1232 Civilization’s countdown

A real disaster had dawned.

Tens of millions of Central Plains residents were being controlled to march towards the Southwest and Northwest without realizing it. If one were to look down from space, the dense mass of figures would look like a huge hand fan stomping its way westwards.

The Central Plains was already empty. It was very, very empty.

The previously bustling markets, shops, and streets had become totally abandoned.

Occasionally, a gust of wind would blow, and waste paper and plastic trash on the ground would fly up into the air.

It was as though the temperature in the world had suddenly dropped.

Everyone had left their homes and were being controlled towards an unknown fate that lay either in the Southwest or the Northwest.

The Southwest was not connected to the Central Plains because there was a forest spanning 500 kilometers between them.

Back when the Southwest wanted to establish trade relations with the Central Plains, they planned to do so through the Northwest first before linking up with the Central Plains.

When the Southwest formulated its military strategies, this forest itself would always act as a natural barrier during conflicts. That was because any mechanized troops that wanted to pass through it would have to pay a huge price.

Armored vehicles, tanks, and artillery troops would find it extremely difficult to maneuver here.

While there was a dirt road in the forest, it was not sturdy enough. Once any heavy mechanical vehicles passed through it, the foundation of the road would immediately collapse.

At most, the dirt road could only withstand a few off-road vehicles driving over it.

However, the human troops controlled by Zero were much more direct and crude in their advance. Those controlled residents traveled through the forest without any worries.

Without the support of vehicles or supplies, millions of people went into the forest on foot. It seemed like they were going to force their way through this 500 kilometers of uninhabited land.

The human crowd was silent.

There were children, the elderly, women, and men among them, and a large number of soldiers as well.

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A message from weirdo and Legge:

Thank you all for being such patient readers in this tale of Ren Xiaosu. It has been fun translating and reading your comments, and I hope the quality was up to expectations. Every word chosen, and every character’s motivations were analyzed to reconcile possible “out of character” behavior. It is my belief that translations should bring across the author’s intended message in its most original form.

I know I took a long time clearing up at the end, but I know you’ll understand. Yes, we’re really reaching the end. My thoughts are that The Speaking Pork Trotter had planned out the story very well, and most side characters were not forgotten. Their backstories also endeared to me as I translated their parts. My personal favorite has to be P5092, depicting how everyone has two sides to them. Sometimes, you just can’t judge a person if you don’t understand their motivations. Who can forget Hu Xiaobai and Wang Yuexi, two side characters who aren’t extraordinary in strength but made a difference in the Prosperous Northwest goal. Zero’s story affected me pretty deeply as well.

Alternatively, you can support me on patreon/legge if you like and appreciate the work I’ve done.

Also, please check out weirdo’s work by searching @ wxw “the grandmaster strategist”. He has been a great editor, and I often consult him when parts of the story did not add up.

Thank you, :’)

-translator, Legge

Thanks for sticking with us for so long, and I hope you enjoyed the story!

-editor, weirdo

Video resources for The First Order:

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In the Central Plains, military armaments actually outnumbered soldiers. For example, there were only about 300,000 soldiers in the Central Plains after fighting multiple wars.

But the armaments had reached a total of 1.2 million firearms. Moreover, this was only a conservative estimate, with the number of bullets even greater.

If the Central Plains had not fought in the war with the expeditionary army, their armament figures would be even more terrifying.

It might sound like an exaggeration, but the armaments of an organization had always been several times greater than their number of soldiers.

Therefore, it meant the enemies the Southwest and Northwest would have to face were not entirely unarmed civilians but soldiers carrying guns and ammo as well.

Civilians might not be as physically strong as soldiers, but under Zero’s control, every one of them could possess the most specialized military skills.

Precision shooting, close combat, and rapid detonation were things that any one of them could perform.

Even the children were well aware of the various weak points of the human body.

To be precise, it was not the children who knew, but Zero.

Of course, a child’s strength was not enough to support an attacking blow. The scary ones would still be the young adults in the crowd.

People often described an elite army as a sophisticated piece of machinery. However, no one knew just how terrifying it would be when an army that truly resembled a sophisticated machine appeared.

Bombard the enemy with missiles? The Qing Consortium’s military bases in the Southwest had already been attacked by Zero, and every weapon system that could be digitally infiltrated had been turned into scrap metal. The Qing Consortium had to return to the most primitive way of fighting with firearms and explosives.

All they could rely on were the steely cold guns in their hands.

Fortunately, the advance of this artificial intelligence-controlled mob was not fast. When these civilians who had not undergone any training began their long trek, blisters started forming on the soles of their feet. If that was not handled properly, bacterial infections and skin festering would soon appear among the majority of the crowd.

Zero did not turn a blind eye to this by making them continue marching. That was because these living, breathing humans were the medium for its server.

Keeping the server medium as alive as possible was also something it needed to consider.

As such, those in the crowd whose soles were scraped would stop in their tracks and rest on the spot.

Amid the dense crowd, people who were assigned to gather various kinds of medicinal herbs went around to tend to the wounds of those who were injured. After their wounds healed, they would set off again.

During this period, everyone would use the most precise method to ease their muscle fatigue and reduce muscle knots and lactic acid accumulation, and this was only the most basic type of treatment method they employed.

With the scales already tilted, Zero did not seem to be in a hurry to savor victory.

This huge crowd was like a swarm of ants going about their duties.

Compared to the crowd hypnotized by Li Shentan, this crowd was much more orderly, restrained, and intimidating.

Although the people under Li Shentan’s control were not afraid of death, Zero was better at the overall running of things.

It rarely made any mistakes.

There was no supply line for this army of people. After entering the forest, a group of people was selected to ensure supplies for everyone.

They plucked whatever edible fruit they could and hunted down every edible wild animal and insect.

Anything that flew in the sky or ran on the ground, as well as tree roots, leaves, and all kinds of insects could be used as food.

As such, the most terrifying scene happened. The crowd of humans chewed on bugs that had been washed as they walked, while the long insectoid legs could be seen struggling and trembling between their teeth.

After eating the insects, they would continue eating leaves and fruits. Zero clearly knew what could and could not be eaten.

Based on each person’s height and weight, Zero calculated the calories they had to consume: 43% protein, 22% fat, 0.1% various vitamins, and 17% carbohydrates.

Zero never cared where the nutrients these people needed came from. They could be from roots, water sources, insects, or fruit.

All it needed was to maintain the normal functioning of a human’s body.

There was no need to consider the taste or texture.

In just a week of marching, not only did these people not fall sick, but their bodies even visibly became “healthy.”

The fat ones quickly slimmed down while the thin ones grew stronger.

The lipids, blood pressure, and other indicators in their bodies were all approaching healthy levels.

Under Zero’s control, no one would stop moving due to fatigue and other negative emotions. While a lot of people could not stand the hardship of working out, the artificial intelligence did not care.

These people no longer needed to watch television, read the paper, or listen to the radio, nor could they enjoy the scenery and delicacies anymore. Everything they did on the road was so that they could travel farther and achieve the greatest possible balance in their well-being before arriving at the battlefield.

Every life here would only serve the outcome of victory. There was no distinction between the lives of these people.

The journey was long, and the crowd was also advancing very slowly.

But everyone understood that this crowd would still eventually arrive at the Southwest and Northwest someday.

It was as though the clock was truly ticking down for human civilization from this point onwards.

Translated by: Legge

Edited by: weirdo