Tenebrous Sovereign

Frozen for Three Hundred Years

Volume One: The World of the Great Wall

The rainy season of disasters.

The rainstorm came without warning. The sky, which had just scattered sunlight, was immediately shrouded by dark and heavy clouds, and the torrential rain poured down. The residents of the slum who were just about to come out and stretch their legs were immediately scared and rushed back into their houses, for fear of being splashed by the rain.

The rainwater accumulated on the street and quickly spread throughout the slum. Some of the slum houses in low-lying areas had already been submerged up to the threshold. The drainage system, which had never been repaired, was useless at this moment. In a moment, the entire outer slum area had become a vast ocean.

In the Meishan Orphanage.

At the door of the residents' house, a woman who appeared to be in her thirties led more than a dozen children aged from seven to eleven or twelve, hurriedly carrying the pre-made sandbags and piling them on the threshold to block the surging rainwater.

"Dean, why don't you come and help!"

"It's no use calling him. He's a fool."

"What a nuisance!"

Several boys were sweating profusely as they carried the sandbags, and when they saw the little boy standing quietly by the window not far away, they were somewhat angry. But knowing that it was no use saying anything, they could only grit their teeth and continue to carry the sandbags in their hands to the door and stack them up.

The little boy by the window appeared to be about seven or eight years old, thin but tall, similar to other older children aged eleven or twelve. The most prominent feature was his complexion, extremely fair, even somewhat pathologically pale. In contrast to the tanned and dirty skin of others who were exposed to strong light and ultraviolet rays, he stood out. This made many children envious.

But Dean sighed in his heart. This was the aftereffect of the cryogenic chamber. Although it had been three months since he left the cryogenic chamber, his body still hadn't recovered. He couldn't muster any strength throughout his body. According to modern medicine, it was myasthenia.

Just standing there was very strenuous.

Let alone carrying sandbags to block the rain.

However, this situation was already fortunate among misfortunes. After all, when the disaster spread to China, the research institute had just made the first cryogenic chamber and hadn't had time to enter the experimental stage. No one knew if there would be various faults or not. That he could sleep soundly in the cryogenic chamber for three hundred years was already a small miracle.

However, he wasn't happy.

He did survive, but his parents and sister, who made the cryogenic chamber, stayed behind to face that terrifying disaster. Even if they were extremely fortunate to survive, three hundred years had passed, and they must have long been buried in the dust.

In this vast world, he no longer had any relatives. From now on, he would have to face this world alone.

He wasn't desperate. Although he had grieved and been sad, his parents gave him two lives. He would never allow himself to be decadent. Not only did he want to live well, but he also wanted to live in a way that made him proud and that his deceased parents and sister would be proud of him!!!

Fortunately, Heaven ultimately protected the human race. When he just climbed out of the cryogenic chamber, he originally thought that he was the only person, the only life left on Earth. It wasn't until he walked out of the landfill where the cryogenic chamber was buried that he discovered that humanity hadn't been exterminated. It seemed that a few people survived the disaster and, after three hundred years of reproduction and development, had already reached a considerable scale.

Regrettably, the civilization and technology of three hundred years ago had been completely destroyed by the disaster. What he had seen and heard during this period, he didn't see or hear any items symbolizing the technology of the old era. It was as if in retaliation, humanity not only lost the power to conquer this planet but also had an extremely difficult life even for basic living.

While his thoughts were drifting away, the rainstorm outside the window gradually subsided at some point.

Looking at the water level in front of the threshold stopping its rise, everyone in the house heaved a sigh of relief as if they had just experienced a long and intense battle. Everyone felt exhausted. At this moment, the middle-aged woman looked at the sky, saw the clouds gradually parting a little, revealing the turbid skylight, knew that it wouldn't rain for a while, and immediately said, "Prepare to go to the cafeteria for dinner. Everyone put on your wax grass shoes."

Upon hearing the word "dinner," all the children's eyes lit up. The previous fatigue vanished in an instant. They each returned to their rooms, put on their wax grass shoes, and lined up neatly.

"Dean, go and put on your shoes and get ready for dinner." At this time, a voice from the back of the line called out to Dean. The speaker was a seven or eight-year-old boy. As soon as he finished speaking, he seemed to remember something, slapped his head, stepped forward, patted Dean on the shoulder, pointed in the direction of the cafeteria with one hand while the sleeve of the other arm was empty.

Dean remembered him. His name was Barton. He was one of the few children in the orphanage who was kind to him. This probably had something to do with him. Three hundred years had passed, and the language had been updated. When he first came to the orphanage, he neither understood what others said nor could speak their language. He could only remain silent. Over time, everyone thought he was a bit dull and perhaps had intellectual problems.

So naturally, he was classified in the same group as Barton, a deformed child.

The children in the orphanage were divided into two groups. One was those who were physically intact but abandoned by their parents, and the other was those who were physically deformed and abandoned by their parents. In this world, even children had long learned to survive by banding together.

Dean nodded to indicate that he understood, and then followed Barton to the back of the line. Barton just wanted to tell Dean to go and change into wax grass shoes. Accidentally looking down, he found that under Dean's trouser legs, he was already wearing a pair of light green high-top shoes and couldn't help but be speechless.

Plastic hadn't been invented in this world. Clothing and shoes made of wax grass had become the most commonly used rain gear for people. This was a kind of natural mutant grass, which could be found everywhere. The large leaves and the fine raised wax layer on the surface could effectively block the radioactive rainwater and had become an essential item for every household.

Everyone carefully walked along a narrow half-meter-high path paved with stones in front of the threshold. The accumulated rain only reached the ankles. If one accidentally fell into the water, even the strongest adult would inevitably fall seriously ill.

When they arrived at the cafeteria, everyone immediately began to scramble for seats. The limited seats were immediately snatched up by the physically intact children in the front. Dean, Barton, and the other physically deformed children were already used to it. They came to the corner at the back where there were a few piled-up stones, which were their dining tables.

"Have you heard? Among the adopters this time, there are doctors and wall-builders."

"Aunt Dai has said it before and asked us to seize this opportunity and perform well."

"It would be so happy if we could be adopted by a doctor."

"I'd rather be adopted by a wall-builder. Maybe there's a hope to climb the Sylvia Great Wall and see the world outside the Great Wall."

Before the meals were served, Barton and several other children chatted in low voices. These children either lacked an ear or had small flesh bumps covering half of their faces. None of them looked normal.

Dean's eyes flickered when he heard their words but remained silent.

"It's a pity that Dean's brain isn't good. Otherwise, with Dean's appearance and body, he would definitely be chosen by those people." After chatting for a while, Barton suddenly sighed, looked at Dean, and said regretfully.

The other children looked at Dean, who didn't react, and all shook their heads and sighed.

They had long agreed that no matter who was adopted, they would do their best to come back and help the rest. Just in terms of appearance, Dean was undoubtedly the most likely to be adopted. But having a problem with the brain was even more serious than having a physical problem. For example, the child with flesh bumps all over half of his face, although he looked terrifying, had intact hands and feet and normal intelligence. At least he could do manual labor and find a job.

"Humph, a bunch of incomplete things still want to compete with us for the adoption opportunity." At this time, a thin child on a nearby seat heard Barton and the others' words and coldly snorted with contempt.

His words immediately drew the attention of others. For a moment, contemptuous and disgusted glances fell on Dean, Barton, and the others.

Compared to the deformed children, they, who were physically intact but abandoned, had even more malice in their hearts.

Dean glanced at these people indifferently and said nothing. Although he was also a child, he had seen a lot and had a depth in his heart that many adults didn't possess.

And his appearance, in the eyes of these people, was "dullness."

"Look at this fool. He doesn't even understand when being scolded."

"Someone with a defective brain. No wonder he was abandoned!"

"Still want to be adopted? Just wait to be sent to the mines to mine after the age of thirteen!"

These children didn't hide their contempt and disgust at all and took pleasure in it.

At this time, the meals were served. The middle-aged woman who brought them here shouted softly, "Be quiet. Don't you all want to eat?"

Hearing this, the arrogance of these children subsided. They looked innocent as if nothing had happened just now.

...

The next day.

The silver-gray clouds gradually spread out, and the sunlight shone on the slum area.

During the rainy season of disasters, it was a rare sunny and fine day.

Coincidentally, today was also a long-awaited big day for the children of the Meishan Orphanage - Adoption Day!

All the families who made reservations in advance came to the orphanage on this day to select the children they were satisfied with.

Early in the morning, Dean woke up on time. Although there were no alarm clocks in this world, his biological clock had never been wrong. After waking up and making the bed, he brushed his teeth and washed his face with simply filtered well water. He picked up another set of washed and faded coarse cloth clothes beside the pillow. Just as he was about to change, he suddenly felt a soft small ball inside and took it out to see. It was a purple handkerchief crumpled into a ball.

Dean was slightly stunned and couldn't help but think of the little girl who led him to this orphanage on that cold night. Unfortunately, it was too dark to see the other person's appearance. During these three months in the orphanage, he naturally knew that anyone who could afford such fine fabric was definitely an upper-class person in the outer area.

There were still black stains left from wiping his face on the handkerchief, which couldn't be washed clean.

After being silent for a while, Dean put the handkerchief into his pocket and then changed his clothes and headed to the open space outside the orphanage.

Although he only had one set of parents in his heart, he had to get himself adopted as soon as possible. If a child wasn't adopted by the age of thirteen, they would be given up by the orphanage and sent to the mines controlled by the "Meishan Coal Mine Chamber of Commerce" behind this Meishan Orphanage to mine as permanent free labor until they died of exhaustion or old age, never having a chance to see the light of day again.

Like Dean, on this day, all the children in the orphanage were "dressed up." Each one washed themselves clean and changed into clothes that they had been reluctant to wear for a long time. And these clothes were all the coarse cloth clothes distributed when they first entered the orphanage.

If your body emits an unpleasant smell, no one will want to be close to you.

This was what Aunt Dai warned them.

Looking around, in front of the rain-soaked sandy area of the orphanage, there was a large group of children standing, but they were vaguely divided into two camps, the intact and the deformed.

After all the children stood in position, the adults who came to adopt, led by Aunt Dai and other caregivers of the orphanage, came to the children and sized up these orphans who might become their children.

"Hello, uncles and aunts."

Under Aunt Dai's instruction, except for Dean and a few other deformed children who couldn't speak, all the other children obediently greeted. Their black and shiny eyes were full of innocence, and their faces were full of eagerness and hope as they looked at the adults. This passionate gaze made some adults feel sad and reluctant.

Soon, Dean, who was thin but tall among the crowd, became the target of attention of all the adults. His snow-white complexion was too conspicuous, and his temperament was completely different from the children around him. Exactly where it was different, the adults couldn't tell. They just felt that this child was very calm and had a noble air. Yes, it was a noble air.

This surprised many adults. They didn't expect that in an orphanage in the slum area, there would be such an outstanding seedling.

For a moment, many adults were moved.