Chapter 22: Origin of Demons and the Great Catastrophe.

Opening the door, it was indeed Xiaoyun, the housekeeping service robot, who greeted him with a standard business smile.

Cheng Jinyang stepped aside to let her in, and Xiaoyun briskly entered, picking up a broom and dustpan from the balcony.

"Today the living room is a bit dirty, it needs a good cleaning," she began sweeping the floor, speaking in a clear voice.

"Is that so? Then I'll leave it to you," Cheng Jinyang responded casually.

"This world is no different," Xiaoyun continued, still keeping her head down, the indicator light on her temple blinking on and off, "when a dynasty reigns for too long, the upper class tends to become corrupt. Flies gather around filth, and rats and snakes form a nest. If you don't clean properly, it just becomes increasingly unsuitable for human habitation."

Cheng Jinyang: ???

Ah, could it be... the housekeeping robot has been hacked?

"Judging by your surprised expression, it seems neither your family nor that royal princess have told you anything," Xiaoyun continued sweeping, speaking calmly, "do you really not know why the Central Plains of China fell, or why the Sima family became enemies of the aristocracy?"

Cheng Jinyang fell silent for a moment before saying, "I'd like to hear the details."

"Hehe," seeing his lack of resistance or objection, the mastermind behind the hacking of the synthetic person chuckled lightly, "it all begins with the Emperor Xuan back then."

"Sima Zhongda, the peerless hero of all ages, excelled in both literary and military strategies. However, in his later years, he made the same mistake as the First Emperor, that is, pursuing immortality."

[T/N: Sima Zhongda=Sima Yi.]

"Under the emperor's leadership, both mechanical modification and genetic technology were pursued simultaneously, with the entire nation's resources invested in research and development. The former involved using mechanical components to replace aging organs, while the latter involved cloning technology... Regardless of the approach, the essence was an attempt to delay aging, even to conquer death."

Cheng Jinyang listened quietly, thinking it's no wonder the technological line in this world is so advanced; it turns out the predecessor transmigrator initiated a Cold War project. However, the enemy in this Cold War wasn't another superpower but rather the aging and death of humanity itself.

"The closer he got to old age, the more ruthless the emperor became. On one hand, he could clearly feel his own aging, and on the other hand, the rapid advancement of technology gave him the illusion that achieving immortality was just one technological breakthrough away. Thus, the entire empire resembled a steam locomotive running at full speed, with the mad emperor sitting in the boiler room, constantly stuffing more coal into the furnace."

"Then, did he fail?" Cheng Jinyang asked solemnly.

"He did fail," the synthetic person replied casually, "Even now, no one hasn't been able to achieve immortality, which indicates that this technological milestone is actually much higher than Sima Zhongda anticipated."

"But what we're discussing isn't that, it's the aristocratic families."

"In Sima Zhongda's era, the aristocratic families didn't possess any extraordinary bloodlines; they were just oligarchs monopolizing resources and connections in various regions. The emperor despised such monopolies, so since seizing power, he continuously suppressed the aristocratic families and supported the commoners."

"This policy was carried out by every emperor since him, becoming increasingly radical centralized reforms. Most of the time, imperial authority prevailed until the emergence of extraordinary bloodlines, which allowed the aristocratic families to gain power immune to usurpation."

"Wait, how did extraordinary bloodlines emerge?" Cheng Jinyang interjected.

"It all started with the madness of Sima Zhongda before his death, but that's another story," the other person seemed a bit displeased. "Anyway, about a hundred years ago, the emperor at the time, Sima Zhengdu, in order to curb the rise and expansion of the extraordinary families, employed a drastic measure - attempting to implant the bloodline of these noble families into commoners."

"The chosen bloodline for this top-secret experiment was the 'Corporeal Activation' of the Longxi Li family, because this type of bloodline is one of the few extraordinary abilities that can passively activate without algorithms, making it easy to verify after transplantation. Initially, the experiment seemed very successful, but a few months later, it turned into a disaster."

They paused deliberately, and Cheng Jinyang continued, "I guess the subjects leaked?"

"No," the other party denied, "This top-secret experiment went through three phases, and the extraordinary traits were very evident in the subjects. So, that fool Sima Zhengdu thought he knew better and, without informing anyone, carried out large-scale inoculations within the imperial guards."

"And then the mutation broke out. The vast majority of the Imperial Guards experienced organ mutations in different parts of their bodies within a few weeks, followed by massive cellular breakdown and death. Only a female soldier unit survived, but their bodies also mutated beyond recognition, and they lost their human rationality... They are the prototypes of the first generation demons."

"So, demons were initially created by the royal family?" Cheng Jinyang exclaimed.

"That's right," the other person continued, "Sima Zhengdu secretly orchestrated everything with the emperor's authority, and everyone was kept in the dark. It wasn't until the demon catastrophe erupted that the aristocrats pieced together the outline of events before the catastrophe - which is why the royal family is now despised by all the aristocrats."

Cheng Jinyang fell silent, speechless.

He knew that the reason the other party was telling him these historical secrets was to incite his hostility and resentment towards the royal family. However, what the other party didn't know was that he didn't have any feelings towards the Sima royal family itself.

I like the princess, you know! The princess has nothing to do with that idiot emperor, so you're picking the wrong person to sow discord with me.

"I know what you're thinking," the other party seemed to see through his thoughts and continued, "Come with me."

"Where?" Cheng Jinyang immediately became wary. Is he trying to lure me somewhere else and set up an ambush?

"To the bathroom," the other party said, "This synthetic person has finished cleaning the living room, according to the programmed route, the next task is to clean the bathroom."

Cheng Jinyang: ???

So, you just hacked into the robot's voice program? Can you be more professional, please?

"I can certainly fully control this synthetic person," the other party walked into the bathroom and continued, "But this will inevitably leave a record within this synthetic person, thus attracting the attention of the housekeeping company... You don't want to be found out and connected to the Wuchang side openly, do you?"

"Um-hmm, please continue," Cheng Jinyang said, standing at the bathroom door.

So Xiaoyun cleaned the rag, started wiping the bathtub, and said, "We won't investigate the demon's affairs. After all, the fall of Shenzhou is a fact, and Sima Zhengdu died in the great disaster. Digging him out for public display would be futile."

"The first issue we need to discuss is why the world has turned out this way. What do you think the reason is, Cheng Jinyang?"

"I don't know," Cheng Jinyang replied.

Of course, he wasn't foolish enough to say 'imperial power'. If that were recorded by the other party, it could be used as leverage against him later, which would be foolish, wouldn't it?

"It's imperial power," the other party provided the answer, "The development of science and technology has strengthened the centralization of power. By Sima Zhengdu's era, even the prime ministers were merely tools of the emperor, which is why the emperor could deceive the world into creating demons."

Cheng Jinyang remained non-committal.

In fact, most people who have studied history know that the ultimate collapse of most dynasties can generally be attributed to unresolved internal crises, and these issues usually stem from deep-seated problems accumulated over several generations, rather than solely blaming the last emperor for not being wise enough.

Of course, the emperor is not entirely without responsibility; it's just that they often fail to fulfill their duties while in power.

But if what the other party said is true, then the entire Great Jin Dynasty plummeted from its peak to the bottom of the valley, and basically, it's all on Sima Zhengdu's shoulders.

In simple terms, it's like a large-scale experimental accident spreading out. How can this be whitewashed? Surely, whoever is responsible will bear the blame!