from Xingyuan

Chapter 1057 273. Imperial Route: Leading to the Ending of [Spiritual Deer] (67)

As soon as the war started, Li Oz realized that the Oshulia Empire had already failed.

The troops were like an avalanche, the borders continued to collapse, and even the capital, Tianmingbao, was attacked many times. The arable land of the entire country was turned into wasteland, and light green dust lingered in the air.

As the capital, the once prosperous metropolis has now become a ruin. The tall buildings have become dilapidated ruins, the well-arranged garden buildings built by the royal family have been burned down, and corpses are now floating in the clear inner lake.

Most people were suddenly attacked by the earthlings while they were sleeping. The high-energy radiation burned their bodies until only bones were left, and their clothes and fat were ignited. Once the attack occurred, they rushed into the river frantically. However, the damage caused by the radiation did not stop with the flowing water, but spread the pollution into the water.

The rare species and exotic fish that the empire received as tribute from tributary states all over the world now floated miserably on the water with their charred bellies. The wild beasts raised in the hunting grounds also mutated, breaking out of the fences and walking onto the streets, with their scarlet eyes wide open and their mouths drooling, searching for living people in the city to prey on.

The small teahouses, streets, and citizen gardens that Fu Shen and his friends had visited had already been reduced to ashes by the initial nuclear attack. Now, cold, dark snowflakes were floating in the sky, dancing in the cold wind.

The awakened divine warriors of the Zhenwu Party were the first to recover their fighting power.

Within a few hours of the attack, the Empire's parliament collapsed, and officials and governments were paralyzed. After the awakened spirit warriors separated from the Kingdom of God, they immediately rushed to various parts of the country with the Lioz Oracle in their hands.

Since they were dealing with secrecy, they were too lazy to conceal their identities and simply showed off their porcelain skin to avoid radiation damage.

Fortunately, Leoze did not use local elected officials, but instead delegated national civil servants from the central government to manage local affairs. Therefore, the empire did not actually fall into division all at once. As long as new court officials and armed forces arrived in the disaster area, they could immediately re-establish their rule.

Although the government needs time to rebuild, Lioz's army will not be stationed directly in the city. They will build their own bases in secret. Thanks to the confidentiality control, the imperial troops did not suffer damage in the large-scale attack on the city, at least not to the extent of being seriously injured?

So, what is the price?

Since the army, government, royal family and political parties did not suffer a fatal blow, it means that the entire blow was borne by the people.

There are no more pedestrians or living creatures on the streets, only withered trees and scattered garbage blown by the wind, and dark gray volcanic rocks are everywhere. Before the war began, Lioz had vigorously developed geothermal energy and established a series of mining plants and ore sorting and smelting centers, but now, their ruins are forgotten in this desolate land.

There are 1819 cities like Tianming Castle. To put it bluntly, % of the territory of the entire empire has been reduced to a scorched earth.

If you look from above, the city is silent and dead except for the fire in the distance. Several deep holes can be seen on the ground, which are the consequences of the nuclear bomb's landing point.

What's worse is that these pits are several thousand meters deep, and the sewage and floating

Sparks flashed in the air from time to time, as if the entire city was still experiencing a violent energy reaction, and those sparks were like mysterious magic elements, carrying a hint of abnormality, but unfortunately, the attack of the [Secret Society] was full of materialistic technology.

This is not magic, but a manifestation of the earth's civilization.

Destiny Castle and the entire Oshulia fell into a state of stagnation.

Even though time no longer moves forward, this land will never return to its previous state. This tragic city has become a microcosm of people's tragic fate after a nuclear explosion.

In this desolate land, nothing seems to be happening anymore.

……?

After breaking into Arthur's kingdom, the secret meeting room was destroyed by the explosion. Li Oz and others had to return to the palace of Tianming Castle and put various matters on the table for discussion.

This resulted in a large number of Oshulian ministers and troops watching helplessly as a group of divine warriors with porcelain skin and jade bones swaggered into the empire with weapons.

"Those people don't look right. Are they the future gods?"

"Look at the color of their skin and the armor they wear. Their accents are also wrong when they speak."

"Could it be... the Yuanyuan God Clan?"

"The descendants of the defeated soldiers? Or are they simply the bastards who were defeated outside the Abyss and fled into the Star Abyss?"

Even Li Aozi had not expected that thousands of years had passed, and the people of Jingyuan still did not like the Yuanyuan clan. Many ministers felt humiliated when they saw Fu Shen and others entering the palace to attend court and still participating in political affairs as a party, and refused to enter the palace at the same time.

But this is not a big deal. For Li Oz, there will be more and more gods in the country in the future.

He walked into the palace, casually placed the holy sword beside the throne, threw off his cloak, crossed his legs and sat on the throne, and said indifferently to the officials and generals below the stage:
"Well, how bad has the situation gotten?"

"His Majesty."

The one who spoke was the Prime Minister of the Empire and the leader of the Conservative Party, Messerwe Durkan. This old man with a beer belly pushed up his monocle and said:
"To put it bluntly, in the traditional sense of the country in Jingyuan, Oshulia has already been destroyed."

"The national population has lost 60% and the land has been occupied by %. A large number of unidentified troops are taking over our land and cities. In their hands, the wasteland is just a flash of white light, and it is immediately covered with factories and buildings. Only the best [Architects] can barely match this speed of infrastructure construction."

"The situation in the capital is already quite good. The protective measures of Tianmingbao are still in place, and there are still 200 million people surviving, but production has stopped. In addition, those defeated soldiers - I mean the Yuanyuan warriors are constantly dispatched, and many people are afraid."

"We don't know who the enemy is, we don't know how they will attack, our civilization has been destroyed in all aspects, they slaughter us just like painting on a map, even if it is a narrative civilization, it is no more than that."

"Drinking water, food, a safe environment, clean land... I'm afraid these things can't even be guaranteed in the palace. The army has some stored supplies, but they are for the army. If they are used for disaster relief, I'm afraid the population will not be saved, and in the end it will make the army unhappy..."

Fu Shen stood with his hands behind his back beside Li Aozi, listening to the reports one by one. He couldn't help but clenched his fists and whispered:
"Secretly, they are stronger than before."

“They are just that strong.”

Li Ozi said calmly.

"But they were not like this during the time of Haines. They couldn't even gather a sizable force at that time..."

"That's because I locked the upper limit of Haines's combat power. Strong men above a certain level will either be killed by me or forcibly expelled by Haines using the power of the planet."

Li Aoz held up his face, squinted his eyes, and explained:
"The weaknesses of secret professions are that they are difficult to grow, have extremely high qualifications, and require rare and powerful magical creatures during the reforging process. In Xingyuan, these problems are not a problem."

"The professionals at the later stages, especially those at the level of councillors and chairpersons, are not much worse than us gods, and are even much stronger than you. Although they don't have a kingdom of God, they are more adept at using and distorting the power of rules."

"During the Haines period, I continuously pushed the local civilization towards secularization, using technological advancement and industrialization to gradually get rid of the civilization's dependence on mysterious forces, so that the secret professionals could be killed by muskets and swords before they could grow up."

"As for destroying the civilizations of the Dragon Clan, Titans, and the Holy Clan of Technico, it is not only to annihilate the Destroyers, but also to prevent the Secret from obtaining excellent reforging materials from these powerful creatures, so as to be promoted to the ninth reforging or even the final existence."

"I see."

Fu Shen nodded:

"Many people were exiled because of this... Now it seems that what you did was right. It almost destroyed the Secret."

"It cannot be destroyed."

Li Ozi said coldly:
"This is much better than I thought. I have been trying to catch up and industrialize in Jingyuan. After thirty-seven years, I have just touched the threshold. The people on Earth have done it in just four hours. Their four hours are more than what I have achieved in forty years."

Fu Shen was gloomy, and after a moment of silence, he said:

"Did you intend to fight these monsters from the beginning? Even though you knew you were no match for them?"

"If they don't experience it themselves, some people will still be skeptical about the war on Earth, and even think that Earthlings are not bastards or demons. They want to stay out of it, but they don't know where the land of the empire comes from. Whether it's the desert of Oshuria or the barren land, every inch of the empire's territory is watered with blood."

Li Oz closed his eyes:

"Even now, there are still people who question this war."

Fu Shen was speechless: "How is this possible? The people from Earth have come to our door. With this kind of situation, the secret councilors must have gathered a large army and are determined to kill us all. How can anyone think that we can have peace--"

boom!
Before he finished speaking, the door was suddenly knocked open, and an imperial warrior immediately knelt down and reported:
"Your Majesty, a large number of rioters are approaching the palace! They are armed with weapons and Molotov cocktails, and they are aggressive. They have also looted the military camp and the public security office. They are fully armed with live ammunition."

"It's nothing. There's no need to report it."

Prime Minister Messerway waved his hand:

"They are just a mob. The current situation is really not good. Let the palace steward give them some food and resources and send them away."

"Prime Minister, Your Majesty."

The warrior hesitated for a moment and said:

"There's something wrong with those rioters. They asked you to come out in person, named you and asked to negotiate with you, and even said some outrageous words. This..."

"You can speak freely." Messerway said dissatisfiedly, "This is His Majesty's palace. You are allowed to come in so that you can report the truth to the emperor."

"Yes, Prime Minister."

The warrior looked at Li Oz, lowered his head and said:

"The mobs said, 'It was the emperor who started this war', 'People who killed their own brothers are cruel to the people', and other things, 'As expected, Li Oz is not the orthodox one. If he was the real descendant of the Dawnbreaker family, we would never have fallen to this point', 'I don't care who the emperor is, I just want my own three meals a day', 'Abolish the emperor, abolish the government', 'No matter who Oshulia is fighting, I will only lead the enemies of the empire'..."

"Bastard thing!"

The Prime Minister cursed:

"These unruly people, have they forgotten who conquered the land they cultivate? Without the Emperor, these people are still tenants of the landlords and long-term workers, without even a pension. How dare they question His Majesty?"

Lioz didn't agree. He looked at the warrior and said:
“How many people are coming?”

"It is roughly estimated that there are more than 5,000 people, and tens of thousands are rushing to the road. The final number is expected to exceed 400,000 or 500,000 people..."

Li Oz continued to ask:

"Have you found out who instigated the mob?"

The warrior was silent for a moment, then said:

"No, no one encouraged it."

Li Oz nodded:
"Are you saying that these terrorists are acting on their own initiative?"

"Yes, Your Majesty, they spontaneously rushed to the streets and armed themselves. Most of them were small citizens, workers, peasants, small nobles, and dozens of small capitalists." The warrior hesitated and said, "There are also... civil servants, nobles, soldiers, and the whole city was overturned by them. They demanded that Your Majesty abdicate and declare surrender to the enemy."

"I understand. I will deal with these traitors."

Li Aoz stood up, and Fu Shen followed up and said:

"Sir Leoz, these people's behavior is a bit strange. It's better not to provoke them. The country is no longer flesh and blood. They may have some political demands. Of course, there must be someone behind them inciting them..."

"I know, Fu Shen, I will handle it gently."

Li Oz glanced at Prime Minister Messerway and said:
"Let the Dragon Knights take off."

The army general quickly said:
"Your Majesty, to suppress the rioters, we can just let the army do it..."

“I didn’t say it was repression.”

As Li Aozi spoke, he walked into the screen. After a moment, the servants changed his clothes into the emperor's military uniform, cut his loose hair short, adjusted his facial muscles and bones, and he immediately restored himself to the image of the powerful NPC Li Aozi in the eyes of the players.

Seeing this scene, Xu Shen was stunned:
"Sir Leoz, you are like this..."

"There's no need to cover it up any longer. Today's events are bound to get out. Rather than being caught by others in the future, it's better to reveal your identity directly. After all, in everyone's eyes, 'Li Aoz' is not a good person."

Li Oz smiled slightly and put on his wide-brimmed hat. Only then did Xu Shen notice that the imperial hat badge was not the red, black and white characteristic of Haines.

The national emblem of Oshulia is a giant black dragon with its wings spread out and a red five-pointed star wrapped around its body.

Dragons? That wasn't really in Haines' element.

Before Fu Shen could figure out the reason, Li Aozi had already pushed open the door. The huge crowd came with an overwhelming roar, which immediately drowned out the voices of Fu Shen and others.

The torches of the mob formed a long dragon in the night sky, extending from the city streets all the way to the mountains, with no end in sight. The crowds were bustling, and the masked men, women, old and young in the front row danced their thin bodies and roared shrill voices, as if challenging the whole world.

No, they are declaring war on the whole world.

"The dog emperor abdicates! No one can rule us!"

"I just want three meals a day, not imperial hegemony!"

"Get out of this land, you usurper tyrant!"

"Brutal oppressor, warmongerer Li Oz, your name will be spurned forever!"

Their faces were filled with anger and dissatisfaction, looking extremely ugly. After several attacks, their clothes were tattered and they were filled with a pungent stench.

Their eyes spewed fire, hatred and indignation turned into sharp swords that almost pierced Li Oz's body. When they united, an invisible force instantly overwhelmed Fu Shen and the other group of people. Their roars echoed in the sky, and the whole world was torn apart.

Although the attacks happened only five hours ago, it seemed like decades had passed, and people had forgotten that they were cheering for Leo at the festival.

The rioters shouted slogans and burned down street shops. In the raging fire, the neighborhood was burned to ashes, and people's homes looked like the miserable scenes of childhood toys being smashed. The residents who were lucky enough to escape the fire were displaced and lamented that their once happy lives had been destroyed in the sea of ​​fire.

Without the Empire's army and police to maintain order, the mob's destruction and destruction were out of control. They completely turned into an invisible monster, and it was always difficult to know when it would appear again.

"Kill all the officials!"

Pfft!

The imperial officials fell to their knees instantly.

"What is this? The advanced word art of the path of salvation? How can a group of ordinary people have such power!?"

"No, it's not just the Word Spirit. There is a force interfering with us. Can you hear the whisper?"

"Abolish the monarch, destroy the dictatorship, return power to the people - my God, they are corrupting our will."

"I knew that the people were fine, but it was all because of the corruption of the enemy that things became like this!"

Fu Shen tried hard to raise his hands, but the other soldiers and generals couldn't even open their mouths to speak. The weak civil servants even fell to the ground, having difficulty breathing.

"This is not a simple mob... There is a force in them that influences their thinking, Lord Leoz. They are victims."

Fu Shen covered his neck and said with difficulty:

"Sir Leoz, you have to go. There's something wrong with these people."

"I know, Fu Shen, you don't have to worry."

"Calm down, Li Aoz, don't be impulsive, these people are just bewitched..."

"I have a solution."

Lioz calmly walked up to the city wall, overlooking the mob on the ground, and said:

"I am Li Oz, the Emperor of the Empire. Do you have something to ask me?"

In response, he received a Molotov cocktail, which landed precisely on the battlement in front of Lioz, and a huge fireball rose up instantly.

Then, several young intellectuals walked out of the crowd, holding detailed petitions and loudspeakers:
"Tyrant Leoz, we are a voluntary group representing the most pressing interests of the people. You have long ignored the cries of the people. Now, the people are giving you a final ultimatum. If you do not meet our conditions, we will—"

"It seems that you are no longer willing to talk to me."

In the flames, Li Oz's face was constantly distorted. He refused to listen to the people's calls, but just nodded and said:
"Dragon Riders, kill them all."

Before the rioters could react, bursts of shrill sonic booms were heard in the sky. The dark night sky was instantly illuminated. In a flash, eye-catching dragon breaths filled the entire sky like colorful lights.

Frost, fire, shadows, acid, thunder, dimension erasure, decay rays - cruel disasters fell from the sky, impacted the crowd, and ruthlessly wiped them out from the world.

Fu Shen and others were dumbfounded.

After they clearly told Lioz that these people were victims and innocent civilians, Lioz still chose the simplest, crudest and most cruel method:
massacre.

The dragon riders carried out Lioz's will perfectly. They used dragon breath to continuously cut the battlefield. With the ten-meter-long giant swords in their hands, they could cut hundreds of people in half with just a light sweep of the ground.

Even with such a high efficiency of slaughter, Li Oz still felt that it was not enough. He knocked on the bricks of the city wall and slowly said in a strange and high-pitched language:

"(Dragon language) Swarm, eat, ocean."

The next moment, the elements in the air were constantly stirred, and the shrill chirping made people feel crazy. In a flash, endless waves of insects surged up, constantly attacking from all directions, gnawing at the bodies of living people in full view of everyone. Some of the mob were still running and were entangled by the sea of ​​insects. In a moment, only a skeleton was left when they ran away.

"(Dragon language) Storm, thunder, spikes."

"(Dragon language) Plague, cloud, and wave."

"(Dragon language) Frost, spiral, bacteria."

....................................

Fu Shen could no longer remember how many dragon language magic spells Li Oz had chanted, and how many times those dragon knights and dragons had landed to rest, taken off after getting ready, and continued to kill.

The only thing we know is that Li Aozi carried out an unprecedented massacre in Jingyuan.

As for these mobs, he didn't think about suppressing the rioters or driving them away from the beginning.

The only outcome of resisting the empire is destruction.

As for the reason?

Fu Shen watched in silence as Li Aoz carried out a brutal massacre for 92 hours from night to day and then from day to night.

When the corpses almost filled the entire Destiny Castle, Lioz finally stopped the slaughter.

It’s not because he has woken up, but because there is no living mob left in Tianming Castle.

Lioz sat on the throne, his uniform soaked with the blood of his people. He was too lazy to wipe it off, but sat lazily on the throne and asked the Prime Minister of the Empire:
"What is the situation now?"

"The enemy's troops have stopped attacking."

Facing the emperor's brutality, Prime Minister Messerway remained calm and reported to the emperor calmly:

"It seems that they have realized that the mission to infiltrate the capital has failed, and the mobs in many places have calmed down. It seems that the weapon is not very effective."

"No, if we were a narrative civilization, we'd be done by now."

Li Aoz crossed his legs and said coldly:
"This weapon is aimed at the consciousness of civilized creatures - or simply the beliefs to transform and corrupt them. Strengthening individuals and destroying their belief in grand narratives is what society likes to do most."

"Is narrative civilization irresistible?" asked Fu Shen.

"Narrative civilizations cannot resist this kind of weapon because they dare not attack civilians. The foundation of grand narratives is built on the common consciousness of the people - there is nothing they can do about it, because they are too progressive."

As he spoke, he leaned against the back of the throne and said to Xu Shen:

"Fortunately, we are feudal and backward enough."

Fu Shen lowered his head. His previous understanding and respect for Lord Leoz was now somewhat shaken.

Perhaps, Leoz has always been the usurper tyrant...

No, this may just be His means.

But can cooperating with such a person really bring good things to Xingyuan? Or after driving away one tyrant, a new one comes...

"I know what you're thinking. You think my methods are too rough and cruel, and they have a bad influence."

Li Oz saw through his thoughts, hesitated for a moment, and nodded.

“It’s hard not to be horrified.”

"You don't need to be scared about this."

Li Oz held his cheek and said casually:
"It's only 82 deaths, which is not a lot."

"But, these are your people. A month ago you swore in a ceremony that you were their emperor and protector..."

"Deep."

Li Ozi said coldly:
"If you can't even afford the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, then forget about overthrowing Leanding."

"……What does it mean?"

"Do you think that in this Jingyuan, the territory of the Four Narrative Alliances, with so many old-fashioned narrative civilizations, they will watch us being invaded by the [Secret Society]?"

Fu Shen's pupils shrank:
"You mean, they have some plans?"

"The Narrative Union is considering it. They can leave at any time if they want. If the incomplete [Society] entity descends, they can still deal with a few councillors. But if they don't leave, it means one thing: from the perspective of interests, it is not worth it to take action for Oshulia."

Li Oz turned his head and looked forward:
"This country is no longer acceptable, and neither are its people."

"Over the past few decades, Oshulia has continued to expand, and has already approached the level of narrative infinitely. As long as Oshulia continues to exist, the Federation will not go to war with the Secret. They want to take this opportunity to get rid of us."

"Now, Oshulia is gone. Then we can get out."

"But it took you forty years to build all this! This is the hometown of so many people—"

"It's just a small price."

Li Ozi said calmly:
"In Xingyuan, the least valuable thing is human life. The most important thing is also human life. For the grand narrative, there must be enough people to contribute to prosperity. For the grand narrative, there must also be countless talented elites who sacrifice for it."

As he spoke, he stood up and slowly walked down the stairs.

"Fu Shen, if you want to defeat [society], you have to be more like a beast than [society]."

Fu Shen lowered his head, his eyes were confused. He clenched his fists, not knowing what to do.

"We, what should we do next? If we have to abandon even the Oshulia Empire, then everything you have done in the past forty years will be in vain. Those secret people are still in the inherent time domain, and we can't get in at all."

Fu Shen said bitterly:
"I never thought that Hidden would become so powerful. There is no way to fight Hidden in the form of civilization."

"Then use the form of [society]."

Lioz dragged up the holy sword from the throne and looked at the people around him:

"From today on, the Oshulia Empire is declared destroyed. Everyone can disband. Those who are willing to follow me or want to leave, leave immediately. If you disperse, it will be beneficial to me. Otherwise, we will be hunted down again."

After hearing these words, the ministers and generals turned around and left without any further ado.

Xu Shen glanced at these people in surprise:

"Are they... too obedient to you?"

"Of course you have to obey."

Li Oz put one hand on his waist and said casually:

“They are all my children.”

Deeply shocked:

"What did you say?"

"Zhi Xiang and I have tens of millions of descendants. I borrowed hundreds of thousands of them from her before to serve as my ministers and officers. As long as I give an order, these children will immediately return to my side and continue to serve me. Combined with my own small bloodline ability... In other words - as long as I want, I can replace the entire empire at any time."

Li Ozi said:
"Let's go, Fu Shen. The First Empire of Oshulia has perished. We must hurry and prepare to establish the Second Empire."

"…But what about the people who died?"

Fu Shen murmured:
"If you had done this sooner, disbanded the country, they could have avoided dying. They wouldn't have even had to face the Secret—"

"They will die sooner or later anyway, so they might as well die for our cause."

Li Oz said lightly:
"Besides, this is the most efficient way."

"A destroyed empire, an unpopular king, and a government in exile. This will completely resolve the sense of crisis of other narrative civilizations, and they won't even send spies. In this way, I can restore my country at any time and it will help us get out safely."

"Now tens of millions of people will die, at most 100 million people. But if our cause fails, it will be a disaster for the entire Xingyuan."

"Yes, I killed tens of millions of people and massacred 82 people, but I think it is worthwhile to use the lives of tens of millions of people in exchange for Xingyuan's victory. If necessary, I will also be part of this price."

He glanced at Fu Shen and said lightly:
"Now you understand how I blocked Gaia, right? My cruelty and ruthlessness are greater than Gaia's. She is afraid of me. She has a way out, companions and assets - so she doesn't dare to fight me to the death, while I am fighting for my life all the time."

"No one is an individual. Everyone must fight for Xingyuan. Everyone must sacrifice. We are all consumables and cannon fodder. We have no time to die. We can only win. There is no other choice."

"You should also have this kind of ideological awareness. If I die, you will take over from me. If Fu Shen dies, then Ilevent, Geo Ziaul, Silverston - until the last Xingyuan person falls."

"In this war that engulfs the stars and the Earth, each of us is a line of text, a word, or a number in this story."

"Do you understand it?"

Fu Shen was silent for a long time.

Until a message popped up in Li Oz's information bar:
[Your powerful charm has influenced other people's worldviews. Through sincere communication, you have successfully changed the mind of one of your camp members, 'Long Yuqiong'.]

[The ideology of 'Dragon Sky': Traditionalist - Changed to - Chauvinist]

[Chauvinist: Output rate permanently increased by 30%, leadership limit increased by 10%; Chauvinists will ignore the "War Criminal" type trial skills. ]

[Strongly support: various types of colonization, territorial expansion, recovery of lost territory, large-scale military expansion, and alliance with powerful empires. 】

【Don’t care: economic and political issues. 】

[We firmly oppose: reducing the military, reducing defense spending, and lagging behind in military technology. ]

[Since 'Long Yuqiong' is a senior leader in the camp, his change of thought will cause more people to tend to change to similar thoughts: social Darwinism, populism, authoritarianism, imperialism, ethnic nationalism, etc.]

　My health has not been very good recently, and the doctor asked me to rest and recuperate for a while. I don't want to leave any regrets for anyone, so I will seriously put an end to this book, but it will take a little longer. Thank you for your continued company and persistence. Thank you very much.

　　I will update the next book for you all when I am strong and healthy.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)