This world shared a lot of similarities with the previous one, technology roughly matched that of the early twentieth century, everything the era should have was here, at least Le Yu did not need to worry about running out of toilet paper.
The biggest difference was, this world had a unified empire.
The East Sea Islands, the southern border of Qianshan, the wilds and woods beyond the passes, even the rich Central Plains, every corner of this land belonged to a single regime, the Imperial Court.
The Imperial Court was not only the unified government ruling this vast domain, it was also... a Celestial Mandate dynasty that's lasted two thousand years!
When Le Yu read this part of history from Qian Yuliu's memories, his gut reaction was that Qian Yuliu had been brainwashed—"there's no such thing as eternal royal power, how could there be a two-thousand-year-old feudal dynasty? Did the laws of history just get thrown to the dogs?"
"With land annexations, natural disasters, and every other disaster lined up in a chain combo, a dynasty should come crashing down!"
But as Le Yu kept reading, he finally discovered the biggest difference between this world and the original one, also the very root of why the Imperial Court could rule forever, the resource known as Luminous Stone.
Luminous Stone, a rare mineral found throughout the land, had special uses in various industries, but its greatest effect was that it altered spiritual power.
If a baby had a crystalline shard of Luminous Stone implanted from birth, after more than a decade of transformation, once that baby grew up, he could automatically activate his spiritual power ability, and even use it as energy to power all sorts of Luminous Stone machinery, or unleash supernatural abilities.
The activation of spiritual power also helped with self-healing, increased resistance, improved training results, and even enhanced learning ability. One could say that in this world, not having an awakened spiritual attribute was the same as being disabled.
The founders of the Imperial Court had discovered the wonders of Luminous Stone for humanity, spread its use, built a powerful army, and laid the foundation for an eternal dynasty.
But although Luminous Stone benefited humanity, it did not necessarily help unify rule, and could even fuel political infighting. Yet through research, the Court invented two new technologies, Luminous Stone Positioning and Luminous Stone Echo.
Thus, the very first article of the thousand-year-old Imperial Constitution was born,
"The brilliance of the Charter shines upon all citizens."
According to the constitution, every newborn needed to have a Luminous Stone crystalline shard implanted, which even had a name derived from the constitution, the Imperial Charter. Once the Charter was implanted in a person, it would sync automatically with their spiritual power—every Charter was unique.
No one would refuse the Charter's implantation, since activating one's spiritual power attribute was an absolute necessity for survival here. And for the Court, once everyone had a Charter, the entire world became transparent to their gaze.
With Luminous Stone Positioning and Echo, the Court could pinpoint anyone's exact coordinates. From then on, no uprising ever made a splash again.
There had been rebellions in Imperial history, but for the Court, they fought with a god's-eye view, while the rebels were stuck in their own fog of war.
The overwhelming difference in intelligence meant the Court could easily crush any rebel at any time. They didn't need to mobilize large armies—just send out small teams of elites and mop up the opposition with ease—when you always know every move your enemies make, any plot to burn supply lines or sabotage logistics became trivially easy to stop.
Le Yu couldn't help but feel a hint of respect for the ancestors of the Imperial Court, "The existence of the Charter really was like giving everyone an iron shell but sticking a weak point on it too. Even knowing you'd be adding a vulnerability for the rest of your life, still, no one could refuse the gift."
But no matter how great the technology or institution, it would end eventually.
In Imperial Year 2082, Skyrim raised the banner of Backlight Particle, and Skyrim's governor Ma Yuanyi was sacrificed as an example.
In Imperial Year 2083, every district saw Backlight rebels rise, and the 145th emperor was assassinated and died. That same year, an edict that drove everyone mad with joy was declared throughout the realm,
"Each district is to suppress Backlight rebels on their own, and may mobilize troops as they see fit, no need to report to the Cardinal Department."
From Le Yu's perspective, this edict was obviously one of the omens of coming chaos. With it, every governor could openly grab hold of military power, uniting civil and military authority, appointing officials, turning their territory into a kingdom within a kingdom.
But for Le Yu, compared to the world's direction, he cared more about the 'Imperial Charter' and the activated superpowered spirit it enabled.
He touched the back of his neck, where the Charter was implanted—right at the top of his spinal cord. He hardly felt it, the Charter seemed to have fused into his very body.
Over centuries, the people of the Imperial Court had developed all kinds of superpowered spirit techniques, known as 'Combat Technique' or 'Secret Technique.' Qian Yuliu hadn't used any weapons, just bare hands to take Le Yu's head—he'd done it with a Spiritual Combat Technique.
Besides offensive means, a highly awakened spirit gave Awakeners a near-prophetic danger instinct. The most direct effect was, all Junior Awakeners could automatically dodge targeted attacks!
Le Yu left the car and glanced at the bullet-cracked windshield, but felt little aftershock inside.
Because when he turned his head to dodge the shot earlier, it wasn't luck, it was a passive skill.
For an Awakener at his level, unless it was a rain of bullets, no shooter could hit him—as soon as a gun was aimed at him, he would automatically evade!
"A world where everyone's a superpower user..."
Le Yu and Chen Fu entered the Statistical Department, the front desk staff greeted them with practiced calm, and all the passing agents looked indifferent, not caring at all about the attack that just happened.
Were they just used to this, or were they fearless?
Their department was the First Task Force of the Statistical Department, located on the second floor. Le Yu walked to the second floor office, and a young man sitting near the door called out, "Captain Qian, you're back, can we get off work now?"
Qian Yuliu was the leader of the First Action Team. He never seemed to notice, but for someone his age and background to be in this job proved just how insanely talented Qian Yuliu was.
Le Yu skimmed Qian Yuliu's memories and answered calmly in his tone, "Ten more minutes, anyone leaves early loses their bonus."
"Aww, so boring, the few times we get field duty and you snatch it away. Did you catch any Backlight Particles?" The young man stretched and spun a pen through his fingers.
"Oh Zhu Junjie, from now on, all the field work's yours." Chen Fu snickered, plopping himself down and putting his feet on the desk, "We caught a pretty lame Backlight. As soon as he popped his head out, Bro Qian took it clean off, nothing interesting at all."
"Backlight scum are always like that. Smart ones aren't dumb enough to fight the Court." Zhu Junjie laughed.
"Our district has it easy. Just next door in Yingjiao County, Backlight rebels looted an armory yesterday, and the Statistical Department there has been working 24/7. Not like us—just sipping tea, reading the paper, waiting for knock-off." said another agent, the woman named Aili Lili.
"Who knows when we'll finally wipe out all those Backlight rebels. I was planning to get transferred to Internal Affairs, but ended up stuck here at the Statistical Department..." grumbled another agent, Zhou Guangshi, who was pretty good-looking.
Chen Fu giggled, "We know little Zhou Zhou wants a fancy Internal Affairs post. Oh, wait, my bad, I should be calling you Governor Zhou. If you get rich, don't forget about us!"
The others jeered and laughed, "Governor Zhou, don't forget us when you're rich!" "Remember us, remember us." "Zhou Zhou, you better remember!"
Le Yu didn't join in; Qian Yuliu wasn't the type of boss who liked to hang out with subordinates anyway.
But from what they said, the Statistical Department's task force usually didn't have much work, which meant he should be able to coast for a while. So surviving the fifteen-day challenge shouldn't be too hard...
Suddenly, an icy voice came from the doorway,
"The whole building can hear you guys chatting."