Chapter 26: The Arrival of a New Era

Chapter 26: The New Era Is Here

Time flies; in the blink of an eye, a month had passed.

"Back, we're finally back!" Peng Bing instinctively picked up his thermos and took a sip of goji berry water.

"I want meat! I want barbecue! I want a double portion of barbecue! I feel like I could eat an entire sheep in one sitting!" That exaggerated declaration, naturally, came from Jiang Ju.

"A whole sheep might be a bit of a stretch, but a roasted leg of lamb shouldn't be a problem!" Ning Fan patted his stomach and said with great seriousness.

"Damn it, I just remembered. Before entering the Void Realm, I specifically had a late-night snack. I thought I’d be pulling an all-nighter, so I ate so much that I'm not even hungry now. But I spent almost a whole month in there eating nothing but vegetarian food—I didn't even see much lard..."

Realizing he was actually quite full, Jiang Ju immediately felt dejected. What could be more tragic than wanting to eat but having no room left in your stomach?

"The Void Realm is fine in every other way, but the food and standard of living are truly hard to describe. You have to boil water for a bath, there are no heat lamps, no soap, and as for shampoo, conditioner, or cosmetics—there wasn't a single one!"

As the group discussed heatedly, occasionally throwing out exaggerated remarks, Xiong Yan glanced at them and walked away with a chuckle.

"Don't disturb them; this is normal 'transmigration syndrome'."

"Generally speaking, when someone returns to the real world after their first descent into the Void Realm, they will have some minor aftereffects."

"Right now, they are just using humor and exaggeration to release the pressure building up inside them."

"By tomorrow, arrange for some truly capable psychologists to come and help them work through it. Don't treat them like patients; just let it be a normal conversation."

Chu Xuan, who had stopped adjusting his glasses, was now rubbing his head, specifically the back of his neck. "Understood."

"Actually, they are still quite normal. Most of those 'transmigrators' in the real world have no parents, no relatives, and no close friends. To them, the Void Realm is everything; it’s far more important than the real world."

Chu Xuan thought for a moment and uttered a slightly impolite word: "Orphans?"

"Are most transmigrators orphans?"

"Yes and no."

"In essence, anyone who is disillusioned with the world has a certain probability of heading to the Void Realm as a transmigrator. The moment they cross over, their physical bodies vanish, and they become a part of the Void Realm, thereby gaining the status of a 'destined protagonist'."

"However, orphans who have lost both parents are far more likely to be lonely, reclusive, or disillusioned than the average person. This creates a misconception that all transmigrators are orphans who have just suffered a breakup, but that isn't actually the case."

"For these transmigrators, their family and loved ones are in the Void Realm. But the Void Realm has a lifespan, and it is extremely short!"

The lifespan of the Void Realm is fleeting. Its transition from void to reality is a fixed fate that no one can change!

"In the future, truly capable psychologists will be a rare commodity."

"After a Void Realm with millions of inhabitants transitions from void to reality, perhaps only a few hundred will successfully make the leap from fantasy to truth. Guess what happens to their mental state when that occurs?"

Even if none of this is the fault of the people of Earth, but rather the fault of the planet itself, those who descend into reality still easily develop a negative perception of the Great Xia.

If there are too many such people, it becomes a catastrophe!

What's even more troublesome is that before an investigation is conducted, one never knows who is going to explode!

As for keeping everyone who descends into reality under surveillance as a potential criminal, or forcing them into designated zones—that is not an attitude of cooperation! That is how you treat prisoners!

If the Great Xia doesn't want them, other countries certainly will!

Especially the United States across the ocean; they offer privileges, licenses to kill, whatever they want!

"Those who descend from fantasy to reality are prone to psychological issues. Those who are summoned to the Void Realm and then return are also prone to psychological issues."

At this point, Xiong Yan stopped, as he had arrived home—a Taoist temple in the style of the pre-Qin era, very simple and archaic.

Opening the door and entering, Xiong Yan took out a jade box from the table, crushed a spirit crystal, and began his breathing exercises.

"The current Void Realm is the smallest and lowest-energy one, yet even so, we spent an entire month in there!"

"This means that in the future, some large-scale Void Realms, or those with very high transcendent levels, might require us to stay for years or even decades at a time? Such a long period is indeed enough to change a person's entire worldview." Having said this, Chu Xuan rubbed the back of his head once more.

This was a truly troublesome problem!

If, in the future, someone spends ten years at a time in the Void Realm, who can guarantee that every staff member or summoned transmigrator won't develop feelings for the locals?

It doesn't necessarily have to be romantic love; if a friendship is deep enough, the eventual parting will still cause harm.

Especially during the process of the Void Realm transitioning into reality—what if your close friend, or your wife and children in the Void Realm, fail to meet the criteria for becoming real and simply cease to exist?

More importantly, such partings won't happen just once or twice; they will happen over and over again!

It is foreseeable that when that time comes, those summoned to descend will avoid emotional connections with the people of the Void Realm.

In the short term, it might seem fine, but over a long period, an atmosphere of objectification will emerge.

If they can treat the people of the Void Realm as non-human today, guess how long it will take for them to stop viewing ordinary, non-cultivating people as human?

Or even further—what if they decide that anyone with a lower cultivation level than their own isn't human?

Is this a harmonious society, or a feudal one where everyone is ranked by status?

"After the Industrial Age arrived, the small-scale peasant economy collapsed."

"After the Information Age arrived, the clan system disintegrated automatically."

"Now that the Transcendent Age is here, it is naturally the great trend of the world—vast and mighty. Those who follow it will prosper, and those who oppose it will perish!"

"This is a brand-new era, an era of global competition. If the Great Xia refuses to embrace this new era, it will be nothing more than closing the country to the outside world once again!"

Having said this, Xiong Yan took out another jade box from the table, which contained a portion of the roots of a wild ginseng from the Changbai Mountains.

This was a true five-hundred-year-old ginseng, discovered by staff only after it exhibited strange phenomena while absorbing the heaven and earth's spiritual energy following the energy resurgence.

Before entering the Void Realm, Xiong Yan wouldn't have dared to consume such ginseng roots directly, because at that time, he was simply too weak!