Xu Lin first opened a book titled *Science Magazine*, which was filled with things like the steam age, new breakthroughs in steam power, the invention of the Leyden jar by Kleist, and Franklin's invention of the lightning rod—entirely topics that Xu Lin could not understand at all. He put the book aside and picked up another one called *Five Thousand Years of Daxia*. Feeling very curious, Xu Lin opened it.
The opening read: "The Daxia nation has a long history and a brilliant civilization, enough to make every descendant of Daxia feel immensely proud and confident. Our..." The more Xu Lin read, the more interested and focused he became. He read through "Pangu Separates Heaven and Earth," "Shennong Tastes a Hundred Herbs," "Dayu Controls the Floods," all the way to "The Qin Emperor Annexes the Six States." Xu Lin still felt that the book recorded things in great detail, even documenting events that had happened not long ago. But as he continued reading, something felt increasingly wrong, until he reached: "In 210 BC, the Qin Emperor died at the Shaqiu Palace during his fifth eastern tour..." A thunderbolt seemed to strike Xu Lin's heart. He was filled with shock and uncertainty: the Qin Emperor was dead? How could the Qin Emperor be dead? What about his father? What about the Xu Clan? Xu Lin anxiously flipped through the pages of the book, searching for answers, but he never found what he wanted. The book only mentioned that the Qin Emperor had sent Xu Fu to search for the El…
Chapter 20