1973 Little Cultivators

Gu Zhengyang then unveiled the velvet inside the metal box, revealing the delicate mechanical structure below.

Countless gears smaller than fingernails were embedded together, with an interface in the middle that was made of metal and exposed to the air.

He inserted the chip into the interface and held the metal box with both hands, inputting a stream of spiritual energy to both sides.

It could be seen that the technology to craft the storage chip came from a different age from the technology to build the metal box. The latter seemed much more underdeveloped and even produced specifically for the purpose of parsing the chip.

Also, the item had been crafted in the st.u.r.diest way. It did not require additional power. As long as anyone inputted feeble spiritual energy into it, the gears inside that were as dense as the parts of a clock would function automatically. From a hole in the middle of the gears, a dim and twisted ray of light was projected, forming a 3D light beam.

Noises echoed from the metal box, like a broadcast that was seriously jammed.

The two little fellows and Li Yao all watched attentively. Finally, a picture was displayed on the twisted light beam.

Perhaps because of the serious damage to the chip, the quality of the picture was rather unstable. Occasionally, mottled spots would burst out. But the enormous t.i.tle was still legible—Little Cultivators.

Han Te and Liu Li looked at each other in bewilderment. They had never seen such weird things before.

Li Yao, however, thought of something. The t.i.tle reminded him of the plays in the Star Glory Federation that were performed by real people.

It seemed to be a play, and one that was designed for the children of a very young age. The main plot of the play was that five kids who were the students of ‘School of Cultivation’ were given mysterious and powerful abilities from meteorites from the sky, which allowed them to change into ‘Cultivators’ instantly. Therefore, they established a combat squad to resist the evil forces that invaded the Martial Meritocrats Sector.

In Li Yao’s eyes, the props, setting, and plot of the children’s play were barely satisfactory. Not too much thought was given to the aftereffects. It was indeed only good enough to trick the little children.

However, the children’s play must have been shot far earlier than Judgment Day, which destroyed the entire Martial Meritocrats civilization. It could even be earlier than the outbreak of conflict between the Cultivators and the ordinary people in the Martial Meritocrats Sector and the eventual corruption of the believers of Chiyou from the ‘Sand Primitive Sector’.

It was probably the years when the civilization founded by the Martial Meritocrats Sector had reached the peak and was about to explore the sea of stars, full of ambition.

At the very least, there were a lot of modern cities in the background of the children’s play. The dense but well-organized skysc.r.a.pers and the transportation tubes that hovered among the higher towers made the best use of s.p.a.ce, which was as impressive as what the Star Glory Federation had today.

The children and the ‘teachers’ of the ‘School of Cultivation’ who took part in the play were also sunny and spirited, filled with the confidence to conquer everything in the golden years. They looked entirely different from the sinners who struggled to survive in the Land of Sins.

What touched Li Yao most was their slogans and ideals.

The five young people in the children’s play received their power from the meteorites that came from nowhere but not through hard training. It was inevitable that their minds and beliefs lost balance, which led to a series of conflicts and contradictions. Eventually, all the problems were perfectly resolved in battles under the guidance of their teachers.

“Cultivators are the pride of the civilization of mankind. We have to defend our civilization whatever it takes!”

“The strong protect the weak, and the weak support the strong. You are all experts. Even your teachers and your parents are weaker than you. Will you look down upon your teachers and your parents because of that?”

“You are indeed very strong, but n.o.body is almighty. The high-energy food you take, the weapons you use, and the armor and combat suits you wear are all made by other people through hard work. Without everybody’s help, the five of you alone wouldn’t be able to achieve anything!”

“With great power comes great responsibility. It is exactly because of such an ideal that the invincible civilization of mankind has been built!”

The play elaborated on the moral lessons through the mouth of the teachers.

There were even a few parts where the five young children caused all kinds of damage when they used their power blatantly and finally realized their mistake later.

Li Yao realized that the style of the children’s play was similar to the government’s. He knew that the educational departments in the Star Glory Federation would often shoot similar plays or make positively-themed games for middle and elementary schools so that the children would accept the ideology of the Cultivators during their learning.

The children’s play in the chip seemed to have been edited by somebody else, too, and all the best parts were clipped together. In the video with a duration of slightly more than an hour, it expounded on the ideology of the Cultivators of the Martial Meritocrats Sector almost a thousand years ago and informed the viewers in the most convenient way what Cultivators were!

When the video of more than an hour was played to the end, the five little friends flew higher and higher into the blue sky beyond the atmosphere and saw the vast sea of stars. The picture then froze.

Han Te and Liu Li were both caught in great shock. They clutched their chests, finding it difficult to catch their breath.

Dumbfounded, the two little fellows asked at the same time, “What—what is this?”

“I don’t know. Perhaps something that happened a long, long time ago.”

Gu Zhengyang had already watched it countless times, but whenever he watched it again, he still could not help but feel choked up with emotions. His voice was filled with emotions that he was not familiar with even himself.

Biting her lips, Liu Li said affirmatively, “It does not seem real but more like a play.”

“Exactly. But since so many people are willing to play ‘Cultivators’, does it mean that they once existed in reality and that whoever shot the videos were willing to spread the ideology of the Cultivators on a large scale?” Gu Zhengyang said calmly.

“I—I don’t believe it. Could such an incredible world really have existed?” Han Te said incoherently. “The sky is blue, with so many birds flying on it. The lakes are clear, and the fish inside do not bite. There are so many green trees that const.i.tute many… forests!”

With hope beaming out of her eyes, Liu Li mumbled, “There are also cities, ablaze with lights. I never knew that the cities had been so beautiful before they were destroyed. So many people lived inside the cities. They seemed very happy. Everybody was smiling lightheartedly.”

“And the Cultivators. It’s impossible!” Han Te gritted his teeth so hard that the muscles on his cheeks were bulging. “The strong protect the weak, and the weak support the strong? With great power comes great responsibility? The Cultivators are the pride, fist, and saber of humanity? What—what does it mean exactly?

“Is it possible that the strong will protect the weak without any complaint? It seems to be a lie in every way!”

“Perhaps it is truly impossible.” Gu Zhengyang smiled miserably and said, “That’s why the Martial Meritocrats civilization was destroyed in the end and reduced to… the Land of Sins.”

The two little fellows both fell silent. Blinking in confusion, they were like two fish that had finally discovered an oasis after walking in a desert for a long time but were still worried that it was merely a mirage. “Is it true? Is this the Martial Meritocrats Sector before the destruction? It does not agree with the legend of Judgment Day at all!”

“I’ve been bothered by the question for many years.” Gu Zhengyang’s eyes were hollowed and unfocused, and his hands trembled so violently that the thick veins on the back of his hand seemed to be jumping out beyond his control. “I do not know if the world stored inside the chip is real or if the story has truly happened before. I only know that the Land of Sins we live in is… too strange and contradictory!

“Why? It’s been hundreds of years since ‘Judgment Day’. The dust of radiation that blocked the sun in the legends disappeared a long time ago, but the earth is still mired in radiation and pollution without any sign of self-cleaning. Even a crop as tough as Gold Barley cannot be grown on a large scale!

“Why are there so many mutated beasts in the Land of Sins? No matter how many times we hunt them and demolish their dens, they are never annihilated and will only come back again with more terrible and strong species.

“Why are the ‘angels’ never willing to show us their real faces? They have established the ‘Heavenly Rails’ that surround the entire Land of Sins and the enormous ‘Manjusaka, the City in the Sky’ at the cost of astronomical a.s.sets. If they are indeed our past compatriots, wouldn’t it be better for them to give us a hand straightforwardly? Just because our ancestors made mistakes does not mean the blood of sins flows inside our veins!

“Why have they been aiding us with too many weapons and arts and too little food and filter cartridges that can purify water? What is the meaning of that? Are they fond of watching the dog-eat-dog fights?

“If they gave us one tenth of the arts and weapons, just enough for us to resist the mutated beasts, and ten times more food and filter cartridges—no, five times or even three times would suffice—there wouldn’t have been so much slaughter in the Land of Sins!

“There’s still the strangest thing of all. The ‘old grandpas’ and so many new people who drop from the sky with no memories, including me. Who are we? Where do we come from? What is our destiny exactly?”

Gu Zhengyang held his head in agony.

“Dad!”

“Master!”

The two little fellows were both anxious but did not have any idea how they could help Gu Zhengyang.

“It doesn’t matter. I just…” Gu Zhengyang grunted and struggled to speak. “I seem to have vaguely recalled something.”