Chapter 82: Sudden Enlightenment

Mo Fangyuan was of traditional Blockman descent: black hair, black irises, and yellow skin. Yet now, his pupils shimmered with a faint blue. The blue radiance merged with the black of his eyes, dazzling and brilliant like scattered stars in a cerulean sky, adding an unexpected luster to his otherwise unremarkable features.

[Charisma +100]

“What is this...?”

Rubbing his slightly warm eyes, Mo Fangyuan gazed in disbelief at this “brand new world.” Unlike the night vision effect granted by potions in the game, this was something wholly different. He felt as though he had entered a world transformed. The sky was a deep indigo, the air was luminous, every tree stood out in crisp clarity... The entire world was tinged with blue. He could see everything in the darkness, move freely through the night...

“This is incredible!”

There was simply no comparison between experiencing this firsthand and watching it play out on a screen.

“With this ability, I’ll never need to fear the night again!”

Excitement clenched Mo Fangyuan’s fists. A new power meant increased combat prowess... He could slay even more monsters now!

From the perspective of others, his eyes glowed with a faint cerulean halo, as conspicuous in the darkness as a bonfire. Years of gaming had taught Mo Fangyuan the downsides of the night vision buff: the soft blue particle effect at night was extremely eye-catching, sure to attract monsters.

“I wonder if I can turn it off if I don’t need it?”

With this thought in mind, Mo Fangyuan imitated the protagonists of countless novels, repeating to himself over and over:

“I want to turn off night vision!”
“I want to turn off night vision!”
“I want to turn off night vision!”

To his amazement, self-suggestion actually worked. His eyes faded from their brilliant blue back to their usual black. His looks once more became so ordinary that he would be indistinguishable in a crowd.

With his night vision off, the world reverted, becoming black once more. Black—the color of injustice and suffering; of disaster and despair... That was how Blockmen saw the world.

“How marvelous!” Mo Fangyuan stroked his eyes, a joy in his heart that words could not capture.

“I take back everything I said before. This experience bar really is amazing!”

In his mind’s eye, the experience bar was dark and dull, but the [Level 10] indicator outside it shone with a vivid blue light.

“At level ten I’ve gained unlimited night vision. What about level twenty?”

Judging by this, Mo Fangyuan surmised that every ten levels would grant him a special ability.

“How exciting!” He felt a new vigor rising within him.

At that moment, the sun rose in the east. Mother Sun bathed the newborn monsters in her warm embrace, shining upon them as fiercely as she did upon Blockmen.

“Time to set out!”

They blocked the rest area’s entrance with rough stone, and the group continued along a forest stream. The nearest village lay in a small valley—not even marked on the kingdom’s maps until its residents had reached out to the Blockman Kingdom a few years before.

He couldn’t help but marvel at the resilience of his people. Despite the previous night’s sudden attack by mutated wanderers, after half a day’s rest, everyone was once again full of spirit.

“We have hands capable of creating beauty, yet cannot use them to protect ourselves...”

Armed field soldiers led the way. Mo Fangyuan’s sight, enhanced by his new night vision, allowed him to observe that most of them were very young—eighteen or nineteen, with few older veterans among them.

“Most of the old warriors fell beneath the monsters’ feet...”

Such young people already bore the heavy burden of protecting their kin. Mo Fangyuan could not imagine what life had been like for Blockmen before this.

He despised the monsters’ cruelty. From ancient times to now, Blockmen had always been weak and humble—either being slaughtered by monsters, or on the verge of slaughter. He could not help but wonder about the logic behind this.

In the game, monsters attacked Blockmen because that was how they were programmed. But this was a real world, with its own unique system, logic, and history... How could such a rigid “setting” exist?

Mo Fangyuan had pored over countless books. The vast majority of monsters did not eat Blockman flesh; there was no food chain involved. Blockmen produced their own food and avoided monsters, so there was no competition for resources. Monsters had no compulsion to kill Blockmen, as if it were a mission essential to their own survival. Nor had any unified monster empire or wise ruler ever arisen in history—monsters could not possibly comprehend the future potential of Blockmen.

Coexistence in peace was evidently possible. Why, then, was reality so harsh?

Why?

After much contemplation, Mo Fangyuan could only attribute it to the “malicious nature” of monsters.

“Destroying you—what does it matter to me?”

Because I am bored, and you are weak, so I can toy with you at will! Perhaps monsters killed Blockmen for no reason at all—just as humans spare no thought for the feelings of ants.

Within the kingdom, countless eyes yearned for the future. Beyond its borders, refugees whose homes had been ravaged by monsters. In history, ancestors who had died in agony... The thought of all this filled Mo Fangyuan with burning hatred.

“Just wait. One day, I will trample your repulsive faces beneath my feet!”

In his previous life, Mo Fangyuan had never been a champion of universal love. He despised those who betrayed their homeland for the sake of foreign cultures, and loathed the public intellectuals who attacked their own country for personal gain. Such people, he thought, were either fools or villains.

His values stood in stark contrast to others: he loved his homeland and distrusted outsiders; he hated the darkness of his own country, yet loudly praised its absence of darkness. He would remain silent when insulted by his own people, but fiercely resist the slander of foreigners.

Mo Fangyuan himself did not know what to call these convictions. Many said he was a mindless extremist, a “nationalist” who needed to change. Mo Fangyuan agreed in theory, but these values had already taken root and grown into a towering tree within his soul. More than a value system, it was a core ideology, one that shaped his attitudes and outlook on the world. Changing it would be as difficult as killing him barehanded.

He thought he would live his whole life that way. But fate played a monumental joke on him—he crossed over into the Blockman world he loved so dearly.

At first, he thought he could begin anew and shed those extreme beliefs. He imagined living as Steve did: punching trees, mining, enjoying a carefree “countryman’s life.” But...

A suffering people...
Savage monsters...
A history soaked in blood and tears...

Most importantly, Mo Fangyuan was king, a Blockman, leader among his people! He bore the responsibility of guiding his battered and beleaguered kin to a better life.

Yes, he began to act. Like the protagonists of novels, he strove for reform and prosperity, developing the nation’s strength. Even as his efforts made the kingdom ever stronger, he could not shake his avoidance of war.

The Skeleton King’s monstrous forces, the Zombie King’s hordes... Mo Fangyuan always tried his best not to provoke them. Villages slaughtered by skeletons, settlements infected by zombies, refugees steeped in despair... He could have used his adolescent stubbornness to brush aside these troubles, but would that have solved anything?

Whenever he thought of the mountains of his people’s corpses, or the twisted faces of zombie villagers, his nerves were stretched taut, his heart aching with pain.

He kept running away.

But yesterday’s encounter with the mutated wanderer had shaken him to the core. It jolted him fully awake.

There could be no peace between Blockmen and monsters! Evading the enemy only solved his own problems, never the real threat.

Why did he keep running?

“If I can create a Blockman kingdom with limitless potential, why can’t I liberate my people as well?”

“Why not spread my beliefs and become a true racial leader? This is exactly the spirit Blockmen need in this era!”

“Blockmen of the world—unite!”