Genius Club

Chapter 827: Chapter 20 Quite Capable, Somewhat Impressive (Extra chapter for monthly votes!)_2 Chapter 827: Chapter 20 Quite Capable, Somewhat Impressive (Extra chapter for monthly votes!)_2 “How can there not be any good stuff!”

Big Face Cat counted off on his fingers, listing treasures:

“The reason the south’s Queenstown is so formidable is that in the early years, they cracked open a few safes and found a lot of incredible stuff inside, right?”

Lin Xian looked up.

He stared intently at Big Face Cat:

“What did you say?

Queenstown to the south?

There are still safes there?”

“Yes, there are more than a dozen!”

Big Face Cat spat, saying viciously:

“The people of Queenstown are extremely domineering, collecting protection money every month from the surrounding villages, or they go straight into the village to plunder.”

“Their town is very developed.

As my father said, it all came from cracking open several safes years ago using exhaustive methods, and then they obtained weapons and power.”

“I don’t know the specifics, but right now, Queenstown has muskets!

Do you know about muskets, little brother?

The kind where you load bullets, bang, and it fires out a blast of iron pellets, capable of killing an animal with a single shot!”

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Some villages that happen to unearth safes end up surrendering them to Queenstown.

Initially, our village planned to offer this one as protection money too, but my father said we can’t always be oppressed by Queenstown…

Otherwise, one day they will not be satisfied with just the protection money and might destroy our village, or even enslave us.”

“It was out of concern that my father had people from the village work day and night using exhaustive methods to crack the safe’s code, also hoping to obtain powerful weapons and strength…

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But the result was so disappointing!

What use is a book!”

…

Listening to Big Face Cat’s story,

Lin Xian shook his head:

“From your description, Brother Lian, I think you misunderstood your father.

The so-called weapons and strength obtained by Queenstown from the safes actually boil down to knowledge, not literal weapons.”

“If they were literal weapons, how could they possibly be muskets, which are outdated?

It should at least be automatic pistols or those high-tech weapons from before the 2400s…

but that’s not realistic either.

First of all, Tem Bank definitely couldn’t store such dangerous items; secondly, the more intricate something is, the easier it breaks, so those weapons couldn’t have been preserved perfectly functional for 200 years.”

“So… most likely, the people of Queenstown got knowledge from the safes, they acquired the means to develop technology.

From your description, at the very least, they mastered the formula for gunpowder, and the processes for melting iron or steel, including the creation of various components.

That’s why they could manufacture muskets.”

It has to be said…

On this technologically backward Earth, a few muskets really could dominate an area.

At least currently in Lian Village, the strongest fighter, Er Zhuzi, would still have to kneel before a musket.

“Queenstown.”

Lin Xian muttered this strange name:

“Brother Lian, why is it called Queenstown?

Is it because the city’s lord is a woman?”

“Right.”

Big Face Cat nodded:

“Isn’t it obvious?

And she’s a detestable witch at that!”

He snorted coldly:

“I’ve definitely never seen her, but ruling over this region for so many years, she must be very old by now.”

CC also suddenly remembered:

“So it is, it seems that before when Rhein Village was handing over grain and food to those who came in horse-drawn carriages…

it was for paying protection money!

I thought they were trading.”

She turned to explain to Lin Xian.

During these few months, she had been residing in Rhein Village, using it as her base.

Several times,

She saw fixed schedules when horse-drawn carriages would come to Rhein Village to collect grains.

Because that grain was always pre-packed, and the times each month when those carriages arrived were also fixed, so naturally, CC didn’t think much of it, and simply assumed it was solely trading goods.

Now hearing what Big Face Cat had said…

So it was protection money!

Calling it protection money, but how different is it from direct plundering?

After listening to the two,

Lin Xian also set aside Gao Wen’s notebook, rubbing his chin in contemplation:

“That there could be such a thing.”

“Isn’t it said that the Earth now has ample supplies, abundant resources, and there’s no need for fighting and killing, that nobody would starve?”

Big Face Cat spread his hands:

“Normal life, having enough to eat, definitely no problem, but the people of Queenstown clearly want to live better lives and continue to develop technology…

with that, consumption and supply needs inevitably increase, and they need more raw materials, so undoubtedly, plundering is necessary.”

Lin Xian chuckled lightly.

He understood now.

He thought of a saying—

“The only lesson humanity learns from history is…

that humanity never learns from history.”

At present.

The relationship between Rhein Village, Lian Village, and other small villages with Queenstown was just a miniature of history revisited once more.

Big Face Cat had a point.

If it were only about staying fed and clothed, what resources would there be to plunder?

Nature is filled with provisions; nobody would starve to death.

But…

Queenstown clearly intends to develop industrially.

Once the Pandora’s box of industry is opened, the resources consumed would inevitably increase exponentially, far surpassing the current era’s productivity.

So, regrettably, they had to start plundering.

Now it’s still just “relatively gentle” measures like collecting protection money, but it’s hard to guarantee…

Just as Big Face Cat’s father had said, what about later?