Martyr of the Old Era

Flint City was a city carved out against a massive mountain. From afar, it resembled the skeleton of a colossal beast crawling across the ground.

During the Dark Age, the government no longer existed. Most people gradually formed settlements under the gathering of powerful ability users.

Powerful ability users were like the lords of the old century, possessing the power of life and death over ordinary people.

Flint City's entrance was a gigantic gate twenty meters tall, forged from heavy metal mixed with powdered bones of dark creatures. Rubies that reflected the firelight within were embedded across its surface, like the eyes of a giant beast.

Zhang Rui stood outside the gate, undergoing an inspection by the guards.

The guards were two large-framed ability users. Though they were only E-rank, they were already mountains impossible for countless ordinary people to overcome.

To them, money, status, and women—things only the wealthy and powerful of the old era had been entitled to enjoy—were easily obtained even by the lowest-ranking ability users.

Their role as city guards was merely a task assigned by the city lord.

In the Dark Age, city guards did far more than simply watch the gates.

Zhang Rui revealed his identity as a messenger and took several gold beans from his clothes, respectfully offering them to the two guards.

The guards accepted the gold beans, weighed them in their hands, and shot Zhang Rui a disdainful glance.

"Go in. Once you're inside, you'd better not cause trouble."

"Yes, sir!" Zhang Rui bent at the waist, his face full of ingratiating smiles.

He seemed long accustomed to the attitude of the two men before him.

No matter the era, class systems always existed. They were simply more obvious now.

The power grid and communications had long been severed by the encroaching darkness, and the only way cities could communicate was basically through messengers.

Thus, between the various cities, there were always people who could no longer get by and voluntarily took up messenger work, earning rewards for delivering messages.

But high rewards meant high risks. Every year, many people died in the darkness, becoming nothing more than skeletons by the roadside.

If his wife had not fallen gravely ill, Zhang Rui would never have chosen the path of a messenger.

In fact, he had only been a messenger for a few months. Otherwise, he would not have taken a wrong turn and ended up at Longwind Fortress, shrouded in darkness.

After entering Flint City, Zhang Rui headed to the Letter Bureau within the city.

The Letter Bureau had been specially established by the cities to make it easier for messengers to deliver letters. Once a messenger delivered a letter to the Letter Bureau, dedicated staff would handle the remaining task of delivering it to its recipient.

Zhang Rui waited in line at the Letter Bureau for a while longer. When it was his turn, he handed the letters from his huge backpack to the staff member.

"You'll need to stay in the city for three days. There may be replies after the letters are delivered. They'll be handed over to you along with the reward."

The staff member gave Zhang Rui a jade token marked with the characters "Three Seven." Only with this token could he collect the reward for this delivery.

"Thank you!"

Zhang Rui took the jade token and, familiar with the way, made his way to an inn in the city where messengers often gathered.

Here, messengers from various cities exchanged information with one another, and some even sold little trinkets from their home cities.

"Did you hear? Shangmai City was breached by the Black Tide some time ago. A lot of people died. Only the city lord escaped with some ability users."

"Shangmai is only a small city. Its city lord is just a C-rank ability user, so it was perfectly normal that he couldn't withstand the Black Tide. It's just a pity for the people inside."

"In the Dark Age, ordinary people are like weeds by the roadside. Who knows when they'll die?"

"Tch, who told them not to seek refuge in one of the major cities guarded by B-rank ability users? They were so stupid that they deserved to die."

"Sigh, people often have no choice!"

Zhang Rui sat in a chair, holding a cup of murky yellow liquor in his hands. He savored it carefully while listening intently.

Liquor was extremely expensive in this era. Even messengers like them would only order a cup to relax after a long journey.

Yet even a single cup cost one gold bean.

"Zhang Rui, I never expected to see you here." Suddenly, a delighted voice came from beside him.

Zhang Rui looked up and discovered it was a messenger he had once encountered while traveling.

The two had traveled together for a stretch, so they knew each other. Neither had expected to meet again here.

Messengers died all the time, so whenever they parted ways, no one knew when they would meet again.

Li Sheng was one of the few friends Zhang Rui had made during his time as a messenger. Upon meeting, the two immediately began talking.

This sort of thing was commonplace at the inn, but a sudden cry of surprise drew everyone's attention.

"What? There are actually still people inside Longwind Fortress?"

Upon hearing the words Longwind Fortress, most of the people in the inn could not help stopping their conversations and pricking up their ears to listen.

There was no other reason. Longwind Fortress was simply too famous.

As the nation's former outpost against the invasion of darkness, many people had received enlistment messages on their phones before the old era ended, calling on the younger generation to head to Longwind Fortress and resist the Black Tide together.

However, the national government had already been on the verge of collapse at the time. Not long after that message was sent, the country fragmented completely.

Longwind Fortress, too, had ultimately been swallowed by the Black Tide after being left to fight alone.

And now, someone was saying that people still remained inside Longwind Fortress.

Zhang Rui looked around awkwardly and gestured for Li Sheng to lower his voice.

"I took the wrong route and accidentally entered the forbidden zone of darkness. I saw that there was still someone alive inside. I wanted to bring him out with me, but he refused. That person insisted on continuing to guard that place."

Li Sheng could not help being moved by this. He asked excitedly, "The country is gone, and the Black Tide is devouring the entire world from every direction. Longwind Fortress alone can't possibly hold out. Why does he still want to stay there?"

Zhang Rui shook his head. "I don't know either. Maybe because of... obsession."

As soon as those words were spoken, everyone listening could not help feeling emotional.

Even the messengers of poor character silently lowered their heads at that moment.

Some suddenly raised their heads and drained the cloudy liquor from their cups in one gulp. Some unconsciously touched the faded photographs of their families tucked against their chests. Some muttered that it was foolish...

Humans were emotional creatures. Some were good, some evil, but when someone who carried his conviction through to the end appeared before them, radiating light from his entire being, all they felt was a complicated mix of emotions.

The inn fell into an eerie silence as a soundless torrent surged through everyone's hearts.

It was an emotion long absent, one that had nearly been forgotten.

Compared to this, Shangmai City's breach by the Black Tide no longer seemed worth mentioning.

In this era where the strong were revered and human lives were as cheap as grass, profit and survival were the only rules.

These messengers traveled through the darkness, accustomed to betrayal and plunder. They had long grown used to living numb lives.

Yet in that place everyone had deemed a grave, in that corner completely consumed by darkness, there was still someone who, for an illusory conviction and a country that no longer existed, swung his weapon alone and lit a faint flame.

He was like a beam of light in the darkness, preserving something people had gradually abandoned in this era.

News from the inn quickly spread.

The City Lord's Manor.

Behind an exquisite and elegant desk, a steady-tempered middle-aged man sat dressed in noble, luxurious clothing, lightly tapping his knuckles against the tabletop.

A servant resembling a butler stood before him.

"Is the information true?"

"I've already arranged for people to verify it. Based on the route on the map provided by that messenger, there should be results soon."

"I don't want this matter spreading. It would be very detrimental to our governance."

Ye Yuan said calmly, "If the information is true, arrange for someone to clean that fellow up."

"Yes!"

The butler answered and turned to leave the study.

Ye Yuan slowly turned his soft, finely upholstered leather chair, his eyes fixed on the view beyond the enormous floor-to-ceiling window.

"Martyrs of the old era should follow their predecessors into death, not stand in the way of the new era."