Chapter 488: Revival of Sacred Authority

On the final day of his journey, Harry stayed in a penthouse hotel on the outskirts of the city. With a complex mood, he gazed at the moat not far away—the wide river surface was as calm as it had been a hundred years ago.

Finally, as the clock struck midnight, the great bridge began to rise slowly. The completely vertical concrete bridge deck became a new city gate. Most of the inner city's residents and administrative agencies had already evacuated in advance, and from this moment on, those who had not left were unable to leave, including their Emperor.

"When the Yongle Emperor moved the capital to Shuntian, he declared to the world that he would personally guard the nation's borders, and for this, he even died on the road to conquering the northern desert," Zhang Qiu said with some emotion. "And after the Tumu Crisis, the civil and military officials were afraid of the Emperor falling into danger and were no longer willing to let him leave the Imperial Palace for even a single step."

Harry watched the distant, brightly lit Shuntian Prefecture calmly. Some people with flashlights walked back and forth on the city walls. After the bridge rose, the city returned to tranquility. He listened to Zhang Qiu's words; although he could not understand them, he could feel the pride within them. It was an emotion both familiar and strange. Once, the poorest workers in London's East End could speak just like Zhang Qiu now, but today, even Harry, who was nearly at the pinnacle of the nation, conversely envied even a driver in the Celestial Empire.

"I admire that Master could think of this idea. Nothing interprets the ancestral motto of 'the Son of Heaven guarding the borders' better than the Shuntian city being on the front lines," she said, suddenly chuckling. "Although our enemies are merely 'earthen chickens and clay dogs,' this is a battle that draws the curtain on a new era. I believe they will use their full strength."

The moat began to reflect a blue glow. Immediately after, one beam of light after another shot into the sky. The residents on the outskirts spontaneously ran into the streets, discussing loudly and watching the once-in-a-century spectacle.

A resonant voice came from within the city, likely explaining the matter of the city ascending into the sky. Harry felt a bit of regret; he could not understand it, but he could hear the fervor in the tone. Just as he turned his head to ask Zhang Qiu to translate for him, he saw a look of boredom in her eyes.

"The leader is giving a speech; it happens all the time," she patted Harry on the shoulder. "In short, it's announcing the start of the war, then the Emperor is changing the reign title, announcing that everyone is entering a new era."

Harry asked: "What does reign title mean?"

"It's a summary of the current government's governing goals. The one they set before was 'Merging with Dust,' meaning to try to live in harmony with other countries in the world. This time, the Emperor is changing it to 'Revival.' Oh, honestly, this reign title is a bit lame, making it seem as if we had ever declined."

"Then 'Revival,' does it mean to flourish again? I don't know when the Celestial Empire was at its peak in history, but I feel that perhaps it really might not reach the current level."

"We once possessed the entirety of Asia, just as the Roman Empire possessed the entirety of Europe," Zhang Qiu said proudly. "When you all are reminiscing and joking about Rome, small South Asian countries are still struggling to resist Rome."

Harry did not argue; he just rationally brought up another topic: "Then, if you take that period as the aspiration for revival, does it mean that your goal this time is at most to take down the entirety of Asia?"

"From the most radical perspective, the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors who ruled the whole world in the primordial era might not be impossible to choose as the ultimate goal of revival. But to be realistic, we all feel there is no need to occupy that cesspit you abandoned. At most, we will just take the Ganges as the boundary," Zhang Qiu recalled the discussions she had heard among the radicals at the embassy. "More importantly, it's to take down some islands, form a two-island-chain defense system here in the Western Pacific, and prepare for a protracted war with the opposite shore."

"In your Prime Minister's planning, he seems to favor the White House as the winner of the Cold War. Why is that?" Harry asked. "He said Yanayev is a person who abandoned his ideals, attempting to save a country that abandoned its ideals. I feel his view on Soviet Russia is somewhat one-sided."

"Because they took that ideal as the foundation of their nation, so when the ideal was abandoned, the ending was already destined. No matter how much Yanayev delays this ending, or even if he could really win the Cold War," Zhang Qiu paused, "he would ultimately only be able to disintegrate and re-establish the original country based on ethnicity and culture."

This topic was one that deeply confused Harry. From the time he received education as a child, he could not help but be attracted by that red ideal. However, the more he grew and understood this world, the more he doubted the feasibility of the ideal. During that period in his fifth year, he deeply realized that human desire has no limits; no ideology could construct a self-consistent utopia. When he looked at Yanayev's future again, it became a fog.

"But..."

"Regardless of how you put it, everything Yanayev is doing at present is futile. He is merely expanding and maintaining a red empire, not truly moving toward a red future," Zhang Qiu took a half-step forward, watching the people on the street. "And everything my Master is doing, perhaps it also cannot."

"I feel that the current way is also not necessarily a good idea," Harry said, feeling somewhat lost. "What exactly is the road to an ideal society?"

"I don't know. What I know is that the middle and upper echelons of this country have been restricted for too long. They are now trapped in a strange fanaticism of wanting to expand and develop. Perhaps, after a brief madness, they can find a new answer," Zhang Qiu could understand the content of the speech, so her feelings were more profound. "Before this, Master Xuanjun had already proven that he could not find the true answer in a stable environment. The Dao is not the answer, just another handy tool."

"What will the future of this world be like?"

"After the Great Ming rejoins the card table, the situation will be even more complex. However, I still have quite a bit of confidence. I believe that humanity can find a brand-new way out amidst cooperation and competition," Zhang Qiu said, turning back to smile at him. "And we can work hard together to lead Great Britain onto that path."

Harry was also amused by her, and he asked back: "Do you not care about this Ming Empire?"

"No need, because it has already walked a very long way on the road."

Not long after Zhang Qiu's voice fell, the speech in the sky also stopped, and a huge roaring sound began to rise. Harry could imagine the city being raised, but the fact was that it did not rise; instead, it maintained this roaring, and time once again seemed to become long.

"They are doing this to make Muggles think that we are using some kind of scientific means," Zhang Qiu commented. "Does this roaring sound like some kind of engine? Or do they call that a reactor, a generator? Perhaps we did use some technological assistance, but you also saw in the documents that what truly plays a role is a large-scale Levitation Charm obtained through a serial ritual. Wizards don't need such a big commotion to cast spells at all."

"Perhaps there is another layer of meaning," she continued. "With such a loud sound, the surrounding residents definitely won't be able to sleep. With such an important matter as the capital ascending, how could they be allowed to miss it muddledly in their sleep?"

Harry smiled and shook his head. He did not know why some people would rather sleep than go out to see such a miracle.

The sound began to become louder, and the window glass seemed to be trembling faintly. It was not convenient for them to continue talking; this loud noise covered up all words, and thus the world fell into a noisy silence.

Next, thirty-two searchlights deployed outside the city shot out thick yellow beams of light, illuminating the bronze dragon heads carved on the city walls. Moreover, these beams of light intersected exactly with the vertical blue beams. In the eyes of Muggles who did not understand, that might be some kind of precision-guided technology. And Zhang Qiu still speculated that it was a means to "wake the common people up."

The reflected light rendered the midnight sky like the faint light of dawn. This city began to rise slowly, like a sleeping person deciding to wake up. The carved beams and painted rafters inside the city lit up with red or yellow indicator lights one after another. These buildings, which still faithfully retained the classical style, were originally surrounded by high-rise buildings on the outskirts, like stubborn old men sitting in wheelchairs. But at this moment, as they gradually became level with the modern building complex following the city's ascent, the high-rise buildings instead became humble servants.

On the other side of the land, the meticulously designed steel structure was inlaid with light strips, forming an alternative city wall. And as this city wall completely detached from the ground, the structure that was originally hidden underground also began to be revealed before the eyes of the world.

That was a building complex formed by high-rise buildings, only they grew in the wrong direction. The tops of the buildings were tightly joined into the original land, while the bottoms of the buildings were made into sharp points. In those inverted high-rise buildings, just like the surroundings of the outskirts at this moment, every floor was lit up. Across this distance, Harry could not see clearly what the people inside were doing, nor did he know if there were people there. And these meticulously designed building complexes combined to form an inverted cone shape; the closer to the city center, the more forcefully they pierced into the depths of the earth.

In the end, when the central inverted building also revealed its sharp point, Harry, who was at the top of the high-rise building on the outskirts, also had to look up to see the original ground of Shuntian Prefecture. High-power spotlights shone on the edge of the city, and then through the reflection of the metal, a strange orange color permeated the horizon, while the bottom of the city was permeated with thin mist. Obviously, that was not thin mist, but falling dust.

When a play needs to proceed to the next scene, someone will come out to move the scenery. The insurmountable high mountains in the play can be moved at will in their hands. The intermission is a moment that transcends the play, a great power that the people in the play cannot imagine, let alone explain.

The masses appreciated this magnificent intermission amidst endless excitement and joy. ===== CHAPTER 489 =====