Chapter 10: Not of the Same Generation
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Meng Yi was unsure of what Ying Zheng was thinking. He swiped the screen again, this time not to pictures, but to a video.
The phone that Li Nian used would automatically play videos when swiped to in the gallery.
The video showed a nighttime scene. Under the dark sky, the city was brightly lit, and points of light rose from various places in the city, blossoming in the night sky like flowers.
After the fireworks video finished, Meng Yi did not swipe any further. Li Nian had only intended to show these few clips.
But even after the video ended, the matter was far from over.
Ying Zheng looked at Li Nian and said, “I believe you truly come from the future. These things… my Qin cannot produce them in this era. However, there is one thing I am quite curious about.”
‘My lord, it is not just that Qin cannot produce such things now; even by the time you pass, Qin will never be able to make them,’ Li Nian thought to himself. He knew Ying Zheng was trying to save face and wisely chose not to say it aloud. Shattering the First Emperor’s pride would do no good.
Li Nian said, “Your Majesty, please speak. If it is something the common people know, I will answer truthfully.”
Ying Zheng paused for a moment before speaking, “Between my Qin and the future country you come from, which is stronger?”
In truth, Ying Zheng already had an answer in his heart, but he felt uneasy about the pride he took in Qin being overshadowed by a future nation. That was why he asked Li Nian directly.
What if Li Nian answered that Qin was stronger than the future country?
In short, Ying Zheng was feeling defiant.
He had spent years building Qin, believing he had made it the greatest empire the world had ever known, unrivaled across the ages. Otherwise, he would not have called himself the “Emperor,” a title surpassing the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors.
Yet today, his confidence had been shattered by Li Nian’s words. Qin was not unparalleled, not unrivaled; there might be a future nation stronger than Qin.
At this question, everyone in the hall straightened up, eager to hear the answer.
Qin had swallowed the other six states, ending hundreds of years of chaos. Surely it could not be weaker than a future nation?
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Li Nian had anticipated this question. If the First Emperor believed he came from the future, the emperor’s temperament would certainly prompt such curiosity.
Li Nian replied, “Your Majesty, this is no longer a matter of who is stronger or weaker, but one of different eras. If an evaluation must be made, even a thousand or ten thousand Qin empires could not compare to the future country. The difference between them is like that between a Roc and a mayfly, the bright moon and a firefly.”
Upon hearing this, the hall fell into stunned silence.
Although they knew the future nation might be stronger than Qin, neither Ying Zheng nor Meng Yi believed the gap to be so vast.
What nonsense was this? A thousand or ten thousand Qin empires still could not match the future nation?
Did he know how many warriors Qin had? How many chariots, how many crossbows?
Even if the future nation was strong, surely it had its limits. If there really were thousands or tens of thousands of Qin, sheer human power alone could overwhelm them.
Though from the future, this person clearly did not understand Qin’s strength and was spouting ridiculous claims.
Meng Yi shook his head and chuckled, “Do you know how many people Qin has? How many soldiers? To say such reckless things!”
Li Nian answered, “General, you mean to say that Qin has a booming population and many warriors, and that if there were thousands or tens of thousands of Qin, even spitting could drown the future nation. But that’s not the case.”
“As I said before, this is not a question of strength, but of different eras. The weapons from my time can kill thousands or tens of thousands in an instant, and some can destroy the entire city of Xianyang in a moment.”
“This gap cannot be bridged by numbers. Unless the number of people is infinite, and soldiers can reach the battlefield faster than bullets can be produced, even millions of Qin would still be defeated.”
Though he could not understand what “bullets” were, Meng Yi was shocked by Li Nian’s words—“killing thousands or tens of thousands in an instant,” “destroying the entire city of Xianyang in a moment.”
He blurted out, “Impossible! What kind of weapon could do this? Do you know how big Xianyang is? How many people live there?”
Li Nian said, “Qin indeed does not have such weapons, but the era I come from does. I do not know the exact size or population of Xianyang, but cities in my country generally have millions, with the largest reaching tens of millions. The total population of my country is 1.4 billion!”
“Billions—a number beyond counting!”
Ying Zheng and Meng Yi estimated Li Nian’s words in their minds. Qin plus the original six states had a population of about sixteen to seventeen million. Yet according to him, one city in the future had that many people, and the entire country had 1.4 billion—dozens of times larger than Qin.
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Ying Zheng instinctively found it hard to believe, but recalling the scale of the city he had just seen, he found it not impossible for millions or tens of millions to reside there.
Li Nian pointed to the phone still in Meng Yi’s hand and continued, “I know Your Majesty and General do not believe me, but this device contains records of weapons from my era. This thing is called a ‘mobile phone’ in the future, mainly used for communication across thousands of miles.”
Meng Yi looked at the phone in his hand. Could this tiny device really communicate over thousands of miles?
He asked, “Then why don’t you use it to contact the future?”
Li Nian sighed, “General Meng, the phone can communicate long distances because in my time there are satellites and communication towers, but its range is still limited. Also, I traveled through time, and the phone cannot communicate across time.”
Though some words were unfamiliar, Meng Yi understood that this “mobile phone” lost its ability to communicate over great distances once Li Nian arrived in Qin.
At that moment, Ying Zheng spoke, “Since this phone holds records of your era’s weapons, show them to me!”
Ying Zheng still did not believe such powerful weapons existed in the future.
Li Nian said, “Please, General Meng, give me the phone.”
Meng Yi walked over again, curious to see the future weapons Li Nian spoke of—ones capable of destroying a city in an instant and killing thousands.
Li Nian prepared to show Ying Zheng a nuclear bomb. Ordinary weapons would not have the same impact as a nuclear bomb. He searched the phone’s folders for a downloaded movie containing nuclear explosion scenes.
He found one—“Resident Evil 2.” At the movie’s end, Alice and others escape Raccoon City by helicopter as a nuclear bomb strikes, turning the city to ruins.
Li Nian opened “Resident Evil 2,” dragged the progress bar to the nuclear strike, and clipped the scene of the bomb hitting Raccoon City.
Meng Yi watched the nuclear devastation of Raccoon City unfold, his face full of shock and disbelief, thoughts racing: This man is telling the truth; the future truly has weapons so powerful they could destroy Xianyang in an instant.
Ying Zheng noticed Meng Yi’s expression and understood that the man’s words were likely true. Otherwise, why would this high-ranking minister look so?
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