1: Chapter 1 A Trial That Must Not Fail

(I am Qin Shi Huang. Send me your brain, and I will let you pilot a starship later.)

(The beginning is a bit cliché, but I guarantee there are no cheesy tropes afterward. The author has a complete outline, will never rush the ending, and it gets straight to the satisfying parts after a dozen chapters!)

"Today marks the first anniversary of the 'Scarlet' typhoon. 'Scarlet' is a destruction-level super-typhoon formed due to a failed Forbidden Area Trial. Since it made landfall, nearly 500,000 houses in the four southeastern provinces have been destroyed, the disaster area exceeds one million square kilometers, and power and transportation are completely paralyzed..."

"The statistical results for the second round of the Forbidden Area Trial have been released. The countries where the 14 lords successfully survived have obtained trillion-level mineral resources and nearly a hundred types of new Materials technical Breakthroughs..."

"Experts in international relations comment that the Forbidden Area Trial will have a decisive impact on the world order..."

"The third round of the Forbidden Area Trial is approaching. The military calculates that 600 million citizens in our country have undergone specialized Forbidden Ground survival education. The number of talents who possess professional knowledge in Forbidden Ground survival and have undergone specialized training in lord consciousness has reached ten million. The military calls on the entire population to dedicate themselves to learning about the Forbidden Ground. The Dragon Kingdom cannot withstand another world-destroying disaster..."

"Japan ignores our country's warnings and has repeatedly entered our territorial waters..."

Su Yang turned off the morning news and rubbed his temples.

Although it had been a week since his Transmigration, many pieces of news still made him feel dazed.

Destruction-level disasters, extraterrestrial Forbidden Grounds, lord hegemony...

These terms, which only appeared in games, existed in reality in this world.

After a few days of acceptance and digestion following his Transmigration, Su Yang finally figured out the origins of these things.

The Blue Planet of this world was invaded by mysterious forces from the Universe several years ago.

Every once in a while, they randomly select lords from various countries on the Blue Planet to participate in the Forbidden Area Trial.

If they survive successfully, the resources obtained within the Forbidden Ground will be manifested a hundredfold in their home country.

Conversely, if they die, their country will suffer the punishment of a destruction-level natural disaster.

Before Su Yang's Transmigration, the Dragon Kingdom of this world had already failed twice in the Forbidden Area Trial and suffered two destruction-level natural disasters.

One was a super-giant earthquake that collapsed half of the central and western plateaus, leaving tens of millions of people affected.

One was a super-giant typhoon that shredded the four southeastern provinces, displacing hundreds of millions of people.

If it were to endure another disaster of this level, the Dragon Kingdom might cease to exist.

After carefully studying the two rounds of the Forbidden Area Trial based on the data, Su Yang discovered the key to the Dragon Kingdom's failure.

Upon entering the trial, a lord can choose a civilization template from their own country's history.

The civilization template determines the unit types and future development path, so the choice is crucial.

Unfortunately, the historical records of the Dragon Kingdom in this world were severely damaged during a World War.

Only fragmented records remained of those great dynasties in Chinese history.

This led to the Dragon Kingdom's incomplete understanding of history and wrong choices.

The first time, they chose the late Qing Dynasty.

Because historical records noted its feat of declaring war on all the great powers, the people of the Dragon Kingdom thought it was a prosperous and powerful nation.

The outcome was predictable; they suffered a crushing defeat in less than a month.

The second time, they blindly chose the Western Jin Dynasty, and the results were even less worth mentioning.

Upon learning of these two choices by the Dragon Kingdom, Su Yang almost cursed out loud.

These two periods were precisely the most humiliating chapters in Chinese history.

The powerful Han, the prosperous Tang, the staunch Ming...

With so many great eras in Chinese history, why did they have to choose these two?

Even as someone who had undergone Transmigration and had no deep connection to this world, Su Yang did not want to see the people of the Dragon Kingdom suffer such hardships.

After learning the key factors of the failure, Su Yang continuously spoke out on the internet.

But with the third round of the Forbidden Ground approaching, the whole country was in a state of emergency, and no one would pay attention to him.

There was only one way to save all of this.

Become a lord!

Only by being selected as a lord could he save the Dragon Kingdom.

Save those compatriots who shared the same blood as him.

But with hundreds of millions of people in the Dragon Kingdom, how could it just happen to select him?

Difficult, too difficult.

Su Yang shook his head and pulled back the curtains.

The first ray of morning sunlight pierced his eyes.

Buzz!!

Accompanying the sunlight was a cold, emotionless mechanical voice and a series of subtitles.

[Experimental Planet Blue Star, the third round of the Forbidden Area Trial is about to begin. Forbidden Ground ID: NO.517314#C]

[Remaining countries on Blue Star: 68. Lords participating in the Forbidden Area Trial: 68]

[Attention]

[The Forbidden Area Trial will be broadcast live across the entire territory. Citizens have one hour per day to view the trial footage of their corresponding lord.]

[National leadership can communicate with their corresponding lord once a week, with no restrictions on content.]

[The Forbidden Ground will calculate the resource quantity of each lord every seven days, and they will be manifested a hundredfold in the corresponding country.]

[If a lord dies, the bound country will suffer the punishment of a natural disaster. The disaster Rank is related to the number of days the lord survived.]

[The first seven days after entering the Forbidden Ground are the novice protection period. Within the safe zone, they will not be attacked.]

[The Forbidden Ground lasts for one year. If all lords die, the trial will end early.]

...

Forbidden Ground notifications are messages sent to everyone before each round of the Forbidden Area Trial.

And below this message that everyone could receive, Su Yang also saw a row of cursors flashing.

What is this?

He activated it with his mind.

The subtitles before his eyes made his pupils shrink.

[Trialist Su Yang, you have been selected as a lord.]

[Please continue to develop your territory in the Forbidden Ground and survive as long as possible.]

[Good luck.]

...

Central Military Department, a group of high-ranking officials of the Dragon Kingdom sat around the conference room.

After reading the Forbidden Ground notification before them, their eyes were slightly dimmed.

None of them had been selected as a lord by the Forbidden Ground.

As generals of the Dragon Kingdom, they all wanted to rush to the Forbidden Ground and fight for the Dragon Kingdom.

"I don't know who the Forbidden Ground will select this time. I hope it is one of the military talents we have trained."

The military general sitting in the center said.

"There is a high hope. After the last failure, we provided System training to nearly ten million people. In addition to the military, 600 million civilians have also undergone basic Forbidden Ground education."

"If we only seek survival and not resources, our chance of passing the trial this time is very high."

"Hmm." The military general nodded.

"In any case, we absolutely cannot die in the Forbidden Ground. We cannot withstand another natural disaster."

...

"Who is it? Who has been selected this time!"

"Please let it be a soldier or an Advanced scholar. I don't want to suffer that kind of doomsday again."

"The probability of selecting Advanced talent is too low. I just pray it isn't the elderly, weak, sick, or disabled."

"God bless the Dragon Kingdom. Please give us a reliable candidate!"

As soon as the notification of the Forbidden Ground opening was issued, it immediately sparked huge discussions on the internet.

Everyone was guessing who the person selected this time would be.

This was someone representing the Dragon Kingdom in battle, an existence that concerned the national destiny of the Dragon Kingdom.

Their existence was bound to receive the attention and discussion of the entire nation.

Having experienced two failures, the public no longer held high hopes for the selection of Advanced talent.

They didn't ask for them to be powerful, compete for resources, or save the Dragon Kingdom.

They only hoped that the selected person could survive until the end as much as possible, sparing the country from disaster.

After a brief wait, the light screens before the people lit up again.

The information of the selected person appeared before their eyes.

[Dragon Kingdom contestant: Su Yang]

[Occupation: Student]

[Height: 182]

[Weight: ...]

...

"It's out! It's out!!"

Everyone was immediately attracted to the information before them.

They carefully scanned Su Yang's information, trying their best to find something special among his various details.

After a while of effort, they gave up.

No matter how one looked at it, Su Yang's information was just that of an ordinary person.

Although they didn't have high hopes to begin with, everyone still felt a wave of disappointment upon seeing the result.

After a brief disappointment, someone came out to cheer others up.

"It's not bad. At least he is a young person with sound limbs. If it had chosen my old bones, that would be the end."

"That's right, that's right. The young brother is a college student; his brain must be quite useful."

"Everyone, do not be discouraged. This is our Dragon Kingdom's contestant. No matter what, we must fully support him!"

"Everyone, cheer up and encourage the little brother. I believe he can feel it!"

"God bless the Dragon Kingdom. Go, little brother Su Yang!!"