CHAPTER 598: CHAPTER 596: FENGRAO RUINS

Zhao Ling received her mission, so the Red Knight left Etolia.

She concealed her form, and after returning to the hotel, she took a hooded trench coat to wrap herself up, and then she walked all the way from Heisai State back to Yin Country.

She no longer needed to eat or drink, as the golden sun replenished her energy, and in objective reality, the once-departed dead bowed to her along her path.

She saw the dead dressed in various garbs, including farmers and soldiers, and from their attire, it was clear they died in distant eras.

When Divine Power Tianyang ignited the heavenly fire, tearing the veil of reality, the dead appeared on the streets of Felda.

Now, the dead and the living coexisted in one world without boundaries between life and death, but people did not become immortal. Instead, they fell into prolonged but finite distress.

Before becoming spirits, they had to find meaning for themselves. When the two realities were still separate, the dead were troubled by this eternal distress, not understanding what else they could do.

But now, that blonde woman transmitted the divine sound to them, giving them direction and purpose.

The Knights would save the world, and thereafter, everyone would go to their designated place to fulfill their mission, and humanity would approach the end of its childhood.

It was precisely because Zhao Ling was entrusted with a mission that she was resurrected anew.

With His permission, Zhao Ling could make her exterior as approachable as before. At this moment, she looked exactly as she did when she ascended to the throne of the Emperor of Yin, her naked body wrapped in a trench coat, her bare feet stepping on warm mud.

Her path was not one of ordinary humans but a blood trail visible only with His permission. By stepping on this crimson path, Zhao Ling could traverse the Heisai State Continent in an instant and teleport directly to the territory of Yin Country.

This was compensation for the Knights’ inability to teleport or fly.

It was not that Divine Power Tianyang did not wish to grant it, but He realized that this ability posed potential risks.

The higher one flies, the closer one gets to the stars. Currently, the Knights’ greatest mission is to remain grounded and fulfill earthly duties.

Challenging the stars was not yet due.

After Zhao Ling returned to the borders of Yin Country, with the help of the blood trail, she directly arrived at the former site of Fengrao City.

This massive city, burned down to its skeleton, still maintained its cauldron-like structure, though only half remained. Yet, seen from below, it was still as spectacular as ever.

Restoring this city would require as much, if not more, money and time as it took to build it.

Thus, the authorities under Venerable Qin had neither the intention nor the ability to repair it. The huge ruin stood like a symbol, set here without even a surrounding wall. Overgrown vegetation had already blanketed the outer ruins of the city, and the core structure’s collapsed parts had become a lush iron mountain, with vines climbing the steel framework and new trees growing more than 200 meters above the ground.

Zhao Ling stood in front of the ruined capital, her heart swelling with anger and desolation. After the collapse of Fengrao City, the great Yin Dynasty she cherished had ceased to exist, leaving only a State of Yin, a nation of slaves.

Yet, even though she had returned, she knew that the New World no longer needed Yin Country.

She had no intention of restoring the city; instead, she aimed to build a new city atop these ruins.

Zhao Ling shook off her coat, revealing her stunning body, then, her skin began to sprout red mold spots and her figure gradually grew larger, transforming back into the Red Knight.

With each step she took, her crimson feet crushed the black soil, sprouting bursts of colorful flowers and grasses which lived only for seconds before wilting under her feet, turning into withered grass and rotting flowers. After a few more seconds, they decayed into black soil, returning to the earth.

She tread on this path of decay and rebirth, manipulating the soil to form a massive platform beneath her feet. The collapsed sections were lifted by mud-made hands, flying with her towards the wreckage of Fengrao City.

Zhao Ling raised both hands, having seen Wei Tianyang do this before—now, she could do it too! She was filled with joy as rotten vines and withered grass continuously sprouted from the soil, winding around the abandoned steel structures like segments of earthen worms.

Under Zhao Ling’s control, vast whirlwinds of soil rose from the fertile land, overturning the ground and forming floating islands of black mud and rubble in the sky, flying to where they were meant to be as per Zhao Ling’s disposition.

The disturbance was immense, and even the current government of Yin sensed the anomaly in the ruins of Fengrao. In the era of widespread network outages, a handwritten letter was urgently driven by the security bureau’s personnel to the residence of Li Lianhua.

Li Lianhua was still indulging with various comprador officials in his luxurious courtyard when he received the oral message from the head of the National Security Bureau, which reported the phenomenon.

Li Lianhua certainly didn’t want to dampen his spirits over such a matter. He felt irritable, having just dealt with disobedient elders within his clans, yet strange occurrences small and large kept arising domestically.

"What am I feeding you for? Isn’t it just extreme weather? Block the news, don’t report how many died. There aren’t many people there anyway, it probably won’t turn into any disaster..." Li Lianhua scoffed as he read the letter.

After the skies had been set ablaze, electricity and communications had been severed; without the internet, Li Lianhua actually felt relieved.

Since his rise to power, he had feared domestic natural or man-made disasters the most. Whether many or few died was always troublesome, as the public would fuss over inefficiencies in disaster relief. Li Lianhua had simply blocked all disaster news; out of sight, out of mind. Then, the public continued to criticize the government for inefficiency, corruption, and officials betraying the country. How could Li Lianhua tolerate such accusations? He had executed the most popular patriotic social media influencers by beheading, even livestreaming the beheadings in the 22nd century.

Now, with no internet, no voices could be heard, nor could any news be spread. Li Lianhua was even more pleased, with no desire to return to the old ways. To him, this was a true return to the old "Dayin Dynasty" era, a good time.

However, some departments below him were still disobedient. He knew there were some within the government who supported Zhao Ling, wanting to bring back the Foreign Affairs Bureau, but Venerable Qin wouldn’t allow it and neither would he. Yin Country should remain just as it was now, serene and better.

The messenger spoke gravely, "Boss, this isn’t some natural weather phenomena. The director instructed me to say that it’s the work of a superpower user, ongoing for several days. The director has had surveillance on it, and has requested your authorization for a coordinated response..."

Li Lianhua glared, saying, "What director instructed? Who has the higher authority, your director or me?!"

The man fell silent, his point made clear.

"In this world, I make the rules now. The sky of Yin Country is my sky! What’s there to fear from those soil tornadoes? They’ll eventually stop themselves! They dare not continue? Let your director figure out who’s in charge!" Li Lianhua declared, pounding the table.