The fall of Exodar was like the final, resounding echo of an old era, its reverberations quickly reaching every corner of the Holy Star Empire.

With its unparalleled efficiency, the AI ​​"Pangu" created a detailed colonization plan for this "city that will never fall," including its internal structure, resource distribution, and most importantly, its "loot list."

This magnificent city, carved out of the mountains, was no longer a bulwark for the rebels, but rather the most tempting piece of cake on the imperial map.

Lin Feng's intention was concise and clear: Exodar and its surrounding areas would serve as the highest reward for ordinary citizens of the Empire, to commend those who had worked diligently and steadfastly in their production posts in the rear during the "Great Expedition" era without merit.

The news caused an uproar throughout the empire.

The previous "Imperial Pioneer Recruitment Order" ignited the ambitions of countless men from the lower classes, but ultimately required them to venture into an unknown new world and bear certain risks.

This time, a completed, legendary city of miracles, along with its "bonus features," will be delivered directly to you.

This is no longer pioneering, this is inheritance.

An unprecedented "Exodar Citizenship Lottery" unfolded on the Empire's holographic network. The application requirements were outrageously simple: any ordinary citizen with first-class citizenship, no criminal record, and who had worked continuously in a back-office position for more than three years was eligible to participate.

For a time, productivity in the empire's rear reached a bizarre peak. Countless workers, farmers, and low-level employees, all harboring dreams of instant success, worked frantically in hopes of obtaining that ticket to paradise.

Ultimately, through Pangu's random selection process, ten million "lucky ones" were chosen. They will become the first new masters of Exodar.

Among them were veteran miners who had spent their entire lives digging in mines, assembly line workers who had spent half their lives processing synthetic proteins in food processing plants, street cleaners who had swept the streets of the city for twenty years, and young graduates who had just left Imperial Basic Academy and were completely lost about their future.

They were the most ordinary, insignificant, and hopeless people in the empire. And now, the god of fate had revealed to them the most generous, yet also the most sinister, smile.

When the first batch of giant colony ships carrying a million new "citizens" slowly landed at the huge airport transformed from the leveled Holy Land Mountains, everyone was shocked by the sight before them.

As they stepped out of the hatch, they were not greeted by post-war ruins, but by a magnificent city that had been initially "purified" and "repaired" by the Imperial engineering forces.

Although the Holy Light Dome has vanished, the city's main structure remains intact. The magnificent buildings carved by the dwarves and integrated into the mountainside, and the elegant sky gardens and crystal corridors designed by the elves, still exude breathtaking beauty.

The air was filled with a fresh mountain breeze and a faint floral fragrance, a stark contrast to the smell of engine oil and ozone that permeated the industrial cities of the Empire.

"My God...we...we're going to live here from now on?" A textile worker named Liu Cuihua covered her mouth with her hands, roughened by years of hard work, her eyes filled with tears of disbelief.

Beside her, her husband, a man who had spent half his life carrying bricks on construction sites, was trembling with excitement, repeatedly saying, "Your Majesty's kindness... Your Majesty's kindness!"

The empire's colonial officials were already waiting there. There were no tedious welcoming ceremonies, only the most efficient distribution of property. Each new "citizen" received a terminal that clearly indicated the "real estate" and "private property" they were allocated in the city.

The principle of allocation is simple and straightforward: lottery.

The scope of "real estate" ranges from former aristocratic manors and knightly castles to luxury apartments in the city center, and even parts of the side halls of the Cathedral of Holy Light.

"Private property" refers to the captured Exodar natives who are "tied" to the property.

Li Laosi is a farmer who has spent his whole life growing high-yield sweet potatoes.

His life consisted of facing the boundless red land, working at sunrise and resting at sunset.

His biggest dream is to own a piece of black soil that he doesn't have to hand over so much grain to the state.

When the terminal displayed the assets he had been allocated, his weathered face, etched with the marks of time, could not comprehend the complex text and he had to ask the staff beside him for help.

"Comrade, what...what does it say on this?"

The staff member glanced at it and said in a casual tone, "Citizen Li Si, congratulations. You have been assigned to 'Morning Dew Garden,' the hereditary estate of Alfred Dawn, the former Duke of the Kingdom of Arasso. It covers an area of ​​three square kilometers, with a three-story castle attached, as well as... thirty-two private property owners, including the former Duchess, Elena Dawn."

Li Laosi's mind went blank.

"Duke...Duke? Madam?" The highest-ranking official he had ever heard of was the head of their agricultural station.

When he arrived at his "new home" in a small hovercar, guided by an intelligent system, he was utterly devastated by what he saw.

It was a huge estate built on a gentle hillside. A clear stream flowed through the estate and into a shimmering artificial lake.

The enormous white castle glittered in the sunlight. But what suffocated this old farmer the most were the vast lawns, manicured even more perfectly than the finest imperial carpets, and the enormous gardens filled with all sorts of exotic flowers and plants he had never heard of or seen before.

"This...this is such a waste of good land..." Old Li trembled with heartache.

At the castle gate, thirty-two ragged slaves with metal collars around their necks were already waiting.

Leading the group was a middle-aged woman with long, flowing blonde hair, an elegant figure, and a noble air that shone through even in prison clothes. Her face was expressionless, but her blue eyes were filled with a deathly despair.

She is the former Duchess, Elena.

Li Laosi had never seen such a beautiful woman in his life, let alone such a grand spectacle. He was somewhat at a loss, and even subconsciously wanted to bow to Elena.

But he soon remembered the teachings of the imperial officials: "You are the masters, they are the livestock."

He straightened his back, mimicking the stationmaster he remembered, cleared his throat, and gave his first command as master to his new "properties":

"Um...you all, listen up! From today onwards, I am your master! Um...first, clear away all that lawn over there! Yes, clear it all! I'm going to plant sweet potatoes here! And you guys, pull up all those flowers and weeds too, and plant sorghum and corn!"

He pointed to the rare magical plants that the elven gardeners had cultivated with a century of painstaking effort and gave what he considered to be the most correct instruction.

Elena's body trembled slightly, and a trace of pain flashed in her eyes.

This garden was her and her husband's most cherished masterpiece. But she said nothing, only slowly knelt down and said in a completely emotionless voice, "Yes, Master."

That night, Li Laosi moved into the Duke's bedroom, which was larger than the entire house in his hometown. He lay on the soft velvet bed, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep.

He pushed open the door and saw Elena kneeling on the cold floor of the corridor, keeping watch for him.

Li Laosi's throat moved, and a flame he had never experienced before, a mixture of power and desire, rose from his lower abdomen.

He recalled the bawdy stories his fellow countrymen had told about foreign female slaves on the transport ship.

"You, come in," he commanded.

Elena's body trembled again, but she obediently stood up and went into the room.

That night, suppressed sobs and a man's rough breathing echoed through the castle.

For the first time, Li Laosi experienced what it meant to "conquer." He conquered not only a beautiful woman, but also a "noble" whom he had never even been worthy of looking up to.

The next day, Li Laosi woke up feeling refreshed. Looking at the woman beside him, he felt an unprecedented sense of satisfaction.

He opened the window and saw dozens of slaves diligently clearing the lawn. Although their movements were filled with sorrow, they were highly efficient.

He knew that a golden age for him was about to begin.

He didn't have to do anything; all he had to do each day was supervise the slaves cultivating the land and planting the sweet potatoes he knew best. In the evenings, he would return to the castle and subject the once unapproachable duchess to all sorts of brutal treatment.

He enjoyed watching her pained, humiliated, yet fearless expression. It made him feel no longer like Li Laosi, toiling in the fields, but a true, undisputed king.

He smashed all the artwork in the castle because he thought the bottles and jars were taking up too much space. He turned the Duke's study into a pigsty because he thought pigs were more useful than books.

He transformed a noble estate with a history of over a thousand years into a high-yield sweet potato farm filled with vulgarity and violence in just a few months.

And he thoroughly enjoyed this kind of life.

Zhao Tiezhu is a butcher at a slaughterhouse in the eastern district of Beijing. His life consists of facing thousands upon thousands of pigs, bred through genetic manipulation, every day. He excels at turning a lively creature into standardized pieces of meat in the fastest and most efficient way.

He drew Exodar's "Aria Gallery".

This place was once the most famous art palace in the entire Land of Light, housing masterpieces by elves and human painters throughout history.

When Zhao Tiezhu entered the building, which was made of white marble and had a huge crystal dome, he was somewhat annoyed by the paintings on the walls, which depicted various landscapes and figures.

"What the hell is this? It's a complete mess," he muttered.

Along with the gallery, he was also given twenty "artworks," including the gallery's former curator, an elderly elven scholar, and a dozen young and beautiful elven girls responsible for maintaining the paintings.

Zhao Tiezhu was clearly more interested in managing these "living works of art" than in managing inanimate objects.

The first thing he did was to have the elf girls take down all the paintings on the wall and burn them as firewood.

The elves cried out in despair, and the old curator knelt on the ground, pleading that these were treasures of civilization.

Zhao Tiezhu kicked the old curator to the ground and sneered, "Old man, now, I am civilization! My words are the rules!"

After the paintings were burned, the empty walls couldn't be wasted.

Zhao Tiezhu quickly found new "exhibits".

He had the slaves set up a small slaughterhouse in the center of the gallery. Then, he began to "return to his old ways".

He would regularly buy the cheapest and lowest-ranking orcs from the slave market. Then, right there in this former art palace, in front of the elven maidens, he would dismember them alive.

He relished the girls' terrified screams and the sight of them vomiting from fear.

He would separate the dismembered organs, soak them in formalin, put them in glass jars, and then place them where the painting used to be.

"Look, this is art!" He would point to a still-beating heart and boast to the trembling elf girls, "It's full of power, full of life! It's much better than your weak, lousy paintings!"

At night, he would force the elven maidens to perform their former "talents" for him. Some played the piano, and some danced.

He would admire his collection of bloody "artworks" amidst melodious piano music and graceful dance, experiencing a morbid pleasure that perfectly combined elegance and bloodshed, beauty and cruelty.

The old curator was the one who suffered the most. He forced this learned elven scholar to write descriptions for each of his "collections".

"Item number 007, exhibit title 'Orc's Liver,' from a male gray-maned orc, approximately thirty years old. Its distinctive feature is... a rough texture soaked in alcohol..."

With tears in his eyes and trembling hands, the elderly scholar wrote these words that desecrated civilization.

Zhao Tiezhu's "Slaughter Art Museum" quickly became famous among the new residents. Many pioneers with similar lowbrow tastes enjoyed visiting the museum to experience its unique "artistic atmosphere."