1944 Destined Self-Destruction
“Because civilization is not purposefully born or necessary. It’s something that is born by chance when a group is faced with a great threat and is forced into helplessness.”

Zero said, “‘Life springs from sorrow and calamity, while death comes from ease and pleasure’—that was a saying on your mother planet, Earth, which explained the principle profoundly. If you hadn’t seen the imminent threat of death, you wouldn’t have mustered all your wisdom, strength, and courage to push the entire civilization to an unimaginable peak.

“You Earthlings are not the only ones with this issue. The Turan orcs, Holy Light humans, Abyssfolk, and Undead Liches are in the same boat… In short, all carbon-based intelligent creatures are the same.

“After all, although the spark of the great civilization from billions of years ago is hidden in the depths of your souls, you are still human beings.
“However, the vessels that you use to carry the Kindling are ugly and weak bodies of flesh and blood. They’re essentially no different from that of the naked apes that existed several thousand years ago.

“Even if you’ve entered the industrial age and information age, mastered the mysteries of astronomy and geography, learned to control enormous machines that weigh tens of thousands of tons, and built cities that seem magnificent, the truest desires in your heart are the same as that of the naked apes. You want to be free from the threat of external enemies, to enjoy the warm breeze, bask in the sun, and eat your fill with your fellow clansmen. That’s all.

“However, that’s not demanding enough. It’s far from sufficient to push your civilization onto the path of greatness.

“That’s why I showed you the cruelest side of the world through those dreams. I used this approach to spur you and all the Fire Relayers to strive for endless advancement.”

“In other words, what I saw in the apocalyptic nightmares were just fictional threats. No matter what, you won’t launch a space-based orbital strike to destroy the Dragon City civilization?”

Meng Chao stared at Zero and had a nagging feeling that things were not that simple.

“Of course I won’t destroy the Dragon City civilization, the Turan civilization, the Holy Light civilization, or any civilization that has heard my call and transmigrated to this planet. No matter how primitive, ignorant, barbaric, backward, or brutal you are, I won’t destroy you.”

Zero revealed a chilling smile again.

Her smile reminded Meng Chao of his mother when she suffered from postpartum depression.

“At most, I will only purify you, reduce your pain, and clean up the mess after you embark on the path of self-destruction,” Zero said softly.

Meng Chao narrowed his eyes again.

“Wait, what did you say? What do you mean by ‘self-destruct’, ‘purify’, and ‘clean up?”‘

“Don’t you know?”

Zero wore a strange expression. “Based on my understanding, you have a high enough clearance to know Dragon City’s secrets before and after the transmigration as well as the end of your home planet, Earth.

“In that case, how can you not know how simple and inevitable the self-destruction of a civilization is?

“Alright. If you’ve never come into contact with the information before, or you’re deceiving yourself and turning a blind eye to it, I can explain it to you in the simplest way.

“The mother planet of Dragon City’s people, Earth, was destroyed in an unprecedented cruel nuclear war more than half a century ago.

“Other than the very few researchers living on the lunar space station, Dragon City should be the only civilization unit that escaped Earth.

“In fact, it was precisely because the hostile forces that were attacking from all directions detected a large number of nuclear weapons that the scale and intensity of the war reached the critical point of destruction. Dragon City’s former highest authorities, who were the Earthlings that discovered and studied the transmigration engine, chose to put all their eggs in one basket. They took the risk of activating the transmigration engine that they had yet to fully master and escaped from the mother planet that was about to become hell when all the citizens were not prepared.

“However, this all-out nuclear war is only a symptom of the civilization’s destruction, not the cause of it. A century or even two centuries ago, Earth’s civilization had already accelerated on the path of self-destruction.

“Even if there was no all-out nuclear war, even if there was an omniscient and omnipotent existence that could wipe out all the nuclear weapons on Earth in an instant, your civilization would still be doomed. It would die a longer and more painful death.

“You understand what I mean, right?

“Based on your expression, I believe you understand.

“Although there are many new generations in Dragon City today who have never lived on Earth for even a second, they poetically imagine their mother planet to be a paradise with simple folk customs and a perfect paradise on. According to the information that I have collected and analyzed in the past half century, the truth is far from that.

“In the century before the outbreak of the all-out nuclear war, all the national units under the jurisdiction of Earth’s civilization were caught in irreversible and unsolvable crises. The contradictions piled up day by day until they were on the verge of collapse.

“The old dominators who once landed on the satellites were gradually controlled and eroded by the financial groups. Less than one percent of the people occupied more than ninety-nine percent of the wealth, opportunities, and resources. They regarded the once great country as a tool for their own interests, but they were unwilling to sacrifice any of their interests for the country.

“As a result, the entire country fell into chaos at the end of the dynasty. Guns were rampant, drugs were out of control, industries were declining, crime rate was rising, and all kinds of demons and monsters appeared.

“It’s like a skyscraper that is sturdy on the surface, but the inside is full of crisscrossing and expanding cracks. Instead of carrying out the most thorough maintenance and reinforcement, those who maintain this skyscraper wrap the skyscraper’s facade with colorful, glittering neon lights that confuse everybody’s eyes and mask the cracks that are gradually connecting the inside and the outside.

“A challenger rose to oppose the old overlords, but the challenger was the same. The latter did not completely push the old overlords down the throne. The old overlords were then infected with evil disease, and they resorted to all kinds of tactics. In just over a hundred years, the originally endless human resources were exhausted. Automatic technology, which carried high hopes, fell into a bottleneck. The consumer market became unprecedentedly sluggish, and new hope was lost.

“Under such circumstances, the all-out nuclear war that broke out between the former overlord and the challenger was not so much a soul-stirring epic battle as it was two dying terminally ill patients who scratched and bit each other in the ugliest way. They were driven by their desire to survive a little longer before their destined destruction. Nothing more.

“Ah, judging from your expression, your understanding of this history should be more detailed and profound than mine. There’s no need for me to continue, right?”