Chapter 81: World History! The Great Cataclysm
Chapter 81: Chapter 81: World History! The Great Cataclysm
"Commander Qian, where did you buy all this?" The Queen voiced the question on Tang Wen’s mind.
He was desperate to know: Where had technological civilization re-emerged? And just how far had civilization in this world progressed!
Commander Qian didn’t answer right away. Instead, he ordered someone to bring a Scroll from his carriage.
The Scroll was slowly unfurled by two Dancing Girls, revealing a map.
The map’s starting point was their camp, and everything around it—the Black Mountain Camp, lakes, and mountain ranges—was marked with perfect clarity.
Following the route west, camps, strongholds, and villages were scattered like stars in the sky.
Commander Qian explained with a voice full of emotion, "I have led my team through every single place on this map. As for the goods from this trip, they came from a place called ’Xia City’."
Tang Wen stared intently at the map. The words "Xia City" were not on it.
"You went to Xia City?"
Commander Qian shook his head. "No, it’s too far. We only made it to Sanlian City..."
Pointing to the westernmost edge of the map, he began to explain.
Sanlian City is the domain of three major powers: Jinshan, White Stone City, and Ping’an Prefecture.
The three of them, much like the Flame Camp and the Black Mountain Camp, had been fighting each other for many years.
Later, they discovered that endless fighting wasn’t the solution.
The powerful ones stepped forward, made peace, and established rules.
This time, the long-distance caravan traveled downstream by boat, and after several months, they arrived in Ping’an Prefecture.
As he spoke of this, Commander Qian’s tone filled with envy. "Over there, there are buildings seven or eight stories high, and strong young men on the streets pull rickshaws. Every Martial Arts Hall has an Awakened, and even more powerful individuals. The city has magnificent factories billowing black smoke... Ordinary people don’t need to do Farming; they can support themselves and their families just by working..."
Tang Wen struggled to keep his expression neutral.
The others, however, couldn’t help but use Commander Qian’s words to imagine what that place must be like, what kind of splendid prosperity it held!
The evening banquet began.
Even with the impending drought, the camp had still slaughtered pigs and sheep to welcome the returning caravan!
The dozens of caravan members were each the center of attention.
They excitedly shared tales of their travels with their childhood friends and the other Guards from their hometown.
A sense of superiority unconsciously crept into their words.
Two young captains at the same table as Tang Wen and Zhou Bing, men Commander Qian had recruited on his journey, were speaking loudly and pretentiously, their eyes darting toward Zhou Bing from time to time.
Unfortunately for them, the Ice Beauty didn’t spare them a single glance all night.
She was thinking about Tang Wen’s decision.
To step down as Commander and focus on his Martial Arts.
’Tang Wen’s natural talent is so formidable, yet he still needs to be this focused. Should I continue serving as a Commander?’
The hall was a cacophony of clinking glasses and boisterous voices.
The two of them ate and drank slowly, not bothering to join the commotion.
General Zhou led Commander Qian over to introduce him to Tang Wen and Zhou Bing.
Only then did the two caravan captains at their table realize with a start that these two were also Commanders.
’Aren’t all Commanders in the Flame Camp supposed to be Martial Artists?’
’How could they be Martial Artists at such a young age?’
Commander Qian shared their sentiment. "Commander Zhou Bing, it’s been a year or two. Congratulations on your breakthrough!"
Zhou Bing nodded, acknowledging his hard work and offering a brief pleasantry.
Commander Qian had long heard of her cold personality and didn’t mind.
He then turned to Tang Wen with admiration. "Commander Tang Wen, a young hero! Our camp is truly producing a wealth of talent."
Tang Wen smiled and chatted with him, his expression exceptionally sincere.
Commander Qian was happy to oblige.
After a bit of small talk, Tang Wen casually revealed his true intention. "I was wondering, do you have any books about historical records? I’d like to borrow them to have a look."
Commander Qian answered directly, "Of course. The caravan makes a point of gathering information everywhere we go. We’ve collected quite a few history books."
One of the long-distance caravan’s tasks was to explore the world.
They had brought back no shortage of books.
Before the dinner ended, Commander Qian had someone bring a crate of thread-bound books and gave it to Tang Wen.
A sleepless night.
He read until dawn, finishing the entire crate of books before finally lying down.
’Come to think of it, I’ve never studied this diligently before.’
’Not even before the college entrance exams back then.’
Staying up all night didn’t affect his energy in the slightest.
Tang Wen began to sort through the information he had read.
First, regarding the origin of this world’s history, almost every book mentioned a similar term: "Apocalyptic Catastrophe."
Some, however, called it the "Great Cataclysm."
Others called it the "Annihilation Calamity."
Extremists with ulterior motives called it the "Divine Annihilation."
All current history only began to be recorded after that day.
In other words, everything that existed now had been built by survivors upon the ruins of a destroyed civilization.
In the beginning, the land was barren, unable to grow a single blade of grass.
People’s lifespans were extremely short; they would contract malignant diseases and die before they reached their twenties or thirties.
Vile beasts oozing pus roamed the land, and hideous, two-headed fish swam in the waters.
Tang Wen thought of the original owner of his body, whose parents had died from a malignant disease.
Among the common people of the Outer City, very few truly lived to a peaceful old age.
The Martial Artists of the Inner City, on the other hand, like Elder General Xia, could easily live past eighty or even a hundred.
Furthermore, their vitality hardly waned with age. While it was uncertain if they could kill a Martial Artist of the same Level right before breathing their last, taking down several Martial Artists was no problem at all.
Perhaps it was precisely to resist these malignant diseases that people desperately pursued Martial Arts Training to strengthen themselves.
’A barren land, rampant diseases, a severely damaged climate and environment... this really sounds like a post-nuclear world.’
"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."
Recalling a famous quote from his past life, Tang Wen looked at the crate of pebbles in his room and couldn’t help but laugh. ’Aren’t we already using stones?’
’This world is actually pretty lucky. It has not only a technological civilization, but a Martial Arts one too.’
’Many Martial Artists could probably survive the nuclear fallout.’
’And because of Martial Arts, the human population must have recovered much faster.’
’I wonder how many years it’s been since the nuclear war.’
’Crops can grow again, and lifespans aren’t so short anymore. It has to have been at least several hundred years, right?’
Thinking of the products of industrial civilization he had seen during the day, Tang Wen speculated, ’The "Xia City" that Commander Qian mentioned might have already reached a technological level equivalent to the 19th or 20th century on Blue Star.’
For a moment, he even felt the urge to go and see it for himself.
But he extinguished the thought the very next second.
’Are you kidding me? The drought is almost here, and with my current level in Martial Arts, I’m thinking of going out to explore?’
After thinking for another moment, Tang Wen rolled out of bed and went into the courtyard to practice.
Yesterday, after the celebratory banquet, the two Generals and the Queen had discussed the matter of Tang Wen stepping down as Commander.
As expected, there would be a decision today.
"I saw your light was on all night yesterday. Are the books that interesting?" Tangtang asked.
"The books say that Xia City is a paradise, with silver all over the ground and rivers flowing with maize porridge." This wasn’t something Tang Wen made up; some of the books were actually that ridiculously written.
Tangtang’s jaw dropped, and she stopped practicing with her saber. But after a moment’s thought, she shook her head and said, "That’s a lie. If there’s silver everywhere, who would still work? If no one is Farming, where would the maize porridge come from?"
Tang Wen chuckled. His sister had always been sharp when it came to matters of wealth. "The books also say they have trains that run without needing horses to pull them."
"It runs without being pulled? Are people pushing it from behind? Fake! Definitely fake," Tangtang concluded, tilting her small face up.
Zhou Bing nodded in agreement.
When Tang Wen then mentioned tall buildings and factories, the two women couldn’t tell if he was telling the truth or not.
「Morning. The Royal Palace.」
The Queen, the Generals, and the Commanders were all present.
There were two major events today: first, the long-distance caravan had just returned, and second, Tang Wen had killed a High-level Exotic Beast.