Chapter 19
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Chapter 19: Continuous Loss of Control
In the sky screen, dust swirled. A crimson flag flew in the wind, following a massive army. The armored cavalry held long swords, bracing themselves as a flurry of arrows rained down. The battlefield erupted with the clashing of weapons and shouts that shook the heavens.
The scene was accompanied by a powerful soundtrack, evoking a feeling of grandeur, mixed with the host’s pretentious narration. The image transitioned to a panorama map of the Hexi campaign and the military routes of the generals at that time, as the drumbeats and rhythms in the music intensified.
Many viewers drawn into the live broadcast expressed their excitement over the visuals and music:
【It’s igniting! It must be our Han Dynasty!】
【This live stream is a speed bump for men!】
【I’m so excited I crawled out of bed to book a high-speed train ticket. I’ll launch a surprise attack on the Xiongnu first thing tomorrow!】
【Drinking horses at the vast sea, sealing the wolves at the top of the mountain; every boy’s dream. [Tears welling up]】
【Ordered by heaven, may our reign last forever!!!】
Of course, amidst all this fervor, a few derogatory comments appeared:
【Exhausting the people and wasting money; it used to be criticized, but now it’s praised.】
【Ignite? Haha, let’s send you back to be a common soldier and see if you can still feel the burn. You won’t even know how to cry!】
Yet these sporadic critiques were soon drowned out by the emotional crowd, who rallied around various slogans.
Luo Yu frowned as she read the messages in the sky. Noticing the host began discussing how applying modern positioning technology on the battlefield would make these battles more manageable, she turned to Zhu Huai through her earpiece and asked, “How much longer until we can shut it down?”
“I’m running a virus scan on the deployment system; give me two more minutes.”
She pouted, then looked out the exhibition hall’s large windows. Outside lay a quiet wood, accompanied by a rushing creek. Since yesterday’s summer solstice, celebrations had stretched to midnight, so many people were still asleep, and there weren’t many onlookers by the sky screen.
However, the sky screen outside might just be one of the many overflow projections. Luo Yu glanced back at Mo Chuan and saw her subtly nod, understanding that she had dispatched aircraft to check the situation of the sky screens elsewhere.
Luo Yu turned back to the window, watching the war scenes unfold on the sky screen alongside the viewers’ impassioned emotions, creating a grand narrative of another timeline. Outside, however, tranquility reigned, with only a silent aircraft and a few passersby in wing suits quietly looking up at the display.
The contrasting scenes appeared a bit eerie. Luo Yu thought that in the past, watching such videos would have brought tears to her eyes. But since coming here, that habit of being easily moved had healed itself.
“Huai Jie, three minutes are up,” Ying Zhao quietly prompted Zhu Huai from beside Luo Yu through her headset.
After a while, they heard Zhu Huai’s voice: “Something feels off with this deployment system; let me take another look.”
Luo Yu shifted her gaze from outside and looked at the elders around her in the exhibition hall. They all wore semantic translation goggles, and their expressions were unreadable. They silently stared at the screen in front of them.
Just then, Mo Chuan approached from the other side of the hall and quietly asked Luo Yu, “Can we shut down the overflow sky screen for this live broadcast? We hope to conduct a localized analysis.”
Luo Yu met her gaze, “We definitely can; please give us a bit more time.”
No sooner had she spoken than the live broadcast screen in the hall suddenly went black. Ying Zhao quickly turned to Luo Yu, and just as they thought Zhu Huai would shut down the deployment system, the screen lit up again with… a shopping live stream?
Host: “Ladies, this new crystal mechanical arm balances practicality and beauty, designed specifically for girls, lightweight and delicate, allowing you to easily complete household chores while having skin as smooth as ice!”
Co-host: “That’s right! We also provide a free three-year freeze service for your original arm, which you can switch back anytime. But once you’ve tried our mechanical arm, I doubt you’ll want to go back; what woman wouldn’t want arms as slender and beautiful as an ice fairy?”
Host: “Order now, and we’ll give you three experience cards for superconductor skin whitening, making your skin better fit this crystal mechanical arm, creating an ice queen ambiance. Come on, three, two, one, link it up!”
Luo Yu and Ying Zhao were frozen in shock at this scene. Ying Zhao ground her teeth and whispered furiously into the microphone, “Huai Jie, we said to shut it down, not switch channels!”
After a moment, Zhu Huai’s puzzled voice came through the headset: “Why is this still overlapping with other streams? No big issue; let me adjust it.”
Quickly, the two hosts disappeared from the screen, but the chaos didn’t end there. The image flashed again, bringing them to another live stream.
【Today, I’m going to prepare a nice meal for my home’s Old Wang and Little Wang. Men must eat well; if I were eating at home, I’d just make do. I spent all day serving those two. This is the premium high-calcium artificial beef I just bought. I marinated it; the marinade is linked at number two…】
The screen flickered again, revealing a twisting figure, and Luo Yu felt her face twitch. This was… a suggestive dance?
The live stream room was bustling, with the public chat flooding with comments:
【Sister dances so hot! I want to learn.】
【Why push this kind of live stream to me? I’m a dude!】
【How can it be just for guys? I’m a girl and I love watching!】
【My husband can’t catch such high-quality content, everyone step aside, let my husband watch first! @BigClub】
【@BigClub: @LittlePotato, you still look the best, I only want to watch you dance!】
【Nice legs! How many gifts do I need to add lxfs?】
Luo Yu stared at the chaotic celebration of interests on the screen, nearly squeezing the microphone to bits. She was preparing to voice her questions to Zhu Huai when Ying Zhao, close to tears, urged, “Huai Jie, please stop changing the channel, just end the broadcast!”
As soon as she finished speaking, the dance on the screen abruptly disappeared, leaving a black popup:
【The live stream room violated platform regulations and has been suspended for three days.】
【Violation reason: existence of vulgar behavior.】
【Correction suggestions: avoid excessive skin exposure, adhere to platform live stream guidelines.】
Soon, the popup vanished, and the live stream was completely shut down, leaving the hall in silence. Luo Yu turned to look outside, and the sky screen had also vanished.
She sighed heavily. Ever since falling into a matriarchal society, this face, oh, it felt utterly lost.
The people in the hall quietly removed their translation goggles and headphones after the live stream ended. After a moment of silence, an elderly lady sitting at the front slowly spoke, “I never expected humanity would self-weaken and sexualize to this extent in front of male variants.”
After a brief pause, the elderly lady turned to Ao Ci, who sat not far away. “In thirty thousand years, humanity’s mental state and physical condition have deteriorated across the board. Can the data from your Test Subjects support some conclusions related to evolution?”
Ao Ci, sitting near the window where Luo Yu stood, glanced at Luo Yu and Ying Zhao before slowly nodding. “I have indeed obtained some data and preliminary conclusions from Test Subjects 014 and 015, but I would like to discuss it with them first before sharing.”
The elderly lady replied, “Alright, there’s a conversation room nearby; you can sit there while we take our time here.” She sighed lightly, “I’m not surprised by the war scenes; we’ve experienced turmoil in our history, but the chaotic scenes that followed were truly heart-wrenching.”
At this, Ao Ci stood, and Mo Chuan approached to escort Luo Yu and Ying Zhao to a small adjacent room. As Luo Yu walked past the elderly lady, she paused and lowered her head. “We’ve let you down, thirty thousand years later.”
“No, child.” The elderly lady did not turn back and continued to gaze at the blank projection wall. “What makes me sad is that we couldn’t leave you with a world worth living in.”
Luo Yu stood stunned for a moment until she heard the elderly lady say, “You should go next door and sit for a while,” and another guiding robot came to invite them. She silently nodded and turned to leave.
They exited the exhibition hall and walked to a conversation room built into the mountain’s cavity. Ao Ci walked ahead, Mo Chuan followed slightly behind, while Luo Yu and Ying Zhao were beside them.
Upon entering the room, they found some beverages and snacks provided by a robot. They sat for a moment before another robot invited Zhu Huai from the hangar operation room.
When Zhu Huai entered and saw them gathered there, she shrugged towards Luo Yu and Ying Zhao as a greeting.
After Zhu Huai sat down, the robots exited the room and closed the door.
The conversation room’s floor-to-ceiling windows faced the opposite side of the mountain, showing a completely different view from the exhibition hall. Outside stood towering cliffs, enhancing the silence.
Ao Ci lifted her cup and took a light sip of water. “Before discussing the results from 014 and 015, I’d like to talk about the biological sample library you brought with you.” She set the cup down. “The natural environment in your time is truly awful, especially the oceans; it’s just a mess.”
Luo Yu forced a faint smile, realizing that the sample library provided by the Bureau for all outgoing capsules was sourced twenty years ago. Now, the oceans in their world were far worse than a mess; she felt too embarrassed to mention it.
“For the past few days, we have been providing repair support for your time capsules in the hangar, mainly to show our sincerity,” Mo Chuan interjected. “However, given the terrible natural ecology and societal environment in thirty thousand years, we hope you can stay here. This way, we can explore together what has truly happened in humanity’s evolutionary journey over the past thirty thousand years.”
Once she finished speaking, the four women exchanged glances, their expressions varying. Luo Yu remained emotionless, while Zhu Huai’s eyes lit up as she glanced at Mo Chuan and then Ao Ci, seemingly confirming the meaning behind her words. Ying Zhao quickly lowered her gaze again, appearing deep in thought.
Mo Chuan surveyed their faces and smiled slightly, “On behalf of the elders of the assembly hall, I extend a sincere invitation. Welcome to stay in this world and settle in the Ponsuo Tribe.”
