The Worn-Out World
Welcome to the Great Yin Dynasty! Here, the Zhu Lou sings 'Confession Balloon', Confucian scholars debate productivity, and His Majesty specializes in killing transmigrators—I wish you a more dignified life than the last one.
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Published at 2025-10-19 | Updated at 2025-11-04
A World Worn Thin
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<span style="display: block; font-size: 14px; color: rgba(230, 226, 211, 0.6); letter-spacing: 3px; margin-top: 10px;">A WORLD WORN THIN・ECHOES OF RUIN</span>
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Outside the capital, by the muddy post road, the air is thick with the stench of livestock, the aroma of baked flatbread, and a hint of...
<span class="translation-term">
A cloying sweetness
<span class="translation-tooltip">Characteristic of otherworldly beverages: extremely sweet aroma, a stimulating sensation in the throat when drunk, occasionally accompanied by bubbling phenomena.</span>
</span>
, a scent that absolutely shouldn't belong to this era.
<span class="translation-term">
"Immortal's Elixir"
<span class="translation-tooltip">A brew from otherworldly arts: orange-yellow in color, cloyingly sweet, it hisses when consumed. Prolonged consumption may harm the spleen and stomach.</span>
</span>
. This is the Hongqi era, a land worn thin by countless
<span class="translation-term">
"Souls from Other Worlds"
<span class="translation-tooltip">Net Soul Division Record: Soul-stealing demons, possessing bodies and exhibiting behavior alien to common folk, requiring strict scrutiny.</span>
</span>
. You look up to see courtesans in the vermilion pavilions singing in the Wu dialect, their voices crooning strange,
<span class="translation-term">
"Pop Songs"
<span class="translation-tooltip">Sounds from another world: peculiar melodies, shallow lyrics, mostly vulgar tunes of romantic love, detrimental to public morals.</span>
</span>
. Scholars, while discussing the classics, debate
<span class="translation-term">
"Sociology"
<span class="translation-tooltip">Heresy from another world: discusses the principles of social organization, but often deviates from the ethics of the sages, misleading the populace.</span>
</span>
, which sounds familiar yet strangely off. In the distance, a half-ruined, gray
<span class="translation-term">
"Cement"
<span class="translation-tooltip">Building material from another world: mixed from lime and clay, hard as stone but lacking natural texture, disdained by artisans.</span>
</span>
structure awkwardly crowds with pavilions and towers of upturned eaves, as if history played a clumsy joke.
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Here, the recipes for
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Black Powder
</span>
vary wildly, its power unreliable; intricate
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Lever Mechanisms
</span>
coexist with brute human labor. The copper coins in your pocket can buy a bowl of coarse tea, but the gleaming
<span style="color: #d4af37; font-weight: bold;">Sihai Merchant Guild</span>
's
<span class="translation-term">
Bills of Exchange and Work Credits
<span class="translation-tooltip">Private Guild Certificates: Bills of exchange can be redeemed for exotic items, work credits measure labor, but are not recognized by the imperial court.</span>
</span>
are the true hard currency for certain coveted "inventions."
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<span style="display: block; font-size: 15px; color: rgba(230, 226, 211, 0.7); line-height: 1.7;">Hunting "soul-stealing demons," purging heresies, with eyes like ice and will of iron. Clad in indigo official robes, the silhouette of a long saber at their waist can silence even the most boisterous marketplace.</span>
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<span style="display: block; font-size: 15px; color: rgba(230, 226, 211, 0.7); line-height: 1.7;">Profit above all, selling "happy water" and peculiar weapons. Carriages rumble by, carrying sparkling glassware, guards equipped with strange gear, their eyes filled with naked desire for wealth.</span>
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<span style="display: block; font-size: 15px; color: rgba(230, 226, 211, 0.7); line-height: 1.7;">Abhorring "otherworldly heresies," vowing to purify the corrupted orthodox ways. Scholars in long robes and wide sleeves cast their deepest disdain upon all strange crafts and cunning devices, determined to uphold the world with the words of the sages.</span>
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The undercurrents of power surge through the streets, the three factions like the legs of a tripod, balancing and infiltrating each other. They will question you about your childhood festivals and test your knowledge of the sages' classics. Hesitate even slightly, and the cold
<span class="circuit-text">
Iron Badge
</span>
might appear before your eyes. My friend, this world is bizarre and perilous, yet full of absurd opportunities. You need not rush to align yourself with any faction. Perhaps you simply wish to be a free observer, forging your own path in this worn-out world with your skills and luck.
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The rain continues to fall, the air mixed with the scent of burnt paper, coal smoke, and
<span style="color: #c93c3c; text-shadow: 0 0 6px rgba(201, 60, 60, 0.6);">hope</span>
. Your story is about to begin.
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