Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Li Yao examined the deductions made by experts of the game who were probably admin-type Cultivators. He carefully studied every policy that they issued, only to find that, like when a raging river changed its course, once a wrong offshoot appeared upstream, there was simply no saving and stopping the flood downstream however hard one worked.

“In the history of the New Federation,” Ling Xiaole said, “those two decisions were of the greatest significance. At that time, huge controversies were raised as to whether or not to agree to the Water Crystal Sector’s greedy conditions and to assist them with rather powerful magical equipment and techniques, and whether or not to grant demons extensive and equal residential rights and citizenship later.

“After all, the Water Crystal Sector seemed so weak, and their world boasted the crystal resources that the federation was in dire need of. All that was needed seemed to be an insignificant war in order to achieve everything without much trouble.

“For the second decision, many people hadn’t forgotten the old hatred and were highly wary of the demons. They believed that completely loosening the shackles of demons would be opening the gate of disaster. A lot of interest groups from the resource industry were also instigating trouble and making matters even more difficult.

“Therefore, the two decisions were quite controversial in the decades before and after they were made. Those involved in the decisions were even lashed by the radicals as ‘coward’, ‘thieves’, ‘appeasers’, and even ‘traitors of the civilization’!

“Many people didn’t like Jin Xinyue, the leader of the demons who always appeared too tough. Even I don’t like her very much. But—”

“You don’t like Jin Xinyue?” Li Yao was slightly dazed. “Aren’t you a… for lack of a better word, ‘half-demon’?”

Ling Xiaole blinked and smiled. “Yes, I am a half-demon, but it is only the bloodline given by my parents. I’m prouder of my identity as a ‘Secret Sword Agent’ because I’ve earned it with my own hard work!

“The people in the Secret Sword Bureau are not particularly fond of Jin Xinyue. She worked in the Secret Sword Bureau before and was even once at the top of the agency, only second to Director Guo. But she and Director Guo had a conflict, and the two of them were rather at loggerheads later. In the end, she left with a bunch of elite workers and established her own ‘Dim Moon Fund’, which goes against us, steals our business, and disrupts our plans all the time!

“People of the same trade can never like each other. Everybody in the federation knows that the Secret Sword Bureau and the Dim Moon Fund are mortal enemies. Neither of us are willing to obey the other agency.

“Compared to the Secret Sword Bureau, which is responsible for internal safety, the Dim Moon Fund, which focuses more on actively attacking, is more criticized. Many novels, movies, and even DLCs of ‘Civilization’ also set the Dim Moon Fund as the supervillain in the end.

“However, as much as I dislike Jin Xinyue, I have to admit that at the crucial point in year fifty-five of the New Federation Calendar, if she hadn’t persuaded and coerced parliament doggedly and aggressively, if she hadn’t struck the radicals within the demon race without mercy, and if she hadn’t conducted the clandestine deals with various parties in secret… All in all, if she hadn’t facilitated the passing of the ‘Bill of Rights for General Equality’ by any means possible, the federation today definitely would have been faced with a disaster!

“From that point of view, like Ding Lingdang, Jin Xinyue is one of the greatest contributors for the New Federation to make it to this day. That’s why they are the two front runners in the most important election for the Supreme Speaker despite their young age and their lack of seniority.

“This is what the game ‘Civilization’ tells us. In many cases, we might not be making the best decision that will satisfy everyone, but the other decisions can possibly be much worse!

“After understanding that point, if we review many people, many things, and many tough decisions of the past in hindsight, we may be calmer, more objective, and more at ease, and we will not be overwhelmed by extreme, radical thoughts easily, right?

“Because everybody has learned that, even if some choices at hand appear more tempting, noble, and ‘perfect’, the final outcome could be…” Ling Xiaole pointed at the two lackluster and devastated ‘failed worlds’ that were rotating slowly in the light beam while she said, “… like this with only one moment of carelessness!”

“Can I try running the two ‘failed worlds’ from the beginning?” Li Yao could hardly wait any longer.

“Of course, you can start from the moment when we refused the terms of the Water Crystal Sector and declared war upon them in year thirty-one of the New Federation Calendar or from the moment when parliament rejected the ‘Bill of Rights for General Equality’ in year fifty-five of the New Federation Calendar.” Ling Xiaole smiled. “See if history might take a different course after you make different choices.

“Enough talking. We have prepared two super accounts for you. Please take your time to enjoy it. As for the specific operations, the game assistants will help you in the game. I will be next door. Just call me if you need anything.”

Ling Xiaole slightly bowed to Li Yao and Heiye Lan before she left the VIP room.

Li Yao looked at Heiye Lan. He could tell that there seemed to be a frozen volcano in the eyes of the elite female warrior of the Imperium. She certainly had a lot that she wanted to say.

But even an idiot would know that this was not a suitable place to talk.

Furthermore, the two of them were full of curiosity about the world of ‘Civilization’. Nodding at each other, they both entered ‘Civilization’ through the immersive game cabins.

“Welcome to the world of ‘Civilization’, I am Xiao Ming.”

“Are you ready to change the future of mankind? I am Wen Wen.”

In the splendid and brilliant virtual sea of stars, the infinite light of the stars gradually concentrated into a little boy and a little girl. Both of the kids were plump and jovial. They were jumping to greet the players.

They were the game assistants that the players could summon any time after they entered ‘Civilization’.

The world of ‘Civilization’ was too vast and complicated. Much of the perfectly simulated information processing and data calculation was boring, too.

The two game assistants could not only guide the players to get the hang of a new DLC quickly but also help the players adjust the difficulty of the game and handle most of the tedious, detailed world on behalf of them. With the assistants’ help, the players only needed to pick the major policies.

It was sort of a balance between fun and sense of reality.

The boy, Xiao Ming, and the girl, Wen Wen, were dancing and laughing carefreely in the middle of the space and chasing after one another for fun. Suddenly, the boy turned around and put on a tiny, cute crystal suit, pretending to be majestic. “You can also call me ‘Li Yao’!”

The girl also turned around standing on the tip of her toe, and a crystal suit appeared on her body, too. “You can also set my name to ‘Ding Lingdang’!”

“Or Mo Xuan!”

“Or Jin Xinyue!”

The boy and the girl announced dozens of names in a row. Li Yao had heard some of the names before, who were all famous heroes or scholars in the history of the federation. But some other names sounded rather strange and were likely new celebrities who had emerged in the last hundred years.

He realized that the names of the two game assistants could be user-defined. They could be named after the heroes and scholars in history or any other bizarre things that the players liked, and they did not have to carry the two initial shabby names, Xiao Ming and Wen Wen.

Li Yao was only there to experience the game. Naturally, he found it unnecessary to give ‘Xiao Ming’ or ‘Wen Wen’ any other names.

He chose the second ‘failed world’ first, which was the point in time related to his youngest disciple Jin Xinyue. He also selected the so-called ‘godly perspective’, in which he would not play any specific character but only make the decisions that would influence the big picture from a certain stance.

With the help of ‘Xiao Ming’ and ‘Wen Wen’, Li Yao soon familiarized himself with the operations and the background of year fifty-five of the New Federation Calendar.

Of the two game assistants, Xiao Ming was more likely to provide strategic suggestions on military and politics, whereas Wen Wen was better with research and culture. On the other hand, Xiao Ming’s suggestions were mostly cruel and tough, while Wen Wen’s were relatively soft and gentle.

However, after dozens of tries, neither the cruel and tough approaches nor the soft and gentle ones were helpful. As long as the equal rights for demons were completely rejected at the beginning of the game, the federation would inevitably walk to division, and a New Federation that had been torn apart could never finish the Uranian Ring Sector quickly. Once the war against the Uranian Ring Sector failed or became protracted until the expedition army of the Imperium arrived, the destruction of the New Federation would be unavoidable.

Xiao Ming pouted and unwillingly mumbled for the forty-fourth time, “Year 135 of the New Federation Calendar, having consumed too much in the war against the Uranian Ring Sector and with divided races internally, the Star Glory Federation was finally conquered by the expedition army of the Imperium of True Human Beings and surrendered.”

“It marks the death of the Star Glory Federation. The civilization of mankind is completely reigned by the Immortal Cultivators henceforth…” Wen Wen looked at Li Yao, full of expectation. “Do you want to try again to change such a future?”

Fine. Li Yao raised his hands and gave up.

After leaving the DLC of the ‘failed worlds’, he then tried the latest version of the DLC, The Imperium’s Frustration, which had just been released with great interest, enjoying the hotblooded battles where millions of people were online at the same time.

However, since he did not have a high win rate or score in the DLC, he could only serve as a common soldier at the beginning and was not qualified to be a ‘captain’ or a ‘commander’ to decide the fate of other players.

Perhaps because he did not worship ‘God Li Yao’ earlier, his luck was unbelievably bad. The starship that he was in was always bombarded by the enemy the moment it was projected into the battlefield. It was often the case that, before he put on his crystal suit and was sent to the vacuum of the universe, he had already been ripped into shreds by the fierce hostile fire and the explosion of the crystal warehouses on the starship.

“You appear to be very unlucky today.” Xiao Ming, who was wearing the military uniform of a commander of a starship, which was quite hilarious for his young age, said to Li Yao carefully, “You will be kicked out of the game if your win rate continues dropping like this!”

“Do you want to take a rest first?” Wen Wen, in a nurse uniform with two lovely ponytails, said caringly, “Addiction to the game will harm your health!”