Time-traveling island

"Four similar spacetimes were detected."

Four interfaces appeared in front of Lin An.

"Current cosmic environment: stable, suitable for building a base."

Current location: Solar System - Earth

Civilization Level Assessment: C

Intelligent life forms can be recruited:

Song Quan (28 years old, male).

Jiang Tianheng (31 years old, male)

Warren Prescott (28 years old)...

Lin An recognized these people as his colleagues from the oil drilling platform.

It seems that although the giant octopus became enraged after being attacked last night, causing extensive damage to buildings, they are all unharmed.

"Earth's civilization level is rated as C? Brother Song is a graduate student with a B- in his knowledge. It seems that my own knowledge is probably only C, just average."

Lin An thought to himself, quickly glancing past these people to look at the next one.

Location: Da Shun Kingdom - Anxing County

Civilization Level Assessment: Grade D

Intelligent life forms can be recruited:

Wang Wanxiu (16 years old, female)

Wang Zhixing (40 years old, male)

Zhao Fu (34 years old...)

After reading it, Lin An's expression turned strange. There was absolutely no Great Shun Kingdom on Earth!

Weren't they hiring employees? What happened to the spaceship core?!

Let's move on to the next screen.

Location: Luofeng Mountain - Mingyue Lake

Civilization Level: B+

Intelligent life forms can be recruited:

Su Zhuoyao (117 years old, female)

Lin An: "???"

117岁？

Previously, the spacecraft's core reported detecting four similar timelines, suggesting that this 117-year-old Ms. Su Zhuoyao is not an ordinary human.

Let's ignore that for now and move on to the next screen!

Location: North of the Cold Mist Forest

Civilization Level: B+

Intelligent life forms can be recruited:

Amberley (99 years old, female)

Olvia (246 years old, female)

... "

After reading this, Lin An fell into thought.

If the spaceship's core is functioning correctly, its capabilities far exceed what he had previously imagined for an alien artifact!

These recruitable personnel come from this world and three different timelines, indicating that this spaceship is a creation of a higher-dimensional civilization!

For a moment, Lin An was filled with excitement, and all sorts of thoughts raced through his mind.

Until the giant octopus with one of his tentacles sitting on him let out an impatient "Awooo!" and the tentacles beneath it began to tremble.

Lin An realized it wanted to run off to play, so he quickly said, "Wait a few more minutes. I'll get some people over. If anything seems wrong, please help me out!"

The spaceship's core instructions state that recruiting personnel requires a contract from him. Once signed, employees are under his control, and can be sent back at any time if they are dissatisfied.

However, we should still be vigilant when dealing with people from the unknown world.

But how do we recruit them?

His colleagues are not being considered for the time being in the four different time periods.

The Great Shun Kingdom is likely an ancient world, and this sixteen-year-old girl, Wang Wanxiu, probably can't help him immediately.

Although in ancient times, sixteen years old was considered the age of adulthood.

Su Zhuoyao and Amber Lier are probably not ordinary humans; they may possess some kind of magic, divine arts, superpowers, or immortal techniques.

As for the others who are not ranked first, Lin An will not consider them for the time being.

After a moment's thought, he drafted the first contract:

Party A: Lin An, male, 25 years old, Earthling

Party B: __(Please sign your name)__

Contract Description: Party A will pay Party B a certain amount of remuneration. Party A promises not to intentionally harm Party B and will provide Party B with food, water, and a safe environment. Party B promises not to harm Party A and will accept a certain degree of supervision from Party A. Specific terms and conditions between the two parties are as follows.

……

After the contract is signed, the second party will be interviewed. If the interview is successful, there will be a three-month probationary period.

This contract is made in duplicate.

Signature of Party A: Lin An.

Signature of Party B: ____

Date: January 28, 2026.

Lin An shamelessly wrote this contract!

Because he's currently in the Pacific Ocean, where would he get any compensation? He can't even afford a cup of tea; he can only make empty promises.

But it's okay, which boss doesn't make empty promises?

After the contract was drafted, Lin An sent it to the first employee he liked.

Wang Wanxiu.

That's right, it's this ancient girl from Anxing County of the Great Shun Kingdom!

Let's test the waters first, then see what else we can do.

……

The Great Shun Kingdom is located ten miles outside the city of Anxing County.

"The county magistrate is back!"

"Your Excellency, what's being said in town?"

"Your Excellency..."

One by one, the emaciated and sorrowful people stood up and surrounded him, their eyes fixed on Magistrate Wang, who had returned from the county seat. Seeing that Magistrate Wang remained silent, their faces became even more grief-stricken. Some mothers couldn't help but shed tears, causing the children in their arms to cry as well.

In an instant, cries and sighs filled the air.

Hearing the commotion nearby, Wang Wanxiu, who was lying on a pile of grass under a big tree, struggled to sit up and tried to stand up to greet her father's return, but was stopped by her mother. Her father, who had come back, also waved his hand and said, "You're still sick, lie down and rest."

"Thank you for your concern, Father. I'm fine; I just need some rest."

Wang Wanxiu sat back down on the haystack, raised her small face, and asked the two men who had returned from the city, "Father, elder brother, did you see the prefect in the city?"

She shouldn't have asked her father and elder brother, but she and her family, along with more than 100,000 other refugees, had fled here and had already used up all the money and food they had brought. Now they were at their wits' end. The imperial court had not issued any decrees, and local officials had not provided any disaster relief. They were just urging them to leave quickly.

"We did see them."

Her brother, who had also been starving for several days, sat weakly to the side. Seeing his sister's thin face, he hesitated to speak, but finally said only, "Father begged to see me at all costs, but Prefect Li only said that there was no food in the city, and also said—"

"What did the Prefect say?" Wang Wanxiu asked hurriedly, her heart tightening.

Her brother shook his head and sighed, saying, "Prefect Li warned us that the rebel Huang Cheng's army is approaching, and ordered us not to linger outside the city. We must all leave within three days, otherwise he will send troops to drive us away, lest the disaster victims be used by the rebel army!"

Wang Wanxiu frowned, first glancing at her worried mother, then asked, "Father, has the imperial court issued any decree?"

Wang Zhixing, 40 years old and wearing a worn-out seventh-rank official's robe, stood silently in front of his family.

Not far behind him were a group of servants who had fled with him, as well as more than 100,000 civilians who had come with him from Shuofang County and other counties along the way.

At this moment, his heart was filled with sorrow.

Wang Wanxiu's eyebrows furrowed even more. In recent days, even if her father didn't say anything, she could tell what he was worried about.

Firstly, the Shuofang Commandery was in rebellion, and the commandery was plagued by war for three years. The people suffered greatly. At the urging of more than a thousand villagers, my father finally chose to abandon the city and flee, leading tens of thousands of villagers south.

Secondly, there are 100,000 disaster victims. My father, Commandant Zhou, and a few others are the leaders. These victims have not had a full meal in the past few months. Hundreds have starved to death on the road, and countless others have fled, been kidnapped, or sold into servitude.

Now, the disaster victims have no food left. Even if they want to flee south, they need to beg for a meal in Anhang County before they have the strength to go south.

Where does the food come from?

It seems that they will have to resort to desperate measures, with over 100,000 disaster victims besieging the city and pleading with wealthy households to share some of their food.

Whether they could get food was still unknown, and the officials and merchants in the city were also worried that once the disaster victims had food, they would refuse to leave.

My father is kind and does not want to force the disaster victims to besiege the city. But without besieging the city, how can he persuade the prefect with just words?

Moreover, the starving refugees might turn to bandits, bandits, or even become outlaws, posing a potential threat.

Thirdly, the imperial court.

Wang Wanxiu looked at her father. Her father and brother had gone to the city but hadn't brought back a single thing to eat. It was clear that the people in the city didn't care about the disaster victims, and staying any longer would be futile.

If the city is besieged, the soldiers inside will likely come out and drive them away with their weapons.

Wang Zhixing finally spoke, "I have discussed this with Commandant Zhou and the others. You should continue to rest."

Having said that, he left in a hurry.

Wang Wanxiu watched her father leave. At that moment, a servant brought a bowl of water and two withered fruits. Her mother took them and handed them to her, comforting her, "Don't blame your father and brother. The people in the city don't like us and won't give us food. Xiuxiu, just bear with it a little longer."

Wang Wanxiu declined several times, but seeing that her brother and mother were not eating, she picked up the bowl, took the fruit, turned her back, covered her mouth with her sleeve, and ate it silently.

After her brother rested, he got up to go find their father.

Suddenly, an incredible ball of light appeared, like a lantern lit in the darkness, and fell directly into Wang Wanxiu's hand.

"What is this?"

Her brother, the servants of the Wang family not far away, and the disaster victims from the vicinity all looked over.

Wang Wanxiu was equally taken aback. Her slender, thin hand picked up the paper that had been placed before her, and she looked in surprise at the first line of text, reading it softly:

"Employment contract?"

"Who wants to hire me?"

Although Wang Wanxiu was a girl, her parents taught her to read at a young age, and she has read many classic texts by sages over the years.

But what she saw before her was something she had never heard of before!

"Party A? Lin An..."

"Party B...me?"

"Food...date?"

These characters are mostly cursive script transformed into regular script or folk styles, and can be barely understood even with guesswork.

Strangely, she had never seen the way the numbers before the date were written, but she knew what they were: January 2016.

The era name system has lasted for two thousand years?!

Which emperor lived for two thousand years?!

"Little sister, what is this?!" her brother asked hurriedly.

Wang Wanxiu shook her head and said she didn't know, so her brother hurriedly sent someone to invite their father back.

Seeing this, Wang Wanxiu focused her gaze on the word "food" on the contract, thinking to herself:

"After my father returns, he will probably sign this contract for me. Since this thing is in my hands, why should my father take the risk? Now my parents, brothers and I have fled here with nothing and are in a sorry state. If it weren't for my parents and brothers protecting me, I would probably not be able to protect my innocence. So why should I worry about being cheated?"

Moreover, the contract is worded with precision and fairness, suggesting that this Mr. Lin is a man of high moral character… or perhaps even a celestial being, so I have nothing to worry about.”

After thinking it over, she stretched out her slender fingers and pressed the fingertip on "Party B".

The next moment, she vanished without a trace.