Chapter 701.2: Animal World, The Holy Scripture
Large numbers of impoverished people left their destitute homelands in pursuit of a better life. Wave after wave, they boarded maglev trains that crossed the Tzobar Mountains and headed toward the promised land in the heart of the continent. Together with migrants from other administrative regions, they accomplished a miracle in the history of the Federation, a massive super–urban cluster built around the space elevator.
Conversely, the Poro Province, left empty as people departed, experienced a vast and sweeping wave of de-urbanization under the influence of the effects of population loss.
In truth, the phenomenon did not occur only in the Poro Province. It was simply that, due to numerous historical legacies, its manifestation appeared far more striking in the macro-level data.
According to verifiable records, by the middle of the Prosperity Era, the entire population of Poro Province had dwindled to just 0.3% of its size at the end of the Old Era, a stark contrast to the eastern and western provinces, which still retained large numbers of urban clusters capable of generating positive economic effects.
Considering that paying exorbitant maintenance costs for public facilities with extremely low local utilization, forcing residents to live in crumbling houses worth a fortune, made less sense than simply giving them money and a ticket to move to the central city clusters and enjoy life, the Federation authorities made a decisive choice. They designated Poro Province as an ecological preservation zone and, under the banner of building a paradise for animals alongside humans, used administrative power to proactively fast-forward the unprecedented de-urbanization movement to its conclusion.
By the mid-to-late Prosperity Era, under the Federation’s active intervention, de-urbanization in the Poro Province had ended ahead of schedule. Across 3,000,000 square kilometers of land, fewer than 50,000 people remained, consisting mainly of tourism workers and researchers.
After dismantling most of the old urban buildings and slums, the Federation returned the geomantically favorable land, spanning tropical, subtropical, and northern temperate zones, to nature, retaining only a small number of cultural sites, sightseeing areas, self-driving routes, and research facilities.
The maglev tracks originally built for the population migration were likewise dismantled one after another once their purpose had been fulfilled, leaving only a few underground lines that would not interfere with wildlife migration.
Just like that, the place became like a giant wildlife park. Long before the world entered the Wasteland Era, it had already been torn down...
...
After briefly summarizing what had happened on this land during the Prosperity Era, Han Mingyue paused for a moment before continuing. “... As for what came later, I probably don’t need to say much. The Three Year War broke out, the space elevator collapsed, and the beautiful life was shattered. The super city cluster in the center of the Central Continent became a living hell that even the Post-War Reconstruction Committee was powerless to deal with.”
“Large numbers of survivors fled from the four major industrial zones into surrounding administrative regions, Sunset Province, Poro Province, and others. Because of the Poro Province’s status as an ecological preservation zone, this land became the sole survivor of that war. Even the Sunset Province ended up with a Hive, yet not a single one landed on the lands here.”
Ample Time looked at her in astonishment. “Not a single one?!”
“Yes,” Han Mingyue nodded. “Apparently the inhabitants of the colonies also felt there was no need to pay special attention to the animal park. Besides, without concrete buildings as culture mediums, the place was not suitable for rapid Mutant Slime Mold proliferation anyway.”
After a brief pause, she continued, “Because it wasn’t especially targeted by Hives and the climate was relatively comfortable, many survivors chose this place as their first refuge. According to my research estimates, at least close to 100,000,000 people managed to flee here at the time.”
“Obviously, land that had already completed de-urbanization could not support such a massive population. Food, medicine, energy, housing, even security all became scarce. In the struggle for survival, people began to imitate the beasts of this land, casting aside the restraint of civilized humanity amid hunger.”
“At first it was just poaching. Later it became robbery, even cannibalism... I may be putting it mildly, but based on the materials I collected in the Great Desert, this place may have entered a state of complete disorder earlier than the eastern and western provinces that received attention from the Post-War Reconstruction Committee.”
Imagining that apocalyptic scene, Ample Time gulped once. “What about the local garrison?”
Han Mingyue answered concisely. “The Federation’s army was formed in an extremely short time. Fires needed to be put out everywhere, and they also had to maintain fronts five light-years away. You can imagine how many troops could be spared for this animal park. According to my research, the Federation did deploy some units to the region, but the order they could maintain was limited to a few mild-climate areas along the eastern and western coasts of the Poro Province.”
“And because they lost organization and supplies, their own survival became a problem. You couldn’t expect them to hold the balance of order for long, they themselves were standing on the scale. It would already have been impressive if they managed to slow its collapse even a little.”
“What the military did at the time isn’t the focus of my research. Returning to what I was saying, this land that spans 3,000,000 square kilometers likely entered the Wasteland Era earlier and completed the evolution from a disorderly society to an orderly one sooner. In that process, settlements of all sizes emerged. These settlements took the form of tribes distributed along the Everflowing River and gradually expanded outward...”
“Because of the Tzobar Mountains and the Poro Sea, mutants and most creatures failed to migrate into this region. Aquatic mutants were also stopped east of the Baiyue Strait. The pressures faced by local survivors mainly came from wild animals and a small number of those monsters.”
“Although civilization suffered systemic regression, a fair amount of experience from the Old Era and technology remained here. These survivors, low in literacy but rich in survival skills, expanded their territories much faster than primitive humans. Before long, just like the survivors in the Sunset Province, they formed feudal kingdoms of varying sizes.”
“And in that process, they not only saw rapid population growth, but also found something to anchor their souls...”
As she spoke, Han Mingyue removed the storage card from the computer pen and waved it before Ample Time’s eyes.
“At the end of the day, it’s about faith.”
“Whether one worships abstract gods or rigid doctrines, it was almost the only tool capable of uniting the ignorant masses. It allowed people to temporarily abandon questions about their identities, their origins, and their future, restrain their primal instincts, and keep a vast system running like interlocking gears.”
Ample Time shuddered at the revelation.
Although he had anticipated this conclusion, hearing a professional dissect it layer by layer still left him shaken. “So the Thousand Races and Thousand Gods... are a lie?”
Han Mingyue replied in a relaxed tone. “It can’t really be called a lie, more like a coincidence. A large number of holographic projection devices were left behind here, mainly to introduce Poro Province’s wildlife to tourists. Powered by energy storage systems, they very likely continued running for a considerable time during the first 50 years of the Wasteland Era. It’s understandable that second and third-generation survivors who opened their eyes to the wasteland would mistake them for divine miracles. After all, the parents who could explain things to them had an average lifespan of less than 30 years.”
“Try putting yourself in their shoes. You’re a survivor who has lived in a frozen world since birth, clutching your father’s relics as you huddle in the ticket booth of some cultural center to escape a blizzard.”
“At that moment, an AI detects your presence. An endless warm grassland appears before you, and then a majestic voice begins recounting the stories of the past. The old Poro Province was a paradise where even rats could live in abundance...”
Ample Time tried to imagine the survivors’ situation, but after a long moment of mental simulation, he still couldn’t fully put himself there and finally shook his head. “... No matter what, I wouldn’t think of myself as a descendant of rats.”
Lions or tigers, maybe.
Han Mingyue chuckled and teased him. “Human ancestors obviously couldn’t have been animals, but you could easily end up worshipping it like the Great Stag God. Don’t overestimate yourself. The only reason you didn’t is because you received a good education and truly understood what you learned.”
The holographic imagery was only the beginning. Once miracles became reality, they were no longer mere miracles, but prophecies delivered by the gods. And later, the scenes shown in those holograms did indeed become reality.
In the 50th year of the Wasteland Era, the cold winter ended, and the ecological environment of the Poro Province gradually returned to what it had been half a century earlier.
For the survivors living along the Everflowing River at the time, this was undoubtedly proof that the totems they worshipped had manifested their power. Even though the end of the cold winter was merely a normal climatic change and had nothing to do with their prayers...
“I know,” Ample Time said with some emotion. “But speaking of which, it turns out the Thousand Races and Thousand Gods really were artificially divided.”
After all, 200 years was still far too short, nowhere near enough for a group of people to evolve into a new race through natural processes alone.
Unless it was something like the Wislanders or the Mutant Humans who were technological products, evolution didn’t move that quickly. Without scientific intervention, it would take at least 1,000 years of racial isolation for clear physical distinctions to emerge between Sunfolk and Moonfolk.
Almost obsessively precise, Han Mingyue corrected his imprecise phrasing and continued, “More accurately, it’s a limited-range self-identification formed under collective unconscious behavior. You’ll find that their skeletal characteristics actually don’t differ much from the survivors who fled to the Sunset Province. Excluding the effects of nutrition, air humidity, and light exposure, they can be considered the same kind of people.”
Ample Time nodded thoughtfully. In fact, even he himself occasionally projected Earth-based experiences onto this world, though upon reflection it was obvious that reality and the game existed on entirely different planes.
The wasteland of the Poro Province could be considered a classic starting location of most games. That is, a typical wasteland formed purely through the collapse of order, without interference from shelter dwellers, strategic weapon strikes, Mutant Slime Mold Hoves, Mutant Humans, or other transcendent forces.
As for the Xilande Empire, they were merely a wave in the ebb and flow of rise and decline. Without external interference, the survivors here might have continued their traditions for centuries or even millennia, until some accidental renaissance or great rediscovery of the past allowed them to find a new spiritual anchor, replacing the increasingly outdated doctrine of the Thousand Races and Thousand Gods as productivity advanced.
But another extreme possibility couldn’t be ruled out either. The local survivors might fall into a different spiral through endless cycles, constantly drawing lessons from previous loops and sealing every flaw that could break the cycle with oak planks and iron nails. In doing so, they might establish a more enduring and logically rigorous theory of rule, causing the waters of the Everflowing River to cease flowing altogether.
Which possibility was more likely was impossible to say. After all, only history that has already occurred becomes historical inevitability. As for what the future would bring, only future generations could know.
In any case, for the Scientific Expedition Team, what they obtained was an excellent observation sample. Placing the storage card containing the original scriptures into its case, Han Mingyue looked out toward the port beyond the warehouse doors and said with renewed energy. “... If nothing unexpected happens, there should be traces nearby of early survivor settlements or shelters. This could help me complete parts of my research that weren’t previously covered, the influence of the last remnants of order during the Three Year War on the social evolution of the Poro Province’s wasteland.”
Hearing her, Ample Time spoke almost reflexively. “You mean Rowell Camp?”
“Wait, Rowell Camp is here?!” Han Mingyue’s eyes widened in surprise, then lit up with delight. “That’s wonderful. Could you take me to see it?”
Ample Time nodded. “No problem.”
With the second phase of the offensive launched ahead of schedule, that camp was currently under their control. Before the Xilande Emperor made a serious move, they could probably enjoy a period of calm.
If there was ever a good time to conduct research, it was now.
Just as Ample Time was about to call for a vehicle to take her there, Dog Good Names suddenly hurried over. His steps were quick, his face grim. Before Ample Time could ask, he spoke rapidly. “Something happened at Rowell Camp!”
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