In an instant, light filled the entire space. It's not a glaring glare light, it's a very soft light, and it doesn't become very bright all at once.

When Chu Tianjiang turned around, he saw a familiar face.

"Clara ......"

"Don't you know me?"

"You...... Are you Clara, or ......"

"What do you say?" The man leaned forward and put his hand on Chu Tianjiang's face.

It is not a virtual three-dimensional projection, but a real person, a person who is exactly the same as Chu Tianjiang at the beginning, composed of energy bodies.

"You...... You're still alive......"

Clara nodded and said, "I've been waiting for you for more than eight thousand years. ”

"It's been 10,000 years."

"Really? So to speak, I have been sleeping here for more than a thousand years. ”

Chu Tianjiang nodded, he didn't need much explanation at all, he just needed to see Clara and make sure she was alive and well.

Excited, Chu Tianjiang hugged Clara.

The feeling of hugging Clara was more real, and it also made Chu Tianjiang feel more grounded, and he was even reluctant to let go, because he was afraid that after letting go, Clara would disappear from front of him.

"You've had enough of making out, haven't you?"

Hearing the voice coming from behind him, Chu Tianjiang let go of his hand. It was Natasha's voice, apparently also awakened from her slumber.

At this point, the light is already very bright.

Only then did Chu Tianjiang see clearly that this was not a void space, but a space filled with objects, to be precise, a space composed of matter that was simulated by energy bodies. Because before this, the energy body had not been completely simulated into matter, so Chu Tianjiang did not find it.

Natasha walked over, and three chairs appeared next to Chu Tianjiang and Clara.

"What's going on?"

Natasha smiled and turned her gaze to Clara.

"Don't worry, let's sit down and talk." Clara sat down.

Chu Tianjiang also sat down. That's when he noticed that both Clara and Natasha had changed a little and looked a little older than before.

"Zhilu Dao, where is this?"

"A subspace within a subspace."

Clara nodded and said, "You should have met Zhang Xiaogang and them, right?" ”

"It's just a smart program."

"We have known for a long time that Zhang Xiaogang found you a long time ago, but he didn't tell anyone, and entrusted Luo Jinyong to create a subspace. Now that you have returned to this world and met Zhang Xiaogang, then I don't need to talk about what happened before the Age of Calamity. ”

Chu Tianjiang didn't interject, because Clara definitely knew a lot more than him.

When the underground human civilization fell, some people managed to escape, and mainly scientists. Because they had already established contact with underground human civilization through researchers who had gone to the ground to collect biological samples, it didn't take much effort for Clara and Natasha to find these scientists and obtain some extremely important information from them, including Zhang Xiaogang asking Melanie to recover her memory, finding Chu Tianjiang's hibernation capsule, and Luo Jinyong's exhaustion of his life's energy to create a subspace for Chu Tianjiang to hide. This information also warns Clara and Natasha that the invaders have enough power to destroy the scientific and technological achievements of the human race.

Of course, Clara and Natasha also believed that Chu Tianjiang would definitely return.

For this reason, the two decided to wait for Chu Tianjiang to come back, because only the information that Chu Tianjiang brought back from the Great Civilization could save human civilization.

What's more, Clara doesn't want another ending.

For a long time after that, Clara and Natasha worked their best to create the Shadow Empire, which became the most powerful force in the Old World. After the invaders no longer directly intervened in human civilization, the Shadow Empire became the de facto controller of the Old World.

Of course, this doesn't mean that Clara and Natasha can do whatever they want.

The encounter of underground human civilization illustrates a problem in disguise. The huge gap makes any effort made by humans in front of the invaders a small skill of carving insects, which is not worth mentioning at all. As long as human civilization breaks through the bottom line in scientific and technological development, invaders can change the fate of human civilization with a single move, and even destroy the entire human civilization. Obviously, this bottom line must have something to do with space technology.

In order to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past, for a long time to come, about two thousand years, the Shadow Empire focused its scientific research on the self-evolution of human beings. According to Clara's vision, if humanity can evolve itself to gain strength enough to resist the invaders, then humans will be qualified to challenge the invaders' bottom line and fight to the death to defeat the invaders after they reappear.

During this time, Clara undergoes a transformation and gains superpowers that prolong her life.

It's just that Clara is not interested in other superpowers at all, because even Natasha is vulnerable to intruders. As for the other enemies, such as the church, which acts as a lackey of the invaders, with Natasha's protection, Clara doesn't care about it at all.

The problem is, Natasha simply doesn't have an infinite lifespan.

Although her superpowers have allowed her to live longer than ordinary people, she still can't beat time, and she will still age slowly.

As a result, Clara and Natasha take turns hibernating.

After persevering for five hundred years, Clara and Natasha found that even if they hibernate in turn, they might not be able to hold out until the day Chu Tianjiang returned.

In order to fight against time, the two extended their hibernation period.

To put it simply, the two of them wake up once every two hundred years, and they are staggered, they wake up separately, deal with all the accumulated affairs in the year they wake up, plan for the development of the empire in the next hundred years, and every five hundred years, they wake up at the same time.

It's just that the two didn't tell anyone about it. When they go into hibernation, they lie about going to other parts of the empire to find out what is going on. In order to dispel the suspicions of others, Clara also concocted many lies and prophecies to convince the people under her rule that they were not ordinary people, but god-like beings. Even if there are still doubts, it is clear that the common people cannot imagine the way of God's existence.

Two thousand years after the establishment of the Shadow Empire, the problem arises.

At the time, scientists from the Shadow Empire proved Clara's inference that humans could gain extremely powerful superpowers through self-evolution. Using these scientific findings, the Shadow Empire has built a powerful legion of superpowers, cementing its dominance over the Old Continent. The problem is that due to their own limitations, especially material limitations, the superpowers acquired by human beings can no longer continue to improve.

To put it simply, the only way for humans to continue to improve their abilities is to evolve in the direction of quantification.

Now, here's the problem.

Luo Jinyong's research has shown that energyization is a forbidden area that no one can touch, let alone make people energetic, even if they master the technique of making energy bodies, it will lead to annihilation. More importantly, the energy body, as well as the energy of human beings themselves, is the prerequisite for mastering and using space techniques. Although Luo Jinyong has not yet fully understood the relationship between the energy body and the space technique, theoretical research has shown that if human beings want to use the space technique to obtain the ability to travel through space, the premise is to have an energetic body, and even the wisdom can be quantified, that is, all the information related to people can be carried by the energy body. The reason is very simple, the key to space technology is to open up a space channel, and the only thing that can safely pass through the space channel is energy.

It can be seen that as long as human beings have mastered the technology of producing energy bodies, it is possible to make a breakthrough in space science and technology at any time.

Clara and Natasha also have enough knowledge of this.

If we blindly develop science and technology related to energy bodies, then human civilization will suffer a catastrophe before achieving results that are of practical value. Even if the invaders do not completely wipe out humanity, they will destroy the scientific and technological achievements of mankind and make all efforts go to waste.

What to do?

According to Clara's arrangement, the Shadow Empire did not focus on energy bodies for the next two thousand years or nearly three thousand years, but continued to focus on the field of human self-evolution technology, looking for ways to improve human individual abilities.

Of course, this is just a façade.

During these 3,000 years, Clara and Natasha each changed several bodies, that is, transferred their consciousness to a new body, so as to maintain their vigorous vitality. The main purpose of this is to prolong the waking time, which can guide the technological development of the Shadow Empire more comprehensively and accurately.

The efforts of the two were not in vain.

Nearly 5,000 years after the establishment of the Shadow Empire, a breakthrough was finally made in an extremely critical field, that is, the mastery of the art of creating subspace.

It's just that Clara still decides to hold back.

The invaders cannot tolerate the human civilization mastering the energy body technique, and it is even more impossible for the human civilization to master any space-related technique.

"And then?"

"Three thousand years of waiting and preparation."

"Wait?"

Clara nodded and said, "Although you have not come back after a hundred years, we always believe that you will definitely return, and there must be someone to wait, someone to wait, someone to tell you what happened after that, someone to help you understand the enemy you are facing." ”

"Clara ......"

"And get ready for your return." Natasha spoke. "Although it is Clara who decides the big things, our enemies are too strong. If you are not prepared, even if you come back, even if you master the techniques of the great civilization, you may not be able to defeat the invaders. ”

"What did you prepare?"

"Everything." Clara spread her hands. "Time can change everything. I've already said the general picture, but I know you have a lot of questions. ”

"Let's get out of here first."

"Don't rush, time is not a problem."