2 The Tragic Era

In two months, Lu Heng would turn 18. As a high school dropout, compulsory military service was a given.

Once he joined the army, his sister's paralysis would be discovered. When that happened…

In this era, there were powerful monsters wreaking havoc outside every city. There were also invaders from other worlds who were constantly trying to break out of the passage and conquer humanity's blue planet.

This meant that the living environment and territory of humans was far inferior to that of the old era. Resources were extremely scarce as well.

In addition to that, most of the monsters in the wilderness were inedible due to mutation. The same was true for plants.

Therefore, under such harsh circumstances, human society had no choice but to implement a controlled economy and rationing system.

Housing, clothes, furniture, education, medical care, and everything else, were all provided for by the government and distributed according to their work contributions.

Everyone received their dues in accordance with their contribution to society.

The greater their contribution, the better their treatment. Their status would rise accordingly as well.

However, the government's allocation of educational resources was fair and equitable.

No matter what their parents did, the children were all allocated to schools according to their grades.

In addition, as long as they made it to their third year of junior high, the children would be divided into classes according to their respective talents.

Those who were suitable for martial arts would undergo martial arts lessons, while the others would all study to become scientists and civil servants.

In the end, the kind of future one could obtain through education depended mainly on oneself. One's parents would not be able to help much.

This was not because the leaders were selfless, but rather to prevent any potential talents from being buried.

After all, in such a difficult situation, if human society was still embroiled in internal strife, then humanity would not be far from extinction.

Of course, this was one of the better aspects of life in this era. However, life in this era also had its shortcomings. Here, there were no disabled people, unless they became disabled during their line of work.

Everyone had to serve a purpose and contribute to society, either as a worker, farmer, soldier, doctor, engineer, or other role.

They were not afraid of being partially disabled, as long as they could still do their own part to contribute to society. What they were afraid of was becoming completely disabled and useless to society. These dregs of society were not qualified to live in the city as they would consume the already limited resources and drag others down by needing to be cared for.

Lu Heng's sister was one such 'useless' person.

Once her condition was discovered, she would immediately be sent out of the city.

Of course, every problem had a solution. There were two ways to resolve this dilemma.

One was for Lu Heng to become a martial artist, and the other was for him to become a scientist.

Martial artists wielded great power. They were the primary force that guarded the city and expanded humanity's territory. Scientists, on the other hand, could study and research various new technologies to increase productivity as well as improve the combat effectiveness of the army.

These two were the pillars of this era's human society, the elites among the elites, so they both received a variety of privileges from the government, which included the protection of their relatives.

Lu Heng could forget about ever becoming a scientist. He had quit high school due to his declining grades, so he no longer had the opportunity to take the entrance exam to the University of Science and Technology.

Therefore, the path of a martial artist was his only way out.

However, it was not easy to become a martial artist. Normally, only students who were admitted to the University of Martial Arts had the chance of becoming a martial artist.

For others who failed to be admitted to the University of Martial Arts, there were two problems. Firstly, their talent in martial arts had been judged insufficient. Secondly, they would receive far fewer cultivation resources than students from the University of Martial Arts. It was extremely difficult for such people to become martial artists by relying on their own efforts.

'There are still two months left. I'll try my best. No matter what, I at least have to try.'

Lu Heng finished eating the paste in front of him in two to three bites. After settling Lu Xiaoxiao down, he walked out of the unit.

However, just as he was walking down the stairs, he encountered a middle-aged woman and a middle-aged man walking up from below.

The middle-aged woman had a voluptuous figure and a smug expression on her face. As soon as she saw Lu Heng, she put on a pretentious smile.

"Isn't this Little Heng? Working on a farm late at night again?"

"Hey, look, I tried to persuade your parents back then. With your good grades, you should have gone to a vocational school. If you weren't strong enough, why did you insist on going to that high school to show off?"

"Sigh, it's really such a pity."

Lu Heng ignored the hypocritical middle-aged woman and walked around the two of them, heading straight down.

"Look at you. You just can't admit that you were wrong back then!"

The middle-aged woman shook her head and looked at the middle-aged man beside her. Believing that Lu Heng had walked far enough away, she said with a smile, "My little Hao is still the best. He will graduate from a vocational school next year. He doesn't have to join the army to die. He can give me a big, fat grandson right away."

Lu Heng rapidly descended the stairs; the voice of that middle-aged lady above had long become inaudible.

Although he did not like Haozi's mother's blabbering, he had to admit that what she said made sense.

For ordinary families, the vocational school pathway was indeed the safest route.

Vocational schools in this era were actually equivalent to universities in the old era. Coupled with the distribution of work packages for graduates in this era, as long as one could successfully graduate from a vocational school, they would definitely be able to land a job, which was equivalent to having a secure livelihood.

Perhaps the most important thing was that people who graduated from vocational schools could make better contributions to human society, so they were not required to serve in the military unless there were special circumstances.

Unfortunately, Lu Heng did not have a choice at that time.

Back then, his parents had allowed him to go to high school because his grades were pretty good, and there was hope of him getting into the University of Science and Technology.

Once he got into the University of Science and Technology, he would no longer be afraid of people finding out about his sister's paralysis.

Even if he failed to get in, he would still be treated better than the average person while undergoing military service. He would still have the chance to become a technical officer.

After all, he would still be a high school graduate, whose status would be significantly better than someone who only received a junior high school education.

Of course, this was only one of the reasons why he had opted to go to high school. The other reason was that Lu Heng had always felt that he was not an ordinary person and that he was destined to climb the highest mountain.

Perhaps this was youthful vigor.

However, if Lu Heng's academic results were measured by the standards of the old era, he would definitely be ranked among the best in the city.

In this era, educational resources were scarce. Most people would cease their education pursuits after nine years of compulsory education. They would then work on a farm and wait for their 18th birthday before joining the compulsory military service.

People like Lu Heng who managed to get into a high school or a vocational school were considered the best among their peers.

It was a pity that my grades were still not good enough. If my grades had been better, the school would have given me extra subsidies, and I would not have needed to work on a farm in order to get food stamps

Reminiscing about this, Lu Heng shook his head secretly.

It was all part of the past now, and there was no turning back anymore.

At that time, his parents and big brother had passed away one after the other, which had a huge impact on him. Not only did his grades not continue to improve, but they fell again and again. In addition, he had to take care of Xiaoxiao, who was left alone at home. In the end, he was forced to quit school.

Lu Heng stopped thinking about these things and briskly walked toward the farm in the outer city.

The city he lived in was called Jiangnan City. It was one of the top 50 base cities in the world.

Like other base cities, the inner city of Jiangnan City was a residential area protected by the thick city walls. The outer city housed the farms that were responsible for producing food.

Although there were city walls around the farms, the farms covered too much ground, so these walls were short. Monsters could easily climb over them and hurt people.

Back then, his parents had been bitten to death by monsters that had climbed over the outer city walls.

His older brother had also been bitten to death while on patrol at the outer city walls.

Although there were all kinds of weapons and equipment on the city walls, resources were too scarce in this era. Bullets and larger-caliber projectiles had to be conserved to deal with monster hordes as well as to defend the passage between worlds. They would not be mobilized or used against the occasional one or two sporadic monsters that showed up in the outer city.

Therefore, working on a farm was an extremely dangerous affair. If one was not careful, they could easily lose their lives. Anyone who had the choice would not choose to come here.

Lu Heng had never imagined that he would need to come here in order to make a living, but fate was a fickle mistress.

After passing through several thick iron gates and sitting on the rail car for a while, Lu Heng finally arrived at the farm where he would be working.

"Uncle Wang, I'm here."

"Alright, I'll be leaving first then."

A middle-aged man wiped the sweat off his brow and grinned at Lu Heng. Then, he began to pack up his things to leave.

Lu Heng put on his rubber boots and got down to work.

His work was not traditional farm work per se. These farms were all interconnected and primarily relied on the use of automated equipment to optimize the farm's yield output. The scope of his work here was to catch bugs, mice, and sparrows and prevent them from eating the crops.

In this era, bugs were extremely powerful. Ordinary pesticides would not kill them, and any pesticide capable of killing these bugs would either poison the crops or leave harmful residues. In either case, people would get sick if they ate such crops.

"Hyah, hup, ha..."

Lu Heng took the opportunity to practice the moves he had learned from the martial arts school.

Pa!

Suddenly, a crisp sound echoed through the air.