly. “But don’t you remember?”

"The middle level of this [Tower City], the place you once experienced."

"What?" Yuri asked curiously.

"National Infant Nurturing Center, and unmanned infant factories." Zhong Li's voice grew increasingly distant.

"A civilization can be expanded without men, or even with just one person."

Chapter Thirteen: Offering Civilization as a Redemption from the Apocalypse

Qianhu did not respond to Zhongli's suggestion.

Yuli was also confused and seemed not to have understood the meaning behind Zhongli's words.

For Zhongli, this was just a suggestion on a whim.

He is indeed the god of contracts, but he does not use enticement or coercion to force others to sign contracts.

This stems from his own lack of approval.

Leaving the rocket graveyard, the group once again embarked on their upward journey.

Sitting on the almost brand-new three-wheeled motorcycle, Chito was somewhat lost in thought.

However, since she wasn't the one driving today, it wasn't a problem.

Time passed, and about half a day later, the four of them finally left this floor. According to Zhongli's estimate, there were at most two more floors left before they reached the top floor.

As they walked, it was unclear whether Yuri's brain finally caught up or if she had been silently contemplating from the beginning.

The thin, blonde girl finally asked the question.

"Zhongli".