Evolving infinitely from ground zero

Liu Chuanwu sat down at his desk, turned on the computer, opened a video folder, and played a video he had shot in an underwater ruin 20 years ago.

Lin Zichen stood behind him, watching the video on the computer screen.

As the video began, Lin Zichen's eyes were greeted by an underwater cave entrance.

It seemed to be over a meter in radius,

located within a coral reef.

The area around the entrance was barren, without even a single blade of seaweed visible, making the entrance obvious to anyone passing by.

Quickly, the footage began to delve deeper into the entrance.

About ten seconds later,

the video transitioned from the cramped cave tunnel to a spacious cavern.

The cavern was empty, with nothing inside.

There was only a huge mural.

The content of the mural depicted a woman with an unclear face, elegantly lying sideways in a giant shell, with hordes of bizarre sea creatures kneeling on the ground in front of her.

Lin Zichen took a glance at the woman in the video.

Even though her face wasn't clear, judging by her graceful figure, she must have been quite beautiful.

After looking at the woman,

Lin Zichen's gaze fell upon the sea creatures in the video.

After a once-over, most of them were unrecognizable.

The only ones he recognized were a mermaid kneeling in the center, a Jiaolong dragon kneeling towards the back in the center, and a snake woman in the front row.

The snake woman's hair was made of fine snakes, and the lower half of her body was a long snake tail. She looked very eerie, somewhat resembling the Medusa of Greek mythology.

The video lingered on the mural for a few minutes, then moved to a stone on the side.

Resting on top of the stone was a bracelet made of pearls and shells.

This bracelet was exactly the one that Lin Zichen was holding in his hand at the moment.

Shortly after, the video ended.

The footage froze two seconds after the bracelet was found.

The video was only 5 minutes and 20 seconds long,

short and insubstantial.

After the video ended, Liu Chuanwu said to everyone behind him, "I stayed in that underwater ruin for over an hour, but I only recorded this much."

"It's not that I didn't record, something went wrong with the recording equipment, and it didn't capture any footage from the additional hour," he continued.

"By the time I realized this, I was already home and it was impossible to go back and re-record," he explained.

"..."

"Director, where is this underwater ruin?" Lin Zichen asked.

Liu Chuanwu paused, then replied, "It's in Shuangri Bay, Shanhai City, but now it has disappeared."

Lin Zichen was somewhat puzzled, "What do you mean, disappeared?"

Liu Chuanwu said, "The day after the video wasn't enough, I went diving again to record more, only to discover that I couldn't find the entrance or even that coral reef."

"At that time, I asked many old fishermen who had been fishing in Shuangri Bay for years, and the answer was that there was never any cave entrance there, nor was there a coral reef."

"I even wondered if I had accidentally entered some kind of different space, like the man in The Peach Blossom Spring, who by chance wandered into Peach Blossom Forest, and then was unable to find the entrance again after leaving," he shared.

"..."

"That's so strange," Lin Zichen said, slightly frowning and falling into deep thought, attempting to explain the phenomenon with the scientific knowledge he possessed.

But no matter how he thought about it, there was no explanation.

While Lin Zichen was deep in thought,

Shen Qinghan was intently staring at the bracelet in his hand.

For some reason, she felt a strong interest in the pearl shell bracelet.

The bracelet seemed ordinary, yet she wanted to look at it and even touch it.

Lin Zichen noticed her gaze.

Seeing her fixated on the bracelet and suspecting curiosity, he handed it to her, saying, "If you want to look, go ahead and take a look."

"Oh, then I'll have a look," she said.

Shen Qinghan received the bracelet he passed to her.

The moment she touched the bracelet, she felt a cool sensation in her palm, comforting like holding a cup of chilled milk tea.

This puzzled her,

since the bracelet, having been held by Lin Zichen for so long, should have been warm due to body heat.

Why did it feel cold to the touch now?

That defied logic.

Shen Qinghan pondered for a moment but didn't dwell on it.

Soon, she became curious and examined the bracelet closely.

The more she looked, the more captivating it became.

From initially appearing ordinary, it gradually seemed exquisitely beautiful, as if its value had skyrocketed.

Then, an inexplicable desire to possess the bracelet arose in her, wanting to claim ownership of the one in her hands.

However, this desire didn't last long, as it was overcome by her rationality within seconds.

"No, why am I so concerned about this bracelet?"

"So weird..."

The now clear-headed Shen Qinghan, looking at the bracelet in her hand, was filled with confusion.

Seeing her apparent interest in the pearl shell bracelet, Liu Chuanwu smiled and said, "If you like that bracelet, take it. It's just sitting around here as a trinket anyway."

"Really? Can I?"

Shen Qinghan was a bit flabbergasted.

After all, the bracelet was an ancient relic from the ruins, with immense research value.

Even if it was simply auctioned as an antique collection, it would probably fetch a good price.

Giving it away like this was too generous.

Seeing that Shen Qinghan seemed reluctant to accept it, Lin Zichen told her, "Since the director is giving it to you, you should accept it."

"Oh, then I'll gladly accept it," she said.

Shen Qinghan unhesitatingly accepted the bracelet upon Lin Zichen's advice,

then looked at Liu Chuanwu tentatively and said softly, "Thank you, Director."