Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Meng Lichuan’s head was ina mess.

She knew the influence of the summit match.

Before the battle, the captain and even some of the leadership of the Dark Moon Foundation had explained to them solemnly that the outcome of the strategical deduction would not only influence the public opinion but also the outcome of the parliamentary vote.

The future of countless people was in their hands.

That was why Meng Lichuan was trying so hard to complete his mission even at the cost of burning his brain.

In the middle of the battle, the results of the forum proved that the polls were closely related to the progress of the battle.

When ‘Team Moon Fiend’ had a slight advantage, more people supported sending troops. When ‘Team Blood Shadow’ gradually secured an overwhelming victory, more people opposed sending troops.

Right now, Team Moonfiend had suffered a crushing defeat, which meant that the expedition army of the federation had been entirely wiped out. Shouldn’t the polls have plummeted? How come more and more people were supporting the decision to send troops? It was a one-sided situation.

“What happened exactly?”

Meng Lichuan asked dumbly, “Sister Tao, did you say something wrong, or did I hear it wrong?”

“Ididn’t say anything wrong, and you didn’t hear it wrong, either. The outcome was indeed beyond my expectations. To this day, I’m still in a daze. I haven’t figured out what happened yet!”

Jiang Baitao smiled. “However, the polls did not turn out like this for no reason. A lot of things happened in the three days, no, five days ago, when you were in the coma. Let me explain them to you one by one.

“First of all, a small game popped up on the forum.

“small game…”

Meng Lichuan frowned. “What do you mean?”

“As you know, the summit match between Team Moon Fiend and Team Blood Shadow has received tremendous support from the officials. It has even become a tool for the officials to explain the situation and policies to the public. The Dark Moon Foundation, the military, and the major sects of the

federation, including the Glorious Sunlight Group, have all turned on propaganda machines. Almost all the citizens of the federation know and participate in the match. Tens of billions of people are watching the match online at the same time. It is the most unbelievable record in the history of the

‘Civilization’ game. It has become the focus of public attention, and its popularity has soared to the sky.

“It is safe to say that every citizen of the federation knows about the matter. Over the past few days, even if they are not watching the live stream, they will pay attention to it through forums and news.

Jiang Baitao said, “However, to be fair, the ‘Glorious Expedition’ expansion pack is too professional. It is even more boring and complicated than the military’s military simulation sandbox. It is all data, information, and icons. It will take a long time. It will take at least three to five days to finish the battle.

“The ordinary people simply don’t understand what we are doing, and it’s even more impossible for them to spend a few days and nights on such dull and boring things. Then, in order to attract attention, ease the fatigue of the people, and increase their participation rate, the organizer, the Dark Moon

Foundation behind us, collaborated with the production team of ‘Civilization’ and released a small game.

“No. Later, I learned that the ‘little game’ was not small at all. It was a sister chapter of the ‘Glorious Expedition’ named ‘Dark Invasion’.

“Darkness invasion?”

Meng Lichuan mumbled, “A new expansion pack?”

“Yes, the target group of the ‘Glorious Expedition’ is the professional players, Cultivators, and military personnel who have extraordinary computational ability. Because of the confidentiality level, it is impossible for ordinary players to get in touch with the key data. The ‘Dark Invasion’ is much more

approachable. Its target group is the thousands of ordinary users. It does not have complicated calculations or operations. The sound, light, and electricity effects are delicate and real, making people feel as if they are there and immersed in the darkness.

Jiang Baitao brought up the introduction page of the ‘Glorious Expedition’ from her crystal processor and pointed out the features of the game to Meng Lichuan, before she continued, “The quality of the game itself is quite impressive. It also made a big splash in the ‘Glorious Expedition’s’ sister story.

While everybody in the federation was paying attention to our ultimate competition, it even advertised in the forums and the live stream channels and even pushed it to the users directly. As it tuned out, it attracted a lot of attention within several hours after it was released and became the most popular

expansion pack on the ‘Civilization’ platform.

“The audience was here to watch our match, but they couldn’t understand anything after watching for a long time. When they were getting impatient, they were suddenly pushed to the official ‘Sisters

Chapter’. Since they had nothing better to do, they might as well give it a try. What do you think?”

Meng Lichuan thought for a moment and nodded. “Yes. If it were me, I would definitely try such a gimmick, too. Then, what’s the point of the game? How is it related to the polls?”

Jiang Baitao smiled and opened ‘Darkness Invasion’.

Meng Lichuan was immediately fascinated by the scenes of corpses and rivers of blood. He was even somewhat shocked.

“Since it is a sister chapter of the ‘Glorious Expedition’, of course, there is an internal connection. The setting of the ‘Dark Invasion’ is the story before and after the failure of the ‘Glorious Expedition’, when the winners in the center of the sea of stars gathered the resources of hundreds of prosperous

worlds and attacked the federation at the edge of the sea of stars, thereby wiping out the federation.

Jiang Baitao continued, “Although it is just a game, the degree of freedom and realism are both very high. You can choose to be an ordinary soldier of the federal army and fight against the overwhelming, dense, and overwhelming enemies until you run out of food and blood. You can also play the role of a

powerless civilian of the federal army and try to protect your family in the purgatory after the war. You can also play the role of the captain of a civil carrier and flee in a hurry with tens of thousands of people and limited resources toward the colder and more barren universe.

“The most interesting part of the story is the origin of the game. In ‘Darkness Invasion’, you can play the role of the manager of a shelter. In order to avoid the scourge of the strong enemies in the center of the sea of stars, you and your compatriots have been hiding in the underground shelter for

thousands of years, if not tens of thousands of years. Over the tens of thousands of years, under the pressure of the harsh environment, your humanity has been shedding, your emotions have been twisted, and even your appearance has been deformed beyond recognition. You are like lizards and vipers

enduring the endless… Darkness.

While talking, Jiang Baitao opened a video advertisement for ‘Dark Invasion’.

The advertisement was not long, but it was very extravagant to use ten seconds of darkness and silence to attract everyone’s attention.

‘When Meng Lichuan was wondering whether or not the video was stuck, a high-pitched scream suddenly echoed in the darkness. Then, a monster that looked like a human being, a ghost, and yet not a ghost, covered in a black shell, lunged out of the darkness and almost reached Meng Lichuan’s face.

“ant”

ister Tao!”

Meng Lichuan was so shocked that his heart was beating fast.”

“Ha. You must be surprised. I was shocked when I played it for the first time, too. Basically, the game seemed to be designed to scare you, piss you off, and make you depressed and desperate.

Jiang Baitao said, “No matter what role you choose or what storyline you follow, you will always end up dead.

“If you choose to be a member of the federal army, or even the commander-in-chief of the federal army, or an omnipotent Cultivator who can move mountains and seas, what can you do? Faced with the assault of millions of starships that have integrated all the resources in the center of the sea of stars,

you won’t be able to do anything even if you are given dozens or even hundreds of Giant God Soldiers. Crushing them is a complete crushing!

“As for the civilians, needless to say, no matter whether the enemy is a member of the Star Glory Federation or an Immortal Cultivator, they will not let go of even a single civilian. Although the Federation is large, where can they run to? In the end, won’t they be chopped into pieces by the enemy?

“Escape to the depths of the sea of stars? Haha. We are already at the end of the sea of stars. If we flee further away, it will be even more impossible for us to find any resources. One or two starships are not enough to support the effective functioning of a society. In the end, it will be a tragedy where

people kill and eat each other. Isn’t the Flying Star Sector in the old days enough of such examples?

“Escape to a shelter in the center of the planet and not come out for hundreds of years, thousands of years, or even thousands of years? It’s true that both the Star Glory Federation and the imperium value the returns of resources. It is indeed not worth it to flip the entire crust over for a few hundred

civilians. But the outcome of such a decision is exactly the theme of the expansion. ‘Darkness invades’. Darkness invades not only the bodies of human beings but also our most precious emotions and hearts. When our offspring crawl out of the darkness again tens of thousands of years later, will anyone

acknowledge that they are real human beings?

“Well…”

‘Meng Lichuan watched the video clips of ‘Dark Invasion’ uploaded by countless players, especially the endings that were full of pain, horror, and desperation. The more he watched, the colder his heart became, and the more he trembled. He said in a low voice, “This—this is not a normal game.”

“It does not seem to be a game. It seems to be a history that has happened countless times and a future that is inevitable and about to arrive.

The smile on Jiang Baitao’s face was gone, replaced by a vague haze. There was black mist in her eyes, behind which there might have been unwillingness or fear. “If we don’t send our troops, or if we lose the war, this is the outcome that we, all our family and civilization, have to face.

BOOM!

Thousands of videos of the ‘infiltration of darkness’ flooded into Meng Lichuan’s brain and bombarded her fragile belief. She exclaimed subconsciously, “It’s impossible!”

“Why is it impossible?”

Jiang Baitao opened his hands and said, “Do you think that the Sanctuary Alliance cannot march toward the federation after swallowing the Star Ocean Imperium, or do you think that the resources of the Star Ocean Imperium are not enough to crush the federation?

“Please.. Even right now, the federation and the imperium might not be able to defeat the Sanctuary Alliance, not to mention that the Sanctuary Alliance, which is twice as large, will destroy a small, isolated federation!