The cosmic beings who called themselves "spiritual citizens of Blue Star" were both joking and giving shape to a deep longing for home. They had never encountered a civilization this ancient, where all history that came afterward bore its shadow.

"Blue Planet is my second home. I hope my next journey takes me to its star system. Are there any talent recruitment programs? Can I sneak in?"

"Who took over my wormhole route to Blue Planet?!"

The degree to which these beings embraced Blue Planet's history exceeded Xi Yujin's expectations.

"Don't you have your own history? I suppose not one that stretches back that far." He pondered this and glanced at the chapter of Born Again with the Spring Wind that he was about to post. He could only hope these cosmic beings wouldn't completely lose it.

The moment the update dropped, readers immediately called their friends. Some even went through a ritual of purification before turning on their optical computers. Those with weaker comprehension tagged professional novelists for analysis, determined not to miss a single detail.

They watched as the First Emperor established the imperial system and achieved unprecedented feats, their admiration deepening with every chapter. They wished they could be there in person to witness him conquer the realm. Yet beneath Qin's surface, undercurrents stirred. The cries of countless common people often kept the protagonist awake at night.

The readers sensed something familiar in those cries. Weren't they the same signs that appeared before every dynasty's fall? But instinctively, they believed that day wouldn't come so soon. Previous dynasties had endured for so long... surely Qin would last even longer, right?

They watched as the First Emperor burned books and buried scholars alive, sought elixirs and immortality, and ultimately died of illness at Shaqiu. A looming dread began to settle over the readers.

They watched as Hu Hai forged imperial decrees and forced Fusu to commit suicide. The First Emperor's body could not be immediately buried. Instead, it was transported alongside salted fish simply to mask the smell of decay. Hu Hai then swaggered into Xianyang and ascended the throne.

They watched as Hu Hai murdered his siblings, framed loyal ministers, and conscripted laborers at will for his own indulgence. Zhao Gao manipulated both the emperor and the court alike, even pointing at a deer and calling it a horse, turning truth into falsehood, leading countless officials and soldiers to their deaths.

Three years later, when rebels shot arrows into his tent, Hu Hai finally understood: the fury of the realm had reached the point where his downfall was inevitable.

The Qin dynasty, built with such might, was utterly destroyed in just three years under its second ruler.

"Seriously?!"

"I almost choked on my own blood..."

"Is this real? I know I shouldn't doubt Blue Planet's archaeology, but... really? Qin is just gone, just like that?"

"My heart is colder than the day my ship's paint job got scratched by the neighbor's cub. These aren't words on the page! They're knives!"

"My companion still hasn't recovered. I'm currently administering emergency treatment. The Qin Dynasty is in pain, they're in pain, and I'm also in pain."

"How is Qin the shortest-lived dynasty so far?! Hu Hai!! Look at the mess you made! So much money spent on that tomb! Why didn't the First Emperor come back to life and strangle you?!"

"With such a strong start, finally unified, and this is how it ends? The protagonist isn't heartbroken, but I am! Such a vast Qin empire! I burst into tears!"

"I don't understand!"

Only then did Xi Yujin realize that the aliens had developed yet another strange misunderstanding: to them, Qin's harsh laws had actually seemed reasonable.

Their reasoning came from their own interstellar experiences: "The universe is vast, so who hasn't encountered bizarre laws? But if a rule exists, there must be a reason. Take laws forbidding beings from removing their helmets: maybe the air is toxic and would instantly change your biology. So the First Emperor's strict laws must have had their logic too. If not following them meant something terrible happening to you, then making them so severe was actually for the good of the common people."

Xi Yujin quickly logged in under his Yujin alias and posted:

"@Canghai, even emperors have their limitations. You've made something as lifeless as tombs genuinely engaging, and built an entire tomb-raiding worldview on top of that. Impressive.

@Qiongtian, viewing history from a different angle and rendering grand narratives with such delicacy, that's a rare talent."

Readers were stunned that Yujin had personally stepped in to mediate. Whatever was going on between those two must have caused quite a stir within Blue Planet itself.

Then their attention turned to the other work: A Hundred Years Together.

The protagonist of A Hundred Years Together went by the alias Pan Shi in the trade.

Pan Shi was always silent. There seemed to be no skill he didn't possess: divination by the I Ching and Back-Pushing method, the geomantic art of locating remains, navigating burial chambers, and breaking through underground seals. He never failed. People in the trade said that with Pan Shi on your team, you might not find treasure, but you would definitely make it out alive.

Pan Shi meant reliability.

By any logic, after so many raids, he should have amassed great wealth. Yet he still wore the simplest clothes and took any job that came his way.

When others asked why he worked so relentlessly, Pan Shi never answered. But this time, his fellow raiders were kind people, so he offered a rare truth: he was searching for someone who existed in the past.

[

"And when you find them?"

"Then I'll give them a solid punch," Pan Shi said impatiently. "Making me search this long... isn't it just crazy?"

]

The tomb-raiding timeline in A Hundred Years Together followed historical order. When Born Again with the Spring Wind updated to the Second Emperor of Qin, A Hundred Years Together arrived at the tomb of the First Emperor.

[

"Anyone in this trade dreams of raiding the First Emperor's tomb," Pan Shi explained to his companions. "But every single person who's actually tried it has come to a bad end."

"Why? The First Emperor is just an ancient person," one companion asked, puzzled. "That feudal mountain was already toppled, right?"

Pan Shi was used to his companion's remarks and didn't bother to respond. Another companion patiently explained:

"The First Emperor was extraordinarily extravagant. To build his mausoleum at Mount Li, he conscripted 700,000 laborers annually. The ceiling was cast in bronze to recreate the sun, moon, stars, and rivers. Mercury was used to form waterways, encompassing the entire territory of Qin within the tomb.

To display his imperial power, over four hundred burial pits and chambers were filled with rare treasures. And to prevent tomb raiders, countless traps were designed throughout. With such wealth and such defenses, which raider wouldn't be tempted?

The worst part came under the Second Emperor: to prevent the craftsmen from leaking information, after the mausoleum was completed, they were sealed inside alive and suffocated.

But the craftsmen weren't fools. They anticipated the Qin king's cruelty and built escape routes into the design, then passed that knowledge down to future generations. From then on, no matter how grand a tomb, every raider knows that there is always one weakness: the craftsmen's escape passage.

Find that route, and the emperor's immense wealth falls into the hands of thieves. This tells us never to underestimate working people..."

Hearing this, the same companion asked innocently: "Then why do people who target the First Emperor's tomb always end badly? Shouldn't it have been looted long ago?"

"Are you stupid? Not just anyone can be the First Emperor. We don't believe in ghosts or gods, but we believe in ancestors. Disturbing ancestral graves inherently damages one's virtue." The companion who had been explaining took a deep drag on his cigarette. "What goes around comes around..."

]

A Hundred Years Together offered a more balanced assessment of the First Emperor's merits and faults.

The readers outside the book still felt heavy-hearted, but their emotions gradually settled.

"The craftsmen suffered so much. How are they any different from the famous figures in history? Ordinary people also have the right to live, yet they can die because of the selfishness of those above them. This wasn't only true in the Qin dynasty. It's the same in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods before it. This is the one thing I can't understand about Blue Planet history: how could they be so ruthless toward their own kind? I suppose this is what Blue Planet novelists call 'the limitations of history.'"

"From the perspective of the people, Qin's rule certainly had serious hidden dangers. But it still feels like such a waste. If only the First Emperor had been a little healthier and governed a little more kindly. I still hate Hu Hai, that unprecedentedly incompetent tyrant!"

"History's regrets always outweigh its fulfillments. Let's keep reading! If Qin couldn't sustain unity, then who can take on that responsibility?"

After reading the update to A Hundred Years Together, readers naturally compared it with Born Again with the Spring Wind, not out of any ill intent, but simply as part of processing everything they had read.

"Born Again with the Spring Wind is more comprehensive," one reader wrote in a separate thread, "but A Hundred Years Together is more vivid and its character work is engaging. Pan Shi, with his relentless drive, is especially compelling. Even with all the new knowledge packed into the early chapters, it still reads smoothly. Its values align more closely with the interstellar era, so all readers can approach it without any barriers."

"Qiongtian is part of the official novelist group, after all, so he writes less frequently. Canghai has published physical books, so it's natural that his command of storytelling is a step ahead."

Once readers started talking about the two novelists, they couldn't stop.

Because of the filter of Blue Planet civilization, readers instinctively hoped the conflict between the two could be resolved peacefully. Some even reread the works with that mindset, and actually uncovered new insights.

"The titles of both works carry deeper meaning. A Hundred Years Together suggests that even after a century, history still rolls like a wheel over everyone in its path. Born Again with the Spring Wind suggests that no matter how many setbacks occur, the seeds of civilization will break through the earth and grow again, covering the whole continent once more. One tells the grand narrative through the lens of emperors, while the other traces history through the eyes of ordinary people. They complement each other perfectly. To truly read one, you must also read the other."

"Their writing feels like two sides of the same whole. Read just one, and you sense the ghost of the other."

"If only the two of them could continue researching Huaxia civilization together. Why didn't Canghai make it into the Office? With his knowledge, he should have been more than qualified."

"I think I know why other novelists want them to reconcile. Look: in the appendix of Canghai's earlier physical book, he included a set of diagrams. And in Qiongtian's work reports on his personal page, he uses the exact same three-view technical diagrams. The same hobbies, the same interests, the same core values. They must have shared so much in the past that it became ingrained in them, down to the bone."

"I believe neither of these novelists is a bad person. Please, just make up already!"

Seeing these messages, Xi Yujin instinctively turned to look at the Intelligent Machines' terminal panel. The numbers were fluctuating wildly, too fast to read clearly. Uneasy, he felt that he needed one final decisive move to truly convince them.

At that moment, his optical computer's inbox chimed. The sender's designation this time was unusual: Intelligent Machines: Star Mechs.

They had chosen something as surprisingly polite as an email. Fearing it might be a virus, Xi Yujin ignored it. A short while later, another email arrived. This time, they had written the contents directly in the subject line:

"The Machine Mother Box is willing to exchange one second of computational power for a face-to-face meeting with Yujin of Blue Planet."