War quickly swept across the entire Earth, from oceans to continents, from cities to space.
This war was destined to cause huge casualties even before it began, so governments worldwide spared no effort in building various Refuges and underground bunkers years before the war started.
Song Peng and Song Zhan were originally regular German Armed Forces soldiers of the Ming Empire.
In 2190, when the war began, it was just time for their discharge.
Originally, according to wartime conscription regulations, they were to be recalled to the Ming Army and, after reorganization, sent back to the battlefield.
However, one day before the troops were deployed, a new order was issued to their army: an entire battalion of five hundred soldiers was ordered to participate in an operation to "preserve the living strength of the Ming Army."
In the early stages of the global war, elite forces from the Ming Army were selected to enter stasis pods in underground Refuges.
They would remain in stasis until the war ended or until new troops were needed, to be awakened and used to save the Great Ming in its most critical hour.
"You are all the future hope of the Great Ming! The future of the Great Ming is entrusted to you all!" "That cabinet member in the purplish-red official robe told us that," Song Peng said with a bitter smile.
The day they entered the stasis pods, Song Peng and Song Zhan were only 25 years old.
Their superior told them the war would end quickly, that the Great Ming's fleet had already defeated the enemy's main force, and that this was just routine; they would wake up from their stasis pods in a few months.
"We didn't even get to say a final farewell to our parents, even though we promised to go home tomorrow."
At this point, Song Zhan, the stern man he was, even wiped the corner of his eye.
After being awakened, Song Peng and Song Zhan still thought the war had ended.
Before they could recover from the exhaustion of deep stasis, they were knocked out and taken away.
It was a group of slave traders.
These slave traders, who roamed the wasteland, somehow learned about an underground Refuge filled with pre-war soldiers and obtained the password to open its gate.
Song Peng's entire battalion of five hundred men were treated as commodities by the slave traders.
After all, pre-war Imperial soldiers were highly sought after in the wasteland; well-trained, elite, and skilled in using various tactics and tactical weapons, they were the favorite slaves of the wasteland's power-holders.
As long as you put a slave collar on them, you could get a well-trained slave.
The slave traders tied up Song Peng and Song Zhan and displayed them like goods before the slave owners, next to their battalion commander, who lay dead with his head smashed in.
Thus, Song Peng and Song Zhan, the two brothers, became slaves in the wasteland, changing hands multiple times.
The scar on Song Zhan's face was left during an uprising against a slave owner.
It was as if the world played a joke on these brothers; when they woke up, it was already 2251.
Sixty-one years had passed since they fell asleep!
"That damned war ended in 2194.
That damned old man from the cabinet, he better have died in the war.
Just one sentence sent us 61 years into the future to suffer the pain of the Doomsday."
This war actually only lasted four years, with the aid of various weapons.
In just four years, this war exhausted the vitality accumulated by human civilization over many years.
The three major factions stopped the war with great tacit understanding, just as they had started it.
By this time, the space fleet was almost completely destroyed, the Moon colony was utterly ruined, and the near-Earth orbit space station had turned into a pile of debris floating around Earth.
Without Space Farms, Earth could not even produce enough food.
The entire Earth's biosphere was irradiated, and the North and South Poles were inevitably turned into battlefields.
The rampant use of nuclear warheads triggered various secondary disasters on Earth.
In the final period of the war, the three nations even liked to use nuclear bombs to trigger earthquakes and tsunamis to attack each other, and the topography of many places was altered.
By the end of 2194, the leaders of the three nations also realized that continuing this war was meaningless.
After some negotiations, they chose to cease hostilities.
However, by then it was too late; thick radioactive dust clouds floated in Earth's atmosphere, blocking 40% of the sunlight, and the entire Earth's temperature dropped by over fifteen degrees; nuclear winter had fully arrived.
The land was contaminated, and the biosphere was completely destroyed.
Food production also drastically decreased.
Before the war, the global population was 17.9 billion, but by 2194, Earth's population was only 10.8 billion, though most of the population did not die directly from the war but indirectly from secondary disasters caused by the nuclear war.
In 2195, due to the continuous deterioration of Earth's ecological environment and famine, the Earth's population decreased to 7 billion.
Various natural disasters occurred frequently, and some land areas even experienced storms of magnitude 20.
Countries had no choice but to divert resources to continue building Refuges and arrange for their citizens to enter them.
By 2196, except for the Ming, American, and Soviet nations which still maintained intact government structures and armies, most other countries in the world had collapsed or could only control areas near their Capital.
Various riots and rebel forces emerged everywhere.
In the same year, the three governments signed a joint agreement in a near-Earth orbit space station, establishing the Earth United Council Government, deciding to gather and integrate the last remaining strength and technology of the three parties to initiate the Earth Biosphere Restart.
In 2198, the piye bacteria released into the atmosphere by the Earth United Council to clear radiation mutated in the Earth's environment, giving rise to zombies and various Mutated Creatures, making humanity's situation even more difficult.
In 2199, the Earth United Council Government announced the failure of the Biosphere Restart project.
The Earth's environment could not be restored to pre-war levels with human technology and capabilities, and they instead began to search for habitable planets for colonization.
In 2213, the Ming, American, and Soviet nations combined the last of Earth's scientific technology and resources to create planetary engines capable of interstellar travel and built nine spacecraft for interstellar colonization.
Each spacecraft could carry 400,000 people.
By the end of 2213, these nine colonial ships, carrying humanity's elite and the torch of civilization, were successively launched into space and left Earth.
Afterward, the Earth United Council Government announced its dissolution, and Earth completely entered an anarchic Doomsday state.
By the time Feng Jun arrived, the Doomsday had already progressed to 2261.
Humanity on the wasteland had established various forces, but social and technological development had stalled, and in some places, there was even regression.
Watching the broadcast of the Russo-Ukrainian War on TV, a thought even crossed Feng Jun's mind: this world might also experience such a war.
However, after thinking about it carefully, he still felt he was worrying needlessly.
Not to mention the Great Ming, which had existed for over eight hundred years, even the Soviet Union in this world had already collapsed, and the United States certainly did not have slavery.
Even if a world war were to break out, it would have to wait until after the fifth industrial revolution.
However, he could indeed bring some technology from the wasteland world back to the present world, and then just open a company; wouldn't he easily make it into the top five hundred global companies?
Starting a business first requires accumulating initial startup Capital, but Feng Jun already had his first pot of gold: the golden lotus throne he recovered from the Doomsday world.
He took the gold out of his storage space, and it clanged directly onto the floor.
At over a hundred catties (about 50 kg), it was very difficult for Feng Jun to even lift it.
It was impossible to carry it out easily, even with the storage space, Feng Jun couldn't just conjure so much gold out of thin air after arriving.
After putting on his mechanical exoskeleton, Feng Jun could lift it, but that would still be too conspicuous.
Ultimately, Feng Jun chose the safest method: he bought a cutting machine outside and cut the golden lotus throne into small pieces at home, then packed them into a suitcase.
However, to save effort, Feng Jun still wore his mechanical exoskeleton, which wouldn't be noticed if he wore loose clothing over it.
After preparing everything, Feng Jun drove out.
Feng Jun naturally didn't dare to go to a bank to sell the gold because he didn't have receipts for purchasing it; after all, if people asked, he couldn't just say he dug it out of the ground.
He might end up having to hand it over to the state or even go to jail.
To be safe, Feng Jun chose a relatively famous local gold shop.
Traffic in Shangqing City was still so congested; a planned 20-minute journey took over an hour due to traffic jams.
While stuck in traffic, Feng Jun even encountered a female driver in an Audi who cut him off, and not only did she cut him off, but while waiting at a red light, she rolled down her window and glanced at Feng Jun with a disdainful look.
Although he really wanted to pull out a gun from his storage space and shoot up that car, Feng Jun held back.
He didn't want to end up on the national wanted list.
Yunxin Building was a relatively famous local gold and jewelry store in Shangqing City.
Feng Jun chose it not only because the store had substantial financial resources but also because he had heard that this store offered higher prices for recycled gold.
After parking his car, Feng Jun dragged his suitcase into the Yunxin Building.
Since it wasn't a holiday, there weren't many customers in the store.
Only three or two female sales assistants were chatting on the first floor.
Perhaps Feng Jun was dressed too simply and was dragging a suitcase.
After circling the first floor, someone finally came to assist Feng Jun.
At first, when Feng Jun said he wanted to sell over a hundred catties of gold, the other party didn't quite believe him, but after Feng Jun opened his suitcase, they immediately invited him into a private room.
Feng Jun sat on the sofa, slowly drinking tea, facing a young man in a suit named Chen Cheng.
He was the general manager of this branch of Yunxin Building.
Several people nearby were using instruments to test the gold content Feng Jun brought, and the results came out shortly.
After a brief chat with the testing personnel, Chen Cheng spoke directly.
"The testing is complete, Mr. Feng.
The gold you brought is of excellent quality; it's all pure 999.9 gold."
"Naturally.
What price can you offer?" Feng Jun asked.
"We naturally buy it back at today's highest gold recycling price.
However, there seem to be some patterns on this gold, and its original shape should have been a single piece.
Now that it's cut like this, if it were in its original shape, the price might be higher.
I wonder if Mr. Feng has an invoice." Chen Cheng dismissed all the employees, leaving only him and Feng Jun in the room.
"I don't have an invoice, but rest assured, this gold is absolutely legitimate and won't cause any trouble.
Just give me a fair price."
Feng Jun instantly understood what the other party meant.
It was nothing more than concern that the gold's origin might not be legitimate, leading to unnecessary trouble.
The lotus throne had some exquisite carvings, and Feng Jun had only done a simple cutting, which could easily make people associate it with antiques.