Let's start with the time, according to the beard, it's the year 119 of the New Eden, which means that this method of timekeeping has just been practiced for more than a hundred years. So what was the timing method before that?

The bearded theory is a method of the Old Era used by ancient civilizations, and the Old Era officially ended in 23236, after which all New Era calculations were used.

So does this old era have anything to do with the earth? Hong Tao didn't dare to rashly say the name of the earth, but learned about it from the side, and the result is still uncertain.

The bearded man also doesn't know where the old era came from, the new Eden civilization he is in has had a long time of disconnection, and his current work is to find the beginning and end of this civilization by cracking the ancient ruins.

In addition, the identity of the bearded man has also been revealed, and he said that he is a freelance pilot. Hong Tao, a free pilot, is too unsure of what it is called, the communication between the two sides has to be relayed with the help of an automatic translation system, and there is still a big difference between his own English and the neo-Roman spoken by the other party, and it is already amazing to be able to express most of the meanings, and there is no need for precision.

Even if he wasn't sure, after listening to the bearded man's explanation, Hong Tao felt a chill in his back. According to the earthling's point of view, this person should not be considered a normal person, because his body is a clone, all artificial, and only his consciousness is his own.

According to him, this is a relatively new technology, and it has only been more than ten years since it was officially implemented in the New Eden world. The main effect of this is twofold: first, to make so-called humans like them fit more perfectly with the ship's operating system; Second, it allows humans to be more accustomed to long space travel and a variety of potentially harmful unknown environments.

The so-called spaceship operating system is the mastermind that the bearded man said. It is very intelligent, can talk to Hong Tao normally, not only can understand orders, but also has a part of self-awareness, which can calculate the most suitable result according to the situation and execute it.

In the past, the New Eden's spaceship required a lot of pilots to pilot, and an exploration ship had to be dozens, and if it was a large warship, a few hundred or a few thousand were just the minimum configuration.

Since the advent of the cloning pilot technology, the human brain can be connected to the main brain of the spacecraft through neuronal devices, which greatly improves the operational efficiency, and the crew of a small exploration ship has been directly reduced from dozens to one or two.

For example, the bearded spaceship, he is the only one inside and out! In terms of supply and cost, it greatly reduces the difficulty of long-distance voyages, and at the same time, it also promotes the progress of space exploration.

Another benefit is even more obvious: space travel is just like sailing on Earth, no matter how good a ship is, it can be dangerous, especially in uncharted waters.

Even harder than sailing is the fact that there are some voyages that the New Edenians simply can't accomplish. In this case, the previous practice was to freeze the astronauts, like hibernation, through the spacecraft's autopilot system, and then activate it at a corresponding point in the future.

However, this process is dangerous and painful, as the slightest error in the calculations, or the slightest collision in the middle of the flight, will cause the activation point to deviate from the preset time.

As long as it is early or late, a shipload of astronauts can only starve to death. There is not so much space on the spacecraft to carry so much provisions, it is only enough to be used in hibernation, and once you wake up, you must reach the surface of the destination planet in a short time to synthesize, otherwise you will all die.

Such dangers would greatly hinder the scope of space exploration, so the New Edenians went to the game to study how to make the ship sail safer, and found inspiration in the ruins of an ancient civilization called the Hibernators, and eventually created two devices, one called a clone pilot and the other called consciousness transfer.

Hong Tao really didn't understand how these technologies were realized, but he understood the general meaning. The bearded man's original body is gone, and not only him, but all the New Edenians who choose to volunteer to become clone pilots will lose their original body.

Their consciousness is detached from a brain-scanning device and preserved as their mother, and their new body is a clone of the living dead. When consciousness is injected into the clone and activated, the clone is no different from the original body, and in some ways is more powerful and conducive to strengthening than the human body.

When the spacecraft encounters danger, the escape pod will judge the degree of danger on its own, and once the damage to the pilot may reach a certain value, it will immediately send the pilot's consciousness to the nearest special space station.

As long as the sending process is completed, no matter how the pilot died, his consciousness will be preserved intact, and as long as he spends money to buy another clone, inject and activate his consciousness, he will be resurrected again.

Generally speaking, clone pilots will buy clones in advance, and those who have money will also customize high-end goods, or buy several at once to store. Theoretically, as long as the consciousness is not extinguished, the clone pilot can be resurrected indefinitely.

Of course, you still need money, and if you don't have money to buy clones, consciousness can only be a piece of data that exists in the server, and it will never really come to life. But it doesn't seem to be considered death, and it can't be explained by the laws and morals of the earth.

So why don't the clone pilots have to eat? It's not that you don't have to eat, but the things you eat are different from ordinary people. The bearded man used a hologram to show the flight status of the clone flyer, and then Hong Tao gave up.

He wears a second skin-like garment into the egg-shaped device of the escape pod, and wears a helmet with many pipes connected to the neuronal system of the ship's main brain, thus merging the pilot himself with the main brain as a whole.

The egg-shaped device is filled with a solution of fluorocarbon derivatives, a nutrient-rich, breathable, constant-pressure nano-saturated liquid in which the clone pilots are suspended and provides all oxygen and nutrients from the liquid, in addition to cushioning acceleration and deceleration during faster-than-light journeys and unexpected shocks.

The bearded man was willing to let Hong Tao share his escape pod and nutrient solution, but unfortunately normal people could not survive in this liquid, it was only suitable for clones. In the same way, since there is no need to eat, there is no need for people to bring food, only spare nutrient solution, which normal people still can't eat.

Hong Tao has learned so much about the time problem, and he thinks that if all this is true, then the bearded New Edenians like them are very likely to be descendants of human beings on Earth.

First of all, they don't look any different from themselves, and even the clones look like standard humanoids. In addition, the bearded man is sure that his body is also heart, liver, lungs, spleen, stomach and kidneys, his blood is red, he needs to breathe a certain concentration of oxygen, he will be hungry if he doesn't eat, he will be sleepy if he doesn't sleep, and he will think if he doesn't snap......

Secondly, there are many languages in the translation database of the bearded ship's mastermind, one of which is very similar to English writing and pronunciation, and it is through this language that Hong Tao communicates with the bearded man, and finds several French words from it. Although I can't understand the other kind, the pronunciation is also very familiar.

These languages were passed down from their ancestors, and it is impossible to tell where the bearded man came from. Their civilization has only been recorded for more than 7,000 years, and the previous history has not yet been explored, let alone where the ancestors came from.

The only thing that can be known is that the ancestors must be more technologically advanced than them, as there are still remnants of antiquity in many galaxies, most of which have not yet been cracked, except for a few. This small part alone can be of great help to the technological development of the New Edenes.

"So, I'm probably their ancestor? Hey, hey, hey...... There is a large group of drooping grandchildren for no reason, where can I reason about this......"

It's true that the bearded man's emotional intelligence is not high, and it's true that Hong Tao has taken a lot of situations away without getting much real information from Hong Tao, but he is really not stupid. From beginning to end, he only talked to Hong Tao through a layer of transparent metal, and he didn't make any contact.

People also gave a very strong reason, before a thorough quarantine, the master of the spaceship will not let the pilot contact with unknown creatures, even if the bearded man is willing, he can't do it, unless the master of the spaceship is completely taken offline.

Hong Tao thought deeply about this, not to mention that the beard didn't have contact, and he didn't want to have contact with the beard. It is likely that they came from 10,000 years ago, and these New Edenites have experienced at least 20,000 years of wandering, wandering around the universe, I don't know how many planets they have visited, and how many viruses they may have carried on their bodies.

They may already have antibodies, they are not afraid of these viruses, but they don't have them, if they rashly come into contact with some incurable disease, wouldn't it kill the living ancestors of the new Eden world.

The bearded man is also his life-saving benefactor, and he can't be burdened with such a big sin. If he hadn't intervened, he would still be in the escape pod of the wrecked exploration ship. It is said that at that time, the escape pod had lost power, and if it was not kept, it would have to wander in the universe for the rest of its life, and the immortal body would have to become atomic.

"No, no, even if it is a pro-ancestor, in the face of such a big benefit, I am afraid that he will have to be ruthless!" But after thinking about it, Hong Tao denied the idea of revealing his identity to the bearded man again.

Didn't the bearded man say it just now, all of them are playing with their lives to study the civilization in the ancient ruins, even if they understand it a little, it is very likely to have a great effect on the development of science and technology at this time.

If he knew that he was a living ancestor, his first thought was to discover the ancient civilization from himself, and then he would say that he didn't know, would he believe it?

Take 10,000 steps back and say, the bearded man is a filial child, respectful to the living ancestors, dare not cause harm, and be a Buddha all day long. But what about others, can such a big secret be hidden? Once the news leaks out, he will definitely not be able to protect himself by relying on the ability of the beard.