Inside the slightly weathered phone booth, the Dino Sapiens and Constantine were helping heal Liang who had sustained severe injuries.
While the rest were standing on the other side of the cliff, watching the scattering human puppets and the statue being washed away by the water current.
"Why can't we get rid of those puppets, or even Xu Fu right now? His strength should still be far from immortality" Black Widow asked The Doctor who was standing next to her.
"According to the future we've observed, Xu Fu will be awakened 1000 years in the future, at which point he will take on the fake name of Xufu, mislead the human emperor and convert all of humanity into living vampire statues, or more accurately, the undead, and veer the human timeline completely off-course"
"No, this timeline that suddenly manifested has become a core part of this world. Compared to the world itself, we're highly insignificant, so if we tried to directly go against the trend of the world, the only thing that we would be met with is one-sided suppression from the timeline, which we would be helpless to resist"
"I might be able to revive due to my species characteristics, but you humans will surely be destroyed without fail, leaving nothing behind" The Doctor explained: "Changing a timeline is very delicate work; think of it as trying to conquer a floor, diversion and guidance is necessary"
"This individual called Liang who should have lost his life is that diversion, the new branching path that we'll guide the world onto. He and his descendants will slowly change this timeline, diverting the statue timeline back to become a part of the human timeline"
"Perhaps the new species called undead will become a part of human myth or even human history, but in the end, they are still human"
"Will it work?" Black Widow turned around to look at Liang who was practically at his deathbed inside the phone booth and asked with a gentle voice.
"We need to trust him and trust ourselves. Aren't we humans famous for being capable of producing miracles one after another?" Major Tom Cage who was standing next to them answered her.
The Ultra Space-Time Squad had gone to the beginning of humanity's conception and silently observed as society evolved up to this point. A portion of abnormal things was even worshipped as deities by the humans, but not once did they interfere with this. Religious beliefs and superstitions were also a crucial part of humanity's culture. Although many beliefs started out as nothing but superstitions, everything had its own meanings.
With the vision and environment of modern humanity, a lot of things in the past might have seemed to be ridiculous and laughable, but a lot of customs must be taken into consideration with their environment at the time. In this age where abnormalities and unnatural creatures roamed the land, at least the entities worshipped by humanity managed to keep their mind and rationality healthy.
Perhaps they were sacrificing their own compatriots for nothing, perhaps they were assuming too many things to be gods and deities, perhaps they essentially had no individual will, but the Ultra Space-Time Squad knew that in this day and age, ignorance was exactly the bliss they needed.
Without a properly developed foundation, ideas and ideals that were far ahead of their time usually did not provide any benefits.
The Ultra Space-Time Squad's job was to remove other timelines and ensure that humanity's timeline proceeded accurately. Only things like the Dino Sapiens and the living vampire statues that could alter the entire timeline would require their interference.
As time slowly passed, the early years of the timeline slowly became stable, and Liang also gradually regained his senses.
The Ultra Space-Time Squad's hyper-advanced medical technology managed to save Liang from the brink of death, as well as stabilize his body.
Having fused with Xu Fu's hand, his body had naturally undergone changes. Although he didn't inherit any living statue abilities, his willpower had become considerably more focused. Through the emotion of belief, Liang was able to mobilize the power of his soul, and it was thanks to this that he managed to petrify Xu Fu.
However, the fusion was done in a very crude manner; without the vitality of the living statues, even if Liang hadn't died from blood loss, his body would have collapsed in little to no time at all. The Dino Sapiens, fortunately, managed to help him mitigate this, allowing him to still be human, but also retain this supernatural power within his bloodline. This meant that he could pass it down to his descendants.
"So, Fu still isn't dead?" hearing the Ultra Space-Time Squad's prepared explanation, Liang nodded in understanding. Thanks to his connection with Xu Fu, he could faintly sense the other party's existence.
"I understand, I'll make sure to search for and destroy every last remaining undead and ensure the continued existence of humanity" Liang sincerely said.
The Xu tribe had already been destroyed, and as a lucky survivor of the Xu tribe, he felt that it was his duty to ensure that the traitors of the Xu tribe did not continue to cause harm to others: "I plan to head to the Central tribe to report the situation of the Xu tribe and the undead statues, then begin a journey to subjugate these undeads. I'll make sure every last one of these harmful creatures returns to dust where they belong"
「 You are a human hero worthy of respect 」 Tyrannosaurus praised him: 「 But as you currently are, you are still too weak 」
「 And so, for the next few days, we shall teach you strength, make sure to prepare yourself 」
「 Constantine's Mysticism, the Dino Sapiens' close combat techniques, Black Widow's training of willpower and beliefs, etc.; we shall teach you so that you become a qualified hunter, a hunter whose skills are specifically honed to kill the undead! 」
…
The training wasn't hard, nor was it easy, as long as one completely put their mind to it, it would be effective. The Ultra Space-Time Squad stood in front of the phone booth, watching as Liang set out on his journey alone with a rucksack on his back, not saying too much.
They knew that Liang and his descendants' future had become deeply intertwined with the undead Xu Fu. This intertwining fate would most likely persist for the next 1000 years, up until the moment Xu Fu awakened, to finally cease.
"Then, the pivot is 100 years later, when the chief of the Central tribe, Yu, loses his life in the Tower of Babel incident. The larger tribes would then begin a campaign of mutual aggression, humanity would also scatter all over the world thanks to the Tower of Babel, forming the multi-racial, multi-ethnicity model of humanity in the future"
"This is a crucial part of humanity's timeline, which cannot be altered no matter what" Time Master Rip Darvill explained the original events of the timeline, as well as how they must not be changed.
His gaze then scanned through the Great Dino group before he continued: "The Raptor Group Chrysosaurus and Flame Dino had accumulated great power over a long time. They will surely attempt to use the Tower of Babel incident to overturn humanity, and there's a very serious risk of their existence leading to humanity's timeline becoming altered. From the unstable timeline I've managed to observe, the Dino Sapiens would try to steal the Tower of Babel, thus forcefully changing the human environment"
「 Do not worry, we shall definitely stop them. The age of the Dino Sapiens have already passed, it is now the time for us to live in coexistence with humanity 」Tyrannosaurus said in a serious tone.
…
While the Ultra Space-Time Squad was discussing the future of the timeline, Liang had made a trek directly to the Central tribe. On his way, he ran into a few other lucky survivors of the Xu tribe, who accompanied him to the Central tribe.
The current chief of the Central tribe, Central Luo, highly praised Liang's might and wisdom, offering to help him rebuild the Xu tribe, but since there was now a taboo with the name, the name of the new tribe was changed to Mi.
From that point on, Liang became the chief of the Mi tribe, his name becoming known as Mi Liang.
Immediately after the reconstruction of his tribe, Mi Liang began his journey to kill the undead.
Due to Xu Fu's last order, his human puppets hid among humans and began to search for his whereabouts.
Time once again moved forward, and 100 years quickly went by.
There is a little wordplay here, Xu Fu's original name literally translates to "ruinous symbol", while the 'Xufu' name he takes on later will mean "gentle blessing". They are words that are both written and spoken differently in Chinese but written essentially the same in English, so I had to make a small distinction
