Immortal Dust

Before the wine glass was put down for dinner, civil engineering graduate Su Ming traveled to the Nile River in 3000 BC. There were only professional textbooks, a notebook full of formulas and a school badge in his backpack, but his body unexpectedly gained immortality - he would not get sick or grow old, but he would be killed. From the muddy construction sites of ancient Egypt to the beacon fires of the Warring States Period, from the West City of Chang'an to the church domes of the Renaissance, he constantly changed his name and identity, using modern knowledge to survive in the cracks of history. He witnessed the erection of the pyramids, the fall of Rome, the splendid poetry of the Tang Dynasty, and the raging Black Death, but was unable to change any major history. There were only small things he could do: let an Egyptian boy live twenty more years, move a section of the city wall thirty steps, and prevent the manuscript of a poem from being devoured by the flames of war. Until 2035, archaeologists discovered unusual traces at the sites of six major civilizations at the same time - Simplified Chinese on papyrus, advanced reinforcement of city walls during the Warring States Period, and rescue records on Renaissance payrolls. When AI connects all this, the world begins to ask: Who is the "ghost engineer" who appears at every turning point of civilization? At this time, Su Ming had lived in seclusion in Shanghai for a hundred years. In front of him were six sealed cabins, which contained "human warmth" collected over six thousand years: half a piece of ancient Egyptian bread, a piece of Warring States pottery, half a Tang poetry manuscript, a piece of Renaissance cheese, a pack of Ming Dynasty maltose, and a white hair from 2018. He knew it was time to write the final footnote to these eight million tiny interventions. What he saves is not history, but humanity that has not yet completely become cold in the long river of time.