Lavoisier Returns

A month passed. In Colchis, it seemed like little more than a few extra rounds of wind and sand, thirty repetitions of sunrise and sunset. But for the Southern Highlands settlement, those thirty days and nights had been filled with solid progress and quiet transformation. The newly reclaimed fields had expanded outward another ring, tender green shoots stubbornly fighting the barren soil under the nourishment of carefully maintained irrigation channels. In the workshop district, with Colchis paper providing a lightweight medium for records, several rough yet clearly structured sketches for improving the waterwheel had been pinned to the walls. The craftsmen's discussions had gained more foundation, and their experiments had become bolder. The windmills still creaked, but now the sound resembled a powerful labor chant.

Zhou Beichen stood at the edge of the highlands, looking down at the orderly bustle below. The sounds of reading from the schoolhouse seemed clearer than before. Perhaps it was because the children no longer had to struggle with heavy clay tablets? A faint smile found its way onto his lips. Watching the "assets" he had "invested" in steadily appreciate and begin generating a positive internal cycle was truly addictive.

During the month Lavoisier had been away, the settlement had continued operating fairly steadily on the established rules and the momentum that had begun to form. Some details had even been optimized. That proved the framework Zhou Beichen had built was effective.

Still, the shortage of talent remained an invisible chasm, limiting any further leap forward. He often thought of Lavoisier, that old priest he had knocked unconscious and carried back. He had no idea how the old man was faring in the muddy waters of Ralte now. Had he successfully recruited his targets, or had he already been exposed, perhaps even... Zhou Beichen shook his head, suppressing the worst possibilities. Every investment involved risk. He believed Lavoisier's zeal of the converted would be enough to carry him through this difficult mission.

Just then, a wisp of dust rose on the horizon.

At first, it was only a thin line, but it quickly spread, and a group of figures could faintly be seen moving toward the highlands. The Faith Guard's lookout spotted them immediately, and the shrill blast of a bone whistle tore through the afternoon stillness.

Zhou Beichen's heart tightened. He narrowed his eyes, one hand instinctively pressing against the laser pistol inside his robe. Was Lavoisier back? Or were they pursuers from Ralte, or some bandits looking for trouble?

The settlement instantly tensed. At their captain's low commands, the Faith Guard swiftly grabbed their weapons and took advantageous positions. The craftsmen in the workshops also stopped working and warily watched the rising dust.

The figures drew closer and closer. At last, they could be seen clearly. At the front was Lavoisier, dressed in the settlement's gray cloth garments, thin but firm in his stride! Behind him followed the five Faith Guard members disguised as caravan guards. Each was covered in dust from the road, their eyes sharp as they maintained a vigilant formation.

What stole the breath of everyone present, Zhou Beichen included, was the... long procession behind Lavoisier and the guards.

It was neither a caravan nor an army. It was a crowd of all kinds of people, men and women, young and old. Most were sallow and thin, dressed in ragged clothes, their faces carrying the exhaustion of a long journey and the unease of arriving in an unfamiliar place. Yet on closer inspection, their eyes differed from those of ordinary refugees. There was less numbness in them, and more concealed sharpness, curiosity, even a trace of barely perceptible anticipation. They carried simple luggage, much of it consisting of strange toolboxes, bundles of old texts—mostly cumbersome clay tablets or a few costly leather scrolls—and some carefully carried objects wrapped in rags that appeared to be precision instruments.

There were more than fifty people at a glance!

Zhou Beichen froze. He had imagined Lavoisier might bring back a few people, perhaps even a dozen targets, which would already have been an enormous success. But this... this was more than fifty people! Had the old man swept up every underappreciated technical talent in Ralte?

The procession slowly approached the entrance to the highlands. Lavoisier saw Zhou Beichen standing above, along with Lorgar behind him, silent and towering like an iron tower. Light instantly returned to his exhausted face. He quickened his pace, almost breaking into a run, and stopped before Zhou Beichen. Bowing deeply, his voice trembled with excitement.

"Pastor Beichen! Child of God! I have not failed your trust! Lavoisier... has returned!"

Zhou Beichen hurried forward and helped him up, though his eyes could not help drifting toward the dark mass of people behind him. "Lavoisier, did you... move half of Ralte's technical workshops here?" His voice was filled with incredulous delight.

Lavoisier straightened, his face radiant with the glory of having completed a sacred mission. Turning sideways, he introduced them to Zhou Beichen. "Pastor Beichen, these are all compatriots I secretly contacted in Ralte. They were deeply disappointed with the Covenant Church's current state, people of talent with nowhere to use it. This is Maurice, formerly a warehouse clerk, skilled in mathematics and supplies management. This is Lina, who understands herbal preparations and basic medicine. These are craftsmen proficient in metal smelting and toolmaking: Otto, Rex... And these people once worked in an ancient archive and have studied Colchis geology and ancient machinery..." In one breath, he named more than a dozen people and their specialties as if reciting treasures from his own collection.

Those whose names were called raised their heads timidly and looked at Zhou Beichen and Lorgar. When their eyes fell upon Lorgar's inhumanly large frame and the vaguely visible face beneath his hood, carrying an inhuman majesty, reverence naturally appeared on their faces. They had heard more or less from Lavoisier about the Child of God, but seeing him in person was far more shocking than any words could convey.

Zhou Beichen quickly concealed his surprise and replaced it with a gentle, solemn expression. He stepped forward several paces, his gaze sweeping across the more than fifty unfamiliar faces filled with hope and unease.

"Welcome! Welcome to the Southern Highlands, to the earthly paradise we are building together!" His voice rang out, carrying an inspiring force. "I am Zhou Beichen, and this is the Child of God, Lorgar. Pastor Lavoisier has strongly recommended your talents to us. Here, we do not judge one another by background, only by ability and contribution. The knowledge and skills you possess will be the most precious foundations for building paradise! I promise you that here, your efforts will receive fair rewards, your talents will not be buried, and together with us, you will create with your own hands a future without hunger, cold, or despair!"

There were no hollow doctrines, no hypocritical promises—only a straightforward community of shared interests and an enticing vision of the future. His words were like sweet rain poured over parched hearts, lighting up the eyes of many who had once been anxious and uncertain. They had left their homes and taken risks to come here. Wasn't this exactly the opportunity they sought?

Over the following days, the settlement became like an efficiently operating machine, absorbing this sudden "talent dividend." Eric, the young acting administrator, displayed considerable organizational ability. Under Zhou Beichen's guidance, he quickly arranged temporary housing and distributed basic rations for the more than fifty newcomers. The Faith Guard increased their patrols and vigilance, both to protect them and to prevent any possible disorder.

What truly shocked these newcomers and gave them a swift sense of belonging was not Zhou Beichen's speech or Lorgar's divine strangeness, but the settlement itself as they saw it with their own eyes.

They saw clean, orderly residential areas. They saw workshops powered by windmills. They saw green fields growing stubbornly in the desert. They saw the hope and drive on people's faces. It formed an incomparably sharp contrast with Ralte's gloom, filth, and despair. Especially when they saw children holding lightweight grayish-brown sheets of paper and writing and studying on them with charcoal pencils, the shock was beyond words.

"Paper... This is actually paper?!" The old scholar named Soren had once encountered extremely rare, damaged sheets of paper from ancient times in the archives. Trembling, he accepted a rough sheet of Colchis paper from a Faith Guard member and stroked it over and over, tears streaming down his aged face. "I thought... I thought this had long been lost... I never imagined that on this abandoned land, it would... it would appear again!"

Seeing the same shock and emotion on his new companions' faces that he himself had once felt, Lavoisier's heart filled with pride. He found Zhou Beichen and Lorgar, his face unable to contain his excitement and admiration.

"Pastor Beichen! Child of God! This paper... this is practically a miracle! A monumental achievement that will change the fate of knowledge!" He was so excited that his words tumbled over one another. "With it, records, dissemination, learning... their efficiency will improve by far more than a hundredfold! How... how did you manage it?"

Watching Lavoisier look as though he were about to fall to his knees in worship, Zhou Beichen felt a rare trace of embarrassment. He waved a hand, deliberately making light of it. "It was nothing. We just used the materials available to us—desert wormwood, leather scraps, a little clay. Everyone worked together and kept experimenting until we figured it out. It was the result of everyone in the settlement's efforts, not my achievement alone." He pointed toward old Buck and the craftsmen involved in papermaking, who were busy in the workshop.

Yet to Lavoisier, those humble words only made Zhou Beichen seem even more unfathomable. He did not claim credit or grow arrogant, instead attributing the achievement to the collective. Was that not precisely the breadth of heart a true leader should possess? The admiration in his gaze toward Zhou Beichen deepened into something closer to complete conviction.

Lorgar merely stood quietly to the side, his violet eyes deep as though he had already seen through everything. He understood that the emergence of paper was not merely an innovation in tools, but a lever for breaking the monopoly on knowledge and enlightening the people. He also noticed the fleeting gleam of satisfaction behind Zhou Beichen's apparent humility—the look of an investor seeing an exceptional return.

Lavoisier's excitement did not subside there. He gripped the paper tightly, and an even grander, more ambitious plan rapidly took shape in his mind. Turning to Zhou Beichen and Lorgar, his eyes burned brightly.

"Pastor Beichen, Child of God! Now that we have paper and compatriots proficient in so many skills, we cannot allow knowledge to remain scattered and fragmented. We cannot let learning continue to depend on word of mouth and cumbersome clay tablets!" His voice rose with excitement. "I ask to take the lead in organizing these new scholars, craftsmen, physicians, and the literate people already in our settlement to compile a set of textbooks for our earthly paradise!"

"Textbooks?" Zhou Beichen raised a brow. Of course he was familiar with the concept, but in Colchis, it would be unprecedented.

"Yes, textbooks!" Lavoisier nodded forcefully. "A systematic set of textbooks, progressing from simple to advanced! It should include the most basic literacy and arithmetic, for those are the starting point for everything. It should also include the practical techniques our settlement relies on to survive, such as firing cement, making paper, basic mechanical principles, crop cultivation and irrigation methods, and the identification and use of herbs. More importantly, it should include the new covenant doctrine revealed by the Child of God, as well as the organizational principles and moral standards of the earthly paradise we are putting into practice!"

The more he spoke, the more excited he became, as though he could already see organized knowledge flowing across the pages. "We must establish our own system of knowledge! Let every person who comes after us quickly understand and integrate into our paradise through these textbooks! Let knowledge and skill cease to be the privilege of a few, and become the common weapon with which we build paradise!"

Zhou Beichen looked at the fire-like passion blazing in Lavoisier's eyes, and his heart stirred. He had only wanted to solve the problems of talent and recordkeeping. He had never expected Lavoisier to see in it the possibility of building an entire system of knowledge!

This old man... had suddenly broadened his vision! This went beyond mere technology or administration. He was forging the ideological and cultural foundation for this newborn state!

"Good! Excellent!" Zhou Beichen voiced his support without hesitation, a sharp light flashing in his eyes. "Lavoisier, this idea is immensely significant! I'm placing this matter entirely in your hands! Ask for whatever people or supplies you need! I want the first draft of the textbooks as soon as possible!"

"I shall obey your will!" Lavoisier bowed deeply, his face filled with the sacred feeling of having been entrusted with a great responsibility.

As Lavoisier threw himself into another round of fervent work with his new plan, the settlement seemed to receive an even stronger surge of momentum. The newly arrived technical talents quickly found their places and integrated into every stage of production, bringing new ideas and methods. When word spread that textbooks were being compiled, every literate and skilled person felt the excitement of participating in history.

Zhou Beichen looked over this land, growing ever more prosperous as knowledge began to settle into a systematic form. He looked at the people whose gazes had become increasingly resolute with clear goals before them, then at Lorgar beside him, silent yet steady as an anchor. An unprecedented feeling rose within him.

"Look at all this, Lorgar. Our assets are appreciating!"

Lorgar merely smiled, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.