The takeover and transformation of the empire was swift and decisive, leaving no room for doubt.
The Forbidden City was transformed into the "Fourth Development Zone History Museum." Emperor Chongzhen, along with his empresses, children, and the Zhu family princes and imperial relatives scattered throughout the country, were all forcibly relocated.
They were stripped of their fine clothes, had their topknots shaved off (the empire mandated short, easy-to-manage haircuts), and were forced to wear the standardized clothing of imperial citizens. All their property was confiscated, and each person received a personal terminal, a resource quota card, and a 120-square-meter standardized apartment in the newly built "citizen community."
From a ruling class living in luxury and surrounded by servants, they overnight became ordinary people who had to queue up at "supply distribution centers" to collect food, clean their own rooms, and take public anti-gravity buses when they went out.
This fall from grace, from the clouds to the earth, was a torment more painful than death for the vast majority of the pampered Ming imperial family.
Emperor Chongzhen, or rather, the citizen Zhu Youjian, remained unusually calm.
He locked himself in his apartment, spending all his time glued to his personal terminal, frantically studying the history and technology of the Empire. The more he studied, the more desperate he felt.
He understood that the difference between the Ming Dynasty and the Empire was not a matter of strength or weakness, but a difference of species. Rebellion was a joke from the very beginning. He chose to accept his fate and choose silence.
His empress, Zhou, suffered a mental breakdown under the immense shock, spending her days in tears, and soon died in despair.
His children, under the empire's "compulsory education system," gradually adapted to their new life and even began to develop a sense of curiosity about this world full of novelty and opportunities.
However, not all members of the Zhu clan could "recognize reality" like Emperor Chongzhen.
Especially those regional princes who were used to lording things over in their localities.
Prince Fu, Zhu Yousong, who should have become the emperor of the Southern Ming Dynasty in history, was currently gathered in an apartment with several other princes who had also been stripped of their titles, plotting something.
"Outrageous! This is an utter disgrace!" A former Ming prince slammed the high-protein nutrition bar in his hand to the ground, roaring with a flushed face, "We are descendants of the Gao Emperor, noble and aristocratic! Now we have to line up and get our food like those commoners! I cannot swallow this insult!"
"Indeed!" Zhu Yousong's eyes flashed with resentment and greed. "That sorcerer Lin Feng, though powerful, is ultimately an outsider! He has not won the hearts of the people! My Zhu family has ruled the world for nearly three hundred years, and there are countless loyal and righteous people who are devoted to our Great Ming! As long as we raise our voices and reveal our identities, we will surely be met with a great response, and we will definitely be able to drive that sorcerer away and restore our Great Ming!"
Their ideas were naive and ridiculous.
They simply did not understand how insignificant the so-called "popular will" was in the face of the empire's absolute material supply and spiritual liberation.
Those former "citizens of the Ming Dynasty" now have enough to eat and wear every day, no longer worry about exorbitant taxes, receive free nanomedicine when they are sick, and their children can receive an education far beyond their imagination. Their worship of Lin Feng has reached the point of deification.
At this time, a group of "vampires" from the previous dynasty jumped out and said they wanted to "restore the Ming Dynasty." In the eyes of ordinary people, this was not a "righteous act" but a "fraud" that wanted to drag them back to that hell of starvation.
However, Zhu Yousong and others, blinded by hatred and resentment, were clearly unaware of this.
Using their personal terminals, they secretly contacted some former landlords and gentry who were dissatisfied with the empire's reforms, as well as some former officers who had been disbanded and were unwilling to accept their fate, and formed a ridiculous "Restoration Army".
They launched a rebellion in the dead of night.
They rushed out of the apartment, wearing outdated Ming Dynasty armor they had found somewhere, and carrying banners that read "Overthrow the Qing and restore the Ming"—or rather, "Overthrow the Qing and restore the Ming"—and delivered a passionate "manifesto" in the Civic Square of Nanjing.
Instead of the people's generosity, they were met with countless closed windows and behind them, stares that looked at them as if they were fools.
A retired worker, who had just received his week's worth of nutritional meat and was on his way home, looked at this group of clowns and couldn't help but spit: "Pah! A bunch of lunatics! They want us to go back to a life of hardship? His Majesty the Heavenly Emperor is too merciful not to purify you all!"
The rebellion began with great fanfare but ended quietly.
There's not even a need for the Imperial Legion to be deployed.
The Nanjing City “Citizen Security Team”—a police force composed of former Ming soldiers who had surrendered and ordinary citizens, equipped only with low-powered stun guns—easily surrounded this rabble.
"Warning! Your actions have violated the Imperial Public Security Law! Put down your weapons immediately and kneel down to surrender!" The security captain shouted through a megaphone, his tone filled with helplessness and pity as if he were looking at idiots.
Zhu Yousong and his accomplices were still shouting, "I am the Prince of Fu of the Great Ming Dynasty! You traitors and rebels, kneel down at once!"
His response was a burst of dense blue electric arcs.
All the "Restoration Army" members, including Zhu Yousong, instantly convulsed, foamed at the mouth, and collapsed to the ground, where they were tied up like pigs by the security guards.
A “rebellion” that attempted to overthrow the empire was thus easily quelled in a farcical manner.
The news reached Lin Feng's ears immediately through Pangu.
Inside the Nine Heavens Moon-Embracing Palace, the atmosphere instantly plummeted to freezing point.
Qin Lan and Lilith's holographic projections knelt on one knee beneath the throne, not daring to even breathe. They could clearly feel the terrifying rage emanating from Lin Feng, a rage powerful enough to freeze one's soul.
Lin Feng remained silent.
He simply watched silently as Zhu Yousong and the others were escorted away by the security team on the holographic screen. In his golden eyes, there was no flame of anger, only a bottomless, indifferent darkness.
He thought he had been merciful enough.
He gave these rulers of the old era a chance to step down with dignity. He did not commit genocide against them as he had done with the Qing dynasty. He even granted them equal citizenship, allowing them to live in this new era.
In his view, this was already the greatest blessing that the gods could bestow upon ants.
However, instead of being grateful, these ants tried to challenge his authority and defile his order.
Their actions proved that what flowed in their corrupt, privileged blood was not "nobility," but an incurable, deep-seated "virus."
This virus will make them forever unable to accept equality, and forever delusional about riding on the backs of the people and acting like tyrants.
"I have given them a chance."
After a long silence, Lin Feng finally spoke. His voice was terrifyingly calm, but every word contained a world-destroying power.
"But they gave up on themselves."
He slowly rose from the throne of bones.
"Qin Lan."
"Your subject is here!"
"I must correct a mistake." Lin Feng's voice was devoid of any emotion. "My mercy should not be wasted on these incurable 'viruses'."
"Issue my divine decree."
"Activate the 'Final Purification Protocol'."
"Target: All biological individuals carrying the 'Zhu Ming Imperial Family' gene sequence."
"From this moment forward, conduct a comprehensive genetic scan of the 'Fourth Frontier Zone,' no, of the entire planet. Regardless of gender, age, location, or thoughts... anyone who has a direct or third-generation collateral blood relationship with Zhu Youjian..."
A resolute and unquestionable determination flashed in Lin Feng's eyes.
"Leave no one alive."
"Completely erase them from the gene pool!"
Qin Lan's heart skipped a beat, but without the slightest hesitation, she kowtowed heavily: "Yes, Your Majesty!"
An order signifying extinction was instantly transmitted across the globe.
While studying the principles of "controlled nuclear fusion" through his personal terminal in his apartment in the Citizens' Community, Zhu Youjian suddenly sensed something.
The door to his room slid open silently.
Two Imperial soldiers dressed in silver-white, sealed "purification suits" walked in. They carried no weapons, but the pale blue glow of their helmets and visors sent a chill down Zhu Youjian's spine.
“Citizen Zhu Youjian,” the leading Purifier said in a flat, electronic voice, “because some of your people have launched an armed rebellion aimed at overthrowing the empire and restoring the old system, posing a serious threat to the unity and stability of the empire.”
"By the decree of the highest imperial will, the genetic sequence of the 'Zhu Ming imperial family' has been identified as a 'contamination source' with a high risk."
"According to the Imperial Gene Purification Act, we will carry out... final purification on you and all your blood relatives."
Zhu Youjian's mind went completely blank.
He had thought about this day, but he hadn't expected it to come so quickly, so... quietly.
He neither resisted nor begged for mercy. Because he knew that before God, none of this mattered.
He just smiled bitterly and put down his personal terminal.
"I...understand." With his last breath, he uttered the self-address that no longer belonged to him. "Do it."
He closed his eyes.
He saw his son and daughter in the next room, being "taken away" in the same calm manner by two other Purifiers. They didn't even cry or make a fuss; they just looked at their father with blank eyes.
A soft light shone from the Purifier's palm.
Zhu Youjian, the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty, a man who once bore the weight of the rise and fall of the entire nation, vanished from this world silently, turning into light and dust.
Next, they went to each of the former Ming princes' and imperial relatives' settlements.
Countless beams of purifying light shone simultaneously.
Those former princes, princesses, and heirs, whether they were adapting to a new life, complaining about injustice, or sleeping soundly at home, were all erased from existence at the same time by the will of the empire, precisely, efficiently, and ruthlessly.
This extermination targeting a specific bloodline lasted for twenty-four hours.
When the last red dot representing the "Zhu royal family" completely disappeared from the holographic map of the AI Pangu.
Pangu's voice rang in Lin Feng's ears.
"Your Majesty, the 'Final Purification Protocol' has been successfully executed. The target gene sequence has been completely eradicated from the biosphere of this planet."
Lin Feng stood in front of the porthole of the Nine Heavens Moon-Embracing Palace, looking down at the brand-new land that now completely belonged to him, his face expressionless.
He crushed an old dynasty and personally wiped out the embers of a royal family.
To him, it was nothing more than... erasing an unsightly, discordant stain from his grand blueprint.
From this day forward, this planet will never again see the Qing Dynasty or the Ming Dynasty.
There is only one voice, one will, one god.
That was him, Lin Feng, the emperor of the Holy Star Empire.
A new era has arrived undeniably. After a brief period of growing pains and confusion, the people of this land will eventually, under the guidance of the empire, forget the past filled with humiliation and suffering, and embrace the boundless starry sea that belongs to them as "imperial citizens."
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