Cataclysm: Undead Dragons and Zero Empire

The existence of the "Ark" space station was made public by the Death Knights, and Howard announced on the radio that he had taken over this pinnacle of human ingenuity, marking the end of the company's order.

This news has triggered a chain reaction around the world. People living under the rule of the Death Cavalry have denounced the company's misdeeds, but they still have to go on working. However, their hopes for the future have been further fueled.

In a radio broadcast, Howard revealed that he would make full use of this spoils to benefit all mankind. Research on the technology to recreate the pre-disaster era has been put on the agenda. The Death Knights will send researchers to be stationed in the "Ark" space station. The first step is to develop food crops with higher yields and shorter growth cycles in an effort to solve the problem of food and clothing for the people.

Those corporate militias that had failed to conquer before the onset of winter abandoned their resistance upon hearing the news, choosing instead to openly surrender to the Death Knights and accept the new ruling order, earning their survival through labor rather than oppression.

Howard sent troops to these surrendered cities to take over local security. Along with the troops, a series of spare steam towers were also set off. In the foreseeable future, more and more torches would be lit on the icy land to dispel the cold and restore civilization.

He heard his subordinates' reports that in isolated cities, people under the company's armed rule were divided into strict hierarchical classes, and civilization seemed to have regressed to the age of slavery.

They used the space in the city ruins to excavate underground, cleared the collapsed basements, and carved out a dense network of underground passages, connecting them in all directions. Different armed forces carved out territories, and the lower-class people living in these territories became the private property of the military officers.

At the junction of each passageway, guards with rifles stand year-round, their guns always aimed at the hunched-over people coming and going. The snow and ice brought in by the slaves melt into water inside, but their feet, covered in frostbite, have long lost most of their sensation, leaving only an indelible purplish-black stain.

Slaves were responsible for producing supplies. They were forced to mine coal on the ground and to work in chains underground in the city. All the grain they grew had to be handed over to the authorities. The only thing that sustained them was the black bread thrown to them between the gun barrels and the crumbs that leaked through the fingers of their superiors.

Most of the slaves had lost most of their teeth due to long-term malnutrition, and could only slowly swallow inferior black bread soaked in murky water. They were grateful that what they were given today was not moldy food. As for the plump potatoes, they only smelled their aroma the moment they dug them out.

One military commander's favorite pastime was to throw a whole loaf of white bread onto an open ground and watch the slaves fight over it like wild dogs. Whenever someone died in the fight, he would raise his glass and laugh out loud.

In the underground city, the trade in flesh is frequent and gladiatorial entertainment is prevalent. Slaves, prisoners of war, or free men who have fallen to the bottom due to debt are selected by their superiors to be gladiators and thrown into the octagon to fight each other, exchanging blood for applause, and performing entertainment with their flesh and blood in the cold.

The largest arenas are often converted from abandoned subway stations, with the sand and soil in the center soaked in blood and left unattended, frozen into dark red patches.

The fate of the loser is determined by the cheers of the audience; the audience chooses to clench their fists or give a thumbs up, and the cheers in the arena will reach their peak.

One classic gladiatorial duel involved two brothers who were caught stealing coal, and their superior deliberately arranged for them to fight.

After the older brother slashed a deep, bone-revealing wound in his younger brother's chest, he suddenly threw down his weapon, knelt on the ground, and begged the people in the stands to spare his brother. But the response he received was a unified chant of "Kill him!"

The audience gave them a thumbs up, and the arena was unusually lively that day. The officers even started a betting game, wagering on which of the brothers would fall first.

The gladiatorial culture represents a collective tacit acceptance of violence. People are accustomed to exchanging their lives for entertainment, and power arbitrarily decides life and death. This kind of revelry is destined to have a tragic undertone.

As the population continues to decline, there are fewer and fewer "materials" available for gladiatorial combat. Some cities have begun to force the elderly and children to participate in the fights, where the targets are hungry and vicious dogs. They often have no choice but to evade the pursuit of the hounds, then lose their strength and have their throats torn apart.

Under the oppressive conditions of winter, the people living here vent their emotions in this way, even dressing gladiators in a coat of glory. However, without the strength brought by external conquest, this entertainment is nothing more than drinking poison to quench thirst.

Howard immediately announced the abolition of the distorted entertainment of these surrendered cities. The Death Cavalry used even greater violence to transform the dark corners of human civilization. Everyone, regardless of status, was uniformly assigned labor. Former slaves worked with their superiors, who were nominally military officers but were actually local lords.

These military commanders chose to surrender, abandoning their comfortable lives and intoxicating power, not only because the "Ark" space station had been occupied by the Death Cavalry, and the hope of the company's rule returning to normalcy had been completely extinguished.

Over the years, the fragile balance between the continued decline in the population and the slow increase in the production of daily necessities has become increasingly unsustainable, and a complete collapse is only a matter of time.

In recent days, these oppressors have been unable to maintain their extravagant lifestyles of the past. More and more free people have been enslaved, but the people can no longer be squeezed dry.

The banquets could no longer gather enough decent food and drinks; the once luxurious dishes became increasingly ordinary; the guests lost their former enthusiasm; and the regime was visibly becoming more and more fragile.

Countless people starved to death, riots broke out frequently, and even the army under his command joined the rebellion. In one city, thousands of slaves attacked the guard barracks with various tools. They had no advanced weapons, but with their full-blooded anger and despair for survival, they broke through the defenses one after another.

As they approached the officer's residence, the officer attempted to escape through a secret passage but was caught by his own guards. The enraged mob threw him into the ice cave where slaves had once been imprisoned, forcing him to experience firsthand the suffering of those victims.

As these increasingly widespread rebellions threatened to reach the highest levels of government, military commanders realized that their rule was already crumbling and they were forced to surrender in exchange for a chance to survive.

For Howard's side, accepting these cities meant increased survival pressure, but the prospect of a prosperous and unified future was right before their eyes.

Humanity has never been so united; they have come together under the same banner to celebrate this momentous occasion, and the symbol of the Death Knights, "Hands of the Fire," has truly become a reality.