Chapter 596 - 4: 10 Years (Part 2)
Unbeknownst to all, the Archipelago had become a well-known supply point during the Age of Exploration, featuring the most incredible Sailless Ships, disciplined soldiers, and advanced weaponry.
More importantly, it held endless business opportunities—
Those islanders who looked just like the natives seemed to have somehow obtained knowledge supposedly from the "Celestial Kingdom." Whether it was mechanics, agriculture, livestock, or medicine, here one could find answers to many principles that people previously hadn’t understood.
Of course, beyond some provable theories, the island was not lacking in "heresies" either, such as a religion called "Wang Lingguan," which preached the evil ideas of a round Earth and atheism.
If it were in Europe, such unconventional talk would have long been drowned in public denunciation.
But on this isolated paradise, no one could silence the islanders’ mouths, nor dared to challenge the dignity of the island’s rulers.
The Sailless Ships made of steel were not cumbersome; they were agile, sturdy, and powerfully armed.
Many years ago, they had already proven their combat strength—
A group of Pirates based in the Caribbean, greedy for the island’s wealth, unsatisfied with the harvest from raiding merchant ships, set their sights on the Sailless Ships.
Their end was total annihilation; even their sea strongholds were swept clean by artillery.
Some Spanish sailors who had lived on the island for a long time had witnessed the tragic state of those Pirates—
It was said they were all hanged on the gallows at the Execution Square, hanging there for half a month, until they were sun-dried to the point they looked like dried fish, shriveled beyond recognition.
In the end, not even flies could bite a piece of meat from them, and only then were their corpses allowed to be thrown into the sea.
...
Unlike the island’s rising fame, Chen Zhou had become more low-profile over the years.
Merchants passing through the island often heard of the reputation of the naval leader Sunday or brought gifts to visit the esteemed scholar Saturday, who managed the island’s schools, hoping to get their children into the island’s schools to learn the world’s most advanced knowledge.
Others frequently interacted with high-ranking officials like Chen Fu, Chen Lu, Chen Shou, but few heard of the island having a true ruler, a "God" walking the earth.
Outside the manor in Fruit Tree Valley, lush fruit trees had grown long.
In 1673, a magnificent building was erected there, with a large plaque hanging on it, inscribed with just three large words—
"Library."
...
After seeing off Lai Fu, Chen Zhou gradually witnessed many of his animal companions grow old and die with age.
Maybe it was because he was getting older, but his feeling of homesickness grew stronger, especially nearing forty, he often dreamed of the snow and wind in the north.
Sometimes Chen Zhou would dream of his parents at home, his grandparents living in a country house, his sister, and those exceptionally vague classmates and colleagues.
When the challenge began, his parents’ voices and faces were still clear.
As the years passed, upon reflection, Chen Zhou found that they had melted into his dreams, much like Lai Fu.
Sunday and Saturday were good kids, their loyalty and ability never in question; even when busy, they would often find time to come to Chen Zhou’s manor to report on work, chat, and play chess.
Chen Fu, Chen Lu, Chen Shou, and many other officials promoted later, would also frequently visit the manor, to see the true king of the island, the master who had retreated from public affairs.
Despite their efforts to accompany Chen Zhou, the aging ruler, they ultimately couldn’t erase the loneliness in his heart—
After all, he did not belong to this world.
Here, he was the one who was adrift in a foreign land.
...
Chen Zhou once attempted to board a steamship built by the island, hoping to sail out of the Archipelago to farther places, longing to return to his hometown still in a feudal society.
However, the Space-Time Administration Bureau had long laid out an invisible net, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t escape this enormous prison.
In recent years, the mysterious material rewards had grown increasingly abundant, and many exquisite crafts Chen Zhou once only dreamed of were sent to the island.
Rewards like seeds, tools, and electronic products piled up into a small mountain in the manor’s storeroom.
But however many of these things there were, they couldn’t give Chen Zhou a sense of belonging to this world.
...
He curled up in the manor, sometimes pondering the future of the island, mulling over what path this world might take due to his arrival.
Other times, he would curse why time passed so slowly.
Gradually, he developed an idea—
To write a book.
To write a book recording past events, a book not belonging to this era, a book documenting modern life.
Once this thought emerged, it burned like a flame, growing ever fiercer.
Thus Chen Zhou immediately began to write, recalling his childhood experiences, recording bit by bit until he grew up, wrote about that absurd post in the cement factory dormitory, wrote about the beginning of the challenge...
...
The lines of words on the paper, enough to shock the world, stretched longer and longer, resembling Pandora’s box, harboring secrets capable of destroying the entire world.
Whichever monarch possessed it could potentially gain the power to change the world order.
However, this book was destined to belong to no one. Chen Zhou had long decided to seal it in a closed container and toss it into the dark abyss beneath Pigeon Cave after finishing it.
Maybe in the future, someone might discover this shocking volume, but that would be a very long time later, by which time he would likely be long gone.
...
Apart from psychological changes with aging, physical changes were inevitable too.
After passing forty, Chen Zhou increasingly felt his body was on a downward path.
Perhaps due to prolonged writing in the study, he began to experience back pain, and his abdominal fat kept accumulating, making his once tall and strong body appear somewhat bloated.
Sometimes, when in the mood, Chen Zhou would take the dogs in the manor for a walk.
These young fellows were all descendants of Lai Fu, well cared for and very close to Chen Zhou.
But Chen Zhou no longer dared to invest emotionally in them as he had with Lai Fu—
The lifespan of this second batch of pups couldn’t last more than a decade; he had begun to fear that sense of loss, therefore dared not start anew.
During the first two years of the challenge, to deal with the natives, Chen Zhou frequently ran between the hills and the beach to build up his stamina.
Maybe because he was young then, even if exhausted from a day’s work, a good night’s sleep would fully revive him.
Now, even after resting a whole day in bed, he felt tired.
Besides the body’s recovery ability being far worse than before, Chen Zhou also noticed his hearing and sense of smell were no longer as sharp, and his vision was not as good as it used to be.
On this otherworldly island, he first experienced the feeling of aging, feeling his body’s organs gradually declining.
Even though he was not yet fifty and far from the end of his life, the growing sense of nearing death was still chilling.
...
Chen Zhou’s autobiography took two years to complete.
After finishing the book, he felt no attachment, and even without opening it to read from the start, he sealed it in an exquisite wooden box, wrapped with heavy chains, and had someone throw it into the sea within Pigeon Cave.
Afterward, he moved out of the manor and back into the factory, taking up the reigns of power from Fu, Lu, Shou, and Saturday, forcing himself to address the chaos that had arisen on the island over the years.
Many old associates involved with foreign merchants were brought to Execution Square during this upheaval.
Some were charged with treason, others with corruption, and several others bore murder charges, including familiar old islanders to Chen Zhou and students handpicked by Saturday.
For these people, Chen Zhou showed no mercy, directly sentencing them to death.
On the execution day, it rained lightly, and those prepared to face death on the execution platform formed a phalanx; one by one, they had their heads placed on the guillotine, with rolling heads like watermelons, flowing blood like pulp.
Curiously, the zebra, renowned for its greed and stinginess, was absent from the phalanx—
This cunning creature never forgot whom the island belonged to, for every time someone called its name, it remembered how awed it was when it first met that tall man.