Chapter 560 - 32: Is It Worth It?

August 14, 2016.

Nearly a month and a half had passed since the meeting with Qilin Ann Duo.

The establishment of Harmony City in the Beast God Realm had begun its initial phase. Young cubs from the Feather, Lin, and Mao Divine Beast and Spirit Beast races were gradually gathering at the assembly points set up by Earth.

There, they would receive basic training and education, learning how to coexist peacefully and treat other Divine Beasts and Spirit Beasts as equals.

Even with their inherited bloodlines, which naturally divided them into high and low classes, the young cubs were still just cubs. This inheritance wasn’t a true memory, but a form of instinctual education. With early nurturing and instruction by word and deed, the caste system ingrained in their bloodlines couldn’t overcome a postnatal education... Of course, it couldn’t be completely erased, but the humans weren’t obsessive-compulsive perfectionists either.

However, the past month and a half had been far from peaceful.

Faced with the powerful human faction, a considerable number of Divine Beast Races chose to mount a desperate resistance. Relying on the fact that their lairs were underground or underwater and thus extremely difficult to assault, they not only defied the new regulations but also attempted to kill the human emissaries.

This was actually quite normal.

In the past, not even the Kings of Divine Beasts could completely control all the Divine Beasts of their own race. Many powerful Divine Beast Families, though they had not become Kings of Divine Beasts, had always only paid lip service to the leaders, acting as local tyrants in their own territories. They obeyed operational orders but not direct summons, and even secretly plotted to overthrow the current King of Divine Beasts.

They assumed that humans were just another, more powerful type of Divine Beast, and so they fell back on old habits, resisting the coming change.

To ensure their plan was carried out, Earth deliberated time and again. In the end, with no other choice, they could only ask Zhengguo to dispatch Su Zhou to conduct several large-scale suppressions.

Furthermore, they had also dementedly used advanced projection technology to display the process and results of the suppression on the clouds and in the sky, broadcasting it to the entire Beast God Realm.

These suppressions were graphic enough to film a hundred B-movie slasher flicks, or a year’s worth of ’Su Zhou’s Gourmet Classroom: Ingredient Prep Edition.’ In any case, they were terrifying events whose detailed descriptions would never get past the censors.

The emotionless weapon of extermination, Su Zhou, cut, burned, and bit his way through them all, a sight that truly shook the beasts to their core. The projections were in the sky, impossible to block, and became a traumatic part of many a young Spirit Beast and Divine Beast’s childhood.

All in all, thanks to overwhelming martial might, the commands of the Beast Kings, and the fear of a certain young human, there were basically no Divine Beast Families left in the Beast God Realm that dared to pull any small tricks of resistance.

As for the Spirit Beast families, offering their children to be driven or even eaten by Divine Beasts had always been considered a great honor. Even though the humans repeatedly declared that the cubs they sent would have a bright future, it was clear that until Harmony City was completed and the facts spoke for themselves, mere empty words could not shatter the mental inertia built up over thousands of years in the Beast God Realm.

The reason only three of the Five Races had responded was mainly that the Beast God Realm was simply too vast, its infrastructure was exceptionally backward, and logistics couldn’t keep up.

To put it in Earth terms, if the Feather Race’s territory was the region of Zhengguo, then the territories of the Luo Race and Kun Race were in Northern Europe and West Asia, respectively.

For the time being, even though the Divine Beasts of these two races didn’t dare to resist because of Su Zhou, it was simply impossible for Earth to launch operations there. Thus, they could only slowly start building airports, roads, and other infrastructure throughout the Beast God Realm, striving to strengthen their control over the areas they already held.

It had to be said, this was also a good way to stimulate domestic demand and consume excess production capacity.

Everything in the Beast God Realm was gradually getting on the right track. The need for killing beasts and suppressing dissent was dwindling, with most matters being resolved through persuasion and reason. Even when force was needed, a superweapon of Su Zhou’s caliber was no longer required.

Because of this, Su Zhou, now back in his hometown, was quite idle. Apart from his daily Cultivation, watering the flowers and plants, and getting rid of pests and Slimes, he had nothing to do, having entered an early retirement.

In the last half-month, Father Su and Su’s Mother had even taken their annual leave to go see the whales in the Arctic Ocean. As a result, Su Zhou had moved into the Shao Family’s house for the time being. This way, he could occasionally tutor Shao Qiming and Shao Shuangyue in their Cultivation, and from time to time go for a stroll, either acting heroically for a just cause or finding joy in helping others.

As it happened, while habitually watching Shao Shuangyue play games, Su Zhou made a surprising discovery: the game called ’Elemental Era’ was somewhat similar to his own experiences in the Reincarnation World!

"No, this *is* the information from your Reincarnation World being transmitted."

Yara, the Snake Spirit, said this in response to Su Zhou’s bemused, ’Isn’t this too much of a coincidence?’ It flicked its tail and explained breezily, "Because information has gravity. To give you an analogy, if there were only two Transcendents in a world, then those two Transcendents would inevitably run into each other. It’s the same principle for you and the information from the Reincarnation World."

Su Zhou’s expression was pensive, but he hadn’t understood a thing.

The CG for Elemental Era had a post-apocalyptic, wasteland feel—a desolate land, a young City Lord struggling to support a lone city, a listless populace, and an impending doom. In this world destined for despair, should one drift along with the tide and let it be, or persevere and, even when faced with countless dead ends, find a way to ensure civilization’s survival?

’Interesting!’

Su Zhou was quite interested in the game. In the Reincarnation World, Elias had been able to solve his many problems mainly because of Su Zhou’s presence. This game, however, seemed to explore how that young Lord would have to "clear the game" if he weren’t there, or if he had interfered far less.

However, Shao Shuangyue, who was long used to being watched while she played, had a completely different take on it.

Muttering under her breath, the girl began to direct her citizens to work, hammering the keyboard and mouse with a force and tone that was practically seething with resentment. "Lazy bums!"

"Useless citizens!"

"A bunch of freeloaders!"

"I’m busting my ass to keep you alive, and you’re protesting because I won’t let you drink?! It’s the end of the world! What the hell are you drinking!"

"You won’t even work twelve hours a day! Don’t you know there are plenty of people in modern society who work twelve-hour days? It’s the apocalypse! The fact that I’m not making you work sixteen hours is a sign of my boundless mercy!"

"You’ve got to be kidding me! The Elemental Array is almost out of energy, and you useless citizens are clocking out on time?! If the Array runs out of energy and shuts down, you’re all going to die, you know?! You’d seriously rather die than work overtime?!"

Every so often, the beautiful girl with long, straight black hair could be seen gritting her teeth in anger, her face flushed and her eyes moist. "ARGH! Why isn’t there an option to hang these troublemakers?! I’m the City Lord! Don’t I have the right of execution?!"

Watching Shao Shuangyue’s expressions as she flew into a rage over the bizarre behavior of the citizens in Elemental Era, Su Zhou found it made for great entertainment.

Moreover, unlike Shao Shuangyue, who was focused on the gameplay, Su Zhou was more interested in the game’s background and setting.

’The city the player controls should be Naisel City, under Elias.’

’Because of Elemental Stagnation, the world is on the brink of destruction. Only by maintaining the Elemental Array can the city survive. And to maintain the Elemental Array, the city needs to send adventurers into the Maze to collect resources, as well as train soldiers to resist the occasional invasions of the Undead army.’

’On top of that, they’re sometimes infiltrated and sabotaged by mysterious individuals... those must be the followers of the Water God. But what’s strange is, they haven’t launched a major invasion. According to some traveling merchants, a war seems to have broken out far away. Gales and torrential rains are sweeping across the land... Could it be that the Wind God and Water God have gone to war?’

Sitting behind Shao Shuangyue, Su Zhou’s gaze was deep as he pulled a chocolate stick from the box next to her and gobbled it down with a CRUNCH, CRUNCH. He couldn’t help but fall into deep thought. ’Does this mean that if I hadn’t shown up and so spectacularly annihilated the Water God’s believers in Naisel City, they wouldn’t have focused their attention there? Would they have even run into the nearby Wind God, and gone straight to war without even having time for a blood sacrifice?’

"Hey, stop stealing my snacks!" Noticing Su Zhou’s little move, Shao Shuangyue was snapped out of her tirade against the "useless citizens." She quickly snatched the box of chocolate sticks away and warily pulled out a few to stuff into her own mouth. "Can’t you buy your own? All you know how to do is steal snacks from an innocent little girl?"

"Stealing? This is robbery! I’ll buy you ten boxes next time. Besides, what ’little girl’?"

’And then I’ll keep eating yours, since stolen food really does taste the best.’ With a flicker of his Divine Thought, another chocolate stick flew out of the box, spinning nimbly in mid-air like a Flying Sword before landing in his mouth.

As a simulation management game, Elemental Era wasn’t particularly difficult. After all, games are meant to be played by people, not to play people.

The various vaguely familiar events in it were quite interesting to Su Zhou. He could tell that some special events, like the encounter with the mysterious Abnormal Person, were based on himself. If the City Lord unconditionally agreed to a few of this person’s requests—providing him with special resources or helping him travel deep into the Maze—then at the end of the game, when facing a great tide of Undead, an insect swarm, or even a tsunami coupled with an all-out assault by various Water Beasts, a Giant Dragon would appear to help the city fend off the enemy, greatly reducing the difficulty of the final battle.

Apparently, there were also special story events for training adventurers to clear the eighth floor of the Maze or for repelling a wave of the Undead tide with zero casualties. It was a pity Shao Shuangyue wasn’t a hardcore gamer, but Su Zhou could guess for himself. The former would likely allow the player to discover the truth about the "changing of Eras," setting the stage for the game’s true ending. The latter, similarly, would probably reveal the fact that "the world is gradually turning into the Netherworld."

Furthermore, once the city’s Combat Power reached a certain level, the forces of the Wind God and Water God would no longer come to harass it, apart from the Undead tide. Su Zhou guessed this was because the two Gods didn’t want to waste their strength on a tough nut to crack, lest they give their rival an advantage.

’So that’s another way to beat the game?’

After one playthrough, having stumbled her way to the end, Shao Shuangyue’s city managed to survive. Through her prior management, she weathered all sorts of sudden events, maintained the Elemental Array, repelled the enemy, and successfully led her city until the true end of the world.

In a dark Silence, the entire world was completely enveloped in Gray Mist. All light, whether from the sun or the stars, was gone.

On the hazy continent, only a single, shining spark could be seen... the light of the Elemental Array.

The City Lord, who had led the city forward, stood on the highest floor of his Lord’s Mansion. The mysterious Abnormal Person and other NPCs from the story stood behind him... Not only that, but all the residents had left their homes, standing together in the warm, orderly city where they had ample food and clothing, free from internal and external threats.

Everyone, under the cover of the Great Array, silently gazed up at the dark sky of this world.

—*’Is this... the end?’*

The young City Lord thought to himself. Just then, a bright, warm flame lit up in the far distance.

The fire was dazzling but not blinding, and its searing heat began to spread across the dead and silent world.

It was like the birth of a new dawn.

[Normal End - Radiance of the New World]

In the bright, source-less firelight, a line of text scrolled into view.

"Faced with the crucible of human nature, we made our choice."

"To preserve civilization, we used every means at our disposal, be it forced labor or transgression."

"But, was it all worth it?"