With the Collector’s Primordial Energy mastery, he was at this moment somewhat too excited to speak coherently.
It was enough to reveal the shock within his heart.
After all, his assumptions about Shen Shi’s identity and the content of the transactions between Shen Shi and Gong Chu were just conjectures without concrete confirmation.
On another front, the notion that humanity’s legacy has never been truly severed was, in fact, a sort of fantasy he entertained after researching history.
A desire limited to "possibility."
He had studied that period of history when humanity, victorious under the lead of the great hero Shen Li over the Worren, then faced the emergence of a Primordial Energy Master race that truly alarmed the Daike Civilization.
If not constrained by the regulations within the Mude System, the Daike Civilization would have intended to directly annihilate this race and civilization.
Because the emergence of a Primordial Energy Master implied that their culture and legacy could support the second.
Even the third, fourth...
This is one reason why humanity in the Future World madly pursued what was lost in the past.
The great hero’s existence already proved the potential of the lost legacy!
Therefore, even if the Daike Civilization couldn’t directly destroy their entire race and civilization, the destruction of their culture was utterly uncompromising.
Heroic Shen Li was executed, all contemporary individuals underwent consciousness and memory uniform erasure, all records and documentation were thoroughly destroyed, including human cities, and everything about humanity... it was humanity’s most muddled era, until several generations later, when they struggled out of this state and began to move forward again.
Thus, there is no proof that the Shen Clan still exists.
Nor that they still preserved their complete legacy.
This is merely the fantasy of the Collector and all those wishing for its existence.
They murmured as if in a dream, the only Primordial Energy Master humanity ever birthed, the greatest hero in human history, Shen Li managed to preserve humanity’s cultural fire despite the Daike Civilization’s severe and mad Primordial Energy interrogation.
This is their only hope.
This unproven fantasy based solely on trust in the human hero, is actually validated!
How could the Collector not be absolutely ecstatic?
Even if he could control his emotions, he did not wish to, and besides, he simply couldn’t!
"From the appearance of the Father of Heroes, to the birth of the great hero, to your emergence, the entire Shen Clan’s splendor shall forever coexist with humanity!"
At this moment, the Collector surprisingly half-kneeled to the ground, performing the ancient subservient etiquette, his emotions radiating so fiercely that he almost laid bare everything within his heart without reservation:
"I cannot express my gratitude to you, cannot describe the redemption your appearance brings me, please allow me to offer everything of myself, permit me to join the great Shen Shi Clan, and contribute my all to the protection of humanity’s cultural legacy!"
Accompanying the Collector’s words, the black market terminal transaction frame again appeared before Shen Shi.
"User named Gong Mo is applying for your consciousness information to embed a subservient Primordial Energy Steel Seal."
"Please confirm whether to trade."
Gong Mo... is this the Collector’s name?
Could it be, he is indeed Gong Chu’s brother?
Possibly a sister too...
Modified , either gender is plausible.
Shen Shi felt his thoughts were somewhat tangled because he hadn’t considered making the Collector his subordinate.
Gong Chu was unavoidable; if the Ancient Books weren’t traded to Gong Chu, he couldn’t become a Primordial Energy Master, and humanity in the Future World would lose a major ace before mortal peril.
More importantly, such subservient contracts didn’t actually provide much benefit to him—according to Shen Shi’s calculations, when humanity’s legacy no longer becomes interrupted, the changes in the future line would be enough to erase all transactions he conducted here, as that change cannot be sustained merely by a consciousness residue birthed from the timeline.
Shen Shi’s silence seemed to make the Collector somewhat anxious.
Preserving his half-kneeling position, he said with impatience: "Respected Mr. Shen, you should be able to perceive, why given the known difficulties of Gus Land, I still insist on coming here; although I am currently so weak and insignificant here, we possess immense advantages that other civilizations and other races don’t have!"
Suddenly, a flash of realization passed through Shen Shi’s mind.
The Collector, or rather humanity, possess advantages in Gus Land that others simply cannot match!
That is the black market trading system!
Gus Land might have similarly other long-term channels to trade with the outside world, but they are certainly not ones available to "lucky" invited "individuals" like the Collector.
To trade away everything he carries for items unavailable in the outside world, and then leave, was originally the only thing "lucky" individuals like the Collector could do.
But! The Collector is different!
He has the black market trading!