Cataclysm: Undead Dragons and Zero Empire

People were hungry, people were homeless, and people were trudging along.

They screamed in panic as tanks drove up from behind and helicopters flew overhead, then crouched down with their heads in their hands.

In Howard's eyes, everything seemed to have returned to World War I.

Families fled the famine, forming a long migrating river that was far more spectacular than the migrations of animals in nature. They were no different from animals chasing after water and grass.

They might be carrying tattered bags, pushing a makeshift wooden cart loaded with all their belongings, or driving a car cobbled together from usable parts, bumping along as if it had just been invented.

Howard felt as if he had seen the entire history of human development at a glance. From ancient times to the present, technology has developed to this point, with high-tech weapons killing people on the battlefield, while the flow of people fleeing famine seems to be in different eras. Now they have come together to form this tragic scene.

After a massive earthquake completely destroyed the mature system that humanity had spent countless hours building, the resource reserves that could have sustained the entire civilization for more than a year could not be distributed to most people and could only rot after the power outage.

These refugees followed the crowd toward the big cities, where, according to word of mouth, there were ample resources to be distributed, and they could get a bite to eat, a sip of clean water, and a decent piece of clothing.

However, Howard knew more of the truth. His army had traveled such a long distance, and the major cities they passed through had long since passed the initial stage of abundant resources. The gang warfare there for supplies was no less brutal than corporate warfare.

Even if these refugees survived and made it to big cities, they faced either the threat of bullets and knives from outsiders or being recruited by gangs, ultimately leading to their deaths in their struggle for survival.

Undoubtedly, the entire surface of the planet has been ravaged by successive natural and man-made disasters, leaving death everywhere.

The hot war between giant corporations quickly escalated to the point of using nuclear weapons, starting with missiles equipped with nuclear warheads and moving to the dropping of high-yield hydrogen bombs. Nuclear pollution is threatening the global climate, and climate change is gradually evolving into a new disaster.

Soil pollution has made it impossible to grow crops, clean water is becoming increasingly scarce, and all survival depends on the difficult reconstruction of industry. Hunger continues to trigger human tragedies.

In this environment, the "Death Cavalry" expanded so smoothly that, as long as they were given a bite to eat, veterans who had participated in World War II could pick up their guns again and fight for unfamiliar targets.

Howard, as the leader, has become a symbol. He has found many old friends who do not care about the Death Party's so-called tenet that "humanity needs to offer more deaths."

This group rallied around Howard, a war hero, to usher in a new era, declaring war on all the giant corporations in the escalating corporate wars.

With ample logistical support and advanced weaponry, the "Death Cavalry" constantly attacked the company's transport convoys and bombed hidden bases when the company was too busy to attend to its rear.

The laboratories and underground factories that those companies tried so hard to hide were exposed in the face of the Death Faction's intelligence infiltration. Their defense systems were always attacked first, and then precision-guided missiles would rain down on them.

The giant corporations were forced to divert some of their energy from their own fierce battles to respond to the "Death Cavalry" attacks, but the main battlefield was too much for them, and they were on guard against each other, which ultimately allowed Howard's army to successfully disappear into the dust.

The "Death Cavalry" operates swiftly and precisely. With the support of a powerful intelligence system, Howard leads his army to continuously demoralize the giant corporations, and more and more rebellions, large and small, are rising up in various places under his encouragement.

The Death Faction and the "Death Cavalry" gained increasing notoriety, and strongholds were established one after another on the continent where the giant corporations had weak control. They either directly accepted the leadership of the Death Faction or took the initiative to rise up after the "Death Cavalry" destroyed the local corporate forces.

In these strongholds, young people dissatisfied with the status quo joined the ranks of the "Death Cavalry," raising their guns against the companies that had once exploited them, and spreading this culture of resistance to more places.

On the backdrop of the corporate war, the "Death Cavalry" gradually formed a force to be reckoned with. The giant corporations tightened their control due to heavy losses in their rear, causing more and more people to choose to join the ranks of those resisting the corporations, spreading like wildfire.

Howard had lit the fire, and then passed the flame on to more and more people. Under his leadership, the "Riders of the Dead" became a symbol of human freedom and resistance.

The evolution of the corporate war has exceeded the original intention of starting the war, but this speeding war machine cannot stop here. The life-and-death struggle between giant companies has only two possibilities: mutual destruction or complete annihilation.

In order to maintain the military's combat effectiveness, companies were forced to put the resumption of production and infrastructure reconstruction on the agenda, building super skyscrapers and large factory districts around major cities.

They produce synthetic foods and put them on the market, with meat products being particularly unpalatable. They use large-scale breeding of insects to provide protein, and the canned goods coming off the production line are filled with a foul, fishy smell. But the starving people have no choice; they need food.

The best-selling product is made from cultured, high-protein crickets; it's popular but expensive. The next best is made from earthworms or cockroaches; these are high-yield and inexpensive, but face considerable obstacles in the market.

The Death Faction's strongholds are also rebuilding industry. Howard's daily canned food comes from these production lines, and it tastes almost identical to the fast food canned food before the earthquake.

As the army moved around, he never saw Terence again. The leader of the Death Faction said in a phone call that he was preparing for the Lord's awakening, but Howard didn't know what that preparation meant.

He just felt that time was running out, and the increasingly frequent occurrence of the Dragon Dream Syndrome seemed to confirm that the source of this strange disease was becoming active again.

Under Terrence's guidance, Howard was able to control his intense hallucinations. He began to utilize his innate talent, and even without much practice, he could bring about the end of life through touch.

A special energy, which the Deathists call "psychic energy," is growing stronger in his body. He can even find traces of this energy in the air and find that it is becoming more and more concentrated.

Sometimes, when Howard is caught in the Dragon Dream Syndrome, he no longer just dreams of dragon bones burning with black and red flames; he also sees the souls accumulating on the dragon bones, so numerous that they are as vast as the ocean.

There were humans, animals, plants, and many other life forms that had long since disappeared into history. Howard looked around and it was as if he were seeing a museum showcasing the evolutionary history of life on the planet.

The light of the flames, which the souls approached gently and slowly, diminished little by little with each approach.

The beliefs that the Death Sect has long propagated are being confirmed; the souls around the dragon bones do indeed enjoy peace. Howard can even see families reunited, their faces serene, as if living in a perfect golden age, peaceful and joyful.

Howard roughly knew where these souls came from, and as the war dragged on, the number of souls around the dragon bones visibly increased.

He looked up at the sky, where, in the unseen depths of space, giant corporations launched rockets one after another, transporting massive amounts of materials to lunar orbit for the construction of space stations.

Terence said that the companies were afraid of a second major earthquake, and they wanted to build a paradise in space, far away from the earth.

"There is no need for a heaven in the sky anymore. Even if there were, I would shoot it down," Howard said.