The scorching sun bakes the earth, and compared to a thousand years ago, the sun's golden hue is slightly diminished today.
Whether it's due to advancements in technology leading to better medical conditions, or the slight weakening of the sun, the average human lifespan has increased somewhat, reaching sixty years.
Some well-maintained nobles can even live to their seventies or eighties, and one in ten thousand might even break the one hundred mark, though such people are few and far between.
Under the blazing sun, the vast expanse of farmland was filled with the figures of ship slaves. (For the sake of brevity, ship slaves are used to replace the black woman.)
"Smack!"
The sound of whips echoed in the air, startling the ship slaves who were working, causing them to speed up their work and toil desperately under the scorching sun.
The man in charge of overseeing the work acted as if he held some great power, drinking alcohol and holding a leather whip as he surveyed the farmland, cursing and shouting slogans of the new era.
"Get to work! Damn it, you stupid lazy pigs, you damn idiots! If Mr. Shiruike hadn't paid a hefty price to buy you, your scalps would probably be peeled off and used to make shoes by now!"
Damn it, is this how you repay his kindness by slacking off? Get to work, you lazybones!
The overseer hurled insults at the ship slaves in the fields, and whenever he paused, he would whip them. Occasionally, he would reach out and slap the female workers, then laugh wildly, feeling as if he were God descending to earth, able to control the life and death of these ship slaves at will.
Such inhuman scenes are commonplace in the Southern Continent today; one could even say that this overseer is remarkably humane.
It's truly inhumane; the corpses of those ship slaves are proof enough.
With the arrival of ship slaves, a vigorous economic reform swept across the Southern Continent.
With the rise of plantations, animal husbandry and even factories emerged, and the economy, culture, and technology of the entire Southern Continent experienced a period of rapid development. However, this was only true for the Southern Continent as a whole.
For the common people of the Southern Continent, this was also a dark age.
Those with some capital might be able to buy ship slaves to advance their lives, but those laborers who rely on farming for others are plunged into a life of utter Hell.
After all, their wages are settled monthly, and the costs are extremely high.
These ship slaves, on the other hand, only needed to pay the initial investment to work indefinitely, making their profitability obvious.
Therefore, the lower classes of the Southern Continent either lost their jobs and became beggars, or competed with ship slaves to survive. In any case, their status and lives truly plummeted to rock bottom.
This is the true reflection of the saying, "Behind the red gates, meat and wine go to waste, while on the road, frozen corpses lie."
"Drive!"
With the crack of the whip and the rumble of the carriage, a fairly luxurious carriage pulled by two horses moved smoothly along the dirt road, attracting the attention of the boat slaves in the surrounding farmland.
However, just as they turned their gaze away, the overseer lashed them across the back with a leather whip, instantly tearing their skin and causing blood to glisten.
The cry of pain went unnoticed by the pedestrians on the carriage.
Nowadays, ship slaves have become mainstream in the Southern Continent. Everyone thinks such items are very useful, and no one has ever condemned them for being too cruel.
After all, these ship slaves were vastly different from the people of the Southern Continent, and were not even recognized as human by the Southern Continent authorities.
"Whoosh..." The carriage window curtains swayed, and Luowei, who had been observing the scene outside, turned his gaze. Feeling rather bored, he looked at his teacher beside him and complained:
"I thought Nord City, being Catholic Church Holy City, might have different customs and traditions, but it looks exactly the same as other cities."
Upon hearing his words, Qiaona, Luowei's teacher, put down his newspaper and smiled faintly, " The Catholic Church is a new denomination. Although its lineage is equally long, it has been suppressed by Holy Lord Church in the past. Although it has been promoted by royal families of various countries in the last hundred years, its main role is to divide the faith of the people. It has not provided any assistance to the people, so naturally there are no spectacular buildings or prosperous scenes."
Don't rush. Once you continue forward and reach the Holy Niluoya Empire, you will be able to see the magnificent wonders I once described!
"Are you referring to those mythological wonders, teacher?" Luowei asked, a hint of excitement in his voice.
"Yes, but all the inscriptions mention Vampire, and the descriptions on each wonder are completely different. Some say the Vampire Progenitor of Vampire Progenitor is Abraham, others say it's Norton, and still others say Norton is God. This does correspond to current Catholic Church texts, but they are all contradictory. Moreover, based on our investigations back then, the historical traces of those wonders are very similar, seemingly products built around the same time, yet products from the same period have various different accounts... If those wonders weren't truly awe-inspiring, one might think they were deliberately forged!"
Qiaona's eyes lit up as he recounted the wonders he had witnessed.
"Without seeing the wonder, one cannot know its greatness; upon seeing the wonder, one is enough to be awestruck for a lifetime. Such exquisitely carved and proportionally harmonious massive artifacts are difficult to build even in our time. One can imagine that there must have been great power in ancient times, perhaps even a truly mythical era, just as we have guessed!"
The Holy Lord Church now opening its Holy See in order to gain their support, providing us scholars with a rare opportunity for research. Given the Holy Lord Church's long and rich history, it must have many records of events that occurred in those ancient times!
Qiaona's hair was already gray, but when he spoke these words, he couldn't help but get excited, and his face was filled with youthful energy like a teenager's.
Today, the Southern Continent is flourishing, and its culture and thought are reviving. Along with this trend, various schools of thought have emerged. Today, Luowei and his teacher Qiaona are researchers of mythological theories, and Qiaona is a well-known figure in the mythology of the Southern Continent.
In order to study ancient myths, he never married and spent almost every day traveling around conducting scientific research, searching for traces of myths. Whenever he heard of something, he would rush over to investigate it carefully, truly obsessed with it.
In this era, the powerful and wealthy are all rich. Although Vampire and Werewolf in the Southern Continent have not been seen for thousands of years and have become a kind of monster without any real existence in myths and legends, various ancient records and oral traditions are widely circulated. Although it is difficult to distinguish between true and false, it still attracts a large number of people to pursue them.
Especially the wealthy and powerful, born in a good era, never having witnessed the Pressure of the progenitor Norton, only thought about obtaining immortality so they could enjoy the bliss of power forever, so they became even more fanatical. The research funding for theologians like Qiaona came from this, and a considerable portion of the aristocratic class paid these theologians a large salary every year for their scientific research in the hope of achieving immortality.
After all, the legends about Vampire have existed in this world for a long time, and there are even great wonders and ancient writings drawn on them for reference. Therefore, a considerable number of people believe that Vampire and the mythological era really exist. Otherwise, why would such events be recorded on wonders?
Little did they know that when they actually found traces of that ancient era, not only would they not be able to enjoy the power of immortality, but they would also be stripped of their freedom, becoming Fifth-Generation Vampire who toil day and night without end.
Unfortunately, Archbishop Duoxia and the Holy Lord Church's plan to block the news was indeed very effective, but also too effective. Over a thousand years have passed, and these people not only do not know that Vampire and Werewolf, or even God, really exist in this world, but they also do not know that right there in the Holy See's back mountain, where they are on this expedition, there is a scoundrel who has been nailed to the ground for over a thousand years.
Not to mention them, even the Holy Lord Church itself was unaware that a true demon was lurking within its partially developed back mountain. Otherwise, they wouldn't have opened the Church to prepare for this theological examination in order to win popular support and gain more believers.
Qiaona's trip was to form a team with theological scholars from the Southern Continent to conduct scientific research on ancient myths at the Holy Lord Imperial Court.
The carriage sped by, passing through farmland and entering the city.