Chronicles of the Rong Dynasty (Part 3)
"They must be the legendary celestial beings..."
The men were all talking at once. One of the attendants, out of curiosity, reached out with his weapon to touch the metal wing. Garrett Buchanan called out urgently, "Don't make any rash moves—"
Several massive searchlights suddenly blazed to life, the intense light turning the runway bright as day. The men raised their hands to shield their eyes. At that moment, a squad of armed guards rushed out, pointing their dark gun muzzles at them, shouting: "Who are you? How dare you trespass on a military installation!"
Garrett Buchanan's group froze for a moment, then quickly recovered, drawing their weapons and forming a battle formation—spearmen in front, sword-and-axe fighters in the middle, archers at the rear with bows drawn and arrows nocked, ready to fire. Though their numbers were small, it was a classic infantry battle formation. Garrett Buchanan's vice admiral unfurled the brocade scroll and shouted: "Garrett Buchanan, Dragon-Tiger General of the Translation Bureau under the great Rong Dynasty, is here! Who dares show disrespect?"
The armed guards didn't listen, merely repeating: "Put down your weapons! Warning—put down your weapons!"
The Rong soldiers stirred uneasily. They had never encountered enemies dressed like this, nor did they know what kind of beings they were. As the two sides stood at a standoff, a middle-aged man wearing glasses and ordinary casual clothes came rushing over, positioning himself between the two formations. "Calm down, everyone calm down! Absolutely do not make a move—" He then turned to Garrett Buchanan's group and said, "Put down what you're holding. Really, I don't know where you came from, but if you don't want to get hurt, please don't resist."
"Hurt us? What a joke!" the vice admiral sneered. "Our great Rong soldiers are fierce and valiant, breaking through enemy lines, invincible! I'd advise you all to surrender and save your lives. When our great Rong army arrives, we'll grind you all to dust!"
"What—great Rong?" The middle-aged man's eyes lit up.
"Enough talk—surrender at once, or die!" the vice admiral shouted.
The middle-aged man fell silent for a moment, then pointed behind them: "Those are your ships, aren't they?"
They turned around. Four dark tower-ships were anchored not far from shore—the pride of their great Rong navy. It was with these very warships that they had routed the combined forces of the Muse and Mo nations at the Battle of Tunmen Cliff, forcing both nations to bow and submit. At that moment, the middle-aged man pulled out a walkie-talkie and spoke in a low voice: "Command tower, command tower, now sink the four unidentified vessels anchored by the shore."
The moment his words fell, several sharp whistling sounds rang out as multiple rockets pierced the cold night sky, striking the tower-ships with unerring precision. In an instant, fire erupted skyward, explosions like thunder, and even at that distance, they could see the four tower-ships reduced to wreckage.
The Rong soldiers were stunned, mouths agape in disbelief. They could never have imagined that four tower-ships—could be obliterated in the space of a few words from this one man! Those were the great Rong's most powerful warships, the symbol of its national might, the weapons that had unified the realm! And now, they had been destroyed in an instant, as casually as blowing out a breath.
"I'm not lying to you, really," the middle-aged man said. "Put down what you're holding. I truly don't want to hurt you."
Garrett Buchanan understood—the gap in strength between the two sides was absolute. They were facing an enemy wielding unknown, overwhelming power. He had no other choice. "Everyone, put down your weapons."
"Lord Feng, but—"
"Put them down! Do you dare disobey an order?"
The soldiers could only comply, setting down their weapons, and were disarmed by the other side. The middle-aged man walked up to Garrett Buchanan, looked him over, and said, "I'm Jones Miller, the officer in charge of the automated military systems on this island. You can call me Dr. Miller. Are you the leader of this unit?"
"Garrett Buchanan, Dragon-Tiger General of the Translation Bureau, great Rong Dynasty." Though now a captive, Garrett Buchanan still kept his spirit undiminished, maintaining the dignity of a minister of the great Rong.
Dr. Miller glanced over the brocade scroll in his hands and asked, "May I see this?"
Garrett Buchanan smiled wryly. "We have already surrendered. What does it matter if you see it?"
Dr. Miller took the brocade scroll, opened it, and saw that it was densely inscribed in Chinese characters, recording the "Annals" of different periods:
Year 1 of the Rong Dynasty: The First Ancestor led eleven infantrymen, defeated the Muse army, captured ten cities, the Muse sued for peace.
Year 6 of the Rong: Victory at Wolf Mountain, the great Rong army attacked the Mo nation, breached their capital, slew twelve hundred.
Year 11: The Ancestor King passed away, the Long King succeeded, promulgated the new calendar, proclaimed it widely, instituted orderly planting seasons.
Year 14: Great renovation of the royal city, built the Observatory Tower, designated it as the new capital.
Dr. Miller's face changed dramatically as he urgently asked, "Where exactly did you come from?"
Garrett Buchanan replied, "Didn't I just say? We come from the great Rong, by order of the King of Rong, to spread his prestige abroad."
Dr. Miller asked, "Where is this great Rong you speak of, exactly?"
Garrett Buchanan fell silent for a moment, then instructed his cartographer: "Show them your navigational charts."
Dr. Miller took the charts, quickly unrolled them, and began examining them closely. When his finger traced the route drawn by the cartographer all the way to the position of the great Rong, a strange light suddenly shone behind his glasses. He cried out excitedly, his voice trembling: "So it's true... it really is them... they actually developed a civilization!"
5
One hundred and sixty years ago, in 2016 CE, prisons around the world were overflowing, and crime rates had hit all-time highs. At that time, scientists discovered through research that the MAOA gene in most criminals had some degree of aberrant mutation, and this genetic variation could be inherited—the children of criminals had a crime rate 6.5 times higher than that of normal people. This became the hugely influential "Criminal Gene Theory." To completely eliminate criminal activity worldwide, the United Nations passed a resolution to relocate all criminals with sentences over a certain number of years to the Republic of Gaman. The Republic of Gaman was an island nation in the South Pacific, primarily inhabited by indigenous peoples who had applied for national bankruptcy and ceded all their land. In exchange, all Gaman residents were accepted as equal citizens by various nations. After these criminals were relocated to Gaman, their memories were collectively erased, retaining only basic knowledge and survival skills—this was the most humane provision in the otherwise harsh UN resolution—and they were left to fend for themselves. Everything started from zero. They faced an almost primitive world, bearing no trace of modern civilization. For these criminals, they had merely traded a small cage for a larger one. Moreover, to completely eliminate the possibility of these criminals escaping their prison, a "Hurricane Disturbance System" was set up in the waters 800 kilometers away from Gaman—any ship attempting to flee would be torn apart by the violent currents. "Though it seems your 'tower-ships' did ultimately break through. After all, 160 years have passed—one should have accounted for that."
In the observation command center on the island, when Dr. Miller finished this account, the Rong soldiers fell into collective silence. Despite the cultural differences, the gulf of time, and the insurmountable divide in knowledge, language was still a bridge—and they could mostly understand what Dr. Miller was saying. They simply couldn't accept it emotionally.
"No! Nonsense! I'll destroy you!" The vice admiral sprang up, screaming, veins bulging on his neck. "Where are the great Rong's elite soldiers!"
A few soldiers still wearing their armor stood up, and the hall erupted in commotion. The surrounding armed guards immediately raised their guns, shouting: "Down, everyone hands on your heads, or we'll open fire!"
"Stop!" Garrett Buchanan suddenly shouted. "Everyone, sit down!"
"But, Lord Feng—"
"Sit! This is an order! Do you dare disobey?"
The vice admiral and the other soldiers could only sit back down. Garrett Buchanan fell silent for a moment, then asked: "Is everything you said true?"
"I know this is emotionally difficult for you to accept, but—" Dr. Miller took off his glasses and wiped them, "—what I said is all true."
Garrett Buchanan let out a long breath. "Are you saying that whether it's the people of the great Rong, or the Muse and the Mo nations, we are all descendants of criminals?"
Dr. Miller was silent for a moment, then said: "From the perspective of our society... yes."
Garrett Buchanan's face turned ashen, and he actually laughed—a laugh steeped in bone-chilling bitterness. For a moment, some of these battle-hardened soldiers broke down entirely and wept. Garrett Buchanan asked slowly: "Then what will happen to us?"
"Since all criminals were relocated to Gaman, crime rates worldwide did drop significantly. Everyone assumed you had simply perished, that the criminal gene had been completely eradicated from the world. Only the upper echelons of the Coalition Government knew the full truth, but they never disclosed any information about you to the public. No wonder they set up a military base on the island closest to Gaman—I've already received orders to prepare for the next phase of action."
"The next phase of action?"
Dr. Miller sighed. "The Shitong Group purchased all of Gaman's land. They're an international consortium, newly risen real estate moguls. They paid an astronomical sum to the Coalition Government and relinquished 12% of their shares to take over the entire Gaman territory. They plan to undertake a series of commercial developments—real estate, tourist resorts, international trade centers, financial districts... In short, your homeland is going to be cleared out."
Hearing this, everyone looked at each other in disbelief. The vice admiral couldn't contain himself and shouted again: "Clear us out? What a joke! Our great Rong has tens of thousands of elite soldiers, and we've subdued both the Muse and Mo nations—we're at our peak! Who dares challenge us to battle?!"
Dr. Miller shook his head with a bitter smile. "It's useless. The clearance plan has been finalized. In three days, planes will drop annihilation bombs. Your great Rong's elite soldiers won't even see the enemy—everything will simply vanish."
"Everything will vanish... what does that mean?"
"It means that whether it's the great Rong, or the Muse and Mo nations, all will be leveled to the ground in seconds."
Everyone shuddered! Garrett Buchanan's face went pale white, muttering: "Then our great Rong's people..."
"Can they not be spared? Everyone assumed that the criminals exiled to Gaman had already perished—they have no idea you exist. If you were to rejoin society, it would undoubtedly cause massive panic. Regarding your situation, I've already communicated with the Coalition Government's upper echelon. Out of humanitarian consideration, you can be reintegrated into society, but you must undergo government-supervised training, and you must not disclose this matter to anyone—you may be placed under 24-hour surveillance for the rest of your lives. Once training is complete, you'll receive new identities and occupations to help you integrate into normal life as quickly as possible." Dr. Miller said, "Believe me, this is the most I can do."
"No! We will live and die with the great Rong!" All the soldiers stood up, voices raised in passion.
"All soldiers, hear my command!" Garrett Buchanan also stood up suddenly, turning to face them, tears welling in his eyes, his entire body trembling slightly. "In the name of the Dragon-Tiger General of the Translation Bureau of the great Rong, I command you to remain here and follow all of Dr. Miller's orders... and you must not breathe a single word of the great Rong's affairs to any outsider..."
By the end, Garrett Buchanan was streaming with tears.
"Lord Feng!" Everyone dropped to their knees, weeping aloud.
Garrett Buchanan's lips trembled, but with a firm resolve he turned his head away, wiped his tears, and said calmly: "Dr. Miller, may I make one request?"
"Speak."
"Can you send me back to the great Rong before your operation begins?"
"You want to go back?" Dr. Miller said in surprise. "You barely escaped—why go back? You must know going back means death."
Garrett Buchanan smiled bitterly. "I still have a betrothal to honor. I made a promise—I dare not break my word."
6
In the darkness, a helicopter slowly descended at the deserted shore of Tunmen Cliff. Dr. Miller said gravely: "The operation is about to begin. If you want to change your mind, it's still not too late."
Garrett Buchanan gave a faint smile. "No regrets."
"Mmm..." Other than sighing, Dr. Miller found he had nothing else to say.
The cabin door slowly opened. Garrett Buchanan suddenly added: "Dr. Miller, before we part, I have one more question."
"What question?"
"Is the earth we live on truly round?"
Dr. Miller opened the navigation system on the control panel, pressed a few keys, and a holographic three-dimensional projection appeared before them. Dr. Miller said: "This is the world we live in—we call it 'Earth.'"
Garrett Buchanan carefully observed this globe floating before his eyes. Though the national boundaries were different, the outlines of the continents matched exactly with his battered old globe. At that moment, everything became clear in his mind—a pure, luminous clarity. He bowed deeply and said: "Thank you, Dr. Miller. Farewell, and take care."
"Take care."
The helicopter lifted off again. Watching Garrett Buchanan's figure gradually disappear into the night, Dr. Miller couldn't help but sigh: "Who are the real criminals, after all..."
Leaving the homeland he had been away from for so long, Garrett Buchanan felt no sense of strangeness. He stumbled toward the direction of his home—where his old friends awaited, where his loved ones remained, and where the woman he loved more than anything.
"Lady Celia, wait for me, I'm coming." Garrett Buchanan murmured.
Lady Celia seemed to have been roused from a dream. She opened her window, looking out at the lonely moonlight, and suddenly thought of the person in her dream, remembering a phrase he had taught her.
"I love you."
She said it softly, and smiled.
Beneath the moonlight, several annihilation bombs had already pierced through the clouds, howling as they plummeted toward the earth.