Cataclysm: Undead Dragons and Zero Empire

Time flows on and on; this planetary mother is no longer young, but has become mature and wise.

She concealed her burning passion deep within, yet on the surface, she nurtured oceans and continents, allowing her beautiful face to face the dazzling starry sky and radiate her boundless charm.

From the very first life that sprouted underwater, this mother gave birth to generations of offspring, from single-celled to multicellular, from anaerobic to aerobic, and life transformed from a colossal creature in the ocean into all sorts of beasts on land.

Perhaps she also knew where she came from. Under the right conditions, geological changes and the evolution of life coincided with her deepest memories, the deepest dreams of the skeletons that had been immersed in the Earth's core.

Despite the long passage of time, Lin Ziming still lingered in the land of death, but he provided the inexperienced planetary mother with a ready-made template, allowing her to learn step by step how to become a competent mother.

The psychic energy emanating from the immortal corpses continued to release information from the planet's core. In the unconscious creation game, this planet became more and more like Lin Ziming's hometown in his memory, that beautiful blue planet.

He could very well be called the common "father" of all life on this planet, even if they are unaware that their father is buried deep in the earth beneath their feet, waiting for the day he will awaken again.

Every life born on this planet is equally unaware that it is constantly repaying its unseen father in a special way.

From the first cell in the boiling ocean to the large tree that has just fallen into the soil, every death of them is transmitted to the Earth's core, unconsciously devoured by Lin Ziming, and the pile of dead firewood grows higher and higher.

Inside the Earth's core, the molten lava has been soaking Tianlong's remains for a long time, and the cyclical geological movements are adding more and more material to the remains.

Lin Zimo did not develop a fully grown body in the RimWorld. After stepping into the gates of death, he experienced a long-awaited growth. His skeleton became increasingly enormous, yet still showed no trace of flesh and blood. Death still resided with him, waiting alongside him.

The day Lin Zimo awakens will be the day death reignites.

On the Earth's surface, the drama of life's evolution reached its climax. The first intelligent life form, the upright ape that used stone tools to survive, gazed at the starry sky for a long time. Its curiosity about the brilliant starry sea marked the beginning of civilization.

Amidst the exhilarating roars of fire and hunting, the era of giant beasts came to an end. Human civilization has now experienced much and is moving towards the future with hope.

Slings and javelins thrown in ancient times flew into classical times and became tempered iron swords and the sound of galloping hooves.

From the first puff of smoke from the flintlock pistol to the first wisp of steam rising from the iron kettle, coal burned, billowing black smoke.

Human civilization has only been taking its first steps, and in the short span of a few thousand years, it has been nothing more than a breath away in the deepest sleep of Lin Ziming. The child born from his corpse has already left him with many scars.

They learned to kill, and they started war after war. From ancient times to the industrial age, their conflicts never stopped. There was always another battle to be fought, and always another piece of land to be conquered, until they had traversed the entire earth and there were no more unknown continents.

They lived and died generation after generation. Their souls and wills were so extraordinary that they far surpassed any of their own kind that had ever appeared on this planet, making their deaths all the more weighty and valuable. They would surely be the most durable and burning pieces of firewood at the very top of the pile.

Lin Ziming is getting closer and closer to waking up, and this process is accelerating because the scale of human wars is growing larger and larger, the number of species extinctions caused by humans is increasing, and death is becoming more intense.

The psychic energy he released within the Earth's core transformed from waves into tidal waves, which, after the medieval plague and the population explosion of the Industrial Revolution, once again became tsunamis.

This immense energy, like a neutrino stream, penetrated the thick strata of the earth, and human civilization was thus continuously irradiated without its knowledge.

Their primitive worship of nature and the budding and development of religious beliefs gradually evolved into a reality, and its scope became increasingly wider.

In ancient times, mysticism was nothing more than the ramblings of priests. In the classical era, some spiritually sensitive people began to have the same dream: they would dream of dragon bones burning fiercely in the boundless sea of ​​stars, as dazzling as a black and red sun.

They were either obsessed, questioning, or ignoring it; in any case, they were too few in number for such dreams to eventually evolve into folk tales.

It wasn't until an emperor, a devout believer in immortality, dreamt of a dragon of death, and raised his war flag for an expedition outside the palace, frantically searching for the dragon's tracks across the vast land, that this long-standing phenomenon was officially recorded in history.

"The Emperor dreamt one night of a dragon's skeleton, bathed in crimson fire, shining like the sun. The Emperor called it an auspicious omen and thus roused his troops. However, after traversing far and wide, he found nothing. The world was in turmoil, and the omen of the dragon's skeleton remained unfulfilled."

The legend of the Death Dragon has been a constant presence throughout the history of human civilization. Regardless of the continent or the level of cultural exchange, the legend remains a mystery.

As time went by, the scale of folk worship of the dragon of death grew larger and larger. From churches to temples, believers secretly enshrined statues of gods with different appearances and prayed for what they desired in their hearts. Without exception, they all depicted sun patterns in their culture.

In the Industrial Age, steam and black smoke shrouded the cities, people's faces were covered in coal dust and they coughed incessantly. In the midst of endless working hours, secret societies that worshipped the dragon of death sprang up like mushrooms after rain, even though such beliefs were strictly prohibited.

The catalyst for the flourishing of the belief in death was Lin Ziming's renewed tremor. This was the second time he had shown signs of awakening since the first time that marine life had not yet climbed onto land in ancient times.

At the same time, a powerful surge of psychic energy disrupted the planet's magnetic field, and for the first time, people living in the mid-latitudes witnessed the magnificent aurora borealis on a large scale. They rushed about, some with joy, some numb, and some in panic.

The relationship between the Earth Dimension Kingdoms became even more tense after this shared spectacle, and the spark of a rapidly changing era ignited a long-simmering powder keg.

World War I began, death became more and more common, and technology developed rapidly.

From desolate wilderness to densely populated cities, a new type of tree quietly emerged with the war. It did not bear leaves and remained dead all year round. Its roots were extremely developed and could even form cavities in the ground that could accommodate many people to rest.

Believers who worship death soon discovered the tree's special properties: they could simply embrace its roots and drift off to sleep to silently and painlessly face death.

Their deaths are sudden and unexpected, like the passing of an old person. The embracing tree roots secrete a thick, black sap that drips down to form amber, which is seen as a gift from the tree and a medium for communicating with the souls of the dead.

People who sleep with amber in their arms will dream of the dead enjoying eternal peace beside the burning dragon bones, free from disease and hunger, and free from the arduous labor of more than ten hours a day.

After the initial chaos, these strange trees were ordered to be cut down to prevent too many people from choosing to embrace their roots, which would lead to a plague-like population decline.

As a result, many people left their hometowns and cities to venture into the wilderness, seeking out this wild tree known as the "Peace Tree." This group of people was also called the "Death Party."

Decades have passed, and the death toll has piled up like a towering mountain range. Even after the world war ended, the shadow of war still looms over human civilization.

However, this truce was quite long. The decline in population alleviated the conflicts and pressures. Technology moved from the electrical age to the information age, but the power of atomic energy remained confined to missile silos, waiting for the day it could take off.

Conflict is the eternal engine that keeps the world running. With rising population, scarce resources, and economic decline, human civilization eventually chose to end peace and usher in World War II, which was far more devastating than ever before, and the death toll easily surpassed historical records.

Driven by the faith and calls of the dead, the Heavenly Dragon's corpse at the center of the Earth's core completely crossed the threshold of resurrection, and Lin Ziming regained consciousness.

Who am I? Where am I? What am I supposed to do?

Lin Ziming's consciousness was in a state of chaos, like a young man half-asleep and half-awake in the morning sunlight, unwilling to wake up. He turned over, the earth's core churned, and violent fluctuations spread rapidly towards the earth's crust.