Chapter 701.1: Animal World, The Holy Scripture
Port Gallon.
A steady, drizzling rain washed the dust from the streets. Wisps of mist rose from the dark-red paving bricks, leaving the harbor, still not fully touched by sunlight, hazy in the fog.
Along the docks, sailors were cleaning the decks of cargo ships. Merchants in silk robes were checking off goods with port officials, confirming what needed to be transferred into the warehouses.
After a brief vacuum of authority, order had already returned to the port, at least within the harbor district.
Institutions such as the Guard Station, the Fire Station, port authority, clinics, courts, and the like were all back at work under the iron-fisted mix of threat and favor imposed by the “iron men.”
After all, having a job to do and wages to collect was far more comfortable than squatting in a warehouse without even a bed.
The Dolphin docked once again. This time it brought not only supplies shipped from French Fry Harbor, but also researchers from the Scientific Expedition Team.
Earlier, the players of the Burning Corps had seized a large number of relics left over from the Prosperity Era in the Governor’s Manor, all of which needed appraisal. The Scientific Expedition Team was the only organization interested in those sacred relics and legally able to purchase them from the players.
At times, Ample Time couldn’t help but maliciously imagine whether these people might deliberately drive down prices by relying on their “exclusive franchise rights.”
But even if they did, there was nothing he could do. These spoils were submitted as quest items, not commodities for free trade. No matter how low the price, he had to accept it.
That said, the broad-minded female researcher’s offer did not disappoint him, in fact, it was higher than he had expected.
“... A total of 9.17 million silver coins.” Having finally completed the photographic registration of the last item, the researcher tapped twice on the expanded holographic screen with her index finger, archiving the collected data.
“Sssss!”
Standing beside her, Ample Time couldn’t help but draw in a breath of damp air. The researcher happened to hear it and cast him a strange look. “What’s wrong?”
Hiding the delight on his face, Ample Time spoke solemn nonsense with a straight face. “Nothing... I just mean, this is a bit too little. We put in a lot of effort to get these things. Could you add a bit more?”
The researcher teased him, “For off-plan recovery projects, we have strict calculation formulas and audit procedures. No matter how much effort you put in, it won’t affect their added value. I suggest you give up on trying to scam us for more.”
“Alright.” Ample Time gave up decisively.
The researcher’s name was Han Mingyue, a “little popsicle” recovered from desert ruins by the Thorn Corps stationed around Pioneer City. The reason they didn’t call her an “old popsicle” was because her hibernation pod’s display showed only 81 years. She had been asleep for less than a full century. Her background profile on the official site ran a full five pages, mostly compiled by players active around Pioneer City.
Ample Time skimmed it and distilled the key points into three lines.
She had once been a resident of the now-abandoned Shelter 288. Her specialty was data recovery and archival organization. Likely influenced by Rama, commander of the Thorn Corps, she was primarily engaged in sociological research focused on the Poro Province.
Both the Poro Province and sociology were relatively niche fields within the Scientific Expedition Team. But precisely because of that, as one of the few capable hands in the field, Yin Fang still assigned her over despite her limited seniority.
Turning her attention back to the spoils filling half the warehouse, Han Mingyue extended her gloved right hand and picked up a silver-gray storage card from a shelf.
The card was only thumb-sized.
A spark of keen interest flashed in her eyes. “... To be honest, I didn’t expect you to find this.”
Ample Time glanced at her fingertips. It looked like a memory card, sitting among other colorful game cartridges. He couldn’t help but ask, “What’s so special about this card?”
“Special? It’s far more than that!” Han Mingyue said cheerfully. “Put it this way, my current project was missing exactly this one piece of the puzzle. It’s the origins of the Thousand Races and Thousand Gods.”
The origins of the Thousand Races and Thousand Gods?!
Interest flared instantly in Ample Time’s eyes, and he said at once, “I would love to hear more.”
Han Mingyue didn’t answer. Instead, she took out a holographic computer pen, connected an expansion interface, and inserted the aged storage card.
Watching the pale-blue holographic beam with anticipation, Ample Time thought he would see something astonishing. Instead, what appeared was a powerful yak.
The yak ran forward, its bulging muscles brimming with vitality, dust billowing around it, yet the ground beneath its hooves could not be seen. The camera then pulled back, revealing the herd behind it and an endless, vast grassland.
Next, a deep, resonant, and persuasive narration began.
“On the grasslands by the Everflowing River, the deadliest force is not the claws of hyenas or the teeth of lions, but the stampeding herds. Even the fiercest beasts must give them a wide berth...”
Fair enough, judged as a documentary, those short shots were quite striking, and the narration was solid.
Especially considering that 200 years ago, those images might have been presented via immersive virtual reality devices, the actual impact would likely have been far greater than this third-person holographic projection.
But... What did this have to do with the Thousand Races and Thousand Gods?
Ample Time was baffled.
Standing beside him, Han Mingyue stared unblinking at the flickering holographic imagery, as if studying an artifact.
“This is original footage of The Mysteries of Nature: The Yak. Though some data is still damaged, this is the most complete storage card we’ve found so far. It’s amazing it was preserved this well. Please try to search similar places more often in the future.”
“I will, if conditions allow...” Still reeling from the documentary’s title, Ample Time couldn’t help asking, “But I don’t quite understand, what does The Mysteries of Nature have to do with the Thousand Races and Thousand Gods?”
Han Mingyue narrowed her eyes slightly and smiled. “The herd of cattle running under the blazing sun. Doesn’t that feel familiar?”
Ample Time froze for a moment, then blurted out, “... The Ox God of the Sun!”
Han Mingyue shot him a look of approval. “Your insight is excellent.”
Holy... I’m right?!
Ample Time was completely stunned.
“But,” Seeing his hesitation, Han Mingyue smiled knowingly. “You want to ask how a science documentary became the origin of the Thousand Races and Thousand Gods, right?”
Ample Time nodded with an odd expression. “Maybe my imagination isn’t good enough. I really can’t picture the whole process.”
“It’s actually not that hard to understand. Just abstract something like a ‘holo-tape’ into ‘knowledge and experience beyond explanation’, and it makes sense.”
Seeing the confusion still written on his face, she paused before she continued, “In ancient times, accidents of nature like a forest fire or a bolt of lightning striking at a specific spot was enough to make a particularly intelligent or lucky ape-man into a tribe’s seer or priest. But as people gradually mastered the way to use fire and lost their awe of its power, seers, priests, keepers of the flame, those roles imbued with sacred meaning, slowly faded from the center of history.”
Ample Time frowned slightly, thought for a moment, before he spoke again. “So you’re saying someone used these educational videos, most likely, those blue coats, and packaged themselves as priests or prophets and misled the survivors here.”
Not surprised by his interpretation, Han Mingyue replied gently, “That’s a rather utilitarian reading. It’s not impossible. But the existing evidence points more toward a completely opposite explanation.”
“... What explanation?”
“This wasn’t deliberately orchestrated by any individual, but rather formed spontaneously through collective unconsciousness during long-term social evolution.”
Ample Time was taken aback. “Spontaneously?”
“Exactly.” Han Mingyue nodded slowly, watching the fragmented holographic footage continue to play. “A work of art can be created by one person or a few people, but culture that gains widespread acceptance is usually formed spontaneously through social evolution. To understand the origins of Poro Province’s Thousand Races and Thousand Gods, we have to start with the earliest survivors who fled to this land.”
Ample Time frowned. “There were no indigenous survivors here?”
Han Mingyue froze, looking at him with a strange expression. “Are you joking? During the Prosperity Era this was an ecological preserve. Aside from a few tourism workers and researchers, how could there have been indigenous survivors? Would you want to sleep alongside lions and wild cattle?”
“...?”
Seeing how little he knew, Han Mingyue sighed, shut off the Animal World projection, and spoke slowly. “Looks like I’ll have to start from the very basics...”
...
The greatest difference between the Prosperity Era and the Old Era was not merely the technological gap, but sweeping, unimaginable changes across every aspect of life, from production and daily living to ideology and culture.
One of the most typical examples was administrative division.
Thanks to free population movement, extensive development of outer space, and global ethnic integration, people’s attachment to land had weakened dramatically compared to the Old Era. They identified more with the identity of being a human rather than with bloodlines, and even began debating whether to grant the honor of being human to AI with social attributes.
Humanity on the planet was fully prepared to embrace the future, standing just one FTL engine away from stepping into the stars.
Against this backdrop, in pursuit of more efficient land resource allocation, the Federation abolished the Old Era’s administrative divisions early in the Prosperity Era and replaced them with larger, more regionally tailored zones.
The Sunset Province was one such product of the “land enclosure movement.”
Once a vast desert, it had been transformed by seawater desalination systems and limitless energy into farmland capable of satisfying the stomachs and palates of most of the world’s population.
The Poro Province was similar, but its planning direction was the complete opposite of the former desert and wasteland known as the Sunset Province.
In the Old Era, before the Federation was established, it had housed the world’s largest slum, with wealth disparity among the most extreme on the planet.
If the Sunset Province was an untouched wilderness, then the Poro Province was land ruined beyond repair by its inhabitants.
And it was precisely for that reason that, after many twists and turns, when the Human Federation was finally established and construction began on the four major industrial zones in the Central Continent along with the space elevator project, this region was immediately swept up in a prolonged and unprecedented great population migration.
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