1814 The Tyrant Falls
Meng Chao was stunned.
“What?”
He was in disbelief. “I… I died?”
“Yes, you died.”
Su Mulian said, “No one is immortal.”
“I… How did I die?”
Meng Chao thought about it and asked, “What kind of person was I in your nightmare? What kind of person was I as a leader?”
“It’s hard to judge. Some people said that you were the hero who saved Dragon City and that you were an incomparably brilliant commander who could lead us to conquer the Other World. However, others also said that you were a tyrant, a demon, a butcher, and a warmonger. Sooner or later, you would destroy the future of Dragon City!”
Su Mulian looked at Meng Chao and added, “In the beginning, when the war was going well, the people of Dragon City plundered a large number of resources from the Other World’s depths. The lives of ordinary people were also elevated. Not only did they obtain more material enjoyment than before the war, but they also became stronger in both mental and physical aspects. Naturally, people praised you and worshipped you like a shining savior.
“However, as the battle got drawn out, the enemy’s resistance and nuisances became progressively intense, and victory was nowhere to be seen. The war that had lasted for ten thousand years in the Other World seemed to be burning into the next decade.
“Under such circumstances, most of our resources had to be invested in the rumbling war machines. The wartime ration system had to be reintroduced. The material conditions of the ordinary people got worse and worse with each passing day. On top of that, they were under great mental pressure because they constantly faced the threat of sorcerers, elven assassins, and dwarfs who self-destructed.
“When that happened, you became a tyrant, demon, and butcher.
“To win the war as soon as possible, you were not only ruthless to the Holy Light faction as a leader, but you also put forward higher demands for the tens of millions of Dragon City citizens.
“Although the motto of ‘everyone is equal’ was still deeply engraved in the bones of Dragon City’s people, the shortage of resources caused by the long-term war obviously posed a new challenge to the distribution mode.
Due to the serious shortage of civil resources in Dragon City at that time, only some were qualified to receive sufficient food rations, cultivation resources, and social status. They were those who had awakened extraordinary powers or displayed useful animalistic characteristics that allowed them to charge into enemy lines and fight the Holy Light faction to the death.
“The ordinary citizens who were too weak to even truss a chicken could only clench their teeth and train like crazy, hoping that they would be physically strong enough to withstand the side effects of the Awakening Capsules.
“However, due to genetic reasons, many humans still couldn’t awaken their extraordinary strength no matter how they cultivated, and they couldn’t withstand the side effects of taking the Awakening Capsules either.
“They either went berserk during their crazy cultivation, or they had all sorts of accidents after taking the Awakening Capsules.
“In the end, the lightest consequence was partial or complete loss of the ability to do labor, and the worst was high paraplegia and being bedridden.
“As a result, they could only adopt the model of rune machinery modification and replace many of their limbs and organs with spiritual machines that were engraved with runes and embedded with crystals, turning them into half-human, half-machine beings.
“As the leader, you didn’t stop this phenomenon from spreading and escalating.
“On the contrary, you supported and encouraged them to some extent.
“The Azure Alliance, which you led, and Superstar Company, which you and Lu Siya controlled, had been actively developing the Awakening Capsules as well as the technology for spirit machines. A large number of ordinary people changed from their ‘Earth form’ to half-human, half-beast, or half-human, half-machine creatures.
“And the general trend of society was gradually leaning toward ‘national reform.’
“At that time, the people of Dragon City regarded the ‘Earth form’ of humans as an out-of-date symbol of weakness and selfishness. They even gave them the name, ‘old humans.’
“The awakened superhumans, half-human, half-beast, and half-human, half-machine beings were collectively called ‘new humans,’ and they firmly believed that only new humans could lead the Dragon City civilization to victory’s finishing line.
“Of course, not everyone could accept that the civilization of mankind, which had enjoyed ten thousand years of glory, changed beyond recognition in only a hundred years.
“Many people were tired of the protracted war and pessimistically believed that ‘even if humans were modified into deformed, ugly, and unrecognizable beings and bled until the last drop of blood was shed, it was impossible for them to win the final victory. To preserve the civilization, the war had to end as soon as possible!
“When these two types of people came together, they formed the main force that opposed you, Meng Chao.
“On top of that, these opposing forces secretly received the support of the Holy Light faction. They set off quite a big wave within Dragon City.
“Ultimately, you managed to find out the connection between the opposing forces in Dragon City and the Holy Light faction outside. You followed the clues and found a huge traitorous group hidden in Dragon City.
“It was a subversive organization no smaller than the Blood Alliance.
“Since it was a time of war, the arrest and trial was a hundred times more severe than the punishment that the Blood Alliance faced.
“Countless humans who were proven to be involved with the Holy Light faction and proven to have advocated for the end of the war and the restoration of peace were judged as traitors. As punishment, they were equipped with special war machines and forced to charge at the forefront of the steel torrent in the next battle.
“Due to your swift and decisive actions, you eliminated the opposing forces within Dragon City, allowing our civilization to maintain the motivation to continue moving forward and keep winning. However, based on what came from the mouths of the few who had escaped, your status as a tyrant was further cemented.
“Even if all the citizens of Dragon City were transformed into all kinds of strange war machines through various means, we would only have tens of millions of soldiers armed to the teeth at best. It wasn’t easy to occupy the entire Other World with these numbers!
“And your actions also attracted the Holy Light faction’s attention more and more as time passed.
“The mages of the Holy Light human race were mysterious and unfathomable; the elf archers with 100% accuracy were comparable to sniper archers; there were also dwarfs who were good at imitating human machinery and weapons… The Holy Light faction’s most outstanding killing artists all gathered together and carefully planned one assassination after another.
“These assassinations did not always succeed on the spot and even caused heavy losses on their side. Your blade also turned countless elites of the Holy Light faction into wandering souls.
“Despite that, you still had to pay a gory price. Numerous shocking wounds were left on your body. You looked like a resurrected corpse that had been hacked into pieces, fried in fire, and stitched together randomly.
“In the end, you became like Battle God Lei Zongchao, who could only curl up in a specially-made medical cabin, unable to touch the outside air and sunlight.
“You didn’t make it to the day of our final victory either. Instead, you died mysteriously in a strange accident during rehabilitation training.”
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