Chapter 47: Reversing the Era

Chu Muyun was not at all surprised by Chen Ling's arrival.He smiled slightly, dragged a chair out of the convenience store, and gestured for Chen Ling to sit down."It seems you finally have the patience to hear me explain our 'justice'."

"I'm all ears."Although Chen Ling was eager to know everything about the USB drive, he trusted that since Chu Muyun had given it to him, he would surely provide an explanation. Therefore, he patiently waited for Chu Muyun to begin.

"How much do you know about the Great Cataclysm?"Chen Ling recalled what Doctor Lin had previously told him:"They said a crimson meteor streaked across the sky, and the gray world intersected with this one, impacting it... and then calamities emerged. That's all."At this point, Chen Ling suddenly remembered seeing the crimson meteor in the news on the USB drive.As if a realization dawned on him, he widened his eyes in shock."Wait... the world on the USB drive, was that the world before the Great Cataclysm?!"

"Exactly." Chu Muyun glanced at him in surprise, apparently not expecting Chen Ling to guess it so quickly. "What you just mentioned is what most people in the Nine Realms know about the 'Great Cataclysm,' but the actual 'Great Cataclysm' was far more than that..."

"What do you mean?"

"According to legend, the world before the Great Cataclysm was prosperous and thriving. Humans could achieve many things with the power of science... like flying into the sky, bringing people back to life, cities lit up like day through the night, constructing virtual worlds within reality, and even leaving this planet to explore the more mysterious and unknown 'universe'..."As Chu Muyun spoke, he observed Chen Ling's expression and found no change. He couldn't help but ask, "Aren't you surprised?"

"Huh?"

"Aren't the things I mentioned surprising enough for you?"Like everyone else in this world—no, this era—Chu Muyun had grown up here and had naturally never seen the technological level before the Great Cataclysm. To them, everything described in legends was ethereal, much like modern people listening to myths.

"...Oh, that's quite amazing," Chen Ling nodded impassively.Just planes, medical advancements, electric lights, games, and spaceships... these were all commonplace for Chen Ling, who had lived in a modern city.However, if his so-called "past life" was actually the world before the Great Cataclysm, wouldn't that mean he hadn't traveled between worlds at all...But rather, through time?

"In short, 379 years ago, a crimson meteor streaked across the sky, and from then on, human material civilization began to decline," Chu Muyun recited, as if practicing a familiar script. "The technological achievements humanity was most proud of collapsed first: lithography machines, spacecraft, and superweapons capable of world extinction..."

"Are you saying... human civilization regressed?"

"Yes, people before the Great Cataclysm found that they could no longer produce these things. It was as if the most fundamental scientific principles within them had all become invalid. Even if they perfectly assembled each component, identical to before, it simply wouldn't function.As time went on, more and more things stopped working: mobile phones, computers, high-speed rail, and large-scale power plants...Panic spread throughout human society. They didn't know how far material civilization would regress... In this fear, they began to kill each other."

"Hold on," Chen Ling interrupted Chu Muyun. "The regression of material civilization should have been a common predicament for all humanity. Why didn't they unite to overcome the difficulties instead of fighting among themselves?"

"They did unite, but it was useless," Chu Muyun paused for a moment. "And as I said, they possessed certain superweapons capable of world extinction, but not every country had them...Once all these weapons failed, and everyone's technological civilization regressed to the same level, the original balance of power would be shattered... Strong nations would no longer be strong, and weak nations would no longer be weak.To protect their status, resources, and wealth, the strong nations would choose to..."

"Launch all superweapons to destroy the weak nations that didn't possess them??" Chen Ling seemed to realize something. "World War?!"Chen Ling, of course, understood the importance of nuclear weapons to powerful nations. If strong nations were the first to know that all countries' technological levels would regress to the same starting line, they would inevitably launch a preemptive war.Because losing weapons meant losing deterrence; other countries would undoubtedly target their oil, wealth, and other assets...

"You're largely correct, but strong nations didn't just attack weak nations... they attacked each other too. Because if technological advancement truly regressed severely, then human resources would become the true determinant of a nation's survival. To balance the power of each nation, they would seek to weaken the populations of countries with different stances as much as possible.The culmination of centuries of human civilization, under the wave of regression, ultimately devolved into pure killing machines..."Chen Ling was silent for a long time, then slowly said:"The intersection with the Gray Realm wasn't the fundamental cause of the Great Cataclysm... humanity's self-destruction was."

"After that Great Cataclysm, the world was left in ruins. The survivors thought the world had found a new order, but unexpectedly, after only a few days, the Gray Realm began to intersect with reality...Pollution from the unknown world eroded the land, and ferocious calamities slaughtered living beings. Human society, already on its last legs, suffered a devastating blow.After that, there were no longer any nations in the world. Survivors gathered together and established nine bases. Later, they mastered methods to resist the Gray Realm's intersection, and the nine bases gradually expanded, becoming the Nine Realms we know today."

"I see," Chen Ling sighed deeply.Wait a minute...If what Chu Muyun said was true, wouldn't that mean his own parents would also perish in the Great Cataclysm?Not just his parents, but all the relatives, friends, and colleagues he knew would be swept into this catastrophe... And how many would survive?The people standing on the street watching the news at that time had no idea that, soon, the world would undergo a massive change.Chen Ling's eyes trembled slightly. He now knew everything that had happened in that era. He knew that almost everyone he cared about would perish, yet he was powerless... That era was almost four hundred years ago. What could he do, even knowing all this?

"...You've told me all this, but what then?"

"Then, that brings us to the sole purpose of our Dusk Society, and the 'justice' we believe in," Chu Muyun said, pointing outside the door. "What do you think of the Aurora Realm?"In Chen Ling's mind, Wu Youdong's limping figure immediately appeared, along with the rickshaw puller's disdain for law enforcement, the cruel and arrogant residents of Ice Spring Street, and the law enforcement officers who colluded with them for profit..."...It's a mess." In the end, he could only manage these two words.

"What if I told you that, compared to the other realms, the Aurora Realm is actually quite good?"Chen Ling froze.

"The Dusk Society is comprised of a group of unfortunate souls rejected by society. In the eyes of the world, we might be seen as madmen, failures, executioners... Our only commonality is our complete despair with this era...""So, we gather together."

"Gather together, and then what?" Chen Ling asked.The dim yellow sunset gradually sank into the earth, casting half of Chu Muyun's face into shadow.He took a deep breath and spoke, word by word,"Reverse the era, restart the world."