Lin Feng Yi sat by the small fire and watched the people around him. The air in the tunnel was thick and smelled of damp earth and unwashed bodies. These were the survivors of the year 4040 but they did not look like the pioneers he had imagined in his old life. They looked like broken things. There were seven of them in this section of the tunnel including an old man with a hacking cough and a girl who could not have been more than ten years old. Her eyes were too big for her face and she stared at Lin Feng Yi as if he were a ghost.
Xiao Lin you look different the girl whispered. Her name was Mei and in the boys memories she was like a little sister. You sound different too. Your voice is heavy.
Lin Feng Yi tried to soften his expression but his mind was still running through a thousand strategic variables. He realized he was sitting too straight and his eyes were moving too fast. To these people he was a fifteen year old boy who had gone out to find food and came back talking about fighting gods. He needed to be careful. If he scared them they would cast him out and in this world being alone meant a quick death.
I had a hard time in the ruins Mei he said. His voice was scratchy but he tried to make it gentle. The steam pipes burst and I got caught in the fog. It changed how I see things.
The old man whose name was Chen leaned forward. His skin was the color of parchment and his hands shook as he held a rusted cup of gray water. You are lucky to be alive boy. The Hesperian scouts do not let people go once they see them. They hunt for sport. Did you find anything? Any Star Jade? Any scrap?
Lin Feng Yi felt a pang of disappointment. Here he was with the knowledge of a golden age and the power of a Ritualist but all they cared about was a few shards of glowing rock to trade for bad flour. This was the messy reality of survival. You could not build an empire on an empty stomach.
I did not find jade Uncle Chen he said. But I found something better. I found a way to make this place safe.
Safe the old man laughed and then started coughing. The sound was wet and painful. Safe is a fairy tale. We hide in the dirt like worms because the surface belongs to the monsters. We stay quiet and maybe we live another week. That is the only safety we have.
Lin Feng Yi looked around the tunnel. It was a disaster. The walls were weeping water and the support beams were rotting. If a heavy rain came the whole thing would collapse. The fire they were using was smoky and inefficient because they were burning damp trash. This was the first test of his Academics pillar. He did not need high technology yet. He needed basic engineering.
He stood up despite the protest of his aching muscles. His head throbbed with a dull heat. It was the remnant of the liquid starlight he had swallowed back in the library. Every time he moved his eyes he could see faint golden lines etched into the air. They were not menus or buttons but more like a blueprint laid over the real world. He could see where the tunnel was weak and where the air flow was stagnant.
Uncle Chen I need you to trust me he said. If we stay like this the damp will kill you before the Hesperians do. We are going to fix the ventilation.
The other scavengers looked at him like he was crazy. They were tired and hungry. The last thing they wanted to do was work on a tunnel that had been their home for years. But there was something in Lin Feng Yi eyes that stopped them from arguing. It was the look of a man who had seen the end of the world and decided he did not like it.
For the next several hours Lin Feng Yi pushed his failing body to the limit. He directed the two youngest men to dig a narrow shaft toward a hidden vent he had spotted using his new vision. He showed them how to angle the hole so that the heavy smoke from the fire would be sucked out while fresh air was pulled in from a different crack. He used a piece of charcoal to draw diagrams on the dirt wall showing them how to brace the rotting beams with cross sections of scrap metal.
It was backbreaking work. He felt a deep frustration with the weakness of his hands. In 2025 he would have just ordered a drone or a construction crew. Here he had to lift heavy rusted iron with fingers that were raw and bleeding. He felt a flash of anger at the unfairness of it all. Why was he the one who had to carry this burden? Why did he have to be the one to save people who were too tired to save themselves?
But then he saw Mei. She was helping him carry small stones to line the new hearth. She was not complaining even though her shoes were falling apart and her face was pale with hunger. She looked at him with a mix of wonder and fear. That was the human connection he needed. It was the joy of seeing a child help and the disappointment of knowing she had to grow up in a hole.
By the time the sun would have been setting on the surface the tunnel felt different. The smoke was gone. The air was cool and moved in a gentle breeze. The fire burned brighter and hotter because it was getting more oxygen. The scavengers sat back and breathed in the clean air. For the first time in a long time they did not look like they were suffocating.
This is good Xiao Lin Chen said quietly. His coughing had slowed down. I can breathe. I forgot what it was like to just breathe without the sting of smoke.
Lin Feng Yi sat down by the fire. He was exhausted. His vision flickered and the golden calligraphy returned to the air.
Academics Pillar Progress Seven Percent. Tradition Pillar Progress One Percent. Harmony Threshold Zero Point One Percent.
The numbers were small but they were there. He realized that the Tradition pillar moved because he had taken care of his elders. He had acted like a leader should. It was not just about building walls. It was about building a society. This was the Dual Core strategy in action even on this tiny scale.
As the heat of the fire warmed his bones he felt a strange sensation in his chest. It was a warmth that had nothing to do with the flames. It was the feeling of his power digesting. The Ritualist potion was settling into his soul. He realized that every time he improved the life of someone else the potion worked faster. He was not just a strategist anymore. He was a piece of the world itself.
But peace did not last long in the year 4040. Just as the group was settling in to sleep a loud bang echoed from the tunnel entrance. It was followed by a scream.
Hounds the scout at the door yelled. They found the hatch.
Panic exploded in the small chamber. The scavengers scrambled for their meager belongings. Mei grabbed Lin Feng Yi arm and her small hand was shaking violently. Xiao Lin what do we do? We have to run.
Lin Feng Yi stood up. His heart hammered against his ribs. He felt a surge of fear that almost paralyzed him. He was just a boy. He had no weapons. The Hesperians had steam cannons and iron armor. But then he looked at the golden lines in the air. He saw the structure of the tunnel. He saw the hearth he had just built. He saw the new ventilation shaft.
He did not feel like a hero. He felt like a man who was very tired of losing. He grabbed a heavy iron strut from the floor.
No one is running he said. His voice was cold and sharp as a blade. Uncle Chen get the others behind the new hearth. Mei stay behind me.
You are going to fight them Chen whispered. You are going to die boy.
Maybe Lin Feng Yi said. But I am going to make them pay for every inch of this dirt first.
He moved toward the dark mouth of the tunnel. He could hear the hiss of steam and the clank of metal boots. The Hesperians were coming. They were loud and arrogant. They thought they were hunting rats. They did not know that they were about to walk into a trap set by a man who had studied the fall of empires.
He took his position by a narrow bend in the tunnel. He knew that their steam suits were bulky. They could not turn quickly in a tight space. He waited in the shadows breathing slowly just like he had in the library. He felt a deep hate for the invaders. They represented everything that was wrong with the world. They were greed and violence wrapped in brass.
A light appeared around the corner. A red glowing visor.
The first scout stepped into the narrow passage. He had to duck his head to fit. He was grumbling about the smell of the place. He did not see Lin Feng Yi until it was too late.
Lin Feng Yi did not use strength. He used the scouts own momentum. He stepped out and jammed the iron strut into the knee joint of the steam suit. The metal groaned and a jet of high pressure steam sprayed out. The scout yelled and stumbled forward his leg locking up.
Before the man could recover Lin Feng Yi grabbed a heavy stone from his new hearth and smashed it against the scouts visor. The red glass cracked. The scout flailed his cannon arm wildly hitting the walls of the tunnel. Dust and rocks rained down.
Kill him the second scout yelled from behind.
Lin Feng Yi retreated. He was not going to stand there and trade blows. He led them deeper into the tunnel toward the new ventilation shaft. He knew the ground there was unstable because they had just finished digging. He waited until both scouts were in the narrowest part of the passage.
Now he shouted.
He kicked out the temporary wooden brace he had installed earlier. The ceiling did not just fall. It surged down. Tons of irradiated earth and old bricks collapsed on top of the scouts. The weight was too much even for their exosuits. The sound of crushing metal and escaping steam filled the tunnel.
Lin Feng Yi stood back his face covered in dust. He watched as the rubble settled. One of the scouts was still moving his hand clawing at the dirt. Lin Feng Yi did not feel joy. He did not feel excitement. He felt a grim satisfaction. He walked over and picked up a piece of jagged metal.
He finished the job. He had to. If he let them live they would bring an army. This was the messy part of being a king. You had to do the things that made you want to wash your hands forever.
He walked back to the campfire. The scavengers were staring at him in total silence. They looked at the blood on his rags and the cold look in his eyes. He was not Xiao Lin anymore. He was something else. Something dangerous.
Is it over Mei asked quietly.
For now Lin Feng Yi said. He sat down by the fire and felt his hands start to shake. The adrenaline was fading and the reality of what he had done was setting in. He had killed two more people. He was a boy who should have been in school and instead he was a murderer in a hole.
He looked at his palms. They were black with soot and red with blood. He felt a deep disappointment in himself for how easy it was becoming. But then he looked at the clean air moving through the tunnel. He looked at Chen who was breathing clearly.
This is the price he thought. This is the Mandate.
He looked up at the others. We cannot stay here. They will send more. We are moving deeper into the ruins. I know a place. An old bunker from before the flood. It has power and water. We are going to build something real.
The scavengers did not argue this time. They started packing their things. They looked at Lin Feng Yi with a new kind of respect. It was the respect given to a wolf by a pack of sheep. It made him feel lonely but he knew it was necessary.
As he helped Mei pack her small bundle of rags he felt the golden calligraphy pulse one more time.
Survival Pillar Progress Ten Percent. Martial Pillar Progress Five Percent. Digestion Status Sequence Nine Ritualist Ten Percent.
He was growing. The world was changing him. He wondered if there would be anything left of the man from 2025 by the time he reached the end of this journey. He wondered if he would still care about music or cuisine or art. Or would he just be a machine made of strategy and blood?
He shook the thought away. He had to focus on the next step. They had to move through the ruins at night. It was the most dangerous time. The shadows were full of things that were worse than Hesperians. Things that had been twisted by the outer dark.
Let's go he said.
He led them out into the cold night air. The ruins of the city loomed over them like giant skeletons. The moon was a sliver of white light in the dark sky. Lin Feng Yi walked at the front his iron strut in his hand. He was tired and he was hungry and he was scared. But he was also a Ritualist. And he had a world to save.
The group moved silently through the wreckage. They were a small line of shadows in a world of ghosts. Lin Feng Yi watched the horizon his eyes scanning for any sign of movement. He felt the weight of the seven lives behind him. It was a heavy burden but it was his.
This was the start of the Great Harmony. It started in the dirt. It started with blood. It started with a boy who refused to die.
Would you like me to move on to Chapter 3 where they reach the bunker and Lin Feng Yi discovers the first secret of the year 2025?