Chapter 89 Five Domains
Xiang Beifei remembered Kong Daming and Chen Xiuqin, but it was only today that he had actually met these two in this world and witnessed their systems.
He had been browsing through Kong Daming's system, and given enough time, Xiang Beifei could even flip back to the day when the system first awakened.
In recent years, Kong Daming's system tasks were almost all related to ingredients. His system points were related to feedback from diners; creating an excellent dish or killing a desolate beast could also earn him system points.
He continued flipping and then came across several task logs:
[July 16, 3026, with the assistance of Xiang Tianxing, you killed the desolate beast Dang Kang. You obtained Dang Kang meat, gluttony value +2369]
[July 16, 3026, you abandoned the mission in the Northern District of the Essential Domain]
...
[July 29, 3026, you spent 1600 gluttony points to purchase a Heaven-Sniffing Hound Beast Pill]
[August 2, 3026, the Heaven-Sniffing Hound Beast Pill expired, Xiang Tianxing not found]
...
[August 2, 3026, you spent 1600 gluttony points to purchase a Heaven-Sniffing Hound Beast Pill]
[August 6, 3026, the Heaven-Sniffing Hound Beast Pill expired, Xiang Tianxing not found]
...
Xiang Beifei was somewhat surprised.
3026, that was four years ago, and also the time when his parents disappeared.
He continued to scroll through Kong Daming's task logs, and for over a month, Kong Daming kept spending various gluttony values, totaling roughly 20,000, to purchase Heaven-Sniffing Hound Beast Pills, but always failing to find Xiang Tianxing.
"Northern District of the Essential Domain?"
Xiang Beifei pondered.
In high school's comprehensive system subject, he had already basically learned about the structure of this world.
If the domain outside the wilderness was likened to a vast and boundless ocean, the area where humans resided was like an isolated island in the ocean.
To determine the danger level of the wilderness outside the domain, humans divided the wilderness into five areas, called "Five Domains."
The circle nearest to the outer perimeter of human territory, where the desolate beasts are relatively weaker, or to say the powerful desolate beasts have already been hunted down and cannot cause much impact on human cities, is called the "Cultivated Domain."
The next few circles outward are the "Marquis Domain," "Tranquil Domain," "Essential Domain," and "Wild Domain."
The division of the "Five Domains" is actually similar to the concept of "Five Servitudes." As recorded in the "Han Shu": Yu the Great tamed the waters, and once the land was leveled, he reformed Jiuzhou, established the Five Servitudes, and assigned the lands to pay tribute.
The Five Servitudes are, namely, Cultivated Servitude, Marquis Servitude, Tranquil Servitude, Essential Servitude, and Wild Servitude.
The meaning of the Five Servitudes is that, taking the area where the emperor resides as the center and moving outward, every five hundred li is one servitude, creating a circle that expands outward, marking five different circles, with different regions paying tribute to the emperor in varying amounts.
In this world, however, the Jiuzhou Alliance had become the territory of humans, and the "Five Servitudes" had been redefined as the "Five Domains" outside the domain.
The further one travels outward, the stronger the desolate beasts in the wilderness become, and the higher the danger level.
The "Cultivated Domain" is the first level, considered the least dangerous wilderness region, while the fifth level, the "Wild Domain," is the most dangerous place, with almost no one daring to venture into that area.
According to Kong Daming's records, Xiang Tianxing went to the "Essential Domain" and then there was no news of him, which is the fourth level danger zone, only less dangerous than the "Wild Domain."
——
According to Kong Daming's system records, on July 16, he had killed the desolate beast Dang Kang together with Xiang Beifei's father Xiang Tianxing, but on the same day, he also gave up the mission in the Northern Mountain District of the Essential Domain.
This suggests that they were supposed to go to the Northern Mountain District of the Essential Domain together, but Kong Daming abandoned the mission, while Xiang Tianxing and the others proceeded.
About ten days later, Kong Daming began expending Heaven-Sniffing Hound Beast Pills to search for Xiang Tianxing, which means that Xiang Tianxing encountered trouble in the Northern Mountain District of the Essential Domain?
Xiang Beifei found few clues in Kong Daming's system, just bits and pieces of information.
Both Kong Daming and Chen Xiuqin's systems were clearly not to be underestimated; they definitely had the ability to be pioneers, with Meridian Opening phase strength, and the system abilities they acquired were well-suited for dealing with desolate beasts. Yet they chose to abandon this path and pursue the literary Dao, living like ordinary people.
Xiang Beifei was very curious about the reason for their decision to give up the mission.
Was it because they were tired of the dangers pioneers had to face, or did they think about their son named Kong Xiuwen, not wanting him to become an orphan?
If it was the latter, why didn't Xiang Beifei's parents learn from them?
Xiang Beifei pursed his lips.
He didn't want to complain about the parents he had in this world since, strictly speaking, the parents of this world weren't much related to him.
People always have their choices; one cannot expect everyone to think the same.
However, Xiang Beifei had many memories in his mind that didn't belong to him.
The scene of that teenager four years ago, locking himself in his room and weeping under the covers, was still vivid in his mind.
After his parents' disappearance, that fourteen-year-old boy stood by the bedroom window every day, watching the path home.
Watching people come and go, watching parents hold their children's hands, watching the smiles on their faces, watching the parents' laughter playing with their children...
The teenager silently observed all of this, envying, resenting, being jealous, yearning... and then continued to watch the end of that path.
How many times he thought he saw those familiar two people returning hand in hand, hope flaring in his heart.
But as many times hope was born, disappointment returned just as many times.
The teenager's parents often came home at night, so he slept during the day in class, and then stood by the bedroom window every night to keep watch.
Standing there, guarding the road of return, until midnight, until dawn.
He kept watch for four years.
Then one day, when taking the comprehensive examination in the examination hall, the teenager saw questions about pioneers and the Wild Domain, read about the SR system, the emotions suppressed for four years suddenly made him break down, he lay down and never woke up again—
The one who woke up was Xiang Beifei, who had transmigrated.
"You really want to find them, don't you?" Xiang Beifei silently asked himself.
The teenager who had been watching might no longer be able to hear him speak—or perhaps he had already become that watching teenager.
Xiang Beifei didn't know.
All he knew was that he needed to do something.
A strange feeling.
Even though he had no real interaction, there were countless ties that bound them.
If only Xiang Tianxing and his wife had made the right choice just once, remembered they had an underage child at home, remembered there was an elderly father waiting for them, chosen to return home, to retreat from their adventures like Kong Daming and his wife did, to go back and take care of their own child and the aging father...
Just one right choice.
Perhaps there would not be the current transmigrated Xiang Beifei.
"If I have the ability in the future, I should investigate this matter," Xiang Beifei thought.
Since he had become that watching teenager, he needed to fulfill some wishes.