The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 823 The Lost Realm
When working at Vine Company, Qi Meng and his colleagues were responsible for developing the Eastern World.

Colleagues in charge of the game's plot said that the radical social group Gemin is the source of suffering in the Eastern World.

Another colleague said that the moderate Gaige would allow the vested interests to continue to maintain their interests, could not highlight the advanced nature of the emerging class, and should be abandoned.

Both sides believed that they held the truth, so they argued fiercely.

Qi Meng said that A causes B and non-A also causes B. Then, one of the two statements must be wrong.

Who is wrong?
No one feels they are wrong.

Ultimately, Vines opted for the activism song title.

Only vines can save the Eastern World, only vines represent the interests of the vast majority of players, and only vines can represent the development trajectory of advanced gaming culture.

However, under the design of Vine programmers, the game Eastworld has been a tragedy since its first day.

From one tragedy to another.

Hunger, famine, war, plague, economic crisis...
When Qi Meng was about to escape from the company, he was surprised to find that the birth rate in the Eastern World had dropped from a peak of 5% to less than 0%, which was the lowest level among all dimensions.

The NPCs in the Eastern World chose to lie down and do bad things in order to fight against the great, omnipotent and omnipresent Creator.

Qi Meng was disappointed and desperate with Vine, as it could force the NPCs in the game to evolve independent self-awareness and lie down and play badly.

By the end of the game, not only the NPCs, but also many players began to feel depressed. Many players have quit the game and switched to other dimensions, such as Westworld, to continue the game.

·····
The Senate noticed a sharp increase in the number of players committing suicide due to depression and began investigating the matter. Vine Company explained:
This land (Eastern World) is the source of tragedy.

Literary narration is the "soil for the flowers of sin." The official recommends that players cultivate a grateful heart, heal their inner spiritual exhaustion, and experience the power of true tragedy while enjoying the game.

In the Eastern world, the radical Gemin faction and the moderate Gaige faction ultimately ended up in the same place, becoming a fig leaf for the Celestial Empire.

Qi Meng believed that he could transcend suffering - at least transcend the suffering of the Eastern world - so when witnessing the tragedy under the rule of warlords, he could remain calm.

The relationship between the time traveler and the NPC of this time and space is similar to the relationship between the Donglin Party of the Ming Empire in the 17th century and the Costa Rican lizards thousands of miles away.

In Qi Meng's view, all the warlords in the Central Plains War, of course including other more radical forces, and all the power struggles were just like the little people on the tentacles of a snail, killing each other for a small piece of land, which was ridiculous and pathetic.

~~~~~~
Taking advantage of the cover of night, Qi Meng and Da Zhuang escaped from the Wanping City camp and escaped from the melancholy little prince Marshal Zhang.

Qi Meng was not planning to go to Henan as he did not want to get involved in the war between warlords.

He has more important things to accomplish. A dragon fell in Yingkou. If he waits until the Northeast is occupied by Xiaozi, the cost of looking for the dragon will be even greater.

Qi Meng and Da Zhuang stayed in an inn southwest of Wanping, preparing to return to Sijiu City at dawn. After resting in the city for two days, they headed straight outside the pass to look for the fallen dragon or whale.

"This gentleman looks familiar. Where have we met before?"

When he was about to pay the room bill, the innkeeper, a thin old man, lowered his head and fiddled with an abacus. He looked up and glanced at Qi Meng casually, and his face changed drastically.

Qi Meng responded coldly: "You've got the wrong person. My brother and I are in Wanping for the first time."

"Don't blame me for being abrupt. You bear some resemblance to an old friend of mine."

As the shopkeeper spoke, he raised the oil lamp and moved closer to Qi Meng to examine it carefully.

"Uncle Qi?"

Qi Meng saw a familiar face.

"Uncle Huai? Why are you here?"

"I've been here for twenty years."

The inn is well-managed, with benches placed on the street and round tables and benches throughout the store. The layout is somewhat similar to the "Teahouse" written by Lao She.

Even Zhu Youjian's image looks more and more like the teahouse owner Wang Lifa.

"You alone?"

"Oh! Don't mention it!" Zhu Youjian sighed.

Qi Meng asked Dazhuang to follow the shop assistant to clean the room upstairs and not to go downstairs without permission.

Dazhuang carried a bucket of water and a rag and climbed up the stairs with a thud.

Zhu Youjian pointed to the waiter upstairs.

"My daughter married a businessman and died of illness a few years ago. She left behind a grandson, who was hit by a car and killed at a temple fair on March 3rd of the previous year. My son and I are in business together."

Unexpectedly, the former Ming emperor became the innkeeper.

Qi Meng didn't want to make fun of his old friend, he could feel Zhu Youjian's sadness.

"A few years ago, I followed a group of tomb robbers, searching for you and Shen Lian all over the world in Northern Zhili, Shandong, and Shanxi, but couldn't find you. Now that I'm old, I bought this shop, thinking that when the Japanese attack, I'll run into you. Maybe you'll come to Lugou Bridge with your Type 99 rifle to fight the Japanese..."

"Grave robber? Do you think Shen Lian and I are buried in the earth?"

"Not really." Zhu Youjian laughed dryly, "I just sold some funerary objects to supplement my family income."

Qi Meng was speechless.

"Uncle Huai, I don't need a crooked handle. I have a powerful one."

Thousands of words can express everything.

Qi Meng held Lao Zhu's hand tightly.

"Brothers!"

From the supreme emperor of the Ming Dynasty, to a humble innkeeper, with his wife and children leaving him, it is hard to imagine what Zhu Youjian went through in those years.

Years are a killer knife.

The heroic Emperor Chongzhen with his sharp eyebrows and brilliant figure is gone. The current Zhu Youjian is a little old man in his fifties, as thin as a stick, who would fall down at the slightest gust of wind.

"Where is Captain Shen?" Zhu Youjian wiped away his tears and looked up at Qi Meng.

Qi Meng shook his head, raised his bowl, and drank it all in one gulp: "I haven't found it. Maybe he's digging potatoes in Siberia right now."

Zhu Youjian moved the wick and the oil lamp suddenly became much brighter. The two of them stared at the tiny flame and stopped talking.

Suddenly there was a commotion outside, torches were glaring, and there was a banging sound outside, followed by a shouting sound with a Henan accent.

"Damn it! The Marshal is recruiting soldiers, is there anyone in the house?"

"Sir, I don't think there's anyone there. Let's push the door open and search to see if there are any bald soldiers."

The bald soldiers refer to Chiang Kai-shek's army. It seems that most of these conscripted soldiers are Marshal Zhang's men.

"Marshal Zhang is also conscripting men?" Qi Meng was a little surprised. He didn't expect that the suave young marshal with thick eyebrows and big eyes would also do such a thing as conscripting men.

Zhu Youjian said in a hoarse voice: "What are you talking about? I have been here for more than 20 years and have never seen a warlord who did not conscript men."

"The Fengtian Army has only been in the pass for a few days, and they're already conscripting men? And with that accent, aren't they from Henan?"

As far as Qi Meng knew, Marshal Zhang didn't seem to have any Henan troops under his command. Zhu Youjian didn't have time to answer Qi Meng's question. He quickly made a gesture to silence the crowd and blew out the oil lamp. The surroundings were completely dark.

The soldier knocking on the door heard some noise inside the house and cursed loudly:
"Sir, there's someone in the room!"

"His brother-in-law, how dare you hide and refuse to serve in the military? Kick the door open! Arrest everyone inside and send them to Kaifeng to dig ditches tomorrow!"

Zhu Youjian looked ashen and terrified, as if he was about to drag these soldiers out and shoot them in the next second.

"Open the door! Open the door quickly! If you dare to disobey military orders, you will be beheaded!"

"Sir, what if we can't kick it open?"

"Damn it, that thing in your hand is useless, blow it up with a grenade!"

A group of soldiers struggled outside for a while, and when they saw that the gate didn't move at all, they cursed and said they would throw grenades.

It's obvious that the soldiers are not playing by the rules today, and it looks like someone might die.

Da Zhuang heard the noise and ran downstairs with two pistols in his hands.

"Boss Qi, what's wrong?"

"Not urgent."

Qi Meng held down the revolver and signaled the young killer to stay calm.

Today I finally got together with an old friend and we chatted, but before we could say a few words, we were interrupted.

"What to do? Kill them!"

"Don't worry, just play with them and let them smash it, smash it hard!"

The boss was very angry and the consequences were serious.

Zhu Youjian had a bitter face: "If I don't give you a few hundred dollars in cash, I can't escape today. What should I do?"

"Let's run away! There's a tunnel in the backyard. I'm going to pack up and leave. I don't want this shop anymore. What a life these days! Ugh!" Zhu Youjian pointed at the dim oil lamp and cursed, "Damn it! This is not even as good as the whale oil lamp that Liu Zhaosun improved back then. The price of this crappy lamp oil keeps going up every day!"

Qi Meng held the bowl and was about to drink more when he saw clearly that there was a fly lying in it.

"Who the hell says it's not true? They only know how to fight wars, they only know how to fight wars, they don't understand economic development at all! China is a good place, but they have made the people's lives miserable, worse than Kang Youwei's time."

Zhu Youjian subconsciously glanced at the big words "Don't talk about state affairs" posted on the pillar.

Qi Meng said calmly, "Open the door."

"What? Are you crazy?" Zhu Youjian almost jumped up.

"Open."

Dazhuang immediately stepped forward to open the door.

Zhu Youjian looked as pale as death.

The door bolt had just been opened when it was kicked open from the outside with a loud bang.

A group of drunken Fengtian soldiers stood at the door and shouted, "Damn it! They're only opening the door now! It's too late! Take them all away!"

The soldier was holding a bottle of wine, his body staggering, and he came up to pick up Dazhuang.

Zhu Youjian took a bag of money from the clerk, ran forward in two steps, took out a few pieces and stuffed them into his pocket.

"Boss, please go look elsewhere. We are a small business..."

An officer came up and snatched the purse: "Here you go!"

"Hang! Beat up his brother-in-law! How dare he make fun of us!"

The soldiers rushed forward, picked up benches, and started beating Zhu Youjian and Dazhuang without saying a word.

The shop assistant swung the rolling pin and rushed forward without hesitation.

"You bastard, you dare to hit my father? I will fight you!"

He had just taken a few steps when someone grabbed his sleeve. "Are you Lao Zhu's son?"

"What's the matter? Aren't you his long-lost brother? Your brother is getting beaten, and you just stand there!"

Qi Meng pulled Zhu Youjian's son behind him, looked at the bustling crowd in front of him, and shouted with all his strength: "Old Zhu, Da Zhuang, get out of the way!"

A gust of wind blew across the plain, and the doors and windows of the inn were closed.

Everyone was shocked on the spot. Dazhuang protected Zhu Youjian and hid nearby.

The officer was half sober. He picked up his hat that had been blown off, cursed, and aimed his gun at Qi Meng. The others also raised their guns.

"Fuck you, who the hell are you, pretending to be so great here! I..."

Before he finished speaking, the plasma laser launcher emitted a beam of white light, which instantly flooded the inn. The group of soldiers disappeared without a trace without making any sound.

Only smoke and dust were left in the room.

"Is it over?" Zhu Youjian asked with lingering fear.

"It's over." Qi Meng put away the laser launcher and put it back into the infinite space. The system showed that 0 units of energy blocks had been consumed.

~~~
The two old friends sat down again, the oil lamp was relit, and the waiter happily brought out a table of delicious dishes. Da Zhuang buried his head in the food and gobbled it up voraciously.

"Uncle Huai, the places I've been to over the years."

"Me too."

Qi Meng was beyond the Three Realms and was invisible. He had never been afraid of anyone in the Eastern World. In front of Zhu Youjian, he began to point out the Jiangshan and talked endlessly:

"Peking's fried tripe and hot pot at the foot of the Imperial City, Nanjing's dried shredded pork dumplings, the glamorous Qinhuai romantic scene, Shanghai's Gezijian (Gezai Omelette), Tianjin's fried dough twist and goubuli (Douglas's Goubuli), Guangzhou's boat porridge and rice noodle rolls, Lushunkou's salted fish pancakes and artillery forts, Northeast China's three fresh delicacies and pork, cabbage and vermicelli stew, the stinky tofu and duck blood soup at Huoguangdian (Fire Palace), Yunyang's braised bran wine, Xiangyang's beef offal noodles, and the scorching city of Changsha. Tieli, Fuyu, Hulun Pond, Hailar River, Beier Pond, Changbai Mountain, Daxing'an, Xiaoxing'an, Yingkou, Andong, Laoha River..."

"All the romance is gone. Just now I said they were not as good as Kang Mazi. In fact, this group of people are not as good as you, Mr. Huai."

"They collected taxes until the 90th year of the Republic of China, and even into the 70th year. People sold their children and daughters, and their livelihood was in dire straits! They weren't warlords, they were worse than bandits. Bandits only robbed you of your money, but they took away everything you had from the first 30 years and the last 30 years! Damn it! If I hadn't been tasked with saving the universe, I would have blown them to smithereens long ago!"

Zhu Youjian certainly knew that Qi Meng could do it. After all, he had so many energy blocks, enough to destroy the earth a hundred times.

"Lao Qi, not everyone is like you. You can cheat and you have the aura of a protagonist. I am also a time traveler. In my previous life, I was the emperor of the Ming Dynasty. In this life, I am humbled to the dust. My child was hit by a car and I had no one to defend me!"

"Nine times out of ten it was the vines that did it."

Qi Meng patted Zhu Youjian on the shoulder and looked at the shop assistant who was still in a daze.

Old Zhu, you forgot that time travelers cannot be emotional. You have to be an invincible person, without relatives or friends, without any worries, and without any weaknesses, then the vines will have no way to deal with you.

Qi Meng did not speak, nor did he say those cruel and inhumane words. He silently watched Zhu Youjian, while Dazhuang was still wolfing down his food.

"Old Zhu, come with me, to Liaodong, to do great things, so that there will be no more tragedy in this world."

(End of this chapter)