2/5 .𝒎
This approach clearly wasn’t effective, but no matter, Renji waved his hand, and the entire world immediately began to reverse, restarting back to its original state in just a few seconds.
This time, Renji learned from his previous lesson and attempted to only restore the demi-humans’ civil status and rights without providing too much support. However, the outcome was still not optimistic. Most people are profit-driven, and without support, the demi-humans, integrating into human society, could only be described as a bloody struggle.
Humans, once the superior race, easily oppressed the demi-humans politically, utilizing their accumulated resources and connections. The physically strong but resourceless demi-humans suffered losses, and eventually, the escalating conflict even led to local wars. The discord between humans and demi-humans remained unresolved.
After restarting the world again, Renji realized that this problem couldn’t be solved with simple and brutal measures. Therefore, he later issued a policy allowing the demi-humans, previously slaves in the northern human society, to choose whether to stay or be officially transported back to their homeland in the south.
Most demi-humans naturally chose to return to the south, and the humans of the north were happy to see them go, as it meant less competition for resources.
With this, the Dragon Nation completed its segregation, and Renji even granted autonomous rights to the demi-humans in the south.
Renji decided to separate the two races for a while. Soon, the humans of the north realized that without the demi-humans, they had lost their most significant workforce, while the demi-humans in the south continued to live primitively with slow development.
When both races realized they complemented each other and that together they formed the familiar Dragon Nation, they began to vigorously support exchanges using the Sealed City as a medium, allowing gradual and natural integration.
Over two hundred years, although the Dragon Nation’s national power initially grew slowly, it gained momentum and stability as time went on. Of course, there were still many large and small problems, but overall, this was considered the best direction thus far.
Dream illusions weren’t meant to be used continuously. After simulating three scenarios, Renji felt mentally exhausted. Having achieved the desired results, he chose to exit.
Exiting the dream was just a thought away. Soon, Renji’s vision changed again, losing that god-like control. When he opened his eyes again, he was back in the city hall where he started.
But Renji was slightly puzzled.
Entering the dream had felt like “diving deep,” so he thought leaving it would feel like “surfacing,” but it seemed he was overthinking it. Renji removed the dream terminal from his head and deactivated the “Touch of Miasma” ability. The terminal, shrouded in the red fog of Miasma, released the figure of a mechanical maid.
“Thank you for your hard work, 86.”
[It is my honor to serve you, Master] the maid in front of him replied respectfully.
Renji: “…”
Seeing the young man in front of her ‘spacing out’, the mechanical maid tilted her head and asked in confusion, [Is something wrong, Master?]
“Do you feel uncomfortable or unwell in any way?”
[Master needn’t worry. Your power has no negative effects on me, only a slight energy consumption. I’ll quickly recover in standby mode] The maid naturally assumed Renji was concerned about any unusual effects on her body after the Touch of Miasma, and she quickly shook her head, indicating she was fine.
“I see. Oh, right! Eileen mentioned she wanted to try the dream terminal. Why don’t you talk to her about it?”
As soon as Renji finished speaking, Eileen immediately came over, excitedly pestering the maid, trying to get her permission to use the dream terminal.
[86, we are good sisters, right?]
The maid hesitated for a moment and then nodded, [Yes]
“Since we are, why don’t you lend yourself to me for a while? Pretty please?”
[I don’t mind, as long as Master agrees] The maid nodded.
Hearing this, Eileen excitedly clasped the maid’s hands, “Old timer has agreed, as long as you agree too, then there’s no problem! Dream terminal! Here I am, Woohoo!”
[But Miss Eileen, I’m afraid it’s not possible today. I need to return to my terminal form, which won’t be until after tomorrow] the maid shook her head.
“No problem, no problem, it’s not a big deal. take a good rest! Don’t hurt yourself!”
The maid nodded, [Thank you for your concern, Miss Eileen]
Renji silently observed the conversation between Eileen and the maid, his brow furrowing slightly, but it was just a fleeting moment before his expression returned to normal. He then interrupted them, saying:
“Alright, Eileen, you already told 86 to rest well, so don’t bother her anymore. 86, you should go back to your room and rest too.” 𝘪𝘳.𝘤𝑜
[As you command, Master] the maid replied, bowing slightly.
After that, Renji spent half a day handling affairs related to the Dragon Nation, sharing the simulation results with Nova, and discussing future implementation strategies with the former revolutionary army officers and Caroline from Sin City.
As night fell outside the window, time unknowingly slipped into the night. Renji stretched, feeling drowsy. Such a large project couldn’t be completed in a day or two; there was no need to rush. It was best to take it slow.
Realizing it was indeed late and he was tired, he bid everyone goodbye and returned to his room to rest.
After washing up, Renji, lying in bed, must have been exhausted, as he quickly drifted into a light sleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
It was unclear how much time had passed, maybe a few minutes, or perhaps hours.
A commotion outside the room woke Renji up. Still groggy with sleep, he had just started to get out of bed to check what was happening outside when, the next moment:
Bang!*
A loud noise at his door jolted Renji awake. The next thing he saw was 86 breaking through the door.
More precisely, 86 with only half an arm left, the other side empty, sparking with glaring electric arcs in the darkness, as if cut off by some sharp weapon.
“What the—”
Before Renji could fully process the situation, the maid, filled with urgency, shouted as if desperately trying to convey important information, [Master, run!]
‘Run?’
And then, from the direction the maid came, through the large hole in the door, red light refracted into the room. The city hall outside had fallen into a fiery inferno.
From this blaze, a figure holding a scythe slowly emerged, approaching his room.
Aside from the scythe in one hand, Renji could see where 86’s missing arm was — in the other hand of the figure.
Thump!*
Suthia threw the maid’s arm into the room, as if deliberately showing it to him.
Then, the nun with a twisted face and a sick, crazed smile, against the crackling of the fire behind her, her eyes blood-red, a sinister voice echoed in the room.
“Run? Hehehe~”
“Tonight, none of you will escape.”
𝘪𝑎.𝘤𝑜𝘮