Dawn of a New Era

Chapter 734 - 707: New Era (Part 3)

Capital City time, three thirty in the morning, only a few hours until dawn.

At this moment, the lights inside the People’s Daily newspaper office blazed brightly, everyone suppressing their excitement, enveloped in tension and busyness.

The newspaper’s chief editor, Zhang Jianguo, wearing a pair of reading glasses, carefully considered the draft of tomorrow’s headline news. As the once sharp editor of the newspaper, he rarely handled things personally since becoming the chief editor, focusing more on administrative work and final approvals.

But today was a special day.

Just half an hour ago, the newspaper received exhilarating news: humanity’s nightmare, the powerful Barbarian God, Lord of Lightning, was slain by the God of Martial Arts, Chen Shouyi, in the Yan State.

Under central government instructions, tomorrow’s originally approved headline was urgently withdrawn. Without surprise, the understanding... No, today’s newspaper is destined to be recorded in human history along with this great event.

It is predictable that when the news comes out tomorrow, not only the entire Great Xia Country but also the whole world will be in an uproar, thrilled.

And so, bearing the heavy responsibility as the author and chief editor, the pressure he felt was imaginable.

He pondered over the headline:

"Evil deeds lead to self-destruction!"

He quickly crossed it out; such official wording might be usable sometimes, but at this moment, it was clearly inappropriate, too bland.

"Breaking through the clouds to see the clear sky!"

Still, it wasn’t shocking enough.

He stood up, paced back and forth. The streetlights outside were dim, the east was faintly red, unconsciously, dawn was approaching.

He suddenly had an inspiration, swiftly sat back at his position, grabbed a pen, and completed it in one go.

"The Human Race Welcomes a New Era!"

Countless people stayed awake throughout the night.

...

At eight o’clock in the morning.

The gate of the United States embassy was deserted, sparsely populated at the entrance.

Back when the United States was overrun, taking advantage of the chaotic situation, many high-ranking officials, wealthy individuals, and scientists managed to escape from North America by ship, and a good portion of them came to Great Xia Country to establish a restoration organization.

Out of respect for the former world hegemon and considerations for the human united front,

Great Xia Country offered considerable support.

Initially, the restoration organization was quite imposing, with monthly gatherings attracting tens of thousands of American participants, and donations were enthusiastic.

Due to interruptions in sea lanes and shipping when the mutation occurred, a considerable number remained in Great Xia Country and acquired Xia Country citizenship, with over tens of thousands just in the Capital City.

However, as time passed, the hope of restoration became increasingly faint, enthusiasm waned, and more secretly acquired Xia Country nationality, many compatriots who came with them to Great Xia Country left never to return.

Ultimately, ideals cannot withstand reality.

Hope was ground away in bouts of despair.

Facing the terrifying Lord of Lightning and attempting a restoration across the sea was undoubtedly an ethereal endeavor, even the survival of human civilization was an unknown.

Perhaps they wouldn’t last until the end of the year.

...

"Mr. President, it’s not very safe recently; the situation is not good over in the Yan State, it would be best not to go out these few days." In the embassy, a staffer advised.

The Great Xia government had long since sent danger warning documents to the embassy.

"If Great Xia falls, where could we hide, in bomb shelters?" Davis, the vice president of the former world hegemon, now the president of the restoration organization, said despondently: "Let’s take a walk together; perhaps there won’t be another chance."

The staffer hesitated a bit, then nodded forcefully: "I’ll notify the security advisor!"

"Haha, no need, no one knows us. Oh, I forgot to tell you; Karl resigned yesterday, and I approved it."

"That traitor, a national betrayer, an American traitor, he must have been bribed by Great Xia Country." The staffer was stunned for a moment, then vehemently said.

"Don’t blame him!" Davis sighed, comforting: "I understand him, a dignified legendary powerhouse, how could he guard an ordinary person all day long? His faith was just shattered."

"You are the president of the United States!"

"The United States is no more, we all know. I remember when we came to Great Xia Country, there were 8,345 of us, how many still remember the United States now, five hundred, a thousand?"

The staffer felt a twinge of sorrow, it was somewhat bleak, the once mighty world hegemon had fallen to such a state.

The two walked out of the embassy, the streets deserted.

These days, factories were on holiday, schools suspended classes, most citizens had entered bomb shelters, except for soldiers and police, streets were desolate.

"Do you think this time Great Xia can hold on?" Davis suddenly asked.

"I don’t think so. Great Xia has indeed developed rapidly these years but now its military strength is just slightly above ours at that time." The staffer shook his head and said.

The United States had the right to be proud, as the former world police, they maintained an overwhelming superiority in weaponry and equipment, standing supreme, and its strong scientific research capability allowed it to recover fastest among countries post-mutation.

They didn’t lose to strength, but to luck.

Unfortunately, now they could only reminisce the past glory in memories.

"President, the heavy weapons on the streets have disappeared." The staffer suddenly said in puzzlement.

"Never mind; maybe they went to deploy elsewhere!" Davis said.

The two wandered around and were preparing to go back,

when suddenly, a large crowd began to emerge from the bomb shelter not far away, under soldiers’ order maintenance, everyone was cheering, running, like a carnival.

"Victory."

"We won."

"General Manager Chen**!"

...

The two couldn’t help but stop their steps, faintly guessing something, yet somewhat unable to believe it. Davis quickly stopped one clearly Caucasian Great Xia citizen among them, eagerly using stilted Mandarin: "Sorry, could you tell us what happened?"

"Oh, you don’t know yet? We won. General Manager Chen killed the Lord of Lightning last night; there will be no more shitty wars, we will usher in peace, peace!!!"

This middle-aged white man’s excitement was uncontrollable, his face flushed, if not worried about being caught by the police, he would have stripped and streaked, maybe burned some cars to celebrate.

"Oh, right, this is today’s newspaper, I’ll give it to you." The white man slapped the crumpled newspaper to his chest: "I need to buy another one, no, a hundred copies. Believe me, this newspaper will appreciate in value, absolutely."

The president was utterly oblivious, his whole being stunned, his feet seemed to float. He picked up the newspaper fallen to the ground dazedly, and the front-page headline read:

"The Human Race Welcomes a New Era."

Five large characters.

The subtitle below read,

"God of Martial Arts General Manager Chen, in Yan State, killed the Barbarian God, Lord of Lightning with Powerful Divine Power, the war is over."

He quickly scanned downwards, his face suddenly flushed, overwhelming joy surged from his heart, soaring to his head, his whole body trembled uncontrollably, tears inexplicably flowing:

"Victory... Victory..."

He murmured.

ps: Sorry, it’s late today.