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Samu hurriedly tried to stop them, his expression tense. "My lords, please be careful! They've been rounding up outsiders like mad lately. Any stranger they dislike is either killed on the spot or enslaved."
Xun Uchiha raised an eyebrow. "Why are they so harsh toward outsiders?"
"Because they've got brains," Samu sighed. "Outsiders know technology. They can make weapons and repair machines, so they're useful compared to country bumpkins like us who only know how to farm. And in their eyes, our lives are worth less than a machine part."
"Education ruins nations, and literacy invites disaster." Fayan Luo gave a cold laugh, lightly tapping the rough rock wall with his fingertips. "Good thing I'm illiterate. That's what kept me alive."
Beside him, Little Bird rolled his eyes in annoyance, then turned toward Samu, who was huddled in a corner, and demanded urgently, "Enough useless chatter. Answer me-did they flatten your city with heavy mechs, or drop biological weapons on it?"
"Neither." Samu's eyes were vacant yet feverish, his voice trembling. "We only saw the sky collapse, and countless fiery meteors fall like rain. In that storm of destruction, our home was reduced to scorched earth. But then a miracle happened..."
Fayan Luo narrowed his eyes, a deep blue stream of data flickering through them. His three-dimensional penetrating vision instantly pierced the murky air, scanning the bodies of the survivors in the cellar. Their bones were intact, their meridians unbroken. There wasn't even a trace of a superficial wound. This defied the laws of physics.
"The city was leveled, but the survivors were completely unharmed?" Fayan Luo's voice was low and probing. "How is that possible?"
"Because of a miracle." Samu abruptly raised his head and reverently lifted both hands, as though receiving an invisible blessing. His face shone