For My God Carl

"Yuan, this is for you."

As he spoke, the village chief handed over a small axe.

"What does this mean?" Looking at the freshly sharpened axe, Yuan froze for a moment before quickly taking it.

"No one knows what might happen along the way. No one has ever returned after being conscripted by the kingdom. We know nothing about what lies ahead, so keep something to defend yourself with. It's better than having nothing."

"Thank you!"

"No need to thank me. I just want to ease my guilt a little." The village chief's face was filled with apology and helplessness.

This village had not always had so few people. There had once been a decent population here. Ever since the kingdom's conscription began, the village's population had plummeted.

Even so, he had never had to put such a young child on the list before. Every time he looked at Yuan's youthful face, an indescribable guilt filled his heart.

"Hahaha, don't be like that, Village Chief. We don't have a choice, do we?"

"Sigh, perhaps."

The scene immediately fell silent. Everyone knew it was time to leave, and a heavy atmosphere filled the entire area.

The village chief forbade anyone from seeing them off at the village clearing, allowing them only to watch from the distant foot of the mountain. Yuan did not know why, nor did he want to ask.

He merely looked at his home from afar. After his grandmother fell asleep last night, he had cleaned the house thoroughly inside and out.

He had not said anything special to his grandmother either. Just as he had said before, he had no choice. He could only hope that his cooperation would make the villagers treat her a little better.

Still, it should be fine. His grandmother knew some medicine, after all. She was also old, so the village would take care of her to some extent.

Before long, once everyone had gathered, the soldiers who had arrived yesterday came to the village entrance. After counting the people present, they nodded.

"Good, the numbers are enough. Follow me."

With that, the man took the lead while the other two stood by the roadside. Only after everyone had stepped onto the road did they follow behind at the rear.

Their right hands rested on their sword hilts, as though they were ready to fight at any moment.

Soon, the uneasy group arrived at the main road, where donkey carts had already been waiting.

"Get on. It's still quite a distance away. If you walk all the way there, you'll all be useless before you even arrive."

Thus, taking turns riding the donkey carts, everyone reached their destination after nearly seven days. The sight before Yuan left him utterly confused.

He had thought that the kingdom's conscription meant going to the battlefield. For farmers like them, who were barely fed, going to war meant they had no choice but to become cannon fodder.

But the scene before him far exceeded Yuan's imagination.

Before them stood a barren mountain, without the slightest trace of life from top to bottom. In its place were yellow, green, and black soil and stones mixed together.

There was no vegetation, no life besides them. Only tattered tents at the foot of the mountain, flapping loudly in the wind, and tools scattered across the ground. The whole place felt strangely unsettling.

Suddenly, a voice shattered the silence.

A richly dressed man stood behind them, looking at them with disgust before speaking.

"I am Baron Harris, the highest-ranking person in charge of this mine. Listen carefully, you pieces of trash.

"You are the first group to arrive, and that makes me very happy. Therefore, for the next three days, you and any teams arriving within those three days will receive the reward of the merciful Baron Harris.

"You may rest well. Someone will be responsible for bringing you food and drink. As for everything else, you'll have to rely on yourselves."

Seeing the hundreds of fully armored soldiers behind this so-called baron, everyone swallowed the curses on the tips of their tongues.

They lowered their heads in silence, not daring to respond. The sight made Harris nod repeatedly as he praised the leader of Yuan's group.

"Not bad, not bad. Your City Lord has taught you what rules are. Soldier, come, loudly tell me the name of your city."

Seeing this, Yuan could not help cursing inwardly. Some rules. If you didn't have so many people behind you, you'd learn what mustard-flower rules were.

The mine was a chaotic mess, yet these people had no idea that in the dark starry sky, an even darker Taotie force was on its way.

"How much longer?"

"Officer Cole, we are seven days away from that planet." The Gorilla-man rapidly simulated data on the command center's light screen.

"How many teams have lost contact?"

"Not many. Only sixteen teams have encountered problems. Two were unfortunately caught in solar storms, while the others were taken offline by angels and super soldiers from other God-making civilizations."

"Bang! Those lawless, damned gods. One day, one day, I'll make them smell my farts."

At those words, the entire command center fell silent. Several people looked at one another, unsure whether they should echo him.

"Forget it. Increase speed. There are only a few target planets left. Hurry up. We might still catch up with the Thousand-Year War Plan."

"No problem, Officer."

As they spoke, they began operating the warship to accelerate, somewhat dejectedly. Seeing their low morale, Cole frowned and said,

"Why are you all pulling such long faces? Look at you, heads hanging low and bodies limp. You bastards, did you all treat my orders to stay out of the VR room like farts?"

Hearing this, the Gorilla-man beside Cole hurriedly explained, "No, no, Officer. We really haven't gone to the VR room lately. It's just that after all these years, we..."

As he spoke, he seemed hesitant. He glanced at Cole beside him, whose expression had not changed, then gritted his teeth and continued.

"After all these years, we've never been able to find suitable targets in the Styx Galaxy. According to the higher-ups' requirements, we need to find Divine River Bodies with brain development exceeding twenty percent.

"But finding people like that in pre-nuclear civilizations is practically impossible. The ones we found in previous years were all in star regions where Divine River Bodies gathered, with sufficient population bases.

"But there are only so many planets in the Styx Galaxy that have Divine River Bodies now. Trying to find them is simply—"

Knock!

Knock!

Knock!

Cole's fingers slowly tapped against the table, and the atmosphere in the command center nearly froze solid.

Cole did not interrupt him immediately, because he himself had once asked the higher-ups about these issues.

"I know what you want to say. The Thousand-Year War Plan is imminent, yet we are wasting time and energy on an operation that was shelved long ago, right?"

"Officer Cole, I... I didn't mean that." As Cole's calm gaze fell upon him, the Gorilla-man beside him trembled and hurriedly defended himself.

Cole raised his right hand slightly, cutting off his explanation. "Enough. I don't want to hear this meaningless nonsense. Listen carefully.

"This plan began five hundred years ago. What you think was shelving it was merely because the time was not yet ripe.

"Whether this plan succeeds concerns our entire Taotie Civilization. Burn that into your heads.

"From now on, stay the hell away from that damned VR room.

"The King's plan must be completed at any cost. Even if every last one of us dies, the plan must be completed. Do you hear me?"

"Yes!"

"For my God Carl!"

"For my God Carl!"