Chapter 57: b.l.o.o.d.y Era
Demon Yan taught them everything in his a.r.s.enal, and Meng Chao benefited from it a lot. The most direct effect from this was that the number of gray skills that were lit up had increased.
As he looked at the dense list of skills, Meng Chao was delighted. He really wanted to contribute more to the Dragon Citizens with every second he had.
There was something else. Perhaps he had been too conspicuous when he handled the problem known as Zuo Haoran, and perhaps Demon Yan as well as the higher management in the school had been praising his recent performance, because Meng Chao would often run into Princ.i.p.al Sun “coincidentally” in the school cafeteria.
Meng Chao wanted to show his skills to Princ.i.p.al Sun. After all, this famous Heavy Cannon had to be at least an elite citizen. Perhaps he might even be a legendary citizen or epic-level citizen.
If Princ.i.p.al Sun could understand some really profound principle of a martial art because of Meng Chao’s guidance, how many contribution points would he be able to gain?
Unfortunately, the shriveled up old man was too old, and the injuries he suffered in the past were too great. It had been many years since he fought.
He had come to Ninth High School to live out his retirement and did not quite care about the students’ studies. All he did every day was bask in the sun in a corner of the field or doze off. Other than that, he went to the cafeteria and researched nutritional lunch meals excitedly with the chefs.
Princ.i.p.al Sun was very amiable. He held a stainless steel tray that was identical to that of the students’, but the food he ate was not even worse. All he ate was luncheon meat made from earthworms.
Meng Chao felt really embarra.s.sed. He wanted to give some of the purely natural monster meat on his plate to the old princ.i.p.al.
“You get it. Eat more. I’m not taking the national college examination. Besides, I’m old now. The spirit energy in monster meat is too high. If I eat it, my blood pressure will skyrocket.”
Princ.i.p.al Sun grinned. Since he was missing a few teeth, he spoke with a slight lisp.
Meng Chao thought about it. The old princ.i.p.al might not be interested in fighting skills, so he decided to use his chopsticks to dissect the steak on his plate using the Seven Dissection Methods Performed in Reverse.
Just as he expected, the old princ.i.p.al was interested in it. Even though he did not focus on it, he brought Meng Chao to the scullery of the cafeteria to compare notes with the chefs. The good thing about it was that from that day onwards, Meng Chao could eat the freshest fat monster meat, since the chefs would keep it for him.
Just like that, when the day for the second stage of the national college examination came, Meng Chao’s maximum punching force broke through 290kg, and his one-hundred meter dash was at 9.29 seconds. He was now faster than Usain Bolt.
He had an even more terrifying ability that was not shown in the data. It was the endurance given to him by Master Level Ripple Force.
Many of the good high school students could reach crazy figures like 280kg, 290kg, or even 300kg with their maximum punching strength.
There were also monsters who could reach 9.2 seconds in their one-hundred meter dash during high school.
But Meng Chao had managed to deliver more than two hundred punches in three minutes, and his average punching strength was never lower than 275kg.
His average speed in the one-hundred meter dash, four-hundred meter dash, 1.5km dash, and even the 5km dash were practically the same.
And that made him terrifying.
In a real battle, this long-lasting and steady output was much better than the abilities of students, who had great scores but were sorely lacking in other aspects, which was the result of teachers teaching them to succeed in the test. They relied on gene medicine, strengthened nutritional fluid, and cultivation equipment to produce beautiful figures, but they could not compare to Meng Chao’s results.
Crackle! Crackle!
At the entrance of Ninth High School, Princ.i.p.al Sun lit up several loud firecrackers that covered the entire ground with red bits of paper.
Three school buses were also covered in red and green. They carried two cla.s.ses worth of rocket cla.s.s students and one cla.s.s worth of quasi-rocket cla.s.s students to the education department of the region among the sounds of the firecrackers and the students’ cheers.
“Ace Student Chao, I didn’t expect that your maximum punching strength would go over 290kg. Aren’t you going way over the top right now?” a student in the school bus said with a laugh.
Ever since Meng Chao ate two roasted hind legs from two Demonic Halberd Pigs, then carried a load weighing 200kg before he ran more than thirty rounds in the field, he became famous, and the students called him Ace Student Chao.
“You don’t understand Ace Student Chao at all,” Ace Student Wu, another student from Cla.s.s 6, said. “Since he showed that his maximum punching strength is 290kg, that means that his real punching strength has definitely gone over 300kg. He’s just waiting to pretend to be weak when he gets to the region later so that he can wow the crowd when he reveals his real strength. Isn’t that right, Ace Student Chao?”
“I can bear witness to that.” Before Meng Chao could say anything, his best friend, Chu Feixiong betrayed him mercilessly. “My maximum punching strength is 299kg right now, and it looks like I’ve surpa.s.sed Meng Chao, right? But lately, when I practice with him, I feel like I’ve been ground by a roller. His maximum punching strength has definitely surpa.s.sed 300kg. 290? He’s definitely just pretending to be weak!”
“300kg?” The students cried out in amazement. “How shameless! You degenerate! Sc.u.m! You have to treat us to milk tea! And breakfast! And on that note, lunch, dinner, and supper as well!”
Meng Chao coughed loudly. Why was it so hard to keep a low profile?
While everyone laughed and joked around, Demon Yan’s voice rose in front of them.
“Enough. Quiet down. Compose your emotions and spirits.” Demon Yan held the megaphone in the bus and said sternly, “Speed, strength, stamina, and strategies are all very important, but if you want to become a superhuman, the most important thing is your spirit!
“If you don’t have the spirit of a superhuman, then even if you’re lucky enough to get power, it will be impossible for you to conquer it. Instead, you’ll become a slave to power. You’ll go on a way to become a degenerate, and you’ll lose control. You’ll turn into a monster who is just as terrifying as zombies and other creatures, and I mean every word I said.
“You’ve had your speed and strength tested during the first stage. Today, all the people who are gathered at the regional education department are the most outstanding students in Tiger Forest Region. Together, you’ll be tested on your spirit!
‘Remember this, the flower of your spirit will bloom from your bodies, but it is an existence greater than your bodies. It is an upgraded version of your minds. Just because you have great strength and are fast doesn’t mean that you also have a powerful spirit. Without facing life and death, you’ll never know whether you’re just a coward who has brute strength, a rascal who will bully the weak, a scoundrel who only cares about himself, or the absolute dictator of your own strength!”
His words made the students fall silent.
“If you’ve understood me, leave the bus,” Demon Yan said. “We reached the regional education department.”
The school bus was parked at a field that sank down. It was built at the center of a forest of skysc.r.a.pers.
The area was filled with cold colors. Black and bronze dominated the area. There were a lot of broken walls with steel reinforcing bars outside, so the place looked like ruins, but also like a graveyard.
In truth, it was a battlefield in the past. It was a place ravaged repeatedly by zombies, ruffians, and monsters when Dragon City just transmigrated. But now, it was abandoned.
As Dragon City grew stronger, the other ruins were cleaned up so that they could be rebuilt into tall, study, and large steel fortresses.
But this place retained its original appearance. The government even specially hired architects and artists to solidify the ruins so that they would turn into a memory to remember the dark days.
The examinees from Ninth High School felt as if the temperature had dropped by at least eight degrees when they walked along the black marble steps into the sunken field.
Even Meng Chao shuddered.
Aside from ruined and collapsed buildings scattered everywhere, he also saw various statues.
The sculptures used incredibly exaggerated methods to create images of crazed zombies, fierce monsters, and ruffians who acted even more horrendously than zombies and monsters to steal food, clear water, energy resources, and other forms of resources.
Before such threats, the statues of the normal citizens appeared incredibly weak and helpless.
Meng Chao saw a statue of a monster who looked like the fusion of a praying mantis and a jackal. It grinned while it raised its sharp, sickle-shaped limb. Its target was a mother with a baby in her arms.
The mother held the baby so tightly it looked like she wanted to stuff the baby back into her womb.
But no matter how st.u.r.dy her arms were, it was impossible for her to avoid the tragic fate that would befall her.
The sculptures seemed to have been infused with souls. When a cold wind blew through the field, the students felt as if they could hear the whimpers of humans and the screeches of monsters.
The education department held a lot of power. Aside from teaching youths, they were also in charge of shaping their ideologies.
Only when they remembered history could they develop their future. The regional education department was linked together with the Transmigration Museum in the region.
Youngsters would come to this place multiple times during their kindergarten years up to their high school years. They visited the area for their spring outing, autumn outing, and Transmigration Memorial Day.
But today, the examinees who longed to become superhumans had a very strong reaction toward the statues.
Quite a number of people began breathing heavily, and Chu Feixiong gritted his teeth.
Even Meng Chao felt his heart surge. He could not calm down even after a long time had pa.s.sed.
He had seen the end of the world in his nightmare, and he had deep feelings toward Dragon City.
He made up his mind. He would never let any monster sink their claws into this land which was filled with the hot blood of his comrades.
Fortunately, only the statues in the beginning were devastating. As they ventured deeper into the ruins, the theme gradually improved.
In the beginning, the citizens had no weapons. They could only be slaughtered by zombies, monsters, and ruffians.
Slowly, weapons began appearing in the hands of the citizens. They could pluck off the teeth of the zombies and cut off the monsters’ claws so that the ruffians could face justice.
In the end, the powerful citizens who opened their arms to protect the children had dazzling spirit marks on their skin, and they were surrounded by golden light. Some people started controlling burning weapons and spurred on tamed biochemical fighting beasts to stomp on the zombies, monsters, and ruffians.
Chu Feixiong looked at the statues and said, “These are superhumans.”
“Soon, we will be the same,” Meng Chao answered. He led the group into the ruins.
At the end, there were two huge memorial plates with numerous small golden words. They were all the names of people.
The plate on the right listed the names of all the citizens who died in the region in the last fifty years. At the top of the memorial were five large words.
[May You Rest In Peace]
The one on the left had the names of all the warriors and heroes who had died in battle in the region. At the top of the memorial were also five words.
[May The Brave Never Perish]
The two memorial plates formed a great door, and behind it was a huge entrance that led underground.
Meng Chao and the students walked down the stairs and into a black tunnel that was twenty meters wide. Soon, they entered another world.
Around them was a 3D screen that surrounded them from all angles. The government used gunpowder smoke, a thick scent of blood, and all sorts of sound and light effects to create a realistic scene of war.
The alarmed screams of citizens, the fierce shouts of ruffians, the twisted and terrifying growls of zombies instantly caused Meng Chao and the students to understand that they had arrived at the first level of the Transmigration Museum—b.l.o.o.d.y Era.
A sonorous and deep voice of a man slowly drifted down toward them. “The first ten years since Dragon City transmigrated into the Other World were full of confusion, chaos, and misery. They are known as the b.l.o.o.d.y Era.
“We lost most of our energy resources and industrial abilities. Societal order and the nation’s organizations were ruined. The light of humanity and the might of law became weak. To survive, many of the finely dressed civilized people turned into ruffians who only cared about preying on the weak. They lived the lives of savages.
“There was also a mysterious virus that spread among the citizens. It quickly became worse and turned into a pandemic that swept through the entire city. Those who were infected lost their rationality, but their appet.i.tes and aggression became ten times stronger. They turned into zombies.
“All the people who hid deep in the forest of broken walls shuddered and asked, ‘Is this the end of civilization? Is this the end of Dragon City?"”