Dawn of a New Era

Chapter 741 - 714: Calm

Nowadays, Langkai Prefecture is the trade hub connecting Great Xia Country and Tai Buddha Country.

There are tens of thousands of Great Xia Country’s citizens here, with hundreds of offices from various companies, and the annual trade volume is even larger than that with Luoyue Country, which is closer to Great Xia Country.

It’s because the goods here are extremely reasonably priced and of excellent quality.

Especially iron ore and leather, which are not only of high quality but also cheap.

To others, mining in another world is not only dangerous but also inconvenient for transportation, but for the God of Conspiracy with hundreds of thousands of barbarian believers in Tamu, it’s simply not an issue.

...

Since the fall of the Lord of Lightning.

The entire month of June, the world has been peaceful.

There was no war, no displaced people, and all countries quietly licked their wounds, recovering their vitality.

Even the Barbarian Gods remaining on Earth became obedient and restrained.

During this June, Great Xia Country downsized its military by twenty million, reducing total forces to below thirty million. A massive number of second and third-tier units were gradually discharged, with only about ten million remaining on the mainland, the rest stationed in surrounding countries.

For Great Xia Country, with a total population of 1.7 billion.

Such a retained military size barely affected the normal development of its social economy.

The effect manifested in the increasingly prosperous market in Zhonghai City, with sufficient supply of goods. Some supermarkets even began to stock children’s toys, and the styles of clothes in clothing stores became more diverse.

However, not everyone can have things go as they wish.

The Martial Artist Club, which was getting increasingly deserted.

Suddenly bustled with activity today.

Two pieces of news released by People’s Daily, like a stone thrown into a calm lake, stirred up the entire civilian martial artist community.

"The country plans to abolish the position of safety advisor within local police systems and include them in the police ranks voluntarily."

In recent years, as the new cultivation method spread, the number of martial artists surged, and their status quickly declined. Last year, the state subsidy for martial artists was completely canceled. There were fewer tasks, and even not just any new martial artist could become a safety advisor.

There were simply too many monks and too little gruel.

A single position often had hundreds competing for it, leaving no chance for new martial artists.

The Martial Artist Certificate, aside from proving one’s strength, has become almost indistinguishable from any other ordinary certificate, with many martial artists having other jobs.

At the club’s bar counter.

"Old He is still hesitating?"

"Ah, I’ve been a martial artist for ten years and never thought I would become a police officer someday. I won’t have the same freedom as before." He Jin downed a glass of wine, sighed, and wryly smiled. He was also a seasoned martial artist, only recently being promoted to a senior martial artist last year. Unfortunately, even senior martial artists aren’t as valued as they used to be.

According to recent news, the number of martial artists nationwide has reached 250,000. Although most are in the army, there are not few in civilian life as well. In Zhonghai City alone, there are over 320 civilian martial artists.

"The development in these past few years has been too fast. Back when we became martial artists, it was so glamorous—wherever you went, showing your identity, everyone had to treat you with respect. Dangerous, yes, but the money came fast." The middle-aged man who spoke earlier remarked with emotion, "Now, those martial artists are almost like ordinary people."

"Lao Chen, I think you’ve eaten your fill for a few years and forgotten the times of hunger. Was it just a little dangerous back then? During those early mutations, every mission was a near-death experience, especially the Barbarian God invasion, how many died then. If it wasn’t for General Manager Chen, how could Great Xia be so peaceful?" He Jin sneered.

Lao Chen chuckled, "It was just a casual remark, why so serious. Hey, what about General Manager Chen? He’s the chief safety advisor of Zhonghai City, right?"

"Do you really think he’s the chief safety advisor of Zhonghai City? That’s just a nominal title, nothing more than a designation." He looked around and pointed upward, lowering his voice:

"What this big shot wants to be isn’t even a question of desire, just lack of interest."

...

In the dark expanse of space.

Chen Shouyi’s body floated quietly, eyes slightly closed, immersed in the memory virtual world, experiencing the power of insight.

The memory virtual world is a wonderful thing.

It requires only a small faith value expenditure, allowing one to experience this extraordinarily stimulating service repeatedly. The only downside is... it lacks realism.

The memory virtual world always felt indistinguishable from reality to him.

Engaging in it, you couldn’t feel any difference from real life.

All kinds of physical laws, even the Original Force, were simulated exactly as in the real world, and even the world’s developmental evolution followed logic and rules completely.

Until he initiated the insight.

He then felt the falseness of this world.

The entire memory virtual world appeared in his eyes as it’s balanced between reality and illusion, evidently falling short in simulating when it came to involving the vast information of the fourth dimension.

But this is also understandable; after all, it’s a case of getting what you pay for, and Chen Shouyi can’t demand too much of this bootleg version.

To experience reality.

He couldn’t afford the price.

Not even the span of a shiver, and over thirty thousand points were gone—it’s outright robbery.

Understand, by this time in June, as the hype following his defeat of the Lord of Lightning rapidly dwindled, his faith value accumulated only about thirty thousand points, which amounts to merely 0.05 seconds of sustained time.

The reason it’s 0.05 instead of 0.03 seconds is that with the enhancement of intelligence, faith value consumption also correspondingly decreases. This month Chen Shouyi’s intelligence increased by 0.2 points, resulting in a 0.02-second extension in duration.

This is undoubtedly good news, giving Chen Shouyi hope for normalizing this ability.

After experiencing it twice, he retreated groggily.

It took several minutes for him to recover his senses.

He then sat in the void, lost in thought:

"After entering insight, my information processing speed multiplied billions of times, with thinking speed comparable to light speed. Logically, my perception of time should exhibit ’infinite elongation,’ but in reality, it doesn’t; the perceived 0.05 seconds is identical to the actual 0.05 seconds."

"This feeling... is like the Book of Knowledge allowing me to endure the four-dimensional information storm while maintaining normal reaction speeds to the outside world, but then it just stopped." He felt somewhat frustrated:

"This is too perfunctory. Is it because I can’t afford that little bit of extra faith value?"

"What’s the use of this ability?"

Yet an intuitive sense told Chen Shouyi that this ability is unfathomably powerful.

"Perhaps I haven’t discovered the real usage of this ability yet. The key is the time is too short, barely enough to consider a few thoughts before it’s over. I can’t conduct experiments, and each experience requires a long recovery."

"Forget it, dawn is coming. That’s it for today."

Looking at Earth, which occupied half of his field of view in the distance, he willed himself to quickly fly forward.