Cataclysm: Undead Dragons and Zero Empire

"Pray for the deceased! May all who have passed away find peace in the Lord's presence!"

A priest, ringing a bronze bell, walked through the streets, followed by a large group of believers who walked silently with their heads bowed, each holding a candlestick in their hands, the faint flames of the candles forming a cluster of stars.

The residents of the settlement peered out from their homes, observing the group that was preaching a belief in death.

Their shacks resembled urban slums, constructed from a mixture of corrugated iron, cement, wood, and stone, displaying a rusted and decaying appearance.

The "Death Cavalry" has established many such strongholds on the continent, and this army, which carries out guerrilla tactics, has an influence here that even surpasses that of giant corporations.

Under the protection of the army, people spontaneously gathered at designated locations and tenaciously survived. They mobilized all the building materials they could find in the old city and rebuilt their homes.

Living conditions were made simple and basic, and the economic model reverted to the simplest form of barter. Residents could choose to enter the new factories built under the command of the "Death Cavalry" and exchange their labor for food, water, and clothing.

Veterans retired from the "Death Cavalry" and local militiamen formed a security force to maintain order in the stronghold, and armed patrols would occasionally pass by on the street.

The factory area occupies most of the land, with production lines set up one after another, and the production methods seem to have returned to the era of the Industrial Revolution.

Lacking equipment, engineers with advanced technology had to work on the production line themselves, and people had to concentrate their existing resources to produce enough canned goods, clean water, and textiles.

The outposts exchanged goods and resources, and raw materials and processed products circulated among them. However, the level of resources was still struggling to meet basic needs. Basic agricultural products such as eggs were hard currency in the outposts, and could even be used as low-denomination currency.

The "Death Cavalry" occasionally bring back key technologies lost to civilizations from the outside, such as production equipment seized from companies. Around these once commonplace industrial machines, people are gradually rebuilding civilization.

For a time, the factory area of ​​the stronghold presented a strange scene, resembling the smoke-filled factories and workers in heavy canvas clothes of the Industrial Revolution era, as well as the high-tech cleanroom factories of the Information Age and workers in anti-static clothing, all working together on the same land.

Due to the significant influence of the "Death Knights" in these strongholds, even those that voluntarily broke away from the company's rule accepted the Death Knights' priests. In this time of civilization's peril, faith soothed people's restless hearts.

Even with an instinctive fear of death, more and more people are choosing to join the death cult and become believers. If a family hangs a wooden carving of a dragon skeleton on their porch, it means that the family believes in death and in the Lord.

The believers learned doctrines they had only heard of before, and under the guidance of the priests, they prayed to the Lord every day, wishing for their own happiness and for the peace of the dead in His presence.

In the center of each stronghold is a church or temple. Depending on the different cultures of the people living in the stronghold, the buildings for worshipping the Lord are all different in style. However, the priests who preside over the prayers all look the same, wearing black robes and hoods, with red decorations added according to their rank.

Perhaps faith represents affirmation, a firm belief in the existence of unseen, invisible things, and the offering of prayers for them. When believers gather together, they set a positive and optimistic example for those struggling to survive in disasters and wars, attracting more confused people to join them.

All the deceased were buried in the designated cemetery. Their coffins were simply dug trenches, closely packed together. These strangers, who may have once just passed each other on the street, were now buried together like members of a large family.

The cemetery occupied a considerable area within the settlement, with residential areas, factory areas, and cemeteries adjacent to each other, leading to an increasingly strong belief in death.

Howard has lost count of how many funerals he has attended in these cemeteries, large and small. Each time, a large number of the dead were buried together, and often the names of the deceased were not even recorded.

Even unclaimed dead are buried in the ground. The belief in death insists on this kind of equality for all things, so there are more and more cemeteries and tombstones, like a dark forest under the night.

Unbeknownst to them, the number of Peace Trees in the stronghold was increasing. It seemed that these mysterious trees always followed the footsteps of the humans who gathered and were keen to present the face of death to them.

Howard has seen many people who are seriously injured or terminally ill choose to be sent to the crypt of the Tree of Peace, voluntarily embracing the roots in their final moments, falling into eternal sleep, and then being buried in the cemetery.

Compared to those who perished in the earthquake, they are considered fortunate and have the right to choose their end.

In the vast urban ruins that are beyond our ability to clear, many remains remain unburied, lying on the ground alongside the living, watching them struggle and one day fall to uncertain risks, like ears of wheat that bend at the slightest breeze, turning to dust along with these pioneers.

Not all those who choose to enter the Tree of Peace are believers in the death party. Perhaps people always harbor this simple wish: even if they suffer greatly in life, they hope to enjoy peace after death.

Death exists in many forms, and although no one keeps track of it anymore, Howard believes that the surface population has decreased to a very low level compared to before the earthquake, but food factories still need to operate day and night to feed them.

During the call, Terence said that the population was far from reaching its lowest point. Howard could hardly imagine what kind of disaster would bring human civilization to the brink of extinction, while Terence simply comforted the soldier with a smile.

"The Lord will surely awaken, and disaster will follow. Human beings are nothing more than tiny bacteria in the face of the Lord. Do you notice the life and death of each bacteria on your skin?"

Howard asked on the phone what they had been doing these days, and Terrence simply gave him an address and coordinates to meet on time, saying:

"The preparations for the Lord's awakening are nearing completion. It has not been easy. We have fought for this cause for many generations."

"In the shadow of civilization, our venerable forerunners traveled across every continent hundreds of years ago and made a great prophecy: Our Lord will awaken in a limited time, a time no longer than the time since the birth of human civilization, but a mere blink of an eye for Our Lord."

"It's a pity they didn't live to see this era. Compared to our predecessors, I can say I'm quite fortunate to live in such an active and abundant period of spiritual energy. It's hard to imagine how the forerunners comprehended the Lord's teachings and accomplished such great feats in a time of inert and sparse spiritual energy."

When the topic of faith came up, Terence abandoned all decorum and erupted with fervor, his voice pulsating on the phone:

"The day of our death is near, Howard, chosen by the dragon, join me in beginning an epic saga."