Chapter 212: Zhang Rang's Final Writing

Squeak~ creak~ squeak~ creak~~

Zhou Qingqing awoke amid a ceaseless swaying, like waves upon the sea.

"Where is this place?"

Gazing at the somewhat unfamiliar sky, she lay atop a wooden cart and murmured softly.

"My lady, you've awakened?"

A female dragon-kin caretaker called out in delighted surprise.

"General! General! My lady has awakened! My lady has awakened!!"

Accompanying this cry, a great crowd immediately gathered around the beast-cart before Zhou Qingqing could fully sort out the situation.

Seeing a large crowd pressing in, Zhou Qingqing furrowed her brow, watching them with some confusion; having only just regained consciousness, she had no idea what had happened.

At this moment, countless jumbled memory fragments flashed through her mind—a crimson sky, violent explosions one after another, a translucent barrier, and her husband who had sent her away ahead of time… wait! Her husband?!

In an instant, jolted by a sudden recollection, Zhou Qingqing's eyes went wide; she pushed herself up on her still-weak body and looked around in every direction.

After a long moment, not seeing the person she wished to see, a sudden premonition of ill rose within her heart.

At that moment, the burly, stern-faced ancient dragon-kin general strode over as well.

In a flash, like a sick person clutching at any remedy in desperation, Zhou Qingqing seized his clothing and asked urgently, "Xiao Hu, where is His Majesty? Where has His Majesty gone?"

At these words, the general called Xiao Hu fell silent; he lowered his gaze, his eyes somewhat evasive, no longer daring to look at the anxious woman before him.

In an instant, Zhou Qingqing froze, stiffly sweeping her gaze across the surrounding crowd, who had all fallen mute.

Recalling the last scene before she lost consciousness, and the fact that her husband had been at the very center of the battlefield, coupled with the crowd's present silence—

This confirmed, for one who was no fool, the suspicion in her heart.

"Plop~"

A single crystalline teardrop slid down her cheek and splashed onto the patched-together wooden cart.

Yet she had no mind for such things; she stared blankly at the rough wood grain beneath her, her mind filled entirely with memories of her and her husband, and at this moment she seemed to have turned into a statue.

Seen from afar, the crowd now looked exactly like refugees who had just fled a war-torn land—every one of them utterly wretched.

At this, the general called Xiao Hu also let out a silent sigh; knowing this was no time for questions, he felt they needed to give their stricken Empress a little time to recover.

With this thought, he silently ordered the crowd back to their respective places.

This somewhat bedraggled company once more began to lurch forward.

……

One day later, having fully calmed herself, Zhou Qingqing summoned Xiao Hu once more.

At this, he silently drew a pouch from his bosom and handed it to Zhou Qingqing.

At the sight, Zhou Qingqing took it with trembling hands—it was perhaps the last letter her husband had left her.

After gently stroking the patterns on the pouch a few times with care, she carefully opened it and drew out a scroll that Zhang Rang seemed to have written long in advance; this paper, incidentally, had been invented by a scholar of Great Qin.

After carefully unrolling the scroll, Zhang Rang's somewhat fierce handwriting instantly met her eyes:

To my beloved wife, Zhou Qingqing.

Qing Qing, when you see this letter I left for you, our plan must have failed, and I must be dead.

It seems we ultimately underestimated the most powerful True Dragon between heaven and earth; a dragon is, after all, not something mortals like us can defy.

But do not grieve—we have, after all, blazed a no-return path for the humans of later generations.

Even though the price is that the Empire, into which we poured all our heart's blood, is about to be destroyed in the True Dragon's wrath.

I am very sorry; please forgive my selfishness.

Even though I must still entrust things to you at this point, I truly have no other choice.

Qing Qing, please hurry back to Di Du, to that old familiar place of ours, and transfer in advance those crystallizations of wisdom that represent the Empire's highest achievements, so they are not destroyed by the wrathful True Dragon.

Then, if there is still time, please take my place and govern our Empire.

In this new era, we humans ultimately cannot resist the True Dragons, who are like gods and demons.

The failure of this war of subjugation means that our human race is no longer the Banzhu of the entire world; the struggle for supremacy has already failed.

Our human race's position is no longer transcendent; we have fallen to become an ordinary member among the myriad races of the new era. Thus, for the continuation of our kind, perhaps we must find a new way to live in this world, alongside dragons and giant beasts.

Do not treat dragons and giant beasts as enemies any longer; instead, try to see yourselves as a part of the whole ecosystem, and try to dwell together with dragons and beasts.

Finally, if things cannot be helped, do not be too troubled; I believe the children of my Empire will surely weather this difficulty.

You are not at fault; all the fault lies with me.

From now on I will be gone; please take good care of yourself.

Zhang Rang's final writing.

……

Looking at that familiar handwriting, Zhou Qingqing unknowingly found tears streaming down her face.

But as her husband's final request, Zhou Qingqing still forced herself to rally, summoned Xiao Hu, and had him quicken the journey.

They had to make every preparation before the True Dragon arrived.

Beneath a sallow sky, a company with anxious expressions began to speed away toward the horizon, their destination—

Qingzhou, Di Du.

……

Time drifted on; in the blink of an eye, a month had passed.

After a month of hard traveling, Zhou Qingqing and her party had finally returned to Di Du.

The very instant this somewhat bedraggled company appeared before the eyes of the many Di Du citizens who had been waiting anxiously, everyone in Di Du knew one unfortunate truth—they had failed!

The Dragon-Slaying War—they had failed!!

This defeat thoroughly jolted awake all the Great Qin subjects who had transformed into powerful dragon-kin, shattering their dream of Great Qin's invincibility.

No matter how powerful they had become, no matter how they treated the giant beasts as various resources and tools to be driven.

But before a true dragon, they were ultimately still fragile beyond measure.

And what awaited the citizens of Great Qin next would be the wrath of a true dragon.

Perhaps what awaited them would be a fate like that of the former dynasty of Great Zhou.

For a time, the entire Di Du… no, the entire Great Qin, everyone fell into uneasy anxiety.

Among them, some had a glint in their eyes, strange thoughts stirring within; others were furious, quietly cursing the already-deceased Son of Heaven Zhang Rang, believing he had led Great Qin to its coming destruction; still others declared the Son of Heaven had done no wrong and would perish together with Great Qin; and there were also some timid ones who had long since begun packing up their important valuables, always ready to flee the moment something happened.

At this moment, the hearts of men were all different, the myriad faces of living beings laid bare in the most vivid fashion.

But at this moment, Zhou Qingqing had no mood to pay any of this any attention. She only wished to complete the task her husband had entrusted to her, to transfer and preserve those intellectual crystallizations representing the highest achievements of all Great Qin before the true dragon arrived.

Because even she had already foreseen the destruction of Great Qin — this was something no single person could stop.

Once Great Qin was destroyed, the humans of this land would once again suffer the bitter woes of war, and under that war, vast quantities of precious books and knowledge would inevitably vanish into the long river of Time.

And if these things were well preserved, perhaps after Great Qin's destruction they might offer some small aid to the struggling humans of later generations.

And so Time began to flow once again…

(End of Chapter)