As soon as Liu A'dou left, Mazkaru remembered—A'dou was the Earth hero praised and admired by all those Earthlings. Back then, Mazkaru had gritted his teeth in anger. But now, he could only slump in defeat. There was nothing he could do.
Mars had lost. For the first time, Mazkaru started to question whether everything he'd done had been right or wrong. His family had started a war against Earth just for water and air, launching an endless campaign of ruthless plunder. In the end, Earth struck back. Mars was bombed, and the Vers Empire surrendered. Looking back now, maybe it had all been doomed from the start. They had weapons—but Earthlings had strategy.
He now saw that the Second Emperor's propaganda had been a mistake from the very beginning. People had envied Earth's resources and used the ridiculous idea of racial superiority to numb themselves. It gave them a pathetic excuse for their looting and destruction.
Mazkaru, at least, still had some rationality left. That's why Liu A'dou had chosen him.
The Martian Empire's system and ruling class were a lot like the Qing Dynasty—but their military power was much weaker. Right now, they weren't allowed to have an army. But if they ever rose again, they were still the heirs to Martian tech. Who knew how much ancient tech was still hidden on Mars? That's why the unified Vers Empire remained a threat to Earth. As a hero to the end, Liu A'dou planned to train a group of native Martian revolutionaries and push for a split within Vers.
"Ada-jie, little princess, I'm back!" Liu A'dou rushed into the house and threw himself into the arms of his wife and daughter.
Ada gave him a look, signaling him to keep quiet—the baby was still asleep.
He held up a set of Russian nesting dolls. It was a gift for his daughter.
Being home felt so much better. He'd been playing way too wild outside. Home was the only real safe harbor. "Ada-jie, was it tough?"
Ada shot him a side-eye. "My big hero, you've been busy messing around with Martians and still have the nerve to ask if I'm tired taking care of our kid alone? I'm so touched."
"My bad." Liu A'dou knew what to do at moments like this—just apologize. Sincerely.
"I accept your apology." Ada wasn't really mad. She just needed to vent. Taking care of a baby was no joke. Thankfully, Zhan Jun's older sister liked kids and often came over to help.
"Don't worry. Once I've trained Vers's revolutionary fighters, I'll come back and raise the baby with you."
"Oh, please. What do men know about raising kids?" Ada underestimated Liu A'dou's patience and ability to suffer.
Fair enough. Liu A'dou admitted he'd never raised a kid. He'd only dealt with little terrors—the Junior Detective League. That was a nightmare. Those kids had terrifying talent for causing trouble.
Thankfully, Ada changed the subject. She was still curious about what her husband had been doing. No one wanted a loser for a husband—Ada was no different. She hoped her man had some ambition. "You think Vers will fall apart? Not rise up again like your own homeland did after its humiliation?"
"Probably not. They don't have the historical foundation for it. There's a 90% chance they'll splinter. They have no real sense of nation or identity. All they've got are those sad Martian ruins. The Martian ruins gave them a reason to build Vers in the first place—and they'll be the same reason it collapses." Liu A'dou knew deep down the Martians had no chance at a comeback. Even their tech would slowly shift over to Earth.
No one to blame but themselves. Vers had been the aggressor. They brought this on themselves.
Queen Asseylum was now left to deal with the mess. After her unconditional surrender, all of Vers's previous military buildup had gone to waste. Things were rough for her. Luckily, Slaine was still supporting her.
Slaine, an Earthling, now held a role like prime minister. The queen asked for his input on nearly everything, relying on his Earth-based knowledge. This dependence had cost her a lot of support. Most Martians had already absorbed the belief in Martian superiority deep into their bones.
Because of that, her orders rarely made it past the capital. The nobles obeyed on the surface but disrespected her behind her back. They clearly didn't take the young queen seriously. Although she had no Martian army of her own, Earth, a powerful backer, stood behind her. So the nobles didn't dare act openly but still mocked her in secret. In the end, it was the people of Vers who suffered the most. The Second Emperor had heavily focused on heavy industry while ignoring public welfare. After their defeat, living standards on Mars only got worse.
Asseylum and Slaine were basically like paper-patchers now. Together, they were still under 40 years old. Their combined intelligence clearly wasn't enough for the mess they were in. Worse, neither of them had a clear picture of what things looked like outside the capital. All they saw was how nice the capital looked and assumed it was thanks to their efforts.
The queen enjoyed the peace, thinking peace was the best. She had no idea how quickly she was losing the hearts of the people. Raised in the palace, this was her limit. And Slaine, who came to Mars after elementary school on Earth, wasn't much better.
The Vers Empire was falling apart. Older Martians could see it clearly. Those living at the bottom felt it even more. They couldn't eat enough, had no warm clothes, and breathed the filthiest air.
So some Martian nobles started trying to cozy up to Earth's stationed troops. Those troops had more food than they could eat. Selling it on the black market brought in good money.
It was like history repeating itself. The now-vanished America of Earth-9 would've been outraged, claiming the United Government stole their playbook. But in truth, this was how it had always worked. From ancient times to now—weak nations had no diplomacy.
The Martian nobles, seeing no hope in Vers, began selling out the empire's interests to pave a way for themselves. And guess who took the blame? The queen.
That's just how the world worked. That's how people were. Which is exactly why we need to treasure what's good even more. Don't let goodness be tarnished. It starts with each of us.
When it came to selling out their country, the Martians weren't noble about it at all. Their so-called superiority crumbled into nothing. Neither Slaine nor the queen could stop it. In the past, Earth and Mars barely interacted. Even if nobles wanted to sell out, there was no way to do it. But now? Earthlings were here, and with them came channels and networks. With how poor Mars's resources were, Earth's stationed troops looked like absolute tycoons—eating a different meal every day. Most Martian nobles had never even lived like that. No wonder the Orbital Knights didn't want to go back. They'd rather stay in Earth's orbit.
This was what happened when external pressure failed and things shifted back to internal class conflict. It was the most dangerous moment for Vers. And that's exactly when Liu A'dou started training revolutionary fighters. He told them that what the people of Vers needed most was to wake up, overthrow the nobles, redistribute the land. Only revolution could make the empire strong again.
Reading Lu Xun, Mazkaru felt like it was describing Vers exactly. Even as a noble, he didn't like the mess the Second Emperor had made. He hadn't been completely poisoned by feudalism. Liu A'dou was determined to pull him up, to let him clearly see the ugly face of feudal rulers. What Vers really needed was a government that could benefit the people—not some naive queen who didn't know anything. Feudalism should've been discarded long ago. The Vers Empire was just history moving backward.
Mazkaru had to go against the current and do something great. There were no saviors in this world. If you wanted change, you had to fight for it yourself.