Chapter 78 - Sol Hundred, Starting from the Cambrian Period (1/2)
“It’s true, I don’t remember, but you do.” Tang Yue said. “With you around, you can help.”
Tomcat kept one eye open while the other remained close.
“You wish to get my help?”
Tang Yue nodded.
“Call me daddy.” Tomcat hooked its paw.
Tang Yue frowned. “Call you what?”
“Daddy.”
“Good son.”
…
“What the two of you wish to do is an unprecedented endeavor that will never be matched even in the future. In ancient times, history offices needed decades just to chronicle the previous dynasty. And both of you wish to chronicle all of human civilization.” Tomcat yawned as its ears twitched. “Civilization is an ill-defined concept. It covers history, culture, technology, art, and everything you created as well as everything that created you. If you write down the entirety of human civilization’s development process into the book, I believe that book will be thick enough to circle Mars several times.”
Tang Yue was somewhat alarmed. He knew that it would be a massive endeavor, but he never expected it to be that scale.
He didn’t have much knowledge about history, to begin with. Most came from his history textbooks in high school, and in history textbooks, spanning centuries was covered in just a few pages. Even the first emperor of China, Qin Shihuang, appeared only a handful of times.
“The researchers at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences spend their entire lives researching a tiny slice of history, and that’s without any guarantees of them figuring out anything. What makes you think you can chronicle all of human civilization?” Tomcat scoffed. “Do you know the difference between Roosevelt and Roosevelt Jr.?”
“Simplify it a little. We can simplify it a little.” Tang Yue compromised. He did lack the capabilities needed to chronicle all of human civilization. If he made a mistake with Emperor Wu of Han’s date of birth and death, he wondered if this particular Mr. Liu Che would travel hundreds of millions of kilometers to Mars to make a protest.
“We can start with a framework based on time, just like a chronicle. Then, we can slowly fill in the details, and develop as we go,” Tang Yue said. “Peking Man, Yuanmou Man… We should start with the Neanderthals?”
“Why don’t you just start from the Cambrian Period?” Tomcat scoffed. “Why not start from the hallucigenia?”
“Great idea!” Tang Yue clapped. “Earth is gone. We should biographize Earth’s history.”
“Biographize my ass… Do you know what it means to do things within your means?” Tomcat opened his eyes, waved his claws, and felt a little exasperated. “Are you going to start from the Cambrian period to the Ordovician period, to the Silurian period, to the Devonian period, to the Carboniferous period, to the Permian period, to the Triassic period, to the Jurassic period, to the Cretaceous period, to the Paleogene period, to the Neogene period, all the way to the Quaternary period? Do you have a lifespan longer than Peng Zu 1 ?”
“We can simplify it a little. Simplify it a little,” Tang Yue said with resent. “For example, we can describe the Jurassic period as a period when reptiles flourished. On the massive continent lived… lived…”
Tang Yue realized he had nearly zero knowledge about ancient creatures. He couldn’t even remember the names of any dinosaurs.
“… lived the Plateosaurus!”
Tang Yue finally recalled a name.
Tomcat silently held its forehead.
“The Plateosaurus is a creature from the Triassic period.”
“In the Jurassic period, the supercontinent began to break up. Gymnosperms reached their peak development, and there were plenty of reptiles. Among them, Ornithischia and Saurischia dinosaurs had the greatest development. Ornithischia dinosaurs included the Stegosaurus, while the Saurischia dinosaurs included the Allosaurus, Camarasaurus, and Brontosaurus.” Mai Dong’s voice sounded over the comms as she gave a lively laugh. “Would that be fine?”