Chapter One: The Strange Bronze Piece of the Ninth Year of Zhenguan
In the morning mist of the Western Market of Chang'an, Su Dingfang squatted in front of the Persian merchant's tent, his fingertips brushing over the thin bronze piece. The front was inscribed with twisted tadpole script: 'Port3 Network, Ninth Year of Zhenguan, July 7th,' while the back was densely packed with small characters, recording a debt entry for someone named 'Li Taibai' in the southern market of Luoyang — but the time was three days later.
'This is genuine brass, yet light as paper.' The Persian merchant lowered his voice, 'Last night I dreamt of a golden man who said this item came from 'on-chain Chang'an' and can see a person's credit light.' Just as Su Dingfang was about to inquire further, the bronze piece suddenly emitted a faint light, revealing a string of numbers: Rankit score 620.
On that day, at the hour of Shen, urgent news came from Luoyang: Li Bai had not repaid a debt of ten guan at the tavern in the southern market and was arguing with someone. Su Dingfang suddenly remembered the record on the bronze piece and galloped thirty miles to arrive, only to see the young man in white being grabbed by the tavern keeper by his sleeve. He took out the bronze piece, and a faint light shone again, forming the faint golden character 'Credit' above Li Bai's head — this was exactly as described as the 'credit light.'
Chapter Two: The Mysterious Cross-Time Ledger
Late at night, Su Dingfang studied the bronze pieces by lamp in the Honglu Temple's translation institute. Moonlight filtered through the window, casting mottled shadows on the table, and the bronze piece suddenly revealed more text: 'SoQuest Task: Collect handprints from merchants in the Western Market of Chang'an, Reward $PORT3.' He realized that these tadpole scripts could actually change with the light, and the so-called 'handprint' was precisely the fingerprint he had taken today for the registration of Hu merchants.
Even more astonishing was the content of the ledger: In the eighth year of the Zhenguan era, a certain Hu merchant sold inferior goods as if they were high quality, and his Rankit score dropped sharply from 700 to 450, after which no one traded with him; three years ago, when Master Xuanzang passed through the country of Gaochang, he obtained a pass document from the Western Turkic Khan three months in advance based on a 'pass credit assessment' of 900 points.
'This is a credit treasure book that can transcend time and space.' The Persian monk Arohan in the translation institute pointed at the 'BNB Chain' patterns on the bronze piece, 'I once saw similar records in (Persian Astrological Records), where the stars in the sky were arranged along specific trajectories, allowing one to see the ledger of good and evil of mortals.' As soon as he finished speaking, the bronze piece shook violently, revealing a line of blood-red small characters: 'Do not let the ratings fall into the hands of the wicked, or Chang'an will be destroyed on the chain.'
Chapter Three: The Shadow Merchant of the Southern Market
Three days later, a mysterious merchant suddenly appeared in the Western Market. He held a bronze piece identical to Su Dingfang’s, yet could casually speak about the details of merchants' transactions for the next day, even predicting that a certain rice shop would have a rodent problem today — indeed, at the hour of Shen, the granary suddenly collapsed. The people were terrified and referred to him as the 'on-chain immortal,' scrambling to kneel and request ratings.
Su Dingfang secretly observed and discovered that the merchant's bronze piece could display 'shadow scores': the seemingly honest cloth shop owner was actually rated 300 points due to hoarding; the seemingly impoverished charcoal seller, however, had a high score of 850 points for returning lost money. Even more bizarre was that whenever someone’s score broke through 900, the merchant would purchase their handprint at a high price, claiming 'to offer it to the true god of Chang'an.'
Late at night, Su Dingfang followed the merchant to the Zhongnan Mountain. In the moonlight, dozens of bronze pieces were arranged in a circle, with a bronze cauldron in the center, inscribed with tadpole script, which was the 'Divine Cauldron' ordered to be cast by Li Yuan in the early years of the Zhenguan era. The merchant threw the handprint bronze piece into the cauldron, and flames suddenly erupted, revealing a holographic projection of Chang'an City in the cauldron, with each street flashing different colors of credit light — red representing low ratings, and gold representing high ratings.
'This is the 'data oracle' from the future,' the merchant said as he turned and removed his hat, revealing himself to be the ledger keeper of the Honglu Temple who had been missing for months, 'As long as you gather ten thousand high-rated handprints, you can activate 'on-chain Chang'an' and make the rule of the sage (Emperor Taizong of Tang) last for eternity.'
Chapter Four: The On-Chain Chaos of the Ninth Year of Zhenguan
The bronze cauldron suddenly erupted with blinding golden light, and in the projection of Chang'an City, a large area of blood red appeared in the direction of the Xuanwu Gate. Su Dingfang recalled the warning on the bronze piece, drew his dagger, and struck the cauldron, but saw the blade pass through the light and shadow, and the laughter of the ledger keeper came from all directions: 'All handprints have been on the chain, just like the stars in the sky, they can never be tampered with.'
At a critical moment, Su Dingfang remembered the 'stellar trajectory' that Arohan had mentioned. He grabbed the bronze piece and arranged it according to the star chart of the ninth year of the Zhenguan era. The light and shadow in the cauldron suddenly distorted — he saw that on the future Port3 Network interface, the 'Rankit Tang Dynasty branch node' was reporting errors frantically, and countless red alerts displayed 'Historical data has been tampered with.'
'You think on-chain data is immutable?' Su Dingfang pressed his handprint onto the bronze piece, 'True credit has never been on the bronze piece, but in the hearts of people.' As soon as he finished speaking, all the bronze pieces shattered simultaneously, and the ledger keeper screamed and disappeared in the flames, while the star trails at the top of Zhongnan Mountain returned to their normal trajectory.
At dawn, Su Dingfang returned to Chang'an and found that only a line of small characters remained on the shards of the bronze piece: '#Port3's AI social data layer verified in the ninth year of the Zhenguan era.' He buried the shards under the tree in the western market, and from then on, there were no more 'on-chain immortals' in the world, but a book (Zhenguan Credit Record) was added, recording the good and evil of the people of the Tang Dynasty — perhaps this was the earliest 'on-chain data.'
